Comedic timing and punchlines in memes

Which, if either, lands the punchline better

  • A

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • B

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No preference / same landing / it doesn't land

    Votes: 2 50.0%

  • I don't get the joke either way

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Total voters
    4
DaveC426913

DaveC426913

Valued Senior Member
I peruse imgUR a lot and have become fascinated with the process that distinguishes a ho-hum meme from a brilliant one. Occasionally. I get a nugget for a joke/meme of my own, and I get interested in experimenting with different ways of "telling" it. Some ways land; some are duds. If you want to join me as a lab rat, that'd be cool.

Here's the latest nugget:



The meme is of two jars side-by-side. The joke itself may be subtle. That's not by accident. The function of subtletly in visual humour is to make you take a beat - a pause - before the punchline lands.

I have provided two different ways (A and B) of tellng the exact same joke. Your job is to pick one.


So, the question is: for you, which one lands the punchline better?


A:
coconut-oil-1.jpg

B:

coconut-oil-2.jpg
 
What!

You never got the pun?
Crude as in unprocessed, Virgin and processed.
I’m wasted on this forum.
 
I was going to say, it's easy to (cough) poke holes in a joke.

(A) worked slightly better, maybe due to eyes going from left to right when reading. So the holy coconut (the punchline image) seems ideally placed. But really it doesn't make all that much difference. I was curious why there were three holes, like a bowling ball. I mean, one would be sufficient?
 
TheVat said:
I was going to say, it's easy to (cough) poke holes in a joke.

(A) worked slightly better, maybe due to eyes going from left to right when reading. So the holy coconut (the punchline image) seems ideally placed. But really it doesn't make all that much difference. I was curious why there were three holes, like a bowling ball. I mean, one would be sufficient?
Click to expand...
I didn’t get it. A coconut - any coconut - has 3 “eyes”. These are not shown in the “virgin” picture. How can that signify anything to do with virginity?
 
TheVat said:
I was curious why there were three holes, like a bowling ball. I mean, one would be sufficient?
Click to expand...
It's a thing:
1767894721929.png1767894688649.png1767894769755.png

biology.stackexchange.com

Why does a coconut have exactly three "holes"?

Why do coconuts have exactly three "holes", as seen in this picture? A theory says: As coconut is a sibling of palm, somehow long time ago, three palms were in a same husk. Based on evolution theor...
biology.stackexchange.com biology.stackexchange.com
why-does-a-coconut-have-exactly-three-holes
 
exchemist said:
I didn’t get it. A coconut - any coconut - has 3 “eyes”. These are not shown in the “virgin” picture. How can that signify anything to do with virginity?
Click to expand...
1767895054228.png

The joke is predicated on the casual user not knowng about the biological function of the holes, merely their iconic presence.
 
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The more I look at, the more I am personally leaning toward B.

The thought process is as follows:

1. I see a bunch of normal-looking coconuts with a label "Coconut". No mystery here (the setup).
2. Then I see a bunch of coconuts that are noticeably different. How? They appear to not thave the holes that are in the first one (cognitive dissonance - the mystery).
3. Then I see this one is labeled differently. It specifies "virgin". No holes=virgin. (mystery resolves, punchline delivered).


In A, the clues come at me in a non-intuitive order, - ("virgin" is the big reveal, yet it comes in the first panel) So, I have to re-visit the two different jars until I get it.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
The more I look at, the more I am personally leaning toward B.

The thought process is as follows:

1. I see a bunch of normal-looking coconuts with a label "Coconut". No mystery here (the setup).
2. Then I see a bunch of coconuts that are noticeably different. How? They appear to not thave the holes that are in the first one (cognitive dissonance - the mystery).
3. Then I see this one is labeled differently. It specifies "virgin". No holes=virgin. (mystery resolves, punchline delivered).


In A, the clues come at me in a non-intuitive order, - ("virgin" is the big reveal, yet it comes in the first panel) So, I have to re-visit the two different jars until I get it.
Click to expand...
Except the eyes aren’t holes. If it showed a coconut with the eyes drilled out, then it would make sense. Dunno, for me this joke still doesn’t work. (Sorry to be a literal-minded spoilsport).
 
Pinball1970 said:
No.
If I get the joke then it's rather base and vulgar.
Click to expand...
It is, yes. No argument there.

But naughtiness is within the community standards for imgUR. Not middle of the Bell Curve, but on the Bell Curve.

(Don't let me give you a bad impression of imgUR. It may be irreverent, but it really does have some of the magic of the internet. A very positive-minded, supportive community. Zero hate, trolling or negativity.)
 
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