The Secret of a Joke
Osho,
You tell us so many jokes - what is the basic secret of a joke and
why do you tell them?
I have to tell jokes
to you, otherwise you will fall asleep. A joke shocks you back into
awareness. It is a small electric shock. That's the beauty of a
joke, and that's the secret of a joke. It is impossible even for the
dullest mind to remain unalert when a joke is being told. Even the
dullest, the most stupid, will become interested - even one who is
snoring will come out of his snoring and will start listening to
what is going on.
That's the beauty of a joke. A joke is something that brings in you
a subtle awareness. The awareness comes because you have to listen
to the joke very alertly, otherwise you will miss the punchline. If
you miss a single word in a joke, it is lost. A joke is a very small
thing - a few lines. You cannot afford to be unaware. If you miss
one line, you will not be able to catch hold of it.
And a joke takes a sudden turn - that is its secret - a very
unexpected turn. A joke is not logical, that's why I love jokes -
they are illogical. Still, they have a logic of their own. A joke is
illogical and yet logical - very paradoxical. A joke takes such an
illogical turn that you had never expected. If you can expect, then
that much pleasure will be lost.
If a joke is a simple syllogism, an Aristotelian syllogism, that you
can simply go on and you can feel what conclusion is coming, and you
can conclude because the premises are given already; if you can
conclude logically, as if two plus two is four, this cannot be a
joke - because two plus two is four. When somebody is saying 'two
plus two' you have already known the conclusion: it is going to be
four. If a joke is absolutely logical and the conclusion is not
absurd, then it is not a joke, it will not shock you into awareness.
The joke takes a very unexpected turn. And yet, when you have
listened to the punchline, you suddenly realise that there is a
logic in it - not Aristotelian, non-Aristotelian. When you have
heard the punchline, then you suddenly recognize, yes, everything
becomes clear. If a joke is absolutely absurd, then too it will be
meaningless, because then the conclusion will not be in continuity
with the whole story; then there will be discontinuity and you will
not be able to know how to connect them.
The joke has not to be absolutely logical, the joke has not to be
absolutely illogical - it has to be somewhere in the middle, very
ambiguous, vague, surrounded by mist. You cannot figure out where it
is going, and that's why it becomes intriguing. And it takes the
turn so suddenly that in a single line it is there in its totality.
Let me tell you one joke:
A Jewish synagogue was collecting money for a new building for
the synagogue - the old one was rotten and was falling apart. They
were doing everything that can be done to collect more money.
They had sold lottery tickets and then the lottery was opened, and
the president of the community declared the third prize: it was a
beautiful TV set, and the man who got it was very happy. Then he
declared the second prize - of course, the man whose name was
declared was hoping for something like a Cadillac, Impala, Mercedes,
something like that. But when he came the president gave him a small
box. He immediately opened it - mm? - he was puzzled as to what was
there in the box. And there was nothing much: chocolates, cookies.
He said, "What is this? You must have forgotten, you must have
misplaced something. For the third prize you have given a TV set -
and second prize, just cookies? This is nonsense!"
The president said, "You don't understand it: the rabbi's wife
herself has prepared it for you."
The man was annoyed. He said, "Screw the rabbi's wife!"
The president said, "That's the first prize."
Now this is a joke! You cannot expect, it is impossible, but once
it is there then everything becomes clear. The conclusion makes the
whole story clear. But if the conclusion has not been given to you,
you will not be able to come to it logically.
Logic proceeds in steps, from the beginning to the end. A joke
spreads backwards, from the end to the beginning - that is the
beauty of it. And it brings laughter, because when the story is
going on you become tense - mm? - you want the conclusion
immediately. You become very curious about it, what is going to
happen. You start throbbing with energy. You become alert, more
alert, more alive - and the energy is there; you cannot release it.
It becomes a crescendo. Then comes the shattering punchline and the
whole energy spreads all over your being. That's what laughter is.
And I have to tell jokes, because the things that I am saying are so
subtle, so deep and profound, that if I simply go on telling you
those things, you will fall asleep and you will not be able to
listen or to understand. You will remain almost deaf.
The profounder the truth I have to tell you, the worst joke I choose
for it. The highest the truth I am trying to relate, then the lowest
I have to go in search for a joke. That's why even dirty jokes... I
don't bother. Even a dirty joke can be helpful - more so because it
can shock you to the very roots, to the very guts. And that's the
whole point! It helps you to come again and again to your alertness.
When I see you are alert, I again go relating that which I would
like to relate to you. When I see again you are slipping into your
sleep, I have to bring in a joke again.
If you really listen with alertness, there will be no need - I can
say the truth directly. But it is difficult. You start yawning...
and it is better to laugh than to yawn.