metahumor ftw

Posted on By Wil

My love of metahumor probably comes from the same place as my love of obscure references, which can be traced, in part, to MST3K.

John Kovalic has been killing me with the metahumor this week, so for my fellow members of the metahumor appreciation society, I present Monday’s and today’s Dork Tower comics.

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Comments (14)

  1. Unrelated to your post. I didn’t feel like taking the time to email.
    Your name came up on Howard Stern again this morning. They thought you might be the little kid from Family Ties that is in a bunch of trouble right now. You really ought to call into that show one day and set everybody straight about you. All the other “Stand By Me” kids have been on there (‘cept River Phoenix) and you are easily the greatest guy out of all of you. If you can take the heat, I say go for it.

  2. Oh, man…I may need to turn in my geek card. I had to actually look up the term “metahumor.”
    And, as for casbar’s comment, why do I keep picturing something about Howard Stern and sybians? Hrm.

  3. Ahh yes, Dork Tower is rather fantastic isn’t it. I haven’t checked it out for a while, so thanks for link. It reminded me of it’s existence 🙂
    As for the gentleman above talking about Howard Stern, frankly who gives a crap what Stern thinks. I imagine if you were to go on his show you would be bombarded with lame references to a T.V. show you might once have appeared in. You know the one 🙂
    I have to admit that I only recently discovered your online presence, and I am planning to order your new book in the near future. It sounds very interesting.
    Regards,
    Edward Kaye

  11. Meta-X is X about X for any X.
    One of my favorite jokes:
    Me: Ask me, “What is the most important thing about comedy?”
    You: Okay. What is the most…
    Me: Timing!

  12. Monday’s is _about_ metahumor, so wouldn’t that be metametahumor?
    “Wil apparently never met a metametahumor he didn’t like” would then be a metametametahumor
    Recurse me at will, Wil.

  14. meta-meta-humor would be meta-humor about meta-humor. But since meta-humor is a type of humor, meta-meta-humor is a type of meta-humor.
    For something to qualify to be meta-meta-humor it has to be a joke about a joke that is referencing a joke about a joke.
    For example, I find it funny to tell jokes badly (I don’t think anyone else finds it funny when I do it, but inside I’m laughing hysterically for looking like a fool. Note that this is also a good cover for accidentally telling jokes badly). I think that in general this qualifies a meta-humor.
    Now suppose I were to tell a meta-joke badly. Since the original meta-joke is a joke, my new badly told joke is also a meta-joke. And the badly told joke is about a meta-joke so I think it would qualify as a meta-meta-joke.
    For example:
    Me: What is the most important thing about comedy?
    You: I don’t know. Timing?
    Me: That’s right…
    Me: I think I did that wrong.
    The following is the same joke but it only qualifies as meta-humor.
    Me: Want to hear a great knock-knock joke?
    You: Sure.
    Me: Okay. You start!
    You: Knock knock.
    Me: Who’s there!
    You: …

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