Wait, hang on, so we're making a distinction between a running gag and a self-referenctial gag, right? I seem to recall the writers of Black Adder were pretty fond of the former. Though they were all funny on their own merits, so... ok.
Also the metaphysical, keep-dancing-around-the-same-topic-to-go-to-deeper-and-deeper-layers, kind of humour seemed to work pretty well for Bill Hicks and that other fellow. Wossname. Roman poet who hated women and greeks. Juvenal, that one.
I don't disagree with you that the jokes you lambasted in the game you were talking about whose name I've already forgotton, we'll call it "Forced Parody 5: The Clickening", probably weren't funny. Only that you may not quite have gotten to the nub of why they weren't funny.
What's the difference between, say, Withnail saying that he's gone on holiday by mistake and a bloke farting? Both contain a sensible premise, a bloke just being and a man who is on holiday, then there is a twist which squeezes out the mirth; flatulance/man on holiday is miserable.
The first is undoubtedly funnier though, all because of the build up (why the man on holiday is miserable) and the complexity of that build up, how it engages us on multiple emotional levels. The bloke farting could have build up too, but is it likely to engage us emotionally? Perhaps, though in isolation we've all had shit holidays that we wanted to escape from and feel far more than we do about breaking wind.
I feel like I may be about to tip over into some diatribe about games being art so I'll stop there. Suffice is to say that it is unjustified to simply write off some forms or approaches to humour as it all comes down to the emotional potential of the effort.
Apart from puns though. Puns are objectively shit.
Also the metaphysical, keep-dancing-around-the-same-topic-to-go-to-deeper-and-deeper-layers, kind of humour seemed to work pretty well for Bill Hicks and that other fellow. Wossname. Roman poet who hated women and greeks. Juvenal, that one.
I don't disagree with you that the jokes you lambasted in the game you were talking about whose name I've already forgotton, we'll call it "Forced Parody 5: The Clickening", probably weren't funny. Only that you may not quite have gotten to the nub of why they weren't funny.
What's the difference between, say, Withnail saying that he's gone on holiday by mistake and a bloke farting? Both contain a sensible premise, a bloke just being and a man who is on holiday, then there is a twist which squeezes out the mirth; flatulance/man on holiday is miserable.
The first is undoubtedly funnier though, all because of the build up (why the man on holiday is miserable) and the complexity of that build up, how it engages us on multiple emotional levels. The bloke farting could have build up too, but is it likely to engage us emotionally? Perhaps, though in isolation we've all had shit holidays that we wanted to escape from and feel far more than we do about breaking wind.
I feel like I may be about to tip over into some diatribe about games being art so I'll stop there. Suffice is to say that it is unjustified to simply write off some forms or approaches to humour as it all comes down to the emotional potential of the effort.
Apart from puns though. Puns are objectively shit.