Line #15 Main/OutsideJoke


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6	->''"They must get this question all the time at the National Transportation Safety Board. The guy I talked to didn't miss a beat with the answer: because the interstates aren't wide enough. His point, in case you're new to sarcasm, was that a plane built to black box standards would be so heavy you'd have to drive it rather than fly."''
7	-->-- The [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/909/if-aircraft-black-boxes-are-indestructible-why-cant-the-whole-plane-be-made-from-the-same-material Straight Dope]] on why the black box is indestructible, but the plane isn't
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9	Alice makes a humorous observation, and waits for Bob to laugh. Instead, Bob offers a simple explanation.
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11	If Alice is present, she immediately realizes that the joke is ruined. She may be crestfallen, or angry, or simply say "Huh, I never thought of that." If not (for example, if Bob is watching Alice on TV) his friends may laugh harder at his response than the initial joke.
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13	If Alice (or Bob's friends) don't agree that the joke is ruined, it's not this trope. Bob may be a StrawVulcan, have been SidetrackedByTheAnalogy, think the joke is DudeNotFunny (possibly because they've [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore heard it way too often]]), or just not get it. If Alice was already well aware of Bob's explanation but was ComicallyMissingThePoint, she may respond with "DontExplainTheJoke".
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15	This is the opposite of an [[InJoke inside joke]], which is only funny to those who know something that most people don't. An outside joke is only funny to those who ''lack'' a particular piece of commonly available knowledge.
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17	Overlaps with RhetoricalQuestionBlunder if the joke was phrased as a question. Alice can do this to herself, in a strange form of OhWait -- this is often an example of AntiHumor. Compare MeasuringTheMarigolds, which is the belief that examining some aspect of nature closely takes away its wonder.
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19	When a work causes this reaction from the audience, it's a ShallowParody or RedundantParody.
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21	Compare SoWasX. Contrast InJoke.
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23	Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease. This trope is about Bob's reaction to the joke, not the audience's. If you want to [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike complain about jokes you don't like]], Administrivia/TakeItToTheForums or a review.
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25	----
26
27	!! Examples:
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29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Literature]]
32	* There's a lengthy piece in ''Literature/TheSalmonOfDoubt'' where Creator/DouglasAdams analyses the "Black Box" joke (if the black box on an airplane is indestructible, why don't they just make the whole plane out of that material?) to work out why it annoys him so much:
33	-->'''Adams:''' I began to pick at the joke. What if [[Creator/MorecambeAndWise Eric Morecambe]] had said it? Would it be funny then? Well, not quite, because that would have relied on the audience seeing that Eric was being dumb — in other words, having as a matter of common knowledge the relative weights of titanium and aluminium. There was no way of deconstructing the joke (if you think this is obsessive behaviour, you should try living with it) that didn't rely on the teller and the audience complacently conspiring together to jeer at someone ''[[AntiIntellectualism who knew more than they did]]''.
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
37	* There was a bit on ''Series/TheDailyShow'' where Jon Stewart [[DontExplainTheJoke explained in-depth]] "the Deal with Airline Food", citing increasingly narrowed profit margins due to increasing competition post-deregulation (and after 9-11 in particular) resulting in more and more cutbacks in service: meals replaced with snacks, etc.
38	* Not quite a joke, but [[http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/sane-clown-posse-20101001-203455.jpg this fake album]] featured on an episode of ''Series/TheColbertReport'' answers the infamous "Fucking magnets, how do they work?" line from the Music/InsaneClownPosse's ''Miracles''.
39	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Sheldon regularly deconstructs not only jokes, but all manner of conversation in a literal, matter-of-fact way, particularly in relation to Penny.
40	* In an episode of ''Series/DesigningWomen'', the subject of "plumber's crack" is brought up, and Anthony's girlfriend Vanessa explains that it's because tool belts with heavy tools on them pull down a lot more.
41	* In an episode of ''{{Series/Friends}}'', Rachel buys an apothecary table. While talking about it, she jokingly says, "Who even knows what an apothecary is?" She is not amused when Chandler explains that an apothecary is a pharmacist.[[note]]the word can also refer to the building where the pharmacist works, by the way[[/note]]
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]
45	* Ben Bailey (host of ''Series/CashCab'') recounts anecdotes during his standup routine of the audience doing this to him at previous shows:
46	** Slow people get in front of him while exiting the subway
47	--->'''Ben:''' OK, they're really slow. But how the fuck do they always get to the stairs before I do? Do they run to the stairs, then collapse, exhausted? \
48	'''Man in the Audience:''' They got off of the train before yours! \
49	'''Ben:''' Well, fuck you.
50	** The dentist tells him "This won't hurt a bit."
51	--->'''Ben:''' I always grab him by the balls and say "then neither will this." \
52	'''Woman in the audience:''' What if the dentist is a woman? \
53	'''Ben:''' ''[narrating]'' "She thought she had me, but to me the answer was obvious." \
54	'''Ben:''' ''[to woman]'' Then the joke doesn't work, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]].
55	* Tig Notaro has a bit about "no moleste"[[note]]"Do not disturb"[[/note]] signs in hotels, and speculates on the epidemic of Spanish-speakers molesting people that must have caused the monolingual signage - then tells the audience about a guy who felt he had to explain to her after a show what it literally means in Spanish. (Her response: "No moleste.")
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Webcomics]]
59	* ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy'' once did a [[http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=576 strip]] where Mary took the time to 'defang' some popular stand-up comedy questions. She basically explained why there are instructions in Braille on drive-through [=ATMs=], and then gave a short summation of why airplane food is so terrible.
60	** Also on the issue of Braille on drive-through [=ATMs=], Creator/SimonWhistler of ''Today I Found Out'' pointed out that while blind people may not drive, they do take taxis, which means they also use drive-through [=ATMs=].
61	* ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'' did a take on these called [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=229 "UNAMBIGUOUS ANSWERS TO OLD RHETORICAL QUESTIONS COMICS."]]
62	-->What do they use to ship Styrofoam?\
63	'''Utahraptor:''' They use boxes!\
64	'''T-Rex:''' Yes, boxes.
65	* A character in ''Webcomic/DaisyOwl'' experiences himself telling one of these ("What is the deal with sporks? Are they both a spoon and a fork? Oh. That's a sensible way to save on plastic") as a CatapultNightmare.
66	* In one ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' strip, Dagonet (Arthur's jester) does the "[[http://ww.w.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/1508.htm why do people wash towels?]]" bit, and Arthur starts explaining about dampness and mildew, before Guenevere stops him with "Hush. He's just [[PersonAsVerb carlinning]]."
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Web Original]]
70	* In one of his Counter Monkey videos, [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] explains in great detail why in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' the Fellowship can't just ride to Mordor on eagles,[[note]]Because Sauron would see them coming a million miles away and throw all his Nazgul and archers and stuff at them[[/note]] and then says that, if he were ever to run another campaign of ''The Lord Of The Rings'' tabletop game, he would love to spring this trope on a party who thought they were clever.
71	** This stop-motion Lego animation also spells out why [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZrJPiq9QGM eagles can't do everything.]]
72	* In one episode of WebVideo/GameGrumps, WebVideo/JonTron jokingly questions [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway why Love was an element in Captain Planet]] when love isn't an element. Creator/{{Egoraptor}} explains that "Love" wasn't meant to be an element, but that Heart was simply one of the main components of [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Planet]].
73	* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysyZF-DZFY this video]] from the ''Brian and Maria'' [=YouTube=] channel, a girl asks the perennial question "Why doesn't Creator/{{MTV}} play [[NetworkDecay music videos anymore]]?" and receives a particularly blunt, distressing and almost certainly accurate answer.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Western Animation]]
77	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
78	** Krusty is trying his new stand-up act in "The Last Temptation of Krust":
79	--->'''Krusty:''' Have you ever noticed how there are two phone books? A white one and a yellow one? What's the deal with that? \
80	'''Lisa:''' One's residential, the other is business. \
81	'''Krusty:''' ''[sad]'' Well, that... makes sense. ''[upbeat again]'' What'll they think of next? [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike Blue pages?]] \
82	'''Marge:''' [[invoked]] [[AluminiumChristmasTrees They have those. They're government listings.]] \
83	'''Krusty:''' I see. ''[tosses notebook]''
84	** "Dead Putting Society" featured Bart answering the rhetorical philosophical question, "What's the sound of one hand clapping?" (By hitting his fingers on the palm of that hand.)[[note]]This is close to an actual answer to the koan - holding up your hand, fingers up.[[/note]]Lisa was not amused. After that they moved onto "If a tree falls in the woods, and no-one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Bart tried to answer by imitating a tree crashing, but Lisa [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asked]], "But, Bart, how can sound exist if there's no one around to hear it?" Bart couldn't answer, and thus was enlightened.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
86	** Peter heckles Creator/PaulReiser's stand-up act:
87	-->'''Reiser:''' And what's with those Starbucks, huh? They're everywhere.\
88	'''Peter:''' Uhh... a lotta people want coffee; that's supply and demand, it's the foundation of our entire economy Paul...
89	%% ** In "Brian Writes a Bestseller," the show did a jokey reference to Van Halen's infamous rider demand for M&Ms with the brown ones picked out, which in real life seemed to many like the band was just being overly controlling and weird...but was actually a SecretTestOfCharacter. Van Halen were using so many lights, flying harnesses, and so much pyro, that people (band members, crew, or audience) could be crippled, burned, or killed if a rig wasn't up to standard, so Van Halen used the demand (which was buried ''deep'' in the technical specs) as a check on how closely the venue had carried out the rest of their rider, which included technical details that were important for the band's performance and safety. (For perspective, the band usually travels with [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/brown-out/ up to nine eighteen-wheelers full]] of complicated, heavy equipment that you do ''not'' want to set up unsafely.) Brown M&Ms (or, worse, ''no'' M&Ms at all) indicated a slipshod job that would have to be double-checked by the band's crew, which according to Music/DavidLeeRoth inevitably found something technically wrong with the production setup.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy wishes that he doesn't have any emotions. Afterwards, he realizes that, without his emotions, he only thinks logically and lacks a sense of humor, so jokes like this are just logic puzzles; i.e. planes would be too heavy to fly if they were made like black boxes, they can't JustEatGilligan because the series would end, and the chicken obviously came before the egg.
91	[[/folder]]

Context Main / OutsideJoke