Joke Killers Inc.

Our society is full of inequalities. Financial, social and intellectual inequalities are the most obvious ones. But with age and maturity everyone eventually learns to cope up and live harmoniously. However, one variety of inequality that I have been unable to cope up with is the inequality of sense of humor (SOH). Nothing turns me off more than the company of a person with a pathetic sense of humor. You may be in a group of ten people having a blast but just one guy with a poor SOH is enough to spoil things for you. I term such people as ‘Joke killers’.  Joke killers would typically wait till the laughter has died down, and then would look blankly at you and say,

‘So?’

So my foot you idiot, eat your soup!

Others would try and find logic (showing off their intelligence) with your joke.

‘Blondes aren’t actually stupid. Statistics say so!’

‘Oh, yeah? Now eat the main course, moron!’

Still some others would try to play goody, goody.

‘What language, man! Tone down a bit; we have ladies and kids around.’

Then why don’t you go join them?

I remember being in a party once and the guys got together and started shooting off jokes. I volunteered with this one:

‘Hey guys, check this one out: How to keep a group of idiots in suspense?’ After an appropriate pause, looking at the faces of my pals, half of whom had already broken off into a smile in anticipation to the punch line, I concluded, ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow!’ 
The place was filled with crackling guffaw, but everyone simply doubled up with laughter when this guy who didn’t seem very amused said,

‘Not fair, you know I’m flying off to the US early tomorrow morning, so you might want to tell me now!’

Yes, and I hope Barack Obama keeps you forever!

There’s another variety of joke killers. These people not only have a deplorable sense of humor, they are blissfully oblivious of this little fact. Worse, some of them think they are clowns of the first order and no sooner the ambience turns jokey, they’ll jump in from nowhere and try to grab the limelight with third-rate, ten-year-old jokes, told in such irksome manner that you’d feel like pulling out your hair. Not only that, they won’t even notice that no one has laughed at the ‘joke’ and would enthusiastically shriek immediately after,

‘Here's another one...!’

Which way to the loo?