Khalid
Brainrot or Brilliance? Why Absurdist Humor Works
Six-Seven, the 2025 word of the year, took the internet by storm. Confusing adults while making teenagers laugh, this joke is just one of many absurdist humor trends that have dominated the minds and screens of people around the world. Humor, a shortcut to intimacy proven to be present in society since ancient Egypt, is essential to the building of communities. Why have jokes shifted from narrative to stimulus, skipping the set up all together and going right to the “punchline”? Traditional humor follows a concrete set up of narrative, punchline, resolution, forcing viewers to comprehend a joke before they laugh. However, characters like “Tung Tung Tung Sahur” or “Ballerina Cappucina” defy the setup of a traditional joke, invoking the powerful tool of incongruence to trigger laughs, a staple trait of absurdist humor. Why has contemporary internet humor shifted toward absurdity, and what does this reveal about how humans have adapted to constant digital stimulation? An interesting combination of cognitive science, changes in online platforms and communication, as well as our outlook on the current political reality, are all at play. As attention spans shorten and the need for stimulus increases, it is understandable that absurdist humor has manifested in the way it has. Maximized by short-form videos like TikTok and Instagram Reels, and fueled by the ability to comment, share, and repost, absurdist humor fits the current layout of social media, and will continue to play out before our eyes.
WATCH HERE
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Six-Seven, the 2025 word of the year, took the internet by storm. Confusing adults while making teenagers laugh, this joke is just one of many absurdist humor trends that have dominated the minds and screens of people around the world. Humor, a shortcut to intimacy proven to be present in society since ancient Egypt, is essential to the building of communities. Why have jokes shifted from narrative to stimulus, skipping the set up all together and going right to the “punchline”? Traditional humor follows a concrete set up of narrative, punchline, resolution, forcing viewers to comprehend a joke before they laugh. However, characters like “Tung Tung Tung Sahur” or “Ballerina Cappucina” defy the setup of a traditional joke, invoking the powerful tool of incongruence to trigger laughs, a staple trait of absurdist humor. Why has contemporary internet humor shifted toward absurdity, and what does this reveal about how humans have adapted to constant digital stimulation? An interesting combination of cognitive science, changes in online platforms and communication, as well as our outlook on the current political reality, are all at play. As attention spans shorten and the need for stimulus increases, it is understandable that absurdist humor has manifested in the way it has. Maximized by short-form videos like TikTok and Instagram Reels, and fueled by the ability to comment, share, and repost, absurdist humor fits the current layout of social media, and will continue to play out before our eyes.
WATCH HERE
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