On Comedy

One of the most stressful things about being occasionally referred to as "funny" is that people who don't know me and have heard to me referred to as such are probably expecting it.

The problem with this is that my sense of humor is usually pretty situational, has a heavy foundation in inside jokes, and is - if not either of those two - just truly effing bizarre.

Sometimes "funny because it's true" is the best kind of comedy. If you're able to point out something in an amusing way that a lot of people can relate to, you're pretty much guaranteed comedic success.

And that's kind of the premise of what's probably my favorite webcomic, PhD Comics. Even in my first year of grad school, I'm finding myself relating tremendously to the subject matter, and appreciating the clever way in which it's presented.

For instance:



Probably almost anyone could relate to this. The cafeteria is more often than not disgusting, and always overpriced, but is it really worth it to have to make lunch every day? (Even if it's just packing up leftovers into tupperware?)

And anyone with a boss can relate to this:



And that makes it funny. There's no "punchline" in either of these comics, it's just turning a relate-able situation into a funny one by pointing out the irony/absurdity. You best bet that if I could draw, I'd try to do something like this too!