The Two Kinds of Funny

We all want to be funny. We all picture ourselves walking into a party and becoming the room's centre of gravity. Girls are dying to talk to us. Everyone wants a piece of the conversation. Even though it's an overwhelming thought, we'd still want it, because it feels good. Especially the sense of humour part. A good sense of humour is a sign of intelligence. But unlike general intelligence, you don't need to remember the facts here. Or the political history. Or the current affairs. You need a working estimate of absurdity. An estimate, because you need to indulge it routinely to bring out the laughs. But not so much that you come across as weird. There are two ways to do that. The first: you're so consumed by the latest memes and social media trends that you know exactly how to marry the current conversation with the relevant meme. This makes you instantly funny because it's relatable. But you can only land funny if the other person consumes the same trends. That's why you reach for…