2.1 Definition

A Dad joke has been described as

…the kind of old-school setup and punchline jokes rarely used in contemporary comedy.

— Libera (2020)

Dad jokes cover many types of humour (Fig. 2.1). A Dad joke could be

… a short joke, typically a pun, presented as a one-liner or a question and answer, but not a narrative.

— Miranto (2020)

Sometimes, other types of jokes can be classified as Dad jokes too:

…“pull my finger” jokes, elaborate story jokes, down to corny one liners.

— Swan (2018)

The types of jokes known by a sample of 334 Australian Dads (Source: Johnson 2019; survey of 334 Australian Dads)

Figure 2.1: The types of jokes known by a sample of 334 Australian Dads (Source: Johnson 2019; survey of 334 Australian Dads)

Dad jokes can be, and usually are, used as part of every-day social interactions. However, they can also be used on webpages, over the telephone and in almost any means of communication. This probably explains their appeal, at least in part.

Dad jokes can be used in other circumstances also: in times of trouble, in times of joy and in times of stress. They:

… may represent simple aliquots of humor and brevity that will be just enough to brighten the moment without crossing the silliness threshold.

— Chiodo, Broughton, and Michalski (2020)

For the purposes of DJUNC, the following definition will be adopted.

Definition 2.1 (Dad joke) A Dad Joke is a joke:

  • of any joke type…
  • that is corny rather than funny…
  • that people will groan at rather than laugh…
  • that is repeated to death…
  • usually (but not only) by a Dad, or a Dad-to-be.
While Dad jokes can be told by anyone, over 95% of DUH’s students are Dads or Dads-to-be (Fig. 2.2).

Figure 2.2: The students attending DUH (Source: Panda (2020))

References

Chiodo, Christopher P, Kimberly K Broughton, and Max P Michalski. 2020. “Caution: Wit and Humor During the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Foot & Ankle International, 1071100720923651. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1071100720923651.

Libera, Anne. 2020. “The Science of Comedy (Sort of).” AMA Journal of Ethics 22 (7): 602–7. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/science-comedy-sort/2020-07.

Miranto, Rosyad Mahasin. 2020. “Classification of Dad Jokes in Icanhazdadjoke. Com.” LITERA KULTURA 8 (1). https://jurnalmahasiswa.unesa.ac.id/index.php/litera-kultura/article/view/32720.

Swan, Susan. 2018. “Dad Jokes.” https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/student_folklore_all/471/.