The dad joke is the ultimate combination of simplicity and universality – the perfect recipe for either lightening up your day or making your eyes roll faster than a roller coaster. Although it may be tempting to dismiss these jokes as lame or unfunny, when considered more closely, the father joke is a fascinating phenomenon that reveals a lot about how humor works and why some people tell it.

Although often thought of as a subset of cringe comedy, the dad joke is actually a type of pun. Like other types of puns, the dad joke relies on repetition and the expectation that a certain type of audience will find it funny. It also depends on a sense of mischief, which is why it can be so satisfying when it does work.

The true audience for a dad joke, however, is not the children who hear it. The real audience is the joke-teller himself, who takes pleasure in causing his children embarrassment. In other words, the dad joke is a form of manipulation that allows a father to control his child’s emotions.

A good father does more than just provide a roof over his family’s heads and food in their bellies, though. A father also teaches his children the value of hard work. He might dig ditches, flip burgers, or deliver pizzas to make ends meet, but he does so because he understands the importance of providing for his family. dad jokes