I wonder if all jokes boil down to the same pattern that eventually gets layered and complexified by veteran comedians. A joke is made by creating a frame with an embedded assumption, and then using a punchline to break the frame and reveal an implied truth. There are two layers of subtext, the assumption (the undertone), and the post-punchline tru

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Incongruity

Incongruity refers to the lack of harmony, consistency, or appropriateness between elements that are placed together. It’s the quality of being out of place, mismatched, or incompatible with the surrounding context.

The concept appears across many domains:

In humor theory, incongruity is fundamental to comedy. We laugh when expectations ar

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