The Joke Is On You… Maybe

(I and my aunt are watching a cop show. The plot is that the protagonists have to try and stop ISIS from acquiring American girls as brides using a modelling agency as a front. One of the characters quips, “Isn’t modelling the opposite of ISIS’s goals?”)

Me: “So, am I supposed to laugh at that?”

Aunt: “Hmm?”

Me: “That joke. It feels a bit too serious to laugh, but I feel like…”

Aunt: “Oh, see, the joke is that ISIS wants women to cover up—”

Me: “I know that part. I’m just not sure if it’s supposed to be a ha-ha joke or a serious joke. Wait, a serious joke?”

(We wound up looking up the definition of a joke. It’s defined as having the goal of making someone laugh. I think we got a few laughs at the joke — though not all at the punchline.)