Theme Week, Part Ansari

Jeremy’s Sametime Status Proudly Presents:
Joke Autopsy Week!

It’s funny because getting to the other side is the most obvious reason to cross a road

It's Theme Week once again here at Jeremy's Sametime Status!  All this week, we take a look at some classic jokes and reveal in significant detail why the punchline is as funny as it is.  This will completely ruin the joke forever.  It should be noted that we will NOT be examining The Skeleton Joke this week, as it is the greatest joke ever told and can not be ruined through this method.  

Today's joke is the quintessential kid joke, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

I don't know, Jeremy.  Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side! 

See, when somebody is telling you a joke, you subconsciously expect the unexpected.  You need the punchline to be something you wouldn't ordinarily think of, which paints the setup line in a new light, thus making the end result funny.  

This particular joke takes that one simply tenet of comedy and turns it back around on itself.  

When somebody starts telling you the chicken crossing the road joke, your mind starts to wander.  You start to think of potential reasons a chicken would want to be on the other side of a road.  Is there a food trough over there?  Is there an orphaned egg stuck on the sidewalk?  Something about feathers?  Is there a Better Starbucks on the other side of the road?  Is there perhaps some danger on the existing side of the road that a chicken would be running away from?  None of these yields any possible comedic moments, so you're left stumped.  Why would a chicken want to cross the road?  Your mind is now a swirling miasma of mismatched fragments of potential comedy.

The punchline comes, "To get to the other side."  

At first, the confusion tears at you.  "This is the payoff?" you think, unable to rectify the fact that this is a joke with the fact that it's not a joke at all.  The joke, ultimately, is on you, as you come to the realization that you have spent time struggling to find a more complicated answer than Occam's Razor would suggest.  Of course the motive for crossing a road would be to get to the other side.  Whether or not there was a reason the chicken wanted to be on the other side is irrelevant, yet your efforts were all focused on that portion of the outcome.  The simple knowledge that this incoming line is a joke has caused you to expend thoughts and energy for a result far and away more complicated than the answer.  The joke is on you, and it's hilarious.