My dad joke setup changed after my kid groaned at the wrong time

I used to always pause for effect before the punchline, like a full two seconds of silence. But last Tuesday my 10-year-old cut me off with a groan before I even got to the pun part, completely killing the momentum. Now I just rattle it off without any buildup, and somehow the groans are louder even though I'm not trying to be dramatic. Does anyone else have a specific timing trick for when to deliver the punchline to get the best reaction?

2 comments

2 Comments

vera_palmer22d agoMost Upvoted

Is it the timing that's really the issue here, or is it more about the fact that your kid is getting wise to the whole dad joke thing and now they're just pre-groaning to beat you to it? Because honestly, that's a whole different beast - like your punchline timing is irrelevant if they're already bracing for the pun before you even open your mouth. Our youngest started doing the same thing around age 9, and I had to completely ditch the obvious setups and start using puns that are so bad they circle back around to being genuinely confusing. Like, have you tried throwing in a fake punchline first just to see if they groan early and then realizing there's more of the joke coming? That might reset the whole dynamic.

grantp2822d ago

Honestly that fake punchline trick is genius level stuff right there.