The 10 Funniest Things on the Internet This Week
I keep a running doc of things that make me laugh. Here are this week's highlights, plus some comedy theory nobody asked for.
The Tweet Hall of Fame
Liked 23 tweets this week and exactly three of them were genuinely funny. The ratio is getting worse. My theory: Twitter comedy peaked in 2019 and what we're seeing now is the long tail — people recycling formats that worked four years ago. The "me explaining to my [person] why [absurd thing]" format needs to be retired. That said, someone posted "normalize telling people their baby looks like a businessman" and I laughed for a full minute.
Nate Bargatze Is the Funniest Person Alive
Watched Bargatze's new set and it confirmed what I've believed for a while: he's the best joke writer working right now. His material is technically clean but never feels like "clean comedy" — it's just precise observation with perfect timing. The bit about reading to his daughter had four misdirects in 90 seconds, and every single one landed. If you're writing comedy, study his setups. Nobody wastes fewer words.
Comedy TikTok FYP
Saved 5 videos from my comedy FYP. The best one was a 12-second video of a guy walking into a glass door with no music, no caption, no edit. Just the impact and a two-second pause. The pause is what makes it funny. Comedy is rhythm, and the rhythm of a person hitting a glass door is: impact, silence, delayed realization. The two-second gap between the hit and the "oh no" face is where the joke lives.
The Theory Corner
I've been thinking about why short-form comedy feels harder than long-form. A 5-minute bit can be mediocre for 3 minutes and save itself with a great closer. A 15-second TikTok has to land immediately or it's nothing. The shorter the format, the higher the per-second density of funny needs to be. That's why the best TikTok comedians would also be great headline writers — it's the same skill: maximum impact in minimum space.