There's this really interesting book I read about a human who was raised by aliens on Mars. He moves back to Earth with all of his Martian abilities. One thing he can't figure out about humans is why they laugh. He can smile at things out of joy, but he doesn't get laughter. One day, after watching a monkey beat up a monkey for a peanut, only for that monkey to run over and beat a smaller monkey, he starts cracking up. The grotesque sadness of the situation that unfolded makes him realize, “I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much . . . because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting.”

We aren't laughing because we think molesting children is funny. We are laughing because it literally hurts to think about something so dark. You get offended because you don't want the hurting to stop. I understand both positions.

That said, it was really the construction of the joke that I appreciated. It just checks all the boxes for a well delivered/timed joke.

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