Jokester is a science-fiction short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Multivac series, it was first published in the December 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction. It was later collected in 1957's Earth Is Room Enough, 1986's The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov and Robot Dreams, and 1990's The Complete Stories Volume I.
Summary[]
Noel Meyerhof, recognized as one of Earth's "Grand Masters" for his unique intuitive genius, is observed acting strangely by a senior computer analyst. Meyerhof has developed a habit of telling jokes to Multivac, the planet's supercomputer. Concerned about Meyerhof's mental state, the analyst confronts him, only to learn that Meyerhof is pursuing two profound questions.
His first question investigates the origin of humor. Meyerhof observes that no one truly creates jokes; they are always recycled, and the only form of original humor—the pun—is universally considered unfunny. He asks Multivac to explain this paradox.
After processing the query, Multivac reveals a startling truth: humor is not a human invention but a tool created by an advanced extraterrestrial race to study human psychology. Puns were deliberately designed to be unfunny to serve as a control group, allowing the aliens to isolate genuine psychological responses from original creations.
Meyerhof's second question is what will happen now that humanity knows the truth. Multivac responds that the research tool has been compromised. Immediately, everyone involved finds that all jokes have vanished from their memories, rendered useless by the discovery.
Adaptations[]
The story was adapted as a 30-minute radio play, read by Henry Goodman, and broadcast on BBC 7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra) in 2006.
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov
External Links[]
- A scan of the original printing now in the public domain