2014-10-03
Explanation
The Joke
A couple is stargazing when they spot a shooting star. The woman tells the man to make a wish, and he wishes he "was never sad." His companion asks if he is sure that was a good wish. He responds in a confused, bewildered way: "I don't... I... Oh weird! I'm suddenly incapable of introspection!" She asks how that would work, but he runs off yelling "No time to talk! Running naked through flowers!"
The joke is that the wish was granted literally and immediately. The inability to ever feel sad effectively removes the capacity for deep self-reflection and introspection, since much of our inner emotional life involves grappling with negative feelings. Without sadness, he becomes a purely impulsive, joy-seeking creature -- incapable of examining his own thoughts and motivated only by simple pleasures like running naked through flowers.
The Humor
The humor operates on multiple levels. First, there is the classic "be careful what you wish for" trope applied to emotional states. Second, it is a sly commentary on the relationship between negative emotions and higher cognition -- the idea that our capacity for sadness is deeply intertwined with our ability to think deeply about ourselves. The punchline of him running naked through flowers paints a vivid, absurd picture of what a human without sadness would actually look like: not a serene, enlightened being, but essentially a carefree animal acting on pure instinct. It also plays on the philosophical idea that suffering is necessary for a fully examined life.