'Dad' Humour

I have a silly sense of humour. It's sometimes dark, quite often very sarcastic, occasionally witty, but mostly just plain silly. I think it's genetic. Both my parents have a silly sense of humour, in completely different ways mind you, but silly nonetheless. My Dad in particular, is renowned in our family for using shockingingly bad puns. The thing is, he knows how bad the jokes are, but he can't help himself. It's typical Dad humour. Anyone else could say the things my Dad says and I might roll my eyes and let out an unimpressed sigh. But when he does it, it cracks me up. It must be something in the delivery. Here's an example:

We watched the end of the London Marathon today, Mum, Dad, Big Sis and I. The weather was typical for English Springtime - completely unpredictable. It was bright at times and not overly cold, but halfway into the main race, the heavens opened and it rained spectacularly. The poor athletes were completely soaked through. Nevertheless, the male champion still finished it just over 2 hours (what? 2 hours? for 26 miles?!) and the female in just under 2 and a half.

The women's race was won by German national Irina Mikitenko, shortly followed by Svetlana Zakharova from the former USSR, who Dad declared was "Russian towards the finish line". Didn't I tell you? Pun-tastic. Third place was taken by Ethiopian Gete Wami, pre-race favourite to win. Dad had a gem saved for her. "She's Wami," he said knowingly, his face making an attempt at being serious, "but I think she's feeling a little coldy".

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing, partly at Dad's mock-serious face during his delivery, partly at the sheer lack of embarassment it requires to come out with something that cheesey. Mum and Big Sis were equally amused, but clearly not as much as Dad, who was laughing so much he started crying. "I don't know," he said, wiping away tears with an expression of almost pained amusement, "it was just so corny that I even made myself laugh."