‘Hi hungry, I’m dad’: The untold benefits of cringeworthy dad jokes

Growing up, Eugenie Pepper used to roll her eyes at the dad jokes told by her father, Costa. In the 1970s, whenever the family would head to their local Chinese restaurant for dinner, Costa would whip up some groan-worthy puns.

When Eugenie and her siblings invariably complained, saying they were hungry, her dad would simply say, “Hi Hungry, I’m Costa.”

While the jokes often varied, Costa could never walk past a pun. He was also fond of repeating the same “knock knock” jokes ad infinitum. In one of his most repeated “knock knock” jokes, when asked who’s at the door, the answer is Isabelle. Isabelle who?

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While the jokes themselves don’t have her rolling around in fits of laughter, as she’s grown older Eugenie has begun relishing them. “You can’t help but laugh, even though they’re not funny in themselves,” she says.

As a psychotherapist, clinical hypnotherapist and counsellor, Eugenie can see that her dad uses these jokes as a way to lighten the mood and deepen his relationships with loved ones.

“It’s his way of connecting with me and with his grandkids,” Eugenie says, adding that Costa grew up with a strict father, so wanted to cultivate a home brimming with humour where things weren’t taken too seriously.

That all makes sense to psychologist Sharon Draper. She says jokes are a great way to help families bond.

“Something that is humorous can very quickly change an uncomfortable situation to a more relaxed and fun one,” Draper notes. “Even if it’s a classic ‘dad joke’ and is more cringe-worthy [than laugh-out-loud funny], family members can still bond with ‘here we go again’ glances or eye rolls. Jokes are a way we can bring more playfulness into our families.”

“Family members can still bond with ‘here we go again’ glances or eye rolls. Jokes are a way we can bring more playfulness into our families.”

Even if a dad joke doesn’t have you wiping back tears of laughter, simply sporting a smile relaxes our nervous system, says Draper. Laughing, either at the actual dad joke or at the lameness of it, is also good for us.

“Laughing increases feel-good endorphins,” Draper says. “It creates a relaxing feeling by dialling down our stress response.” In turn, that can then put a bounce in our step and boost our mood.

Dad jokes may also be good for the people who crack them. Research from 2016, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, looked at more than 50,000 participants over 15 years and found that a good sense of humour helped to prolong life.

While Eugenie has understood the deeper importance of her father’s dad jokes for quite a while, she laps up the actual jokes more than ever now that her dad is 88. She’s quick to note that Costa is currently fit as a fiddle, but she knows the years are piling up.

Her dad acknowledges it, too. But rather than having sombre end-of-life discussions, Costa always likes to lighten the mood by peppering their chats with “dad humour”. A huge fan of birds, Costa prefers to talk about “dropping off the perch”, rather than dying.

Eugenie appreciates the fact that she’s able to talk to her dad about anything – including death – in a way that always induces a laugh or two. “It’s a soft way of talking about how he’s not going to be around forever.”

Evelyn Lewin is a qualified GP and freelance writer.

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