Election results—particularly unexpected ones—are a fertile time for memes and jokes, offered up at the altar of the gods of virality. So, on 4 June, as the Indian general election results started pouring in and it became clear that the pollsters had got it wrong—that the predicted super-majority was actually a score short of even a simple majority—it was no surprise that social media users got busy formulating their wisecracks.
There were many contenders for the defining joke of the 2024 general election (some were even on the ballot), but with a single sentence tweet, X user @josepsburner sent the Indian internet into paroxysms of laughter, emerging as the undisputed champion of this comedy royal rumble. Even a month later, the joke is still doing the rounds, slowly cementing its place in the pantheon of evergreen Indian memes.
“Dimple Bhabhi hatiye,” went @josepsburner’s tweet. “Aaj Akhilesh bhaiyya ke l***e pe main baithunga (roughly translating to ‘Dear Sister-in-Law Dimple, please move, today I will sit on brother Akhilesh’s… um, lap’)”
At last count, the tweet had racked up a whopping 10k likes and 1.2 million impressions! The internet, being the wondrous beast it is, promptly spawned a plethora of spinoff tweets and jokes, all riffing off the original.
I figured it was wise to wait until the election hype died down before dissecting the tweet that won the Indian internet. If you’re like me and spend a bit too much time on X (aka the hell-site), you’ll know that people really connected with that one-liner. In fact, at the time of writing, some users have even adopted the phrase as their account handle name. Talk about making a memetic impact.
WHAT IS HUMOUR? WHY DOES IT TICKLE OUR FANCY?
My agenda today is to dissect this joke, and yes, I know, it’s a thankless task. There’s the old E.B. White bit about how analysing humour is like dissecting a frog: few people are interested and the frog dies of it. Nonetheless, I think this singlular, sublime tweet deserves a little vivisection. But before we get to that, just some basic theory (if you’ve already read up on this, feel free to skip to the next section).
There is no single, universally accepted theory of humour, but scholars have identified three main categories: incongruity, superiority, and relief. Incongruity theory, the most widely recognised, suggests that humour arises from unexpected twists or punchlines that defy expectations. The ‘Dimple Bhabhi Hatiye’ tweet certainly fits that definition. This theory has two schools of thought: one argues that incongruity alone is enough to create humour, while the other posits that resolution of the incongruity is necessary for laughter to occur.
Superiority theory proposes that humour comes from feeling superior to others or a past version of oneself. This, as plenty of social researchers have established, is a strong feature of the sort of humour that self-identified conservatives seem to prefer (more on this later). Relief theory, meanwhile, views laughter as a way to release excess energy and tension.
According to Freud and other theorists, jokes can be categorised as either “tendentious” (purposeful) or “innocent” (solely for laughter). In the context of political humour, tendentious jokes can be further divided into those that target opponents or oneself. The Dimple Bhabhi tweet falls in the middle of incongruity and tendentiousness. Incongruity because the punchline of the joke contains an element of surprise, while tendentious as it promotes a point of view which is the political slant of the joke maker.
HUMOUR AND HER POLITICAL LEANINGS
Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind argues that morality is driven by emotion and intuition, not reasoning. Liberals and conservatives prioritise universal moral foundations differently, with liberals focusing on Care/Harm and Fairness/Cheating, and conservatives valuing all five, including Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, and Sanctity/Degradation. This moral divide explains why liberals and conservatives find different things funny, with liberals humourously challenging authority and tradition, while conservatives reinforce social norms and institutions. Liberals find jokes about religion or patriotism hilarious, while conservatives find them offensive, opting for wife jokes or cultural stereotypes. This moral mismatch leads to misunderstandings, with liberals puzzled by conservatives’ prioritisation of authority over human well-being, and conservatives baffled by liberals’ disregard for tradition and social order.
Ultimately, what one side finds funny, the other finds offensive or incomprehensible. Understanding these differing moral foundations can help us appreciate why humour is so subjective, and why our political opponents often seem to be laughing at a different joke altogether.
LIBBU VS. RIGHT WING COMEDY
So, the liberal approach to comedy is distinct and inherent to its worldview. In the liberal conception, we are all part of the problem, and this self-awareness is crucial to liberal joke-craft.
Liberal comedy often places the joke-teller at the centre, making themselves the target of ridicule. For instance, John Mulaney’s stand-up routines frequently involve self-deprecating humour, like bits on his privileged upbringing and struggles with alcoholism. This introspection allows for humour that is both personal and inclusive. By acknowledging their own flaws and hypocrisies, liberal comedians create a shared experience with their audience. This style of humour “punches up” rather than down, challenging systems and structures rather than marginalised groups.
Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show is another example of liberal comedy in action. Noah’s critiques of systemic racism, political corruption, and social injustice are biting and incisive, yet never resort to punching down at marginalised communities. Instead, he targets the powerful and privileged, using satire to expose their hypocrisy and absurdity.
Even in sexually explicit jokes, liberal comedy prioritises progressiveness over aggression. Hannah Gadsby’s groundbreaking special Nanette is a masterclass in this approach. Gadsby tackles topics like trauma, sexuality, and identity with unflinching honesty, yet never resorts to harmful stereotypes or objectification. Her humour is both provocative and inclusive, challenging audiences to confront their biases and assumptions.
Conservative comedy, aligned with their worldview, relies on protecting the status quo and uses the ‘other’ as a punchline. Through Haidt’s lens, conservative morality prioritises authority, sanctity, and loyalty, making jokes that mock these values unfunny to them. The US conservative comedy film Ladyballers, featuring Dave Rubin and Ted Cruz, exemplifies this, ridiculing the trans community. As James Acaster sarcastically notes, “Who’s been long overdue a challenge? The trans community…thanks to you, brave little cis boy.” Ladyballers indulges in punching down, a hallmark of conservative comedy.
Even Fox News‘ attempt at a comedy news show—The ½ Hour News Hour, featuring Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter—failed spectacularly. It was panned by critics and lasted only 17 episodes. Some of the sketches on the show were about, for example, mocking global warming or how men who undergo sexual harassment actually like it. And in some cases, I am still scratching my head around what the joke was. The pilot episode featured a sketch with Rush Limbaugh as the president and Anne Coulter as his vice president. At one point the commander-in-chief asks if the VP would like to join him in a cigar. “Isn’t the White House a smoke-free zone?” Coulter asks. “Not anymore,” Limbaugh replies with his trademark smugness, cue the laugh track. Remember the show was funded by Fox and contained writers who were alumni from Letterman and The Bill Maher Show.
As far as India is concerned there are hardly any avenues where jokes go beyond the status quo. Of course, there are comics who try to use the more progressive, inclusive elements in the jokes they have. Punit Pania is a great example, as is Aditi Mittal. However, to succeed in a deeply conservative society like India, it seems many comics—and I will not name names here—rely on lazy tropes like stereotypes of masculinity, wife jokes or jokes steeped in cultural xenophobia.
Some Indian comics from the minority community have found success placing their identity at the centre, and crafting jokes around their lived experience. But even then, one wonders wonder if the audience is laughing with with them or at them.
WHY DID IT WORK?
The liberal approach to comedy is not only a reflection of its political ideology but also a powerful tool for social commentary and change. By acknowledging our shared flaws and challenges, liberal comedy encourages empathy and progress. As we laugh together, we become more open to confronting our biases and working towards a more inclusive society.
In the context of the Dimple Bhabhi tweet, this approach is masterfully employed. By being a male creator, the tweet avoids perpetuating gender dynamics and power imbalances, instead centering itself in the joke and creating an instant connection with the reader. The clever positioning makes us laugh instead of feeling uncomfortable. The joke’s visual imagery, juxtaposing bhabhi and bhaiya in a sexual context, subverts the usual sexualisation of bhabhis and targets Akhilesh Yadav, both an authority figure as well as someone hitherto derided for not being successful in politics. This clever positioning makes it easier for us to laugh along with the joke, rather than feeling uncomfortable or defensive.
After all this was not the first time this template was used. It had already done the rounds of cricket twitter but did not succeed. The reason is that the broader subcontinental cricket twitter has a marked conservative bent, and to them the joke was either too sexually explicit, or just an opportunity to unleash homophobia.
AND THAT’S THAT
In the aftermath of the election results, liberal desi Twitter was abuzz with joy and good-natured humour. Many users from this cohort remarked on how their timelines were filled with witty one-liners and hilarious memes, a welcome respite from the usual political vitriol. This was obviously a result of the algorithm and potentially the conservative desi Twitter taking a day off to lick their wounds.
But in all seriousness, this moment showed me that even in tense, anxious times, humour can be a refreshing oasis in the desert of social media discourse. What I learned is that when we filter our humour through empathy, inclusivity, and social awareness, and are funny without being offensive, we can touch people much more deeply than perhaps through any other means. And one hopes that perhaps someone, even from the other side of the political aisle, read this, chuckled, and for a moment the thought that they too can subvert authority and make fun of their own sanctified figures crossed their minds. Because for me, comedy becomes art when it makes us laugh at our own biases and teaches us that all art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable, no matter how powerful, no matter how high up they are.
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