Quote: Nogget @ April 18 2012, 1:56 PM BSTFirst reaction is, why is a kitchen in a room, surely a kitchen is a room? What's with all the rooms within rooms?
In my father's house there are many mansions. And in one of them he's lost his pissing horse.
I think most people are treating this as a sketch joke when its a written joke.
Quote: cjdelphi @ April 18 2012, 9:59 AM BSTFor example, man walks into a room, in the room there's there's a kitchen
So part of the room has a kitchen fitting...
...and in the kitchen there's a horse...
The kitchen fitting itself contains a horse? Or is a one-room flat maybe, with the kitchen part contains a horse?
It's more of a hook to continue reading, rather than anything laugh out loud funny, hence why most people don't recognise it as a joke.
Quote: Tim Azure @ April 20 2012, 8:55 AM BSTSo part of the room has a kitchen fitting...
The kitchen fitting itself contains a horse? Or is a one-room flat maybe, with the kitchen part contains a horse?
I also thought of part of the room having a kitchen. In the house I grew up in there was one large area, part of wich was filled by the kitchen and the other was the dinning area. Effectivly it was one room but the kitchen only took up half of it.
Or as you also mentioned it could be a one room flat such as mine. Mine is so small the "kitchen" is basically half a wall. My flat is very narrow so would be very crowded with a horse in the kitchen bit. 
..... it was not a joke, it's just a setting which could make a joke funny.
a horse walks into a bar, why the long face.
I'm clinically depressed.
sooty, watch more comedy mate 
These horse gags are endless shit. Why the long faeces?
Isn't a joke simply a build up of tension with the release of this tension being the punchline?
Quote: Phil Gwilliam @ April 20 2012, 4:47 PM BSTIsn't a joke simply a build up of tension with the release of this tension being the punchline?
well no because the punchline has to be either "expected" or "unexpected"
expected..
"I like cats and I like dogs..... FIGHT!!!!"
yet it's still funny, but in America, our (British) humour simply does not work.
unexpected
"Jesus loves you, everyone else think's you're a *unt"
the later works in America but not so much in Britain.
Harry Hill
...I think the second one works perfectly well in UK.
Quote: Marc P @ April 18 2012, 10:47 PM BSTYeah, f**k 'em for 'enjoying' comedy!
I enjoy a hot dog by the way. Some people don't.
Is that all you say...?
Quote: cjdelphi @ April 20 2012, 5:03 PM BSTwell no because the punchline has to be either "expected" or "unexpected"
expected..
"I like cats and I like dogs..... FIGHT!!!!"
yet it's still funny, but in America, our (British) humour simply does not work.
unexpected
"Jesus loves you, everyone else think's you're a *unt"
the later works in America but not so much in Britain.
Harry Hill
I think that's what what I mean though..
The build up of a joke is the tension while the punchline expected or not releases that tension in laughter (hopefully).
"I like Cats and I like dogs..." That builds the tension.
"Fight" That's the release.
"Jesus Loves you, everyone else thinks..." = tension
"You're a ****" = release
Let's think of some more?
Quote: cjdelphi @ April 20 2012, 5:12 PM BSTIs that all you say...?
Pretty much.
Quote: Aaron @ April 18 2012, 2:52 PM BSTWe (can) laugh at the unexpected because it subverts expectations.
99% this I think. Laughter is largely a nervous reaction to the unexpected and I think it's probably there to let off emotional steam. For instance it isn't necessarily just jokes that make people laugh, I've been at the cinema and heard people laugh at scary / gory / sudden fright scenes.
However as the OP said, the expectation of a coming joke can be funny too, and I think that's probably because we've already learned the experience of laughing at that joke and our minds are reacting sympathetically. When you play peek-a-boo with a baby, it laughs the first few times out of shock, but then it comes to learn that the gag's coming and starts laughing before you even take your hands from your face. So even tired old jokes that've been heard a million times before can still elicit an automatic laughter response.
Which would explain how Jim Davidson is still working. 
Maybe the horse was playing a real life version of Cluedo in the man's house? Hence the rooms within the rooms? 'It was the horse in the kitchen in the room with the frying pan!'
What was the horse making for breakfast? Was it grilled hay? Or a cheeky little fry up? Was it wearing clothes? Maybe a fruity pair of pants and a kinky stetson?