There are times where I don’t know whether something is funny because of its context or whether it is just funny in its own right. Take for example the late, great Mr. Vonnegut’s novel ‘Timequake.’ In the Vintage edition of the book, printed in 1998 in New Zealand, a certain punchline to a gag occurs overleaf (for people who want to appreciate the joke, go find the book). The punch is unexpected, as are most of Mr. Vonnegut’s jokes, but the fact that you have to turn the page to read it renders it, I think, even funnier.
Or does it. I can’t say; to do that I would have to had also read the book, afresh, in a different edition, and as I am not (currently) bilocal, I’m unable to do that.
These things concern me.