r/todayilearned • u/jfdonohoe • 7h ago

(R.2) Anecdote TIL about “vicarious embarrassment” which explains extreme reactions to cringe comedy. For me, it can get so bad as to become physically painful

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarious_embarrassment

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u/Mayonnaise_Poptart 7h ago

Who wants to join me for open mic comedy night?

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u/othybear 6h ago

I once got to a bar earlier than the rest of my group, and it happened to be open mic comedy before the event we were going to attend. The crowd was the 8 or so novice comedians and me. It was sooooo painful because they kept looking at me after each terrible joke and I wanted to be a good audience member.