If you hear British people talking about trees and fridges in the same sentence， they are probably telling a joke. What do trees and fridges have in common？ Nothing at all， and that’s the point—it’s what makes surreal humor more funny.

Surreal jokes combine ordinary objects or situations with unusual elements that you would never expect， for example：

Question： What’s white and can’t climb trees？ Answer： A fridge.

From the question， you might start thinking about white animals and a fridge is probably the last thing you’d say. The more unexpected the answer is， the funnier the joke becomes.

Many surreal jokes work best as part of a series. The first joke is silly and the other jokes in the series use an element from the first joke to create an even crazier answer. Take these examples：

Question： What’s small and furry and travels at 100 miles per hour？

Answer： A hamster on a motorbike.

Question： How do you know when you’ve got a hamster in your fridge？

Answer： The motorbike’s parked outside.

This type of joke is not always about fridges. Any subject can be used， including surrealism itself. This one gives a popular type of joke about changing light bulbs a very unusual twist：

Question： How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb？

Answer： Fish.

If that’s too crazy for you， don’t worry； there is usually some strange logic involved. For example：

Question： What’s red and bad for your teeth？ Answer： A brick.

It’s usually sugary food that’s bad for your teeth but a hard red brick will damage them too！

Although these jokes often make no sense， once you understand the way they work， especially sequenced jokes， you can sometimes predict the answers. Try completing the second panda joke：

Question： What goes black， white， black， white， black， white？

Answer： A panda falling on a hill.

Question： What’s black and white and red all over？

Answer： A panda that’s covered in…