# Not All Jokes Land: Evaluating Large Language Models Understanding of Workplace Humor

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01819 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01819/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 10 of its 38 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21783/) (2024)
- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [Qwen2 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10671/) (2024)
- [Let's Think Outside the Box: Exploring Leap-of-Thought in Large Language Models with Creative Humor Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02439/) (2023)
- [COBRA Frames: Contextual Reasoning about Effects and Harms of Offensive Statements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.01985/) (2023)
- [BertaQA: How Much Do Language Models Know About Local Culture?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07302/) (2024)
- [Corporate Communication Companion (CCC): An LLM-empowered Writing Assistant for Workplace Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.04656/) (2024)
- [Small But Funny: A Feedback-Driven Approach to Humor Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.18113/) (2024)
- [Humor Mechanics: Advancing Humor Generation with Multistep Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.07280/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Large Language Models for Subjective Language Understanding: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.07959/) (2025)
- [Harm or Humor: A Multimodal, Multilingual Benchmark for Overt and Covert Harmful Humor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.17759/) (2026)
- [HumorGen: Cognitive Synergy for Humor Generation in Large Language Models via Persona-Based Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09629/) (2026)
- [One Joke to Rule them All? On the (Im)possibility of Generalizing Humor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.19402/) (2025)
- [HumorRank: A Tournament-Based Leaderboard for Evaluating Humor Generation in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19786/) (2026)
- [Large-scale factor analysis shows machine intelligence is only partially interpretable](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.36515/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs), the automation of daily tasks, like automatic writing, is getting more and more attention. Hence, efforts have focused on aligning LLMs with human values, yet humor, particularly professional industrial humor used in workplaces, has been largely neglected. To address this, we develop a dataset of professional humor statements along with features that determine the appropriateness of each statement. Our evaluation of five LLMs shows that LLMs often struggle to judge the appropriateness of humor accurately.