To hopefully clarify slightly, I don't think of jokes as necessarily being construal level jokes in and of themselves, although I suppose this element could loom larger or smaller within something that is humorous. Just that it is easier to see the construal level being present in these examples including Soviet era jokes. I think of it more as a type of psychological distance. I am not confident enough to say that all humor and jokes have a construal level element, but it does seem to be present in a large amount of what is funny and why we laugh. Take for example the movie This Is 40 that you wrote about your wife and you laughing to tears during. I don't wish to psychologize you or claim insight I don't have, but aside from laughing because you could relate were you not also laughing because of the psychological distance from the situation. It was all happening to someone else while you were safely at home at a remove from this comedic reflection of parts of your reality.
Maybe macabre Soviet era jokes are another example of construal level jokes
Come for the comedy, stay for the…? Glad to have you!
To hopefully clarify slightly, I don't think of jokes as necessarily being construal level jokes in and of themselves, although I suppose this element could loom larger or smaller within something that is humorous. Just that it is easier to see the construal level being present in these examples including Soviet era jokes. I think of it more as a type of psychological distance. I am not confident enough to say that all humor and jokes have a construal level element, but it does seem to be present in a large amount of what is funny and why we laugh. Take for example the movie This Is 40 that you wrote about your wife and you laughing to tears during. I don't wish to psychologize you or claim insight I don't have, but aside from laughing because you could relate were you not also laughing because of the psychological distance from the situation. It was all happening to someone else while you were safely at home at a remove from this comedic reflection of parts of your reality.