A pun is likely to fall above the speaker's "conversational value threshold" (i.e., is it worth saying?) and below the listener's (was it worth him saying?) bec

A pun is likely to fall above the speaker's "conversational value threshold" (i.e., is it worth saying?) and below the listener's (was it worth him saying?) because (1) the comedic value is low, but (2) the speaker alone gets the added benefits of inflicting the pun and/or thinking they appear clever.