People
I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it.
— Samuel Johnson
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Watching someone try to be witty and flop is compared to watching someone leap a ditch and land in it. Both are painful to witness, and the speaker takes no delight in either. The comparison treats a failed joke as a small physical pratfall.
Context reviewed