AI is the butt of the joke

Comedians said audiences have one rule about AI jokes: You have to make fun of the tech.

Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI BI spoke to stand-up comedians who joke about AI.

They all reported one core rule from their audiences: you must make fun of AI.

It's funny because it's everywhere, they said.

It's not a good joke writer, though.

Comedian Sabrina Jalees tells Business Insider she's been peeing her whole life.

Recently, she wondered if that could be an economic opportunity.

"I feel like within my soul is a long lineage of people that belong on 'Shark Tank,' whether they're securing the deal or not," she said.

After hearing that data centers were draining some freshwater reserves , she found her pitch to the sharks: "Why can't we use our piss?" Her "why-don't-we-pee-on-data-centers" business proposal never reached Barbara Corcoran or Kevin O'Leary.

Instead, after trying the joke in her stand-up sets, Jalees pitched it to an ad agency.

Liquid Death and Garage Beer turned her gag into a viral ad campaign, featuring a chorus of people, including former NFLer Jason Kelce, proudly singing as they brought jars of urine, addressed to a data center, to a post office.

The companies also sold an $18 pee jar .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adam Conover (@adamconover) It's part of a larger trend in comedy: As AI and data centers create tension, audiences are looking for comic relief.

Business Insider spoke with five stand-up comedians, including Jalees, about how audiences respond to jokes about the technology.