It's especially fun with strangers and you get better and better at it the more you do it.

A well targeted quip or joke at the right/wrong time and then glimpse at their reaction will tell you a lot about said stranger.

It can even act as a filter. Based on the way they react, you may quickly decide if it's worth investing more time and effort with the niceties and interaction.

(im not a sociopath, i promise)

This is one of the funniest things that can be done with strangers, for example. I like this approach because it's so polarizing. If you get the other person to smile or laugh, you get an immediate connection. Otherwise they just consider you a mental case...which in my situation could even be the truth lol

Myshkin

Aardvark

Sometimes my brain prioritizes saying the thing that is funny over the thing that is proper/expected if enough people present (AKA at least me) can appreciate it