Crack a joke. Get a 'bulb'.

How many times has this happened to you?
You crack a joke and the other person does not get the joke!
Especially during telephonic conversations!
The problem compounds if your ‘style’ of jokes border on the dry and more subtle.
Picture this. You are in a serious conversation with somebody. You want to lighten the mood and hence make a remark belittling yourself and glorifying the other person. Now, you would expect at least a smile (a giggle in case of telephone). Contrary to your expectation, the other person just completes the conversation as though nothing happened!
I know… you can always make the same remark again. But how do you know whether the other person didn’t hear it first time, has missed the joke completely, or did not find it funny at all? If it is the third reason then attempting the same joke again could be embarrassing (read catastrophic)!
Pretty tough. Right?