When Your Readers Just Don't "Get" It

I came across this problem in some peer editing in class today and thought it deserved a thread, as I'd like to think I'm not the only satire writer who has faced this problem.
I wrote a short piece that I THOUGHT was CLEARLY tongue-in-cheek, self-mocking, and satirical. Apparently, it came across more as opinionated, straight-forward and holier-than-thou. When I asked my editors what they thought my "point" was, they immediately and confidently replied with the exact point I was trying to make fun of in my story. -.- Talk about discouraging! Even after I explained what i was ATTEMPTING to convey to my peers, they had trouble suggesting better ways to say this when their initial impressions were so firmly engrained in their minds.
So gather here misunderstood satire writers! We can wallow in hipster-ish woe at how no one understands us. Or we could discuss different strategies of hyperbole and irony to better our understanding of how to get our points across. You know. Which ever sounds good to you.
Similar experiences? Advice? Theories on whether the problem lies with "us" or "them"?

if the people that read you writing are your target audience and they didn't get it then i think the problem lies with "us"

if they are not your target audience chances are the problem lies with "them."

for example if you make a satire about say... video games... people who don't play video games are not likely to get your references and your criticisms anyway.

the reading audience is a tricky thing, because you want to give them enough information to make it interesting, but not so much that they are lost and don't get it. i recently experimented with a story i wrote, which i thought was just subtle enough, but all the people that read it had completely different interpretations of what happened. none of them the one I was trying to convey. in my mind that is my failure. it is my job to ensure that at the end they get what i was trying to say or at least something close to it. so there is the case of just being to subtle. after all you know everything about the story, but your reader doesn't. so if you notice it is not enough, make what you are trying to get across a bit more pronounced until you notice your general audience is starting to get it.

so yeah that long winded thing above is what i think about it. i am curious as to other experiences and thoughts! nice topic :D

You're a victim of your own success.

For most people these days comedy is visual. I don't just mean slapstick humor. All political satire shows and stand up comedy acts rely on exaggerated movements and facial expressions. Sitcoms use laugh tracks to let you know when something funny was just said. In other words people don't get that something is a joke unless it's followed by the proverbial drum snare. Even comedy shows with no laugh track find it hard. Now imagine a novel.

This actually happens to me from time to time when I'm telling a person a joke face to face. I tend to say absurd and impossible things with a straight face. People don't always get it or it takes them a while to get it because they have to reflect on the absurdity of it. I've learned that I need to either smile and laugh after saying it or make sure what I'm saying is beyond the realm of possibility.

Or you could take the show "Monk" as an example. No laugh track but it is based on believable things. How does it work? Because they set the standard from the start of what the jokes will be. They will be about Monk's OCD and how extreme it is and also about how bumbling the police characters are. Every time the viewer see's it they know it's a joke because that's what they're made to expect.

Yes, yes, yes. I'm right there with you. My hubby was in a grumpy mood when I told him about a conversation I had in my book and he said, "I just don't get it. It doesn't seem that funny." The more I explained, the more I realized if I have to explain it, it probably sucks

You have to be able to step ourt of your own shoes and see it from someone else's perspective. You know it is satire, and that affects how you see your own work. Often, intended satire looks just like the real thing, looks just like material that is intended to be taken seriously.