The Struggle Within - To write "cerebral" humor or not.

Last night I stopped by a local bar to listen in on the ending of a comedy open mic.  One of the comics was on stage doing her bit and was getting the laughs when she tried some "cerebral" humor.  Short story made shorter, no one "got" the joke....to include me.  On the plus side, I was inspired to go do some research until I did get the joke. 

I appreciate humor that goes beyond what I call "Jingle the Keys"(JTK) humor.  To me, JTK humor is the equivalent of jingling keys in front of an infant.  They might laugh, but there's nothing really funny about it...it's just amusing.

So the question is, does a "cerebral" comic need to "dumb-down" their material to meet the needs of the audience, or, should they stick to what feels right inside? 

Here's an example.