This Friday, August 16th is National Joke Day. I don’t know which is sadder; the fact that there is a page on the internet or that I googled it.
All I can say is, “Don’t sell that cow!”
We all know jokes. We’ve got our favorites. Some of us can tell jokes; others can’t. Some don’t know they can’t. They should resign themselves just to be laughers. Sometimes it’s funny to hear somebody who can’t tell a joke, tell a joke. Oftentimes that’s funnier than the joke itself. There’s nothing worse than the guy at the office who knows ONE joke and tells it all the time. I’m talking about all the time. It wasn’t funny the first time.
So then Boudreaux says, “Check Thibodeaux’s pocket!”
Now I tell jokes. I also know how to tell stories. There is a difference. Know your audience. You’ll often have to abbreviate the joke or clean it up a bit. The key is not to tell the joke you heard in the 8th grade. Unless you are in the 8th grade. I know some clowns who are still telling that same joke. I’m not one to point out that I’ve heard the joke before. I listen and laugh at the appropriate time as I don’t want to appear to be rude. I love a good laugh, always enjoy hearing a NEW joke. Problem is that there are not many new ones going around. Blame the internet and social media if you will, but I like hearing somebody either trying to make an old joke better or to make up a new joke.
Then the bartender says, “Lady, donkeys don’t even LIKE olives.”
So National Joke Day is less than a week away. Let’s not spend time re-telling old jokes; let’s just get right to the punch line. Here’s an old joke that demonstrates what I’m talking about:
This group of guys are sitting around a bar yelling out numbers. “45,” says the first guy to an eruption of laughter. “19,” offers up another. Laughter all around. The guy who just walked in asks what’s going on. The bartender says that these guys have been telling the same jokes for years, and they now have them numbered to save everybody some time. “68.” “112.” “87.” All of these number meet with an array of grins, smiles and guffaws. Then this one guy gets up and shouts, “33.” The group goes silent. One whispers to another, “You know, he never could tell a good joke.”
That’s okay. We’re not welcome in Kroger anymore either.
So how about we do this? This Friday, just tell the punch line. Not only in your office, but on FaceBook, Twitter, and any other social media outlet you have. Some will laugh. Others will scratch their heads. Many will ask what’s going on. You may have to tell the whole joke. Doesn’t matter. The laughter is what matters.
Wait. I don’t get it.
