Jokes | Humor | Funny Stories

What’s So Funny? A Joke Is a Short Story

A review of What Killed Humor? by Joseph Epstein

In a February issue of National Review, Joseph Epstein wrote a column about humour. He had some intriguing things to say about humour. Here are a few of the things he wrote:

A joke is a mini short story. That makes jokes a great thing to share in a speech, a blog post, an article, a Medium story. Jokes are short stories that actually touch upon the good, the bad, and the in-between of human life.

I’m not sure that humour has much to do with good taste. Humour, jokes, quips — they often come without any good taste. And, yet, they can be funny. The best jokes are stories that are often so true to life that they may seem in bad taste — unless your mind is open to a new viewpoint. Then bad taste becomes something more: A challenge to your normal way of thinking.

Just about every other category of joke would be awarded one or another of the current day’s non-union labels: misogynist, elitist, or just generally offensive. It’s one of the reasons that a lot of comedians are avoiding the college circuit these days. College students are so indoctrinated with weakness that they can’t appreciate a good joke.

Of course, the best jokes often come at our expense. We should be able to laugh at ourselves. Too many young people don’t seem to be able to do that in today’s world. That is their loss.

For a country without humour, one that cannot laugh at itself, one in which ample segments of the population go about ticked pretty near the max, doesn’t let’s face it, figure to be much fun. And that’s why social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are slowly dying. Too much bad humour, too little laughing at oneself, too much bitter feuding, too little fun.

Here are a few of the jokes he shared in his article:

Went into a restaurant whose menu said Breakfast Anytime. So I ordered French toast in the Renaissance. — Stephen Wright

A pre-presidential-election campaign meeting between President Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson had had to be cancelled because they couldn’t find a translator. — Mort Saul

Too many red folks and blue folks really need a translator to understand each other in today’s social media world. Alas.

And here’s one story he shared that is both funny, sad, and all too real (perhaps).

The police went to the home of Mrs O’Leary to tell her the sad news that her husband Paddy had fallen into a vat of dark beer at the local brewery and drowned.

“Oh, alas, I hope his death was a quick one,” Mrs O’Leary says while crying and blowing her nose.

“I’m afraid it wasn’t,” one of the policemen replied, “He was seen three times leaving the vat to urinate.”

I tried to make the above story more politically correct by changing the name to a less Irish name, but it just didn’t work as well. Probably because we’ve heard so many stories of how the Irish like their drink.

The thing I liked about the story was the surprise ending that showed how dedicated we all should be if we are engaged in something we love.

Joseph Epstein is the author of Gallimaufry, a Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits. You can read his entire article at the link below:

I love Stephen Wright’s humour. It’s just off-centre enough to always make me think — and laugh! He always asks such thought-provoking questions.

If “con” is the opposite of “pro,” then what is the opposite of progress? — Steven Wright

If it’s zero degrees outside today and it’s supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be? — Steven Wright

If a word in the dictionary were misspelt, how would we know? — Steven Wright

If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer? — Steven Wright

If it’s tourist season, why can’t we shoot them? — Steven Wright

If the black box flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn’t the whole aeroplane made out of the stuff? — Steven Wright

If work is so terrific, how come they have to pay you to do it? — Steven Wright

I bought some powdered water, but I don’t know what to add. — Steven Wright

If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it? — Steven Wright

If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from? — Steven Wright

If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose? — Steven Wright

It seems he likes to play with his food!

Note: This story was edited by someone who grew up with British spelling. I would never write humour or off-centre myself. Oh, well!

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