Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wrapper 24: Extremely predictable

35. Tim A., Elm Mott, TX

What do you call a mean-tempered horse?


A night-mare?

35. A nightmare!

Yeah, okay. Not very good. Jokes like this are at their best when the punchline isn't anything resembling a stretch, but this one is for two reasons. One, a mare is a specific gender of horse; two, "mean-tempered" hardly leads directly to "nightmare." Sure, I can parse it easily enough, as I obviously did by predicting the punchline, but it's just not a good joke.

36. Darrell J., Panama City Beach, FL

Where do fish sleep?


On the sea bed, clearly.

36. In a water bed!

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. These two jokes were so predictable that you almost wish at least one of them had gone the misdirection route, taking an obvious setup and then pulling a punchline more out of left field. I can't think of a good one for either of these offhand, and maybe there isn't really a good one to be had - so had they tried I'd probably just be raking them over the coals for a horrible joke. But is it worse to be impressively bad, or just boring?

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