Do you think this (dead baby) joke is funny?

[SiXSwordS]

I'm not starting this as a joke thread and I'm not looking to learn a slew of dead baby jokes. I'm also not trying to offend anyone, so be aware that this thread contains a dead baby joke.

I'm interested to see if others do or do not find this joke amusing. If anyone cares to know why I'm interested I can try to answer that question, but otherwise I'd like to hear YHOs.

A dead baby walks into a bar. Everyone turns from their drinks to watch as the baby crawls across the room and starts to climb onto a barstool. The baby whines and grunts and moans as he climbs.

"Oooff!, ow!, oh!, man-o-man!"

Finally, when he gets to the top he grimaces and says, "Owie, owie, owie" as he sits.

The bartender asks, "Are you OK?"

The dead baby says, "I'm OK... I'm just a little stiff."

Not destined to be a classic, but, do you find it amusing?

If Yes, just say as much and expound if you like.


If Not, why not?

Do you like jokes of this type, but just not this one?

Is is poorly written or related clumsily?

Is it in poor taste?

Is it too unrealistic or non-sensical?

Would it matter where or from whom you heard the joke?

Bonus question: If you heard this joke and commented that you didn't like it, what would your response be if the teller said, "It's just a joke."?

[ratatoskK]

I vote for funny!

[KneadToKnow]

If Not, why not?

It's too long long a walk to find out the store was closed.

[tdn]

Meh. I'd give it a six. I have a problem right off the bat that if a baby is walking into a bar, it's likely that it's not so much dead as alive.

I much prefer the one about why babies have soft heads.

[brujaja]

It is removed enough to be primarily a pun or wordplay. I find it amusing, I love a good pun.

However, you never know when you're talking to the recently bereaved -- can you change it to "dead Lilliputian", or (poss. not PC) "dead midget?"

[SiXSwordS]

.. can you change it to ..."dead midget?"

A living challenged little person?

[Chronos]

However, you never know when you're talking to the recently bereavedI think that might be part of the appeal of the genre of dead baby jokes. To quote Kaylee, "The whole point... is that it ain't appropriate".

That said, having the dead baby crawling into the bar somewhat strains the premise, I think. Might it be possible to re-word so the baby's just lying there, er, being dead, with someone else delivering the punchline?

[KneadToKnow]

Might it be possible to re-word so the baby's just lying there, er, being dead, with someone else delivering the punchline?

So the stripper says to the customer, "That's some stiffy you've got there!" and the customer says, "Yeah, but I've only got thirty minutes to get him to the funeral home before my wife freaks out."

[Little Nemo]

I'd go with funny albeit not without its offensive moments.

The set-up works. It establishs that the dead baby is in some kind of discomfort which prompts the bartender's question which sets up the punchline. The idea of a dead baby walking into the bar might not work cold but it plays off the established genres of dead baby jokes and walking into a bar jokes.

[sugar and spice]

It's corny, but you got a tehe out of me.

[AuntiePam]

It's too long long a walk to find out the store was closed.

I agree. Plus, it took a minute for me to hear the "little" with "stiff". Maybe because stiff is often used as a pun in dead anything jokes. Stiff's expected, little isn't. If in telling the joke, you emphasized "little", I'd probably chuckle.

[Infovore]

Eh. Sorta funny, but a lot of setup for not much payoff.

I also had a problem with the dead baby walking around. Maybe a zombie baby? Would that still work with the punch line?

I like dead baby jokes, btw, so I certainly wasn't offended.

Did you write the joke?

[Cat Whisperer]

Funny. Not fall on the floor funny, but I chuckled.

[Gary T]

First off, to me this is not a DEAD BABY JOKE. Genuine DEAD BABY JOKES have the format one-line question/one-line zinger answer. This is simply a joke that happens to have a dead baby in it.

Secondly, while I appreciate the punchline, there are ways to set it up better. Not only does the dead baby distract from it (by bringing to mind DEAD BABY JOKES, which it ain't), but the walking talking corpse distracts by bringing to mind the living dead. These are extraneous concepts not necessary for the joke, and in my opinion they detract from it just by cluttering it up. I agree that the third person "he's a little stiff" (or similar line) would be preferable.

All that said, I'd say it's a mildly funny semi-groaner. With the right set-up (no dead babies) I'd find it funnier.

As far as joking about dead babies, it doesn't offend me, but I'm careful about when, where, and to whom I tell such jokes.

[Cluricaun]

I'll give it a 5/10 for combining two genres (dead baby and bad pun) but other than that it isn't a great one.

[SiXSwordS]

Did you write the joke?

Write may be a little extreme... I'm sure I've heard something like it before.

I put it together, so I'm the one to blame if the set-up is too long etc....

[Merneith]

The joke's not funny because it's too long a set up for an unoriginal pun. It'll probably get more groans than laughs. Puns in general don't really get much laughter but they can work if they're extra clever. The telling of the joke might make a difference if the speaker can do really funny dead-baby-crawling sounds. Still, it's a groaner.

The offensiveness is unrelated to the funniness. Jokes can be funny and still be offensive. People who tell offensive jokes should accept that they're going to offend people. People who trot out the "it's just a joke!" line are trying to argue that the offended parties shouldn't be offended. Don't argue - just read your audience and tell a different joke. Hopefully, a funnier joke. Most people do have a higher tolerance for offensive jokes provided they're worth the pay-off.

[NAF1138]

So the stripper says to the customer, "That's some stiffy you've got there!" and the customer says, "Yeah, but I've only got thirty minutes to get him to the funeral home before my wife freaks out."

See, now that's funny!

The OP, not so much. It's the dead baby walking into the bar, but it's also that the joke is essentially a pun. It isn't really funny no matter how hard you set it up. Watch, try it like this:

A man walks into a bar with a dead baby slung over his shoulder. The bartender looks at him and says "" the man relpys "Oh him? No problem at all, he's just a little stiff."

Meh, it still doesn't work. The problem is really that the joke isn't funny enough/shocking enough to get you past the premise that you are talking about a dead baby.

Dead Babies aren't actually funny in and of themselves. Sexy, sure, but not funny.

[capybara]

Hmm. The pun was a bit weak and formula, and the rest doesn't make sense in the dead baby genre (if it's moving it's a zombie baby, no?)

[The Great Sun Jester]

"A little stiff" worked for me. Knead set it up better though.

[Geek Mecha]

I think a set-up along the line of, "Did you hear about the dead baby who <insert action here> because he was a little stiff?" would have worked better.

[PatriotGrrrl]

...the baby's just lying there, er, being dead,

I laughed harder at that phrase than at the joke. :D

[Renee]

I think I'm the only person on these boards who doesn't find puns amusing. That one didn't work for me, either.

[Cluricaun]

The offensiveness is unrelated to the funniness. Jokes can be funny and still be offensive. People who tell offensive jokes should accept that they're going to offend people. People who trot out the "it's just a joke!" line are trying to argue that the offended parties shouldn't be offended. Don't argue - just read your audience and tell a different joke. Hopefully, a funnier joke. Most people do have a higher tolerance for offensive jokes provided they're worth the pay-off.

Quite so. Offensive jokes can sometimes be the funniest because the point is to get the audience focused on the offensive part so that the actual humor can sneak up and actually be a surprise, making the punchline unexpected usually garners bigger laughs. Offence is a technique, not a payoff unless you're in the company of hardcore joke tellers, hence the sublime beauty of a film like The Aristocrats. Funny is easy once you learn timing and a bit of a arsenal of punchlines, but to be truly tasteless is an artform. This is why I can laugh at someone like Doug Stanhope, who's really just crude and filthy.

[Nzinga, Seated]

Dead Babies aren't actually funny in and of themselves. Sexy, sure, but not funny.

You got me. I didn't see it coming.

[Heffalump and Roo]

Not funny.
too unrealistic or non-sensical?
Bonus question: If you heard this joke and commented that you didn't like it, what would your response be if the teller said, "It's just a joke."?
Oh whew! I was hoping dead babies didn't do all that stuff.

Then I would think to myself (but not say) that the teller needs to get a life.

[Little Nemo]

A man walks into a bar with a dead baby slung over his shoulder. The bartender looks at him and says "" the man relpys "Oh him? No problem at all, he's just a little stiff."See, that doesn't work for me. The OP was able to play off two different meanings of "a little stiff" with both being applicable to the dead baby's situation. You lost that dual meaning in your version.

And I have no problem with the idea of a dead baby walking into the bar. It's a convention of the joke - we accept the idea that grasshoppers or kangaroos or horses walk into bars and order drinks for the sake of setting up the joke.

[Little Nemo]

If you heard this joke and commented that you didn't like it, what would your response be if the teller said, "It's just a joke."?"No, if it was a joke it would have been funny. This was something else."

[Heffalump and Roo]

"No, if it was a joke it would have been funny. This was something else."
:D I like that. Definitely funnier than the "joke".

[Clothahump]

That's funny as hell.

Good setup for a good pun.

[CaerieD]

I vote funny...by reason of a hell of a lot of vodka.

[Johnny L.A.]

It would work better if it was something like:

Two doctors are looking at a dead baby in the ER. One says, 'Has rigor mortis set in?' The other replies, 'He's a little stiff.'

[The Tooth]

Not destined to be a classic, but, do you find it amusing?

Oh yes. But the bartender needs to say "You okay, Mac?"

Is is poorly written or related clumsily?

Not at all. Three 'owies' is just right.

Is it in poor taste?

Well, it is a dead baby joke.

Is it too unrealistic or non-sensical?

It's got a talking dead baby in it.

Would it matter where or from whom you heard the joke?

Not especially. I'd be a little surprised to hear it from my grandmother, I suppose.

Bonus question: If you heard this joke and commented that you didn't like it, what would your response be if the teller said, "It's just a joke."?

"Yeah, well."

[Antinor01]

Didn't do anything for me.

[ToeJam]

I didn't find it funny.
It took too long to get to the punchline, and it was predictable- so you don't really get that dark humor out of it.

:shrug: I liked Knead's joke though, quick and to the point always works better for Dead Baby humor rather than dragging it out for the audience.

[GrizzRich]

I think knowing your audience is essential.

[DLuxN8R-13]

I'm interested to see if others do or do not find this joke amusing. If anyone cares to know why I'm interested I can try to answer that question, but otherwise I'd like to hear YHOs.



Not destined to be a classic, but, do you find it amusing?

Yes. I giggled, briefly but aloud, when I got to the punchline. It wasn't what I expected; most DBJs, (which I usually do find pretty funny, as my sense of humor leans heavily toward the cruel and morbid side) are simpler and a lot grosser. This one has a kind of surreal je ne sais quois to it that appeals to the more intellectual end of my funnybone; and as for the howler at the end -- well, an atrocious pun is always, always its own reward.



Do you like jokes of this type, but just not this one?

What type do you mean -- DBJ or whatever you call the kind that conclude with Mr, Peabodyesque pun-ctuation ? Because, like I said, I'm quite capable of laughing at either sort.

Is is poorly written or related clumsily?

Not annoyingly so, IMNAAHO, no.

Is it in poor taste?

Yes indeed.

Is it too unrealistic or non-sensical?

Those things are not usually considered detrimental to a joke -- how many other jokes have a storyline that's even remotely plausible, after all?


Would it matter where or from whom you heard the joke?

Not really, no.

DLux, aka The Mean 13



PS: Why do babies have that soft spot on thier heads?


So you can carry ten of 'em at a time!

(Now that's a classic DBJ!)

[SiXSwordS]

Thanks for all the responses.

We're all in agreement that it is properly a slew of DBJs then?

One of the most interesting things about this is that I feel compelled to tighten up the joke.

[tim-n-va]

Two comments:
The baby walked into the bar then crawled across the floor??

I agree with the opinions that puns can be great jokes but generally won't support a long set-up. Generally they need to be at most a two-line to be effective.

[FriarTed]

Without going into an analysis, I'll just say it made me laugh. I was actually prepared not to like it but it took me by surprise.

[SiXSwordS]

I was actually prepared not to like it

...because it was a dead baby joke?

[FriarTed]

...because it was a dead baby joke?

No. because a "do you think this is funny" question makes me think that it may well not be and so that joke would have to be genuinely funny in order to win me over. It did. I'll probably tell it several times in the next week.

[LSLGuy]

Two comments:
The baby walked into the bar then crawled across the floor??

I agree with the opinions that puns can be great jokes but generally won't support a long set-up. Generally they need to be at most a two-line to be effective.What he said.


I have an acquantance who's a fool. He loves puns. He'll write a one page story with 4 characters to deliver the setup for his one-liner. Like watching a kindergartner doing a magic trick, you can see it coming so early that the rest is pure tedium and the punch line never fails to disappoint.

The OP's joke is going that way fast.

Try this:

Dead baby struuuuuggles onto a bar stool.
Barkeep says "You OK?"
"Naah, I'm a little stiff."

Same story but now it's 22 syllables versus 104. I cut 80% of the flab & now it's punchy.

[Cat Whisperer]

That's definitely better, LSLGuy.

[SiXSwordS]

That's definitely better, LSLGuy.

If you replaced the quote box in the OP with LSL's improved version, would you simply answer yes?

[Cat Whisperer]

If you replaced the quote box in the OP with LSL's improved version, would you simply answer yes?
Maybe.

[SiXSwordS]

Dead baby walks into a bar.
The bartender says, "Lookit that, a kidaver."

Same question(s).

[Glazer]

The second joke only works when written. And even then it's not funny.

[Bootis]

I really like the little stiff pun. Googling it reveals that it hasn't seemed to be discovered as a dead baby joke punchline, which is surprising because its a really good one. But I agree with the others, the joke is set up poorly. Does it have to be in a bar? because the best dead baby joke with that punchline I can think of is:

Why do masseuses need to be massaged while massaging a dead baby? Because they're feeling a little stiff!

[Chronos]

Quoth Little Nemo:It's a convention of the joke - we accept the idea that grasshoppers or kangaroos or horses walk into bars and order drinks for the sake of setting up the joke.(aside) OK, I know the horse and the grasshopper. What's the kangaroo one?

LSLGuy, your version does stand better on its own merits, but the original might still be better with the right delivery.

[Contrapuntal]

Quoth Little Nemo:(aside) OK, I know the horse and the grasshopper. What's the kangaroo one?Theer is a sign over the bar that says "Martinis $20.00." That bartender says "We don't get many kangaroos in here." To which the kangaroo replies, "At these prices you're lucky to get any at all."

[Stauderhorse]

I agree with the opinions that puns can be great jokes but generally won't support a long set-up. Generally they need to be at most a two-line to be effective.

Ah, then you won't ever want to read this (http://www.forestfirepb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=527&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) one. It's an ~11,000 word story that ends in a ridiculous pun. You might start reading it, not realizing how long it is, and by then it's too late to stop. No one can escape the snake puns! :eek:

[Contrapuntal]

Ah, then you won't ever want to read this (http://www.forestfirepb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=527&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) one. It's an ~11,000 word story that ends in a ridiculous pun. You might start reading it, not realizing how long it is, and by then it's too late to stop. No one can escape the snake puns! :eek:Hmm. It has a rather unfortunate title.

[Stauderhorse]

Hmm. It has a rather unfortunate title.

Oh my. Didn't even realize that.

[Runs With Scissors]

I don't like puns, so my opinion (which is that it isn't funny) needs to be taken with a grain or two of salt.

Also, dead baby jokes are kinda passe.

Still, when certain jokes have kinda worn out their welcome, a new twist on them can be really awesome.

This just wasn't it :) :) :)

[Little Nemo]

Dead baby walks into a bar.
The bartender says, "Lookit that, a kidaver."

Same question(s).That one doesn't work for me. Puns are not funny just because you say them. In order to work they have to be built up from natural elements not artificially constructed ones.

For example:

A grasshopper walks into a bar. The bartender says "Hey, we got a drink here that's named after you." And the grasshopper says "You've got a drink called a Ted?"

Example two:

There's this bar that has a drink called a purple water buffalo. Then one day an actual purple water buffalo walks into the bar. The bartender says "Hey, we got a drink here that's named after you." And the purple water buffalo says "You've got a drink called a Ted?"

See the difference? The first joke is based on the fact that there actually is a drink called a grasshopper. It takes a natural element and uses this to construct the joke.

[foolsguinea]

It's kind of cute. I like the description of his struggle onto a barstool more than the punchline.

[Yorikke]

It's slightly amusing, in the Vaudeville way. Not exactly "funny." Not offensive either, but I'm a childless man, I don't find dead babies any more objectionable than dead adults.

Joe

[Cheesesteak]

For me, dead baby jokes and puns need to be quick hitters. Something like:

Why did the dead baby use Ben Gay? 'Cause he was a little stiff.

Of course, the point of a DBJ is to be offensive, simply having a walking, talking dead baby in the story isn't offensive, you need to do something cruel or disgusting to it. This is why classic DBJ's involve things like pitchforks.

[jackdavinci]

It's not a dead baby joke. It's a meta joke that references the "dead baby" jokes and the "walks into a bar" jokes. Ultimately the humor here is pun based, whereas in real dead baby jokes the humor is based on gross out imagery. That said, I like both pun and gross out humor, so I'm not offended by either. It's more clever than actually funny, but I like those sorts of jokes too.

[SiXSwordS]

It's not a dead baby joke.
True, but I wanted it to be clear from the title that it was potentially offensive.

Maybe I should have used quotes instead of parenthesis.

[nofloyd]

I remember hearing a flurry of dead baby jokes when I was around twelve. Only one had stuck with me over the years.

"What's the difference between a truckload of dead babies and a truckload of bowling balls"
...
"You can't unload the truckload the bowling balls with a pitchfork."

Like Cheesecake said, quick hitting and disgusting visual imagery.

[Enderw24]

A dead baby walks into a bar. Everyone turns from their drinks to watch as the baby crawls across the room and starts to climb onto a barstool. The baby whines and grunts and moans as he climbs.

"Oooff!, ow!, oh!, man-o-man!"

Finally, when he gets to the top he grimaces and says, "Owie, owie, owie" as he sits.

The bartender asks, "Are you OK?"

The dead baby says, "I'm OK... I'm just a little stiff."


"Holy shit! A talking baby!"

[Markxxx]

It's cute, it reminds me of the old joke by Gracie Allen

Gracie) Hey George did you hear the joke about the man who threw a Chinese midget down the stairs 'cause he wanted to pitch a little woo

(OK very un-PC in todays world)