# Can someone give this poor proto pun a joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 11, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054 "2005-07-11T20:21:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/1 "2005-07-11T20:21:31Z")
Though I tend to have headaches on days that end in “Y” (working on it) I was struck with actual phyiscal pain this afternoon while listening to my NPR/music station on the drive to lunch. It might just be a proto punchline by most people’s standards, but … it’s difficult to tell. The nebulous joke I have around it centers on a sound tech running out of music an hour or two before the curtain goes up opening night on a production of The Mikado - either the orchestra announcing they aren’t contracted for pre-show music or the collected ovetures tape has busted … And when asked, another sound tech volunteers a tape from her collection “I have a little Liszt …” What’s worse than being struck by that phrase is the inability to succintly wedge it into a useable joke (obviously limited to an audience who know who knows a few 19th century composers …) Anyone able to lend a hand? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/2 "2005-07-11T20:41:33Z")
The music director of a local production of the Mikado exclaimed “I’ve lost the score! What shall I use?” Whereupon the rehearsal pianist held up some sheet music and said “I have a little Liszt!” Yeah, like _you_ can write jokes with Celerity. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/3 "2005-07-11T20:48:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Live free or die. Death is not the worst of Evils. I read that “Death is not the worst of Elvis.” ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/4 "2005-07-11T21:06:03Z")
Sorry. I’d usually be right on top of something like this, but today I’m feeling a little Liszt-less. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/5 "2005-07-11T21:08:30Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Sorry. I’d usually be right on top of something like this, but today I’m feeling a little Liszt-less. It’s gonna take Liszterine to get the bad taste of that pun out of my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/6 "2005-07-11T21:10:40Z")
It’s not a very original pun, I’m afraid…a friend of mine kept a notepad in his kitchen, which was headed ‘Chopin Liszt’. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/7 "2005-07-11T21:12:13Z")
When come bach, bring liszt. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/8 "2005-07-11T21:42:59Z")
A bit of nitpickery: if you want this to resemble the line from _The Mikado_, it should be “ **I’ve got** a little Lizst.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/9 "2005-07-11T23:00:27Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > a friend of mine kept a notepad in his kitchen, which was headed ‘Chopin Liszt’. Sick. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Khadro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Khadro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadro)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/10 "2005-07-11T23:57:17Z")
Slightly off topic, but once, many moons ago we were at an historical re-creation park (Old Sydney Town for those that know of it), and my mother bought a “Ye Olde Style Signe” that read: Gone Chopin. Bach in a minuet. Offenbach sooner. She bought it for one of her friends who was a church organist. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/11 "2005-07-12T00:22:27Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > A bit of nitpickery: if you want this to resemble the line from _The Mikado_, it should be “ **I’ve got** a little Lizst.” Which would explain why Google failed: Error between keyboard and chair. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/12 "2005-07-12T03:50:31Z")
> [@Mynn](#): > > Which would explain why Google failed: Error between keyboard and chair. Don’t worry. One-d-ten-T errors are common. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/13 "2005-07-12T03:53:49Z")
I didn’t mean to misspell ‘Liszt’ in my nitpickery post. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/14 "2005-07-12T04:41:03Z")
See Isaac Asimov’s story _The Favorite Piece_ (one of the Union Club mysteries) for joke. ---
**Author:** ![Bendarr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@Bendarr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bendarr)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-give-this-poor-proto-pun-a-joke/312054/15 "2005-07-12T05:05:30Z")
Would the rehearsal pianist’s name be Schindler by chance?