# Can someone tell me the joke that goes with the punch line? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898 "2003-05-17T15:00:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jannal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jannal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jannal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/1 "2003-05-17T15:00:24Z")
Years ago I heard a joke and the punch line was “Cut Velvet!” Does anyone know the actual joke that belongs with this? Thanks! Jannal ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/2 "2003-05-17T15:05:57Z")
From [here](http://www.mcny.org/Exhibitions/nytradeoffs/garment.htm): > [@](#): > > The rag trade has always operated by its own rules. Most manufacturers lack capital; all must live by their wits. Design, sales, and manufacturing therefore relate more closely and fluidly than in other businesses to help owners adjust quickly to the demands of fickle markets. Firms that commit to the wrong fabric or style, though, suffer heavy labor and material costs they cannot hope to recover. The industry’s volatility is reflected in its mordant humor: > > \*Walking down Seventh Avenue one day, Green overhears a big jobber say that A-line skirts in taffeta will be next fall’s hot item. So he corners the taffeta market and puts everything he has into production of taffeta A-lines. Well, the buyers want A-lines all right, but in velvet, not taffeta. Green is ruined, finished, kaput! His only way out is through the showroom window. As he’s falling toward the pavement on 37th Street, he sees through a fifth floor window a guy cutting A-lines - in flannel! Sailing past, Green yells: “Cut velvet…!” \* ---
**Author:** ![Jannal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jannal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jannal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/3 "2003-05-17T16:23:39Z")
Thanks so much for the info! Not a bad joke, even if it is old!🙂 Jannal ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/4 "2003-05-17T17:08:02Z")
😕 I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Jannal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jannal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jannal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/5 "2003-05-17T19:18:54Z")
🙂 This isn’t as good an explanation as the one Johnny LA could give, but in short: _Green_ is trying to save someone else from making the same mistake he made even as he falls to his death. It’s an old joke that I just happen to think of the other day, and I couldn’t recall what preceeded the punch line. I guess it might be considered a bit morbid but I can’t help laughing everytime I read it - :rolleyes: I like the another joke too. The punchline is “Who Knows Me In Japan?” Jannal ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/6 "2003-05-18T15:04:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Thanks so much for the info! Not a bad joke, You must be in the garment industry. (I’m not, and I thought “Okaaaaay…”) ---
**Author:** ![LBM3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dec6dc/32.png) [@LBM3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LBM3)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/7 "2013-03-28T13:33:22Z")
Can someone tell me the joke that ends with the punch line Who Knows Me in Japan? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/8 "2013-03-28T13:44:15Z")
> [@LBM3](#): > > Can someone tell me the joke that ends with the punch line Who Knows Me in Japan? Third Base. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/9 "2013-03-28T14:26:21Z")
Wrecked’em? Damn near killed him! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/10 "2013-03-28T14:27:59Z")
Oraka ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/11 "2013-03-28T14:29:53Z")
What joke goes with the punchline “The Aristocrats”? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/12 "2013-03-28T14:38:56Z")
> [@SmartAlecCat](#): > > What joke goes with the punchline “The Aristocrats”? Can I tell it with mime? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/13 "2013-03-28T14:43:04Z")
> [@SmartAlecCat](#): > > What joke goes with the punchline “The Aristocrats”? [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=438790&highlight=aristocrats](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=438790&highlight=aristocrats) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/14 "2013-03-28T14:44:53Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Oraka A thousand pardons! I tried to locate “Oraka” online. That’s the way I heard the joke, decades ago, where it now appears “Gama Su” is the keyword. To avoid any further distractions on my part, check out [Golf Jokes.](http://www.ajokes.com/jokes/2448.html) ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/15 "2013-03-28T14:47:38Z")
> [@Jannal](#): > > _Green_ is trying to save someone else from making the same mistake he made even as he falls to his death. I don’t get it either. What does it mean to “cut” velvet? When he sees the guy “cutting” A-lines in flannel, what is that guy doing actually? I thought at first that “cut” meant to get rid of your investment in, but that doesn’t make sense, and I can’t see how physically cutting the cloth turns this into a joke. Can someone explain to the fashion-clueless? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/16 "2013-03-28T14:57:37Z")
> [@Futile\_Gesture](#): > > 😕 > > I don’t get it. You’re not alone. I’ve given up telling this joke except to anyone in the garment industry, and even then. You always have to explain it. It’s a combination of: the seasonal, fickle nature of the garment industry, in this case of which material to use (“cut _x_” means "use, or stock up on _x_); what a business owner can do when things go to shit; and a bizarre/sweet concern for the man’s competitors as he plummets to his death in suicide. Get it? 🙂 A much simpler joke I use at times (cut-up that I am), is related only in that it has a man speaking after a jump. When asked “How are you,” you say, “Fine” \, “as the man said halfway after jumping out of the Empire State Building.” The person asking may not get it at first, but I always think it’s funny/appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/17 "2013-03-29T00:34:03Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > A much simpler joke I use at times (cut-up that I am), is related only in that it has a man speaking after a jump. When asked “How are you,” you say, “Fine” \, “as the man said halfway after jumping out of the Empire State Building.” The usual punchline for that joke is [So far, so good!](http://comics.feedtacoma.com/img/comics/posts/lrg/tacomic-11643.jpg) This thread sounds like a _Jeopardy_ quiz category! 😛 (Is it, in fact?) ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/18 "2013-03-29T01:13:15Z")
And deep too. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/19 "2013-03-29T01:32:13Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The usual punchline for that joke is [So far, so good!](http://comics.feedtacoma.com/img/comics/posts/lrg/tacomic-11643.jpg) > > This thread sounds like a _Jeopardy_ quiz category! 😛 (Is it, in fact?) :smack: Of course. I tell the joke right, but I obviously can’t re-tell it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/20 "2013-03-29T01:33:19Z")
> [@steatopygia](#): > > And deep too. Can someone tell me the joke that goes with this punchline? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898.md?page=2)