# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/101 "2013-04-04T23:49:35Z")
> [@steatopygia](#): > > And deep too. Richard Pryor used it to advantage [http://www.ebay.com/itm/RICHARD-PRYOR-And-Its-Deep-Too-Complete-Warner-Bros-Recordings-9-CD-BOX-OOP-/350735768523?pt=Music\_CDs&hash=item51a97b1bcb](http://www.ebay.com/itm/RICHARD-PRYOR-And-Its-Deep-Too-Complete-Warner-Bros-Recordings-9-CD-BOX-OOP-/350735768523?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item51a97b1bcb) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/102 "2013-04-05T02:56:35Z")
“Now where’s that woman with the sore tooth?” ---
**Author:** ![FlyingScotsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@FlyingScotsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingScotsman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/103 "2013-04-05T03:13:13Z")
To return at this late point to the ORIGINAL post/topic, I immediately recognized said joke. Because it was originally in a joke book by Myron Cohen, who built his career telling jokes about the Jewish garment trade. the Catskills, etc. Myron Cohen jokes are not always universal; many of them require an understanding of the same type of quirky social interactions later exhibited in shows such as “Seinfeld.” My favorite Myron Cohen joke, which makes about half the people I tell it to laugh loudly and the other half look quizzically for a punch line: Two guys order lunch in a Catskills inn. Waiter brings the soup courses, delivers the one guy his chicken noodle, and says to the other who ordered borscht, “We don’t got borscht. I bring you this cream of potato soup instead. Try. If you like, fine, if not, I take it back.” Guy shrugs his shoulders, tries it, and an expression of near-orgasmic delight spreads over his face. “Oh my God, Henry, you have to try this, it’s unbelievable!!! Amazing!!” Henry tries it, and is similarly overtaken with joy. He summons the waiter back and says, “Please, I must have this, can you take the chicken soup back and bring me a bowl of this wonderful soup?” Waiter looks at him and asks, “Did you order borscht?” ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/104 "2013-04-05T03:19:19Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > No soap, radio. > [@CurtC](#): > > I don’t get it. No soap, radio. ---
**Author:** ![Jefferey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Jefferey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jefferey)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/105 "2013-04-05T08:32:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > From [here](http://www.mcny.org/Exhibitions/nytradeoffs/garment.htm): Good Joke Johny. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/106 "2013-04-05T09:05:27Z")
I don’t know, but the Pope’s his chauffeur. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/107 "2013-04-05T11:39:58Z")
…The squaw on the hippopotamus is equal to the sum of the squaws on the other two hides. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/108 "2013-04-05T15:39:38Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > That’s very similar to a joke I tell - it always makes everyone a bit annoyed. But in my version, the phrase is “the dog walks at midnight.” I heard it as a teenager. So much fun to tell - less fun to hear- it has no punchline at all. The boy gets endlessly punished and then he gets hit by a bus. Yeah, but this version is kind of meta, given the “[red brick](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9574002&postcount=31)” trope. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/109 "2013-04-05T15:43:52Z")
Since this has become a general joke thread, let’s move it over to MPSIMS. Note that the thread was started in 2003. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/110 "2013-04-05T15:44:03Z")
I didn’t get the red brick byplay here. No soap is even more meta-y, but maybe not even that. Kevin, what’s the frequency? is too, but slightly different, and I can’t remember why. OK, query: where does that come from? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/111 "2013-04-05T15:46:08Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Since this has become a general joke thread, let’s move it over to MPSIMS. > > Note that the thread was started in 2003. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator I was wondering when this was going to happen. I didn’t even notice it was a zombie! ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/112 "2013-04-05T16:26:01Z")
“Were these plumbers supposed to be here this show…?” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/113 "2013-04-08T10:37:50Z")
But honey, this one’s eating my popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/115 "2013-04-16T13:57:50Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I didn’t get the red brick byplay here. > No soap is even more meta-y, but maybe not even that. Kevin, what’s the frequency? is too, but slightly different, and I can’t remember why. > > OK, query: where does that come from? “What’s the frequency, Kenneth” wasn’t a punch line and it wasn’t part of a joke. It came from a disturbing real-life incident, and was amde more famous by the rock band REM. Years ago, a schizophrenic man attacked newscaster Dan Rather on the street, and supposedly kept shouting, “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” Apparently, like many schizophrenics, this guy heard a lot of voices in his head that he THOUGHT were coming from the TV. He thought he could make the voices stop if Dan Rather would just tell him the frequency the voices were being broadcast on. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/116 "2013-04-16T18:06:01Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Okay, who knows a Soviet-era joke comparing communism to capitalism. Something about a communist and a capitalist meeting up in hell, standing in line or something, and something something ‘hammer’ something ‘nails’ something. Damned if I can remember any other details. For some reason this went from the joke where I only remembered the punchline to a joke where I couldn’t even remember that. Anyone? > > Anyone? > > I’ll check in later. Coffee break’s over; time to stand on my head. I semi-remember the one you refer to: it revolved around the inefficiencies of Soviet manufacturing industry, where there were endless problems with the supply of materials – so the tendency was for a factory to stand idle for most of a month, for lack of stuff to work with; then when they finally had all the stuff together, sloppy and hasty work at a frantic pace in the last days of the month, to try to meet the month’s output quota. The situation in “Communist Hell”, as the Communist explains, is that the damned and the demons hang around quietly for the majority of the month, with not a lot happening; but a whole month’s worth of torment is nonetheless crammed into its final few days. There’s a variant of the joke, in which a capitalist and a Communist both die and go to Hell; they find themselves in a passage where there are two doors, labelled respectively “Capitalist Hell” and “Communist Hell”. The two guys look at each other, pondering “what next?” Communist: We’d do best to go into Communist Hell. Capitalist: Well, of course you would say that – you’re a Communist. Communist: No – we’re in too much of a fix to mess about. I tell you, we should pick Communist Hell. Capitalist: OK – why? Communist: Because in Capitalist Hell, they’re sure to go about burning damned souls very efficiently. But in Communist Hell – when there’s coal, there won’t be any matches. When there are matches, there won’t be any coal. And when there are both coal and matches, the furnaces will be closed down for repairs. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/117 "2013-04-16T18:13:43Z")
I disagree on the Carnak quotes. The greatest ever Carnak answer was… “Wicker Box”. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898/118 "2013-04-16T18:18:06Z")
> [@FlyingScotsman](#): > > To return at this late point to the ORIGINAL post/topic, I immediately recognized said joke. > > Because it was originally in a joke book by Myron Cohen, who built his career telling jokes about the Jewish garment trade. the Catskills, etc. Myron Cohen jokes are not always universal; many of them require an understanding of the same type of quirky social interactions later exhibited in shows such as “Seinfeld.” > > My favorite Myron Cohen joke, which makes about half the people I tell it to laugh loudly and the other half look quizzically for a punch line: > > Two guys order lunch in a Catskills inn. Waiter brings the soup courses, delivers the one guy his chicken noodle, and says to the other who ordered borscht, “We don’t got borscht. I bring you this cream of potato soup instead. Try. If you like, fine, if not, I take it back.” > Guy shrugs his shoulders, tries it, and an expression of near-orgasmic delight spreads over his face. “Oh my God, Henry, you have to try this, it’s unbelievable!!! Amazing!!” > Henry tries it, and is similarly overtaken with joy. He summons the waiter back and says, “Please, I must have this, can you take the chicken soup back and bring me a bowl of this wonderful soup?” > Waiter looks at him and asks, “Did you order borscht?” Well, I laughed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-the-joke-that-goes-with-the-punch-line/175898.md?page=5)