# Did anybody ever really laugh at these? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [April 19, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511 "2024-04-19T17:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/81 "2024-04-21T01:49:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > How many people quote _Airplane II: The Sequel_? “I guess irony can be pret-ty ironic sometimes…” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/82 "2024-04-21T02:47:04Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I was just reading about how Johnny Carson hated having Bob Hope as a guest because Hope would insist in scripting out the entire interview and jokes when Hope would appear on The Tonight Show. In fairness, Bob Hope was born in 1903 and was still going on the Tonight Show to plug his specials 88 years later. By then his eyesight was failing (and probably his hearing, as well) and had to rely on scripted bits and remembering how many steps to get to the couch. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/83 "2024-04-21T04:06:58Z")
The thing about _ **Airplane!** _ is that it’s so funny even if you don’t know about and have never seen _ **Zero Hour** _, the movie it’s parodying. With Westerns and classic Horror movies, you have a lot of clichés to draw on. With Aviation Disaster movies, not so many. Often it’s knowing the clichés that make parodies funny in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/84 "2024-04-21T04:47:12Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Every time someone says Bob Hope, I think Bob Newhart. Easy to tell them apart: Bob’s the funny one. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/85 "2024-04-21T04:48:01Z")
And Bob’s the one with the funny nose. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/86 "2024-04-21T09:29:03Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Bob Hope treated his writes like trash. If they asked for raises, with proof that other comics’ writers were getting more, Hope would tell them he wouldn’t want to hold them back, and fire them. On payday they’d have to gather under a balcony where Hope would sail their paychecks folded into paper airplanes. It was because the jokes really didn’t matter: the audience payed to see Bob Hope deliver lame jokes that went over, or bad jokes that he then joked to cover over. > [@dorvann](#): > > I was just reading about how Johnny Carson hated having Bob Hope as a guest because Hope would insist in scripting out the entire interview and jokes when Hope would appear on The Tonight Show. Hope had enough sway at NBC to insist on this. Carson mentioned how Hope would get lost if he went off script and that Hope had almost no ability to improvise(something Carson was great at.) If I ever gave any thought to Bob Hope at all, I never really thought of him as an asshole, although his political views should have been a clue. But I definitely never regarded him as even remotely funny. Hope’s idea of humour was straight from the vaudeville days, and it was the kind of humour that was lame even then. It’s beyond me how he achieved success in radio, TV, and movies. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/87 "2024-04-21T13:00:08Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > Every time someone says Bob Hope, I think Bob Newhart. > > Easy to tell them apart: > > Bob’s the funny one. Which one’s your uncle? ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/88 "2024-04-21T13:10:02Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It’s beyond me how he achieved success in radio, TV, and movies. The grown-ups were laughing at the clangers they had been hearing all their lives, a kind of habitual reflex, and the kids (me, 1950’s) laughed because the clangers were fresh to them. I ate up his specials (I especially liked the discovery of Jerry Colonna in the audience, and I repeat: KID!). But the bloom went off at the sight of him snarling at the soldiers who were flashing the “V” on one of his Viet Nam specials. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/89 "2024-04-21T15:06:56Z")
Bob Hope’s talent was timing. The jokes he told were rarely any good. He had two kinds of writers; hacks and talented comedians who were holding back their good stuff for their own use. The fact that Hope could get laughs anyway speaks to his incredible talent as a performer/actor especially compared to the wooden deliveries that prevailed at the time. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/90 "2024-04-21T15:56:52Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In_ stole every two-bit vaudeville joke ever told, except delivered by a bunch of young people popping through holes in a wall with Goldie Hawn giggling so much she couldn’t talk. Coincidentally I was just listening to Goldie Hawn on the ‘Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend’ podcast yesterday. She said that when she auditioned for Laugh-In, the name of the character she read for and went on to play was literally called “The Giggles Girl”. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/91 "2024-04-22T14:54:16Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > > > Example: “I just flew in from New York, and boy, are my arms tired!” > > My twist on that is much better: > > _I just flew in from New York, and boy, is that joke tired._ > > Only problem is… not that many folks in the audience these days would have heard of the joke in the first place. AND, how many of your friends at a party would even be familiar with 1950’s vaudeville-derived comedy? Germane to this thread, I’d hesitate to tell either the “arms tired” or “joke’s tired” version, because I’d be delivering it to an audience that didn’t grow up with that format, and even if they were, wouldn’t think it was funny. I play poker with guys who are even older than I am, and this one guy’s taste in humor is _so_ bad… _“How bad IS it?”_ It’s _so_ bad… that he’ll start with “Okay, I saw a great joke on the internet.” What follows is always an Old Fashioned Joke: ‘So two guys walk into a bar…’ or ‘So, Joe gets home late from the bar, and his wife is furious…’. And the punchline takes a while to get to, is dependent on outdated sex/race/age stereotypes, and hasn’t been funny since Bob Hope was in diapers (the first time). Sort of the opposite of what my friends find funny, which is playing off something someone just said in a discussion. A witty insight/reference/pun, rather than a “joke”. More like having a beer with John Stewart than a seltzer-down-your-pants with Jerry Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/92 "2024-04-22T16:48:24Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > The way I heard it was, the new guy yells out a number, and gets crickets. He sits back down, embarassed, and his cellmate says “You didn’t tell it right.” Both versions work, I think. The version I heard was “You need a good German accent for that one”. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/93 "2024-04-22T17:01:20Z")
> [@digs](#): > > AND, how many of your friends at a party would even be familiar with 1950’s vaudeville-derived comedy? Yeah, sometimes the joke is so old it’s new again. I broke and split open a finger a couple years ago. When the ER doc was treating it, I asked if I’d be able to play guitar when it healed. I wasn’t really trying to set up a joke, I was genuinely concerned. He said “oh yeah, it’ll heal up just fine. You’ll be able to play, no problem”. Then I remembered the punchline to an old Vaudeville joke and said “great, I couldn’t play guitar before!” I expected no more than a groan, but I got a genuine laugh. Then I realized that this doctor, who looked barely pubescent, must never have heard the old joke (which in the original version I think involved a broken arm and playing piano). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/94 "2024-04-22T17:07:03Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > The version I heard was “You need a good German accent for that one”. 1. Unless you mean 981 which is only slightly different. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/95 "2024-04-22T17:13:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Unless you mean 981 which is only slightly different. I stand corrected. Pretty sure a German accent with 981 would actually be pretty offensive! 😃 > [@solost](#): > > I broke and split open a finger a couple years ago. When the ER doc was treating it, I asked if I’d be able to play guitar when it healed. I wasn’t really trying to set up a joke, I was genuinely concerned. He said “oh yeah, it’ll heal up just fine. You’ll be able to play, no problem”. Then I remembered the punchline to an old Vaudeville joke and said “great, I couldn’t play guitar before!” Hah - I did this with the doctor before my wrist surgery (piano, not guitar). I hastily interrupted with “I know, old joke, but I really DO play!”. Turns out to be a good thing, as he modified his surgical technique a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/96 "2024-04-22T17:30:16Z")
Reminds me of an [episode](https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Morale_Victory_(TV_series_episode)) of M_A_S\*H in which Charles Emerson Winchester had a patient with leg and arm injuries. Charles concentrates on the leg injury at the cost of some nerve damage to the patient’s hand but later finds out that the patient was a concert pianist and is no longer able to play with his right hand. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/97 "2024-04-22T17:39:22Z")
I’ve occasionally entertained myself by pulling out an ancient joke or two. (E.g. when I was interacting with a doctor: patient says “I want a second opinion!” Doctor says, “I think you’re ugly, too.” Probably Henny Youngman.) If you’re lucky – as I was in that case – the victim isn’t so familiar with the joke as to be unable to get a chuckle out of it. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/98 "2024-04-22T18:00:23Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > (E.g. when I was interacting with a doctor: patient says “I want a second opinion!” Doctor says, “I think you’re ugly, too.” Probably Henny Youngman.) I think that’s Rodney Dangerfield? The “take my wife, please” joke was only ever funny in the context of all of his jokes that led up to it: “Take my mechanic – he \, or take my doctor – he \, etc., etc., or take my wife… please! \” In that context, it’s really not too bad. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/99 "2024-04-22T18:09:12Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > The “take my wife, please” joke was only ever funny in the context of all of his jokes that led up to it: “Take my mechanic – he , or take my doctor – he , etc., etc., or take my wife… please! ” In that context, it’s really not too bad. Youngman’s cameo in _Goodfellas_ always bugged me for that reason. It’s literally the first thing out of his mouth at the Copa when he’s introduced. When I saw that movie in my teens, I knew something was off. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511/100 "2024-04-22T18:28:17Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > (E.g. when I was interacting with a doctor: patient says “I want a second opinion!” Doctor says, “I think you’re ugly, too.” Probably Henny Youngman.) Some site says this is Youngman, so I withdraw my Dangerfield claim. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anybody-ever-really-laugh-at-these/1000511.md?page=6)