Dissect well-known jokes & gags

Cafe Society
1

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: To get to the other side.

Irony - the audience, knowing it’s a joke from the setup, expects an intentionally humorous response. However, the deadpan, matter-of-fact answer is what ends up creating the humor.

R: Caught my wife cheating the other night.
P: You bitter?
R: Yep. Bit him too.

Pun, Irony - P is asking if R is, understandably, upset about his wife’s infidelity. P’s choice of words in doing so is misunderstood, and sounds like something that while is completely different, it’s also, coincidentally, completely true. Further humor is drawn from the nature of the reveal, which only indirectly explains the nature of R’s misunderstanding.

Bender (Futurama): “This is the discrimination of the worst kind. The kind that affects me.”

Satire (through Burlesque, Irony) - A jab at the hypocrisy and self-centeredness of Americans, especially when it comes to protests of discrimination. Bender admits, in a way that most wouldn’t, that this particular example of discrimination is the most offensive of all, not because of any objective demonstration of the effects of this discrimination compared to the discrimination others experience in similar situations, but soley because it is HE that’s experiencing it.

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2

Q: Where did the General keep his armies?
A: In his sleevies!

Wordplay the word “armies” has a very specific connotation of forces of military arms of which a General is the head. However, the word bears a root similarity to the word “arm”. The arm part of a shirt is referred to as a “sleeve” so , although both words are non-sensical, stylistically, “sleevies” would be concurrent with “armies”. The use of a General adds to the deception that eventually leads to the humorous conclusion

3

Cats were once worshipped as gods by the Egyptians. And they’ve never forgotten it!

Wit, Burlesque Interpreted through human eyes the domesticated cat seems to have snobbish, selfish traits, especially compared its closest counterpart, the domesticated dog, which is known for its loyalty and owner-centeredness. When a superficially rational, yet ultimately implausible (cats certainly can’t remember that they were once worshipped as gods) explaination is offered for this behavior, humor ensues.

4

Take my wife- please!

This line takes the expected and makes it unexpected. The set-up appears to be that he is going to tell an anecdote about his wife that is an example of whatever he just talked about (e.g., “Women can be a nuisance. Take my wife, for example…”) Instead, he is actually saying that he wants someone to take his wife off of his hands so he is not bothered by her.

Why is six afraid of seven?
Because seven ate nine!

A pun, it appears. Playing on the homophones “ate” and “eight,” as well as the numerical order of the numbers six, seven, eight, and nine. Since seven ate nine (which sounds like “seven, eight, nine”), the number six is apparently afraid that he will be eaten next.

“One day I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I’ll never know.”- Groucho Marx, Animal Crackers (1931)

Another pun, I think, this one playing on the way a sentence can be interpreted. It appears that Mr. Marx is stating that he shot the elephant while wearing his pajamas (“in my pajamas”), presumably since it was late at night. However, the elephant was actually somehow able to climb into Mr. Marx’s pajamas, which confounds him.

What’s black and white and read all over?
The newspaper.

This gag loses something when it is typed out, since it is a play on the homophones “red” and “read.” From the question, it appears that the punchline will involve something that is colored black, white, and red. In actuality, it involves a newspaper, which is usually black text on white paper, and is read in a large portion of the world in some way or another.