# Does anyone else miss cocktail napkins with jokes on them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805 "2011-04-26T19:06:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/1 "2011-04-26T19:06:34Z")
Dopers of a certain age will know what I’m talking about. Through the 1970’s, and sometimes afterward, when you ordered a cocktail–or sometimes even a soft drink–in a bar or a midscale restaurant, it would be served on a cocktail napkin with a cartoon and a joke. Sometimes there would only be one cartoon, on the top face of the napkin. But other times–a special treat!–the napkin would unfold to reveal a series of themed cartoons. The jokes usually fell into one of three categories: 1. Humorous depictions of drunkenness. Guys would wear lamp shades, see pink elephants, have bubbles over their heads, and wake up the next morning with a hangover and an ice pack on their head. This was considered funny. 2. Lockhorns-style vignettes from bad marriages. 3. Really bad, really dated allusions to pop culture. One that I remember from the 1980’s, 15 years after Laugh-In went off the air, had a guy at a race track asking where to bet his sweet bippy. Another popular series was “Tips for Swingers”. I thought they were dorky during their heyday. But now that they’re long gone (I can’t remember the last time I got one), I miss them. This thread has no point, other than to see if anyone shares my nostalgia for this art form, and would perhaps like to reminisce. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/2 "2011-05-17T18:37:03Z")
Well, if you have $100 worth of nostalgia, you can get some [here](http://www.amazon.com/Paterson-Pacific-1078994-Cocktail-Category/dp/B00125NGRG). Also, don’t be afraid to bump your thread, rather than just consider it a failure. (I saw the other thread, but there’s no way I’m being the third reply.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/3 "2011-05-17T19:01:46Z")
I don’t miss them because I think I only saw them once. And I didn’t find them particularly funny. Maybe I’m too young. And that’s something I haven’t said in a while! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/4 "2011-05-17T19:18:44Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > 1. Humorous depictions of drunkenness. Guys would wear lamp shades, see pink elephants, have bubbles over their heads, and wake up the next morning with a hangover and an ice pack on their head. This was considered funny. That strikes me as the sort of thing that’s hilarious after about three gin and tonics. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/5 "2011-05-17T19:43:54Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I don’t miss them because I think I only saw them once. And I didn’t find them particularly funny. They were so unfunny that they were funny. > [@BigT](#): > > Well, if you have $100 worth of nostalgia, you can get some here. A hundred dollars! Jeez, no wonder restaurants stopped serving them. But yeah, those bad bowling jokes are par for the course, to mix a metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/6 "2011-05-17T19:50:45Z")
The ones that I saw weren’t of the variety that you describe. They would take two well-known sayings and concatenate them together, with the first part of one and the second part of the other. The only one I remember was One man’s drink… is a dangerous thing! ---
**Author:** ![lukiedukie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c67d28/32.png) [@lukiedukie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lukiedukie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/7 "2011-05-20T17:56:42Z")
I randomly googled this. I don’t know why it popped into my head. I “grew up” in a bowling alley my parents owned and I remembered those cocktail napkins out of nowhere. I used to “play” with them all the time. I totally remember the lampshades etc and a guy being drunk and having the hiccups or something. So happy someone remembers these!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/8 "2011-05-20T19:11:15Z")
I liked the ones that had a riddle on the napkin, and the answer if you opened up the napkin. Also, [these](http://www.jokelibrary.net/yyDrawings/bottle_caps.html) ruled. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/9 "2011-05-20T19:35:17Z")
This thread is reminding me of the trivia napkins from [Cheers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Ph9E51yyc&feature=player_detailpage#t=162s). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/10 "2011-05-20T20:16:21Z")
I don’t miss the joke cocktail napkins, but I do miss the sugar packets with the birds on them. I imagine that restaurants quit buying those packets because of kids like my friends and me, we’d decide that we wanted to collect them, and our mothers would throw them out every chance. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/11 "2011-05-20T21:10:39Z")
Too young for the joke napkins but I miss the coffee cups with the poker hands on them. I think my best hand was a full house. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/12 "2011-05-20T21:23:42Z")
I remember them from my childhood. Here someone has posted pictures of his/her collection: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/36878773@N07/5347470668/in/photostream/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/36878773@N07/5347470668/in/photostream/) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/13 "2011-05-21T15:48:38Z")
Here’s one that I just remembered: A guy walks up to a bar table at which his friend is already sitting with a drink. “Charlie, you old dog!”, says the new arrival. “We drank here on our last night in the army, and swore that we’d meet again, exactly ten years later, at the same spot. Are you the first one here?!?” Charlie looks up morosely and says, “Who left?” Yeah, I know, it’s not funny. But it’s a slice of Americana that I miss, like Mail Pouch ads on barns. Oh, and ditto on the sugar packets–those were cool, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/14 "2011-05-21T21:12:43Z")
One I remember from a napkin, because as a kid I didn’t get it and had to ask my Mom to explain it: Q: What’s another name for a bride’s brazierre? A: A Niagara Falsie! Haha! It’s a pun: Falls, falsie! Because people go to Niagara Falls on their honeymoon! And falsie means bra with extra padding! Fake boobs are funny! I know not funny, & a weird thing to remember. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-miss-cocktail-napkins-with-jokes-on-them/579805/15 "2011-05-23T15:48:30Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Dopers of a certain age will know what I’m talking about. Through the 1970’s, and sometimes afterward, when you ordered a cocktail–or sometimes even a soft drink–in a bar or a midscale restaurant, it would be served on a cocktail napkin with a cartoon and a joke. > > \ > > The jokes usually fell into one of three categories: > > 1. Humorous depictions of drunkenness. Guys would wear lamp shades, see pink elephants, have bubbles over their heads, and wake up the next morning with a hangover and an ice pack on their head. This was considered funny. My parents had some of these. I disticntly remember one with a depiction of an unborn baby with the drawn-in"stars and whirl marks" used to connote drunkeness and some line like, “Wow, she really needs to lay off the [some popular 1970s drink].” Now that really shows how times have changed.