# I know the punchline, what's the joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294 "2002-12-28T03:30:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/1 "2002-12-28T03:30:58Z")
Surprise! no politics here! (at least not current politics) Circa 1940, the punchline to a rather risque (apparently) joke was: “Hold on to your hats, folks, here we go again!” Q: what was the set-up? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/2 "2002-12-28T03:37:35Z")
Any context? How did you hear about this? How do you _know_ the punchline went to a risque joke? ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/3 "2002-12-28T03:43:37Z")
As always, the explanation of the question comes **after** it is answered. IOW: _Trust me_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/4 "2002-12-28T03:51:56Z")
Reference from a Tex Avery cartoon? ([ur][http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/a.html](http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/a.html), scroll down to the entry for Avery, Frederick Bean (Tex).) I’m rather interested in knowing the joke to this punchline, myself. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/5 "2002-12-28T03:53:04Z")
Err. [http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/a.html](http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/a.html), rather. ---
**Author:** ![silverfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@silverfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silverfish)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/6 "2002-12-28T03:54:54Z")
I’ve googled this, and found 3 websites, all of which refer to a Bugs bunny cartoon. At the end of the episode bugs and Willoughby dog fall off a cliff, but then after falling and falling, land safely, then bugs goes 'fooled ya didn’t we?, then proceeds to fall off another cliff. Apparently in one version, bugs then said: “Hold on to your hats, folks, here we go again!”, and then the cartoon ends (with ‘that’s all folks’, etc) However, this apparently wasn’t broadcast, possibly because someone thought it would be too topical, so would date badly. The cartoon was called ‘The Heckling Hare’, and was apparently made in 1941. The references are these three sites: [http://lavender.fortunecity.com/fullmonty/22/avery.htm](http://lavender.fortunecity.com/fullmonty/22/avery.htm) [http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/a.html](http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/a.html) [http://www.burbankhighanimation.com/texavery.html](http://www.burbankhighanimation.com/texavery.html) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/7 "2002-12-28T04:07:54Z")
Thanks for the reference, **racinchikki**. While it didn’t help, I appreciate the courtesy. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/8 "2002-12-28T04:12:13Z")
Very Good! You have learned how to use a search engine (pls teach **Jinx** 😃 ) Now, what was the set-up? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/9 "2002-12-28T04:23:36Z")
All I can find through any avenues thus far is that nobody knows the joke. Most people, with the exception of the initial link I provided and several folks who’ve ripped off that person’s content for their own sites, don’t even say that it’s from a risque joke. The strongest terminology most people venture is that it was _supposedly_ or _reportedly_ from “a then-current joke of an off-colour nature.” Others don’t even mention the joke when discussing the cartoon’s ending change (if, as I’m assuming, that’s why and how you were bitten by the curiosity bug). I’ll try asking an elderly gentleman of my acquaintance if he knows any jokes with that punchline, if no one else finds results. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/10 "2002-12-28T04:28:55Z")
Yes, I’ve searched - the only references I can find are to the punchline - hence my Q. For those too lazy to click the link(s) - this line was the central point in Tex Avery’s departure from WB (to MGM) - Leon was as adamant about removing it as Tex was about keeping it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/11 "2002-12-28T04:36:53Z")
After searching Google Groups for an hour, including this same discussion from the last 5 years or more, it would appear that there probably isn’t any old joke. If there were, and if it was well-enough know that Avery would have Bugs use it, then _someone, somewhere_ could have come up with the joke. They haven’t, so the best explanation is the Leon/Tex feud. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/12 "2002-12-28T05:00:27Z")
I found something. It’s a line from the 1935 Astaire/Rogers movie, _Top Hat_. [Link](http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/26/flying.html#ref2) Haj ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/13 "2002-12-28T05:10:10Z")
I misread the link. The line is actually from the 1933 Astaire/Rogers movie, _Flying Down to Rio_. Haj ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/14 "2002-12-28T05:17:41Z")
Might be a false lead, **hajario** , but good work in finding it. In that context it’s described as “Herkimer Jerkimer” dialogue - an example of the inane lines given to Fred Astaire in the movie - and probably not anything having to do with a joke that’d stick around long enough to end up in a Bugs Bunny cartoon eight years later. You never know, though. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/15 "2002-12-28T05:28:05Z")
Yes, **racinchikki** , but in [this](http://lavender.fortunecity.com/fullmonty/22/avery.htm) link which you also cited, the explanation given for cutting the line was that it was “too topical.” A tag link from an eight year old movie might be right on the edge of something that people would remember at the time. Perhaps it was also a slightly suggestive joke in the movie. I can’t find a script online anywhere to verify this. Haj ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/16 "2002-12-28T05:35:23Z")
Arghh! Actually it was **silverfish** who posted that link. Also, the line in the movie was “Hold on to your hats, _boys_, here we go again.” Haj ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/17 "2002-12-29T02:10:57Z")
Thanks, **Haj** - Just watched the movie (at least enough to set up the line): short answer - nothing for Leon to get his panties in a bunch over. The setup: Astair is second-banana to a band leader (two wild and crazy guys!) playing a gig in a swank hotel in Rio - the new “Swiss” manager (read: prick) is ready to fire the goof-offs, etc. Anyway, shortly after the band starts playing, the band leader notices, and is noticed by, by Hot Latin Chick[sup]TM[/sup]. When, in the course of the following banter, it becomes obvious that the band leader is going to pursue HLC, Astair utters the line. In context: A romantic liason is about to commence. (the flick also has a visual of a hotel maid whose heels are well rounded, for those old enough to get the joke) So, unless the line pre-dates the movie, it makes no sense for Tex and Leon to fight over it. The mystery remains: was it a pointless clash of egos or a pointed clash of egos? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/18 "2002-12-29T02:18:06Z")
So there you go. It’s a line that signifies in the movie that a romantic liason is about to commence. Maybe it became a catch phrase after that for the next few years but was dying out. The sources say that it was mildly risque and/or too topical. This would fit both criteria. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/19 "2002-12-29T02:53:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by happyheathen \* > **(the flick also has a visual of a hotel maid whose heels are well rounded, for those old enough to get the joke)** I’m not old enough. Would an explaination be short and simple enough not to require a hijack? ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294/20 "2002-12-29T02:57:20Z")
Kids! A woman of ‘easy virtue’ was said to have “round heels”. The nickname “Susie Roundheels” was common for “loose” women. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-the-punchline-whats-the-joke/145294.md?page=2)