My adult son likes to tell what we call the “whale joke.”
A whale walks into a bar and says to the bartender. . .
The rest of the joke is whale sounds. Lots of whale sounds. Whale sounds that go on for minutes at a time - so long that the joke starts off as a little cute, then becomes funny, then goes on too long, then turns the corner and becomes absolutely hilarious. There’s no particular punchline. It ends when everyone is laughing too hard to breathe.
Probably the most famous joke of this type is The Aristocrats, a joke which can be written either simply or incredibly complicated, but which totally depends on the telling to make it funny.
What’s your favorite joke that won’t work unless you tell it in person?