“David Letterman!”
“Hi, David, I’m Grampa!”
“I wouldn’t give my troubles to a monkey on a rock!”
“Hailstones the size of canned hams!”
“They pelted us with rocks and garbage.”
“Ham, ham, ham!”
Why do those need explaining? They’re funny lines even without knowing the reference (which I don’t).
They are mildly funny, in a sort of ‘No soap radio!’ manner, except they don’t evoke any desire to learn the explanation, after all, any line containing ‘monkey’, ‘ham’, or ‘garbage’ has humor potential. And if any explanations for those lines actually exist they’ll likely reduce or even eliminate the potential humor just as this only slightly detailed explanation should do as well.
I was curious enough to google them, and the first three are David Letterman quotes, so I imagine the last one must be as well (but it’s too vague to yield specific hits). I guess that’s why terentii quoted them. Although I used to watch Letterman, only the first one now rings a bell. They would be equally funny if said today, and I don’t think “monkey on a rock,” “canned ham,” or “rocks and garbage” require explanation.
There are tons of ancient catchphrases that no one would recognize today. Some are still funny without the context, some were always nonsense, and others do need explanation. I think those lines fall in the first category.
I’m fond of saying, when someone disbelieves something I’ve said, “Vas you dere, Charlie?” in a thick German accent. I picked it up from my grandfather, who I later found out was referencing Jack Pearl’s Baron Munchausen character.. That’s a catchphrase that’s pretty specific.
That plot was a bit different. Barney bought a cream puff used car from Ellen Corby (grandma Walton) that turned out to be a POS. When it broke down , the original crooks towed it in to sell it again with Andy and Barney in it, so they were caught.
It used to run occasionally on USA’s Cartoon Express, as did man other older, otherwise obsure cartoons.
They’re much funnier when you know the origin.
Please explain (since this thread is about jokes that need explanation, and I’m not getting it). Are they funnier just because Letterman said them? (And I’m not watching an hour-long video of Letterman catch phrases over seven years.)
First of all, you don’t have to watch the whole video. You can just skip through it.
Second, the absurdity of the premise is funny. Holding a contest to select lame catchphrases that could easily be used in mindless commercials. The catchphrases themselves are funny because they’re so stupid.
If you don’t find this amusing, you don’t find this amusing. Not much can be done about that.
What I’m asking you about is how your initial post fits into this thread. Why do the specific catchphrases you mentioned need explanation? (And I don’t see how the video fits into this thread either. If they are just lame catchphrases they don’t require explanation either.)
They’re meaningless unless you know the background.
That’s not true either. As I said, they are equally funny (not very, to be sure) regardless of who said them. They’re not any more funny just because Letterman said them. They just don’t need an explanation.
There isn’t really a joke here. It’s just non sequitur humor that means nothing outside the context of being immersed in the Letterman show. So it can’t really be explained and it’s obvious that outside of that context no one will get it.
I wonder how many younglings refer to junk emails and texts as “spam” have actually seen the Monty Python sketch that led to its name.
One of my favorite bad jokes as a kid in the 80s was:
Q: What happens if the New York Mets can’t get 3 outs on the other team?
A: Strawberry Fields Forever!
Which of course, makes no sense today.
There was one where Bill Gates was talking to an auto executive and said that if cars had followed the trajectory of computers, a car would cost $25 and get 1000 miles per gallon. The executive replied, “And randomly crash once a day.”
Of course, that led to multitudes of internet joke sheets full of lines like this. Every time they repaint the lines on the road you will have to upgrade your engine (or buy a new car). The airbag would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.
And after the car crashed, you would have to turn on the high beams, turn on the windshield wipers, and open and slam the door all at the same time to get it to re-start.
There were many variations, depending on which Service Pack you installed. The sheet I linked has: