# Please explain to me the funniest joke ever told by Johnny Carson **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [July 28, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428 "2025-07-28T15:05:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/101 "2025-08-09T22:55:08Z")
You asked this before. > [@Red Buttons off color quip censord on "Johnny Carson"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/5): > > I heard a story from my uncle about Gypsy Rose Lee being on the Tonight Show (he said Carson, but I don’t think the dates match up). She was going to demonstrate some of her old burlesque moves and asked the band’s drummer to give her “the beat.” “What beat?” he asked. “Y’know, the beat. The one they do in all the burlesque clubs.” “Ma’m,” the drummer replies, “I’ve never been to one.” She’s incredulous. “A grown man like you, never been to a burlesque show??” Shaking her head, she adds,… And got pretty much the same answer. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/102 "2025-08-09T23:26:30Z")
So I did… Huh. Well, that was six years ago, and my memory is not what it was… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/103 "2025-08-10T00:06:13Z")
I was just trying to search for a reference that might give an answer and the Dope was the only one even to ask the question. Possibilities: it wasn’t on the Tonight Show, with Carson or anyone else; it was some other burlesque star; it never happened and your uncle liked telling stories. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/104 "2025-08-10T00:18:58Z")
Smells UL to me. Like _The Newlywed Game_ and “Up the butt, Bob.” Millions claim to have seen it, but it never happened. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/105 "2025-08-10T00:31:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Smells UL to me. Like _The Newlywed Game_ and “Up the butt, Bob.” Uh, isn’t that the one urban legend that turned out to be true? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/106 "2025-08-10T00:34:36Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > You didn’t see the cat joke because it never happened. Yes but the myth of it happened - [on the Johnny Carson Show.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRR1aKBOCOQ) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/107 "2025-08-10T00:52:20Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > Smells UL to me. Like _The Newlywed Game_ and “Up the butt, Bob.” > > Uh, isn’t that the one urban legend that turned out to be true? Yes, but people still insist that the contestant was actually a Black woman who said “DAT BE DA BUTT, BOB!”, when she was actually a white woman who said “In the ass.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/108 "2025-08-10T04:25:01Z")
Maybe. Here’s Snopes on the topic with the actual clip and we never learn from her own lips what she really said: > **['Up the Butt, Bob'](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/up-the-butt-bob/)** > > Rumor: A 'Newlywed Game' contestant said the 'weirdest place she'd ever made whoopee' was 'up the butt.' I’m willing to accept the UL as semi-true. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/109 "2025-08-10T05:17:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > your uncle liked telling stories. That’s _definitely_ true. ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/110 "2025-08-10T13:28:18Z")
I think that was a Saturday Night Live bit, with Dana Carvey portraying Johnny Carson as a defense attorney for O. J. Simpson, in place of Johnny Cochran. As Carnac, Carvey was trying to divine the contents of a mysterious envelope that was a key piece of evidence in the trial that the defense was able to suppress. And O.J., of course, played for the Bills. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/111 "2025-08-10T14:17:49Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > The internet is also telling me that sis boom bah’s origins are as an onomatopoeia of fireworks. So, the association with an exploding something would probably be easily understood by most audience members, and the joke is of course that “bah” is also the sound a sheep makes. When I was growing up in the 80’s, the college cheer was fading out, but still in use. I think the meaning was well-known just because of all the youngsters asking “what does that mean, anyway?” and enough grandparents still around to explain it. Plus, consider the age skew of Late Night with Johnny Carson in the 80’s. Many viewers would’ve had direct or near-direct knowledge of it. So while it was already old at the time, most viewers would’ve known it was a bomb onomatopoeia. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/112 "2025-08-10T14:59:02Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I think the meaning was well-known just because of all the youngsters asking “what does that mean, anyway?” Or they saw the Bugs Bunny cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/113 "2025-08-10T21:18:57Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Or they saw the Bugs Bunny cartoon. Yeah, i was talking to the daughter of a friend of mine, and she was calling a stupid person a “George”- which comes from the Bugs cartoon “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him… George”- a parody of “Of Mice and men””. Many people had their only introduction to Opera from Bugs, ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/114 "2025-08-10T21:47:21Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Although my brain is trying to nudge me about one which referred to “a diseased camel” and “your sister”. The way I ‘remember’ it, it was ‘May a diseased yak hide in your mother’s hope chest.’ He may have done it again with ‘sister’, but it’s funnier with ‘mother’ because of the implication. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Yeah, i was talking to the daughter of a friend of mine, and she was calling a stupid person a “George”- which comes from the Bugs cartoon “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him… George”- a parody of “Of Mice and men”” What Bugs me about people calling stupid people ‘George’ because of the cartoon is that the _dumb_ person was not named George. The _smart_ person was George. The big lummox was Lennie. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/115 "2025-08-11T01:11:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What Bugs me about people calling stupid people ‘George’ because of the cartoon is that the _dumb_ person was not named George. The _smart_ person was George. The big lummox was Lennie. 😀 Yep, and I make that same point. The book is very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/116 "2025-08-11T02:02:53Z")
For that matter, “Nimrod” meaning “idiot” probably also stems from Bugs Bunny. The original Nimrod, in the Bible, was an accomplished hunter. Bugs called Elmer Fudd that sarcastically, to mock his lack of hunting skill. But to viewers unfamiliar with the biblical reference, it was just a generic insult. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/117 "2025-08-11T02:18:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But to viewers unfamiliar with the biblical reference, it was just a generic insult. It doesn’t help matters that “nimrod” sounds like it _should_ be an insult, à la “nitwit” or “numbskull.” ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/118 "2025-08-11T03:54:59Z")
I’m going to Straight Dope this and mention that it wasn’t Bugs Bunny, it was Daffy Duck. The video mentions Bugs, but there’s no instance of him using it, at least that I can find. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/119 "2025-08-11T03:56:55Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/466BM-XCteE/maxresdefault.jpg "Looney Tunes Transformed the Definition of a Word!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=466BM-XCteE) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428/120 "2025-08-11T04:08:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For that matter, “Nimrod” meaning “idiot” probably also stems from Bugs Bunny. The original Nimrod, in the Bible, was an accomplished hunter. Good point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428.md?page=7)