# 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:** 1\ **Showing post:** 101
**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. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-the-funniest-joke-ever-told-by-johnny-carson/1021428)._