# Setup and punchline are the same **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790 "2020-01-02T17:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/21 "2020-01-03T13:23:13Z")
The best one I know of which truly conforms to the OP comes from the long-running British radio comedy show _I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue_, in the days when it was hosted by the late Humphrey Lyttleton. A standard joke was him belittling the panellists and the show itself. After one round he enunciated thus: “That went off very well! Let’s move on. Oh, hang on, I read that wrong, let me do that again. That went off. Very well, let’s move on.”. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > I don’t remember the comedian, but the joke was: > > The best thing about marriage is that you get to sleep with one woman for the rest of your our life. > > The worst thing is you get to sleep with one woman for the rest of your life. The definition of bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/22 "2020-01-03T13:48:39Z")
Racist as hell, but it’s the best example I know: Q: What happens when a Jew with a hard-on walks into a wall? A: He breaks his nose. Q: Correct! Now, what happens when an Asian with a hard-on walks into a wall? A: He breaks his nose. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/23 "2020-01-03T14:07:01Z")
Why does a chicken? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/24 "2020-01-03T14:14:18Z")
How long is a Chinese name? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/25 "2020-01-03T14:55:30Z")
There’s a _Robot Chicken_ episode about Batman and the Joker. The Joker gets a long-overdue death sentence and at his electrocution, Commissioner Gordon reads it out: Gordon: Maurice P. Joker… for 2,391 counts of murder [sub]_and many other crimes that seem minor next to 2,391 counts of murder_[/sub] you have been sentenced to death! [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71xRTT2RsJc) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/26 "2020-01-03T18:48:34Z")
I remember a Howie Mandel bit from way back when he still did stand up: “I was in a restaurant. And when the waiter came, I said “Ewww, the waiter came”” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/27 "2020-01-03T18:56:38Z")
In the movie _The Truth about Cats and Dogs_, Janeane Garofalo hosts a radio call-in show giving advice about pets. One guy calls in insinuating he wants to have sex with his dog, Janeane replies [“It’s OK to love your pets, just don’t LOVE your pets”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18dPJrsAx7o). ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/28 "2020-01-03T19:39:13Z")
“Innuendo. In YOU end-oh!” I remember it being used in \*\* Scrubs\*\*. TCMF-2L ---
**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:** [January 3, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/29 "2020-01-03T19:51:35Z")
**[Moderating]** > [@TonySinclair](#): > > Racist as hell, but it’s the best example I know: > > Q: What happens when a Jew with a hard-on walks into a wall? > A: He breaks his nose. > > Q: Correct! Now, what happens when an Asian with a hard-on walks into a wall? > A: He breaks his nose. Can we please _not_ perpetuate jokes that even the teller recognizes as “racist as hell”? What good could possibly come of that? ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/30 "2020-01-03T20:51:07Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > The best one I know of which truly conforms to the OP comes from the long-running British radio comedy show _I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue_, in the days when it was hosted by the late Humphrey Lyttleton. A standard joke was him belittling the panellists and the show itself. After one round he enunciated thus: “That went off very well! Let’s move on. Oh, hang on, I read that wrong, let me do that again. That went off. Very well, let’s move on.”. Humph had a lot of those. ‘The show has just been awarded the UN Funny Award! I’m sorry, I’ll read that again. The show has just been awarded the Unfunny award’. Of course, it has to be delivered by Humph for maximum impact. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/31 "2020-01-03T22:17:42Z")
She was so fat, the when she sat around the house, she _sat around the house!_ ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/32 "2020-01-03T22:53:26Z")
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station… ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/33 "2020-01-04T00:05:27Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station… That reminds me of the old George Miller joke about going to a fancy restaurant. “They had a waiter for everything! The water waiter came by and gave us water. The butter waiter came by and gave us butter. Then the head waiter came by…” ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/34 "2020-01-04T00:42:01Z")
From Benny Hill: What is _this_ thing called love? One half doesn’t know how, the other half lives! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/35 "2020-01-04T01:51:33Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > From Benny Hill: > > What is _this_ thing called love? > > One half doesn’t know how, the other half lives! He also had a bit where there was confusion between a “music album” and a “musical bum”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/36 "2020-01-04T01:59:20Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > He also had a bit where there was confusion between a “music album” and a “musical bum”. There’s a joke like this in pretty much every SNL Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, where Sean Connery misreads one of the category names, ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/37 "2020-01-04T02:12:47Z")
_Punch_ cartoon, 1925: Doctor: What did you operate on Jones for? Surgeon: A hundred pounds. Doctor: No, I mean what had he got? Doctor: A hundred pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/38 "2020-01-06T19:51:01Z")
I found a semi-humorous example this morning on another website: [You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you - unknown](https://i.redd.it/yw2ezbjzq2941.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/39 "2020-01-06T21:14:08Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > I found a semi-humorous example this morning on another website: > [You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you - unknown](https://i.redd.it/yw2ezbjzq2941.jpg) Somewhat similar – soimething I came up with: “The one thing you can say about a Bad Experience is that it’s a Good Experience.” ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790/40 "2020-01-07T01:54:19Z")
Ooh, got one… [Rodney Dangerfield on Johnny Carson, 1983.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGvnHvba_b0&feature=youtu.be&t=315)(time stamp to 5:14) This one girl told me come on over, there’s nobody home. I went over, there was nobody home! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setup-and-punchline-are-the-same/845790.md?page=3)