# Wornout premises for jokes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 15, 2023, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605 "2023-08-15T12:29:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/41 "2023-08-31T12:02:26Z")
The pickle slicer was fired also.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2023, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/42 "2023-08-31T14:21:18Z")
I think the OP has just lost some of his sense of humor. No premise for a joke is old, if it is still funny.
I wouldn’t want to pay to see a comedian tell knock knock jokes, but then, I don’t go to comedy shows. But tell me one at work, and if it is funny, I’ll laugh. MOO!
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/43 "2023-09-07T14:27:05Z")
I loathe twisted, contorted, contrived stories that lead to a horrible pun/word play on a well known phrase. These should be considered crimes worthy of lengthy incarceration.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/44 "2023-09-07T17:46:58Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#):
>
> I loathe twisted, contorted, contrived stories that lead to a horrible pun/word play on a well known phrase.
Ah, yes: feghoots.
> **[Feghoot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feghoot)**
>
> A feghoot (also known as a story pun or poetic story joke) is a humorous short story or vignette ending in a pun (typically a play on a well-known phrase), where the story contains sufficient context to recognize the punning humor.
> The term for this storytelling model originated in a long-running series of short science-fiction pieces that appeared under the collective title "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot", published in various magazines over several decades, written by Reginald ...
> **[Feghoot - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Feghoot)**
>
> A short-short story (300 words on the average), ending in a pun or a punchline that is pretty obviously the only reason for the story's existence. The telling detail in a Feghoot is the groan emitted by readers/listeners when they hit the …
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/45 "2023-10-05T18:43:46Z")
Not a fan of Asimov, I take it.
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### Author:  [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/46 "2023-10-05T19:00:24Z")
For most of those setups, I can think of at least one joke that still holds up, even blonde jokes (the one about the Brazilian guy). I guess knock knock jokes hold zero interest for me, but a five year old might not have heard it, so there’s a reason they’re still in circulation.
For the Soviet Union ones, I think the Yakov Smirnoff template that spawned a zillion memes is just pretty old and tired now. I do know one Soviet Union joke that I think still holds up; I told it to my uncle who used to work for the FBI and was for some reason sometimes assigned to the 'stans, and he loved it. I got it from a P.J. O’Rourke article:
_(set during the waning years of communism in the USSR, sometime in the mid-80s)_
_Yevgeny is in the bread line one snowy afternoon. After hours of freezing and waiting, the shopkeeper comes out and says “I’m sorry, there’s no more bread today.”_
_This is the final straw for Yevgeny (who’s been going through some stuff). He starts to rant. “No bread? Again? I give up! How do we accept this? Where’s this worker’s paradise we’ve been promised? Who are they kidding? They can’t even provide basic necessities, and we’re supposed to believe this is the greatest system on earth? This is a failure!..”_
_Out of the crowd comes a quietly sinister-looking man in a trenchcoat. He sidles up to Yevgeny and whispers in his ear. “Comrade, please calm down. Walk with me.” and he leads Yevgeny away to a nearby alleyway._
_“You remember, Comrade, what would have happened to you in the old days if you were to be heard saying these things.” and he mimes a handgun. Yevgeny composes himself, and nods. The man sends him on his way._
_Yevgeny arrives home and his wife says to him “What? Don’t tell me they’re out of bread again!”_
_“Worse,” says Yevgeny. “They’re out of bullets.”_
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/47 "2023-10-05T20:16:46Z")
I listen to a lot of comedy radio. They do mostly newer stuff, some classics and the occasional older bit. Some of the Sam Kinison stuff, say, shocking in its day, is amazingly so given modern sensibilities.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/48 "2023-10-15T18:32:34Z")
Elephant jokes were a brief fad in the early 1960s.
How can you tell when an elephant is in your pantry?
He leaves footprints in the peanut butter.
Best I can figure, Polish jokes died out in 1980 with the rise of Lech Wałęsa.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/49 "2023-10-15T18:42:45Z")
> [@Johanna](#):
>
> Elephant jokes were a brief fad in the early 1960s.
They were still around when I was a kid in the 1970s.
A few I remember off the top of my head:
Why do elephants wear red tennis shoes?
So they can hide in cherry trees.
Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
See, it works!
How is an elephant like a grape?
They’re both purple (except the elephant).
What did the grape say when the elephant sat on it?
Nothing—it just let out a little wine.
Why do elephants have flat feet?
From jumping out of cherry trees.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/50 "2023-10-15T22:19:15Z")
> [@Wallaby](#):
>
> “Doctor, doctor - I’ve got some strange symptoms that you can make a witty remark about”!
Doctor, it hurts when I lift my left arm. Don’t lift your arm.
Doctor it hurts when I bend my knee. Don’t bend your knee.
Doctor it hurts when I breath. Don’t breath.
Ha ha ha
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### Author:  [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/51 "2023-10-16T19:40:35Z")
Now, take my wife - please!
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2023, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/52 "2023-10-16T22:10:28Z")
Uh oh.
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/53 "2023-10-17T16:35:14Z")
So often, when there’s a list of three things, somebody feels compelled to make the joke (referring to the Wizard of Oz quote) “X, Y, and Z, oh my!”
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/54 "2023-10-17T17:33:12Z")
Not so long ago, you’d be more likely to hear “X, Y, _and_ Z? In this economy?!”
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2023, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/55 "2023-10-17T17:38:56Z")
Located entirely within your kitchen?
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/56 "2023-10-18T06:33:08Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> Doctor it hurts when I breath. Don’t breath.
Nitpick: breath **e** :
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/57 "2023-10-18T14:32:20Z")
It’s more likely than you think.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/58 "2023-10-18T14:40:28Z")
> [@veryfrank](#):
>
> I do know one Soviet Union joke that I think still holds up;
Two.
A son and father were sitting in their fifth floor walkup, one of the good ones, with only one drafty window and heat that worked most of the time, and the son asked, “Papa, what will it be like when communism is perfected?” And the father answered, “Everyone will have everything they need.” “And what if there is no meat in the store?” "There will be a sign: ‘You do not need meat today.’ "
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/59 "2023-10-18T14:43:34Z")
> [@E-DUB](#):
>
> Not a fan of Asimov, I take it.
Shah Guido G!
The star-mangled spanner.
That guy ruined humor for me! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wornout-premises-for-jokes/988605/60 "2023-10-18T14:45:21Z")
“Star-mangled spanner” was Clarke.
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