Comments on: What is this sort of joke called?

Question: What is this sort of joke called?

coizero — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:06:12 -0800

Is there a name for this style of joking? Set-up: Person A asks a question. Punchline: Person B -- by pretending to misunderstand the question -- gives an unexpected response. The Marx Bros used this style a lot, and I see it over and over on "Flight of the Conchords. " ALSO: Can anyone offer further examples of this? Thank you so much! :-)

By: gcat

gcat — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:10:03 -0800

non sequitur?

By: txsebastien

txsebastien — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:12:53 -0800

Comic misprision? I couldn't find a good link to a definition.

In Animal Crackers
-- Spaulding: ' Well, what do you say, girls? Are we all going to get married? '
-- Rittenhouse: ' All of us? '
-- Spaulding: ' All of us! '
-- Rittenhouse: ' Yes, but that's bigamy! '
-- Spaulding: ' Yes, and it's big-of-me too. It's big of all of us. Let's be big for a change. I'm sick of these conventional marriages. One woman and one man was good enough for your grandmother, but who wants to marry your grandmother? '

By: coizero

coizero — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:20:50 -0800

^^^ Yes! This is exactly the sort of joke I meant! :-D

By: txsebastien

txsebastien — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:34:42 -0800

Ok, it's apparently not a common usage but: definition 1 and definition 2. I heard the term first used by a professor who was teaching Shakespearean comedies (think Twelth Night, Much Ado).

But maybe you are just looking for double entendre.

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:46:43 -0800

I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

By: Gratishades

Gratishades — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:29:43 -0800

A similar device can also be used when one person is speaking- I walked into a bar... needed six stitches. If anyone can provide the terms for both types of verbal misunderstanding for humour's sake then much obliged!

By: puddpunk

puddpunk — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:13:34 -0800

God, Hot Shots 1&2 are full of them if I understand you correctly...

Topper Harley: I could never find time for love. It's too heavy. It's an anchor that drowns a man. Besides, I got the sky, the smell of jet exhaust, my bike.
Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson: Ahh, a loner...
Topper Harley: No. I own it.

Sheesh. Check out the quotes page.

By: puddpunk

puddpunk — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:17:25 -0800

And call me simplistic, but I would call just call it a pun...

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:17:56 -0800

I seem to recall a spate in the New York Times where people got excited about these sort of jokes - people were writing quite a few letters to the editor about it, perhaps in response to a William Safire column or something. I think they called them "frame of reference" jokes, but that's probably not quite right. I do recall, however, that one of the examples came from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

[the King gestures to the window]
King of Swamp Castle: One day, lad, all this will be yours.
Prince Herbert: What, the curtains?

By: Class Goat

Class Goat — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:13:42 -0800

In Japan it's known as manzai.

Manzai (漫才) is a style of stand-up comedy in Japan, which usually involves two performers—a straight man (tsukkomi) and a funny man (boke)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags.

By: theyexpectresults

theyexpectresults — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:39:09 -0800

>> I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

Seconded. Airplane and its sequel are chock full of this kind of thing, often accompanied by a cheap visual gag.

Maybe it's not exactly the kind of joke you were looking for, but I can't hear the words "Comb the desert!" without falling off my seat laughing.

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 03:06:33 -0800

Here's a classic Two Ronnies sketch which uses this.

By: j-dawg

j-dawg — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:17:57 -0800

Probably my favorite example of this kind of joke comes from Some Like It Hot:

Sugar: I come from this musical family. My mother is a piano teacher and my father was a conductor.

Josephine: Where did he conduct?

Sugar: On the Baltimore & Ohio.

By: greytape

greytape — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:16:30 -0800

Any excuse for this.

By: coizero

coizero — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:40:41 -0800

I finally found the answer to this question, by the way. The rhetorical term for the sort of joke I was referring to is "asteismus." :-)