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12 May 2009

X her? I barely know her! [More:] Where does the root of this joke come from? I tend think if it as a generic punchline which derives it's humor from making an unexpected cameo appearance. Kind of a very mild cousin of The Aristocrats.

I was trying to explain all this to Mrs. Triode tonight, I was joking about using it as the warm-up joke for a speech on un-funny esoteric law wonkery, but I ran aground on the fact that we didn't share the reference. So maybe the bunnies know where it comes from?

Here's a tangentially related joke for anyone who read this far: A man, passing by a hotel conference room, sees a sign for a comedy convention, so he enters. Inside, he finds a bunch of professional comics, who are speaking only in strange numbers. "Fourteen!" calls one, and his peers all crack up laughing. "Three twenty seven!" says another, and she kills the house. After some observation, the newbie realizes that the numbers are shorthand for jokes that all the comics know, and so he decides to try it for himself: "Forty two!"

cold silence.

After a beat, one of the comics hollers back at him: "You told it wrong!"
Rectum? Nearly killed 'em..
posted by doctor_negative 12 May | 23:14
I believe the original was "mumble mumble Bangor", and the response "Bangor? I hardly knew'er!"

Naturally, there is an apposite Language Log.
posted by dhartung 13 May | 01:16
When the origin of a joke like that is shrouded in the mists of time, the answer 90% of the time is: vaudeville*. The "Bangor" and "poker" variants seem to me to be the oldest, based on my impressions from reading old stuff, but "liquor" rings a lot of bells, too.

*See also "nobody here but us chickens," "that was no lady," etc.

More on vaudeville jokes. This guy has some funny ones despite his deadpan delivery.
posted by Miko 13 May | 09:05
Dude, I totally missed your marriage. Congrats!
posted by Eideteker 13 May | 10:22
but "liquor" rings a lot of bells, too.

That's what SHE said.

*rimshot*
posted by stilicho 13 May | 10:45
"I went to a rough school."

"Eton?"

"Damn nearly."
posted by tangerine 13 May | 13:08
Dementia update. || Sand...

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