A Joke Every Day - 87 - Concept Album
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A Joke Every Day - 87 - Concept Album
A Joke Every Day # 87 This joke excites me. Definitely gets across something I think (even though I kind of like concept albums). It struck me after having written this joke, that structurally it's almost identical to a Demetri Martin joke about theme parks "I think that at most theme parks the theme is 'wait in line, fatty.'" -- the 'joke algebra' is the same "I think that at/with most X(two words) the Y(first word) is Z (silly thing that is clearly not the inteded Y of X but is never the less an accurate descriptive value judgement - internal coherence, external incongruence). Now in the past I've been compared to Demetri Martin, and that's fair because he's certainly one of my major influences, but I think that any overview of the body of my work will show a range of different influences. I'll also say that a lot of jokes are structurally similar. Consider the following: Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. - Steven Wright Every Book is a children’s book if the kid can read – Mitch Hedberg Every Fight is a Food Fight when you’re a cannibal – Demetri Martin These jokes all follow the rule “Every X is a Y (where Y is a type of X) under condition Z” The Steven Wright joke seems to be different because it doesn’t have the same verbal mirroring, but every-where expresses the same concept as every distance, so the conceptual mirroring is the same. I have a joke that is similar, "When you're thirteen Every Bra is a wonder bra." Not quite the same, but similar enough. I'm trying to figure out why in mine the general part comes first and is better that way, but not in theirs. Anyone who has a theory on this, please let me know. (maybe it has something to do with the fact that being 13 is more familiar, as opposed to being a cannibal, which is the more absurd part so it has to do with going from normal to absurd and not the other way?) Anyway, the mere fact of structural similarity is not remarkable, it's just easier to see because we all tend towards fairly minimalistic jokes. That said I since the point of this project is to be productive and reflect on the joke-writing process, it seemed pertinent to recognize the similarity. So, is it obvious that I have an unnatural affinity for analysis? Conceptual artists: Please don't steal my jokes. The concepts are programmed to transmute from abstract to concrete (i.e., detonate) if they are moved from my possession.
YouTube | April 22, 2008
