That's how comedy works

According to George Carlin. You lead someone in a particular direction, then make a sudden, surprising change of direction with the punch line. Once I heard him articulate that, it seems obvious now. All jokes do that. If you can see the punch line coming, it ain't funny.

Here is one of my favorites. You can substitute the name of the head coach of your favorite rival, but here in Sooner Nation, we like to "poke" fun at our inter-state rival, Okla State University (also known as Pumpkin State University).

Coach Mike Gundy made an appearance at a local grade school on career day. When he arrived, the teacher welcomed him saying, "Thank you for coming, Coach Gundy. Today is also "Vocabulary Day", and today we are talking about the word "trajedy' Would you like to talk to the students about that?"

"That's great", Coach Gundy replies. "What does "trajedy" mean? Can someone here give me an example of a "trajedy"? A little boy raises his hand, and Coach Gundy calls on him. "Give me an example of a "trajedy". The little boy responds, "Well.... if my friend is playing in the field, and his dad accidentally runs over him with a tractor and kills him... that would be a "trajedy".

"Umm... no", Coach Gundy replies. "We would probably call that an 'accident'. Can someone else give me an example of a 'trajedy'?" A little girl raises her hand. "Give me an example of a 'trajedy'", Coach Gundy asks. "Well... if a bus load of school children drives off a cliff and kills them all, THAT would be a 'trajedy'". Coach Gundy thinks for a second and says, "No, not really. We would call that a 'big loss'. Can anyone ELSE give me an example of a 'trajedy'?"

A little boy in the back row raises his hand, and Coach Gundy calls on him. "Give me an example of a 'trajedy', young man." The little boy says, "Well... if you and the OSU football team were on a plane coming home after a game, and a surface-to-air missile hit the plane and blew it to smithereens, THAT would be a 'trajedy'".

"Excellent!!" exclaims Coach Gundy. "That's a PERFECT example of a 'trajedy'. NOW... can you tell me WHY that would be a 'trajedy'?"

"Sure" the boy explains. "It would HAVE to be a 'trajedy', because it wouldn't be a big loss, and it PROBABLY wouldn't be an accident."



DISCLAIMER: No humans, or OSU students or coaches were actually harmed in the making of this joke.

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Aries
~Sign of the Rams