A bunch of muffins in the oven, and the first muffin says: “Wooo, it’s getting hot.”
The second muffin says:
.
.
[wait for it]
.
.
[wait some more for it]
.
.
[waiting is part of the fun when you’re waiting for punch lines*]
.
.
The second muffin says: “YAAAHHHHH!!!!! A talking MUFFIN!!!”
I love this joke, told to me by my friend Chace, who gives just the right scream for”YAAAHHHHH!!!!!
What makes this joke funny?
- Like most jokes, congruity plus surprise–mmm, maybe a bit more surprise than congruity.
- Congruity: I’ve heard a million jokes where objects talk–describing an oven as hot takes me further down the road toward imagining I know what’s going on–now I expect something silly about hot ovens.
- Surprise: I get surprised when someone screams, don’t you?
- Surprise: Oh–it’s the second muffin screaming, not my friend.
- Surprise + Congruity: The second muffin takes us up a level, out of the joke, back into the real world where–oh yeah, now I remember–muffins don’t talk.
- Plus about 8 more levels of mystification about whether muffins that talk believe muffins don’t talk.
This joke, alas, is funnier heard than when read. Joketellers have the advantage over jokewriters of more subtle delays–and much, much better screams.
* If you like jokes and theories of humor, check out my “How to Write Funny” Department and Frank Paynter’s wonderful interview.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Elayne Riggs // Oct 2, 2003 at 6:51 am
Wow, reminds me of my days in college, analyzing jokes in my Comedy course…
2 jr // Oct 2, 2003 at 7:17 pm
I read George Burn’s book, Gracie. It took about two seconds before I was hearing George’s voice in my head. And his written words were as funny as if he were telling me the jokes personally. Probably because once you hear George’s voice you pick up his cadence. It’s a lot harder to control the timing using only text on a page. As you probably discovered it is a pain to put the [wait for it ] in the joke because it changes the joke. what would happen if you used Flash to provide the timing? Just the words but timed for delivery? Aint the internet wonderfull.
Please ignore any reference to voices in my head.
3 Betsy Devine // Oct 2, 2003 at 7:40 pm
I love the idea of using Flash to add joke delay–thanks, jr! Now if only I could remember the 7 or 8 things I managed to learn about Flash…
4 Betsy Devine // Oct 2, 2003 at 7:43 pm
Ah, Elayne, it would be as hard for me to refrain from blogging about my nerdy interest in humor as it would for the blogware-ists to refrain from blogging about their Trackback and Google. Weblogs: where the voices in your head come out to play….
5 NatureIsProfligate // Oct 6, 2003 at 5:19 pm
I retold this joke to my friend Alex, who has a weakness for meta jokes. His response (following uproarious laughter):
Two chickens are sitting in the oven. The first chicken says: “Gee whiz, it’s hot in here.” To which the second chicken replies: “Yes, but it’s a dry heat.”