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06/20/2007: Sick Humor


I'm home sick today, gentle readers. I have myself a bit of a cold. But I don't stop working for you just because I'm full of New Daytime Tylenol for Chest Congestion. In fact, I've been applying myself to that little problem of clam rehabilitation from yesterday. Here, then, might be a slightly fresher pay-off for that "I thought you said you..." set-up. Let's see how this hits you:

MAN
I thought you said you could drive!

WOMAN
Really? That's interesting. Because I thought you said you could avoid getting us chased down a poorly-maintained access-road by a crazed interstate trucker!

(Imagine it all read with a sense of escalating panic, optimally, by the cast of Moonlighting.) Now, I haven't invented something new here. Jokes of this structure are around already, but since the punchline involves a restatement of the plot, it's going to look different in each new incarnation, which will help it feel fresher. And a lot of the joy of this one is going to lie in the wording of the plot-recap. Length, awkwardness and over-precision will probably work to your advantage in this kind of joke.

The point of all of this? Keep looking. Just because you're certain you've exhausted every way to pay off a set-up, doesn't mean there isn't one more that just hasn't occurred to you yet.

Lunch: Sourdough bread, cheddar cheese, sweet pickles