Synopsis
At the start of the sketch, Rowan Atkinson's character tells Richard Curtis' character he's "got a joke". He goes on to explain, "It's one of those ones where I ask a question and you say 'I don't know, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot'." Rowan begins the joke by saying, "I say, I say, I say, what is the secret of great comedy?" Richard replies by literally saying, "I don't know, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot." After laughing at his own wit, Richard tells the annoyed Rowan that he'll "do it again." Rowan repeats the question and Richard replies, "I don't know. What is the secret to great comedy?" However, before Richard can finish his reply, Rowan interrupts, "timing." The point of the joke is that Rowan deliberately got his timing wrong when saying that timing is the secret to great comedy; however, Richard does not understand the joke. Bewildered by Richard's stupidity, Rowan enquires, "But didn't you see?" "Sorry, was it a visual joke?" Richard replies, still confused. After trying the joke a third time, Richard still does not understand the irony of the joke. Annoyed by Richard, Rowan asks, "Don't you think that's a clever joke?" to which Richard replies, "Clever... no. Joke... no." Disheartened by his joke falling flat with Richard, he claims "it was very funny when Michael told it," then makes the excuse that his timing might be out to which Richard replies, "It could be other factors like the complete absence of anything funny in the joke." Rowan proclaims, "It's so difficult telling jokes," before suddenly exclaiming that he has another joke that is "far more straightforward" to which Richard replies, "As long as it's funny, I don't mind."
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is not meant to be taken seriously. It takes the form of a story, usually with dialogue, and ends in a punch line. It is in the punch line that the audience becomes aware that the story contains a second, conflicting meaning. This can be done using a pun or other word play such as irony, a logical incompatibility, nonsense, or other means. Linguist Robert Hetzron offers the definition:
A joke is a short humorous piece of oral literature in which the funniness culminates in the final sentence, called the punchline… In fact, the main condition is that the tension should reach its highest level at the very end. No continuation relieving the tension should be added. As for its being "oral," it is true that jokes may appear printed, but when further transferred, there is no obligation to reproduce the text verbatim, as in the case of poetry.
Irony, in its broadest sense, is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or event in which what appears, on the surface, to be the case, differs radically from what is actually the case.
The second joke begins with Rowan saying, "Knock! Knock! Who's there? Death..." but he is interrupted by Richard who complains that knock-knock jokes "are meant to be two-handers". Rowan argues that this joke "doesn't work that way". It becomes apparent that Rowan is attempting to tell the same joke told by Toby, the Devil, during a previous sketch. The joke is meant to go "Knock, Knock. Who's there? Death. Death wh..." at which point the person telling the joke pretends to die. If a second person was replying in the joke, they would not know to pretend to die when saying "Death who?". Richard protests and Rowan gives in and the pair attempt the knock-knock joke in the "old way". Richard, ignorant to the fact he is meant to say the punch line, replies "Death who?" and Rowan replies "Ah, now, that's where it goes wrong." Rowan explains to Richard how he is meant to say the punch-line but after another attempt at the joke, Richard replies wrong. Rowan, getting increasingly more annoyed as the sketch goes on, says he has another joke and this time he will be "third time lucky".
The knock-knock joke is a question-and-answer joke, typically ending with a pun. Knock-knock jokes are primarily seen as children's jokes, though there are exceptions.
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in many and various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force.
A punch line concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up for the punch line.
Rowan explains that the third joke is "a very old joke but a very good joke". Rowan begins to tell the classic joke, which begins "I say, I say, I say, my wife's gone to Jamaica". The person replying is meant to say, "Jamaica?" which sounds like "D'you make 'er?" or "Did you make her?". The joke-teller then replies, "No, of her own accord." However, when Rowan says, "I say, I say, I say, my wife's gone to Jamaica," Richard replies, "Of her own accord?" which ruins the whole joke and causes Rowan to swear loudly and give up telling jokes to Richard.
Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola.
Profanity is socially offensive language, which may also be called curse words or swearing, cuss words, swear words, bad words, crude language, coarse language, oaths, blasphemous language, vulgar language, lewd language, choice words, or expletives.
Blackadder is a series of four BBC1 pseudohistorical British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired in the 1980s. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, e.g., Melchett and Lord Flashheart.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968 to March 12, 1973 on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967 and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (ET).
Blackadder Goes Forth is the fourth and final series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC One. The series placed the recurring characters of Blackadder, Baldrick and George in a trench in Flanders during World War I, and followed their various doomed attempts to escape from the trenches to avoid certain death under the misguided command of General Melchett. Aside from its references to a number of famous figures of the age, the series is particularly noted for its criticism of the British Army's leadership during the campaign, culminating in the poignant ending of its final episode.
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Meta-joke refers to several somewhat different, but related categories: joke templates, self-referential jokes, and jokes about jokes.
It's Not Funny is David Cross' 2004 stand-up comedy album, released on Sub Pop Records. The track titles, like those on his previous record Shut Up You Fucking Baby!, have no relevance to the bits Cross does on the album and are instead there to make fun of material performed by other comedians, either on the whole or targeted at specific comedians. Cross has said the album's title references children being laughed at by their friends while trying to tell them something important, only to reply, "Come on guys, it's not funny.". Stand Up! Records also released a limited LP edition of 500 for this release, as they had for Shut Up You Fucking Baby!. Like the CD, it also contains a hidden track that plays from the label out to a locked groove. This edition is a single LP, unlike its predecessor.
Paul Gladney, better known by the stage name Paul Mooney, is an American comedian, writer, social critic, and television and film actor. He is best known for his appearances on Chappelle's Show and as a writer for comedian Richard Pryor.
The Land Shark was a recurring character from the sketch comedy television series Saturday Night Live.
Funny Business:A Lecture by Rowan Atkinson M.Sc. (Oxon.) is a documentary style television series about the craft of comedy consisting of six 50-minute episodes. The first episode aired in the UK 22 November 1992. The show was also shown in Germany and released on video. It was directed by David Hinton. The writers were Rowan Atkinson, Robin Driscoll, and David Hinton. It was produced by Tiger Aspect Productions.
Russian political jokes are a part of Russian humour and can be naturally grouped into the major time periods: Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and finally post-Soviet Russia. Quite a few political themes can be found among other standard categories of Russian joke, most notably Rabinovich jokes and Radio Yerevan.
Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest is the sixth episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted and the season one finale. It was the first episode to be scripted and submitted by the writers.
Certain words have been suggested to be inherently funny. Vaudeville tradition holds that words with the letter k are funny. A 2015 study at the University of Alberta suggested that the humor of certain nonsense words can be explained by whether they seem rude, and by the property of entropy – the improbability of certain letters being used together in a word. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer posited that humor is a product of one's expectations being violated. (Realisation).
Live in Belfast is a live comedy album by English comedian Rowan Atkinson. It was first released in 1980 as a vinyl LP and cassette tape on Arista Records, then re-released in 1996 on CD.
A joke is a humorous question, short story or quip.
Act Your Age is a panel game on BBC Radio 4 hosted by Simon Mayo. The series, created by Ashley Blaker and Bill Matthews, was first broadcast on 27 November 2008. The show features three teams of stand-up comedians from different generations: "The Up-And-Comers", featuring younger comedians, captained by Jon Richardson; "The Current Crop", featuring comedians popular at the moment, captained by Lucy Porter; and "The Old Guard", featuring older, veteran comics, captained by Roy Walker,. Most critics disliked the show. The readers of the British Comedy Guide went as far as voting it the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008".
Nick Swardson's Pretend Time is a TV sketch comedy show created by and starring comedian and actor Nick Swardson. The show premiered on Tuesday, October 12, 2010, at 10 p.m. EST on Comedy Central and ran for two seasons, with the final first-run episode airing November 16, 2011.
"Mr. Bean" is the pilot episode of the British television series Mr. Bean, produced by Tiger Television for Thames Television. It was first broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990 and was watched by 13.45 million viewers during its original transmission.
"Went with the Wind!" is a comedy sketch featured on the eighth episode of the tenth season of The Carol Burnett Show. It originally aired in the United States on CBS on November 13, 1976, and is a parody of the 1939 American historical drama film Gone with the Wind. The sketch was written by two young writers, Rick Hawkins and Liz Sage. In 2009, TV Guide ranked the sketch #53 on its list of "Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
