The sheer brilliance of a well crafted joke

[pigamus]

That joke loses points from me for having the word 'new' in the set-up and the punchline. "Astonishing new girth" is indeed a nice turn of phrase but I'd say that the 'new' in the punchline is unnecessary and that the overall joke would be better with "astonishing girth".

Don't agree. As(tonish)ing (new) (girth) - rhythm. Astonishing girth - no rhythm. And emphasising the newness does no harm to the joke.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

Also, arguably, if the astonishing girth wasn't new, there might have been less need for a new suit.

[madhair60]

Don't agree. As(tonish)ing (new) (girth) - rhythm. Astonishing girth - no rhythm. And emphasising the newness does no harm to the joke.

I agree with this

[Dusty Substance]

That joke loses points from me for having the word 'new' in the set-up and the punchline. "Astonishing new girth" is indeed a nice turn of phrase but I'd say that the 'new' in the punchline is unnecessary and that the overall joke would be better with "astonishing girth".

Don't agree. As(tonish)ing (new) (girth) - rhythm. Astonishing girth - no rhythm. And emphasising the newness does no harm to the joke.

The excellent ImNotNorm channel uploaded this compilation of Self Deprecating Jokes today and here at 2m03s https://youtu.be/5AhvrJkS8eg?t=123 Norm tells the joke but omits that first "new". So it was my error in transcribing the joke :)

[BeardFaceMan]

The excellent ImNotNorm channel uploaded this compilation of Self Deprecating Jokes today and here at 2m03s https://youtu.be/5AhvrJkS8eg?t=123 Norm tells the joke but omits that first "new". So it was my error in transcribing the joke :)

That is indeed better. Although I would say that girth describes size and not weight so I'm still unhappy with it so there :) .

I'd also argue that 'astonishing girth' actually has a better rhythm as putting 'new' in the middle of it breaks up the rhythm of the punchline.

[Cuellar]

Don't want to just make this a 'Norm MacDonald jokes' thread but this one from normjokes.com made me laugh:

"There's no use crying over spilt milk, unless the milk was spilt on your father's fresh corpse right before his funeral."

Father's fresh corpse

[who cares]

A line I think about a lot is Michael Redmond's "You ever notice how nervous people get when you follow them up a ladder?". It's partly the faux observational nature of it with the rhetorical question, and of course the "when" instead of 'if' augments it. But it also creates the image in your mind in tandem. The surreal delivered as normal means it's a joke where the setup and the punchline essentially coalesce.

I was going to mention Michael Redmond. This is one of my favourite jokes. It's the timing, the deadpan delivery; and there's no fat on it at all. Doesn't work as well written down; Redmond gives the perfect pause between the second and third lines. 


I got drunk last night and ate a can of dogfood for a bet

I lost the bet

I bet I wouldn't eat it

[Darles Chickens]

Similar structure to this one, might also have been Redmond.


I lost my father recently


Found him again!



He was dead



Again, all in the delivery.  Cracking little joke though.

[Twit 2]

Another Norm fave:

I used to think revenge was a dish best served cold...but then I realised it meant "getting back at someone."

[jamiefairlie]

Reminds me of Jeremy Hardy's love of one of Linda Smith's jokes, a description of line-dancing; "like a supermarket queue possessed of a demon." As he pointed out, it's the word 'of' that elevates it.

I think using archaic phraseology helps too.

[Tony Yeboah]

I was going to mention Michael Redmond. This is one of my favourite jokes. It's the timing, the deadpan delivery; and there's no fat on it at all. Doesn't work as well written down; Redmond gives the perfect pause between the second and third lines. 


I got drunk last night and ate a can of dogfood for a bet

I lost the bet

I bet I wouldn't eat it

https://youtu.be/hTn24VswF0U?t=349