Old Man and the Well Joke

Main Performance:

JC: Why’d the old man fall in the well?

Me: I don’t know, why?

JC: He couldn’t see that well.

Me: *Laughs*

Context: The informant is from Cleveland, Ohio. To the best of his memory, he recalls hearing this joke from a friend his sophomore year of high school.

Thoughts/Analysis: The main crux of the joke relies on its use of a double entendre in the word “well”. Without the context of the setup, the punchline simply refers to the old man’s vision being poor, or not well. But with the added context, the listener questions whether the teller means the old man’s vision is poor, or if it is selective towards specific wells. Although some might consider the joke lame, I found it at least a little funny.