1. Q. Whats funnier than a dead baby?
A. A dead baby in a clown suit
2. Q. Whats the difference between a Corvette and a pile of dead babies?
A. I dont have a Corvette in my garage
Jonathan doesnt remember from whom he learned his Dead Baby jokes, but he believes he was in about 8th grade, in New Jersey, when he first heard the joke genre. Jonathan says the context in which one might tell a Dead Baby joke is whenever anyone else brings up a dead baby joke, to add to the laughter. When I asked Jonathan what he thinks about the Dead Baby joke genre of folklore, he shrugged, and said, Well, I picked out the funny ones. I liked em. The ones I liked stuck in my head.
I, however, do not think these jokes are funny, and believe them to be in horrible taste. As a woman, perhaps Im pre-wired to blanch at anything referring to a dead baby, even a joke about one. Perhaps men (who tend to be the bearer of these jokes) dont carry that same emotional tie to infants, and therefore can recite these jokes with ease and humorousness.