Tag Archives: Joke

Two priests driving down a freeway

JM is a current student at USC and a very funny guy.  He is a comedian and is pursuing a career based on writing and comedy. He is Jewish and is from LA. 

“Two priests are driving down a freeway, a cop pulls up behind him, flashes his lights, and pulls him over. He gets out of his car and walks up to the priests and they roll down their window. The priests say ‘Can we help you officer’ and the officer goes ‘Yes gentleman, we’re looking for two child molesters.’ And the two priests look at each other, and then look back to the officer and go ‘we’ll do it”

JM- When I was in High School one of my friend’s dad was a comedy writer, and he told me this joke that I remembered forever. I thought it was funny the first time I heard it, but it became a lot more important to me after I got to use it as social currency.  My sophomore year of college, some buddies and I were trying to get into a frat party, first and last time, and uh, there was a bouncer at the door trying to charge for the party and we didn’t want to spend any money so the bouncer said ‘ well, if you tell me a joke that makes me laugh I’ll let you in for free’ and I told him this joke and he didn’t laugh but he just looked at me and nodded and let us walk inside. That was the only time a joke has saved me money.

ANALYSIS: This joke works well not only because of its very sudden and dark punchline but also because of its use of the Catholic Church priests as the punching bag. The structure of the joke doesn’t go exactly where one would expect, which gives it a memorable factor. Jokes about the Catholic church’s abuse of children have become exceptionally popular for many reasons. One reason is that joking about dark history and trauma makes it easier for people to talk about it. Many people wouldn’t know about the abuses of the Catholic Church if it weren’t for the commonality of these jokes. Furthermore, it’s easy to make jokes about pedophilic Catholic priests because there is a lack of remorse. Nobody has empathy for pedophiles, especially not when they come from a privileged position. The popularity of jokes about pedophilic Catholic priests work not only as humorous releases of trauma but also helps keep generations informed of these historical precedents.

Joke About A Moneylender

A man from Mexico borrowed money from a wealth rancher who would lend with high interest rates. The man went to work in the U.S. and there he had hoped to make some money. He told one of his friends that he wanted to buy a meat grinder. His friend, confused, asked why and to that the man responded: “to kill that s** of a b****”. 

This story was one told at a party where people would sit by a campfire, put some old music on a record player whilst drinking beer. My dad probably heard it from one of his cousins who was likely drunk.

 I thought this story would be a story about a hardworking man pursuing financial stability, but when I heard the part about the meat grinder I was shocked and burst out laughing. I remember a time when I visited the place my parents were from, in Mexico, and whilst walking around my dad pointed out an abandoned house, of a bitter old family who were wealthy, cheap and bitter who also lent money. I couldn’t help but think if they were the inspiration for this joke told not too far from where they lived within a gleefully intoxicated gathering. 

Funny Burmese Pun

Nationality: Burmese

Primary Language: Burmese

Other Language(s): English, Chinese

Age: 19

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Performance Date: 02/17/2024

A.N is 19 years old, and is currently a USC student who’s originally from Yangon, Myanmar. She is my current suite mate and has been a friend since middle school, since we are from the same hometown and school. I asked her if she uses or is familiar with any sayings, proverbs, jokes or folk speech within our culture. 

“Yes, when I was really young, probably when I was like in my elementary years, my family members said this saying to me really often. It’s a really funny saying, you probably know it too. Whenever I would trip or hurt myself, they say “ချီတုံးမတ်တတ်ထ ခဏနာကြပြောက်” (pronounced as “chi tone ma ta hta, kana naa kyaut pyaut”) *laughs*. It directly translates to “Poop stand up, in a bit, it won’t hurt anymore”. I think my older family members said this as a joke to make me laugh and distract me from crying out of pain right after I trip. Obviously, the saying is absurd and doesn’t make sense, but to a kid, it’s a really funny image to be distracted by. They don’t say it anymore to me because I’ve grown up but they have said it to my sister when she was younger too.”

Since I am also Burmese, I’ve heard this folk speech before. I don’t remember it being said to me, probably because I was too young to remember, but they’ve said it to my younger brother as a child. It sounds pretty jarring in English but it makes a lot more sense in Burmese, since the sentence flows like an alliteration. On top of just a joke, I interpret this folk speech as a clever word play in Burmese language, and is used by protective parents that cherish their children.

Better Late Than Never

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 02/21/2024

Text:

Better late than never.

Context:

The proverb is a joke between members of the informants family, that they will typically say as they arrive late to events. Their family is notoriously late to family events and other general appointments, and the proverb has become an ironic commentary on their timeliness as they leave the house. The informant does not remember when her family started saying it,

Analysis:

This use of the relatively popular proverb is interesting because it is ironic, joking about the families perpetual lateness, as opposed to a one-off event. This adds further meaning to the proverb, as it evolves and has become a tradition. This proverb typically is used to excuse lateness, citing that showing up at all is good. This is a widely used proverb, as it is an easy way to laugh-off something that is often accidental.

Boo Who Knock Knock Joke

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 02/20/2024

Text:

Person 1: Knock knock

Person 2: Who’s there?

Person 1: Boo

Person 2: Boo who?

Person 1: No need to cry it was just a knock knock joke!

Context:

This is a knock knock joke the informant learned from her older sister, when she was 7. She rememberers being confused, and not understanding the joke until a few weeks later, when her mom explained it to her. At this point in her elementary experience, knock knock jokes were quite popular, and the informant remembers telling the kids in her class the day after the joke was explained to her. While knock knock jokes are less popular in the informants day-to-day college life, she still uses it when called for.

Analysis:

This knock knock joke is one that I heard in my childhood, and one that I have seen on social media as well. While it was more common around Halloween, I heard it year round. Knock knock jokes are a common and diverse form of joke because they are quick, easy, and easily adaptable. This speaks to a popular function of jokes – for a quick laugh. To the same extent, knock knock jokes quickly travel and spread as they are normally told in bursts (ie. children competing to see who has a better joke). This joke is particularly funny because it does not require a deep level of intelligence to understand, and is a quick and easy joke.