Tag Archives: Joke

Trojan Marching Band: Traditions on the Band Bus

Nationality: N/A
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 30 April 2021
Primary Language: English

Context: The Trojan Marching Band carries a level of prestige with it that entices many to follow it, meaning that the band’s appearances at USC’s sporting events are imperative. Informant CN states that the band hasn’t missed a football game in 32 years (more than 400 games!), and that creates an expectation for the band to appear. The band travels to away games primarily on a group of buses (this includes bus trips to Arizona, Cal Berkeley, Colorado, and Washington State, as well as a biennial flying trip to Notre Dame), and that leaves several hours of down time. CN described to me some of the traditions that band members use to occupy their time on the bus. 

Main Piece: 

  1. Name Jokes and Open Mic: For reference, the bathroom on the bus is known as “the Head,” which will serve as the basis for many traditions. For example, band members have an open mic where members go up to the front of the bus and use the PA system to tell a joke. They begin by tapping the microphone and saying “Is this thing on?” to which the rest of the bus responds “No!”. They then say “Once upon a time my name was [band name]!” and the bus asks “Why?” (See Trojan Marching Band: Band Names). The member will then make a “Name Joke”, which are most puns involving the band member’s name and very often be inappropriate. The member will then say their main joke, which could be a roast of another member or a general joke they came up with. If the roast or joke hits particularly hard, the band members will chant “Holy Shit” as the joke-teller returns to their seat. If the roast or joke is deemed bad by the bus, they will instead chant “Head! Head! Head!” and the joke-teller must go to the back of the bus and sit on the toilet for a while. CN says that this is all in good fun, but that it’s still never a good feeling to be sent to the Head. 
  2. Rules: There are rules for the bus that every band member must know and that someone will recite at the start of every trip. They are exactly as follows:
    1. “Rule #1: Nobody, but nobody, including nobody, shits in the Head.”
    2. “Rule #2: You can get off the bus, you can get on the bus, but you can’t get off on the bus.”
    3. “Rule #3: Please refer to Rule #1.”
    4. “Rule #4: Fuck ___”

The first and third rules simply state the common sense rule that pooping in the bathroom is not a good idea, as it will stink up the entire bus. The second is another common sense rule to not do anything sexual on the bus. The fourth and final rule is a reference to ___, who CN says was a rude band member whose legacy reflected that. Normally, their name would be said, but for the purposes of privacy it has been anonymized. 

Thoughts: The Open Mic time seems like a good chance for freshmen to break into the band’s sense of humor and thus further initiate into the group (See Trojan Marching Band: Band Names; Band Camp Traditions). CN said that freshmen are commonly asked to make jokes during Open Mic, and this can help them through the liminal transition into the group. The rules seem like a joke, but they’re all common sense and the necessity of every member to know the rules makes it a somewhat unifying experience. 

Ukrainian WW2 Joke

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 70
Occupation: CEO
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 05/2/2021
Primary Language: English

Informant’s Background:

The informant, in this case, is my father, F, who was a first generation immigrant born to an Ukrainian/Scottish family in Canada in 1950. His family was poor and working class, and he lived in Canada for many years before attending schools in England, and eventually moving back to Canada before moving with my mother to Los Angeles, in the United States, so she could take a job as a university professor. My brother and I were born a few years after.

Context:

My father told me this joke at dinner once. He asked me if I wanted to hear a Ukrainian joke and I said sure.

Performance:

F: “You are a Ukrainian soldier in the trenches, the Germans coming from one side, the Russians from the other. Who do you shoot first?
Answer:  The German.  Business before pleasure.”

Thoughts:

I think this is probably considered an offensive joke. It has a certain historical context, I suppose, but my father never provided any of his own thoughts on the joke, so all I can really do is to provide the joke in it’s original form. I do not think my father learned this joke from his father, I think he probably picked it up somewhere later in life. I tried to search online for traces of this joke, and I was able to find it but with the Ukrainian soldier replaced with a Polish one, so I guess it is re-told in that way and adopted by different cultures with a similar wartime history.

A Viola Joke

Nationality: American
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Lancaster, CA
Performance Date: April 9, 2021
Primary Language: English

Context:

My informant, AW, is my 15-year-old brother. He has played violin since he was four, and played in many youth orchestras throughout his life. In many orchestras, the violists are considered the black sheep of the group and many jokes are made at their expense, especially by violinists, their rivals. This piece was collected during an informal interview at home when I asked my brother about rituals or practices within orchestras. I refer to myself as SW in the text.

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Main Text:

AW: “Violists are the worst, scum of the earth.”

SW: “Know any good viola jokes?”

AW: “Did you hear about the violist who played in tune? Yeah me neither.”

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Informant analysis:

SW: “Do violists participate in making viola jokes, or are they supposed to be annoyed by viola jokes?”

AW: “In general… the general consensus is that… well ok there can be both. If you’re a cool violist, you participate. If you are… a violist, you get annoyed by it… They’re kinda like the middle child of the entire orchestra. Violin section is the younger child who gets everything they want and deserve. Or not deserve – everything they want and don’t deserve, and gets away with everything. Cellists are the older brothers that have to take up the entire… like the older sibling that have to take up the entire like… weight of the orchestra. And then violists are… there, I guess.”

SW: “But how do you learn you’re supposed to make fun of violists?”

AW: “Um… by… honestly by seeing other people make fun of violists. Nobody really actually thinks that violas are bad, they just are, because everyone says they are.”

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Analysis:

Viola jokes are one of the most common types of humor to spread around orchestras, especially youth orchestras. My brother and I are both violinists, so we have a special love of viola jokes since we are the ones who are supposed to “hate” our sworn rivals, the violists. Many violists started as violinists, and they are generally seen as “less good” violinists. The joke itself works on this principle – while violinists are expected to always be in tune, no one can ever find a violist who plays in tune. The entire orchestra will recognize viola jokes as a common musician humor format, and it often turns into a round of rapid fire viola jokes to see who has the best one. As AW stated, it is less about anybody thinking people who play viola are actually bad musicians. More likely, it is because the viola is an awkward instrument that never gets the melody, and is therefore an easy target.

Golf Joke

Nationality: American
Residence: NJ
Primary Language: English

Text/Interview:

PW: “A guy comes back home after a round of golf. Just like all men, he’s usually in a good move after a day on the course but today, he is really dragging. His wife looks at him when he walks in. After looking at him up and down, she notices that he is dragging. The wife asks him what is going on. He shrugs and says that he doesn’t walk to talk about it. After a bit, the wife presses again. Rather than getting into a fight, he relents. The guy explains that everything was going great on the first nine. However, when his best friend Fred went up to tee off on the back nine, he had a heart attack and died right there on the spot. “Oh no!” the wife says. “You’ve known Fred for twenty years. That’s awful!” “I know!” The husband responds. The rest of the round was hit the ball and drag Fred. Hit the ball and drag Fred.”

Context:

PW is an avid golfer and has been his entire life. He does not remember when he first heard this joke, but he knows that it was told to him by one of his golf friends during an outing. PW states that this is a fairly common golf joke and he will hear it in the clubhouse every now and again. He says that it never fails to make him laugh.

My Interpretation:

Golf, just like every other sport, has its own niche community. There are jokes and stories within the golf world that get perpetuated and spread. This is a fantastic example of one of them. This joke is something that a passerby may understand, but only golfers will truly get and find funny.

Blonde Joke

Nationality: American
Residence: NJ
Primary Language: English

Text/Interview:

PW: “Why did the blonde get fired from the M&M Factory?”

PAR: “I don’t know. Why?”

PW: “She threw away all the Ws.”

Context:

PW loves blonde jokes because his wife is blonde. Any time he comes across one, he remembers it and tells it to his wife. Although she does not claim to find them funny, they always make her grin. PW does not recall when he came across this particular blonde joke. However, he remembers his wife’s reaction of pushing her palm into her face.

My Interpretation:

Jokes are a great way of building relationships between two parties. Nothing makes people warm up to you quite like making them laugh. PW uses blonde jokes as a way to strengthen his relationship with the woman he loves. We should all do the same.