Tag Archives: Joke

The Jungle Joke Competition

Nationality: Mexican/American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: N/A
Performance Date: 4/25/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Interviewer: What’s the jungle joke that you mentioned earlier?

Informant: Ok, so, the king of the jungle, a lion, decides that he wants to hear the best joke in the jungle. He gathers all of the animals of the jungle around him and announces that whoever tells a joke that gets everyone to laugh will win. But, if their joke does not make every single animal laugh, then they will be killed.

The elephant immediately begins to tell his joke, thinking that he will no doubt win the competition. After he finishes, the crowd is silent. No one thinks the elephant’s joke is funny, and so the king of the jungle murders him.

Next, the parrot comes forward. The parrot tells his joke and half of the crowd erupts into laughter. The other half is silent though, so the king of the jungle kills him too.

Then, the giraffe steps forward. The giraffe pauses, then begins his joke. When he finishes, every single animal in the crowd laughs – except one, the turtle. The king of the jungle pauses for a moment, waiting for the turtle to join in, but the turtle never does. So, the giraffe is killed too

Finally, the jaguar strides forward and tells his joke. The jaguar, who mostly likes to hunt, doesn’t know many jokes, and his joke is terrible. Only one animal laughs – the turtle.

After the King of the Jungle kills the jaguar, he asks the turtle why he laughed. The turtle says “the giraffe’s joke was hilarious!”

Context: My informant is a nineteen year old college student. Though he was raised in the United States, he was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and his first language is Spanish. This joke was told in a college dorm room, with the informant sitting across from me.

Background: This informant heard this joke from his parents, both of whom are from Chihuahua, Mexico. He enjoys it and remembers it because of the turtle and his delayed reaction. He and many of his friends and family use “Don’t be the turtle” to chide someone when their reaction is delayed or they did not respond to ones question or statement.

Analysis: I personally enjoyed the joke a lot. It doesn’t rely on wordplay or any sort of cultural knowledge, all the listener has to know is that a turtle is slow – this makes the joke relatively accessible. At the same time, the use of a somewhat brutal method of punishment, that is, death, for a bad joke, also makes the stakes higher for the animals and adds to the hilarity of the situation, since, at the end of the day, death is a ridiculous punishment for not making everyone laugh. I also found it interesting that the motif of threes finds its way into this joke as well. Though there are four animals, the giraffe, the animal to tell the best joke, and whose joke elicits laughter from the most animals, is the third to tell a joke.

Iranian “Turk” Jokes

Nationality: Iranian-Canadian
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Newport Beach, CA
Performance Date: 04/15/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi, Spanish
  1. The main piece: Iranian “Turk” Jokes

“We have a lot of racist jokes. You know how some American jokes start with “a guy walks into a bar.” A lot of our jokes start with “what did the turk say” or “why did the Turk do this.” So there’s a region in Tehran, Tabriz, where there’s a lot of Turkish people, and they have a certain accent. So whenever we tell the Turk jokes, there’s a certain accent we use.”

  1. Background information about the performance from the informant: why do they know or like this piece? Where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them? The context of the performance?

“I mean, this is kind of embarrassing because it’s not the best portrayal of us. But it’s not like we really think this about Turks anymore, it’s just what the jokes have become and been for so long. Like dumb blonde jokes are still funny, even though we know blondes aren’t dumb. I’ve heard different family members and family friends tell these jokes at parties… I mean, they’re funny and remind me of jokes that people from my culture make.”

  1. Finally, your thoughts about the piece

This piece is a clear example of stereotyping and Blason Populaire in jokes. It utilizes a common cultural bias or stereotype about a group of people who are not originally from the area, showing that they are being jested at because they are “different” and they are the minority. Stereotype and Blason Populaire jokes, when not utilizing stereotypes about a group to itself (i.e. Turkish people telling Turk jokes) alienate the group of people being made fun of in the jokes, and perpetuate the cultural differences between the two groups.

       4. Informant Details

The informant is an 18-year old Iranian-Canadian female. She was born in Iran but moved to Canada as a young child, then moved again to southern California as a teenager. Learning about her parents’ Iranian culture helped her feel a sense of continuity throughout the different moving experiences she had. They also helped her feel more rooted and attached to her place of birth.

Fix it in Post

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Film Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/27/2018
Primary Language: English

The following is a common filmmaking joke phrase:

If something is not working right while working on a film you just say

“We’ll fix it in post”

 

According to the informant it means that you will let the editor deal with it.

 

The informant also added that it is said by a lot of newer people but describes it as less funny the longer you have been there.

 

Context: this was collected during our in class collection time

 

Thoughts: I think it’s kind of funny how the reception of a joke can show how long you have been in that business, if you are a newcomer you will laugh more than a veteran. It can sort of outline your status. I also find it funny that the joke is technically about not wanting to do work, so you are passing it off to another person. I found that to be a common idea in many occupational jokes.

Gaffers vs Grips

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Film Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/27/2018
Primary Language: English

The following is a common filmmaking joke:

How many grips does it take to fix a light bulb?

I don’t know

None, let the gaffer do it

 

The informant explains that gaffers only handle electrical work, while grips handle everything else and its disrespectful to do the gaffer’s work if you are not one

 

Context: this was collected during our in class collection time

 

Thoughts: I found this joke to be amusing, mainly because you can look at it from two sides. One, that you do the work you are assigned and don’t take someone else’s work. Or two, you don’t want to do extra work, so you leave it to someone else. I find it funny that even where I work retail, we have similar jokes, about not wanting to do extra work too.

The PA and the Light Bulb

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Film Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/27/2018
Primary Language: English

The following is a common filmmaking joke phrase:

How many Pas does it take to screw in a light bulb?

I don’t know, how many?

Six, one to do it and five to stand around and wish they got asked to do it.

 

The informant explained that often PAs are not really given jobs to do, so they just want something to do

 

Context: this was collected during our in class collection time

 

Thoughts: This joke I found particularly interesting because rather than complaining about having to do work, which I found to be a common theme of occupational jokes, rather this joke is about complaining because you don’t have any work to do. I think it would be interesting to compare the jobs of PAs to other jobs on a film set to see if this is really true.