My daughter has the whole humour thing off to a tee. “Mummy,” she extemporised this morning over a rather late breakfast, “what is a healthy snack for a sheep?”
I stared at her, cogs whirring. Obvious humour is not my thing. I would never have made a Shakespearean jester.
She grinned, “A Cereal Baa”, she concluded triumphantly.
Cheers and much merriment. The dog wagged his tail enthusiastically, although that might have been frantic signalling requesting a walk which had so far not been forthcoming.
Felix smiled broadly, and applauded. And then, without any consideration for how this might all end, he launched into his own comic contribution.
Felix is quick-witted. But the conventions of comedy often evade him. He has us in stitches regularly, but it tends to be razor-sharp clowning and situation comedy, not the stylised wordplay of a framed gag.
So his opening gambit went a bit like this: “Why did the chicken go to the movies?”
The little rascal had promise. This was short, pithy, snappy: an excellent opening. Maddie and I stopped eating our cereal and paid a bit more attention. The dog was staring fixedly at Felix’s cereal, and wouldn’t have understood the finer nuances of wordplay anyway.
And then Felix embarked on the return journey.
“Because”, he announced with great aplomb, “he wanted to see how eggs were laid. But,” he added, grinning with barely contained mirth,”that’s not a very good joke.”
Silence, as two minds sought any possible connections and one mind (if it can be termed as such) slavered over a bowl of cereal.
Then everyone burst out laughing, because the situation rendered the punchline irrelevant.
That tiny group of words, so dear to this happy breed. The punchline, says the Oxford Dictionary, is a set of words which gives the point of a joke. Brewers’ Dictionary of Phrase and Fable speculates that “the figurative ‘punch’ suggests that the listener is struck by his line”.
A perfect example appears every morning at the site of The Laughing Housewife, where not only does Tilly run a constant stream of one-liners calculated to get one giggling, she also collects jokes from others and features them daily.
It is a perfect way to start the day: laughing. It is, I am convinced, medicinal. I am waiting for our General Practitioners to begin recommending visits to her blog on the NHS.
The punchline sticks in your head years, even decades after you first heard it. And these days, the point has become secondary: like that line in The Young Ones. That series was one long punch, a shout of laughter from first until last.
There’s an episode called ‘Boring’ in which the four penniless student housemates who are the central characters drift chaotically down to the Kebab and Calculator pub, where Madness, one of our greatest pop exports, just happen to be playing.
It falls to Rik the garrulous sociology student to make a request of the frankly burly band members.
He chooses unfortunately.
“Do you know ‘Summer Holiday’, by Cliff Richard?” he asks with his usual disastrous manner.
“Tell you what”, replies mountainesque lead singer Suggs: “You hum it, and I’ll smash your face in.”
Not witty, and certainly not explanatory: but a punchline never the less.
Archaeology is of little use with the word ‘Punchline’. No-one has any proof about where it came from. Mr Punch and the five-spice beverage from which he took his name are such frequent visitors in our folklore.
Like the building in a great city, century-old foundations have been covered over by layer upon layer of lore. Punchinello may, or may not, have birthed the punchline with his slapstick knockabout clownery.
We may never know.
Now the punchline has acquired a new urgency with the advent of social media. Twitter requires pithy one-liners with a point. If they’re funny, everyone wants in.
A tweet with humour makes you feel upbeat to face the day: this link’s number one rib-tickling tweeter is Michael Ian Black. He shows how a postmodern punchline can still pack that essential punch: “Now I have to go to another part of the house to get the power cord for my computer” he tweeted a few days ago, “and it feels like my life is over.”
I love my Tweets. But as I write, the tweet’s darker underbelly is showing its colours, in nearby London. An unheard of siege mentality has been brought about by one-liners devoid of humour or wit and bent on destruction.
We are strangers to the unrest in our midst, and many of us are not privy to the snatches of orchestrated one-line communications which have made the London Riots possible. We find it hard to believe the evidence of our eyes: people in Britain, forced to defend their smallholdings by brandishing saucepans.
Punchline: a set of words which gives the point. We have watched the first part of the situation with incredulity; but the point seems a far-off dream.
Image source here
Kate Shrewsday 
The punchline, that point on the verbal horizon fraught with danger, will it succeed or will I be exposed as a fraud in the world of amusing others. *sigh*
Re the organising of the riots, I suspect these types are the sort gathered up into armies in the past, and there taught discipline (that hopefully becomes self discipline) and how to work at something.
Too much freedom for some, who can’t become useful members of society?
Some nasty fascist thoughts lurking in my mind over them and their ilk. Not sure I like this aspect of me.
I think punchlines are a 50/50 thing, Sidey: we get about half of them right, and the rest fall flat. But it’s worth it for the reaction to the half 🙂
What these rioting chaps need is a firm hand, a decent prime minister on-site, an army helping our valiant police out and a change of government.
I couldn’t agree more. I can’t believe the PM and Mayor took so long to get back here.
It’s started in Manchester tonight, and elsewhere. It’s like Toxteth all over again.
Thanks for the mention. 🙂
You’re welcome, thanks for the daily humour:-)
Just about to retweet this: but a lady called Susan Gaszczak claimes to have spotted seven Greater Manchester riot vans heading into London on the M1 nine hours ago. Some serious logistical problems here, I think.
I was amused by your delightful children and your ever-hopeful hound. But as I type this with one eye on Sky News, I am saddened and appalled. England, my England, what on earth is happening …
We’re all a bit stunned, Cindy. It’s rather too close for comfort, and no-one knows what the possibilities for escalation are. The young men rioting are on the crest of the darkest of waves, and they can’t hear anything except the beat of the drums in their ears. Once one person has smashed a window it becomes an ok thing to do. Totally Lord Of The Flies. I know it would be embarrassing for the government but it’s pointless watching the police flounder. We need the army. Now.
Yes indeed, what is happening over there? Riots… dreadful when vehicles are burned putting people and buildings in danger. Who would have thought that this would happen. 😦
I had clean forgotten about Punch and Judy, haha! 😀
The head mistress in me is coming out, Denise: this is , pure and simply, bad behaviour. There are many reasons and terrible inequalities which must be addressed later, but understanding must not be offered in return for violence. First, the violence stops: then, when all sides feel safe and able to negotiate, we can talk. Right now we need something old-fashioned, and most un-pc: a firm hand. This behaviour must be nipped in the bud, and fast, because it will send messages to those sitting in their houses contemplating joining the fray. The Prime Minister needs to speak out: and we need the army, if only for a short sharp spell. They help us with our ambulance strikes: why not this?
As soon as I read “Punch Line” I knew. It is so worrying, and how is it going to end?
Good question. It’s travelled to Croydon and Birmingham, and through Twitter is seems anyone can organise anything. My guess is that tonight we will see more provincial action, and the possibility of vigilante groups too. We need more than those valiant police are able to provide. Let us hope the punchline is provided by strong leadership from the government and its forces.
Ticket taker to parents of little girl: “No charge. She’s free.” Little girl: “I’m not free? I’m four.”
Out of the mouths of babes, Carl…..brilliant!
Such senseless violence and destruction. We all cringe in horror, Kate. We had a similar problem here in Chicago earlier this summer with mobs of kids, thugs is a better description. They were actually attacking people on the street. It seems to have settled down, but, I fear this underlying anger and absence of conscience that seems to be brewing all over the world.
Much nice to think of Maddie and Felix and their punchlines.
It is, although I do feel a bit like we’re all sitting here in our ivory tower while Rome burns, Penny. it all feels horrifically them and us… Still, life must go on.
So sorry to hear about the riots, Kate…hoping for a swift and satisfactory resolution. Otherwise, thanks for sharing your delightful breakfast humour, and teaching me that new word “extemporise” 😀
Good word that, Naomi 🙂 It has got me out of a hole many a time.
Punch and Judy never put on such a show ~ from breakfast bars to folks belonging behind bars.
BTW: I get Felix’s joke. If you’ve been to the movies lately, it’s clear that many moviemakers are prone to laying eggs: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/lay+an+egg
In the figurative sense of course . . . “The cast laid an egg in both performances.”
Keep laughing. Riots or no, life improves with laughter! 😀
LOL…lovely to get an upbeat take on the day’s proceedings, Nancy. You are a wonder.
Firstly the fun side of things: Scout didn’t get jokes at first, except for the general gist of them and that one is supposed to laugh at the end.
Techie: what’s green and goes red at the touch of a liquidizer
Cyclo: I don’t know. what’s green and goes red at the touch of a liquidizer.
Techie: A frog in a liquidizer
S, T, C and me: general laughter
then a small voice:
Scout: Daddy, what’s a liquidizer?
And then to the riots. We have just heard a warning they may be kicking off in parts of Oxford. What an awful situation.
‘Tis rather, Pseu. they seem to be in town centres where the stuff is. I feel sure the authorities must be ready for them tonight. Take care.
Tell your children I’m looking for apprentices 🙂
They start many a day with your joke, Tilly 🙂
(Yes, I check it first!)
No need! Have I ever told a blue one?
Never 🙂
But I like to know the punchline first.
I am appalled at what’s going on over there, Kate – it must be very alarming for you all – laughter in the face of all the gloom is just what is needed and Tilly Bud is just the tonic, for sure
She is, BB. A daily laugh is just the ticket.
the dark tweet underbelly – poignant as usual. It’s all quite disturbing and I only hope your daughter can help brighten the situation with her humor.
Life goes on, doesn’t it, Tammy? Let us hope the situation begins to be under control soon.
I’ve been hoping you and your family are well away from the violence. It’s such a waste. For everyone. Like you, I hope someone takes a firm hand puts a stop to it.
Kudos to Maddie and Felix for lightening the atmosphere for all of us.
Thanks Kathy, we’re fine 🙂 The rioting ttends to be in places where there is a lot of lovely new stuff to steal and we’re a long way from that…