Joking Around

During a weekend with a favorite cousin (Lou), Pie and Bubba were introduced to the world of formal joke telling. I am not sure the concept of the "formal joke" was totally understood.

To begin...Bubba told a classic.

"Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?"

Dramatic pause.

"Cause he was dead!"

Cue the unrestrained laughter of Hot Mom and Hot Mom's sister.

Then Pie told another classic.

"What has legs but can't walk?"

I had an urge to shout, "Grandpa!", who recently had knee surgery, but I bit my tongue to allow the comedy to flow freely.

Dramatic pause.

"A table."

Cue laughter once more.

Lou then chimed in with another.

"What has teeth but cannot chew?"

At this point Bubba had an Arnold Horshack moment where he raised his hand and started to yell.

"Ooooh, oooohh, oooohh, I know this one! I know this one!"

Lou desperately wanted to blurt out the punchline, but Bubba was having none of it. He was so sure he knew the answer.

"What is it, Bubba?" asked Lou.

"The police guy. The police guy from Daddy's work. Huh, Dad?"

Confused at Bubba's answer, Lou shook her head and finished her joke.

"Its a comb, Bubba."

"No, its not," insisted Bubba. "Its Doug. The answer is Doug. He has teeth and he can't chew. Right, Dad? We went and saw him at his house and he couldn't chew or anything."

Slowly I began to realize what Bubba was talking about. A month or so ago, a Ranger at my office had a very severe accident at work in which an ATV he was loading on to his truck fell off and pretty much crushed his head, breaking every bone in his face. Luckily, the doctors did some reconstructive surgery and Doug is expected to be just fine, but the doctors wired his jaw up tight so he has to eat/drink everything out of a straw.

So....technically....Doug has teeth and cannot chew. He IS the butt/punchline of the joke.

Like a little sleuth, Bubba figured it out and managed to ruin a joke and humiliate one of his dad's co-workers.

Like father, like son.