Two Old Drunks
Two old drunks are sitting in a bar when the first one says, "Ya know, when I was thirty and got an erection, I couldn't bend it, even using both hands. By the time I was forty, I could bend it about ten degrees if I tried really hard.
By the time I was fifty, I could bend it about forty five degrees, no problem.
I'm gonna be sixty next week, and now I can bend it in half with just one hand."
"So," says the second drunk, "what's your point?"
"Well, I'm just wondering how much stronger I'm gonna get."
Why makes this Joke funny?
The joke "Two old drunks are sitting in a bar..." plays on expectations and redirects the audience with a punchline that is unexpected.
Here`s a breakdown:
- Set-Up: The first old drunk provides a long-winded set-up about the decreasing rigidity of his erections as he has aged, which is a common topic for age-related humor and may lead the audience to expect a punchline related to aging or sexual prowess.
- Misdirection: The lengthy set-up is crucial as it sets a serious tone and makes it seem like he`s lamenting his aging process. This ensures that the audience is caught off-guard by the eventual punchline.
- Punchline: The second drunk asks, "what`s your point?" which normally would be a prompt for a reflective or poignant statement given the serious set-up. However, the first old drunk responds with "Well, I`m just wondering how much stronger I`m gonna get." This is funny because he misinterprets his increasing ability to bend his erections as an increase in hand strength, which is an unexpected and absurd conclusion.
The humor emerges from the subversion of expectations (expecting a lament about aging and instead getting a bizarre brag about increasing strength) and the absurdity of the first drunk`s misunderstanding of his own physiological changes. It`s a play on the audience`s expectations and uses misdirection to deliver a surprise at the end.