Ship of Fools: The visit of the Wise Men

Thread: The visit of the Wise Men Board: The Laugh Judgment / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Simon (# 1) on :

Joke submitted by zigster:

After the holy child was born, the three wise men came to visit Mary and Joseph and pay their respects after seeing a shining star. They traveled for many days and finally ended up at a stable in the town of Bethlehem. The three wise men lined up outside the stable and decided to go in one by one and greet the family.

The first wise man was short and as he brought in his gift, he announced: "To honor the holy child, I bring you gold, for he is the wealth of the world."

The second wise man was a bit taller. He entered the stable and also presented his gift: "I bring you frankincence, for he will bring sweetness to the world."

It was then the third wise man's turn to come in. Because he was so tall, he bowed his head as he came into the stable, but whacked his head on the main beam.

"Aggh! Jesus Christ!" He exclaimed.

Mary said, "That's a really nice name!"

[ 11. July 2005, 09:01: Message edited by: Simon ]

Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :

Sorry to zigster, but -- for me -- this was the worst so far. Not even a smile.

And not even remotely offensive.

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

Sorry - it just doesn't make sense. Why would the king shout "Jesus Christ" when that name hadn't even come into the world yet?

It's a joke for people who don't know Christianity at all. Like the boy who once asked me why Joseph named his son after a swear word...

Posted by Ancient Mariner (# 105) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
Sorry - it just doesn't make sense. Why would the king shout "Jesus Christ" when that name hadn't even come into the world yet?

It's a joke for people who don't know Christianity at all. Like the boy who once asked me why Joseph named his son after a swear word...

All you need is a West Country burr, MtM, and you'd be a dead ringer for Alice Tinker of Dibley.

Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :

[Tangent]

[Killing me]

-- I loved Alice's responses to Geraldine's jokes.

[/Tangent]

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ancient Mariner:
All you need is a West Country burr, MtM, and you'd be a dead ringer for Alice Tinker of Dibley.

How do you know I don't have one? [Razz]

I see where the joke's coming from - it's a skit on the way "Jesus Christ" has become an exclamation as used by the third wise man, rather than the revered name of Our Lord. I just think that particular skit was done more effectively by the "Mary in Sunday School" joke posted earlier...

YMMV.

Posted by Fiddleback (# 2809) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
Sorry - it just doesn't make sense. Why would the king shout "Jesus Christ" when that name hadn't even come into the world yet?

Er...I think that's why it is funny.

Posted by AdamPater (# 4431) on :

Weird... I'm completely against the trend on this one. I first (and last) heard this joke from my mate Peter, of blessed memory, ten or thirteen years ago. We both laughed uproariously, then looked at each other all guilty like, and agreed we wouldn't repeat it.

At least back then we both thought it very funny and highly offensive. And look what it did to Pete.

Posted by frin (# 9) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
Sorry - it just doesn't make sense. Why would the king shout "Jesus Christ" when that name hadn't even come into the world yet?

It's a joke for people who don't know Christianity at all. Like the boy who once asked me why Joseph named his son after a swear word...

You've just reminded me of one of the pecularities of medieval mystery plays. Old Testament characters and New Testament, pre-Crucifixion characters will swear by St Peter - or other Christian saints - or use religious swearword shorthands like "sblood", which ought to make no sense if Jesus hasn't made a new covenant and died on the Cross, and the disciples have not achieved sainthood yet.

In otherwords, this particular comedy pivot has a long Christian heritage.

'frin

Posted by Eliab (# 9153) on :

This is piss poor. It has taken me a while to work out why I hate this joke, but the reason is that the whole set up is misplaced.

It starts with the first, shortest, wise man making a pious statement about his gift of gold. Then the second, taller, wise man makes a slightly less pious statement about his gift of frankincense. Now what should, by all the rules of story-telling, humour and common humanity necessarily follow is the third, tallest wise man make a blasphemous and hilarious comment ABOUT HIS GIFT OF MYRRH. Which should, of course, be relevant to his tallness. I've no idea what that would be - but it would have to be very clever to tie in all the ideas being built up.

Instead, there's a moronic pun based on Jesus Christ being swearword. Nothing at all to do with the story. You could just have said (for example) "Gabriel comes to visit the pregnant Mary, and as he stoops to enter the door he bangs his head ...". Still crap, but over more quickly.

Humour can work by setting up expectations and then doing something else. But the something else has to be worth doing on its own merits.

I'm offended, but not by the religious context, just by someone thinking I'd laugh at this.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

I did find this quite funny actually. Sort of pricking the pomposity and reverent entries of the previous two wise men. Although if you stop to think about it the punchline does seem a bit of an odd thing to say.

Posted by The Coot (# 220) on :

I upped the funniness rating of this a notch, because the Kath and Kim-like response of the BVM tickled me. She sounds like a dozy airhead. Noice. Special. Of course, I know she's not, and there is absolutely no question that she can be, that's why it works for me. The humour lies in the jarring absurdity of the BVM sounding like some dim suburbanite tart (for me). The decoy core of the joke (naming) is quite secondary in humour value, IMO.

A brief compare and contrast with the Clinton one: that, I found mildly offensive, because it requires another party (Clinton) being disrespectful to her/forcing himself on her.

Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ian Climacus:
[Tangent]

-- I loved Alice's responses to Geraldine's jokes.

[/Tangent]

(So did I; the jokes in the sacristy were my favorite bit in the whole show.)

Posted by Ophthalmos (# 3256) on :

I think Marvin the Martian made the relevant point right at the beginning. He simply wouldn't say that.

If a joke is based in heaven, there's wider scope.

If it's set in an historical time frame, you can't tamper with that and get away with it.

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