Ship of Fools: The open tomb

Thread: The open tomb Board: The Laugh Judgment / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Simon (# 1) on :

Joke submitted by quang:

On the third day, Mary went to the garden and saw in amazement that the door to the tomb was open. Suddenly she felt the presence of her Lord beside her. She looked at him and said...

"Oi! Jesus, were you born in a barn?"

[ 20. July 2005, 23:39: Message edited by: Simon ]

Posted by Ancient Mariner (# 105) on :

I liked this for its playfulness with an enormously significant event. What's interesting, though, is that the punchline is begging for a swear word to toughen it up. Without it, the payoff lacks power.

Posted by Papa Smurf (# 1654) on :

Nonsense. [Disappointed]

jokes don;t need swear-words to make them funny.
What's wrong with having jokes that are innocent enough to tell your Gran ?

[ 19. July 2005, 10:18: Message edited by: Papa Smurf ]

Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :

Like Papa Smurf, I'm curious about the swearing. Perhaps that can be a topic in itself?

If I see gratuitous swearing in any form I tend to switch off, or else think it's not that funny so they need to try and get a laugh from swearing [which I don't understand either].

Posted by Fool of a Took (# 7412) on :

My local baptist church made this same pun on their Christmas parade float. "Yes, he was born in a barn, that's why he always leaves the door open".

I like the concept. I, too, like the playfullness.
Somehow it seems to me to fall a little flat here.
Maybe it would work better (for me) as a post-resurrection appearance, or even as an 'event in the life' of Jesus.

I want to emphasize, not because I think the morning of the resurrection is a sacred cow that just can't be touched by humour. I'm not sure exactly why, though. I'll keep thinking about it. Maybe someone else will feel the same way and name it for me.

Posted by frin (# 9) on :

This one would be better with a longer build up before it gets to the punchline, so that the scene could be set more fully.

I like the interplay of concepts in this joke.

'frin

Posted by SteveTom (# 23) on :

I agree with AM about the unfortunate lack of gratuitous bad language.

It annoys me when comedians lean on the word "fuck" as a lazy shortcut (pardon the mixed metaphor) to getting a laugh, but I think it this case a little cursing would add something.

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :

Other option would be something along the lines of a swat to the behind, or grabbing him by the ear accompanying the admonition. Keeps it clean, but strengthens the punchline a bit.

Sieg

Posted by nicolemrw (# 28) on :

it took me a moment to think why leaving the tomb open would upset his mum. after all, its not really like leaving the house door open is it? that made it less funny for me.

Posted by Fool of a Took (# 7412) on :

oooh... his mum...
somehow, in a resurrection morning story, that's not the 'Mary' that leaps to my mind...

sure, I guess that's funnier. Maybe.

Posted by Newman's Own (# 420) on :

I thought the reference was to Mary Magdalene as well.

I found this joke to be mildly amusing and not offensive in the least. It took me a minute to connect 'born in a barn' with leaving the door open - I think it would be funnier if I had frequently heard that expression in the past.

Posted by TheLearner (# 9740) on :

I found this joke hillarious. Myself being from a Jewish family, my grandmother and aunts of mine often used the word "Oi" when expressing distaste.

In addition, any joke that emphazises the humanity of either Jesus or Mary will get thumbs up from me. Maybe I am easily amused, but the combination of cultural/family language (Oi, were you born in a barn?) and the humanity of the family of God made for a good joke. Not offensive at all.

J

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

This amused me quite a lot, maybe because my husband is always leaving the front door open.

I felt there was a slight offence in joking about the Resurrection, but not that much, because what Mary says is kind of affectionate criticism (as well as being ironic, since he was indeed 'born in a barn').

But overall, pretty funny and unexpected.

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