Well, let's stop being so serious. A while ago, there was an online poll to determine the funniest joke of all time. It was British, so some of the finalists might seem a little strange by our standards. But the winner made me laugh, and I'd probably put it somewhere in the top 10:
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"
But the jokes I remember laughing the hardest at are silly ones that would probably have fit more in vaudeville than on "The Daily Show." Two examples:
A man walks up to a little girl standing next to a dog. "Is your dog friendly?" he asks. She replies that of course it is, so he reaches down to pet the dog and immediately gets bitten. "I thought you said your dog was friendly," he said. Replied the girl: "That's not my dog."
Doctor tells a patient he has a fatal disease. "I think I'd like to get a second opinion," the patient says. "OK, you're ugly, too."
I started thinking about jokes a few days ago when I saw a tribute to the "Taxi" TV show on the TVLand network, which included a clip of the memorable (to me, anyway) scene at the DMV, in which Rev. Jim tries to find out, "What does a yellow light mean?" (here's the video on YouTube). As funny as it was, I realized, it was only a variation of "Who's on First" -- still the funniest comedy routine of all time. And as long as we're doing comedy, here is the final scene of the last "Newhart" show, the absolute best series finale of all time.
God, I love YouTube.
