Hi! Yesterday I worked through the creation of the following gag for you:
If Emily what’s-her-name who wrote Wuthering Heights had married the American financier George Soros, she might now be known as Emily Bronte-Soros.
If Emily what’s-her-name who wrote Wuthering Heights had married the American financier George Soros, she might now be known as Emily Bronte-Soros.
today's gag
If the Countess of Bute had married the Duke of Wellington, would people call her Lady Wellington-Bute?
Please note that 'Bute' is pronounced Byoot, or Beaut, which provides a little bit of disguise of the punchline, as does putting the Countess first. If we'd said it the other way round, it'd have been more predictable and correspondingly less effective. than the above:
If the Duke of Wellington had married the Countess of Bute, would she be called Lady Wellington Bute?
This makes the gag more of a statement than a joke, and is arguably less surprising and so less funny than my effort above.
Please note that 'Bute' is pronounced Byoot, or Beaut, which provides a little bit of disguise of the punchline, as does putting the Countess first. If we'd said it the other way round, it'd have been more predictable and correspondingly less effective. than the above:
If the Duke of Wellington had married the Countess of Bute, would she be called Lady Wellington Bute?
This makes the gag more of a statement than a joke, and is arguably less surprising and so less funny than my effort above.
Which of the two gags above is the best?
To me, the Bronte / Soros joke is a lot less predictable than the Bute / Wellington joke, which must make it the better joke... or at least the least bad.
Where did the Bute / Duke joke come from?
The Duke of W. joke had been in my head for a fair while. I knew there was a Countess of Bute, I knew of the Duke of Wellington, and I knew of Wellington Boots.
It was just a case of typing it up today, with a bit of thought on the exact phrasing. It wasn't hard.
It was just a case of typing it up today, with a bit of thought on the exact phrasing. It wasn't hard.
how to find suitable names
I ended yesterday's post with guidance in finding names of people which can be turned to this format of gag.
What I left out is by far the best type of resource for finding strings of well-known people's names:
The index of any recently published quote book.
I have a book of genuinely funny humorous quotations called 'The funniest thing you never said' by Rosemary Jarski.
The writers / speakers of the quotes are listed in the index - hundreds of them - and I reckon that roughly quarter of them have something potentially usable in their names.
What I left out is by far the best type of resource for finding strings of well-known people's names:
The index of any recently published quote book.
I have a book of genuinely funny humorous quotations called 'The funniest thing you never said' by Rosemary Jarski.
The writers / speakers of the quotes are listed in the index - hundreds of them - and I reckon that roughly quarter of them have something potentially usable in their names.
go through them fairly quickly
When looking through a list like this, don't spend too long trying to see if a name has humour in it. If you spot something, highlight it and move on.
You can come back later to do the joke creating.
I'll return to this theme tomorrow.
Have a good night,
Best regards,
Marc
You can come back later to do the joke creating.
I'll return to this theme tomorrow.
Have a good night,
Best regards,
Marc