German jokes and the ghost of Adolf
 

sample from SNL weekend update.

"A German schoolgirl has invented what she calls 'a merciless bed,' which dumps people on to the floor when their alarm clock goes off. It has already won a prize for most German invention.”


WWII ended over 50 years ago, you think they'd stop making German jokes. funny line, sure. but still, most pop-culture German jokes revolve around them being strict & cold. Sure, they don't say "Nazi" but the implication is still there. In fact, the most progressive protrayal of Germans would probably be in The Simpsons where they DIDN'T take the easy route and made the Germans about Smiles and Sunshine. Heck, Lenny even said "Sure, they made some mistakes in the past but thats why pencils have erasers!". there's the difference between going for the easy gag and thinking outside of the stereotypical protrayal.

snl was so unbelievably unfunny last night. only two things on there made me laugh out loud. the girl with one leg skit and that joke. come on. that was a funny joke.

according to that laughlab study germans laugh at the most jokes. what was it? one nationality found hardly any jokes funny oh. canadians found hardly any jokes funny and germans found like every joke funny. then they showed us which joke won out overall in both countries and both jokes were rather unfunny. the preferred canadian joke was just that thing about nasa and the expensive pens and the russians using pencils. and the german joke. i forget it but it wasn't very funny either. so isn't it weird that the nation that laughs at the least amount of things and the nation that laughs at everything, both overall had really unfunny favourite jokes. n/m.

the belgian joke was my favourite. ha ha. i posted a poll awhile ago but lemme find it.

Top joke in Canada

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 C. The Russians used a pencil.

(not funny)

Top joke in Germany

A general noticed one of his soldiers behaving oddly. The soldier would pick up any piece of paper he found, frown and say: “That's not it” and put it down again. This went on for some time, until the general arranged to have the soldier psychologically tested. The psychologist concluded that the soldier was deranged, and wrote out his discharge from the army. The soldier picked it up, smiled and said: “That's it.”

(really not funny)

many European countries, such as France, Denmark and Belgium, liked jokes that were somewhat surreal, such as:

An Alsatian went to a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote:
“Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.”
The clerk examined the paper and politely told the dog: “There are only nine words here. You could send another ‘Woof’ for the same price.”
“But,” the dog replied, “that would make no sense at all.”


(ahhh ha ha)

I didn't see SNL last nite, I actually cribbed that line from an AICN review. And it made me laugh too, even just reading it. I'm not saying it isn't funny (it is) but I just find it interesting that it still plays on the same notion that Germans create pain. I brought up the Simpsons because it was actually an episode about Germans that didn't go that route. I mean, think about it, it could have been SO easy to have the Germans who owned the plant be taskmasters & slavedrivers & corporate Adolf's but they DIDN'T do that, which is what makes it original.

I'm not trying to take a moralistic stance & it doesn't offend me at all. I enjoy a good racial joke often too. but I just think in the end, its just a little too easy to drege up the past. This isn't a slam against morals, its a slam against comedy writters.

But I digress - For some random reason, this whole thing reminded me of that Monty Python bit where the Allies stumbled onto the funniest joke ever made so they had them running through France saying the joke in German and Nazis fell out of trees dying of laughter. Damn, there aren't enough comedy writters now that are on the level of Python (South Park gets close once in awhile, though & The Simpsons used too. though both are big Python fans.)

I can see why the NASA joke would go over in Canada because its about American excess that we all take potshots at. We have a perpetual "middle child" syndrome and to what is funny to is what *doesn't* make us American (which is very rarely) And the German joke I don't really get but maybe it has to do w/ the country's militaristic history? (ie. screwing over the army = funny)

the other european one is bizzare but kinda in a surreal way which is always good. just picturing the dog at the bank is the humorous part.

but blah, sometimes analyizing comedy can be the unfunniest thing to do. I mean, you can't come up with an intellectual response to why Jackass is funny, it just is.

yeah but most humour like that works on commonly-held like stereotypes and assumptions. like if you have some complicated plot you can digress like that but generally in a one-liner thing like that it actually increases comic value to just like. you know. work off common stereotypes. like that's sort of the obvious joke you'd make of a german bed that throws you on the floor. come on.

but you can!

go to http://www.laughlab.co.uk

heh.

also the way jimmy fallon delivered that joke made it funny. ahh ha ha.

I have a lot of family in the alsace.

it should read "oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa, oooh ooh aa"

:D That's right, SMM. :cool: