Bar joke

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"Guy walks into a bar" and "A Man Walks Into a Bar" redirect here. For the Tyler Farr song, see A Guy Walks Into a Bar. For the NCIS episode, see A Man Walks Into a Bar...

A bar joke is a very common and basic type of joke cycle. The basic syntax is as follows: "A man walks into a bar and <something happens here>". The initial perception of the joke is that a man is walking into a bar to have a drink, but this only lasts a few seconds as the punchline is quickly uttered. This joke has gained an incredible amount of variants over the years. It is often used by comedians, and people telling jokes to friends.

One of the earliest examples of bar jokes is Sumerian (c. 4500–1900 BC), and it features a dog: "A dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one'." The humor of it is probably related to the Sumer way of life and has been lost, but the words remain.[1]

Variants[]

The bar joke has a large number of variations. The types of variations include puns or word plays (the man walks into a bar and pulls out a tiny piano and a 12-inch pianist, followed by any number of different punchlines; or man with dyslexia walked into a bra), or replace the man with woman, a famous person, people of various occupations, animals (a duck walks into a bar, orders a drink, and tells the bartender, put it on my bill; a panda walks into a bar, it eats, shoots and leaves.[2])[3] or inanimate objects (a sandwich walks into a bar, orders a beer, and is told by the bartender, we don't serve food here).[4] Sometimes the unexpected happens: "A man walks into a bar. Ouch!" In 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to another twist: "A man walked into a bar. Those were the days!"

Another major variant involves several men walking into the bar together, often with related professions, such as "a priest, a minister and a rabbi."[3] In effect, this is a merger between the "bar joke" and trio jokes involving priests, ministers and rabbis (or Buddhist monks, etc.) in other settings. This form has become so well known that it is the subject of at least one joke about the popularity of the joke itself: "A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and says, 'What is this, a joke?'".[5][3]

According to Scott McNeely in the Ultimate Book of Jokes, the first bar joke was published in 1952 in The New York Times.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ Forsyth, Mark (2017). A short history of drunkenness. London: Penguin Books. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-241-98010-1.
  2. ^ Eats, Shoots & Leaves (UK hardcover ed.). London: Profile Books. 2003. ISBN 1-86197-612-7.
  3. ^ a b c Kelley, Greg (2020). Unruly Audience: Folk Interventions in Popular Media. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1-60732-990-9.
  4. ^ Nunan, David (2012). What Is This Thing Called Language? (2 ed.). Macmillan International Higher Education. ISBN 978-1-137-29559-0.
  5. ^ Christensen, Tricia (7 February 2021). "What is a Meta-Joke?". www.infobloom.com. Infobloom. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  6. ^ McNelly, Scott (13 January 2012). "6". Ultimate Book of Jokes. pp. 92–100. ISBN 9781452113159.
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