Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.
Well, for example, the other day, Jim my husband and I went into town and visited a shop.
When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.
We went up to him and I said, "Come on, man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?"
He ignored us and continued writing the ticket.
I called him an “asshole”.
He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tires.
So Jim called him "ass hat”.
He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.
Then he started writing more tickets.
This went on for about 20 minutes.
The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.
Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.
We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age.
Joke Poo: The Zoom Bomb
Working from home people frequently ask freelancers what they do to make their days interesting.
Well, for example, the other day, Brenda my colleague and I were on a company Zoom call.
When the CEO started speaking, there was a kid writing on the shared screen.
We went to the chat and I typed, “Come on, man, how about giving a working parent a break?”
He ignored us and continued doodling a mustache on the CEO’s face.
I called him a “little snot”.
He glared at me (via the screen share) and started doodling a monocle and top hat.
So Brenda typed “booger breath”.
He finished the monocle and top hat and added a tiny speech bubble saying “I’m rich!”
Then he started drawing devil horns.
This went on for about 20 minutes.
The more we abused him in the chat, the more ridiculous the CEO looked.
Just then the meeting ended, and we muted our mics and went back to work.
We try to have a little fun each day now that we’re working from home. It’s important in these crazy times.
Okay, let’s break down this joke.
Key Elements:
- Premise: Retired couple seeks amusement.
- Setup: Encounter with a cop writing a parking ticket.
- Conflict: Escalating verbal abuse leading to escalating ticket writing.
- Twist/Punchline: The couple doesn’t own the car; they were waiting for the bus. The whole interaction was a deliberate act of mischievousness.
- Humor: The humor comes from the unexpected twist, the escalation, and the contrast between the perceived helplessness of senior citizens and their actual mischievous intent. The implicit hypocrisy is also funny – complaining about tickets while intentionally provoking them.
Now, let’s leverage these elements for some new comedic material:
Option 1: A Witty Observation
“Retirement is the only job where you can get fired from creating chaos and still collect a pension. Just ask that poor parking enforcement officer.”
Why this works: It highlights the freedom of retirement and spins it into an absurd scenario based on the joke.
Option 2: A ‘Did You Know?’ style Amusing Tidbit
“Did you know that the average parking enforcement officer writes roughly 20 tickets per shift? However, some research suggests that number skyrockets if Jim and his wife are in the area, especially if they’ve had their prune juice that morning.”
Why this works: It exaggerates the impact of the joke’s scenario, turning it into a humorous (and fictional) statistic. The “prune juice” adds a silly, age-related element to the punchline.
Option 3: A New Joke Structure (playing on escalation)
Setup: An elderly couple is sitting on a park bench, feeding pigeons.
Character A: (Feigning innocence) “Oh, aren’t they lovely? Such gentle creatures.”
Character B: (Eyes twinkling) “Indeed. Watch this…” Throws a handful of croutons at a squirrel
Character A: “What was that for?”
Character B: “Gotta keep things interesting! See, now the squirrel’s chasing the pigeon!”
Throws another crouton, this time at a dog sleeping nearby
Character A: “Jim, that’s enough!”
Character B: Throws croutons at a group of teenagers
Character A: “Jim, I swear…”
Punchline: A swarm of birds and stray animals descends into the park while the local constabulary begin surrounding the couple. “Now that’s what I call a ‘senior citizen’ flash mob!”
Why this works: Similar to the original, the humor lies in the escalation from seemingly innocent behavior to blatant chaos, with the elderly couple as the instigators. It plays on the expectation that senior citizens are harmless and then subverts it. It also utilizes the punchline to create an expectation of civil disobedience with the use of the word flash mob.