During a visit to my doctors I asked him . . .
"How do you determine whether or not an older person should be put in an old age home?"
"Well" he said, "We fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a tea cup and a bucket to the person and ask them to empty the bathtub"
"Oh, I understand" I said "Because a normal person would use the bucket as it's bigger then the spoon or the teacup"
"No" he said "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window or the door?"
Joke Poo: The Server Test
During a job interview for a tech support position, I asked the hiring manager…
“How do you determine if a candidate is truly competent with servers?”
“Well,” she said, “We present them with a live server experiencing high latency. We then offer them a ping command, a traceroute utility, and a full system reboot option.”
“Oh, I understand!” I said. “Because a skilled person would use the reboot option to fix the issue quickly!”
“No,” she said. “A skilled person would use traceroute to identify the bottleneck and then use ping to isolate where the packet loss is coming from before resorting to a reboot. Now, do you prefer working with Linux or Windows servers?”
Alright, let’s break down this joke.
Joke Dissection:
- Setup: Patient asks doctor about the criteria for placing elderly individuals in care homes.
- Misdirection: The doctor presents a seemingly logical, though unusual, “bathtub test” involving tools for emptying water.
- Punchline: The patient’s assumption that size matters (bucket is the best tool) is incorrect. The doctor reveals the actual, obvious solution (pull the plug), implying the patient’s lack of common sense makes them a candidate for the home.
- Humor Source: The humor comes from the subversion of expectations and the abrupt, almost dismissive way the doctor delivers the punchline. It also plays on stereotypes about age-related cognitive decline.
Key Elements:
- Bathtub: The central prop and the vehicle for the misleading test.
- Teaspoon, Teacup, Bucket: Size and implied functionality of the tools contribute to the misdirection.
- Doctor-Patient Relationship: The authority figure’s (doctor) assessment carries weight.
- Assumptions/Logic: The joke highlights the pitfalls of applying incomplete or incorrect reasoning.
- Old Age/Care Home: The underlying theme is aging and the potential need for assisted living.
Comedic Enrichment & New Humor:
Okay, armed with this analysis, let’s craft a new piece of humor riffing on the original:
New Joke Structure: A similar misdirection setup, exploiting an unexpected fact about bathtubs.
Amusing Fact: Did you know that the first bathtubs in America (around the mid-19th century) were met with suspicion and even legal resistance? Some cities banned them, fearing they were unhygienic. Doctors believed they could cause spinal diseases!
New Joke:
A tech entrepreneur walks into his venture capitalist’s office. He’s pitching a radical new concept for in-home healthcare.
“So,” he says, “We’ve developed a revolutionary cognitive assessment tool. It’s called ‘The Bathtub Protocol’.”
“Intriguing,” says the VC, stroking his chin. “Tell me more.”
“We fill a claw-foot bathtub with water. Then we offer the subject a smartphone loaded with our proprietary ‘drainage app’ and a rubber ducky. We observe their behavior. “
“And what does this reveal about their cognitive function?” the VC asks, leaning forward.
“Well,” the entrepreneur replies, “if they try to use the ‘drainage app’, thinking it will remotely activate some futuristic plumbing system, we know they’re easily distracted by shiny new tech and possibly over-funded. If they just play with the rubber ducky, they probably need more creative hobbies.”
“So, what’s the correct answer?” the VC presses.
“The correct answer is to avoid the bathtub entirely!” the entrepreneur declares. “Because in 19th century America, the government would fine you for using it and doctors thought it would give you a spine disease. We’re testing for historical knowledge and an innate distrust of unregulated innovation… and a good sense of humor because only a moron would put a bathtub in his house in the first place. Interested in investing?”
Humor Explanation:
- We’ve kept the ‘bathtub test’ concept but updated the props and target demographic (tech-savvy).
- The misdirection is now built around expectations of technological solutions versus historical context.
- The “punchline” plays on the absurdity of 19th-century bathtub fears, combined with a satire of modern tech and venture capital culture.
- The “Did You Know” bathtub fact elevates the humor, by incorporating the absurdity of early attitudes toward hygiene.
Hopefully this demonstrates the art of comedic enrichment – dissecting a joke, identifying its elements, and then using interesting or surprising facts to build a new, related piece of humor!