A farmer hires a new hand. He looks a little slow, but strong as an ox.
He tells him "Toss these hay bales in the tractor", and he does, no problem.
He tells him "Put these fence posts into the dirt", and he mallets them in faster than the farmer ever had.
He then trusted the young man enough to take care of the toughest task on the farm.
"Hold down the cow and insert this suppository. It's for Mad Cow disease." and hands him a pill the size of a red bull.
10 minutes later, looking worn out and wobbly on his feet, the farmhand returns.
"Haha Did Ol Bess put up a fight?", asked the farmer with a grin.
"No…'", the young man said, concernedly.
"…she just stared at me like I was crazy. But that pill hurt like a mother fucker"
Joke Poo: The Tech Support Call
A company hires a new tech support agent. He seems a bit dim, but his typing speed is lightning fast.
The supervisor tells him, “Respond to these easy ‘forgot password’ requests,” and he clears the queue in minutes.
He tells him, “Handle these basic software installation tickets,” and he resolves them faster than anyone expected.
He then trusted the new agent enough to tackle the most critical issue in the system.
“Here’s the mainframe. The system is completely down. You have to reboot it using this activation key,” he says, handing him a USB drive the size of a flash drive.
Ten minutes later, looking pale and shaken, the tech support agent returns.
“Haha, did the server room give you some trouble?” asks the supervisor with a nervous laugh.
“No…” the young man said, worriedly.
“…the mainframe just blinked at me like I was crazy. But that USB drive burned like a motherfucker.”
Okay, let’s dissect this joke and then milk it for some fresh humor (pun intended!).
Joke Breakdown:
- Setup: Farmer hires a seemingly slow but strong farmhand. Establishes the farmhand’s capability for physical tasks.
- Rising Action: Farmhand successfully completes progressively more difficult tasks. Builds the farmer’s trust.
- Turning Point: The farmer assigns the most difficult (and absurd) task: administering a large suppository to a cow to prevent Mad Cow Disease.
- Punchline: The farmhand reveals he took the suppository himself, misunderstanding the instructions completely. The humor comes from the unexpected literal interpretation and the farmhand’s pain and bewilderment. The implied image of him trying to swallow a Red Bull-sized pill is inherently funny.
Key Elements:
- Misunderstanding: The core of the joke. Reliance on spoken word can create humor when there is more than one interpretation of the statement.
- Absurdity: The idea of a suppository for Mad Cow Disease is medically nonsensical, adding to the comedic effect. Mad Cow is thought to be caused by prion contamination, not something that a pill can cure.
- Physical Comedy (Implied): The image of the farmhand attempting to swallow/insert the pill generates humor.
- Juxtaposition: The farmhand is strong and capable, yet utterly clueless, creating a humorous contrast.
Humor Enrichment & New Joke Ideas:
Let’s use the key elements to craft some new comedic material.
1. Witty Observation (Playing on Medical Absurdity):
You know, modern medicine is amazing. They can replace your heart, transplant a kidney, but they still think the best way to treat a cow is to shove a suppository the size of a small planet up its… well, you know. I bet the vet went to school for 8 years to prescribe that.
2. Related “Did You Know?” and joke:
Did you know? Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) actually does have a human equivalent called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).
And that reminds me of the guy who went to the doctor complaining of CJD. The doctor said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is, we can cure it. The bad news is, the cure involves a suppository the size of a Holstein.”
3. A new joke, building on the ‘literal interpretation’ and ‘difficult task’ elements:
A programmer gets hired at a new company. His boss, needing a quick fix to a critical bug, tells him: “Just go in there and kill the process!”
The boss comes back an hour later, and the programmer is standing over the server room’s smoking remains, holding a fire axe.
“I followed your instructions!” the programmer exclaims. “It’s dead, alright. But I think you need a new server.”
4. Joke extension, re-interpreting how the farmhand could misunderstand the instruction:
“Hold down the cow and insert this suppository. It’s for Mad Cow disease,” the farmer said.
Ten minutes later, the farmhand returns, looking even more confused.
“Did you get it in?” the farmer asks.
The farmhand says, “Well, I was holding the cow down just like you said, but I don’t know who stuck that pill up there. It sure wasn’t me!”
Explanation of Choices:
- Witty Observation: I highlighted the absurdity of the initial premise, emphasizing the contrast between sophisticated medical procedures and the seemingly crude solution in the joke.
- “Did You Know?” and joke: I provided real information to contextualize the joke and then created a parallel joke, playing on the shared element of absurdly sized suppositories.
- New Joke: I transplanted the “literal interpretation of instructions” element into a different context (programming) to create a fresh joke with the same comedic engine.
- Joke Extension: Re-interprets the absurdity in a different way, with the farmhand being helpless in the situation.
The goal is to extract the underlying comedic mechanics and then apply them in new and interesting ways, either through commentary, information, or entirely new jokes.