A mother and her young son were flying on Southwest Airlines from Kansas City to Chicago.

Joke Poo: The Compost Heap

A farmer and his young daughter were inspecting the prize-winning pumpkins at the county fair.

The girl, looking at a particularly enormous gourd, asked, “Dad, if big cows have baby cows and big chickens have baby chickens, why don’t big pumpkins have baby pumpkins?”

The farmer, bewildered, said, “Why don’t you ask the fertilizer salesman? He’s over there admiring that giant squash.”

So she did. The salesman smiled and asked, “Did your dad tell you to ask me that?”

The girl nodded, “Yes, he did.”

The salesman replied, “Well, you tell your dad there are no baby pumpkins because he’s always afraid of getting dung beetles in his patch.”

Alright, let’s break down this joke and find the funny levers to pull.

Joke Deconstruction:

• Core Concept: The humor hinges on a child’s innocent, logical question about reproduction in the context of airplanes, contrasted with a suggestive, pun-laden response from the flight attendant.
• Key Elements:
  • Childlike Innocence: The boy’s question is naive and based on a simple observation of the natural world.
  • Mother’s Avoidance: The mom is stumped and delegates the question, implying she anticipates awkwardness.
  • Flight Attendant’s Wit: The attendant seizes the opportunity for a double entendre related to airline operations and (ahem) something else entirely.
  • Southwest Airlines: The airline is directly named, enabling the pun to work since it’s a known airline.
  • “Pulling Out on Time”: This is the linchpin of the joke. It’s simultaneously about a plane’s on-time departure and a suggestive innuendo.

Factual/Interesting Tidbits to Exploit:

• Southwest’s History: Southwest is known for its no-frills, point-to-point service and (at times) irreverent marketing. They’ve embraced a quirky, sometimes edgy brand.
• Aviation Terminology: Aviation is riddled with jargon that, when taken out of context, can sound quite amusing (e.g., “hard landing,” “ground control,” “stall”).
• Aerodynamics: Lift, drag, thrust, and weight. These are the forces that enable flight. Thinking of these in other contexts could generate humor.
• The Miracle of Flight: It’s inherently absurd that we can hurl tons of metal into the sky and have it stay there.

Comedic Enrichment – Joke Variation:

Okay, let’s craft a new joke using what we’ve learned:

Title: Pilot’s Pick-Up Line

A nervous passenger on a Southwest flight turned to the pilot after landing. “Sir,” he said, “that was quite a bumpy landing! What happened?”

The pilot winked. “Well, let’s just say even I don’t always stick the landing. But at least on Southwest, we always try to give our passengers a lift.”

(If no one laughs, look at them and say in your best pilot voice, ‘Mayday? Mayday? Is this thing on?’)

Explanation of Enrichment:

1. Kept the Airline: Southwest Airlines is kept in the joke for a couple of reasons. It maintains the context and gives a nod to the original joke. Southwest has an image that allows the suggestive lines to be funnier than if it were a more straight-laced airline.

2. Emphasized Aviation Terminology: The punchline uses “lift,” which is a crucial concept in aviation (aerodynamics). Also, the term “stick the landing” is aviation slang and has an alternative meaning that allows for the double entendre.

3. Replaced the “Innocent” element with “Nervous”: This takes advantage of the inherent stress and worries many people have when flying.

4. Added meta “if no one laughs…” punchline: This enhances the original joke with a self-deprecating, pilot-centric gag for an extra layer of humor.

Hopefully, this comedic enrichment and dissection provides some laughs! Let me know if you’d like to try another one.