What was Marvin Gaye’s book repair service called?

Joke Poo:

What was the name of the plumber who specialized in dealing with alien waste blockages?

…Planetary Plunging.

Okay, let’s break down this Marvin Gaye joke.

Deconstruction:

• Setup: “What was Marvin Gaye’s book repair service called?” This sets the expectation of a name or title related to a business.
• Punchline: “Textual Healing.” This is a pun, playing on Marvin Gaye’s iconic song “Sexual Healing.” The words “sexual” and “textual” sound similar, and both relate to a kind of gratification or fixing something. “Textual” implies the healing of text, hence the connection to book repair.
• Key Elements:
  • Marvin Gaye: His name and association with his music are essential for the pun to work.
  • “Sexual Healing”: The song title is the base for the pun.
  • Book Repair: The context of fixing damaged books provides the link to the word “textual.”
  • Pun: The core humor relies on the phonetic similarity between “sexual” and “textual.”

Comedic Enrichment & Expansion:

Here are a few ways we can build on this:

1. The “Did You Know?” Approach:

“Did you know that Marvin Gaye struggled with the idea of actually performing “Sexual Healing” because he felt it was too overtly suggestive? Ironically, his book repair service, Textual Healing, was famous for its… explicit annotations. Apparently, his customers were particularly fond of his ‘Spine Tingler’ repair package. He’d always say, ‘Gotta get these books back in shape… for the children!'”

• Explanation: This uses a (false) “did you know” format to add another layer of absurdity. We play on the double entendre of “explicit annotations” and “spine tingler,” linking back to the sexual theme of the song and contrasting it with the wholesome image of book repair. The exaggeration of his intent adds to the comedic effect.

2. Expanding the Business Concept:

“Textual Healing was surprisingly successful. But the real money came from Marvin Gaye’s audiobook repair service. Turns out, fixing a broken record was a lot like…” (pause for effect) “…a painful divorce.”

• Explanation: This pivots to audiobooks, creating a potential joke that leverages more of Gaye’s personal experiences. The implication is that the emotional themes of his music made him uniquely suited to repair them.

3. Related Joke:
Why did Marvin Gaye only write one self-help book?
Because after Sexual Healing, there was nothing left to give

• Explanation: In this joke, “to give” is a play on “Gaye.” This continues the musical theme of the initial joke.

4. Add an actual fact.
Did you know Marvin Gaye wrote “Sexual Healing” after moving to Belgium to deal with drug addiction and a creative block? Now I’m not saying that Textual Healing was his cover story while he was trying to beat his addiction… but Textual Healing.

• Explanation: This joke builds on the interesting back story behind the song and uses it to generate more humor around the book repair company.

The key here is to leverage the audience’s knowledge of Marvin Gaye and his music while introducing absurd and unexpected connections to the book repair premise.