The border patrol agent stops and asks him what’s in the sack. “Senór, it’s just grass.” The agent looks into the sack and let’s him pass. The following week, the Mexican crosses the border again on his bicycle with another sack and the border patrol agent stops and asks him what’s in the sack. “Sir, it’s just grass.”, and the agent lets him through. Years pass and every week the Mexican crosses the border with a sack of grass. Finally, the border agent retires from his job but is ever curious about the Mexican’s sack of grass. One fine day, the retired patrol agent sees the Mexican and asks him, “Hombre, now that I am retired, please tell me what were you doing with those sacks of grass? Surely you were up to something!”
The Mexican looks at him with a smile, “Senór, I was smuggling bicycles.”
Joke Poo: The Interdimensional Plumber
An interdimensional plumber travels between universes on his rickety space scooter with a large, bubbling container strapped to the back. The Galactic Customs Agent stops him and asks what’s in the container. “Just space sludge, Officer,” the plumber replies. The agent peers cautiously into the bubbling goo and, finding nothing suspicious, lets him pass.
The following week, the plumber crosses the interdimensional border again on his scooter with another container, this one even larger and more volatile. The customs agent groans, stops him, and asks the same question. “Just space sludge, sir,” says the plumber, a little too cheerfully. Again, the agent finds nothing illicit and waves him through.
Eons pass, and every week, the plumber travels between universes with his container of space sludge. Finally, the customs agent retires, his curiosity about the plumber having festered for millennia. One day, the retired agent spots the plumber in a nebula cantina and approaches him.
“Plumber,” he says, “Now that I’m retired, please, for the love of the Great Void, tell me what you were really doing with those containers of space sludge! Surely you were smuggling something!”
The plumber looks at him with a mischievous glint in his multi-faceted eyes and says, “Officer, I was smuggling space scooters.”
Alright, let’s break down this joke and see what we can cultivate:
Deconstruction:
- Setup: A recurring situation involving a Mexican man crossing the border with a sack of grass, constantly inspected and dismissed.
- Misdirection: The repeated focus on the “grass” creates an expectation of drug smuggling, the most obvious illicit activity.
- Punchline: The reveal that the smuggled item was the bicycles themselves, hidden in plain sight through clever manipulation of focus.
- Humor Source: The humor lies in the unexpected, the realization that we (and the border patrol agent) were so fixated on the “obvious” that we completely missed the literal transportation of the valuable goods. The simplicity and longevity of the con also adds to the amusement.
- Underlying theme: This joke reflects on stereotypes, assumptions and how easy it is to miss the obvious when preconceived notions dominate our thinking.
Comedic Enrichment:
Now, let’s use some “grass” and “bicycle” facts to create a related joke or observation:
Option 1: A Witty Observation
You know, that Mexican guy smuggling bicycles with sacks of grass? He was actually a pioneer of sustainable transportation. Talk about reducing your carbon footprint…one bike at a time, hidden under a little lawn clippings! He’s like the Pablo Escobar of eco-friendly commuting.
Why it works:
- Extends the original joke by applying modern context
- Irony of eco-friendly commuting as a crime
- Creates humour through contrast of high crime and low-impact environmentalism
Option 2: A Joke Spin-Off
A Dutch cyclist is caught smuggling tulips across the border into Germany. The border guard is suspicious.
“What are you really smuggling?” he asks, inspecting the brightly colored flowers.
The cyclist sighs. “Okay, okay, you got me. I’m smuggling…windmills! They’re really, really tiny.”
Why it works:
- Uses a similar misdirection technique but exchanges elements of the joke to subvert expectations.
- Plays on Dutch stereotypes of tulips and windmills.
- The absurdity of smuggling tiny windmills adds to the humor.
Option 3: A “Did You Know?” Enhancement
(To be said after telling the original joke):
Did you know the longest bicycle in the world is over 117 feet long? It requires a team of people to ride it. That Mexican guy could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he just built one of those and pretended the grass was a really, really elaborate flower arrangement.
Why it works:
- The length of the world record breaking bicycle is absurd.
- Relates a surprising fact about bicycles back to the original joke in a funny way.
- Imagine the size of the sack of grass needed to hide that!
Hopefully, these additions breathe a little new life into the original joke. The key is to identify the core elements and then play with related facts and concepts to create a new layer of humor.