The entire bus goes silent, and the embarrassed woman desperately tries to think of something to say to the man sitting next to her.
"Um … do you have a transfer ticket?" she finally asks.
"No, I don't," he replies. "But when we pass the next tree, I'll try to grab you a handful of leaves."
Joke Poo: The Art Critic
An esteemed art critic, visiting a modern art gallery known for its… avant-garde installations, is examining a large, seemingly blank canvas. He’s been staring at it for a good ten minutes, stroking his chin thoughtfully, when his stomach rumbles loudly, followed by an unmistakable, and unfortunately audible, fart.
The entire gallery falls silent. Mortified, the critic desperately tries to salvage the situation, turning to the curator standing nearby.
“Tell me,” he says, trying to maintain an air of profound contemplation, “what is the artist truly trying to convey with this… minimalist piece?”
The curator, after a moment of awkward silence, replies, “Well, I can’t be certain. But I think you just provided the final brushstroke.”
Okay, let’s dissect this flatulent fiasco.
Key Elements of the Original Joke:
- The Involuntary Act: Loss of bowel control (specifically, breaking wind) in a public, embarrassing setting (a bus).
- The Woman’s Reaction: Embarrassment and a clumsy attempt at deflection/misdirection.
- The Man’s Reaction: Sarcastic retort using the unfortunate event as a metaphor.
- Humor Source: The incongruity of the woman’s awkward question after the loud expulsion, and the man’s witty, cutting, and yet still somewhat gentlemanly response. The surprise and the unexpected turn of the interaction drive the humor.
Factual/Interesting Tidbits Related to the Elements:
- Buses: The average city bus can carry 40-60 passengers. Imagine the collective embarrassment amplified! Also, some modern buses have air purification systems… clearly, this bus did not.
- Flatulence: The average person passes gas between 14 and 23 times a day. The composition of intestinal gas varies depending on diet, but hydrogen sulfide is a key component that gives flatulence its distinctive (and often unpleasant) smell.
- Leaves: Different tree leaves have different medicinal properties. Perhaps the man was planning to offer her some leaves with natural absorbent qualities (activated charcoal, anyone?).
- Transfer Tickets: Public transport transfer tickets have been used since the mid-1800s and were designed to prevent fare dodging when people needed to take multiple trains or buses.
Comedic Enrichment/New Humor:
Let’s go for a “Did You Know?” approach that builds on the joke’s premise:
“Did you know: The woman on that bus wasn’t just trying to deflect attention with the ‘transfer ticket’ question. She was actually a newly-appointed Gastronomical Response Unit Agent for the city’s obscure public transportation system. The audible gas leak triggered her protocol: Question nearby passengers about their transfer status in order to document the ‘blast radius’ of the offense and issue a ‘Fresh Air Voucher’ for a nearby botanical garden. Unfortunately, her training didn’t cover such… robust emissions, hence the awkwardness.”
Explanation of the new humor:
- It takes the original joke’s absurd situation and adds another layer of bureaucratic absurdity.
- It uses the “transfer ticket” question as a springboard for a completely illogical, yet seemingly official-sounding explanation.
- It acknowledges the strength of the sound with “robust emissions” to play into the key comedic element of the original joke.
- It adds a humorous “Fresh Air Voucher” (a real-world commodity, albeit not for this purpose) to tie it all together, highlighting the contrast between the unpleasant situation and the bureaucratic response.