A woman is walking in New York and notices a window display with clocks and watches in it. Remembering that her watch isn't working she walks in and asks the guy behind the counter if he can repair her watch.
"No, I'm sorry, I can't help you. We don't repair watches here."
So she asks, "well, can I buy one of the watches from the window, then," to which he answers, "I'm sorry, we don't sell watches either, I'm a mohel (Jewish guy that does circumcisions)."
She replies, "a mohel? then why do you have watches in the window?"
"Well, what exactly do you want me to put in the window?"
Joke Poo: The Butcher’s Window
A vegan activist walks into a butcher shop in a rural farming town. Seeing rows of meat hooks and cleavers, she approaches the man behind the counter.
“Excuse me,” she says, “I couldn’t help but notice your… selection. Can you, perhaps, offer a nice selection of plant-based sausages? Something made with lentils, perhaps?”
The butcher sighs. “Sorry, ma’am. We don’t sell any of that here. Just good ol’ fashioned meat.”
“Oh,” she says, slightly flustered. “Well then, could I at least purchase a lovely organic salad? Pre-packaged is fine!”
The butcher shakes his head. “Afraid not. We only sell meat. Cuts and sausages.”
The activist is incredulous. “You’re a butcher! Why wouldn’t you sell salads and veggie sausages?!”
The butcher shrugs. “Well, what do you want me to put in the window? Bunnies?”
Alright, let’s dissect this joke.
Key Elements:
- Setup: A woman enters a clock repair shop looking for watch services.
- Misdirection: The shop appears to be a clock/watch repair shop based on the window display.
- Reveal: The owner is a mohel (a Jewish ritual circumciser), which is unexpected and incongruous with the window display.
- Punchline: The mohel’s rhetorical question, “Well, what exactly do you want me to put in the window?” highlighting the absurdity. The humor arises from the obvious answer and the conflict with the expected business.
Underlying Themes:
- Stereotyping & Assumptions: We assume a shop with clocks/watches is a clock/watch shop.
- Occupational Humor: The juxtaposition of a serious, religious vocation with a seemingly unrelated window display.
- Irony: The mohel, who likely needs precise timing, doesn’t deal with clocks or watches.
Comedic Enrichment & New Humor:
Okay, let’s build on this with some related humor, incorporating facts about timekeeping, circumcision, and Judaism:
New Joke:
A rabbi walks into a hardware store. He needs a very specific tool for a bris (circumcision ceremony). He asks the clerk, “Do you have any chronometers?”
The clerk, a bit confused, says, “Chronometers? Sir, this is a hardware store. We sell hammers, nails, and… uh… various other tools. Why would you need a chronometer?”
The rabbi sighs. “Oy vey! Every time I ask for a precision instrument, I get this! Apparently, nobody wants to talk about the timing aspect of my job!”
Why it works:
- Reverses Expectations: Instead of the appearance being misleading, the expected tool is comically out of place.
- Plays on Language: Chronometers are time keeping pieces, but are expensive and are used by the marine industry, making their relevance in a hardware store absurd.
- Inside Joke: Jewish people often make fun of themselves and their traditions.
- Misunderstanding: Similar to the original, it relies on a humorous misunderstanding of what a mohel might need.
Witty Observation/Did You Know:
“Did you know that the sundial, one of the earliest forms of timekeeping, could be considered a foreshadowing of the Bris? Because, let’s be honest, it involves a shadow and a little sun!”