I seen a bird blowing on a worm before he ate it.
Okay, here’s my attempt at a “Joke Poo” version of the bird and worm joke:
Joke Poo: Retirement Home Shuffle
It’s so slow at the retirement home today, I saw a resident shaking a Werther’s Original before he sucked on it.
Okay, let’s break down this scorcher of a joke!
Original Joke Dissection:
- Premise: Extreme heat. This is the universally relatable setup.
- Punchline: A bird is attempting to cool down a worm before eating it.
- Humor Mechanism: Exaggeration and personification (or rather, ornitho-fication). The heat is so intense that it’s altering the natural behavior of animals. We imagine a bird being considerate, something we don’t typically associate with avian worm consumption. The absurdity of the situation is funny.
Key Elements:
- Heat: The oppressive weather condition.
- Bird: A quintessential creature of the outdoors.
- Worm: Classic bird food.
- Blowing: Attempting to cool down.
Comedic Enrichment & New Humor Creation:
Here’s a direction we can go: play on how desperate a bird may need to be to do this.
New Piece of Humor:
I read somewhere that some birds actually do “pre-process” their food, but it’s usually to break it up to feed their chicks. So if you see a robin gently blowing on a juicy nightcrawler on a day like today, don’t assume it’s learned compassion. It’s either REALLY hot or that bird is having a midlife crisis and considering early retirement to a worm-cooling business. It will likely still eat the worm afterwards.
Explanation:
- Factual Tidbit: The “birds pre-process food for their young” factoid provides a grounding in reality, contrasting with the joke’s absurdity.
- Witty Observation: The suggestion of the bird learning compassion or having a midlife crisis is funny because it attributes human-like emotions and motivations to an animal acting out of what is likely desperation.
- Extension of the Joke: It expands on the original joke by suggesting scenarios that are even more ridiculous while still being rooted in the premise of extreme heat affecting wildlife.
This new piece leverages the original joke’s elements, adds a touch of factual information, and then layers on more absurdity to create a humorous extension. It also retains the “heat as a disrupter of natural order” theme.