The plumber was working on a job in a house when the lady of the house said to him, “Will it be alright if I take a bath while you’re having your lunch?”
“It’s ok with me, lady,” said the plumber, “as long as you don’t splash water on my sandwiches”
Joke Poo: Astronaut at Work
An astronaut was performing maintenance on the International Space Station when the mission commander radioed to him, “Is it alright if I use the zero-gravity toilet while you’re having your freeze-dried lasagna?”
The astronaut responded, “It’s okay with me, Commander, as long as you don’t accidentally vent any uh… particulates into my airlock.”
Okay, let’s analyze this plumber joke!
Joke Dissection:
- Setup: Plumber is working in a house; lady asks if she can bathe during his lunch. Establishes a scenario of casual domesticity and a potential for mild awkwardness.
- Punchline: Plumber’s concern is not about privacy or appropriateness, but about his sandwiches getting wet. This unexpected priority creates the humor. It’s a subversion of expectations. We anticipate a socially awkward or potentially suggestive response; instead, we get a very practical and slightly absurd concern.
- Humor Type: Situational comedy, surprise, and a bit of absurdist humor due to the illogical focus on the sandwiches.
Key Elements:
- Plumber: Represents the working class, practicality, and potential for gruffness.
- Lady of the House: Suggests a certain level of formality/social class.
- Sandwiches: Symbol of the mundane, everyday concerns, and the plumber’s priorities.
- Bathroom: Associated with privacy, cleanliness, and a potential for embarrassing situations.
Comedic Enrichment and New Humor:
Let’s leverage the plumber/sandwich element to create a “Did You Know” factoid:
Did you know: The first recorded instance of “plumber’s crack” predates the invention of modern plumbing by nearly 2,000 years? In Roman bathhouses, workers maintaining the aqueducts were reportedly offered “Aqua Snacks” – a primitive form of sandwich made of bread, cheese, and dried fish. It’s hypothesized that these “Aqua Snacks” were often held precariously low in the workers’ trousers during awkward contortions within the tunnels, inadvertently creating a precursor to the infamous occupational hazard we know and… well, tolerate… today. No word on whether they worried about the dripping aqueducts ruining their Aqua Snacks back then.