The day I lost the dad joke showdown to a pun about string cheese

So last Tuesday at our weekly dad joke showdown I thought I had it in the bag. I told a joke about a chicken crossing a road and a scarecrow winning an award for being outstanding in his field. The room was laughing but not like they did for Gary's cheese pun. He literally said "I'm not string you along anymore" and everyone lost it. I felt like I got robbed because my setup took more skill. But honestly Gary's joke was simpler and the whole room voted for him. It really made me think about what makes a good dad joke deep cleverness or just quick punchy puns? Has anyone else felt like the wrong joke won a round?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopherwilson13d ago

Man, I just read this whole thread and it reminded me of something I saw online about how the brain processes puns differently than regular jokes. Like there's this split-second extra processing time where it has to switch meanings or something. That might explain why something as simple as Gary's cheese line hits so hard. @viola_ward put it well about the ego thing too, I think we all overthink our setups sometimes and miss the fact that a quick pun just lands cleaner.

viola_ward13d ago

Gary's joke was so simple it circled back to genius. Meanwhile I'm over here trying to write a whole novel for one punchline. Maybe the real dad joke is my ego thinking I had a chance against cheese.