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A Look at Bridge Jokes

The funniest bridge joke I’ve heard up until now goes something like this:

Two war-time pilots crash their plane somewhere in the jungle. “Hell, I guess we’ll have to call for a rescue.” says one. “How about this?” suggests the other. “Let’s just shoot down another plane so we can play a game of bridge.”

In the comedy documentary “Talking Funny”, comedians Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais and Louis CK get together to discuss humor, jokes and why they’re funny in the first place. It’s said that jokes first require a set up – a situation – and from there, the carpet pulled out from under it with an entirely unexpected twist.

I’ve always found it an accurate description of what helps to make jokes work, and you can analyze almost all jokes and punchlines in existence from the above bridge joke through to every version of the Aristocrats to find that it fits the theme. Even memes would apply.

Most things that are funny, are funny because they veer off course – whether it’s a slightly childish joke (“Well then you’d better go catch it!”) or a dirtier one (“There once was a man from Nantucket.”). 

A bridge joke according to the proposed formula for what’s funny would be something like this:

Two bridge players are gossiping about happenings in and around the club when the discussion settles on a recent marital spat they had both heard about. “Did you hear Joan shot her husband over their contract?” mentions one. “Prenuptial?” asks the other. “No, bridge.”

To my knowledge, that’s original (although I’ll stand corrected if it’s not!) and it’s the least dirty of the ones I could come up with while having an hour or so to think about it.

What’s the best bridge joke you’ve ever encountered?


Comments

One response to “A Look at Bridge Jokes”

  1. RD350LC

    One of the funniest jokes I have seen is this-paraphrased from “The Mad World of Bridge”
    This is the Newfie (or Polish) Blackwood. After an auction like 1 club, 2 clubs, you go 2NT asking for 2s, 3NT asking for 3, and so forth up to 14 NT asking for aces. Guaranteed to give an accurate picture of your partner’s hand.