Photo courtesy of Mike Licht, licensed under CC by 2.0
Here’s the perfect joke. It’s a Jackie Gleason joke.
“My grandfather always said that I shouldn’t watch my money. That I should watch my health. So while I was watching my health, someone stole my money. It was my grandfather.”
Did you say it out loud? Try it, it’s even better. Even a cabinet minister would find that punchline almost impossible to mess up.
Why is it so good?
Three reasons – parallelism, symmetry, and the narrative arc.
Parallelism is a rhythmic device. When a series of sentences (or clauses within sentences) repeat the same basic structure, the reader responds to the repetition. Human brains love repetition – it’s a big part of how music works. For example;
“You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile”.
Talking Heads, Once In a Lifetime
But back to the joke. Jackie Gleason’s repeats ‘watch my’ three times, providing the basic rhythm that holds the joke together. The active voice, combined with the basic verb ‘watch’ gives us an easy hook. But what really gives the joke power is the symmetry of the nouns.
Take away everything but the nouns, and you’ve got;
Grandfather – money – health | health – money – grandfather.
The way the nouns are positioned splits the joke in two, creating two symmetrical halves. Three nouns are listed – ‘grandfather, money, health’ – then the list is reversed, creating a simple pattern that’s short enough to immediately catch the ear. It’s another pleasing rhythm, more sophisticated than the basic parallelism that serves as a basic pulse. Like an offbeat snare pattern over a ‘four to the floor’ bass drum thud.
As a piece of writing, it’s technically flawless. And that’s before you even consider the genius of the narrative arc. In 31 words, Gleason establishes two main characters and their relationship. There’s a misbelief (the grandfather is trying to help) which leads to a dramatic event, and a surprise ending that also gives a strong sense of closure by ending on ‘grandfather’, the same word that began the story.
And the best thing is…. you don’t need to know any of this to enjoy the joke. There’s nothing political, or cultural here. There’s no assumption of a certain level of education. No chance you ‘won’t get it because you’re thick’.
Just a great idea, delivered with perfect simplicity. The kind of simplicity that takes a lifetime to master.
Have you got a better joke than that? Drop it in the comments below. Or maybe you’re looking for an SEO copywriter who’ll put in the graft to give you something simple and beautiful. Tell me what you need, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.