The bakery receipt that made me question my joke-telling skills

I stopped by Nancy's Bakery on 5th Avenue yesterday to grab a coffee and a muffin, and the guy ahead of me told the cashier a knock-knock joke. She laughed so hard she had to set down the pastry box she was holding. Then I tried the same joke about ten minutes later at my office and got blank stares from three people. It hit me that delivery is everything, timing and tone matter way more than the words themselves. That cashier didn't laugh because the joke was great, she laughed because he told it like he meant it, with a little pause and a smile. I've been replaying my own flat versions of jokes all day and honestly, I need to work on that. Anyone else have a moment where someone else made a tired joke land and you couldn't figure out why yours flopped?

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harpery476d ago

Ngl, this hit me hard because I did the exact same thing last week. My buddy told this stupid pun about a broken pencil at lunch and the whole table lost it, so I tried it again at my sister's dinner party that night. Total silence, one guy just blinked at me, and my sister asked if I was feeling okay. The difference was he paused right before the punchline and leaned in a little, I just blurted it out while reaching for the bread basket. Delivery really is like 90 percent of it, I've been practicing my timing in the mirror ever since.