Our current task, as Serious Bloggers, is to pass judgment upon whether the Muffin Joke is funny. Here is the joke itself:
So there are these two muffins baking in an oven. One of them yells, “Wow, it’s hot in here!”ย
And the other muffin replies: “Holy cow! A talking muffin!”
John Tierney (New York Times) thinks the Muffin Joke is not funny. Brad DeLong (Berkeley) disagrees, claiming that the Muffin Joke is, in fact, funny, although he offers no argument to support his conclusion. Jack Balkin (Yale) also finds the Muffin Joke funny, and does offer a rationale:
The muffin joke is funny because it is self-undermining. The punch line undermines the suspension of disbelief that the joke’s narrative presumes. It is kind of like breaching the fourth wall in drama. It’s like the line in Dr.Strangelove “You can’t fight in here. This is the War Room!” or the Atheist Hymn we came up with in high school: “There is no God, there is no God, He told me so himself.”
He admits, however, that by offering this explanation, he has thereby wrung all of the funniness out of the Muffin Joke. That’s as may be.
I come down on the pro-Muffin-Joke side of the debate. To me, it’s quite funny. Is this some sort of Ivory-Tower Academics vs. Hard-Nosed Journalists thing?
I found this joke a let down. ๐ I was expecting the punchline to involve the laws of Thermodynamics.
What is funny to me is that this joke being in the public eye as it was just being bandied about it with various friends and family members last week. The Nytimes is always one step behind my private conversations….
This classic Russian absurdist anekdoty is a variant on it.
I vote ‘funny’ for both…. but I probably need to be a little punchy tired first to actually laugh.
It’s the irony that seals it.
Humor is one of those intensely personal things. It can be an interesting factor of compatibility. I had a co-worker who didn’t get “Far Side” comics. We didn’t connect well. Napoleon Dynamite is another thing like that. I loved it. Perhaps because I was a socially awkward kid with some prototype dorky friends. I adored them. They were genuine and loyal. My friends who think that movie is totally stupid, our connection isn’t as strong as with other friends who “got” it.
Well hey, take all kinds right? Initially, when I saw the picture, I thought this was going to be about the top of the muffin (ala Seinfeld). ha.
But, Sourav, the real Abelian grape joke is the Funniest. Joke. Ever.
Meh.
The commenters’ jokes were funnier.
It’s not that funny because it’s not that clever.
You can replace muffin by any number of other inanimate objects. Whereas, in the examples given, there’s a strong connection between fighting and war, and there’s a connection between an atheist proposition and a communication from God.
But I’m a person who has set a respectably high standard for my own attempts at being clever. Some are satisfied with mere surface attempts at being clever and funny; I’m not.
And I pity such people. I really do. I pity them like, like,… But I refuse. I refuse to stoop to the level of such people. I refuse to put forth a statement of inferior cleverness for the sake of time.
I thought the joke was kind of funny. It reminded me of the old engineer/programmer-meets-talking-frog joke:
An engineer was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him, “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess.” He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week.” The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to the pocket.
The frog then cried out, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I’ll stay with you and do anything you want.” Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, “What is the matter? I’ve told you that I’m a beautiful princess, that I’ll stay with you for a week, and that I’ll do anything you want. Why won’t you kiss me?” The engineer said, “Look, I’m an engineer. I don’t have time for a girlfriend; but a talking frog, now that’s cool!”
Muffin Joke: tends toward “not” on the Funny/Not Funny scale.
My preference is the Penguin Joke popularized by Garrison Keillor: “Two penguins are standing on an ice floe. The first penguin says, ‘You look like you’re wearing a tuxedo.’ The second penguin says, ‘What makes you think I’m not?'”
My vote: not funny. But more importantly, THIS is more like it!! Exactly the kind of debate the blogosphere is meant for. Welcome home, Cosmic Variance… welcome home.
Dammit, Kristin, I was going to tell that joke. Except it’s obviously “physics student,” not “engineer.”
My favourite silly joke of the kind that many have posted is the question:
– What do an elephant and an ant have in common?
– I don’t know.
– They both start with the letter “A”.
– Hey, “elephant” does not start with “A”!
– Ah, but my elephant’s name is Albert.
๐
(and then run away to prevent retaliation)
A variation:
– What do an elephant and an ant have in common?
– I don’t know.
– Neither of them can climb up a tree
– Hey, an ant can climb up a tree!
– Ah, but the ant I’m talking about is dead.
๐
I want to know The Muffin’s thoughts. The rest are details.
I’m another about-muffin-joke-laugher. It reminds me of the talking Burrito ๐
@32,35 – It’s definitely an engineer! I told this joke to my younger brother when he decided to study mechanical engineering…
The muffin joke is funny, but I’ve heard much more surreal ones.
So we Poles have to be kind of like Germans, rather into absurd things (do not confuse with which jokes ABOUT us a popular)
There was a running joke/radio show back in the 80s about two guys, one down to earth, quiet and intelligent, and the other nut head with serious problems.
The nut head used to ask the smart one questions of the type:
“Bobby, would you prefer to be healthy, rich and live a long live or be poor, sick BUT live short. Now, think about it for a moment, you don’t have to rush with your answer”
The question is funny in itself, but it was even funnier when the smart guy tried to explain to the nut head the absurdity of his question.
To me Groucho Marx was the master of this type of humor like when he was checking a pulse of somebody รขโฌ” “Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.” or something to this effect.
Funny. Funnier yet in the “two sausages” version. The phrase “talking sausage” is more fun to say and hear than “talking muffin.”
I think it’s kind of funny. Muffins are one of those things that are inherently funny, sort of like chickens (as observed by Gary Larson).
Now, these muffins are really funny.
That abelian group math joke reminded me of this song by the Klein Four Group:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTby_e4-Rhg
The really funny part, though, are some of the serious comments posted to the video ๐
In college, I thought it was the most hilarious thing I’d ever heard (Q: What’s purple and commutes? A: An Abelian grape), but was deflated when I realized I could only tell it to two other people.
If you are in the cross section of people that find the muffin joke funny, and have kids, I highly recommend Arnie the Donut.
I think it’s a terrific joke. You have to know how to tell it, of course.
I’m not sure why, but it reminds me of another of my favorite jokes:
A grasshopper hops into a bar and hops up onto a barstool. The bartender asks, “What’ll ya have?” but the grasshopper looks confused and doesn’t answer. Smiling sympathetically, the bartender says “I know what you’d like little fella: we serve a drink in this bar that’s named after you!” The grasshopper perks up and responds, “Really? You serve a drink named Steve?”
A side note: One of the most argued about topics between couples is finances. What does it say that Sean and Jennifer disagree about the muffin joke? Can you see them baking muffins together one morning:
Sean playing ventriloquist with muffin – tells joke:
Jennifer: “That’s not funny.”
Sean: “Yes it is! You’re just not seeing the subtle juxtaposition of its inherent absurdity – the play on words, its irony, its several layers of meaning so simply couched within two lines of dialogue. It’s a masterpiece of humor!”
Jennifer: “I thought I was the English major.” (Steals muffin out of Sean’s hand and gobbles it up. )
Sean: “That’s wasn’t funny.”
Jennifer: “But it was…you just didn’t get it. Your reference frame is the problem, darling.” (Sean looks confused.)
Sean: “You’re cute.”
Jennifer: “You’re cute, too.” (Hug, kiss, marital bliss ensues…) ๐
(I didn’t say I was funny!)
**Stephanie and Jason, those are good links – they’re funny!
>>>Sean: “That’s wasn’t funny.”
Omit ‘s.
Maybe we can create a C. V. variant of the joke using raisin muffins and merge with the other thread…
Two raisin muffins are talking in the very early stages of the big bang.
One says: Boy it is really hot in here.
The other says: Yes and I can feel my raisins are all moving away from each other too.
A little bandwidth gobblin,
but it is, afterall, about the muffin:
The muffin man is seated at the table in the laboratory of the utility muffin
Research kitchen… reaching for an oversized chrome spoon he gathers an
Intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants and brushing his scapular aside
Procceds to dump these inside of his shirt…
He turns to us and speaks:
Some people like cupcakes better. I for one care less for them!
Arrogantly twisting the sterile canvas snoot of a fully charged icing
Anointment utensil he poots forths a quarter-ounce green rosette (oh ah yuk
Yuk… lets try that again…!) he poots forth a quarter-ounce green rosette
Near the summit of a dense but radiant muffin of his own design.
Later he says:
Some people… some people like cupcakes exclusively, while myself, I say
There is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of gods grey
Earth as that prince of foods… the muffin!
Girl you thought he was a man
But he was a muffin
He hung around till you found
That he didnt know nuthin
Girl you thought he was a man
But he only was a-puffin
No cries is heard in the night
As a result of him stuffin
I liked it, I think it’s funny.
+ 1 for funny..
It seems to me a kind of kid joke, the sort of thing small boys (I have no experience with girls) find very amusing while they’re still finding their way through language and cultural assumptions. I still think it’s funny, though of course it may be that I never mastered the whole adult thing.
My favorite in this vein:
Q: what’s green and has four wheels ?
A: grass, I lied about the wheels