Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Never bring a gun to a joke fight!
Jokes can be lethal.
I washed some prawns down last night with a few pino gris' and got chatting about all manner of stuff with a few old pals, and Sam asked me if I have ever killed anyone. It reminded of this night that happend a few years ago, when, in fact, I did kill somebody.
I had been asked by a Lower Hutt Business group to come and speak for an hour about advertising, branding and stuff - really to motivate them to spend some bucks on behalf of a media client of mine. It was a pitch in disguise really. Shallow stuff.
Anyway, to break the presentation midway, I told the mandatory joke - I had decided on the Statten Island Ferry Stowaway joke, which is a long yarn really, that builds to a classic punch line.
Anyway, I'm into it and delivering it pretty well (by my low standrads) and this guy, about 50 something, in the front row, starts chuckling about a minute before the punch line. I figure he has already heard this joke and knows what's coming - but that was cool as his chuckling became quite infectious, which was great.
But then his laughing turned into more of a groan, and I'm thinking - great, this guy is loving it; I'm working the crowd here!
Then he sort of tried to get up and groaned really loudly and then fell on the floor in a heap.
Mmmm. Heart attack. Bugger. I hadn't even finished the joke.
There is a flurry of concerned activity and general shock pervading the room now and the Ambo's got there inside 10 minjutes.
By this time, sadly, the chap was dead.
After they took the body away, I got back up and announced that it would be imprudent to continue the presentation and people either drifted away or joined small groups for a drink and quiet chat. Some were definitely in shock.
But - get this - at least 5 people quietly approached me and asked me to finish the joke.
Which I did. But of course, it wasn't funny any more. One of the greatest jokes in history killed a guy.
It was sad, but there is a funny side to it I guess. And it's always a good story to draw on, when somebody, out of the blue, asks me if I have ever killed anyone.
I washed some prawns down last night with a few pino gris' and got chatting about all manner of stuff with a few old pals, and Sam asked me if I have ever killed anyone. It reminded of this night that happend a few years ago, when, in fact, I did kill somebody.
I had been asked by a Lower Hutt Business group to come and speak for an hour about advertising, branding and stuff - really to motivate them to spend some bucks on behalf of a media client of mine. It was a pitch in disguise really. Shallow stuff.
Anyway, to break the presentation midway, I told the mandatory joke - I had decided on the Statten Island Ferry Stowaway joke, which is a long yarn really, that builds to a classic punch line.
Anyway, I'm into it and delivering it pretty well (by my low standrads) and this guy, about 50 something, in the front row, starts chuckling about a minute before the punch line. I figure he has already heard this joke and knows what's coming - but that was cool as his chuckling became quite infectious, which was great.
But then his laughing turned into more of a groan, and I'm thinking - great, this guy is loving it; I'm working the crowd here!
Then he sort of tried to get up and groaned really loudly and then fell on the floor in a heap.
Mmmm. Heart attack. Bugger. I hadn't even finished the joke.
There is a flurry of concerned activity and general shock pervading the room now and the Ambo's got there inside 10 minjutes.
By this time, sadly, the chap was dead.
After they took the body away, I got back up and announced that it would be imprudent to continue the presentation and people either drifted away or joined small groups for a drink and quiet chat. Some were definitely in shock.
But - get this - at least 5 people quietly approached me and asked me to finish the joke.
Which I did. But of course, it wasn't funny any more. One of the greatest jokes in history killed a guy.
It was sad, but there is a funny side to it I guess. And it's always a good story to draw on, when somebody, out of the blue, asks me if I have ever killed anyone.
