And asks "who shot my Pa?"
I feel like the original joke, how its worded at least, hasn't quite kept with the times. The fans of the western genre are becoming more scarce under the age of like 60. So I feel like the trope that sets the joke is mostly lost on this audience.
I ended up rewriting the set up a few times, because it just sounded like senseless animal cruelty. I mean, who even shoots dogs anymore?
I feel like the original joke, how its worded at least, hasn't quite kept with the times. The fans of the western genre are becoming more scarce under the age of like 60. So I feel like the trope that sets the joke is mostly lost on this audience.
I ended up rewriting the set up a few times, because it just sounded like senseless animal cruelty. I mean, who even shoots dogs anymore?
I'm reminded of the time someone told me a joke with the punch line "Pardon me Roy, is that the cat who ate your new shoes?" as a twist on the lyric "Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo choo?". The joke has a long set up and is really very funny but I had never heard the song (containing that line) before and so the joke of course fell flat, much to the teller's dismay. My point being that the context is the joke.
I'm reminded of the time someone told me a joke with the punch line "Pardon me Roy, is that the cat who ate your new shoes?" as a twist on the lyric "Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo choo?". The joke has a long set up and is really very funny but I had never heard the song (containing that line) before and so the joke of course fell flat, much to the teller's dismay. My point being that the context **is** the joke.
"three legged" and "orphaned" are not necessary and distract from the joke, lessening the impact hence lessening the humor. Just a say a dog limped into a bar. Also the punch line is usually "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw", which is an old Western trope. It's the subversion of expectations that makes this joke a classic. But not the way you told it.