pianist joke (DUMBO)

Here we are in DUMBO with our 50th joke!! Actually I may be off by one but cool Brooklyn hipsters are chill about that kind of thing. The behind the scenes story here is that this guy started telling the "pianist joke" about a block and a half away but was repeatedly interupted by a homeless woman begging for money (take 1). "Y'all are laughing over here and telling jokes but I need to eat!" Now that's funny stuff. Even after we gave her a buck she kept coming at us, upping the price to get her to go away to a cool $20. This was just plain unreasonable, so we did what any New Yorker worth his salt does: avoid eye-contact and walk away— fast. She followed us, but even with our big 'ol camera we were too quick, plus pushing her into the dumpster didn't hurt. Kidding!! Jeez, whatsamatter you bunch of Brooklyn Liberal Hipsters-- can't take a joke??
TAKE ONE

TAKE TWO

pirate joke (DUMBO)

As we say farewell to the Washington Square Park leg of this wild and crazy ride, let us welcome the all new DUMBO (Brooklyn, NY) expedition, which might be my personal favorite so far. This is actually the first shoot attended by all three of us, though we only ended up under the Manhattan Bridge because Scott couldn't find a parking space on the Upper West Side, where Big Todd and I happened to be hanging out. But just before leaving his brunch buddies to come get us, Scott tested out the camera on his friend, who gives us the best joke about a guy with a steering wheel down his pants I've ever heard.

driving range joke (Washington Sq. Park)

We've decided it's only legal for us to feature a comedian if he or she is caught off guard and not giving us his "act." After all, it wouldn't be fair to the dish-washers, wall street guys, teachers and ditch diggers featured on StopMe to go up against a real pro. This ex-comedian cleverly reveals how he actually joined the ranks of the rest of us non-pros, all in the telling of a single joke.

father and son joke (Washington Sq. Park)

Why do I feel this is a joke that should be told by a rabbi? This is another from the guys-standing-around-outside-the-chess-shop series, so enjoy your window into this exotic subculture of NYC. Just please keep your arms inside the bus.

no arm guy joke (Washington Sq. Park)

Sometimes my 9 month old daughter smiles at me and I remember why I became a dad. Sometimes a wacky NYC street artist in an orange shirt tells us a joke that's not really a joke about a guy with no arms who can't scratch his butt, and I remember why we became video joke scavengers. This is the stuff of StopMeIfYouHeardThis, my friends; open up those emails and paste in the link!

string joke (Washington Sq. Park)

I don't remember where I first heard this joke but I was a teenager, and I remember thinking the punch line was incredibly clever and just damn funny. For decades (decades!) whenever the moment to tell a joke rolled around I groped to put together the pieces of this one but could only remember the punch line. I knew there were pieces of rope walking into a bar and somehow one of them gets twisted into a knot and the hair is frizzy and— then it just became a hazy, jokey, foggy haze. So as soon as this woman began I got so excited a bit of pee leaked out. "This is it!" I thought, "I have stumbled upon the end of a long and significant chapter in my joke life..." Or something like that. When it was over, I made a mental note that the ropes are all trying to get a by-the-book bartender to serve them some booze. I turned off the camera, dabbed the pee-spot with a tissue, and— somehow sure the sunlight was making me look really cool— went off to find another someone who wouldn't mind telling us a joke.

parachute joke (Washington Sq. Park)

We were wrapping up the Washington Square Park expedition (much of which was actually shot in the streets around the park). Scott was getting us a couple of slices inside the pizza place while I stood outside on the corner with Big Todd's big-ass camera, minding my own business for once that day. This guy came up to me and asked what we were filming, and it was like he was just looking for somebody to film him telling his parachute joke.

chicken & egg joke (Washington Sq. Park)

It would seem from her brisk stage exit that this woman either told us a joke while running from the cops, or else she is somewhat embarassed to have handed us the image of an egg having sex with a chicken. The joke she tells is pretty funny, but at the risk of my wife calling me mean (again), I have to point out that the punch line ought to be, "Well, that answers that question." Either way, we thank her and hope she got away.

dead cat joke (Washington Sq. Park)

You'll notice a lot of street jokes in the Washington Square Park outing, as we discovered people were somewhat less on the defensive when they had the option of walking away. In the park or on the beach people were relaxing and did not necessarily welcome two shaggy guys holding a camera asking if anybody's got a joke. This guy was more than willing to stop and share, much to our delight. Although the punch line doesn't quite deliver, the delivery has a lot of punch.

chess joke (Washington Sq. Park)

Standing outside the chess shop were a bunch of, well, chess guys. We couldn't help wondering if chess guys are funny. Do they have a culture, a language, all their own? Do they tell each other chess jokes? Indeed, they do.

president's armies joke (Washington Sq. Park)

Okay, look, we haven't posted to the blog in awhile because we've been busy making the website better and changing our intro to the actual jokes to match the site (and to be shorter!). We promise to pick up the pace; stay tuned for the rest of the Washington Square Park expedition. Also stay tuned for the announcement of the launch party celebrating the new site and the beginning of the biggest (and only?) video joke archive out there...
As for today's joke, I'm not usually a big fan of the riddle. The best reaction you can really hope for is "Good one; very clever." But if you're gonna tell a riddle, which are inherently silly anyway, my advice is to do what this woman did, and tell a silly riddle.