Clown Joke (Harlem/Columbia)

After turning toward Columbia, there was no stopping. We ran into this guy right outside the main campus gates at 116th, where he told us, "the" clown joke. You know the joke. We all know the joke, which is why he gets high marks for putting it out there with this version. Who says you can't go back home again?

Georgian Joke (Harlem/Columbia)

After the minister joke, we ran dry. Big Todd even had the chutzpah to walk into a packed barbershop on 125th and ask the guys sitting around for jokes. They were amused, but no deal. So, this next joke is the literal and figurative transition from Harlem to the Columbia University expedition. Literal for the Morningside Heights location, and figurative because the joke is told by a Georgian foreign exchange student - in Georgian. We really just don't know any Georgian. And this woman was very kind to share what seemed like a funny joke - knowing full well that only her friends in Georgia will understand. This is special, don't you think? How many joke sites in the U.S. host jokes in Georgian?

Minister Joke (Harlem/Columbia)

Obviously, there are as many ways of telling a joke as there are jokes. However, there are some people who just have a sublime moment when they tell a joke. After the hard-won knock knock joke we felt we'd earned some lunch and just happened to be standing outside a soul food place. While we were standing there waiting to order, this guy came out from the back and after hearing that we were collecting jokes, made us promise to find him when we finished eating. He was so jazzed to tell the joke when we got outside, we barely had time to turn on the camera before he launched into it.

spanish knock knock (Harlem/Columbia)

OK, after a break for the holiday, we're back. Back to Manhattan, uptown, to Harlem. We figured if there were any street in the city where lots of people would be out walking on a Saturday, it would be 125th. True, there were people out walking, but they all had somewhere to be and we had to work for these jokes. A few blocks West of The Apollo, this guy took pity on us. And, of course, in time-honored StopMe tradition, the joke is not in English - hence the title. If you get the notion, send us the translation. Enjoy the first joke of the Harlem Expedition.

STOPME TEASER

I posted this on youtube hoping to drum up a little traffic. It makes me want to go back and look at all the old jokes again! Most of them are from Coney Island and Central Park expeditions.

riddles from DUMBO (DUMBO)

Why are some offensive jokes funny (depends joke) and some just offensive (apron joke)? Enter your 200 word answer in this week's essay contest and win a free one year's supply of StopMeIfYouHeardThis adult diapers and aprons. Meanwhile, the woman behind the counter (cops... jokes) actually called her friend to get jokes while we amused ourselves in the carousel room. To be fair, we badgered her until she caved in.
apron joke

depends joke

cops, gorilla and hippie jokes

vaudeville moments (DUMBO)

The out-takes are always the best part, right? We've got some good ones and have decided to expand the blog to include more than just the jokes from a particular expedition, giving you that "I was there! Wait, was I actually there? ...no, I must have been dream-- wait, I think I really was there!" feeling. Well, anyway, when this camera-starved woman caught sight of our bigger-than-average video cam, trust us, we were there. And thank god we got the footage, because you wouldn't believe us if we described her to you. I know your question: What could possibly have preceded this unabashed display of camera lust? Answer: Absolutely nothing. She came out of a gallery, asked what we were shooting, and proceded, with the help of her very vaudeville husband and slightly stunned kids, to lose it.

coffin joke (DUMBO)

At this point we're sitting down at a coffee place trying out the "make them come to us" tactic of soliciting jokes, thus the camera angle. We asked these two women if they had a joke as they went into the place and got a negative, but on her way out it was revealed a joke had wormed it's way into her consciousness during her caffeine experience.

mickey mouse joke (DUMBO)

Some jokes, inexplicably, land just right every time you hear them. "Mickey Mouse Joke" goes in this category for me. Not only is it a great punch line, it's just so funny and touching that a perfect stranger has a mickey mouse voice ready to go, on demand, even as she's running a few errands. "I was going to buy some shoes but you two scruffy dudes wanna hear my falsetto mickey mouse? Sure!" Try doing that with a printed joke. Tears in my eyes.

marriage counselor joke (DUMBO)

One thing DUMBO is full of is art, in this case taking the form of an old carousel that's been restored. The thing is oversized in this indoor gallery space and can't be safely opperated, but the classic merry-go-round music completes the mood anyway. It's also amazing background music to a joke I don't quite get. Does he think the counselor is telling him to kiss his wife in the office (and if so, isn't that not very funny?). Or did the guy kiss the marriage counselor (funnier, but doesn't sound like that's what he's saying)? Ah, well, it doesn't matter; sometimes the point isn't to actually get anywhere, but just to lean your cheek against the pole, feel the rise and dip of your favorite horse, and wave to your mom when she comes around again. daaaa-da-da-da-daaaaa...