Poll please? Should I use this joke?

[Vonhelmet]

Send it off to Milton Jones, where it belongs.

I saw him him in Manchester the other day and shook his hand. It was very soft. True story.

 

[Aliboy]

Say it in a Sean Connery accent and you might not get boo'd off the stage

 

[DailyGeek]

Rather than being over anaylsed, I think it's just badly worded. Depression and breaking things aren't two things you'd normall associate with one another.

No but depression and self harm are closely associated. Self harm sounds like shelf harm. The joke is that if you were depressed you might self harm, but this person shelf harms instead. They sound the same, but they have radically different meanings. People will be puzzled when you tell them that your depressed friend does something you don't normally associate with depression, that being to damage furniture, but they will then be surprised and amused when you describe this as "shelf harming" as this sounds like "self harming", which we have already established is something that depressed people are prone to doing. The humour is derived from the absurdity of a depressed person destroying furniture, combined with the humorous homophonic nature of the two phrases used to describe disparate activities.

Thank you so much for writing a far more eloquant version of what I was going to say It's a throwaway one-liner, I'm not going to worry about people considering the medical accuracy but yes depression and self-harm is the link, the smashing stuff up and the punchline are fabricated. It's a joke. (Well, an attempted one) How many chickens do you see crossing roads? And of those, how many specify a reason?

Thanks for all the comments folks. I think it's very interesting to note the different responses, just proves my oft-made point that comedy is hugely subjective. If I can find a place for it to fit in, I'll give it a shot and let you know the results If it bombs, i'm not worried, you've got to try these things out for real - and don't worry about delivery. I'm not using DPD...

 

[arc@css]

I wouldn't use that one fella.

 

[Deadbeat]

Rather than being over anaylsed, I think it's just badly worded. Depression and breaking things aren't two things you'd normall associate with one another.

No but depression and self harm are closely associated. Self harm sounds like shelf harm. The joke is that if you were depressed you might self harm, but this person shelf harms instead. They sound the same, but they have radically different meanings. People will be puzzled when you tell them that your depressed friend does something you don't normally associate with depression, that being to damage furniture, but they will then be surprised and amused when you describe this as "shelf harming" as this sounds like "self harming", which we have already established is something that depressed people are prone to doing. The humour is derived from the absurdity of a depressed person destroying furniture, combined with the humorous homophonic nature of the two phrases used to describe disparate activities.

What he said.

Whether you're told to or not, if you have a brainfreeze moment on stage, you're gonna use it.

 

[semi-pro waster]

If you're the type of comic who does reams of one-liners (Jimmy Carr type) then it's probably something you can slip into your act without worries - not tremendously funny on its own but decent enough to raise a chuckle as part of a routine perhaps. If you're someone who tells meandering comedy stories (Billy Connelly/Ross Noble type) then it's likely to prove a bit of an abrupt change of pace which may or may not be good but as noted it's about the delivery as much as the joke itself.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

All depends on delivery. Peter Kay at the beginning of his 'Live at the Top of the Tower' gig did a number of medicore one-liners and the audicience loved it.

Just what I was going to suggest, he explains the joke and thats the funny part, but maybe copying his style is not correct.

 

[platypus]

Not a fan of it myself, and I like crap jokes.