Shaggy Dog Story (individual)

Myself, Dana and Arlette in our last blog posed the question: What must a person possess or appreciate in order to find shaggy dog stories?

In this post I will examine the same question.

As established by our group, it is probably most evident that one must enjoy the employment of puns in a joke to like shaggy dogs joke. But in this post, I would like to argue that even more so, a person has to enjoy the structure style of 'set up, set up, punch line' as a comedy style.

Notice the structure:


SETUP: A string walked into a bar, hopped on the barstool, and said, "Bartender, gimme a beer." The bartender said, "I'm sorry, sir, we don't serve strings here."

>Disappointed, the string hopped down from the stool and went to the next bar. He hopped on the barstool and said, again, "Bartender, gimme a beer." The bartender said, "I'm sorry sir, we don't serve strings here."

>The string continued down the row of bars in this fashion. At every bar, he hopped on the barstool and said, "Bartender, gimme a beer." The bartender at every bar in turn said, "I'm sorry sir, we don't serve strings here."

>Finally he got to the last bar in the area. He was tired, he was sweaty, all he wanted was a beer. He trudged inside, climbed on the barstool, and said, "Bartender, gimme a beer." This bartender, too, said, "I'm sorry, sir, we don't serve strings here."

>Tired and angry, the string walked outside to think. He was a hard-working string. He deserved a beer. Finally, he came up with an idea. He had a passerby tie him up into a bow and frazzle his ends. Then he went back into the bar, and climbed up on the barstool. "Bartender, gimme a beer!" he said loudly.

>The bartender looked him over critically, and finally yelled, "Hey, aren't you that string that was in here a few minutes ago
 knot." ?"

PUNCH LINE: The string replied cooly, "Nope, I'm a frayed knot"

In a video that was posted to our last blog, actor Raiin Wilson explained that Ricky Geravis capitalized on a generational shift in comedy. In fact, that Americans have shifted what they think is chiefly funny to reaction from behavior, perhaps from this older style of set up, set up, punch.

Therefore, if someone read these jokes with the mindset that they would find humor throughout, they most probably would not find it funny.

If you read the joke above, one would notice that the only two things that seem purposed to be funny in the setup stanza's are the ridiculous premise, and the agressive tone of the 'shoe string' toward the several bartenders. However, in my opinion, for the purposes of the delivery style, they downplay at least the ridiculous premise. In the first stanza, when the string is first introduced, instead of making something funny out of it, the bartender responds flatly, "sorry sir, we dont serve strings here."

The truth is, if my mind were prepared for this joke style, I would need anyone to draw out humor in the fact that it was a string. I most likely would just chuckle at it and keep listening. However, one who is not even familiar with this style would probably need direct humor, or an explanation for a walking, talking, string.

So, along with an appreciation for puns, I would say vital to the success of the shaggy dog stories is that the listener must listen find the set up, set up, punch line style of humor funny, or at least listen to them when that style in mind.