Uncle Gary has forwarded us over four hundred emails since 2003. We finally read them all, and we ranked them from mildly confusing to legally concerning.
Translated for Younger Readers
Some jokes need context. Here is a friendly guide for anyone born after the fax machine went quiet.
- LOL once meant “lots of love”
- The crying-laughing emoji is used for every emotion
- Forwarding to twenty people was how things went viral
Life is too important to be taken seriously.
Oscar Wilde
Share it with a grandparent. They will reply in all caps, and that is the best part.
A quick note on how this post came together: the idea arrived in our tips inbox, survived two editorial meetings, one argument about whether it was actually funny, and a vote that was decided by the office cat walking across the keyboard. We cleaned it up, checked every detail, and added only the jokes we could defend in front of our mothers.
The Part Where We Explain Ourselves
Chain letters, dancing babies, and one very long joke about a golfing priest. We tested every line on at least three coworkers, one houseplant, and a very patient delivery driver. Two out of five laughed, which in comedy is basically a standing ovation.
There is a science to this, sort of. The best jokes are short, specific, and a little bit true. They make you picture something you have seen before, then twist it just enough that your brain trips over its own feet. That tiny stumble is the laugh. Everything else is timing, and timing is mostly knowing when to stop talking.
Which is exactly what we should do now. But before we go, a confession: half of these were rejected the first time we pitched them. Our editor wrote “no” in the margin, then “fine” underneath it, then a small drawing of a frog. We are still not sure what the frog means, but we have decided to take it as a compliment.
Got a better one? Leave it in the comments below. The best reader submission each week gets pinned, framed, and read aloud at our Friday stand-up, whether you like it or not.
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