c/dad-joke-workshop

Heard my kid's teacher groan at a joke I told at parent-teacher night

So I was at parent-teacher night last Tuesday and the teacher mentioned they were covering homophones in class. I said "oh like how a bat is both an animal and a thing you hit a ball with?" and she gave this long suffering sigh. Then I added "or how a fly is an insect and also something you do in your pants" and she just stared at me. It hit me then that maybe I've been testing my dad jokes on the wrong audience all this time. Has anyone else had a joke totally flop in a place you thought it would land?

Spent $40 on a 'dad joke book' and it backfired hard

I bought this joke book from a gas station hoping for some fresh material at family dinner, but my 9 year old looked at me and said 'Dad, these are worse than your normal ones.' Has anyone else gotten roasted by their own kids over a joke purchase?

Was always against pun-based icebreakers until a triple-header at my nephew's party last Saturday

I've spent years rolling my eyes at dad jokes in group settings (you know, the kind that make people groan). But last weekend at my nephew's 8th birthday party, I had 15 kids and 4 parents staring at me blankly after the cake. I dropped a quick "Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts" and suddenly everyone was laughing and sharing their own. Now I'm wondering if I've been wrong all along about these things being cringey. Has anyone else had a moment where a silly pun totally saved a conversation or am I just getting old and soft?

Debate: Did my fridge dying force me to finally clean it out or was that a blessing?

My 15 year old Kenmore gave up last night in Austin and now I'm torn between being mad about losing the leftovers and kinda happy I had to purge all those mystery containers. Which side wins for you, the annoyance of a broken thing or the silver lining of the cleanup?

Found a trick for writing puns that took me way too long to figure out

I spent about 45 minutes trying to come up with a pun about gardening for a joke I wanted to share at my nephew's birthday party. I kept staring at a blank page thinking 'plant' and 'seed' but nothing clicked. Finally I grabbed a thesaurus and looked up synonyms for 'grow' and 'soil' and within 5 minutes I had three solid puns. Has anyone else found a simple tool like that that cuts down the time they spend crafting jokes?

Had a guy at the hardware store crack a dad joke that stuck with me for 3 years

I was in the paint aisle at Home Depot mixing a gallon of matte for a job, and this old timer walks up, stares at my cart, and goes 'You know why paint dries so fast on the walls? Because it can't stand to see the mess it left on the floor.' I still think about that every time I tape off a room. Anyone else get a random zinger from a stranger that just lived in your head rent free?

I keep getting booed for my 'cucumber' joke and I think it's great

I tried my new one-liner at the family barbecue last Saturday. It goes: 'I told my wife she should embrace her mistakes... she gave me a hug in the backyard.' People groan but I get a few chuckles. Has anyone else had a joke land totally different than you expected at a gathering?

Used to write dad jokes on napkins, now I test them in front of my kids first

I used to just jot down puns on whatever scrap paper I had, like at lunch or during meetings at work in Chicago. Then I tried a pun about toast at the dinner table last Tuesday and my 8 year old groaned so hard he fell off his chair. Now I always run my jokes by him first, because if he doesn't cringe then I know it's not ready for the public. Anyone else have a kid who gives brutal feedback on your jokes?

My dad's 'that joke needs a harder punchline' comment back in '09 made me shorten all my setups

He told me to cut the first two sentences and just go straight to the pun, and now my one-liners actually get groans instead of blank stares at the family cookout, did anyone else get told their jokes were too wordy?

Was dead set against punny one-liners until I tried a bait-and-switch approach

I finally cracked the code on a dad joke my kids groaned at for months

I finally get why dad jokes work better with terrible puns

Last Tuesday at my nephew's birthday party in Omaha, I told a joke about a broken pencil that got a few chuckles, but then I twisted it into a pun about a ruler and the whole room groaned. My brother-in-law, a retired teacher named Mike, spent 10 minutes explaining how the setup and the unexpected twist make the cringe worth it. It clicked for me right there - the worse the pun, the better the reaction. Has anyone else found that a bad pun hits harder than a clever one?

My kid's school talent show last Friday ruined puns for me forever

I was sitting in the auditorium at my daughter's school in Portland, waiting for her piano piece. Then this 10 year old gets up and does a dad joke routine, five minutes straight of puns. The problem is she stole like 3 of my best ones about eggs and toast that I was saving for the weekend. I couldn't even laugh because I was so mad she used my material in front of 200 parents. Now I have to come up with all new breakfast puns before Saturday brunch. Has anyone else had their own kids jack their punchlines before you got to use them?

Ditched the punny punchlines for straight dad jokes at my kid's school event

I had to pick between writing a clever pun or a simple one-liner for the school talent show intro last month. I went with the groaner "Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts" instead of a wordplay joke. What's your go-to move when you need a quick laugh without the setup?

How I used to lead with the punchline first

Back when I started sharing jokes at family dinners I'd just blurt out the funny part without any setup. My brother called me out on it last Thanksgiving and now I always start with "hey did you hear about..." before the pun. Anybody else have to unlearn a bad habit like that when you first started posting here?

Unpopular opinion: People keep messing up the setup to their puns

I've been hanging around this workshop for maybe 6 months now, and I keep seeing the same mistake over and over. Folks will drop a punchline without giving enough context first, so nobody gets the groan. Like, I saw one yesterday that just said "I'm reading a book on anti-gravity" and then waited for laughs. You gotta do the full setup, like "I'm reading a book on anti-gravity, it's impossible to put down" because that's where the work happens. My dad would spend a whole minute building up a joke about his truck before he'd hit us with the silly part. I remember him timing it out while we were driving to the grocery store last summer. Anybody else notice newer jokes are skipping the setup too fast?

I dropped $40 on a joke book for inspiration and it's actually paying off

I was at a bookstore last weekend killing time between loads and saw this beat up copy of 'The World's Worst Jokes' for $40. Figured it was a waste but bought it anyway. Turns out reading through old puns and one-liners gets my brain working way better than scrolling online. I've already written 6 new jokes for my kid's baseball team that actually got groans. Has anyone else tried using an actual book to get out of a joke writing rut?

Hit 100 dad jokes posted in this sub and I'm oddly proud

I just realized I've posted 100 of my own puns and one-liners here over the last 8 months. That's a hundred times I stood in my kitchen in Akron trying them out on my kids before hitting submit. They gave me a standing ovation when I told them last night but I think they were just sick of being test subjects. Anyone else keep a tally of their jokes or am I the only one this petty?

Shoutout to the grocery store deli counter that gave me a new dad joke idea

I was picking up some roast beef at the Kroger on Main Street yesterday and the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted it shaved or thick cut. I said 'shaved' and he goes 'coming right up, sir.' While he was slicing I noticed the sign said 'shaved ham' and I thought wait a minute, that's a perfect setup for a pun. So I tried this one on my wife at dinner: 'Why did the deli worker get a promotion? He really knew how to slice it.' She groaned so hard I knew I had a keeper. Any of you guys ever get joke ideas from random places like a grocery trip?

Hot take: Is it better to tell a joke fast and land it or slow down and watch them squirm?

I was at a family barbecue last Saturday and told my classic 'why did the scarecrow win an award' joke (because he was outstanding in his field, obviously). I delivered it fast and nobody even groaned, they just looked confused. Then my cousin told the same joke but dragged it out over 15 seconds with pauses, and everyone laughed. So which is the right way for a dad joke? I've always been a speed talker myself but maybe I need to slow things down. Has anyone else tested both speeds and found one works better?