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From: ron@uokvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: asimov on shaggy dog jokes - (nf)
Message-ID: <5015@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Jan-84 23:07:48 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.5015
Posted: Fri Jan 20 23:07:48 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jan-84 04:37:07 EST
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#N:uokvax:14900011:000:2905
uokvax!ron    Jan 18 17:50:00 1984


well, the shaggy dog debate has really picked up, so let me add my two 
cents worth.  when everyone started arguing over what the first shaggy dog 
joke was and exactly what a shaggy dog joke IS, i went to my best source, 
'isaac asimov's treasury of humor' (i've mentioned the book before).  
it has an entire chapter on shaggy dog jokes, if that gives you any
indication of how good a joke book this is.  along with most jokes
is a blurb on the joke, history, when to tell it, when NOT to tell it,
why it's funny/not funny etc. etc.  here is how asimov introduced the chapter
on shaggy-dog jokes...

'there comes a point where anticlimax can be so outrageous that it provokes not
laughter but annoyance.  one tells a joke with apparently mounting suspense,
dragging it out for as long as one dares, and then ends it with an absolutely
flat thud.  nothing!

why is this done?  the only possible explanation is the jokester is tempted
to have fun at the expense of the audience.

this can delight only the jokester, but obviously it is an expensive delight.
an audience that is made fun of is not an audience to remain responsive, and
what has the jokester then gained?  certainly less than nothing.

if you must tell such a story out of a sheer desire to practice your virtuosity-
to see how high a pitch you can carry an audience adn how suddenly you can
let it drop- i suppose i can't stop you.  but do it as infrequently as you can,
for your own sake.

often this kind of beyond-the-limits-of-anticlimax story is called a shaggy-
dog story.  one might wonder why, and the only satisfactory explanation i ever 
heard (from frederik pohl, a science fiction editor and a friend of long 
standing) was to the effect that a prototype joke of this genre involved
a shaggy dog '


soooo, that was the intro.  now what was the prototype joke???
(drum roll please........)

well, hold the drums a second.  asimov DOES include the 'prototype'
joke, but he notes that he has deliberately taken out a lot of the
'shaggy dog character'.  in other words, he shortened it so you could see
the structure of the jokes.  BUT, he left the punch line intact.

the joke involved a hobo who saw an ad for a lost shaggy dog.  there
happened to be a shaggy dog at his feet, so he took it to the owner
seeking the reward. the hobo shows the dog to the butler and says
'here's your lost dog'.  the butler replies,

NOW the drum roll......
'not at all.  when we said shaggy, we didn't mean THAT shaggy'

tada!!!!!!!!!!!

anyone who knows anything about asimov should now believe THIS is the
original (form of the) shaggy dog joke.  he has written a few other
joke books, a few limerick books, and i beleive a book devoted exclusivly
to 'dirty' jokes (correct me if i'm wrong, emjej).  (not to mention
the 200+ other books he's written on everything...)

	sorry so long,

		ron

ps  in asimov's book, he DID use capital letters