Steven D. Price - Gut Busters and Belly Laughs: Jokes for Seniors, Boomers, and Anyone Else Who Thinks 30-Somethings Are Just Kids

GUT
BUSTERS
AND BELLY
LAUGHS

JOKES FOR SENIORS, BOOMERS, AND ANYONE
ELSE WHO THINKS THIRTY-SOMETHINGS ARE
JUST KIDS

STEVEN D. PRICE

Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright 2014 by Steven D. Price

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62873-820-9
eISBN: 978-1-62914-295-1

Printed in China

Contents

B ETTE DAVIS IS REPUTED to have originated the observation that old age isnt for sissies. If indeed she did, the actress wasnt just whistling Dixie (or in her case Jezebel). The onset of infirmities that lead to diminished mental and physical functions, financial anxiety due to reduced income and increased medical expenses, and the loss of companionship from predeceased spouses, friends, and relatives requires courage and fortitude.

Why then should there be a compilation of jokes for and about middle-aged and senior citizens when so few things about the passage of time are subjects or objects of merriment?

The answer is, as the Readers Digest column points out Laughter Is the Best Medicine. Humor lightens your burdens and also forms and strengthens bonds between you and others. Hearing a good joke and replying in kind offers mental simulation. A smile, chuckle, or hearty guffaw is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. When traditional medicine failed to relieve his intense pain from a life-threatening form of arthritis, the editor/writer Norman Cousins left the hospital, checked into a hotel, and watched Marx Brothers films and television sitcoms. Just ten minutes of belly laughs gave him two hours of pain-free sleep. Cousins eventually recovered and wrote a series of bestselling books on the link between humor and wellness.

Although laughter is beneficial, why would a person of a certain age (which is how the French diplomatically refer to people beyond their twenties and thirties) be at all amused by jokes that revolve around physical, mental, and emotional frailties brought on by advancing age? As I near the fourth quarter of a century on earth, Ive come to regard such jokes as the comedy of survival. Like ghetto humor, its a combination of we laugh lest we cry fatalism and look at usweve endured! survival. Admittedly were losing our hair and our teeth, our reflexes and hormones arent what they used to be, and each passing year increases the chances for sadness, but consider the alternative. Were still here. Although the joke may be on us, we can still laugh with ourselvesand each otheras well as at ourselves.

So sit back and enjoy this books contents. Youll be better off, and in so many ways. And in that spirit, let me share one of my favorites:

A man left his house on a rainy evening, walked to the curb, and flagged down a vacant taxi that was just passing by. As he got in, the middle-aged driver said, Perfect timingyoure just like Frank.

Who? the passenger asked.

Frank Jenkins. Hes a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab. Things happened like that to Frank all the time.

There are always a few clouds over everybody, the passenger said dubiously.

The cabbie shook his head. Naw, not Frank. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the tennis grand slam. He could have been Tiger Woods at golf. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star. And, boy could he play the piano. He was an amazing guy.

Sounds like he was something really special.

Waittheres more. Frank had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybodys birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order in any kind of restaurant, and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank could do everything right.

Wow, some guy, the passenger whistled with admiration.

He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic to avoid jams, the driver continued. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake. Whats more, he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished, too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Jenkins.

An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?

Well, I never actually met Frank, the driver explained. He died and I married his widow.

* * * * * *

Many thanks to the numerous people who shared jokes or pointed me in the direction of other sources. Special gratitude to Larry Burd, Rich Goldman, and Betsy Wesman and to Kelsie Besaw for her editorial insights.

Oldsters Say the
Darndest Things

T WO MIDDLE-AGED TEXANS SAT on an airplane with an elderly Texan between them. The first middle-aged Texan bragged, My name is Roger. I own 250,000 acres. I have 1,000 head of cattle, and they call my place the Jolly Roger.

The other middle-aged Texan sneered, My name is John. I own 350,000 acres. I have 5,000 head of cattle, and they call my place Big Johns.

They both look at the elderly Texan, who tells them, My name is Irving, and I own only 300 acres.

Roger asked, Only 300 acres? What do you raise?

Nothing, Irving replied.

Well then, what do you call it? John asked.

Downtown Dallas.

An old man was sitting on a park bench when a young punk sat down beside him. The teenager had spiked hair in a rainbow of colors: green, red, orange, blue, and yellow.

The old man just stared. Every time the punk looked, the old man was staring at him. The punk finally asked sarcastically, Whats the matter, old timer? Never done anything wild in your life?

Without batting an eye, the old man replied, Yep. Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son.

A well-to-do man in his seventies told a friend that he had become engaged to a twenty-two-year-old girl.

Howd you get her to accept your proposal? the friend asked.

I lied about my ageI told her Im ninety-two.

A state trooper spied a car puttering along a county road at twenty-two miles an hour, so he pulled the driver over. Approaching the car, he noticed that the passengers inside looked wide-eyed and terribly pale.

The elderly driver began, Officer, I dont understand, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?

Sir, the officer replies, You werent speeding, but driving slower than the speed limit can also be dangerous.

I beg to differ, officer, I was doing the speed limit exactly: twenty-two miles an hour! the old man said.