jokes of our lives

Iris Uber Alles had a huge hit in pre-k with this joke (which we gleaned off a cereal box): Where does the penguin keep his money? In a snowbank! If you're ever struggling for conversation with a five or six year-old, you might want to break that one out.

Lola is currently in the knock-knock phase, and her biggest hit to date has been Knock knock! Who's there? Lo. Lo who? Lola! Lola is the only family member with original material. She slayed her mother at age three when she interrupted her mother's matutinal coffee moment with a request: "I need coffee.... COFFEE ICE CREAM!" The child is a comedy natural, with rhythmn and timing.

The Sober Husband's best joke was one he used to tell after we came back from spending a month in Israel: "I'm Jewish enough to tell Jewish jokes. There's a town with only three Jews living there. How many synagogues do they have? Three: one for each Jew to attend and one for them to boycott." This was usually followed by remarks such as "and it's so true." We either read this one in the New Yorker or heard it in Jerusalem. I'm a WASP, so it's not for me to tell.

I'm not much for canned jokes, but this one is my all-time favorite and really killed when I told it soaking in the nude hot spring at Saline Valley years ago with a bunch of strangers under the stars: "Why can't the vacuum cleaner reach Nirvana? Because it has too many attachments."