corny jokes in reenacting

[cjc]

Hi all, I am new to reenacting, and have noticed something in my area. I reenenact in Indiana, and I don't know if this is an Indiana thing, but almost everybody has some sort of corny joke for everthing. Is this a common thing in reenacting? (I do what you might call "upper mainstream"). I mean, one guy I was talking to, it almost turned into a laugh fest. we just took turns telling bad and corny jokes, and laughing in between them. This kind of Laugh FEST was not common, but their were PLENTY of jokes throughout the weekend.
also. If any of you have any jokes or stories you've heard that are particulary funny, feel free to share them. I like a good gut busting laugh.
i'll share one to start off. whenever the commander of the batalion at hartford city IN event,would say "I would like to thank... somebody always said "are you going too"? I gusse it was an inside joke, but just stuff like that.

[Rob Weaver]

"We get an hour off for lunch because, you know, we are the UNION army."
(I have noticed the tendency toward running ironic, sarcastic or even snarky commentary too. It's always been part of reenacting, partly because we know we're really playing soldier with expensive gear, partly because we're a little jaded after a while, and partly because we live in a sarcastic age strongly influenced by Jerry Seinfeld. Not that there's anything wrong with that... Except at those times when real veteran soldiers would have been silent.)

[Spinster]

Where's Hank Trent? He has a long list of period jokes to tell, ripped from the papers and magazines of the period.

Sometimes my brain really has to work on the punchline, but in the end, I'm always laughing.

[hanktrent]

I think an ability to make period jokes, or at least non-modern jokes, out of situations is one of the most enjoyable parts of reenacting. Can't even begin to think of all the examples.

There was a story that Mr. Morgan told in Selma about the time he split his pants up the crotch while jumping a ditch, but it was a long tale about how the right leg seceded from the left leg.

Then there was the time a spider chased a young lady out of her home, sending her screaming across the town square, and the men of the village immediately organized an anti-spider militia, complete with officers, flag and motto, "Sic Semper Arachnid."

In a stone prison overlooking the water, on short rations, we were trying to figure out how to use a bent pin to fish out the window: maybe we could ask a kindly guard for a string, but how would we get it to sink? Maybe we could ask the guard for stone or bullet as a sinker. After puzzling over various problems and solutions for a while, finally one of the group suggested, with innocent enthusiasm, "I know! We could ask the guard for a fish!" You had to be there, but we were reduced to hysterics for several minutes.

Then, at an 1869 event, there was a long discussion of how coyotes could get to the eastern U.S., by riding the transcontinental railroad. Definitely a you-had-to-be-there moment.

Before hitting send, just saw that Mrs. Lawson invoked my name. It's a trick! I'm lousy at remembering jokes, but I try to look up one or two in a recent Harper's before an event, so I have something funny to tell if that would be in character. But then I promptly forget them, and have to look up something else again before the next event, so it only seems like I have a lot.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Middlesex_Cannoneer]

I once over heard a young male reenactor get asked by a female spectator "Aren't you hot in that wool" and he responed "Some girls think I am"


Sgt M Gregory
Essex Artillery

[johnduffer]

Why do the pioneers lead the column? So they can axe the way.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Two Period jokes are burned into my memory because my pard used to read from Period religious tracts and one had these two in them.

Of course, all humor is ultimately "subjective" when it comes to what is funny. Much akin to 'Hey mister! Here's your mule!!" for infantry to yell at cavalry

Not having any Civil War folks around to retest, I will assume that because it was printed in a CW tract, SOMEONE at the time thought it funny enough.

1st Man: My dog got his nose cut off!
2nd Man: How did he smell?
1st Man: Bad!

and

Q: What is the last part of a pig to go over a fence?
A: The letter "k."


Curt

[hanktrent]

I try to look up one or two in a recent Harper's before an event

By the way, here's how to do that.

Go to Google and put the following in the search box:

site:www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/november/ "humors of the day"

Change the year and date to whatever you want. You should get five or six hits, some duplicates, but it'll include Harper's Weeklies for that month. Scroll down on the page to find the humors of the day. Double-check the actual date of the paper, of course, to make sure the date isn't later in the month than what's being portrayed, and of course allow more time for the paper to circulate depending on the situation. Southerners might be months behind.

For example, from the latest paper, so to speak, January 17, 1863:

"Woman sews, and man reaps the advantage of it."

"A clergyman advocating corporeal punishment for children, said, 'The child, when once started in a course of evil conduct, was like a locomotive on the wrong track—it takes the switch to get it off.' "

"A minister, putting his hand upon a young urchin's shoulder, exclaimed, 'My son, I believe the devil has got hold of you.' 'I believe so too,' was the reply."

And because jokes about women's underwear never get old:

"Fashionable circles were never so numerous as they are now. Almost every lady that appears in the streets is the centre of one."

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Frederick14Va]

Officer on horseback observing the progress of an engagement noticed a less than couragious soldier high tailing it to the rear... Officer asks "son why are you running"... soldier without breaking his stride yells back "because I cant fly"...

"Once bit into a piece of hardtack and found something soft... it was a 10 penny nail"

"I got so thin and skinny in the army, I could'a taken a bath in a shotgun barrel"

"wind was blowing so hard I had to tie my horses tail down to keep from blowing the bit out of his mouth"

A newly formed regiment made up of many conscripts was in camp beside a river. One soldier noticed another sitting on the bank of the river with a fishing pole in hand and asked "What yer fishing fer?... he didnt respond... After a few other inquiries went unanswered the concerned soldier went and got his Sergeant who came over and also asked several questions... soldier never flinched. Sergeant went and got his Captain, same result, soldier sat there silently staring off into the distance, didnt acknowledge or respond to anything. Captain went and got the Colonel, he came over... still no response. Colonel summoned the Surgeon to come over and see what was the matter with him. Surgeon came.. still nothing. Colonel and Surgeon agreed that the man must have some serious mental or neurological problem, and needed to just get rid of him quickly, as obviously being unfit to serve. Colonel returned to the man a short time later and placed a discharge in his lap. The man immediately stood up, dusted himself off and said "thats what I was fishing fer", and walked off.

[Private Glover]

Wind was blowing so hard I had to tie my horses tail down to keep from blowing the bit out of his mouth.

Now THAT'S funny!