Today I will give you a perfect example of: “How to Kill a Joke.” 

Bring a towel.


Many years ago I was working on a major New York theatre production. 

There were the usual producer crises and daily hatreds between creative elements.

One person who had been hired to “get the word out” about the show was not doing her job. 

There was a massive meeting called in the theatre for all the behind-the-scenes power people to directly confront her and address her inadequacies and to try to find a resolution that would help her keep her job.

The meeting was not expected to go well.

Early the next morning, the woman, surrounded by men, tried to defend her behavior, but it wasn’t going well and even from my distant vantage point a the back of the theatre lobby I could see her taking invisible — but deserved — body blows.

One of the many young producers’ assistants entered the theatre and stood next to me in the lobby.  His boss hadn’t arrived at the meeting yet, so he decided to stand with me to wait for him.  We always a good laugh together based on our humble stations.

My friend asked me how it was going and, and men often do, I tried to crack a joke — by answering him with a question:

ME:  Did you bring a towel?

FRIEND:  Why would I bring a towel?

ME:  To wipe up the blood.

He laughed.  I laughed.  He punched me in the arm.  I pushed him in the shoulder.  It was a great bonding moment between boys.

Then his producer boss walked in the theatre.

My friend raced to his boss, still tethered in giggles, and said, “Boles wants us to bring a towel to wipe up her blood!” 

He continued to laugh.

His boss shot me a deadly look. 

My alleged friend stopped giggling. 

His boss motioned for him to follow him into the meeting. 

My former friend shot me a barely-wounding look as he tried to imitate his boss’ effective Glare-of-Death.

It was then I learned to preface all private joke attempts with the phrase — “This is between us…” — so I would at least have a tiny moral tether for hanging onto above the nasty fray that happens when a joke poorly re-told bleeds all of your earned goodwill to death. 

4 Comments

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Thanks, Karvain! That moment has lived in infamy for a long while now — and finally those involved with the original show are able to laugh about it…

  3. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    When a personal joke becomes public there is always a danger of the interpretaion going awry.
    I also learnt it in a very hard way…
    It takes long to overcome the embarrasment!

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Yes, Katha! It was a valuable lesson — one that I confess I have failed to really learn a few times over the bridge of my life! When the intimacy of the moment tries to get repeated in public — failure is always the end result and it isn’t usually the re-teller that gets in trouble!

Comments are closed.