At the Grammys last Sunday, comedian Trevor Noah jokingly suggested why President Donald Trump wanted to acquire Greenland: “Because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new island to hang out with Bill Clinton.” Not a great laugh, but Trump’s reaction was even less funny—he threatened to sue Noah. It set us to thinking about one of our most fragile national institutions: the joke. Not the G-rated joke. Not the HR-approved joke. The real thing: vulgar, vivid, and definitely not politically correct. This month’s installment in our America at 250 series is all about our “Right to Laugh.” As part of it, we asked some friends of The Free Press—three of America’s greatest humorists—old-school all—and then some of the stand-ups killing it right now—to share a favorite joke. It’s food for thought on the state of the American laugh. And damn, do we need one these wintry days. —The Editors
Alex English
John F. Kennedy fucked Marilyn Monroe. Matter of fact, John and his brother Bobby fucked Marilyn Monroe. And you know why history doesn’t talk about that? Because those two pages in history are stuck together.
Alex English is a stand-up comedian, actor, and writer.
Colin Quinn
A man is sitting in his chair at his house and his wife walks up and smashes him in the head with a frying pan.
He goes, “What’d you do that for?”
And she says, “I saw the name Mary Lou on a piece of paper with a phone number.”
He says, “It’s not a phone number. It’s the race number and the horse that I’m betting on.”
She apologizes.
Two days later, she smashes him in the head again with a frying pan.
“What’d you do that for?” he asks.
“Your horse called.”
