The 4 Ingredients Of A Manly Joke:
1. It must actually be funny.
2. It must make a point.
3. It should be confrontational.
4. There needs to be a hint of crudeness.
(Have the decency on #4 to not make it vulgar though.)
One of my favorites:
God gave men a penis and a brain. And only enough blood to use one at a time.
Winston Churchill, however, does it best.
It comes, as do so many other wonderful stories, from the life of Winston Churchill. During the years when England’s political left was systematically nationalizing the nation’s industries and services, Churchill walked out of a raucous session of Parliament to use the men’s room. This was in the days when the urinal was often a long metal or porcelain trough running the length of the room. While Churchill was relieving himself, one of the leading nationalizers entered the room and began doing his business right next to Churchill. The irritated conservative moved to the far end of the trough. “Feeling a bit stand off-ish today, Winston?” the new arrival asked mockingly. “No,” growled Churchill. “But whenever you see anything big, you want to nationalize it.” Now this, gentlemen, is perfect. It is a lesson in the art of manly humor. First, it is funny enough that you can’t wait to retell it. That’s important. Man humor has to have a sufficient laugh factor to qualify it for going viral. Second, it makes a point. In fact, it makes a very good point. Here, let me hide my privates so that your mindless socialism doesn’t mistake it for something the nation should own. Third, it draws blood. Man humor doesn’t always have to be the verbal equivalent of taking a swing at another man. Sometimes man humor is encouraging, or just entertaining and distracting. But when humor is needed to make an enemy feel pain, Churchill’s example is the way to go. Finally, it is slightly crude. Men like this. For a man to score a philosophical point by referring to a body part in such a way that his opponent can’t help but laugh too—now that is a Manly Moment of Victory.
-Stephen Mansfield, Mansfield’s Book Of Manly Men (Amazon)
