The Short Life Of My Superbowl Joke

Topical humor is difficult thing to work with. Late night talk show hosts make their living telling jokes based on the days headlines. The only thing is topical humor doesn't hold up for very long. You can't do Nixon or Regan jokes today because there's no point of reference for an audience. Topical jokes have a short laugh life.

On Sunday near the end of the Superbowl I came up with a very funny joke about Payton Manning. When I made it up I knew it was a good one. I also knew it was very topical. I understood from the beginning that I'd have to start telling it as much as possible before it lost it's edge.

Anyone I told it to had to know about a couple things: Payton's performance in the game, the interception he threw in the game, and Archie (Payton's father) Manning's career as the quarterback on some terrible losing Saints teams. Knowing those things helped the joke make sense thus making it funny. Here's the joke:

When Payton Manning threw the interception in the Superbowl he did something his father was never able to do. He helped the Saints win the Superbowl.

If I must say so myself, that's funny.

All day Monday I told it to everyone. I even posted it to my Facebook page. Writing a joke like that is like having a new picture of your kids in your wallet. You are so proud and want to share it with everyone.

Still two days after the Superbowl the joke isn't going to get the same reaction it did right after the game. The emotion invested in the game, and thus the joke's subsequent humor, has faded.

Topical humor, in a stand up act or on a talk show monologue, requires staying on the cutting edge of current events and constantly coming up with new material. That's not something I can do on a consistent basis. Leno and Letterman (and their writers) are great at it.

As evidenced by my Superbowl joke I do come up with the occasional topical joke. However it's much easier for me to write jokes about ironic things I see or specific situations because that holds up for more than a day or two. They give me what I call "stock material".

While I do enjoy topical material knowing that there is consistent "laugh potential" in my ventriloquist act and my everyday humor helps me be more comfortable when it comes time to perform.

So I just want to acknowledge my Superbowl joke one more time. I want to thank it for the pleasure it gave me even if it was for just a day or so. Years from now when I try to tell it to my grand children it's only gonna be a punchline they won't understand.