Now, this might seem a bit of an odd thing to say. If I can’t get it to be funny, then it must be unfunny, right? Well, maybe a little bit – it’s very corny – but I’ve heard this joke told right. It’s certainly not Monty Python’s “Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! … Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput,” but it’s OK.

The thing is, the wording of the set-up seems impossible. I know the punchline – a lovely punchline/second punchline combo – is theoretically very funny, but it’s the line immediately preceding this I can’t get. The gist is that Bob Marley buys doughnuts, then – and this is the difficult bit – something happens or is said – and then the punchline, based on the song “Jammin’”. It’s the something in the middle which needs to build tension I can’t get the hang of. The Wailers asking what sort of doughnuts he has isn’t enough, there needs to be some sort of conflict there about what they might be – and there was in the original version I heard – but for the life of me I can’t word that bit right. I have a complete mental block about it.

My question is this – can you tell the definitive version of this joke? No prizes if you can, just my admiration. And to start you off, here’s the best version I can come up with:

So, Bob Marley has a busy day at the studio and he pops out for doughnuts. All the Wailers are sitting around waiting for him to come back, and eventually he does, with several boxes of them.
“What sort did you get, Bob?” they ask.
“I got jam ones” he replies. “I hope that’s OK”.

Inspired by a recent bit of work for a client, and a line I just very, very nearly wrote in an email about my experience (referring to the “hot topic of global warming”), I’m wondering what opinions are on inserting humour, puns, plays on words and so on into writing.

Personally, I think it can make an otherwise dull bit of work a little more accessible, but only if it’s in line with the brand. It’s good to personalise your product and website if you can – rather than being a faceless organisation it’s nice to be seen as real people from time to time. Humour – mostly inadvertent, but humour nonetheless – also has the potential to go “viral” quite quickly and incredibly cost effectively.

The big risk, though, is using a lame pun like my example above and making it seem strained. Do you accept that it’s bad and make a joke about that? There’s a risk people will see it and think it’s accidental, which is far from what you want. There’s also a risk of coming across as very smug, every joke becoming a “look how clever I am” cry for attention.

One of the main things stand-up comedy (and performance poetry) have taught me is that humour is a very, very subjective matter. While a good joke may work with a wide range of different audiences, you start to notice – when you do the same bit over and over – that the laugh can have a very different quality every time you tell it. There are so many factors contributing to the way an audience reacts – from their background to the stage lighting – that it’s impossible to know how it will be received. You can read an audience from the stage, but an audience you can’t see and – profiling aside – don’t know – is a risky one to try humour on.

So, audience, I leave it to you – joking, puns and word-games in professional writing? What do you think?