There are many variations on this joke, but here is the one that appeared in this column 26 years ago: program notes written by Carey Perloff of ACT.

 “It would typically require at least five Oxford graduates to screw in a light bulb – four to determine its essence, and one to call the janitor. Assuming, of course, that you could find an Oxford grad who grasped the principles of electric illumination in the first place.”

This meme courtesy of Nicky Mee

More proof, if more is needed, that human beings write better humor than LLMs, even if the humor is simply a “pun engine” in Claude’s words. It doesn’t always know how humans pronounce words, and hence fails at this joke template. This meme comes from Nicky Mee.

Courtesy of Lorena Acosta

I have been a contributor to this humor co-op for decades. The entries are no longer numbered, but I choose to think of mine, at the top, as No.1

There was a second list, and I made that one too, albeit not at number one. The Macarena item is mine, and it is an inside joke between me and the editor of the site, Chris White. For decades (ever since they were actually a thing) I have been submitting items about either the Lambada or the Macarena. Once in a while, Chris runs up the white flag and uses one.

This has probably happened, or something very much like it.

I asked the cop, “What am I to do with this speeding ticket?”  He told me, “Keep it. When you collect four of them, you get a bicycle.”

When I was a kid, I used to watch The Wizard of Oz and wonder how someone could talk if they didn’t have a brain. Then I got Facebook.

I want to be 14 again and ruin my life differently. I have new ideas.

Apparently RSVP’ing to a wedding invitation with “Maybe next time” isn’t the correct response.

Never trust an electrician with no eyebrows.

My neighbor knocked on my front door at 3 a.m.  3AM!!!  Luckily I was already up playing the bagpipes.

(A tip of the PSACOT hat to Clark Smith)

This meme courtesy of Nicky Mee

This meme courtesy of Nicky Mee