ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604260031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: friday something
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
Heard any good ones lately? Know someone you can always count on for a good rib-tickler? Chances are, if Garrison Keillor's theory is correct, your favorite jokemeister isn't a person of the cloth or somebody's mother.
He's looking for lukewarm, semi-hard facts to prove his idea that, ``Women don't tell jokes, men do, and women complain about them.'' Well, wouldn't you if you were the butt of most of the snickers?
Also, Keillor believes, ``Nobody tells jokes to the clergy - not good ones!''
OK, how many times have you said, after a stirring sermon on Sunday morning, ``Hey, father, have you heard the one about...?''?
Keillor is host of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," broadcast Saturdays at 6 p.m. on WVTF-FM. He's asking people to e-mail the jokes they've heard and from whom to chatmpr.org or through the web site|
http://www.mnonline.org/wobegon
Jokes will be tracked geo- and demographically (including by rungs on the income ladder) to see how fast they travel and who tells them. Results will be broadcast on Saturday's show.
So, when you head to the water cooler today, bring pencil and paper. Better yet, bring a laptop. And, if you're spending more time than usual there, you can tell your boss it's in the interest of science, unless, of course, you're a woman. In that case, you can either keep your nose to the grindstone, listen to the jokes and whine later, or flood Keillor's e-mail address with all the good ones you've heard in church.
LENGTH: Short : 37 linesby CNB