You should mix it up a bit, though—say "you're not fooling me" on one, e.g.
And on some well-trafficked site you should evince skepticism in your first comment ("really? That doesn't jibe with my instincts, but I'll go along with it for the sake of argument") and then throughout the day periodically return, each time more skeptical and adducing false arguments and made-up examples as to why the opinion or argument or observation or what-have-you in the post can't be true, and then at some point declare that ah ha, it's an april fool's day joke, you were never really taken, etc etc etc.
Hey, I've got a similar story. Except instead of saying "April Fools", they simply never mentioned the conversation again, either to proceed with the divorce, or to tell us it wasn't happening. A month or so later, my sister and I confirmed with each other that we had both heard the same thing, and then eventually gave up worrying about it. They did finally get around to splitting up almost twenty years later.
Part of what makes the initial suggestion funny is that it's not funny-- and that it would be done repeatedly in the awareness of its unfunniness. That makes it hilarious.
"If something isn't funny after two minutes, try it for four. If still unfunny, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that, nope, it just isn't funny." — John Cage.
Man, ogged. I know the shaggy dog nature that can be grasped is not the true shaggy dog nature, but I'll give explaining this a shot.
Shaggy dog stories are not funny. They are long, and, depending on how you tell them, boring, and if you're lucky they culminate in a stupid pun about modernist composers; if unlucky, just some comment about the shagginess of the titular dog. You, the teller of the story, know this.
However, just as an ironic statement has two audiences that perceive three things, so is it with shaggy dog stories. The best environment for telling such a joke is with a mixed audience, part of which doesn't know what it's in for (the naive audience) and part of which does (the sophisticated). The naive audience thinks it will actually hear a joke, but you and the sophisticated audience not only know what's actually coming, but also that the naive audience doesn't. The situation as a whole is funny.
It works to a limited extent with only a naive audience, but much better as described above.
What I describe in 6 would only be funny if some of the other commenters tried to interact with you and engage your lunatic arguments about how it's all a put-on or some such. Give in to your inner Usenet kook, ogged!
What I'm trying to tell you, Ben, and you'll go far in life if you remember this, is that brevity is the soul of wit, and there's no funny worth a long telling.
You don't understand, ogged—the funny occurs for the teller and the clued-in audience, at the expense of the clued-out audience, in the course of the telling.
Anyway, I present to you the World's Shortest Shaggy Dog Story, invented by me and a guy named Yehuda whose family name I forget (this is also the World's Best Joke):
Believe me, Ben, I understand, but it's not worth it. You're saying that a shaggy dog story is like a prank one would pull on, say, Punk'd--but all sorts of funny shit happens while the Punk'd prank is being pulled; in the shaggy dog story, all sorts of boring shit happens, which is supposed to be funny, but isn't.
Basically, what I think Wolfson's trying to say is that the "shaggy dog" / "fuck you, clown" style is the storytelling equivalent of a practical joke. It's funny because the person on the receiving end gets blindsided and, hopefully, reacts by getting all annoyed and shit.
If something is supposed to be funny in your shaggy dog story, but isn't, you're doing it wrong. There are two approaches to telling a shaggy dog story. In the first you put in incidental funny bits, asides and puns and whatever. If those are supposed to be funny, but aren't, you shouldn't be doing it that way. In the second you just tell it straight as if it's all a big build-up. Nothing in this version is supposed to be funny on the surface level.
There are many candidates for the original or ur-shaggy dog story. William and Mary Morris, in The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, give a version of it that involves an advertisement being placed in The Times to announce a competition to find the shaggiest dog in the world. After a vast amount of effort and investigation (described in detail, after the nature of this type of story), the winning dog was presented to the aristocratic instigator of the competition, who said: "I don't think he's so shaggy".
Some of the comments on the blatant April Fool's jokes are amazing for their ability to miss satire. Unless the comments are meta-April Fool's jokes claiming not to get the original jokes. In which case, bravo.
The blog ones this year, while often exhibiting ample cleverness, are too over-the-top to really work. Jim Henley's from last year, on the other hand, I swallowed hook, line, and sinker, to the point of sending him an email about it.
He actually apologized to me, when the proper response would have been: HA HA SUCKER! I think by the time my missive got there, he had been reduced to issuing a standard response. THAT was an April Fool's prank for the record books.
i remember my anut gave my uncle divoriceing paper and we cried and packed his stuff and when he was walken out the door she finely said APRIL FOOLS. that was not funny at all. like omg she was so me and i wonder what she will do this year.
Yes.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:22 AM
That would not be the lamest April Fool's prank I've ever seen.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:24 AM
When I was seven (and my brother and sister were two and three), my parents sat us down and told us they were getting divorced. We cried and cried.
And then they said, "April Fools!"
No joke. It was like that scene from The Office.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:27 AM
The real punchline was when they actually did get divorced a year later. Man, we all busted a gut over that one.
And by "busted a gut," I mean "ten years of analysis."
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:28 AM
Holy shit.
One of the wonderful things about reading blogs has been the discovery that my crazy mother is really pretty sane.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:30 AM
You should mix it up a bit, though—say "you're not fooling me" on one, e.g.
And on some well-trafficked site you should evince skepticism in your first comment ("really? That doesn't jibe with my instincts, but I'll go along with it for the sake of argument") and then throughout the day periodically return, each time more skeptical and adducing false arguments and made-up examples as to why the opinion or argument or observation or what-have-you in the post can't be true, and then at some point declare that ah ha, it's an april fool's day joke, you were never really taken, etc etc etc.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:30 AM
Yeah, ben, that would be a riot.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:33 AM
Ben, now I'm even more amazed that sometimes you actually manage to be funny.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:34 AM
Hey, I've got a similar story. Except instead of saying "April Fools", they simply never mentioned the conversation again, either to proceed with the divorce, or to tell us it wasn't happening. A month or so later, my sister and I confirmed with each other that we had both heard the same thing, and then eventually gave up worrying about it. They did finally get around to splitting up almost twenty years later.
Repressed? Why, yes, I am. Why do you ask?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:35 AM
Whoa -- maybe Ben's punking us. Like, the joke is that it would be so not funny.
Damn. I fell for that shit, easy.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:37 AM
Part of what makes the initial suggestion funny is that it's not funny-- and that it would be done repeatedly in the awareness of its unfunniness. That makes it hilarious.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:48 AM
It would be funny, I think, if you take the long view.
I bet none of you people appreciate shaggy dog stories either. (Though in 11 Labs shows that he approaches the shaggy dog nature.)
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:51 AM
it would be done repeatedly in the awareness of its unfunniness. That makes it hilarious.
I'm a big believer in this. My exes, not so much.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:51 AM
Dude, what if "dog" were spelled "C-A-T"?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:52 AM
"If something isn't funny after two minutes, try it for four. If still unfunny, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that, nope, it just isn't funny." — John Cage.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:53 AM
No no, shaggy dog stories are long, and that's what makes them unfunny, not the fact that they're not funny.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:53 AM
What if "H2O" were spelled "XYZ"? Dude.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:54 AM
I always thought shaggy dog stories ended in a pun.
Like, say, about Czech composers.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:56 AM
Man, ogged. I know the shaggy dog nature that can be grasped is not the true shaggy dog nature, but I'll give explaining this a shot.
Shaggy dog stories are not funny. They are long, and, depending on how you tell them, boring, and if you're lucky they culminate in a stupid pun about modernist composers; if unlucky, just some comment about the shagginess of the titular dog. You, the teller of the story, know this.
However, just as an ironic statement has two audiences that perceive three things, so is it with shaggy dog stories. The best environment for telling such a joke is with a mixed audience, part of which doesn't know what it's in for (the naive audience) and part of which does (the sophisticated). The naive audience thinks it will actually hear a joke, but you and the sophisticated audience not only know what's actually coming, but also that the naive audience doesn't. The situation as a whole is funny.
It works to a limited extent with only a naive audience, but much better as described above.
What I describe in 6 would only be funny if some of the other commenters tried to interact with you and engage your lunatic arguments about how it's all a put-on or some such. Give in to your inner Usenet kook, ogged!
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 8:59 AM
Joe, if you think that was an epitome of the shaggy dog story, you have much to learn.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:00 AM
Ha! That was barely a shaggy dog story, as far as I'm concerned.
My favorite joke in high school was the "Fuck you, clown" joke. Which is all kinds of shaggy dog, if you tell it right.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:02 AM
What if "H2O" were spelled "XYZ"? Dude.
I think that I shall never see
An ocean made of H2O.
Dude, you're totally right.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:12 AM
The "Fuck You, Clown" joke, explained.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:13 AM
What I'm trying to tell you, Ben, and you'll go far in life if you remember this, is that brevity is the soul of wit, and there's no funny worth a long telling.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:22 AM
Ogged, the bottom line here is that you should avoid cliches like the plague. QED.
Posted by Walter Sobchak | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:25 AM
Well, not if you're on the business end of the funny, there's not.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:25 AM
You don't understand, ogged—the funny occurs for the teller and the clued-in audience, at the expense of the clued-out audience, in the course of the telling.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:25 AM
Anyway, I present to you the World's Shortest Shaggy Dog Story, invented by me and a guy named Yehuda whose family name I forget (this is also the World's Best Joke):
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:27 AM
That's pretty good.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:28 AM
Believe me, Ben, I understand, but it's not worth it. You're saying that a shaggy dog story is like a prank one would pull on, say, Punk'd--but all sorts of funny shit happens while the Punk'd prank is being pulled; in the shaggy dog story, all sorts of boring shit happens, which is supposed to be funny, but isn't.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:28 AM
Basically, what I think Wolfson's trying to say is that the "shaggy dog" / "fuck you, clown" style is the storytelling equivalent of a practical joke. It's funny because the person on the receiving end gets blindsided and, hopefully, reacts by getting all annoyed and shit.
Posted by Walter Sobchak | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:29 AM
Dammit. Ogged, your mom's so fat that her sister works for the phone company.
Posted by Walter Sobchak | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:30 AM
Shaggy dog story: not funny. Me punching you in the face after you tell one: funny.
Of course, these days I tend to think that a lot of things that involve face-punching to be utterly hilarious.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:30 AM
FL cry for help #316.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:32 AM
Is there a shaggy dog cock joke floating around somewhere?
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:34 AM
If something is supposed to be funny in your shaggy dog story, but isn't, you're doing it wrong. There are two approaches to telling a shaggy dog story. In the first you put in incidental funny bits, asides and puns and whatever. If those are supposed to be funny, but aren't, you shouldn't be doing it that way. In the second you just tell it straight as if it's all a big build-up. Nothing in this version is supposed to be funny on the surface level.
I've never seen Punk'd, so I wouldn't know.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:35 AM
Is there a shaggy dog cock joke floating around somewhere?
Probably in the "pool" at the Mineshaft, but there's so much stuff floating around in there that it might be hard to discern.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:38 AM
A story neither delightful nor instructive:
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 9:49 AM
That's the ur-version I'm familiar with too.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 10:00 AM
Feel free to trash my April Fool's Day offering:
"President Bush Signs Act of Contrition"
Posted by Jon | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 10:37 AM
Jon, this is the lamest April Fool's prank I've ever seen.
Posted by mike d | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 10:43 AM
Ogged probably doesn't like Pokey the Penguin, either.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 12:48 PM
Some of the comments on the blatant April Fool's jokes are amazing for their ability to miss satire. Unless the comments are meta-April Fool's jokes claiming not to get the original jokes. In which case, bravo.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 1:41 PM
How meta is too meta?
Two steps removed, say I.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 1:44 PM
The blog ones this year, while often exhibiting ample cleverness, are too over-the-top to really work. Jim Henley's from last year, on the other hand, I swallowed hook, line, and sinker, to the point of sending him an email about it.
He actually apologized to me, when the proper response would have been: HA HA SUCKER! I think by the time my missive got there, he had been reduced to issuing a standard response. THAT was an April Fool's prank for the record books.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 1:55 PM
Yeah, Henley's was awesome. The one's I'm seeing are funny, but not, as you say, properly April Fool's jokes. Did you see this?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 2:02 PM
Speaking of hoaxes and baseball players, Sidd Finch - Meet John Doe. (Not an April Fools' joke, though.)
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 04- 1-05 5:25 PM
i remember my anut gave my uncle divoriceing paper and we cried and packed his stuff and when he was walken out the door she finely said APRIL FOOLS. that was not funny at all. like omg she was so me and i wonder what she will do this year.
Posted by tessa | Link to this comment | 04- 1-06 7:58 AM