This morning I was watching a video addressing the various ways (natural and human-initiated) in which isolated mountain lakes can be colonized by fish. The topic reminded me of a comedy routine I wrote for my keynote speech to a state association of game wardens and forestry officers around 1979:
"As a young college graduate desperately looking for work during the Great Depression, your association president was hired to backpack trout to isolated mountain lakes.” [Deadpan pause.] “He was paid by the fish."
[Wait for the groans to start and spread through the audience. Then cue for rim-shot.]
“You’re probably wondering how the fish could come up with the money. Simple. Offshore accounts.”
[Cue second rim-shot.]
“Probably in the form of liquid assets.”
[Cue third rim-shot.]
I decided to submit the routine to Gemini Advanced Pro for analysis. I find the answer impressive (and I hadn’t considered that today it would be called a “dad joke.”) This was the AI engine’s reply:
That’s a very well-crafted, multi-layered “groaner” joke. It’s built on a series of escalating puns that take an absurd premise and treat it with mock seriousness.
It could also be described as a “dad joke.”
Here is a breakdown of how each layer of the joke works.
Layer 1: “Paid by the fish.”
This is the core of the joke and the initial misdirection.
The Setup: You create a plausible, if slightly odd, scenario of a man backpacking trout into mountain lakes during the Great Depression. The audience is expecting a story about hardship.
The Punchline: The humor comes from the pun on the phrase “paid by the fish.”
Expected Meaning: He was paid a certain amount per fish he successfully delivered (a form of piece work).
Comedic Meaning: The trout themselves were his employers and were the ones paying him.
This sudden shift from a realistic job to a surreal, cartoon-like image of fish paying a human is what gets the initial groan and laugh.
Layer 2: “Offshore accounts.”
This line takes the absurd premise (that fish are employers) and commits to it by answering a fake “logical” question that the audience might be thinking.
The Setup: How could fish possibly have money?
The Punchline: The humor is another pun, this time on a financial term.
Financial Meaning: “Offshore accounts” are bank accounts located in another country, often for tax purposes.
Comedic Meaning: The fish’s accounts are literally “off the shore,” i.e., in the water where they live.
Layer 3: “Liquid assets.”
This is the final and most sophisticated pun, building on the established financial/aquatic theme.
The Setup: The audience has now accepted the premise of fish with offshore bank accounts.
The Punchline: This is a perfect final pun that works on two levels.
Financial Meaning: “Liquid assets” are investments that can be easily converted to cash.
Comedic Meaning: The assets are “liquid” because they belong to fish, who live in a liquid environment (water).
The structure is what makes it so effective. It’s a classic setup-punchline followed by two “tag” punchlines that get progressively more clever, rewarding the audience for following along with the absurd premise.
Writing in FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/1, and BASIC in the 1970’s, I would not have predicted that in my lifetime there would be software which could explain linguistic double-meanings/puns and the jokes based upon them.
