About

I Might as Well Explain the Joke tells the stories of popular jokes in American history. Each post recounts a topic that became a recurring punchline in the zeitgeist, told by talk show hosts, comic strip artists, magazine writers, the guy at the office, and everybody else.

Some jokes you might remember–a ubiquitous gag from your childhood that was impossible to escape. I hope these are fun to remember. Others you might not remember or might never have experienced–the memes of the 1950s or even earlier, although we wouldn’t have called them that. These I hope are fun to discover.

Each post has two parts: the setup, where I recreate the moment in which these topics were considered so funny, and the punchline, where I try my best to explain what it meant.

Updates on the first Monday of every month. Please subscribe if you prefer to receive updates by email. The blog can also be followed via RSS, and I welcome questions, comments, suggestions, and any other correspondence related to the blog!

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Email: imightaswellexplainthejoke@gmail.com.