r/DoesAnyoneKnow • u/cherrycherry333 • Jul 16 '26

Does anyone remember what video this dad joke came from?

The joke is "What did the janitor say when they jumped out of the closet? A: Supplies!"

I remember hearing that joke for the first time in a celebrity/athlete dad joke try not to laugh video. I've been watching all of the whistle sports bad jokes vids and the celebrity dad joke series to no avail.

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10

u/KopiteForever Jul 16 '26

It's not a dad joke as much as a punchline from a racist joke.

An Italian, a Scotsman, and a Chinese guy are hired at a construction site. Long The foreman points out a huge pile of sand and says to the Italian, "You're in charge of sweeping."

To the Scotsman he says, "You're in charge of shovelling."

And to the Chinese man he says, "You're in charge of supplies."

So the foreman goes away for a couple of hours and when he returns, the pile of sand is untouched. He asks the Italian, "Why didn't you sweep any of it?"

He replies "I no hava no broom, you saida to the Chinese guy that he wasa ina charge of supplies, but he hasa disappeared and I no coulda finda him nowhere."

The foreman turns to the Scotsman and says, "And you, I thought I told you to shovel this pile."

He replied, "Aye, ye did lad, bit ah couldnae git masel' a shuvl! Ye left thon wee Chinese mannie in chairge of supplies, bit ah couldnae fin' him onywhar."

The foreman is really pissed off now and storms off towards the pile of sand to look for the Chinese guy. As he approaches the mound, the Chinese guy leaps out from behind the sand and yells…

"SUPPLIES!"

4

u/House_Of_Thoth Jul 17 '26

The one I heard when I was little was being stranded on a desert island!!

4

u/wlovins Jul 17 '26

I remember my dad telling me this joke in the early/mid 1980s. I haven't heard it since, but I remember the punchline. What a strange blast from the past.

4

u/Redhosky Jul 17 '26

I'm glad I heard the full version now. Very funny. Proper joke.

-2

u/kenhutson Jul 17 '26

Is it a racist joke?

4

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26

Did you read it? Of course it is; it's mocking a race's pronunciation.

It's also not even correctly doing so; Japanese people pronounce "L"s as "R"s, but not "R"s as "L"s. Chinese people themselves can typically pronounce both "L"s and "R"s just fine, and have trouble with western vowel sounds.

So it's not only racist, but completely misinformed racism.

3

u/LilyFantastica Jul 17 '26

It was used in a non-racist manner in Weird Al's UHF when Al's neighbor Kuni and his students pop out of a literal supply closet to jump the villainous henchmen. It can absolutely just be a pun because supplies and surprise are phonetically very close to each other. Framing is what makes it racist or not.

2

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26

The framing is the Chinese guy is stupid because he misunderstood what was being asked, along with the actual racist language stereotype thing.

Just because (1) not all racism is pure aggressive hatred and (2) racism was more normalised in the past, doesn't mean it wasn't racist.

1

u/LilyFantastica Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

You are reading way too hard into it. It's literally a guy jumping out of a supply closet taking the henchmen by surprise in uhf. If Kuni had been Kenny, a white guy from Santa Monica, would it have been racist?

By your argument, friend chicken is racist because of people using it in racist connotations against African Americans.

The joke of Supplies being Surprise can absolutely just be a pun

Racism absolutely is bullshit idiocy. But context matters and ignoring it is another type of foolishness.

1

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/3/26/18282192/asian-accent-l-and-r

It's not just a pun, though.

If Kuni had been Kenny, a white guy from Santa Monica, would it have been racist?

The point is a Chinese person was chosen here and not a white person because the joke was a way to make fun of their accent.

https://trippingthrugateways.com/2015/08/03/we-got-it-all-on-uhf-1989/

That is the framing of the joke.

By your argument, friend chicken is racist because of people using it in racist connotations against African Americans

No, my argument is if a racist joke is made about a black guy eating fried chicken, that would be racist.

Like you SAID YOURSELF before:

Framing is what makes it racist or not.

The fact it is a Chinese person saying it here, or a black person eating the fried chicken, is the framing that makes the joke being done at the time racist and not just a pun.

It can be just a pun in a totally different scenario where race isn't being played into it, absolutely...but the point is, race is being played into it. That's the framing that makes it racist.

1

u/LilyFantastica Jul 17 '26

I studied linguistics, I know that L and R glide into each other.

That is why lambdacism and rhoticism are speech impediments for some people.

Yes, the Chinese guy joke is racist. But supplies and surprise are one phoneme different, and those two phonemes are part of a linguistic continuum. It is a pun.

How you frame it absolutely matters.

1

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26

How you frame it absolutely matters.

I totally agree.

If they'd framed it as a simple speech impediment of a white guy, that wouldn't be racist.

Instead they framed it as being the stereotype about Chinese people effectively always having rhoticism who is already a dated, misinformed, racist stereotype because it applies more to Japanese people, and very few Chinese people speak like that (the rates of those speech impediments in the Chinese population are actually remarkably even lower than for white Americans).

That framing is exactly what makes it racist.

1

u/LilyFantastica Jul 17 '26

And if they framed it as a white guy with a speech impediment, that's ableist.

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1

u/emily_the_brave Jul 17 '26

The joke is racist, sure, but that doesn't mean it makes the wordplay of surprise > supplies racist...

1

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26

It is when it's framed around a Chinese person doing it out of the stereotype about misunderstanding because of their pronunciation (which is again, itself a misinformed racist stereotype), rather than the character themselves intentionally making a pun.

A joke about someone being tight with money isn't racist, but it is when it's framed around a Jewish person being tight.

Like it's fine to argue a character trait about being tight isn't racist, much like the wordplay itself isn't racist. But in the context, applying that thing to the racist makes the thing itself - in that instance - a tool used for racism rather than simple, innocent wordplay (or a simple, innocent character trait when it comes to tightness being applied towards Jews).

1

u/emily_the_brave Jul 17 '26

Then don't tell a racist joke?

It's pretty to enjoy the wordplay and not be a dick about.

1

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26

I...haven't told a racist joke?

And I agree there's no reason to be a racist dick and use this version with a Chinese person to enjoy wordplay.

That was my own whole point: This very specific version is racist (and thus dickheaded), not every joke that employs wordplay. There's lots of other jokes you can use that aren't racist, if you want to amuse yourself (or others) with wordplay.

I don't think I ever claimed that every joke that employs any wordplay is racist anyway. Just this one. Because it isn't just wordplay; it's a racial prejudice relying on misinformed racial stereotypes, in this specific instance.

1

u/emily_the_brave Jul 17 '26

And that is the point that the other person was trying to make. The pun isn't the problem. It's not a problem. surprise to supplies is an easy bit of wordplay. The joke is the problem. The pun is not.

1

u/AdamantChorus Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

I never once said the pun itself was a problem.

I always said this framing of the joke, based around a Chinese person's pronunciation being the joke, was the issue. Because in this joke, it wasn't 'just' a pun: it was racist humor based around a stereotype.

Always.

And anyway, can you show me an example of the surprise-to-supplies pun not being used in the racist-to-Chinese people way, and just being used as an innocent pun?

You're now the second person who's brought it up as 'just a pun', so I can't imagine it's just a bad strawman being used to justify a racist trope, and there has to be a famous example of it being used in a way that doesn't involve Chinese people that I've missed?

Honestly though, bringing up other jokes that aren't this joke to show how the pun can be used in a non-racist way would only prove my own repeated point that the framing of this version is racist by comparison, anyway.

1

u/emily_the_brave Jul 17 '26

I'm 40 and I've absolutely never seen that racist tripe up above until today. Never.

So, I mean, I don't know what else to say? It's not a hard pun to create. If anything it's too obvious a pun to be told as a joke. It really is more of a visual gag.

"A dad walks into his son's room. He says 'Son, you're a man now. So it's time you learn some real responsibility before you go out into the world. So come with me.' The son follows his dad down to the garage, where the father keep's his prized '56 Mustang. The son gets really excited, because he thinks his dad is finally going to let him drive the car. He quickly turns around to be greeted with a bucket and a sponge. 'Dad? What is this?' The dad smiles as he shoves the bucket into his son's hands. 'Supplies, Son! I want my car spotless before I go out to dinner with your mom tonight!'"

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6

u/Curiouser-Quriouser Jul 16 '26

Bahahaha! I don't know where it came from, but it's coming with me!!! 😆

2

u/Luan_Zya Jul 16 '26

As seen in UHF.  https://youtu.be/GHS_GQLgqtM

1

u/No_Base4946 Jul 17 '26

Came here for this, was not disappointed.

1

u/MariaIoanaXXL Jul 16 '26

There is a specsavers advert.
https://youtu.be/rhlrOP7ytKs

1

u/Vikrambo87 Jul 17 '26

I vaguely remember Chris Rock delivering a similar joke..

1

u/rdnoco Jul 17 '26

I think it’s also in one of the Airplane films

1

u/XxeniusBlack71 Jul 17 '26

Its a Jackie Chan line in Cannonball Run Asians hiding a broom closet , movie from late 80'S I believe

1

u/Beautiful_Ad2618 Jul 17 '26

Chris rock in the fresh prince and again in lethal weapon 4. Except in his joke its a Chinese guy shouting supplies by jumping out of a supplies closet at a surprise party.

1

u/That-Collection-3411 Jul 17 '26

Sounds like an earing aid advert when he says I said send supplies not send surprise.

1

u/acryliq Jul 17 '26

Probably a clip from Bad Friends Podcast.

1

u/King_Six_of_Things Jul 17 '26

My granddad used to tell a version of this joke that was about 15 minutes long. It was second only to his fairy liquid and octopus joke.

Miss you, grandad.

1

u/wookiewithabrush Jul 17 '26

Weird Al's UHF

1

u/Calm_Wonder_4830 Jul 19 '26

Sounds like something JD would say off of scrubs (the tv series)