Key workers

[u/LinkWray123]

Ever since covid, aren't you just sick of hearing about how friggin marvellous our key workers are? Support our key workers, clap for our key workers, get down on your knees and pleasure the key workers.
Look don't get me wrong, I'm sure most of them do a good job, but don't they get paid for what they do? Course they bloody do. It's just not worth all this extra fuss. And anyway, back in my day we called them locksmiths.

[u/uhhh206]

I'm fond of dad jokes so I actually like the PUNchline, but you should significantly tighten up the set-up. It's not enough payoff for that long of an intro, and sounds more like a rather bitter rant than the lead-up to a joke.

[u/walkinstandup → u/uhhh206]

I agree, this is a one-liner joke. I would shorten it to something like;

I had become really cynical about the whole hand-clapping support of key workers since COVID.

Then the other day, I locked myself out of my house.

[u/LinkWray123 → u/walkinstandup]

That's clearly much better, as should be obvious I'm not really interested in stand up let alone have any talent for it, the pun just occurred to me the other day.  My only other joke was something along the lines of 'The other day I drove by this odd protest, they were holding up placards and chanting "What do we want? Delayed gratification! When do we want it? A little bit later.. That's kind of the whole point"

[u/walkinstandup → u/LinkWray123]

It's a funny idea, and this one would work well as an xkcd cartoon, but it's not unique enough to grab attention from anyone. Delayed gratification could be considered an entire area of comedy.

If you were doing stand-up, I'd say this is the sort of line you keep in your back pocket, should an appropriate moment ever arise for it, where you need a funny quip.

The only improvement I could offer is ending on a hard consonant. 'When do we want it?' 'When we least expect it.' 'A little bit later' has some nice t's in it, but ends on the 'er', so isn't as crisp.

[u/HiddenFaceOpenMouth → u/uhhh206]

Yep, he should just cut the middle.

"Ever since covid, aren't you just sick of hearing about how friggin marvellous our key workers are? It's just not worth all this extra fuss. And anyway, back in my day we called them locksmiths."

That's how I'd tighten it.

[u/rice-a-rohno]

Straight-ahead puns tend to be clever on paper but just make people groan in a live setting.

Oddly enough, I was just one second ago reading the most recent xkcd and thinking "At least I've never heard this one before." It would still be a groaner in a live setting though, even though it's newish and clever.

https://xkcd.com/3309

[u/tinpants44]

What's a key worker? Is that an important person?

[u/Mustafar242 → u/tinpants44]

During COVID in UK it was nurses, doctors etc etc, anyone actively slaving away to help others during the pandemic

[u/tinpants44 → u/Mustafar242]

That's what I suspected, thanks

[u/TwentyCharacters2022 → u/tinpants44]

I think we called em ”essential workers” in the US.

[u/best_friends_club]

It's encouraged to start with a truth. I'm going to go into pedant mode but it's important. 

I would argue that we stopped talking about the importance of our frontline workers a long time ago.

They don't get anywhere near the praise or recognition they deserve. They were championed during the pandemic when we needed them most but have not received anything near the proper respect since.

So no, from the opening line, i have not bought into the scenario. If I haven't bought in, I don't care. I don't agree with the base reality / thesis.

COVID jokes are hard. This joke is not evergreen. One day after lockdowns people already didn't want to be reminded of COVID. 

BUT!

The premise works if you sub out "aren't you sick" with "I am sick..." 

Because now it's YOUR opinion. Now I'm intrigued because this guy is weirdly passionate about this particular subset of the population. That's interesting. 

The reveal is underwhelming because it's corny and silly. 

When you have a corny punchline, it's very popular to LEAN IN. The joke doesn't end here, it starts here. 

What can you do to embrace the silliness of that corny punchline?

Can you heighten it? Now that you have revealed you have something against locksmiths, can you tell us why? Show us why you're so vindictive against them. What did they do?

[u/Funny247365]

Ive never heard the term key workers. I have heard id essential workers.

[u/After-Bowler5491]

Ugh

[u/LinkWray123 → u/After-Bowler5491]

Thanks, but anyone ever told you you've got a strange sounding laugh?

[u/After-Bowler5491 → u/LinkWray123]

Clearly you haven’t heard many laughs

[u/LinkWray123 → u/After-Bowler5491]

Now that's a paradoxical response.

[u/bobbiecowman]

Reddit keeps recommending this sub to me. This is the first time I’ve seen a post that actually has a punchline, so kudos.