Scene: a neighborhood burger joint at lunchtime

AJ: (admiring the red and white carnations in a vase on the table) I like the flowers.
Harriet: Yes, they�re pretty.
AJ: I wish they were black and white. Then they�d look like a zebra. Hahahaha! That was a joke.
Harriet. You are very silly. Now eat your ice cream.

* * * * *

It is a good thing that AJ follows up most of his jokes with the statement that it was indeed a joke, because frankly, it can be kind of hard to tell. AJ grasped the concept of humor long ago, but he can�t quite seem to figure out how to create it himself (on purpose anyway. He�s quite skilled at reducing us to fits of hysterical giggles without even trying). Funny is a part of the adult world that he has yet to conquer. Case in point: the knock-knock joke.

Every Tuesday, AJ attends story hour at our local library. At the end of every story hour, the kids are given a piece of colored paper cut in a whimsical shape and emblazoned with a new knock-knock joke. This week�s contribution:

Knock knock.
Who�s there?
Tish.
Tish who?
Tissues are good for blowing your nose.

AJ thought this joke was very funny and went so far as to explain to me that Tish was a person but tissue was something you use to blow your nose when you don�t have a sleeve handy. AJ is desperate to create knock-knock jokes of his own, but he�s a little unclear on the concept of the punchline. For example, here�s one from dinner last night:

Knock knock.
Who�s there?
Napkin.
Napkin who?
Napkin on the table. Hahahaha!

or

Knock knock.
Who�s there?
Mrs. Stein. [our cat]
Mrs. Stein who?
Mrs. Stein is fuzzy. Hahahaha!

Still, there is a certain surrealist logic to the jokes that can be entertaining. And the gale of giggles that inevitably follows the delivery is worth the price of admission all by itself. And yet if you try to respond with some surrealism of your own, he is perplexed. He was, for example, completely unimpressed by my favorite knock-knock joke of all time:

Harriet: Knock knock.
AJ: Who�s there?
Harriet: Interrupting cow.
AJ: Interrupting c�
Harriet: MOOOOOO!!
AJ: Mommy, you didn�t let me talk!
Harriet: That�s the joke, AJ. It�s an interrupting cow, so it interrupts you.
AJ: Oh. That�s not very funny, Mommy.

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