Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Europe

Europe who?

Don’t call me a poo!

I hear the above joke at least once a week, perhaps daily if we are in the thick of a Holiday Club.

Over the years that I have been an entertainer with Nutty’s, jokes like these (fun, short, harmless and clean) have become more and more a part of the job; the entertaining, the Holiday Club supervising and the overall way in which I engage with children.

Before I explain why I have come to use jokes as an effective tool with which to entertain children, I should say that my reason for employing them is not necessarily about whether or not the kids actually ‘get it’ - more often than not, they do not! For me, it is more about introducing them to the ‘technicalities’ behind joke-telling and mustering the confidence to stand up and present one in front of people. 

A day of Nutty’s Holiday Club is typically rounded off with some joke telling. Picture the scene: it’s 4:45pm, we are sitting in the foyer of South London Theatre and have just finished ‘Show & Tell’. As we wait for the last few children to be collected, we often invite them to come to the front and crack a joke. The results are varied but the experience - for the kids and for us - is always a positive one. 

Similarly, when finishing up a children’s party with a big game of musical statues I will often throw out the question “who’s got a good joke?” during one of the ‘freezes’. What follows is an immediate sea of children’s hands in the air, all chomping at the bit to impart their hilarious gag and have us all rolling in the proverbial aisles. 

Below are a few belters I have heard recently. And as any honourable person would, I have credited the comedians.

What do you call a sleeping dinosaur? 

A dino-snore!

(Freddie, 7)

Knock knock

Who’s there?

The Interrupting Cow

The Interrupting Cow wh-

Moooooo!

(Margot, 6)

Why did the zebra cross the road?

Because it wanted to go to the toilet.

(Maxwell, 5)

Why did the dinosaur have a bath? 

Because…because…because it was going to the zoo and wanted to first of all fly to the moon and then sleep for a bit.

(Lionie, 4)

There is a telling pattern to these jokes. You will note that, as you read further down the list, the gags make less sense and the comedians get younger in years. 

Hearing four and five year olds tell jokes is very cute. In some respects they have a decent understanding of what is required: a loud, clear voice and a set up and punchline (often in the form of a question and answer). 

Some of the other aspects however are, understandably, beyond them: the need for humour to fall between expectation and delivery, the use of puns or double entendres and a sense of comic timing.

However, none of this matters a hoot. At this very young age, the joy comes from watching them have the confidence to stand up and have a go in front of their peers (and perhaps some mums and dads too). And I can very often see kids at this age beginning to get the feel of what joke-telling is about, if not yet fully equipped with the theory. In any case, you can imagine how amusing we all found Lionie’s above joke when she delivered it in such a self-assured way at a party in East Dulwich a couple of weeks ago.

As kids hit the ages of six and seven, the intellectual understanding of a decent gag is more fully grasped; the full extent of its wit and wordplay is delivered with great relish. Occasionally, some children, delighted at the roar of laughter their joke has prompted, will insist on explaining the various levels of the joke to us. And that is also very cute. 

If there are mums and dads present at a party (hopefully not being too chatty - if you know, you know!), I will occasionally drop in a couple of gags knowing that the adults will find them funnier the the kids. Fort example…

Why did the toilet roll, roll down the hill?

To get to the bottom

(Pirate Dan, 34 and three-quarters)

Perhaps one or two of the older children will get this one. Most of them look on perplexed. This is Maybe where children start to piece the ‘joke puzzle’ together (“so I just need to ask a random question and follow it up with a random answer and people will laugh?”. Cue a barrage of Lionie type jokes).  This one never fails to tickle the adults though.

Last night I went to watch my parents play bowls in Cambridgeshire. I sat there with a beer in the midsummer sunshine and had a rather gorgeous time. Afterwards, I overheard one of the bowls players, probably mid 70s) tell a joke so rude that I couldn’t possibly write it here (he did tell it very well and, I have to say, it was very funny!). It got me thinking…the art of joke telling, in whatever form, clean or filthy, is with us from (almost) cradle to grave. Witnessing young children at the very beginning of their career in gag-cracking is a pure delight!