MICK: G’day mate!
JOEY: Sir … mornin’ sir
MICK: What kind o’ jokes ya got rattlin’ ’round the ol’ biscuit?”
JOEY: Fresh batch of Anecdotals — quite nice this time o’ year, cozy — writ’ up this very morn over an Avo Smash, with a cup of steamin’ Long Black on the side.
MICK: Nah. Don’t think. No. Anecdotals? Bit, bit, bit. Drip, drip, drip. “And this happened, and this happened, and this happened.” Too long. Too showy. Ya know? Ya know?
JOEY: Yas. O’ course, sir. Don’t want to take them brains and push the grey matter outta da pouch too early, nee?
MICK: Else?
JOEY: Deadpan, perhaps?
MICK: Nah. Don’t think …
JOEY: Farcical?
MICK: You mean like Vladimir and Estragon?
JOEY: Yeah …
MICK: In “Waiting for Godot”?
JOEY: Yeah …
MICK: Putting on and putting off the hats?
JOEY: Yeah …
MICK: Nah. Don’t think …
JOEY: Hmmmmm …
MICK: Not much, no …
JOEY: Satirical, then? Mocking humanity? Weaknesses, failings, picadillos — that sort of thing?
MICK: Nah. Don’t think … no.
JOEY: Droll?
MICK: Too impish.
JOEY: Screwball?
MICK: Unlikely.
JOEY: Mordant?
MICK: Overly caustic.
JOEY: Ironic?
MICK: Enjoy ’em m’self, but the audience? Lost on ’em. Like a dime down the Dewey.
JOEY: Epi-grammatic?
MICK: What?
JOEY: Epi-grammatic.
MICK: Hmmmmmm . . .
JOEY: Quite pop’lar, now. Starbucks crowd loves ’em.
MICK: Really? Why?
JOEY: Concise, clever, amusing.
MICK: Hmmmmmm . . . clever.
JOEY: Succinct, pithy, aphoristic.
MICK: Aphoristic?
JOEY: Richly. Like: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” — but on the funny side.
MICK: Funny. O’ course. Funny. Goes without sayin’.
JOEY: Does, sir. Truly does.
MICK: Samples?
JOEY: Of the Epi-grammatic? Yas sir — though them samples be epi-grammatically representative, seein’ as how the actual jokes are properly sealed, until after the transaction.
MICK: O’ course …
JOEY: Well, then, let’s start: “An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s.”
MICK: Hmmmm …
JOEY: “A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he’s married.”
MICK: Hmmmm …
JOEY: “If ya can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.”
MICK: Gooooood.
JOEY: “Make crime pay: become a lawyer.”
MICK: There ya go! Pops up. Quick! Needle in the eye. Pop, pop!
JOEY: “If ya don’t know where you’re going, any road ’ill take ya there.”
MICK: That’s it. No more. Made yer point — sharp, it is … Let’s have a ha’ dozen. No … make it 10. Good round number, “10.”
JOEY: Very good, sir. Ten, it is.
MICK: Usual arrangement?
JOEY: O’ course. The usual … Plain brown packet. Delivered Tuesday. Noonish. Botanic Hotel Brewery in Adelaide.
MICK: Mate’s rate?
JOEY: Mate’s rate.
JOEY: Good on ya, then?
MICK: Good on ya …
JOEY: No worries?
MICK: None.
THE END
