Long setup (joke feedback)
Stop me if I’m out of line for this sub, but I wanted to talk about long set up at open mics. I wrote a joke that I haven’t told yet and I wanted some honest feedback… I’ve tried to intersperse a few punch lines, but it feels like it’s too long of a joke for me to tell for a little payoff. Any feedback I’d appreciate.
Here’s the joke:
I used to work as a nurse on the psych ward at the VA. This one patient, Steven — Navy vet. Guy was so normal it was suspicious. Funny, polite, helpful. He wasn’t talking to himself… wasn’t causing problems. He’d actually help the staff push the med cart.
We’re in the common area one day, just bullshitting. He goes, “Alright, I gotta use the toilet,” and heads off to his room.
Fifteen minutes later I’m doing rounds, checking rooms like always. I open his door…
…and right in the middle of his shower, dead center on the drain, is a massive pile of shit.
[beat]
…And that’s when I realized: THIS MOTHERFUCKER IS CRAZY
But here’s the messed up part — the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Water’s already running, everything just… slides away. No mess, no cleanup, pure efficiency. Steven might’ve cracked the code and we were the idiots.
We asked him about it. He just shrugged.
They discharged him a couple weeks later. I picture him out there now, married, living a good life. His wife’s out with her friends like,
“Yeah Steven’s amazing… I just wish he’d shit in the actual toilet, you know?”