John Baker’s Blog

This might be very old. I don’t know.

Begins with an old guy in a chemist’s shop. This is to waylay the listener, because many jokes begin with the same setting and there’s a good chance you’ll have heard it before. This simple fact makes you listen in a different way. You have both positive and negative expectations at the same time. But you’re also trying to be neutral about it, hoping it won’t stray into territory which will make you feel uncomfortable or, worse, angry.

The old guy asks for sixteen tabs of Viagra. OK, I know, another signifier.

But before the chemist goes to fill the prescription the old guy asks him if he can cut the tabs into quarters.

‘I can do that, yes,’ the chemist replies. ‘But you’re not going to get much of an erection with a quarter of a tab.’

‘I don’t want much of an erection,’ the guy says. ‘I’m ninety-six years old. I just wanna avoid peeing on my slippers.’

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