Yuk Yuk's Joke Books, Vol. 2: Jokes for Roasts and Toasts

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs have been in the standup-comedy business for
nearly three decades. Given that fact, it is hard to believe that these
three books contain the best jokes they could come up with.

Classic Jokes is a collection of schoolyard chestnuts that remind us
why vaudeville is dead. It was murdered with lines like “If a parsley
farmer is sued, do they garnish his wages?” or “Did you hear about
the girl who was half Irish and half Italian? She mashed potatoes with
her feet.”

Jokes for Roasts and Toasts is a collection of dull insults and crude
toasts guaranteed to turn any best man’s toast to the bride into
something that produces an embarrassed silence. Imagine wowing the
wife’s side of the family with classic jibes like “Life’s a bitch,
and then you marry one” or “Life sucks ... and then you marry
someone who doesn’t.” Or this immortal honeymoon sendoff: “Sugar
in the bowl, coffee in the cup. Poke her in the butt, and you won’t
knock her up.”

Jokes Men Only Tell Other Men is published in the belief that there is
still a market somewhere for racist, misogynist, homophobic humour. None
of the jokes in this volume bears repeating. Even without the racist,
misogynist, and/or homophobic overtones, these “jokes” are just
plain not funny. If you are looking for a good laugh, keep looking.