Sunday 23 October 2016

A wood joke

What do you call a man with wood on his head?
I don't know.
Edward.

What do you call a man with two bits of wood on his head?
I don't know.
Edward Wood.

What do you call a man with three bits of wood on his head?
I don't know.
Edward Woodward.

What do you call a man with four bits of wood on his head?
I don't know.
Neither do I - but Edward Woodward would.

For this (excellent!) joke to work in the USA, it helps to know that in England (and for the purposes of this joke) the name 'Edward' can be pronounced as Ed-wood.

And that the actor Edward Woodward (Callan, The Equalizer, Breaker Morant etc) was famously dubbed Ed-Wood Wood-Wood on a Morecombe and Wise TV show - and the name stuck.

So the rapid fire answers are pronounced: Ed Wood, Ed Wood Wood, Ed Wood Wood Wood, and Ed Wood Wood Wood Wood...

4 comments:

David Stanley said...

I remember this joke from my childhood when he was a very well known actor. I always enjoyed Callan as a child but surely his most memorable performance is as the virginal Policeman in "The Wicker Man". I would have thought the soundtrack would be up your street as well Bruce?

Nancy said...

Ha ha, this joke doesn't really work in the US!

Sean Cory said...

When I read this I immediately thought of this man:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood

But then it occurred to me that he is probably largely unknown outside the U.S. (and even here by a relatively small number of people).

Bruce Charlton said...

@Sean - No, I've heard of him - he is reasonably well known in Britain - by reputation at least.