Glen Penton interview with Dennis Degan and Chris Knott and 1970 WIIN 97 AM radio broadcast in Atlanta, Georgia (part three)

The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Note: This recording is available upon request. Also, it contains descriptions of violence as well as offensive language and racial slurs. This is the third recording in a three part series, it starts where the first left off, with an interviewee telling jokes about Billy Graham and a John F. Kennedy rally. At 1:40 the interviewees, Dennis Degan and Chris Knott, describe spoof ads from their school radio station, WAGN, the most popular of which was about the Plaza Pharmacy. At 3:50 the interviewees discuss the negative opinions students from their high school held about the Vietnam War draft; they also repeat draft protest chants from the Woodstock Music Festival. At 7:50 Degan and Knott tell a fictional story about a football player in their highschool, then the interviewees explain jokes with fabricated book titles and authors. Next at 10:09, they explain that some jokes are not funny when recorded because the humor is based on the tellers body language. Then the interviewees repeat chants from their high school assemblies. Next at 20:52, Degan and Knott tell religious jokes, including one about a Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic preacher who go fishing. After the interview, a WIIN radio broadcast starts at 27:36 with Let it Be by the Beatles, followed by a broadcast announcement and an upbeat rock song. At 33:58 Up Around the Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival is played, then Going Up Country by Canned Heat. A radio segment titled Georgia Business and Industry starts at 39:06 with an interview of Henry Curtis, the CEO of Curtis 1000 Business Communications and Supply Company, about large corporations moving their headquarters to Atlanta. From 43:25 to 48:30, the audio is difficult to hear. Afterward, the station plays Easy to Be Hard by Three Dog Night, followed by a song that includes audio from an anti-Vietnam War rally. At the conclusion of the recording at 56:55, there is an instrumental song, then an upbeat jazz track with trumpet, double bass, and saxophone. Glen Penton (1949- ) was born in Georgia to Marshall J. Penton (1920-2008) and Elizabeth T. Penton (1918-1998). He graduated from Briarcliff High School in 1967 and later from Georgia State University. Penton married Elaine J. Penton (1946- ) and had several children. He lived in Texas and Norcross, Clarkson, and Atlanta, Georgia. Dennis David Degan (1954- ) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Leopold B. Degan (1915-1976) and Gerda Jimmie Barber Degan (1917-1961) and had a sister. He graduated from Briarcliff High School and later from Emory University. In 1981 he married Carol F. Efrus. William Chris Christopher Knott (1955- ) grew up in Decatur, Georgia, and graduated from Briarcliff High School and later from Emory University. Additional biographical information has not been determined. The WIIN 97AM radio station was established in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 1960s, and became a top 40 rock radio station in 1968. It played progressive rock until new ownership changed it to a Christian talk radio station, called WNIV 970 AM, in 1988. "<l 0 I-' I';' '" I-' I-' 0 (j) ~ ::? l:l Ii '"tJ w lD 0 ~ I-' 0 l:l THE JOKE-'J.IJDUING TRADITION IN TIm SUBUHBAN HIGH SCHOOIJ IN']1HODUCTION ']1his paper offers Eysample of the joke-telling traditions of suburban, middle-olass adolesoents. As indioated in 'the table of oontents, a disoussioh' of tho informants andAhe oolleoting situation is held until after the transoript of the two oolleoting sessions themsetll'ls. SJDSSION'I D:I!:NNIS: (making like a radio announcer) 'llhis is "Briaroliff High Sohool Tihf\:lk13 about Itself." And now our f1rst oontestant, Mr. Chris Knott.a. K. , what have you got to S8~? That was just a little pieoe of shit. Go ahead. OHRIS: Go ahead, go tb .. hElll. D: All right G; ']1hat was my Iittle piece of shit. Well. , D: We're going to try to talk about humor at :Briarcliff High School because that's the only thing that I know for sure about, I've never been to any other High. 0: Well, Humor 1n thc high sohool--period. D: Hi/;",ht. c: Smatter it up bad. We don't want to incriminate Briaroliff. 1 J): Why not'( (CHRIS Ifc\ughs) It deserves all the incrimination it C8,n get. C: Uuh, probably the first thing we better talk about is uhm jokes, talk about them well, let's tell a few, talk about whe~e we heard them, what kind of people. D: Yes. C: Uuhm, we started off Pollaoks; might as well start I wlittle while ago with j off with them again. D: Yes, sinoe we had to start the tape over again. So, uh, (CHRIS laughs) Well its not that fm1ny. I didn"1; mean that to be funny. C: Yeah. Allright. D: Go. C: Uuh. Did you hear about the uh war between the Pollaoks in the Bronx? D: No. c: Uuh... The uh Pollacks were Ul) on the roof throwing dynamite down at the Jews in the streeY. And the Jews were lighting it and throwing it baok. D: You know, I've heard that before. ~: C: (ohudle) Really? . i'. D: Yeah, about ten minutes ago. C: Well (chuckle), yeah. (pause) Uhm. I heard that from a Jew. D: You're kidding. And21 'm Jewish and L' ve never 1\ ('i , f' it before. C: Dh... Carl (togmther) CARLEISENS'.rADT. D: Now this kid is a HiID.llly Youngman of of (ClmIS laughs)Briae- of the high sohool set, So, I know who ;jto1tr'e talking about. (?t, C: Duh, he's he's partioularly good--he is good I, humorist, Hill is a humorist in himself. He I s a stand-up Bob Hope type, uh rattles them off, ;>"01,1 know." D: Y1']s, he's, yeah, lilce, "'rake ro.y wife, please!" uh (CHRIS la'!ilghs )1'hat one, you know, Cj' You know, this is, this is his line, Duh", D: I think that, 0: He seems, his humo;e, this guy .. D: Go ahead. C: Uh, can we, uh, say something about, uuh, say something about the pllleson who told it'? (l~ay, "Sure, / go ahead.")O.K.,. this guy is, uh, sub- his humor strikes me as, he does his humor beoause he feels pppressed beoause , of his relig$Dn, in a way, not totally. (Groan from DENNIS) UUHlYI, whether or not this is the reason he told it, well, I'm, the re8,son' he probably told it was that there was .a bunoh of us who were telling l'ollack jokes. Uh, we were t2a~:& the Pollack jokes-"'I can't do this on tape beoause I have. to show it for it to be. funny, about how 'they fan their head, you know ("Yeah" from DENi'lI~), and how they 3 scratch their elbow and tie their show. Uhm... D: Gan't even give a very good description. 0: No, you can't even describe it. It's well, like tying his shoe. He puts his shoe up on the table and he bends down and ties the one on the floor. ( DENNIS's uh) You Know. This is .. D: You have to see to appreciate. 0: You have bo sse it to pre- preciate H. But this is beside the point. ~ehe guy', Uuhm, well, you can describe his character about as good as you could in one word. J): Yeah, Henny Youngman. ("Yeah" form Ohris). Two words. (OHRIil laughs) 0: All rigrrt, together you've got three (laughs) all in one. D: Oarl Eisenstadt as Henny YOUJl.gman. 0: Uh~ let's tell a few more Pollack Jokes from out of World War II. How many Pollacks does it talce to screw in a light bulb? D: Idon't know O:Pive: one to hold the light bulb, four to turn the ladder. How many . D: Uh, it tel bnke a latter too, but 0: How many Pollacks does it take to uh rape a girl? D: H=. Don't know. 4 () 0: Two: one to uh do it and one to hold the manu'l. D: The what'? 0: Manu~"'l. 1 )) You know, like Boy Scout Manuel (laufPsJ. "Oh" fr1llJIl DENNIS. OHRIS laughs more.). What did you thiDlc? Manuft like with your' hs,nd? (Laughs more. "Yes" frem DENNIS. More laughs f'rlD!Il CHIns.) UUh? D: I'm sorry, Chris, but, uh (CHIUS laughs) I just don I t have mueh depth per'oeption when it oomes 'to things like tlw:t. one to hold the saw, two to pull the Yeah? Uh, del)th? How did you refer to depth? Depth'? (laughing) Might as well forget that. How deer), how deep shall we go? yeah. Ul~. Let's see. How many ur~. How manll 1'ollacks ~ take t~cut ryPiece of wood? :rfdon't Know. ) Three: 0: D: c: D: 0: does it D: OJ, 1'ollac1c baole and forth, you know. (D1ilNNIS 's "Hwn, yeah, hmm. " ) Duh. D: What about the one L said uh 0: What about Pollaok ohaxaoter. DB we've heard these from people like Reed Moody, uh.. D: Bruce Reed. 0: Aperso- Dh, 1lruoe Reed. 5 D: He's king of the POllaok jokes. C: Uhm, Harry Ilatritis is also king of the Pollaok joRes. D: And he's Greek. (Laughing "Yeah" from Oris.) They go'~ a few Grec1k jokes running aroun~. (J: Why, mm, but, why would '~hese peo:ple telL . D: GJ1eek J.okes. (laughs.) C: Huh? Yeah, why would '~hese people tell us these jokes'? D: Well, that's, it's hard to go into something like that, beoause there are lotliJ pf reasons why sllllD.body would tell a joke, partioularly about a l'ollaok. C: We hear them, we hear them, we hear them 'e.' From fram Jews, Ohristians, (DENNIS tr;ying to break in with, "So obViously they obvlbuusly ) Oatholios, uh, Greek Catholios. So obviously it's no religeous soots. D: Mm. The Pollaok jokes are 0: Sex D: Seot hmmm, very gOo~tr,rlOre. (OHRIS' S "Dh.") 'J}he Pollaok jokes have no disoriminB,tion, but, uh, a, ouri ously, it is a joke about disorimination. 0: Tha- that'tT,truo, and it's i-i-it's a takeoff on morons, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's an attaok on, on morons. D: ~'ell a few lUore if you oan think of' them. c: UH, O.K. Den:Hey, the one C: Wha, how can you tell if a Pollaok has been at 6 your house'? The dog's pregnant and the garbage can's empty. How can you tell when you're in a Pollaclc apartment'? The toilet tissue hanging out on the little clothesline . ("Uu" from DENNIS.) Uu,1l'. J): How oan you tell when ;\rour'e in a--did you say the Pollack party? 0: Uh, no. D: No, you didn't. How can you i;ell when your at I?, Pollack party? c: Ubm, can I SHy the punchline'? D: Go ahead. 0: When they flush the pUl10hbowl. UfI. D: Right. Ths,t's a goodie, man. 0: Yeah, really 000+. UB, you ]mow, t1 seema like it might be, these people, I think, now we got some retarded people in our school--now this is just an angle-thoughy-Some, you knowlfl i tills generally accepted it's bad to ltmgh I f at theretardeq~erson because, or, or a mentally retarded person I " because, ah, they' re not in posession of their faculties, but these people who tell us the jokes do it sometimefJ, ~"Yeah" from DENNIS) and it's really--rnaybe it's their way of laughing at a moron, [und not really laugAing at him, you know. J): Well, it seems like eve:cybody in our school has some kind of discri.mins:tion. And then the;y say, "Oh, 7 I'm not prejudiced. I'm not prejudiced." ~'Aw no" from mITUs) But when they tell a joke like that, they're just as prejudiced as the next person, ("Yeah, un,-huh" from Cmus) so it really meanib nothing. I, I confess, I say them too. So wh8.t's the difference. c: Uh, we need to des'troy jo)tCs. Why are they funny? Well, in most c:.Jses, like I said about the light bulb, about sawing, about the rape, it shows . D: Yeah, the:,/ 're showing stu:.Piliity. C: They're showing stupidity. Uh. D: Like the elephant jokes. C: It's funny because i't ta)ws one guy to do it and one guy to read haw to do it; it's funny beoause, you know, it .. D: It isn't funny. 1'hat's why. C: Yes, it isn't funny. That's why'. Because why in the world would some jerk get up and hold a light bulb and have four people turn him aroung? You kUOI/he (TOghthex') 8J:Hl:~ ~~m iliH-fR h~s lJ:~ma: '1'his is wh8.t makes it funny, Uuh. D: Hut Why dOGS it go around in our school? (Thoughtful "Well" from OHIUS) 'Cause we got pcople like that.:tJhat's why. They're like that, all right. c: hear/them Viell, gekorja('?) trouble at our school.,! Y ou at D. lot of schoolsJ Let's tl"ke another tIlend. 8 D; The Elephant joke. I've mentiond that. C; Elephcmt jokes. J.jre- high school, but then, ngain--Care if we use pre-high sohool'? D: J'Ust high. (Knowing that the some jolces were being told in high sohool a:t the smJle 'time, I give a shrug of 8,lJpr'ovnl.) C; All right. Take pre-high sohool. Uh, pre-high sohool elellhant jolces. Very oommon. Absolutely no humor. IJet t s star't oft with a few. Uuh, whs,t did Jane say wb,en the elephants oame o:lter the hill? D: I oan't guess. C: HerB oome a heE.l,rd of grupefl. (Grunt from DENNIS. ) What did Tarzan say when 'the elephants oame over the hill'? HeTe oome a heard of elepij.ants. Why did Jane say what she did'? 'Cause she's eoloT-blind. And this just bought laughs like yolil would not believe. D: Yeah, I thinlc the reason is th8:t, u11" origm,nally i't was supposed to 'be ;1J;hat, uh, Tarzan s3,id, "What t 8: ooming over the, the hill?" 8,nd he says, "the elephants," and then, then J'ane says, ~ Dh, ("Says, Yeah" from CHRIS. f> What's ooming over the hill'?" and she says, "Uh, the grapes." She was oolor-blind. That t s ('yeah" from CHHIS )whioh is , ut'terly r+diculous. C: You know, as a matter of facm, instead of having 'to dis- dfstroy thros joke, as a matter of fact I don't 9 thtnk anybody vdll !!Laugh at t t, the uh punchltne, tt destroys tt itself'. - I mean the humor part, most people pu people laugh when 'bhey SfW, "A. h0~rd of grapes." Vlhen you say tiA heard of grapes," they st8.rt laughing. j): Ye~,h. ~~hey expeet somethtng. C: And then you destroy i:b by: putttng in a pUl1ch-- what:lJ supposed to be a IJunehline, "She's color-bliJ.1.d." And the laugh ag.:tin. Does not make sense. ("Uh-huhll from DEN1'lIS) You know. Uuh, there are some tha'b, that have some humor as far as struetural value, like, let me run over a few that have some simple humor. These are elephant jokes. 1,et me run over a -few that have simple humor, Why does an elephant have a :Dln.m1i:? ("YefJh" from ])BNNIS) Uh, 'eause he has, 'eause he doesn't have a glove eompartment. Why does an elephant s'1utrt water out of his nose? It's too hard. to atm with his tail. And it stands to reason, of course that you c8.n' t squtrdl water out of your ta--1 mean, you know" all sorts. 1): Well the;'l cauilLiI. 0: Vlell they co1ll.1d. if he wan-ted to. It's biologically possible. Il: Out of his ass, tha-t is; maybe not out of his 'bail, but 0: Yeah, and then ag;ai11 it would11t be practical. I mean, you know, he couldn't, you know, swing his ass 10 up and spray his baok. D: That, that remi-n0.s me of that joke that that mU4 told us just the other' day. C:: Oh, yeah. Do you remember. D: About that lady that was sitting in hor--an0. she's a hiok. 'i'his is the hiok 'l;hine; again. ( "Yeah" from OID1IS) She's a farm hand. She's never seen an elephant befove. c: Go ahef:l.cl and "bell it then, D: All right. I'm going to try to. The elephant was in her garden. Now, first of all what's an elephant doing in a garden, you know. ("Yeah" from OHRIS~ That's that's stupid right there. C: All right. Tell the main j)'bJce and let's ... D: But the elel)han-t, all right, the ele:oh8.nt was in 'l;ho garden and she sees ... 1 c: This is an Irish lady by the way. This is the way he told it. D: Yes. He, he, this is again a form of disorimination. c: Go ahe8,d. D: So who does she oall up? C: Uh, she s--well, here's the way it goes. Ug, An Irish lady WEJ,S looking out her window one morning, and. 10 8.nd behold she saw there this big thing j.ll her, in her, uh, garden. She had never seen an;\" elephant before. 11 She didn't know what it was. So she o~lls up the, uh, :ph, polioe. And she says, " Hurry, hurry, hurry over. There's this big grey thing in my .. " D: Yes, sir. You got to say :tt with your idabidante(?). Now, whatever, whatever it is,you gotta say it with an (In a clear Italian accent) Irish Dccen't. c: We 11, all rigid;, we 11 a:n~rWfJ.y, she says, she says, "Oh, you've got to come over right away. There's a big grey thing in my, in my garden." J): Describe it, you know? c: He says, "Describe i'b." She says, '"Nell it's big and grey, and it's bigger than a house .. " D: And it's got tails at both ends. 0: H's got four feet and it's got tails at both ends." And he says," \Vait 8, minute, madam: tails at bo'bh ends and it's bigger than 8, hous(" and it's grey? ~rhis is, madam, I, I, I hate to tell you this, but this dmscription is hardly feasable." D: Says," What is that elephant doing in there?" 0: Yeah, and he sa;ys, "but, but it sounds like, like an elephant." And he says, "but what is an elephant doing in your gHl'den'l""in, in, ifour garden'?" And, you know, she said, "Well he's ripping up all tho oabbag<~s, now. He(lJ13, he's, he's ripping up all the cabbage. Ho's spmmling llW garden." He, h7sa;YB ,"V1ell. 12 all with pink tmnnis shoes on. D: And I don,t want to tell you what he's doing vd:th them aft er t.h.at c: Yeah, you know, the idea is thFI,t if it' s got two tFiils, it's pioldng up the onbb,l,ge anc1 stu:ffing it in his ass. D: Andi that's the way it looks to her, see'? C: Yeah to her, ye<J.h. Doh(?) ub. D: We got it. C: No more elephant jokes. Uh, let's talk about other, like I said humor, about we gotta, big the tail(?). Uh, what do you think wheryyou see a-~now, this--what do lOU think ("Yeah" from DENNIS) when you see uh, elephants, a heard of elephahts corning around t,he corner'? And, uh, vI Th~re allan the same 1\ basketball team. What do you see When you see an elephant coming down the road with three pink tennis shoes and. one yellow tennis shoe'? He missed, You know. D: And what about this one about uh how. cun you tell if an elephantl!! been in your refrigerator? C: When there's a footprint in the butter. D: Hight. Hey your'e jumping on it,man. You don't even let me get a word in edgewise. c: Well I, some people ha,ve said there's a footprint in the pizza. You know.. ("~eah" from DENNIS) Now first of all, when do you see, you Jl:ftow, it's really funny, 13 a heard of elephants coming arlou:nJthe cornor, very common, you know. D: Oh, sure. All the time. And especially wearing tennis shoes. ("Yeah" from CHRIS) Pink tennis shoes. c:: Yeah, tennis shoes, ;Y'ou know, and, and, it, it's beyond me how. a, how an elephant pisses on his right rear tennis shoe, you know. D: How can you, how can you, well, aside from the idea in the first place, not just that he's wearing, not just that he's pissj.ng on his tennis show, but the idea that he's wearing a tennis shoe to begin with, and he's still wearing it with the piss in it. C: Yeah, and he, and he sti, st, yeah D: U~, this guy doesn't mind this does he now'? C: Uh, as a matter of fact, you'll, the, the, the veoll]l;e who listen to this, they'll have to excuse, when we get into the other jokes. There'll be some that are downright dirty, some might be gross, but we're allowed to do this, and this is not a reflection on our character. D: (Radio announcer again) This is YOtIT life. (In normal voioe) All right, now le-, now I got a, that reminds me. I got a good one that I read. in Playboy, but I sl)read it a:bound the school, so it oan count. ("All rig,ht" from cmus) It says, uh, let I s see, the wolf' oomes out and Alioe is on her way ("All right" from CIffiH!), I thinl{ 14 it's Alicc, on the way to her Grandmother's house with a basket, you know, ("Yaah, Yeah" from OHIUS) "Over the river and through the woods," and all that, and she comes up 8J1d the wolf comes o1li.t ahd says, "I'm going to eat you, anh." And little Alice says, "What the matter? Doesn't anybody screw any more '?" So, you know, spread that one around., you know, 6: 1'here' s one book. of dirty jokes that's the biggest a-and most popular trend in high school, college, or otherwise, ("Sure" from DENNIS) and s-sinse we have, I have two or three hundred jokes here, you migh~ as well go through them. ("Yeah" from DENNIS) Uhm, sex jokes are stimUlating, This is sati~fy"" D: That 1 s a good one. c: male and female, well, it satisfies male and female sex, sex drives. Well, i~ doesn't satisfy, D: Well, yeaTh., I don't know about that, I don't lmow about that. c: but it stimulates D: It s})urrs them on more ~han anything, . , 0: Yeah, it spurrs them on. Wl1.8.t I' III saying is that, I shouldn't have said satisfy. It spurrs them on, Uubm. Let's make a play on words, Le~ 's talce a play on"" D: the pun 0: Uh, well, this is, this is, all right, we'll 15 16 see if we olassify it as a pun. ("All ri@rt" from DENNIS) Young man goes to a looal disoothectue. And he finds a uh girl. And he meets her and he gots to be very well aoquainted with her.flo they leave later on, and they re'lui , retire to a local lovers lane, and they get out and they go behind the bushes, you ]<now, and ub. start making love. Later on he's taking off her bra and her panties and everything. Well, he's just getting to taking off her panties and, uh, he hears a noise and he looks up, he jumps up, and he looks down the read and he says, "Fuzz." And uh she looks at him and says, "Well, what did you expect,a plilny "tedl?" D: Another one on the same line, uh that might actually destroy this joke if you had heard that one beeF"ore, ("Uhhuh" from CHRIS) THIS good-looking girl was walking down the street, and this hippie, sitting on the side of the road with his legs orossed, looks up at tbe girl and he sl9;Ys, #el1, you know, he says, "You ever beon picked up by the fuzz'?" And she says, "No, but I bet it sure does hurt." C]> (I,aughjjng) 1'hat ' s pretty good. I read that one. Uh. D: Yeah'? All of these jokes, ossly enough, oome from the one big, main source, the :Play"boy mansion. The Playb<2;L C: Uh, uh, yes, aand, uh, it's a very' popular magazine. Now I myself read it. I'll have to admit to that .0: So do I. c: But:I don't read it necessarily for pictures, and I don't necessarily re8ll it for jokes. I like ("No" :ii'rom DENNIS) their hUJuor, but they have fantastic articles in it. This is just a complement on the magazine .0: Just, point of order. c: Letts run, let's ran, uh, let's, le"t's r'ollo~ this lineup. UR, let's see. .0: Still on the high school dirty joke, right? c: Yeah, let's thi.nk. All right, uh. .0: Think not C: Yeah, that's right. .0: Wha, What c, What could you.. Yea.h, sure, what aan y61l1. say? C: I know four or five hundred of them, but can't eVIDn '~hink of them when I.... Uh, uhm, all rig,h:t, uhm, let's do one we h'Jard in biology' class the other day. Uuh, do you know how to make a hormone? Uuh, this biology professor gets up, "All right, class, how do you make a hormone?" Some kid in the back of the class: "Kick her in the stomach. ("Right, yeah" from Dl~NNIS) Beautiful. Uuh (DENNIS: "RIghto"i)J, we got a, we got this, I can't mention her' name, because, you knowJ11 it would be dis-, 17 uh, O.K. D: Not nioe. c: How do, what do you call a uhfour thousand pound whore? A two ton pickup. ("Yeah" from DENNIS) What do y'ou call a one thousand pound whore? Half ton pickup. D: Hight. And, uh, le'ts see, what about, what about these idiotio, uh, what do y'ou oall those things where .you ask a question, and somebody else, like what you're doing now--there is a name for -l;his olassification of jokes, I Im sure the professor would know whati-l; is. C: Hiddle? J): Hiddle, that's right. Shoot, I oan't romember what the names are. So, you got--this is a good riddle, if I can remember it, uh. Let's see, what do you, what is green and hops from bed to bed? A prostitoad. (CHRIS laughs, "'l'hat's good, aw, that's good.") These are the dirty jokes we tell at BriaroJ.iff High Sohool. C: Boy, wer' e going to cut down -l;he sohool before we get through. UH. )): I'm sorry, but, you know, you're laying down the line. That's the way it goes, anywaY. C: You know, no, I'ml going to, I'm not going to follow that up until later. Uhm, we oan progress into the dirty jokes, like, I mean into the gross jokes, gross jokes like, uh, you know, reds(?) &~ the oorner 18 .BACKGROUND STNI.'EIVJl\N'f J3riarol:tff High School is located in Decatur, Ga., about two miles IJ8,st Emory U. 'l'here are about 2,000 students. Students of' other high schools vefer to Briaroliff students as rich snobs. 'j'he highly intellectual high school students at the Govornor' s Honor I s j;lrogram in Macon each surmner have ithe proverb, "All the nuts COllle frolll Hriarc1iff.PI Graduated from Brio.rcliff in 1961. For thIDs project, I contacted my good friend Ohristopher Knott, who in turn contacted a friend of hiS, introduced to me as J)e"l\'Iis, the other joke teller on the tape. We went to the house of a friend of Chris and Dennis, named John, a student of another high school who has a :plethora of tape recording equipment. Dennis also wore proudly his new ~p50 set of earlJhones. Chris 8S1d Dennis ded the tD,J)e Vlhi Ie John o.ml I sat back and lo.ughecl. The instructions were to destroy (~ach joke by expla,ining it lli'ully and telling also where they heard it. They began the ta11e recor<ling by reading from Playboy"s jokes. I re-explained what sort of ill.a;t;erial I was looking for, then started them again. J~ven so, the j(J>ke abou~ the man who gambled fnr wife and. money and the one abORt; Santa Clause's "World II< toy were read. After that jolw and ;just before Ohris' s statoment, "We left off with dirty jokes," Chris's mother called, saying that it was time for him to come home. Chris and Dennis them agreed to have a seoond taping session later without me 'rhe results of the second session are quite as plev.sing as those of 'the first. Baughman gives the following mumbers on my examples of the high school Schwank: for "'rhe Irish I,8,dy Who Had Never Been an :Elephant", y. b J.. r ; for all the jokes from "Alice and tho WoH'" to UDall on the Nail", X700; for '''l'he Crilllbhbird ", j.17-.5"'0 ; "Santa Claus(,' 13 World" has 'the nuxnber X13 I 0 "~'he Slenderer",)( I I I ; for"1lhe 'rhree Ants", X1281c ; for"The Gloves" ,'1- '7 00 ; for "God Damn, I Missed", Xl/IO ; for "The stump-Walkers", y '+10 for "JC' s Bon", 'f-, 5'" "I '7 As, may be guessed i'rom the 'tJilne of the erotic jokes, bo'th of these men suffer from 8, castration-anxiety as' a pilllishment for their sexual wishes. In this situation the jokes seem to serve a moralistic function. Thus we get Chris's slip abou't the jokes being sexually satisfying. Also, as you may judge from their identification with the Pollacks, Chris feals perseouted for his laok of mental ability (Although he is exceptionally intelligent, goodlooking and athletic) and Dennis feels isolated as a member of a minority group. Enclosed in this report is 8, picture Eti! ?k'lili;23il11ji 'cpe of their high school, and a short statoment by each about himsolf. ) ,.) ( /f. _ ; ) (1 ( )/1 //,'.'('1 ( ;' " I , ,>1 /3 I !' : ' ! ) ( " 14-- .e, ,"( / ' ' (, Vi), OJ, : ) '" I , ( (, I .1 I: ,);, ,i l ,(; ,( 1 ) ,. ('I I (\ 'j" ,:; , -' 1'/",,\ ,',,* ~r~{'/il'~, (k<ttll <wile Q~ &$'1) I eI,hu'WI, {l:.H({ i(it"Q;J. "f? "'I~~J \}/ ,41~K4A'(:', (/e - j,U-~a /~(;w'1::~ Cl c:rdcf!()jL .-."tiL /ljZijT~,~:;{A~(tlJ~t~~,t:,,~ J ';1 , :i~iL(l.r (J;,'fl... a(~u~("L. ,,~V\., -:-;C{.',{,k() /4--C{{\.(I)(I;C (~j'Clw.{(e ,'6!tZQQ/( .l rjewtdl\.. /tt~t /tt,-, AQ)2~j/;I\.." , 7!{~\, vi6"~ e,d .,:IL, Qj0:a"lt;;~, 12, B O#r:l C'fIJ , ,) ( " "I c' /"', ( I ' ! I, 'I),',l i' () In By letting us collect your traditions--stories, songs, music, sayings, riddles, or beliefs of earlier days--you have made a valuable contribution to preserving and understanding Southern history, and especially the history and way of life of your community. Because you have given unselfishly of your time to do this, the Georgia Folklore Archives, whose representatives are dedicated to preserving these traditions, wants to protect your rights to this lnaterial by guaranteeing that it will not be used for unscrupulous commercial profits. By signing this sheet, you are giving us permission to use this mater. ia1 for educational purposes so that people who are interested can understand how life was in the old-timey days. Your material will probably not be printed or issued on a record, but if it is, and you don't I~ant your name to be used, say so--we respect your right to privacy. Thank you for the time you have an important part of American life. that you want to send along to us so given to help us record a heritage that J.!3 If you remember any more old-timey things that it I~ill ahlays be preserved, I~rite to: Georgia Folklore Archives c/o Prof. John Burrison Georgia State University 33 Gilmer street South East Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Signed ") / 0Ivl:[ ! ) . j" ,I ,f' ,Ill)(' ( ) ')(l" ,) , ' Address For Ga. Flo Archives: \'Iitness ,)1;, " :(r ( " I- ) Date -'='---"----'"""---'--'----- t4ELEASEny letting us collect your traditions--stories, songs, music, sayings, riddles, or beliefsr.if earlier days--you have made a valuable contribution to preserving and understanding Southern history, and especially the history and way of life of your connnunity. Because you have given unselfishly of your time to do this, the Georgia Folklore Archives, l~hose representatives are dedicated to preserving these traditions, l'lants to protect your rights to this lnaterial by guaranteeing that it will not be used for unscrupulous commercial profits. By signing this sheet, you are giving us permission to use this mate~, ial for educational purposes so that people who are interested can understand how life was in the old-timey days. Your material will probably not be printed or issued on a record, but if it is, and you don't l~ant your name to be used, say so-,we respect your right to privacy. Thank you for the time you have given to help us record a heritage that is an important part of American life. If you remenmer any more old-timey things that you ~Iant to send along to us so that it will ahlays be preserved, l~ite to: Georgia Folklore Archives c/o Prof. John Burrison Georgia state University 33 Gilmer street South East Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Signed iJ Address For Ga. Fl. Archives: viitness /:, , 19 ,~6 Date . _ A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.