海角大神

Have you heard the one about people posting jokes in public to try to cheer everybody up during these difficult times?

Yes, it鈥檚 true. We鈥檙e not talking about aspiring comedy writers hoping to catch the eye of a late-night talk show host, however. This is about dad jokes 鈥� and bad jokes. Real groaners. These jokes are so tired they have to nap in the afternoon.

Here鈥檚 an example: 鈥淲hat does a rain cloud wear under its coat? Thunderwear!鈥�

That鈥檚 from Callaghan McLaughlin. He鈥檚 a 6-year-old from British Columbia at the end of his driveway. His repertoire is 16 jokes he鈥檚 memorized from a book his mom gave him last fall, 鈥淟augh Out Loud Jokes for Kids.鈥�

He鈥檚 been entertaining the people who walk by for some five weeks now. It turns out that when the world looks dark a giggling kid telling you what kind of bug is bad at football is pretty entertaining.

The punch line there is 鈥渇umblebee,鈥� by the way.

Callaghan holds regular sessions in his booth, morning and afternoon. It helps fill the time left open by the coronavirus-driven closure of school. He鈥檚 become kind of a big deal on the internet, too, thanks to appearances on local news and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. His mom says he鈥檚 a natural.

鈥淗e can talk the hind legs off a donkey,鈥� she .听

With unemployment skyrocketing and the pandemic still lurking and the future very much unknown, laughter may not actually be the best medicine, but it still feels pretty good.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of stress in the world ... and I kind of want to get some smiles on people鈥檚 faces,鈥� Callaghan .听

Sometimes bad jokes work too, particularly when delivered by cute kids. We鈥檒l leave you with one of the staples of Callaghan鈥檚 oeuvre:

鈥淲hat is black, white, and red?鈥�

鈥淎 penguin that鈥檚 embarrassed!鈥�