Eliza JorgensenFollow

Date Collected

11-2018

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Stewart Merriam

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Stewart is one of my younger brothers. He is 18 years old and was born and raised in Cache Valley. He has a twin sister, Rachel, who is 7 minutes younger than he is. Stewart is currently a senior at Logan High School and is the Student Body President. He is on the Logan High swim team and has been on the team since his freshman year of high school. He is an employee at Chick-fil’-A in Logan, Utah. Stewart is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Context

Stewart told me this joke around the kitchen table, shortly after playing an epic game of Five Crowns. Other family members were present during the interview and there was some background noise coming from other conversations. The kitchen table is a round table and Stewart was sitting in the chair next to me and our bodies were turned to face each other. The feeling in the room was very casual and normal since Stewart is my brother and telling jokes is something that occurs fairly often when my family gets together on Sundays. This is a joke that he found hilarious as a young boy, but as an 18 year old, Stewart doesn’t find this joke as funny. This joke is a very well-known joke, and Stewart isn’t sure where if first heard it from, but there is a story behind this joke. While auditioning for “Seussical the Musical” for one of the shows up at Utah State University, Stewart was asked by director, Vanessa Ballam, to tell her a joke as part of the audition. Without having to think about it, he came up with this joke, which greatly impressed the director. He later got the role of JoJo and it may or may not have had to with telling this joke.

Text

Why was six afraid of seven?

Because seven ate (eight) nine.

Texture

Stewart told this joke to me in a way that he knew it was very cheesy. He also told it like he was telling this joke to us for the first time. He told it in his “interviewing” voice which sounds deeper and more professional than his “talking” voice. His facial expressions seemed to say that this was going to be a super funny joke before he told the joke, and then became more serious as he spoke in his “interviewing” voice. Stewart’s energy level was pretty high because we had just laughed pretty hard about something right before I interviewed him. Stewart found this joke funnier when he was younger because this joke is one that elementary children usually tell and not high schoolers.

Course

English 2210

Instructor

Dr. Lynne S. McNeil

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G4: Jokes

EAD Number

3.8.0.121

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