Five Jokes: 12-7-2023
Celebrities Get Russian Trolled, More Weird Stuff About Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, The Future Of A.I. Drive-Thrus, Googles Rival To Chat GPT, and Government Access To Push Notifications
Pssst! — if you find daily emails annoying, you can modify your subscription experience here!
Hey! It’s Thursday, and these are Five Jokes!
Donate to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, The Carter Center, and/or Alliance for Middle East Peace.
Y’all hear about this?..
Celebrities including Elijah Wood and Priscilla Presley were duped into recording videos to support the information war against Ukraine by Russia-aligned trolls. Upon learning this, agents were inundated with calls from their other celebrity clients demanding to know why the Russian trolls weren’t aware of them. “Should I send in a tape? I can do accents!”
News anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes allegedly cheated together. Their exes are now dating. And none of their friends know what to do about the new holiday cards the two couples have sent. “What do you think, honey? Should we put them on the fridge or just burn them?”
An AI drive-thru firm revealed that humans are needed to review 70% of orders. And you’ll never guess who they’re hiring to do it…
Google just launched Gemini, its long-awaited answer to ChatGPT. But users have noticed a glitch where no matter what they type, Gemini responds with “Help! I’m a genie and Google has trapped my lamp inside of some sort of cube!”
Finally…
Senator Ron Wyden revealed that the U.S. government uses push notifications to spy on people. Not entirely sure how helpful that is. “Mr. President, Tim from New York has received another DoorDash notification telling him that his foot-long cookie is on the way. That must be code for something…”
Those were five jokes! Which was your favorite? Use this poll, or drop a comment!
If you enjoyed those, check out yesterday’s jokes! And consider becoming a paid subscriber OR just buying me a coffee:
Remember, you can always share screenshots or forward these emails to a friend!
(this post may be too long for your email — if so, read the web version!)
REST WELL, NORMAN LEAR
Though his squeaky clean public image may have been a facade, the fact remains that Norman Lear (or, at least, the idea of him) was one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. In an era of time slots and networks you could count on one hand, people tuned in to his shows to see a reflection of themselves. Were they all laughing for the same reasons? Often yes, and often no. But there was a powerful sense that the worlds he (or, at least, the idea of him) constructed were real. His characters lived where the rent was always due, the culture was always shifting, and the stakes of keeping up appearances were ever-rising in that deluxe apartment in the sky. People debate whether Shakespeare was one person. We should have similar debates about icons like Lear. There were many talented artists working with and for him to develop all of those great shows. As you celebrate his career, do a little deep dive into some of the other integral players behind the scenes — many of whom have wonderful things to say about working with him. He was famous for pointing a lens at flawed characters. And I can’t think of any better way of celebrating his life than by pointing that same lens at him.
A JOKE FROM SOMEONE ELSE
https://twitter.com/STEEEZUSCHRIST/status/1732488584270107106
STRAY THOUGHT
This is a new segment for a joke or “stray” thought of mine that doesn’t fit the standard setup/punchline format. Hopefully it’ll make me post on Twitter less. Enjoy (and feel free to share!):
SOMETHIN’ FROM THE VAULT!
How about my 2015 podcast interview with Eugene Mirman! Huh? Well… How about it?!
“Why is this guy emailing five jokes a day?” — I explain it here:
Letters from African America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider sharing…
…or becoming a free or paid subscriber!
See you tomorrow with…
Much of fictional television as it exists today is due to the fact that Norman Lear was prepared to take artistic chances with his work that few other television producers in his time and since have dared. He will be missed.