The day you could no longer buy leaded gasoline was the saddest day for every waiter in America who was dependent upon the \u201cleaded\u201d or \u201cunleaded\u201d joke whenever approaching a table to offer caffeinated or decaf coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now the coffee service was a hollow gesture. A mechanistic gruel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Broadway beckoned. And <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLeaded or unleaded the musical\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n opened to pour box office. Which, trivially, was a joke in the first act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n he used to be a waiter, <\/p>\n\n\n\n but that was back in the days when a man could get a cup of Joe, <\/p>\n\n\n\n and brother that<\/em> was a long time ago, he was jittery. Caffeinated. Like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BOFFO The bits in question were old vaudeville sets, Marked up. The day you could no longer buy leaded gasoline was the saddest day for every waiter in America who was dependent upon the \u201cleaded\u201d or \u201cunleaded\u201d joke whenever approaching a table to offer caffeinated or decaf coffee. Now the coffee service was a hollow gesture. A mechanistic gruel. But Broadway beckoned. And \u201cLeaded or unleaded the musical\u201d opened to pour box office. Which, trivially, was a joke in the first act. During the intermission, the songwriter, he used to be a waiter, but that was back in the days when a man could get a cup of Joe, without a...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2],"tags":[184,188,127,121,147,167,123,152,64],"class_list":["post-2750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-books","category-writing","tag-absurdist","tag-fable","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-humor","tag-humour","tag-poetry","tag-satire","tag-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-Im","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2019,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/moaning-joe\/","url_meta":{"origin":2750,"position":0},"title":"Moaning Joe","author":"David Raffin","date":"November 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The day you could no longer buy leaded gasoline was the saddest day for every waiter in America who was dependent upon the \u201cleaded\u201d or \u201cunleaded\u201d joke whenever approaching a table to offer caffeinated or decaf coffee. Now the coffee service was a hollow gesture. A mechanistic gruel. But Broadway\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_0406-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_0406-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_0406-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_0406-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_0406-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_0406-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/classic-comedy-explained-for-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":2750,"position":1},"title":"Classic comedy explained for today","author":"David Raffin","date":"December 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Marx Brothers Four brothers find their identities through wildly exaggerated cultural appropriation. One is an unscrupulous Italian, One is an unruly and frenetic Mute pushing himself in everyone\u2019s personal space, One is a wise-cracking Southern Gentleman of no means, and the other appears normal which is the joke. Sometimes there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":799,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/john-cleeses-favorite-john-cleese-joke\/","url_meta":{"origin":2750,"position":2},"title":"John Cleese’s favorite John Cleese joke","author":"David Raffin","date":"November 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"John Cleese says the best joke he ever wrote was inadvertently cut out of the film Life of Brian due to \"camera angles.\" In the film Cleese's character says, \"There are two things you have to know about the meaning of life. The first is that people are not wearing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Info"","block_context":{"text":"Info","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/info\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":862,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/sexism-arbitrary-ethnic-humor-and-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":2750,"position":3},"title":"Sexism, Arbitrary Ethnic Humor, and Science.","author":"David Raffin","date":"April 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Three men walk into a bar\u2026 At this point a lady asks me, \"Why men?\" And I say, \"It's a sexist joke.\" Three Swedes walk into a bar. It is full of leprechauns. It is the wrong bar. They are lost. \"Who is lost, the Swedes or the leprechauns?\" The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1077593_10151504553277823_1904869306_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1077593_10151504553277823_1904869306_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1077593_10151504553277823_1904869306_o.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1077593_10151504553277823_1904869306_o.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4155,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/here-is-your-pornography\/","url_meta":{"origin":2750,"position":4},"title":"Here is your pornography","author":"David Raffin","date":"September 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I only watch vintage porn out of respect for those who came before me.This statement is wrong on three levels and makes it seem like this is a circus.How long must we put up with sizeism in porn? They will go to any lengths it seems. It is true that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":762,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/true-blue\/","url_meta":{"origin":2750,"position":5},"title":"True Blue","author":"David Raffin","date":"September 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Some jokes are designated by color. Some jokes are funny because they are blue. 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During the intermission, the songwriter, <\/p>\n\n\n\nwithout a lot of song and dance, <\/s><\/p>\n\n\n\n
His name was Joe. Joe the waiter. Now Joe the songbird. And the play was full of double entendres and tongue twisters and, to tell you the truth, it was a little risqu\u00e9<\/em>. Which is French for right dirty<\/em>, sister. So it did boffo box office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInsert two bits for a cup of Joe\u201d was the third song in the first act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It hasn\u2019t aged well.
For one thing young people today don\u2019t understand they used to put lead in gasoline. To knock out the knocks, if one can believe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"