@richardhutnik In another Marx Bros movie, "Duck Soup", Chico is on trial as a spy and asks the prosecutor a riddle: "What has a trunk, but no key, weighs 2,000 pounds and lives in a circus?" The prosecutor says "That's irrelevant!" and Chico congratulates him on getting the right answer.
Sure it's suggestive. Elephant in your pajamas? Gosh, what kind of image does *that* conjure up?
Remember that in the same routine (in "Animal Crackers", not the game show) he said "we took some pictures of the native girls but they weren't developed yet, but we're going back in a couple of weeks".
(Back in the old days you had to send pictures off to a lab to get them developed. Took weeks before you could actually see them. I only point this out for you youngsters of the digital era.)
Dude, you missed the innuendo about the native girls not being developed yet.
Also, it doesn't matter if Groucho changed the phrasing of the joke - it's his joke and he can tell it however he wants. The rhythm of the movie asked for one version and the flow of the show demanded something else.
Ok, please dont make fun of me people, but I just heard this Groucho joke for the first time on a PBS special on comedians and I laughed so much but then thought.... hmmm. am I laughing because of the suggestiveness of it or am I reading much into it. I understood the joke to mean a wet dream. Am I right or is my mind in the gutter? ;)
@cjs33139 Although Groucho was infamous for witty puns and naughty double entendre it wasn't intended for this joke. It was just a silly pun. The whole routine was: "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know. Then we tried to remove the tusks. The tusks. That's not so easy to say. Tusks. You try it some time. As I say, we tried to remove the tusks. But they were embedded so firmly we couldn't budge them. Of course, in Alabama the Tuscaloosa,"
@Antimidate -- Good L_rd. You need to be aware of the fact that there are multiple spellings for some words, that "pyjamas" is more common in Bwitish English than in American English (and Groucho was, well, an American), and that most of the English-language work (books, movies, magazines, music) has been American for some years now, even if we look only at consumption of work outside of American itself! Also, separate vocatives with commas, whether or not you're writing in Bwitish English.
@Antimidate I know this comment is a year old, but it can be spelled both ways.....idiot. sometimes its better to keep you mouth shut and let people think youre a moron, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Fuckin grammar police.
@Antimidate It's spelled pyjamas in England and Australia (and India), but pajamas in the United States. Just like the wheels on a car are spelled tyres in England and Australia (and India), but tires in the United States.
@puck30 I doubt it, given how many stage shows in which Groucho would have made this joke before it was even filmed I imagine he said every possible permutation
This clip of Groucho Marx is the look he always be remembered for..
80111live 2 weeks ago in playlist Favorite videos
hahaha
alchaisy 3 weeks ago
there's no :40
Xxbuthead12xx 2 months ago
The wording is irrelephant.
thrakker84 3 months ago
How about it being remembered as shooting an irrelevant in pajamas? I am now trying to find out why I remember it that way.
richardhutnik 5 months ago
@richardhutnik In another Marx Bros movie, "Duck Soup", Chico is on trial as a spy and asks the prosecutor a riddle: "What has a trunk, but no key, weighs 2,000 pounds and lives in a circus?" The prosecutor says "That's irrelevant!" and Chico congratulates him on getting the right answer.
dadoctah 5 months ago
@richardhutnik There's also the line "in Alabama the Tuscaloosa, but that's irrelevant."
acer3573 3 months ago
Sure it's suggestive. Elephant in your pajamas? Gosh, what kind of image does *that* conjure up?
Remember that in the same routine (in "Animal Crackers", not the game show) he said "we took some pictures of the native girls but they weren't developed yet, but we're going back in a couple of weeks".
(Back in the old days you had to send pictures off to a lab to get them developed. Took weeks before you could actually see them. I only point this out for you youngsters of the digital era.)
dadoctah 6 months ago 2
@dadoctah
Dude, you missed the innuendo about the native girls not being developed yet.
Also, it doesn't matter if Groucho changed the phrasing of the joke - it's his joke and he can tell it however he wants. The rhythm of the movie asked for one version and the flow of the show demanded something else.
Gurkiewicz 3 months ago
My brother and I never got this joke as kids because we always assumed that he meant the elephant in the pajamas from the get go.
thevampirefrog06 6 months ago
Ok, please dont make fun of me people, but I just heard this Groucho joke for the first time on a PBS special on comedians and I laughed so much but then thought.... hmmm. am I laughing because of the suggestiveness of it or am I reading much into it. I understood the joke to mean a wet dream. Am I right or is my mind in the gutter? ;)
cjs33139 7 months ago
@cjs33139 Although Groucho was infamous for witty puns and naughty double entendre it wasn't intended for this joke. It was just a silly pun. The whole routine was: "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know. Then we tried to remove the tusks. The tusks. That's not so easy to say. Tusks. You try it some time. As I say, we tried to remove the tusks. But they were embedded so firmly we couldn't budge them. Of course, in Alabama the Tuscaloosa,"
TheTubePortal 3 months ago
Way to ruin the joke by writing it out before Groucho tells it.
bribyrne 9 months ago
good old times when comediennes needed to look like what they were
cyberyanmar 1 year ago
Everyone knew that joke then...it was witty of him to use it again in that situation.
ZITEO111 1 year ago
well perhaps after all the years he still doesn't know and figures he never will
Sageeth 1 year ago
It is spelled pyjamas you idiot.
Antimidate 1 year ago
@Antimidate I checked the closed captioning on the DVD, and you're wrong.
dadoctah 1 year ago 10
@dadoctah he's right... on the AFI list its written as pajamas... so you can't idiot him for writing it correct, you idiot! XD
88Hakan88 1 year ago
@dadoctah Actually both are correct
Trickishismael360 1 year ago
@Antimidate -- Good L_rd. You need to be aware of the fact that there are multiple spellings for some words, that "pyjamas" is more common in Bwitish English than in American English (and Groucho was, well, an American), and that most of the English-language work (books, movies, magazines, music) has been American for some years now, even if we look only at consumption of work outside of American itself! Also, separate vocatives with commas, whether or not you're writing in Bwitish English.
Oeconomist 1 year ago
@Antimidate I know this comment is a year old, but it can be spelled both ways.....idiot. sometimes its better to keep you mouth shut and let people think youre a moron, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Fuckin grammar police.
dublinfool25 4 months ago
@Antimidate It's spelled pyjamas in England and Australia (and India), but pajamas in the United States. Just like the wheels on a car are spelled tyres in England and Australia (and India), but tires in the United States.
TheTubePortal 3 months ago
is there really a right or wrong way?
either way it's funny and that's the bottom line!
puck30 2 years ago 11
@puck30 Pretty sure no matter how you tell it it'll never be funny.... :|
LaMostraESopra 9 months ago
@puck30 I doubt it, given how many stage shows in which Groucho would have made this joke before it was even filmed I imagine he said every possible permutation
vaudevilleUK 1 week ago
Maybe after all those years, he still couldn't figure it out. Pajamas only stretch so for, ya know :)
vicmannm 2 years ago