Talk:No soap radio

no soap radio

So, what did the schoolteacher say to the unemployed hockey player? –Andre (talk) 17:20, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I don't know. What? Not Wikipedia Administrator 20:39, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

No soap radio. Hahahahahaha! That cracks me up. –Andre (talk) 20:41, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

No soap, radio? I don't get it.--Chao 22:46, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Har har, I laugh at your expense. Andre (talk) 02:59, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)

That was better than the article itself... can we switch? 18:57, 14 July 2005 (UTC)131.247.98.181

It's odd, I found the joke quite amusing because of the sheer nonsensical nature of it. The fact that the response is completely unrelated sound quite funny.

I agree, actually. The first time I heard the joke I laughed and there was no else listening to the joke so there really wasn't any peer pressure to laugh. At one time and place (Great Britain in the late 60s/early 70s, or the USA slightly later), absurd non-sequitur was a perfectly legitimate form of humor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.126.126.70 (talk) 02:07, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Someone in my Microbiology class told this joke, and then kept adding nonsensical information, and I caught on rather quickly that the joke was that there was no joke. However, the first time I said that, they didn't admit it. The people were kind of @$$es anyway.

^---Wait, was it me who said that years ago? I remember someone in my Microbiology class told that joke when I was in 10th or 11th grade. And I enjoy spelling ass as @$$ for a euphamism. Why didn't it auto-sign? Was this back in the days before a bot would auto-sign signatures if people didn't put one? Kevin (talk) 00:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

No soaps on the radio anymore

None of these jokes have anything to do with the end of dramatic radio serials as they were obsoleted by television soap operas, right? --Damian Yerrick 19:17, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

Nope. On the other hand, podcasting has meant that dramatic radio serials are on their way back, under a new form... -- Metahacker 20:12, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

It's possible there was actually a radio station format referred to as "No-Soap Radio" at some point, referring to stations that didn't air soap operas as other stations commonly did at the time. *Dan T.* 20:05, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I hope this section was meant to be humorous...Tvoz |talk 18:25, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Descriptive Language Use

I won't make an edit, but just a comment for future reference: this joke is positted as a socialogical experiment, but the descriptive language used to explain the execution uses comments such as "This usually results in savage derision". As a sociological experiment this is highly unlikely behaviour - this is more a feature of 'pranking'. This language appears under the 'Pranking' heading, but is bookended by two descriptions of the prank as a sociological experiment. It also makes the prank out to be quite a cruel exercise in social ridicule, which, while possible, is not necessarily 'normally' how this prank would be conducted.

As I said, no edit, just a comment. CastorQuinn 11:56, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Examples-why animals in bathtubs?

I suspect the reason for the bathtub is to be found at [[1]] AlmostReadytoFly 21:21, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Other than radio

I've heard this joke told (here in the Midwestern US) twice by unrelated people, using a typewriter instead. As in, "what do I look like, a typewriter?"

Hour back, get it?

This is the worst Wikipedia article I have ever seen

(among those I know anything about the subject of).

The joke whose punch line is "No soap, radio" is not mentioned, not even one single example. Without this, it is impossible for anyone not already familiar with this prank to have the remotest idea of what it is about.Daqu 19:00, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at the examples at the end! Andre (talk) 19:38, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Not a strong conclusion

This article suggests that a definite conclusion as to a persons response to peer-pressure can be made. The person being pranked may be new to an office, depressed or distracted or any number of temporary factors may also be at play, I would suggest making it a less strong conclusion. BananaFiend 14:04, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

origin

Sorry if I missed it, but how did the term, "No soap radio" come about? Is it as random as the joke itself? 96.226.68.113 00:57, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Dannowillbookem (talk) 05:48, 22 November 2007 (UTC)Edited after speaking with a relative who claimed to know the originator of the joke (Les Luhring?) and cited with Stanford page which seems to support Luhring's claims somewhat.

Luhring's claim is wrong - I heard, and told, the joke as a kid in the late 50s and very early 60s. Way before 1968. Tvoz |talk 18:27, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

A third possible reaction

I have a bizarre sense of humor. I love Conan O'Brien and things that just don't make sense. When some guys told me this joke long ago, I think they were surprised by how hard I laughed--the kind of laughing where you have to force yourself to stop because your stomach hurts. The whole joke sort of backfired on them. I still think "No soap, radio!" is a hilariously random answer to a question, to this day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Singularitarian (talk • contribs) 09:53, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

Exactly! I was going to say the same thing; I love non sequitur humor, & I though "No soap radio" was hilarious the first time I heard it. Purple monkey dishwasher. (This comment added by the not-logged-in CaptHayfever.) 70.130.238.91 (talk) 03:50, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

You really had to be there...

I recall seeing a sketch on the UK comedy, Alas Smith and Jones, a version of the No soap radio gag. Four actors sitting around a kitchen table, one (smith?) laughs, waves away questions, another laughs, setting off the first, again waving away questions. It builds up amongst three of the players, with knowing looks and "you had to be there", until finally the obviously confused and paranoid fourth player laughs. This is uproariously funny to the other three, and the fourth leaves in a huff.

I haven't included it for obvious reasons (bold be damned, I can't even explain it properly here!), not least of which being whether it does constitute an example of the joke? Thoughts?? -- PaulxSA (talk) 16:10, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

pre-1968

I was "no soap, radioed" at Harvard in 1960 by Phillips Academy Andover graduates: the invention in 1968 by a non-notable Les Luhring is not documented, any more than my account is. The character of the prank suggests an origin among be-bop musiocians. --Wetman (talk) 06:30, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Slightly funny after all?

I can think of a way in which two of the examples contain a slight amount of humor.

1. Two polar bears are sitting in a bathtub. The first one says, "Pass the soap". The second one says, "No soap, radio!"

1. A penguin and a polar bear are sitting on an iceberg. The penguin yells, "Radio!" They both jump in the water.

The joke in both cases could be that if you drop a plugged-in radio in water you are in, it will electrocute you. So both examples could be construed as reference to the endangered status of polar bears and penguins, saying that they are too dumb to avoid lethal dangers (or they have a death wish).

Halberdo (talk) 13:20, 24 May 2009 (UTC)