Anything left to say about the Kerry Komedy Klub Kerfuffle?

Of course!  But before we bring in the lesbians, let’s dissect John Kerry’s actual joke — as written for delivery:

“Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”

That’s the problem — a lousy punch line.  Let’s sprinkle our magical comedy dust on the joke to make it, well, you know, FUNNY!

Revised suggestion:

“Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up in the White House.”

Boom — that’s all you need. Easy in, easy out.  No tortured apology.

Campaign trail comedy doesn’t always work.  Surely you remember from the 1992 persidential campaign Bob Kerrey and the lesbians?  Revisiting that episode is actually instructive not only to see how jokes can go wrong, but how apologies can go right.  Check out David Beckwith in this Nov. 1991 New York Times story:

Vice President Dan Quayle’s press secretary has apologized for a jest about lesbians that he told on the heels of a lesbian joke told last week by Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a Democratic Presidential candidate. “My attempt to do a favor to Bob Kerrey by distracting attention from his predicament has obviously failed,” the Vice President’s press secretary, David Beckwith, said in an interview on Friday. “So I’m retracting my joke. It wasn’t very funny anyway.”

Today’s New York Times reports this about John Kerry:

“Do you need to go to joke school?” one reporter asked him.

“Sure,” Mr. Kerry replied — a notably concise answer for a senator who typically speaks in paragraphs.

Damn straight.  With an elective in joke apology.