DOWN THE TUBES

What’s so funny about this? This is a classic homophonic joke involving not just words but pronunciation as well. First, however, let’s take a look at the picture. It’s a pretty standard situation. We see a patient in the dentist’s chair already being worked on. If you’ve ever been in this situation and who hasn’t, then you know it’s not a particularly comfortable one. It’s creepy, looking at the dentist and the assistant wearing their surgical masks, gloves and even eye protectors. The patient wears nothing. As a patient it makes you feel like they’re afraid you have some terrible contagious disease or that some gross stuff is going to come flying out of your mouth towards the faces of the dentist and his assistant. At least this patient is trying to make the best of a not great situation by making small talk, that is, light conversation about nothing too serious. The patient asks the dentist what his favorite musical instrument is. Perhaps there was music playing in the waiting room