Anthology

Of flies and laughter

Item: The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Humour
Author: Patrick Cook

by Patrick Cook •

November 1988, no. 106

The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Humour edited by Michael Sharkey

Oxford University Press, 310 pp, $39.95 hb

Anthology

Of flies and laughter

by Patrick Cook •

November 1988, no. 106

Two women really did walk into a bar recently. Their four elbows met the bar in unison. Their two schooners were embraced by four lips with the precision of guardsmen at the palace.

There was a bit of a silence.
There was no eye contact.

By and by one enquired about the other.
‘Have you heard about Bill Hayden?’
‘What’s he reckon, now?’
‘Well, he reckons that he’s prepared to take the job of Governor-General. He reckons he’s prepared to take the cut in salary.’
‘That’s very good of him.’
‘Yeah. He reckons that if he gets Dallas to do the shopping, he’ll just about break even.’

Patrick Cook

Patrick Cook is an Australian cartoonist and satirist whose work has been published in The National Times and The Bulletin and performed on television (The Gillies Report and The Dingo Principle).