SIR Bidwell Branch 110 Humor
April 2024

In 1852 Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, moving the start of the new year to January from April.
Those who kept celebrating the old new year were ridiculed as "April fools," which led to a new unofficial holiday, historians suggest.

The first documented April fools' prank took place in London in 1698. A clever Brit announced a special event at the Tower of London:
"See the Lions washed."
No such public cleansing of jungle cats was planned, but the
announcement drew a crowd of rubes.

The earliest recorded American April fools' prank took place in Middleton, Connecticut in 1796, where a handbill promised a marketplace for "fools coats."
It said sellers should bring coats of various colors, yellow to "predominate," with lots of tin bells and tassels.

When residents of Sitka, Alaska, awoke to see smoke rising from Mount Edgecumbe in 1974, officials responded to a possible volcanic eruption.
But really, a group of people had piled hundreds of tires and greasy rags in the crater and set them on fire--and spray-painted
"APRIL FOOL" on the snow.

Never plan a wedding in Winter.
Someone always gets cold feet.

Did you hear how the hurricane met the tornado?
There's a twist at the end.

My dog can find anything!
He's a Labragoogle.

The arborists couldn't tell why my tree died.
They were stumped.

The magazine of the British army in 1980 reported that its guards' fur helmets needed trimming because the bear pelts were so thick that the hair continued to grow.
The London Daily Express reprinted the pranks story as fact-perhaps because it suggested a bear hormone could be a baldness cure.

When an Associated Press reporter asked Boston University history professor Joseph Boskin in 1983 about the origins of April Fools' Day, he jokingly cited a fictitious King Kugel-the name inspired by a noodle dish.
He was shocked that the reporter had run the gag as fact.

A pitcher who can hurl a baseball at 168 mph?
That's what writer George Plimpton claimed in 1985 about supposed New York Mets prospect Sidd Finch in Sports Illustrated.
Fans fell for the gag, which some called the greatest April fools' prank in sports history.

For earth-shattering impact, few pranksters can beat the British DJs who in 2001 said a replica Titanic could be seen from the cliffs of Beachy Head, in East Sussex.
Crowds flocked to view the made-up ship, and part of the fragile cliffs cracked-then later crumbled.

There's a guy in town who walks around talking to himself using only figurative language.
We call him the Village Idiom

If you were a fruit, you'd be a fine-apple

Q: What do you get when two dinosaurs crash their cars?
A: T-Rex

Q: What job did the frog have at the hotel?
A: Bellhop

In 1998 Burger King took out a full-page ad in USA Today explaining that southpaws could order a lefty Whopper, with condiments rotated 180 degrees, creating a left-handed taste.

In 2019 Audi Australia announced B-tron, a vehicle that runs on honey, "a sustainable, naturally acquired fuel harvested from robina flowers in Bavaria."
The car was to include an onboard toaster for sweet morning treats.

In 2019 McDonald's restaurants in Australia announced the McPickle Burger-"juicy, flavorsome pickles layered between melted cheese, ketchup sauce and toasted sesame seed buns."

In 2023 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines unveiled a "Recline Alert System," saying, "We've developed a sound effect that notifies passengers when the seat in front of them reclines."

To publicize colon cancer screenings, an Idaho doctor suggested that a reminder be included in every tax notice.
The idea was nixed.
"Recommending a colonoscopy in the same envelope as the tax notice may be considered ironic," said the county treasurer.

A last-minute filer walked into a state income tax office and handed the clerk his returns.
Just as he did, a peal of laughter could be heard in another room.
Glaring at the clerk, he grumbled, "What are they doing back there, counting the money?"

5 ants rented an apartment with 5 other ants.
Now they're tenants together.

Q: What do you call an everyday potato?
A: A commentator

Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor?
A: It wasn't peeling well

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