Moseby: “You are to cease all social activities until your grades improve.” London: “That is so unfair! I have to keep my grades up, but his new wife is allowed to drop out of college?
There are two jokes here, as you can probably tell rather easily: The bait-and-switch of Mr Tipton having a college-aged wife, and London being too stupid to realize why that’s strange.
❀❀❀NEW TAG❀❀❀ “Classic Bait and Switch” ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀
The bait: “his new wife” The switch: “college”
I specify “classic” because most comedy could be described as some sort of bait and switch, but I want to refer to just this specific type. No gimmicks, just a standard format gag. I guess that would make this, the 9th joke of the show, our very first orthodox joke. And coincidentally, it will also be my first entry into Comedy Canon. That’ll be another just-for-fun tag, meaning basically the exact opposite of the Not A Joke tag. This tag is reserved for goofs that I feel are indisputable. There will be.... not too many of these, I think. It takes more than me laughing to get that tag. This one earned it with its simplicity and uncharacteristically mature subject matter.
Aaand, on the other side of the spectrum...
❀❀NEW TAG❀❀ “London Is Dumb” ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀
This one’s title isn’t self explanatory like all the rest, but the full explanation wasn’t catchy enough. I’m going to use this tag for jokes that ultimately boil down to a single punchline based on a character’s overly-exaggerated trait. Like, that one girl in A.N.T. Farm with the photographic memory. In this show, the punchline will almost always be “London is dumb” or “London is vain.” You see why I decided to just make the name “London Is Dumb”? Rolls off the tongue a lot better than “Overused character trait running gag” anyway...
My current theory is that this tag will be at least top 5 by the end of this show’s 5 seasons. If we don’t see at least one of these every time London has dialogue, I’ll be surprised.
I don’t think “London Is Dumb” can ever be funny on its own (prove me wrong, Disney!) but when it’s supporting something like this classic bait and switch, I can forgive it. I mean, I’ve placed it into Comedy Canon. Of course I forgive it.














