MovieChat Forums > Duck Soup (1933) Discussion > Question about a joke:

Question about a joke:

posted 14 years ago by Jordan2184
15 replies | jump to latest

"I can see you now, bending over a hot stove.......only I can't see the stove...."

-- This line has always made me laugh, but I was never quite sure why. It's not exactly clear what Rufus means by it, and as I think about it, there could be several different possible interpretations:

1) It's implied in the film that Rufus doesn't have a lot of money. The joke could be meaning that because he's so poor, he can't imagine them even owning a stove, and instead she's merely bending over where the stove might be.

2) Rufus also makes several jokes throughout the film about Mrs. Teasdale being fat. The joke could mean that she's so fat that she's blocking the stove from view in his imagination.

3) It could also be a cheeky comment, implying he's got other things on his mind; it could be that he "can't see the stove" because he doesn't want to -- he only wants to imagine her bending over, as it were.

So I'm not really sure what to make of this joke. Was there one particular interpretation they intended when delivering the line, or was the joke meant to be taken on many different levels?

What do you think?

*There is no spoon*

[–] dt123 10 years ago

Ha! It never occurred to me that there'd be any interpretation other than she was fat.

Then again, when i was a little girl, i misunderstood the joke, "How do you get down off an elephant?"... "You dont get down off an elephant, you get down off a duck." ... I thought that joke was funny bc it was silly... a duck was obviously shorter than an elephant! You know, a nonsequitur. I didn't yet know the word "down" meant the feathers from a duck. ("goose" would be just as funny!)

The stove joke reminds me of a single panel comic i saw once. A man is taking a photo out west with his large wife on front of him. He says, "Step aside, honey. I cant see the Grand Canyon. "

[–] pgFiSheYe 8 years ago

I thought the joke was meant to reference that Mrs Teasdale couldn't cook.

He can't see the stove because there is no stove to begin with, because why would she cook, as she obviously can't

[–] greenbudgie (2358) 3 years ago

It was Margaret Dumont's size that Grouch must have been targeting. Earlier he had told her that she covered a lot of ground and was going to be replaced by an office block. But he also tells her that "you're not so bad yourself" as a compliment which shows he did find her a handsome woman really. She was actually good looking and graceful but of course too tall and matronly to be a good match for Groucho.