Juha Haha

            One-liners. That’s all I really need to say to describe the basic idea of “Tales of Juha.” None of the jokes are actually one line, but each comes down to a single punch line. So, while standing in line for punch, whatever set up is told and it may raddle on for a page and then finally you are served the sweet libation of humor. A second basic idea of this type of humor is donkeys. In this type of humor there are references to donkeys in both their animal form, their euphemistic form, and their double entendre form. A third idea is the basic chauvinism expressed by Juha on multiple occasions.

            On page 25 there is a particular one liner about where someone should walk around the coffin in a funeral procession. Juha replies, “As long as you’re not in the coffin, you can walk wherever you like.” For better or for worse, I laughed. Not all of the jokes with Juha are on the level, PC, or even un-offensive to certain people, but this one just seemed like good fun. Friends often comment on the fact that I enjoy dark humor, depressing things, and death. Guess so, because this made me giggle. It really is true though. It cuts to the bone of the issue and sees that in a funeral procession who really cares as much about where everyone else is standing or walking when they should be remembering their friend. In Juha’s case, I don’t think this thought was precisely what he was thinking. I think Juha was thinking around the lines of the fact that the guy asking was not dead so he should be thankful he could still walk wherever he liked. Juha’s humor often seems very dark in ways that I’m not even comfortable with. In the words of Jack Nicholson, he talks about things that “people don’t talk about at parties” because it isn’t cheerful or the view of humanity we try to present.

            The final joke in the “Wit and Wisdom” chapter/section dealt with donkeys. In the core of the joke, Juha says he consulted his donkey on whether he should let this man borrow the donkey, and the men questions when donkeys started being consulted and when donkeys started having opinions. Juha responds with “You see it and hear it all the time. Aren’t there any number of [two-legged] donkeys who talk? Aren’t they consulted, then give their opinions?” In the culture I’m used to we don’t have just a whole lot of “Donkey Humor.” Occasionally someone will intend to call someone stubborn, annoying, or foolish and use donkey terminology and then there were a series of Shrek films, but other than that there really isn’t any “Donkey Humor.” I can’t actually even think of an animal equivalent we might incorporate into our humor. But because donkeys are so apparently integrated into their culture, lifestyle, and living, it makes sense that the donkeys would have a place in their humor as well.

            On the bottom of page 21 starts the story of Juha giving a necklace to both of his two wives in secret from one another and everyone else. When one day they ask who he loves most, he needs only to say “the one I gave the necklace to as a present” to make them both happy. Juha is scheming and deceitful at least a little bit…and I would venture to say a little more than just a little bit. His one-liners, like this one, always seem a bit jarring or as if they might be in an effort to get himself out of trouble. I read Juha as a bit of trouble-maker, a silver-tongue trickster with an air of wisdom and sometimes truth in what he says.