(This volume didn’t make it to the self-published stage because of the advent of the project “The Ultimate Book of Dad Jokes” through Ulysses Press out of Berkeley, CA. It thus has no book cover – Had it been published it would have had a cover identical to those for the previous 8 volumes but with this title. This would have been the Introduction for Volume IX.)

Humor has always played a prominent role in our history, all to our betterment. The earliest example of this had to be the one who drew with a piece of charcoal on the wall of a cave a caricature of a rival named Urgrunt being chased by a bison. A king often had the services of a Court Jester. Politicians have almost always been the rich picking fields for stand-up comedians. And of course our graduating high school classes had our Class Clowns. Humor has always been with us because it’s part of what makes us human.

Humor has a way sometimes of making light of a very dark situation to ease some of the pain. We laugh at the delightful quality of a friend who has died. We smile at the thought of a prankster uncle now long gone. We chuckle at lighter situations too, as when a three-month old niece tweaks our nose and giggles out loud. There is something magical that happens around humor. At its best it convulses us with a deep belly laugh that pains the stomach; often it causes us to chuckle; and at the least it guarantees a smile on our lips, but whatever the degree we feel the better for it. Even the worst jokes cause us to wince and roll our eyes, but even this seems to do good things for our spirit in spite of ourselves.

I don’t know why exactly but laughter seems to be important to our health, both mentally as well as physically. Endorphins pump through out bodies and we are the lighter for it. A motto apropos for hanging in the living room or our minds should be, “A laugh a day keeps the blahs away…” as we spin a yarn or turn a phrase to mangle the English language for a laugh. We do it because we can; we do it because we have to; we do it because we cannot help ourselves; some of us do it and inadvertently come out as our high school class clown.

Teiya (10 years 7 months)*, Xander (10 years 10 months)*, Venice (13 years 7 months)* and Casey (13 years 10 months)* are my now experienced illustrators for this series of books of puns. They contribute their artistic talents through their inspired drawings for select jokes that touch their fancy. We hope you enjoy your journey through the pages of this latest compilation of puns and take away with you a chuckle or two or three to make your day.

Gordon H. Nagai ~ Eugene, OR ~ Winter 2015

*This would have been their ages at the time of publication…