SCOTT SIMON, host:
Today, the lowest form of humor receives a moment of glory. It's the 31st Annual O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships in Austin, Texas. Dozens of contestants from all over the United States will compete for the titles of puniest in show and pun-slinger champion. Gary Hallock has presided over the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships for the past 18 years. He's a past winner of the puniest-in-show title, joins us from the studios of member-station KUT in Austin. Why O. Henry?
Mr. GARY HALLOCK (Organizer, O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships): O. Henry, of course, is well known as the author of many short stories, characteristically, those with a twisted ending. I think that's very analogous to what punsters are doing.
SIMON: Well where a pun is concerned, kind of a groan is a very desirable reaction, isn't it?
Mr. HALLOCK: Well after all these years, we have groans to love it, and the contestants at the pun-off generally tend to be the perpetrators of puns, flipping them back and forth, left and right, twisting the language until it cries uncle.
SIMON: Let's give our listeners a demonstration, if we could. We've been joined now by someone in the studio. You're going to be the judge, right, Justine?
JUSTINE CANNON(ph): I am.
SIMON: Justine Cannon, who's one of our producers here. Let's play a few rounds of pun-slinger, I guess the game is called, okay?
Mr. HALLOCK: The pun-slingers contest is where we put two contestants up on stage together, throw them a topic at random. Each contestant in turn then has five seconds to start to deliver a pun, and then it goes back and forth until somebody gets gonged out.
CANNON: So we're going to give this a whirl. Round one, we'll start with our guest. The topic is farms.
Mr. HALLOCK: I fell in love with the farmer's daughter, but I couldn't a tractor.
(Soundbite of bell)
SIMON: I'm just sheepish about this game.
(Soundbite of bell)
Mr. HALLOCK: I did like to plow the field with herbicide me.
(Soundbite of bell)
SIMON: Oh, it's a bovine way to spend the afternoon.
(Soundbite of bell)
Mr. HALLOCK: Ooh, nice. My preacher at my church invited me to get barn again.
(Soundbite of bell)
SIMON: These puns are certainly separating the weak from the chaff.
(Soundbite of bell)
CANNON: Excellent.
Mr. HALLOCK: Hey we're having a good time.
SIMON: Did you win?
CANNON: That's the end of the round - no, no, I would say that - I would give that round a tie. Okay, this is a newsier round. We're going to go with politics, and we're going to start with you, Scott.
SIMON: Oh…
(Soundbite of Laughter)
SIMON: And I'm about to be counted out.
(Soundbite of buzzer)
Mr. HALLOCK: I think Scott is in a delicate condition here.
(Soundbite of bell)
SIMON: Uh - it's hard under the circumstances.
(Soundbite of buzzer)
CANNON: You did so well with farms.
SIMON: I did so well with farms.
Mr. HALLOCK: I'm not going to go for Barack on you.
(Soundbite of bell)
Mr. HALLOCK: I heard Hillary just took another state, the state of denial.
(Soundbite of bell)
(Soundbite of Laughter)
SIMON: You're on a roll, Gary.
(Soundbite of bell)
CANNON: Well, I have to call that round - that was sort of a lightning round - again for our guest.
SIMON: I think so.
Mr. HALLOCK: Inasmuch as Scott was dumbstruck, I suppose.
SIMON: Just dumb. Gary?
Mr. HALLOCK: Yeah.
SIMON: It's been a pleasure punning with you. Thanks very much.
Mr. HALLOCK: And I've certainly appreciated talking to you, Scott.
SIMON: Gary Hallock of the 31st Annual O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships held today at the O. Henry Museum in Austin, Texas. This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
