"How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?" goes the elderly laffer.
"That's not funny!" is the reply.
Which leads us to wonder, at a time when giant, amoral corporations have stuck us all, whether there's fun to be found in a cutesy, quirky sitcom riff on giant, amoral corporations.
That's before considering whether its silliness would be funny in any environment.
Better Off Ted (starts right off with the cutesy in the title), a workplace comedy with overtones of The Office, premieres tonight at 8:30 on 6ABC.
But where The Office features self-important people in a ridiculously unimportant environment, Better Off Ted goes the other way. Most characters, with the notable and delightful exception of the boss (played perfectly by Portia de Rossi), are competent and at least pleasant. It's the company that takes itself way too seriously.
The slogan at Veridian Dynamics is "Life. Better." The reality is that this monolith can, and will, manufacture any life-worsening product, too, including weaponized pumpkins and productivity-enhancing demon office chairs, to make a buck.
Sometimes it will do things just because it can, like freezing a loyal employee to see what will happen, particularly whether a man can pass through 20 below without having his eyes explode.
"I like him the temperature he is," protests the lead character's daughter, Rose, who is the second, and last, bit of wonderfulness on the show. Judging from her prodigy skills here, little Isabella Acres, with or without her cascade of curls, should be around for years to come.
I like him better warm, too. Frozen Phil isn't funny, but nebbish Phil, and his partner, Lem, the lab geniuses who make so many of their corporation's zanily menacing products, have their moments. The show does, too, but not enough of them.
No last names for these folks, you may have noticed. Might cut the breeziness. And in case you don't notice the breeziness, there's a constant cascade of catchy background notes, usually with a lilting Latin flair, to remind you that this stuff's supposed to be a hoot.
Jay Harrington, who courted Desperate Housewife Susan as Dr. Don and played Dr. Wyatt Lockhart on Private Practice, gets the star turn here, as the perfect manager, who, unlike his boss, has a hint of a heart.
He frequently addresses the camera to explain what's going on, underscoring the show's dramatic weakness, or - not funny - to explain what it means:
"Work's not about right or wrong. It's about success or failure."
Hip TV heads may see strains of Andy Richter Controls the Universe, a 2002-03 workplace quirk-a-thon that was seriously more amusing because its absurdity sprang from its central character's vivid fantasy life, not from a reviled institution. Victor Fresco, who has also worked on My Name Is Earl, created both shows.
Better Off Ted joins the warmed-over but still funnier Scrubs in the time slot formerly occupied by - sob - Pushing Daisies, a joyful gem of a series.
Not to be an old hand-wringer, but people would be way better off watching Daisies, but they didn't. Now they have Ted, and I get to echo the perspicacious Rose:
"Do grown-ups even care about right and wrong?"
Jonathan Storm:
Better Off Ted
Premieres at 8:30 tonight on 6ABC