The Slice: Customers trade laugh for a quaff

Gary Wisben’s grandsons were discouraged.

Their lemonade stand was not doing much business. So Wisben suggested that they offer a “free joke” with every cup of citrusy goodness.

The boys amended their sign and started serving up humor. That did the trick. Business boomed. People stopping to hear a joke almost always purchased a cup of lemonade.

Here are a few samples of the comedy stylings of Jake, 11, and Max, 9.

Q: Why did the muffler man go home early?

A: He was exhausted.

Q: How do prisoners call home?

A: On a cell phone.

Q: What do you put on a pig with a cut?

A: Oinkment.

Warm-up questions: Does anybody besides me ever sit through those long TV commercials for Time/Life music collections even though they have no intention of ever making a purchase? Who is the biggest fan of Spokane Public Radio’s “Johnson’s Improbable History of Pop”? How many former seventh-graders besides your Slice host attended a generically named school called “Central Junior High”?

Are young people the most likely to come up with the big ideas because they are still imagining their own lives and haven’t surrendered to the status quo? Ever notice that some of the more affable political doorbellers represent candidates or causes you would never consider supporting? How many Spokane-area residents are owners of fantasy English Premier League soccer teams?

Does your neighbor wait until you are hosting a backyard social gathering before mowing his lawn? Who is this area’s No. 1 master of “Seinfeld” trivia? Did you know that the Birmingham News in Alabama has some reference to college football on its front page seemingly 350 days a year?

How annoying is it when an old flame from long ago and far away contacts you and keeps referring to you living in Seattle? Ever heard of a full-moon weremarmot?

Today’s Slice question: What percentage of “Yard Sale” signs posted on various street-corner poles are removed after the sale is over by the people who put them there?