This actually happened once and can never be repeated without setting someone up in advance, and there’s no guarantee it will work even then.

A group of us were sat around telling jokes when someone said “21”, and everyone laughed except my mate Gordon who was sitting next to me.

Next person said “35” and same thing happened. And so it continued until it came to my turn. I got the anticipated laughter and turned to my mate and said “Your turn next.”

He was bemused and couldn’t understand what was going on so I had to explain it to him. “We all know the jokes,” I said, “so we don’t bother telling the jokes we just give them numbers. Give it a go.”

So he thought of a number, let’s say it was 52, and everyone’s face was a blank as his. Not so much as a chuckle.

Totally bemused, Gordon turned to me for an explanation. I said “The joke was fine Gordon, it’s the way you tell ‘em”

On another occasion I went to see a mate of mine doing a pub gig. When he took a break I told him “You’re a good guitarist Greg and your singing isn’t bad, but your jokes are awful!” So I told him a joke and he went back onstage and ruined it 🙄 There’s a visual element to the joke which I can’t replicate here.