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Jeremy WillisESPN.com
The comedian stepped onto his stage. It’s a late-night movie, and he might have new material because he’s carrying his comic book. That did not affect his confidence. He’s bubbly and works with his audience.
“Ready, ready,” he says with a beaming smile, sitting down behind the microphone. The backdrop isn’t the stereotypical brick wall of a comedy club – it’s a photo backdrop with Milwaukee Bucks‘logo and sponsors on it.
The comedian has every reason to be confident. He is Giannis Antetokounmpoand he has jokes.
“What is the cow on the floor called?”
“Ground beef.”
Antetokounmpo break yourself up. There were some chuckles from his audience – members of the media at the Bucks’ post-game press conference following the previous 118-116 win Philadelphia 76ers on March 29, less than two weeks before the start NBA playoffs.
While Jerry Seinfeld works in an observational humor style and Jerrod Carmichael has a more pensive and introspective style, Antetokounmpo has his favorite medium of humor: “daddy jokes”.
The book Antetokounmpo read at the end of March is titled “Dad Jokes: the Good. The Bad. The Terrible.” The author, who goes by the pen name Jimmy Niro, is a former Milwaukee resident, and he couldn’t believe it when his publisher told him Antetokounmpo was reading his book.
“Honestly, I’m still in shock,” Niro told ESPN. “I actually make these books for fun, so seeing them in the world and being loved by people is really cool.”
Niro is a father of 5 children whom he often embarrassed by his father’s jokes. He calls his material “my kind of humour,” and his joke-writing process involves finding specific topics or human interests that anyone can relate to. , such as food, sports, or holidays. In Niro’s experience, his best jokes come from “bad everyday moments.”
However, having a celebrity read her work changed everything for Niro’s children. The kids are big fans of the Bucks, especially Antetokounmpo. When the six-time NBA All-Star player arrived at his post-match press conference in March with their father’s joke book in hand, they took notice.
“For my older kids, who are always funny, this was the first time they were interested in this project,” Niro said. “…Now that’s a big deal.”
The post-match crawling joke in March isn’t the first time Antetokounmpo has gleefully told about one of these whining, pun-worthy jokes. Antetokounmpo told many people Jokes about cows, pasta, Soccer and orangesoften captured from dais.
Once, remember chicken nuggets he bought to celebrate winning the NBA title, he said his own version of a “crosser chicken” joke.
“Why did the chicken cross the road?”
“It’s running off my dinner plate.”
In another, Giannis had this joke for his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo on a private jet flight:
“What was the hardest thing about learning to ride a bike?”
“Pavement.”
That’s another joke in Niro’s book. The key point is the “Road” in Niro’s narration. It’s possible Thanasis, a reserve striker for the Bucks, has heard his fair share of these grocers and may not be able to get more of his brother to try new material on him.
Enough jokes bro
– T. Antetokounmpo (@ Thanasis_ante43) February 4, 2022
Giannis Antetokounmpo also has children of his own. His first son is born in February 2020 and his second is in August 2021. Any comedian must draw humor from his surroundings. Sometimes, dad used to make jokes for him.
“I love spreading new dads into the world of dad jokes and it’s great to see Giannis embrace that and also turn this kind of humor into something anyone can love,” Niro said.
What’s wrong with that? Is it wrong to add a little brevity to often-remembered and mundane press conferences? In 1895, the great Mark Twain wrote, “Humor is a wonderful thing, ultimately a salvation. As soon as it matures, all our troubles are gone, all irritations and frustrations are gone. variable. …”
Antetokounmpo may agree, and the Bucks may need something to ease the tension in defending their NBA championship. Milwaukee leads the Eastern Conference semifinal series with Boston Celtics 3-2, with Game 6 on Friday night (7:30 ET on ESPN). While he probably won’t quit his day job to go to touring clubs and start his comedy career, that doesn’t mean he’s going to get super serious.
Antetokounmpo said on the Bucks’ all-access YouTube show last week, and progressing to the knockout stages won’t stop him from returning to his joke book. “[A dad joke is] always appropriate. “
