Playboy's First Annual Humor Competition

Our Distinguished Panel Of Judges

Bucks For Yucks!

Basically, there are two kinds of people in this world---those who put lamp shades on lamps and those who put them on their heads. If you're of the latter persuasion, if you've always thought of yourself as an intrinsically humorous person, if one-liners, gags and puns pop out of your mouth with relative ease, this could be your big chance to put those talents to the test and even make a few bucks in the process.

The following page (both sides) is your Official Work Sheet for Playboy's First Annual Humor Competition. As you can see, it contains cartoons and movie stills without gag lines and setups for one-liners. Your job is to supply the missing humor. Print or type your answers on a piece of paper coded to correspond with the letters and numbers on the Work Sheet. Then fill out the Official Entry Blank and send it to us with your entry. The editors will screen them and final judging will be done by our Distinguished Panel of Judges, pictured above. Here's what you can win:

Grand Prize---$1000 to the best over-all (i.e., funniest) entry.

Runner-Up---$500 to the second-best over-all entry.

Ten Honorable Mentions---$100 each.

A. Gag Lines Part I

Example:

"I thik I've got it straight: The sergeant takes orders from the lieutenant, the lieutenant takes orders from you and you take orders from me!"

Official Work Sheet

For contest rules, see bottom of next page.

Below are five movie stills without gag lines. Notice that in each, one of the characters appears to be saying something. Your task is to make these five scenes humorous by putting words into the speakers' mouths. Print or type your gag lines and be sure they correspond to the right numbers.

1.____________________

2.____________________

3.____________________

4.____________________

5.____________________

B. One-Liners Part I

Try to come up with five original one-liners using these topics:

1. a feminist convention_____________________________

2. group sex_____________________________

3. picking up a girl in a singles bar_____________________________

4. President Carter_____________________________

5. a new contraceptive_____________________________

A one-liner is a very short joke that consists of a setup and a punch line. In this section, we give you the topics and you come up with the one-liners. Study the example. Notice that the topic of the example is "wedding."

Example: "Some friends of mine had a very exclusive wedding---they threw a Chinaman with every grain of rice."---Bob Hope

C. One-Liners Part II

One-liners come in various forms. You've all heard Johnny Carson use one-liners like the example below on The Tonight Show. He'll say, "It was so cold today," and usually Ed McMahon will come back with, "How cold was it?" and Johnny will say, "Why, It was so cold . . ." and deliver his punch line. We've given you five setups for this type of one-liner. Your job is to tag punch lines on them. (These must be different from the one-liners you did for B.)

Example: My mother-in-law is so fat she came home from the beach with a sunburn and three harpoon wounds.

Complete The One-Liners:

1. It was so hot . . .

2. My wife is so fat . . .

3. My secretary is so busty . . .

4. My girlfriend is so dumb . . .

5. His breath is so bad . . .

D. Gag Lines Part II

Below are three cartoons. Your job is to supply the gas lines.

1.____________________

2.____________________

3.____________________

Send your official Entry Blank to:

Humor Competition

c/o Playboy, 919 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611

Attention: John Blumenthal

Playboy's First Annual Humor Competition Official Rules

1. All entries must be typed or printed in ink.

2. All entries must be postmarked no later than September 7, 1978.

3. In the event of repetition of entries, those postmarked earliest will be considered.

4. Entries will be preliminarily judged by the editors of Playboy. Final judging will be done by our Distinguished Panel of Judges.

5. Judging criteria are as follows: (A) Humor (B) Originality (C) Writing ability.

6. All entries become the exclusive property of Playboy Enterprises, Inc., and none can be returned.

7. Each prospective winner may be required to sign an affidavit certifying that all material on his/her entry is original and has not been previously published in any form.

8. This contest is open to all entrants residing in the United States and Canada of legal age in the state or province in which they reside as of July 1, 1978. Employees of Playboy Enterprises, its advertising and public-relations agencies, the families of each, writers whose work has appeared in Playboy within the past five years, the judges, their public-relations agencies and writers, and the families of each, are not eligible. All Federal, state and local laws and regulations apply in the United States. All federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations' apply in Canada. All prizes will be awarded. Duplicate prizes will be awarded in the event of a tie. This offer is void wherever prohibited by law. Taxes are the sole responsibility of the prize winner. No substitutions of prizes permitted.

Dear Play Editors:

Enclosed is my entry to Playboy's First Annual Humor Competition. I certify that I've complied with the rules of the contest.

Name____________________________________

Address_________________________________

City____________________________________

State Or Province_______________________

Zip Code________________________________