Trophy Wife : Blog : Jack's Joke Shop is Closing

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Johnny A
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Saturday December 2, 2006

Jack's Joke Shop is Closing

Filed under: Miscellaneous Jackassery, Guess You Had To Be There

Jack’s Joke Shop, a Boston institution since 1922, will be closing in January. The owner is retiring and, as he asks in an article in today’s Boston Herald, “How many whoopee cushions can a person sell in their lifetime?” (if you know the answer to that question, please let me know in the Comments section below).

I’ve been going to Jack’s since I was a kid. My parents wouldn’t let me buy anything there, so I had to wait until I left for college to become more than just a window-shopper. Opus was also a Jack’s customer in his college days.

The people who worked at Jack’s were an absolute delight. They’d put on the old ‘arrow through the head’ head-piece just to get a rise out of you. Or, they’d drop a fake turd at your feet and then look accusingly at you as if you’d just sullied their floor. And then there was the soda can on the counter. Have it, they’d offer. You’d touch it and—ouch!—you’d get a mild, battery-powered shock from it. I think my friend Roni has the record for holding the can. She held it for about 10 seconds.

I write as if Jack’s is already closed, but it’s open until the second week of January. If you’re in Boston at some point in the next six weeks, why don’t you stop by Jack’s and treat yourself to a whoopee cushion?

Comments

Surprisingly enough, there is no definitive answer to how many whoopee cushions are sold each year. So, in order to answer your question, we’re going to have to set up some assumed parameters.
We’ll assume:
-A joke shop sells at least one whoopee cushion a day. And two on one hundred of those days bringing our total whoopee count to 465 sold per year by one joke shop owner.

Harold is 76 now. He joined the business in 1950, so he would have been 22. That means he’s been in the business 54 years.

If we assume that this is the average joke shop owner’s career, we can say that a person can sell 25,110 whoopee cushions in a lifetime, that is, a lifetime in which they are able to sell whoopie cushions. I doubt he’ll continue to sell them out of his house, I mean, c’mon.

— Tim Dec 4, 11:50 PM #

I work directly across the street from Jack’s Joke Shop. I’ve been a regular for years. I am so sad to hear this news. I do recognize that the joke business is a holdover from more innocent times, but I’d hoped the store would somehow go on forever.

— Rhea Dec 5, 02:28 PM #

We are from colorado. Every summer my 12 year old son and I visit my mother on the south shore. The highlight for the kid has always been Jack’s. Now where are we supposed to buy our whoopie cushions?
This landmark will be missed.

— Bonnie Ward Jan 4, 09:43 PM #

i woke up this morning and i said to myself, self. it is time to take sam into jacks joke shop, like my father did for me, and fall for the same nickel trick, now i hear its gone, now what?

— richard gordon Jul 4, 06:56 AM #

Aw, I saw that place mentioned on family guy

— Jonathan Oct 5, 12:32 PM #

I used to go there for the Magic. Does anybody remember the name of the fellow behind the counter in the 60s. It might have been Harry. What was his full name?

— Steven Trott Jan 6, 05:27 AM #

It was Harold behind the counter and now his younger brother Louie has taken Jack’s Joke Shop to the Raynham Flea Market, off Route 44 in Raynham. Louie’s still got the knife through his head and still has mounds of fake vomit, and a million tricks and gags. The market is open every Sunday. Louie’s in space 340 right next to two old hoots named Bill who sell a jewelry and eyeglass cleaner called Clear, Bright n Shiny…and if you see their demonstration, you’ll buy the product even if you don’t wear glasses and you have no jewelry !!

— Bill Russo Nov 3, 10:59 PM #

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Jack's Joke Shop is Closing

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