Talk:Lightbulb joke

How many Psychiatrists joke not right
The psychiatrist joke punchline, as currently written (None - The light bulb has to want to change), makes no sense.

The punchline, as I've heard it, is: "Only one, but the lightbulb must really want to change"

PhiDeck (talk) 18:39, 25 December 2010 (UTC)


 * There are a few "How many... to change? / None." jokes, such as "store clerk / none, they can't even change a $5 bill" and "babysitter / none, they can't even change a soiled diaper". All are puns on the word "change". K7L (talk) 19:24, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

Possible origin: Indian caste system
I first heard the story sometime in the early 1970s, not as a joke but as serious commentary about the Indian caste system. The story was allegedly told by a Western traveler who had visited an Indian hotel. A total of around five men came to his room to change the light bulb; each of them representing a different caste. One man could not do all tasks, as it would include work reserved for a different caste. If I remember correctly the roles were as follows: There may also have been a sixth man to serve as an interpreter in case the Brahmin in question did not speak English.
 * 1) A man to change the bulb (electrician caste)
 * 2) A man to carry ladders (porter caste)
 * 3) A man to clean the dust of the lamp before the bulb change (cleaning caste)
 * 4) A man representing hotel management
 * 5) A Brahmin to communicate with the White foreigner

I have been looking for the original story for about 20 years, so far I have not come across it. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 03:19, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

P.S. – Here is a similar story from the modern age: [http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.culture.singapore/2006-05/msg04748.html How many S'porean to change lightbulb? Not a joke.] -- Petri Krohn (talk) 23:53, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

This joke would work similarly using a labor union's structure. Liberty5651 (talk) 20:20, 30 December 2019 (UTC)

meta variants
The article should include some of the more well-known "meta" variants of the joke, such as "Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: That's not funny!" or "Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Two, one to hold the giraffe, and the other to fill the bathtub with brightly colored machine tools." etc. etc... AnonMoos (talk) 00:04, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

What kind of citation?
A few days ago I added the German version of the lightbulb joke (which is told about East Frisians). An editor added "citation needed." I gave two references, one to German Wikipedia's article on East Frisian jokes and another to a Website with jokes about East Frisian jokes. They were removed with the comment: "Reverted 1 edit by Mbshu (talk): Such references (wikipedia pages an simple joke lists) not allowed in englisch [sic] wikipedia." I am still inclined to think that a joke list is a suitable reference for a joke. What else am I expected to provide?! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mbshu (talk • contribs) 03:55, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

ComEd Comercials
In the mid to late 2000s ComEd, the regional power company serving Chicago and the vicinity, ran more then a couple commercials centered on the light bulb joke. They were pretty good.

Q: How many traders does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Two. One to drop it and one to catch it before it crashes.

Q: How many roadies does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: One-two. One-two.