thriller
Explanation
The Joke
A father is sitting at his daughter''s bedside telling her a story. He announces that "storytime has gotten way better since I started watching thrillers." He then demonstrates by telling a version of Little Red Riding Hood with a thriller-style twist ending: "And when Little Red Riding Hood took off her bonnet, it turned out she was the wolf all along!"
The child is clearly distressed and yells, "Stop it! Stop! Just say ''the end,'' damn you!" She does not want clever plot twists in her bedtime stories -- she just wants the story to be over so she can go to sleep.
The Humor
The comedy comes from the mismatch between adult entertainment sensibilities and children''s storytelling needs. The father has been watching thriller movies and TV shows with their signature twist endings and has decided to "improve" bedtime stories by adding shocking reveals. But bedtime stories for children are supposed to be soothing and predictable -- the last thing a kid at bedtime wants is a narrative that makes them question everything they just heard. The child''s exasperated response (complete with swearing) suggests this is not the first time Dad has pulled this stunt, and she has had quite enough of his M. Night Shyamalan approach to fairy tales.