‘Three Popes Walk Into A Bar’ by Amy Hempel

Three Popes Walk Into A Bar by Amy Hempel, 1985

The magic trick:

Constructing a story around a funny little aside

This one feels like the kind of idea a writer has for a story and scribbles down on a napkin. Comedian gets challenged to come up with a punchline for the “Three popes walk into a bar..” setup. Comedian loses bet.

It’s a funny, clever little nugget. But is it story? Hempel proves here that yes, it certainly is a story.

She drops that little ‘Three popes’ bet in early as what is nothing more than a funny, little aside. It’s more than that, though, as the story bears out. The story is about three people – specifically the comedian and two women. One is his wife. The other is a friend, our narrator. It’s complicated, and he doesn’t seem to have a solution to the problem.

Then the narrator drops in that ‘Three popes’ line again at the story’s close, and the reader sees it all clearly. The comedian doesn’t have a solution for this situation just like he never found a punchline for the joke. And, hey, come to think of it, the whole story was in a bar. Amazing! And that’s quite a trick on Hempel’s part.

The selection:

Three popes walk into a bar.

A guy in the airport Clipper Club recognized Wesley and bet him he couldn’t get a punchline out of it. They boarded a plane in Honolulu; Wesley had the five hours to San Francisco to make it a joke. Three popes walk into a bar. He lost money on this, but I didn’t ask how much. Coming off a tour he is sick with foreign germs. I met him at the gate and drove him straight to the club. It’s what Eve usually did, but she delegated to me. Eve Grant is Wesley Grant’s future former wife.

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