What is the punchline to this Carnac the Magnificent joke from The Simpsons?
In The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror II", there is a short clip of Johnny Carson doing his Carnac the Magnificent bit. For those unfamiliar with this bit, Johnny (Carnac the Magnificent) holds an envelope up to his head as if he's reading it through ESP and says the answer to a question inside the envelope.
In the Simpsons version, we hear the first part of the bit but then the camera pans away and we never hear the punchline.
The portion we hear Carnac read is:
Geraldo Rivera, Madonna, and a diseased yak.
My question is, what is the punchline? Or maybe there isn't one?
Best Answer
The joke is simply that the Carnac character is being referenced.
Being much more popular (and topical) at the time, viewers would have been quite acquainted with the premise of the sketch, so there'd be no need to use a "real" joke. They'd just know "Oh, they're doing Carnac"
That list is a reference to what was usually the last joke of the bit, where a list of items would be the answer to a question asking to name a list of things.
So "John Paul, Dove, Nixon" would be the answer to "Name a Pope, a soap, and a dope".
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CARSON IS CARNAK SIS BOOM BAH- 7 MINS. COMPLETE SKETCH
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