Great Sitcom Moments: Frasier's Play On Words and Jokes About Bars

In "Moon Dance," Martin tries to dissuade the newly separated Niles from going to a ball with Daphne. He is afraid that Niles, who is still trying to reconcile with Maris, will say something he regrets. 

He tells a story of when he separated from Niles and Frasier's mother. He was attracted to the local coroner. One day, he slipped up and told her how he felt. He regretted it, and she was embarrassed.

"Boy, it was no fun going to the morgue after that!" he states.

In the middle of the story, he says, "One night, I invited her down to the corner bar."

"Coroners have their own bars?" Niles says. 

"No--CORNER bar."

It's the kind of play on words that backs my argument that many jokes arise out of the backroom as writers work on scripts together. I can picture one writer muttering, "Corner," and another mishearing it as "coroner." And suddenly they are all laughing, and voila! it goes in the script. 

It also highlights a commonality in sitcoms, namely, jokes about bars. When Coach ends up in a gay bar to track down one of his players, he states, "I've never even been in a gay bar--not that there is anything wrong with it--you people need a place to drink...you people need to dance."

And a Season 8 NCIS episode that explores death and mourning revolves around a joke about bars. 

Perhaps it all comes down to that joke (which is also a riddle):

"A man walks into a bar..."