Internet photo.

Scene:   My medical office in Dover, NJ.  (Cardiology Center of NW New Jersey.)

One of our regular patients was an Italian tailor who always had a smile on his face. His English wasn’t terrific, but I decided to teach him a joke to get our future visits off to a happy start.

Me:  Mr.  Napoli—When you come to see me, we will do a joke together.  When I enter the examining room, I will say “Mr. Napoli, how’s business?”  And you will say, “So so.”

When he heard the joke he laughed his head off.

At the next visit I greeted him with “Mr. Napoli, how’s business?”  He responded with “So and so”

And then he would laugh and laugh.

I explained the punch line to him, but whenever he came in, he would say “So and so.”  And he would laugh.

After that, “so and so” became the punch line, and we both would laugh.

BARBRA STREISAND from the movie:   “Funny Girl”