One day, a man goes to the circus and sees a sign that says, "World's Funniest Joke Contest – $1000 Prize". Excited at the prospect of winning some extra cash, he decides to enter the contest.
He gets up on stage and tells his joke, but unfortunately, nobody laughs. Undeterred, he tries again with another joke, but still, crickets. He tries a third joke, a fourth joke, a fifth joke, but nothing seems to be working.
Finally, in a last-ditch effort to win the prize, he decides to go all out and tell the longest, most elaborate joke he knows. He launches into a convoluted story with multiple characters, plot twists, and punchlines, but still, not a single person in the audience cracks a smile.
Defeated and embarrassed, the man slinks off the stage, convinced that he's lost the contest. But to his surprise, the host of the contest walks up to him and hands him a check for $1000.
"Congratulations," the host says, "you may not have made anyone laugh with your jokes, but you certainly entertained us with the longest joke in the history of this contest!"