The joke is notable for its use as a basic sociological and psychological experiment, specifically relating to mob mentality and the pressure to conform. The basic setup is similar to the Asch conformity experiments, in which they test people's proclivity to agree with a group despite their own judgments.
The Prank
The prank involves at least two co-conspirators and a victim. The joke teller will catch the attention of the victim and announce his intention of telling a joke, perhaps stating that it would be particularly to the victim's taste.
The punchline of the joke will have been told to the co-conspirators beforehand – traditionally the phrase, "No soap radio". After the joke teller says the punch line, the co-conspirators will immediately laugh uproariously, treating the joke as if it were, in fact, funny.
In effect, the joke is not to be found in the content itself ("No soap, radio"), but rather in how the victim reacts to the [unfunny] punchline of the "joke" as delivered by and reacted to by the conspirators.
The purpose of the prank is to make the one victim of the joke's telling respond with one of two results:
* False understanding is acting as if the joke is humorous when in fact the victim does not understand the joke at all.
* Negative understanding is expressing confusion about what the joke means and feeling left out. The victim may switch to false understanding after receiving facetious derision from the conspirators. Normally after some time of negative understanding, the prank is revealed in full to the victim.
Psychology
No soap radio is a classic example of anti-humor. Of the outcomes listed, false understanding is the more desirable to the tellers of the joke. This scenario is a demonstration of groupthink and peer pressure, the need to conform to one's peers. Despite the entire thing being utter nonsense with no hidden meaning, nothing to get, no punchline, nothing special, the key is the conspirators laughing.
This can be likened to laugh tracks, which are intended to make television viewers more inclined to laugh during television shows.
Examples
Since the short variety of joke is usually thought of beforehand, there are a few commonly used ones. For some reason, they often involve animals in bathtubs.
* Two polar bears are sitting in a bathtub. The first one says, "Pass the soap." The second one says, "No soap, radio!"
* A foreign man is flying in an airplane. He points out of the window at the unfamiliar countryside below and exclaims, "No soap... radio?"
* A penguin and a polar bear are sitting on an iceberg. The penguin yells, "Radio!" They both jump in the water.
* Two elephants are sitting in the bathtub. One elephant says to the Other, "Please pass the soap." The elephant replies to the other elephant, "What do I look like, a radio?"
The long variety of the joke is normally made up on the spot, but may be reused after that. There have at times been a few classic archetypes. One version, common in western Pennsylvania, is as follows:
* Two ducks walk into a bar, but find that they have no money to buy drinks. They decide to go beg on the street. The first person they see is a white man. They ask him for money, and he says, "Sorry, I left my wallet at home." The second person they see is a black man. (If the listener laughs here, anticipating a black joke, it is customary to reprimand them, saying things like, "Why did you laugh? Do you think black people are funny? Are you a racist?" until the train of thought is lost, then abruptly resume the joke.) The third person they see is a Czechoslovakian pianist. They ask him for money, and he turns to them, and says, "No coke... Radio?"
