I've met my Nemesis

Boy, that one got your attention didn't it? Well if it did, prepare to be severely disappointed, it's not as exciting as it sounds.
I really sell this blog sometimes don't I?

I went out for a meal last night with the lovely Rachel, and her friends Doug and (excuse me if I spell this totally wrong) Kirshteen to an Italian place in town. A lot of things about this were very odd to me, as I will now explain: To start with, it seemed really strange to be invited out with Rach as if we were a couple (which we technically aren't but we spend a lot of time together, oh look, it's complicated, just shut up Dan) to go and have dinner with another couple, having been single for a long time, that in itself was a bit odd.
Also, socially, I'm pretty immature, I only really got into spending social time at pubs when I was well over 18, instead of most of my mates who would flash their best fake I.D's to try and get a pint years before that. (I say 'best' fake I.D's in the loosest sense, there is only so much you can do with Microsoft word and a selection of felt tips) Took me a long time to stop wanting to go down the park and drink cider on the swings then go to MacD's for a McChicken something-or-other. I've never really been in a social circle of people who go out for meals for the hell of it, so even though I'm 24, it was kind of a new thing for me in that sense too.
If I'm honest I felt really cosmopolitan with my glass of wine in hand and contributing to the polite conversation, ooh get me, I'm like, a proper adult and everything.

So while it was a bit odd, it was all good, and very enjoyable, I can thoroughly recommend the 'Pollo Napolitana'.
And then it happened.
Near the end of the meal, I was reminded of a joke I knew, everyone seemed to be having a good time, so I thought throwing a decent joke in at this point would be ideal. I seemed to temporarily forget my uncanny ability to turn even the funniest, most apt joke into something that could get a groan out of a house brick, so I launched into it with both barrels.
I won't bore you with the actual joke, it had a desert island and Kylie Minogue in it, but anyway it actually went down pretty well. (ha, you thought it was all gonna go tits up at this point didn't you?)
Then Doug immediately counters with a joke that my joke reminded him of, which was also pretty decent and got a good laugh out of everyone.
"Hmm" thinks I, "these jokes seem to be working, I'll tell another one", which I did, and was then immediately countered again by Doug telling one of his own. I told another, he told one back, and again, and again. I was starting to sweat, there are only so many half decent jokes I can recall at any one time, even though I have always been proud of my large mental collection of dodgy humour. Before long, I missed a beat, and Doug told two jokes in a row, I just didn't have time to think up another one. I tried a few really bad old classics to rejoin the pace ("what's got two legs and bleeds" that sort of thing) but I never really got back in the game. They kept coming, I'm not saying they were all good, but I had to just sit back in shock. I even experienced the classic 'waitress catching the last line and looking confused' scenario, just as she came to clear the table, Doug finishes with the punchline; "I don't know, something about a job" and we all burst out laughing while the nice lady looks a bit awkward and then legs it with the plates, I felt like a right urbanite idiot.
The jokes kept coming after we were out of the restaurant, I put a few in for good measure but there was no way I could keep up, and my heart wasn't in it anymore.

So that's it, I've met my nemesis, or at least my bad joke nemesis. Never did I think another person could remember and re-tell more dodgy jokes than me, and now I find out I'm practically a rank amateur, my sense of humour was verbally beaten to within an inch of it's life.

I'm off to read the great big puffin joke directory, and then scan through Roger's Profanisaurus.