This new inmate is spending his first time in the state prison and he is laying there trying to get some shut eye and someone yells out "47!!" and all the other inmates bust out laughing.
A few minutes later as he is drifting off to sleep another inmate yells out "12!" and all the others bust out laughing and he is wondering what the deal is.
A few minutes later another inmate yells out "77!" and the whole block busts out into laughter and the new prisoner is quite annoyed at trying to get his shut eye so he askes his cell mate "Man what in the Heck is goin on... these guys yell out a random number and everyone roars into doubled over laughter... whats up??"
so the cell mate answers the rookie "Well we dont get much in the way of entertainment around here so in the bathroom there is a joke book... each joke is numbered and we memorize them to save time, at night we yell out the number for the joke we want to tell."
So the next day the new prisoner reads up on the jokes and that night as he beds down to reast he hears somone yell out "36!" and the block roars to laughter and he decides to give it a try and he yells out "96!!" and nobody says a word.
then he yells out "42!!" and nobody laughs at all... the prison is filled with silence.
so he says to the cell mate "Hey man whats going on... i memorized the jokes... how come nobody laughs when i yell out a number?!"
and the cell mate says "Sorry pal... some people just cant tell jokes very good."