The one-liner joke, which has taken the place of the story line, has no plot at all. It’s instantaneous, “easy glum, easy glow.” That’s the whole point: you’re not supposed to have much attention span anymore. “If Nixon had been the captain of the Titanic, what would he have said to the passengers? ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we’re stopping for ice.’” These jokes are one-liners. “The British Empire is the empire on which the sun never sets because you cannot trust an Englishman in the dark.” One-liners are everywhere, and they have taken the place of the old story line.