[Guest Post] How to get paid to be funny by Janet G. '27
by Abby S. '26
A potato, duck and goose walked into a bar.
Oh wait, no that’s not right.
The potato walked into lobby 10, the duck walked into the chapel moat and the goose walked into a kiddie pool outside the stud.01 student center, where students gather and work and do various other things
HUH?
Actually, hold on, let’s go back to the beginning. The story starts with a now MIT alum who introduced me to the wonders of the De Florez Fund for Humor, Joseph F. ’23, MEng ’24.
When I was a wee freshman, still finding my way at MIT, Joseph orchestrated what my younger self considered the most incredible event ever to happen at MIT—a giveaway of 1000 kazoos, funded by the De Florez Fund for Humor. The mission of De Florez Fund for Humor is to “impress students with the importance of humor in all aspects of life, both personal and business.” All members of the MIT community are welcome to apply with their unhinged, chaotic and joy infused ideas.
For weeks, kazooing could be heard down the Infinite corridor, in lecture halls and every place in between. The joy and laughter radiating from the music was the only thing I needed to decide that I too wanted to have my own fun with the De Florez Fund for Humor.
And so our story begins.
Once I knew I needed to apply, the next logical question was what to apply for. Through many late nights on the rug of my friend (and co-conspirator) Margalit ‘26, countless hours brainstorming when there were no brain cells to be found but endless emotional support provided by the emotional support wrench,02 Ah the emotional support wrench. Because what is more supportive than an 8 lbs, 2 foot long wrench? This was yet another De Florez funded shenanigan, orchestrated by our friend Eden '27. But that is a story for another day. an idea was formed—an idea not unlike the kazoos, but with its own flavor of positivity and chaos.
The project goal was simple: spread as much positivity as possible to the greater MIT community through something infused with positivity in the purest form. Enter the positive potato.
what could this email mean…
The positive potato is the epitome of, well, positivity. It’s a potato that may be tiny, but believes in you and encourages you to go do your thing! As soon as I found the positive potato, I knew what I must do next. The application was in, the funding was approved, and the potatoes started arriving in hundreds. Boxes upon boxes of positive potatoes sitting so patiently in my Burton Conner single, just waiting to spread their positivity to the world.
And that they did.
On one unsuspecting Tuesday (or suspecting if you are an adamant dormspam reader) I set up shop in Lobby 10 inviting anyone and everyone to take a little positivity with them in the shape of a potato. At first, students were hesitant, but once they realized I was, indeed, not trying to take their money, they came in flocks. The positive potatoes practically leaped off the table and were gone in a matter of hours. As for me, I couldn’t be happier. I got to witness the combined positivity of 500 positive potatoes heading out into the world to complete their mission. Now, every time I walk around campus and see a lone positive potato on a backpack, I can’t help but smile. That one potato believes in you, and what more could you need than a positive potato that believes in you. 03 janet: i got one of these positive potatoes back in the day. can attest that it makes ur day 🥹
But here’s the problem: now I’d experienced the high of spreading stupid joy to students on campus and developed an addiction. In came the next semester, and I needed a new idea.
I cannot take full credit for the next idea as it was originally conceived by my friend Devo ’26. She mentioned in passing how hilarious it would be to fill the
chapel moat 04
see moat, chapel
with rubber ducks. I laughed it off and agreed; it would be quite hilarious. But, turns out, that little seed of an idea grew into a full blown apple tree. What started as a funny conversation between friends turned into 700 rubber ducks, a 6am wake-up and a cold plunge into the chapel moat. 
The ducks arrived in flocks: 4 foot long inflatable ducks, rubber ducks, squeaking ducks, bathtub ducks and everything in between. My dorm room looked like a duck farm for weeks. Finally, on the day of the march of the ducks, they made their way into the chapel moat (shoutout Carl for being the world’s greatest shopping cart). To attempt (unsuccessfully) to herd the ducks into place, my friend and I also hopped in. Throughout the day, students were encouraged to take a duck and make a friend, with two fishing nets helpfully placed on the side of the moat to allow students to fish out a duck of their choice. Don’t worry, though, our display was an officially registered event and approved by the MIT chaplain.
The ducks in the moat were a dashing success. Hundreds of them floated round and round and round bringing absurd and unexpected joy to anyone who walked by. As for the large ducks, well you could see their heads bobbing up and down from almost 50 feet away.
At this point I was on a roll. The addiction was not satiated. I couldn’t stop there. But what comes after ducks?
Duck…
Duck..
GOOSE!
At this point you should of course expect this in your inbox
It’s a goose. A goose comes after ducks. And, with that stellar logic, the last idea was formed.
Geese.
Now that I had an idea, I needed to focus on the execution. How does one execute an idea summarized as ~goose~? Well, for starters, let’s begin by purchasing 400 geese. Seems like a good place to begin. Obviously, some will be 6 feet long, others 1 inch, and everything in between.
As I attempt to articulate my thought process for this most recent concept, I realize it is incredibly difficult to identify or explain the origins of the remaining pieces of the idea. But, somehow, I ended up inviting students to go fishing in my kiddie pool outside of the Stud for a magnetic fish. The more ‘high quality’ I deemed the plastic fish, the bigger the prize. Students lined up in gaggles to play my game of magnetic fishing, all leaving excitedly with a goose in hand.
As I near the end of the page, I would like to impart one piece of wisdom to the youth who happened to stumble upon this blog post:
Humor doesn’t need to make sense. Arguably, the less sensical the better because in the absurdity lies the magic.
So, yes, maybe a potato, duck and goose did walk into a bar. That bar just happened to be my MIT dorm room: no drinks, but enough chaos for an entire school!
janet’s note: i’ve only actually ever met abby in passing, but i knew she was a ’26, so at her final hurrah i reached out to ask her to document all her shenanigans. extremely proud that mit is a place which enables and supports shenanigans like this, and so glad that people like abby are doing random things for the sake of it, living life to the utmost, and sharing all of their joy and ideas with others <3
also i swear i haven’t forgotten about my guest blogs… they’re all pulling up soon im just writing them trust
- student center, where students gather and work and do various other things back to text ↑
- Ah the emotional support wrench. Because what is more supportive than an 8 lbs, 2 foot long wrench? This was yet another De Florez funded shenanigan, orchestrated by our friend Eden '27. But that is a story for another day. back to text ↑
- janet: i got one of these positive potatoes back in the day. can attest that it makes ur day 🥹 back to text ↑
- see moat, chapel back to text ↑