It is difficult to find humor in a joke if the joke is bad from its inception.
And I don't care to read the NYT article, unless you post some of it here.
Seeing as it was posted, I'm somewhat baffled by your request. Apparently your literacy is on par with your sense of humor.
Back to reality, because I can see I'm wasting my time with an idiot: ok, so you think it was a bad joke. At least you've finally gotten to the point where you admit it was a joke.