City of Juneau launches joke hotline so people can start their day with laughter

A man using a telephone.
(Image credit: iStock)

The city of Juneau, Alaska, hopes its new joke hotline will bring some levity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Every morning by 10 a.m., one of three volunteers — two high school girls and a retired man — records a "good, clean, corny" joke for the hotline, recreation planner Dawn Welch told the Anchorage Daily News. Prior to the pandemic, people could call 907-586-0428 to get an update on the city's hiking program, but with that on hold for now, the line was free. "We thought, 'This is a perfect time to do this,'" Welch said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.