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A lightbulb joke is a joke that asks how many people of a certain group are needed to change, replace, or screw in a light bulb. Generally, the punch line answer highlights a stereotype of the target group. There are numerous versions of the lightbulb joke satirizing a wide range of cultures, beliefs and occupations.
Early versions of the joke, popular in the late 1960s and the 1970s, were used to insult the intelligence of Poles ("Polish jokes"). For instance:
Although lightbulb jokes tend to be derogatory in tone (e.g., "How many drummers..." / "Four: one to hold the light bulb and three to drink until the room spins"), the people targeted by them may take pride in the stereotypes expressed and are often themselves the jokes' originators. Lightbulb jokes applied to subgroups can be used to ease tensions between them.
Variations
Some versions of the joke are puns on the words "change" or "screw":
Lightbulb jokes may be responses to current events, particularly those related to energy and political power. For example, the lightbulb may not need to be changed at all due to ongoing power outages. The Village Voice held a $200 lightbulb joke contest around the time of the Iran hostage crisis, with the winning joke being: