The best jokes have a little truth in them.

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On the trail in his trademark black cowboy gear, sucking on a Cuban cigar and volleying his best jokes at audiences who have not heard them before, Mr Friedman is proving an effective campaigner.

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It's one of the best-known jokes in the world.

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"It was the equivalent of an indie film winning the Oscar for best picture, " jokes Mr. Hautemont, 47, who was born in France but has lived in California since the late 1980s.

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On Twitter, Alexandre Berbe remarked that the "choice of an Argentine Pope was the best thing to have happened to the Brazilian industry of jokes".

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Having endured endless jokes about his oversized frame, the New Jersey governor shrewdly decided the best path was to poke fun at himself.

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Still, it whips along briskly enough (even if the best gags, as ever, are in the trailer) and feels blessedly free of the in-jokes that have clogged up recent DreamWorks projects.

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