Little Inside Jokes

Don't miss that Whose Line clip, seriously

When we moved back to North Carolina in 2021, we noticed that Josh Dobson had been crowned the new elevator royalty.

(In North Carolina, the labor commissioner’s photo shows up in every elevator thanks to a suggestion from former labor commissioner Cherie Berry’s spokesman to “put a face on government.” If you are a North Carolinian, you know exactly who and what I’m talking about. If you are not, that previous sentence sounds nutty. This will clarify the situation, sort of. It’s a real IYKYK thing. Also: It’s “che-REE,” with a soft “ch” sound, not “cherry,” and Berry is her married name.)

This was a big deal. Cherie had been the face of the state’s elevators since the early aughts. And now we had a new elevator emperor, a seemingly boring one — an average-looking white guy, with a run-of-the-mill name, and … wait.

What in the fourth grade cursive is that signature?

It’s the capital D that does it for me.

The first time we saw the new placards, I immediately pounced.

“His wife must be horrified,” I told Tanner. “Every time she gets on an elevator, she throws her head back and lets out the biggest groan.”

Tanner laughed, or smiled, or made some indication that he found the slightest bit of amusement in the story I was spinning, so I went on.

“The first time she saw it, she said, ‘You couldn’t have just done a J and a squiggle and then a D and a squiggle like every other man your age?

Josh, it looks like you’re signing an elementary school yearbook. It’s just missing ‘this year wuz cool, HAGS.’

I don’t care that you wanted people to be able to read your name! It’s printed right below your stupid handwriting! Look at Tommy’s. People can read his signature, but they’re not assuming he’s some stunted man child who still sleeps in a race car bed with footie jammies because of his IMMATURE PENMANSHIP!’”

Like most couples (I assume), we have a lot of these little running inside jokes. Many are gleaned from TV shows (“It’s not no goats,” The Office; “Do I have access to $500? I absolutely do, I’m a 43-year-old man,” The Bear; “I might be a duck,” the greatest scene of all time¹ from Whose Line Is It Anyway).

Some are things Foster comes up with. Currently, that includes “whayyasay?”, his constant refrain, and “I going to miss you,” which sounds like we’re mocking something sweet until you realize that he’s saying it to delay naptime. (Tonight, out of nowhere, he thanked God for hangnails — yes, hangnails — during an impromptu prayer. I have a hunch that’s going to get added to the list.)

Some are so odd inside joke-y that I can’t even really explain them to you, like the time we made up an elaborate backstory for a UNC basketball scrub involving his first name actually being Karen² and him making a mean lemon bar for team get-togethers. The more I type, the weirder this sounds. I promise it was funny if you were there from the jump.³

But our “Josh Dobson has the handwriting of a nine-year-old” bit is my favorite — and one of our longest lasting. Four years later, every time we’re on an elevator together, one of us⁴ makes eye contact with the other and sighs, “Oh, Josh.”

Josh didn’t run for reelection in 2024, but his photos are still up, at least in the elevators I’ve ridden so far this year. Let’s hope the new guy has a little more sizzle to his scribble. (Or that the Heels add a walk-on who we can dub something ridiculous. Maybe Boopie.)

1. I’m begging you to watch this. It’s not quite 5 minutes long and I promise it will make your day immeasurably better.

2. This was pre-“I need to speak to your manager” Karen in popular culture.

3. We also have one where we exclusively called another scrub by the nickname Clamps. Tanner coined this. The guy doesn’t even play for the Tar Heels anymore, but we still do it.

4. It’s me. It’s always me.