Indianapolis Star
“What does a pun writer use to write his puns?”
The answer, of course, is obvious: “A pun-cil.” At least it probably is to Jonathan Neal of Carmel.
But Neal and the OneAmerica public relations team don’t use a “pun-cil” to write the often-corny “dad jokes” that entertain people passing through downtown Indianapolis.
They use a signboard (actually two) located outside the OneAmerica tower.
Neal, the man who organizes the jokes adorning the signs, announced his departure last Friday as he transitions to a new job at a different company. He had overseen the witty postings since 2019.
In a farewell tweet, Neal posted a photograph of himself in front of the signboard he used “to bring Indy a smile.” The signboard read, “Racing capital of the world? Just add water.”
Some of the previous jokes on the billboard included:
“When the fog lifts, UCLA.”
“Heard a new song about fishing. It had a great hook.”
“The trees with the best bark are dogwoods.”
“Sweet potatoes wear yammies to bed.”
“Confident oceans are 100% shore.”
“What’s the cutest season of the year? Awww-tumn.”
How the pun began
Neal, 38, came to OneAmerica in October 2017. He graduated from Ball State University and The O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University and IUPUI.
The first time Neal saw the OneAmerica signboard was while driving in downtown Indianapolis. He was surprised, since he wasn’t from the city, and thought it was neat. He also encountered it during his onboarding at OneAmerica but had no idea that, eventually, he’d be the one compiling its punny messages.
OneAmerica started using their signboard in 1958 at the Fall Creek headquarters, when the company was known as American United Life. According to the company website, the first messages included an apology for construction inconveniences, company statistics and holiday wishes.
“Before long, OneAmerica’s president at the time, Clarence Jackson, began using the signboard to convey his keen sense of humor,” the website says.
When the company moved downtown in the 1980s, the signboard tradition continued with a new message every week.
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Company employees, the public relations team and everyday people are allowed to submit jokes for the signboard, and there is a submission form on OneAmerica’s website. More curator than comedian, Neal’s job was to send the chosen calembour to Cushman & Wakefield with specifics on letters/characters and details helpful for the person changing the sign — a building engineer.
“It has been, and will continue to be, a deep part of the culture at OneAmerica,” Ahmed Ismail, director of media and public relations for OneAmerica, said via email. “The signboard is a unique cultural function with input from both associates and the general public, engaged in promoting community goodwill.”
Neal said it was really about wordplay and headline writing since there are three lines max and 20 characters to work with including spaces and punctuation. As a writer himself, he would take what people submitted and alter it if it was too long. He’d also consider current events and what was going on in the city.
“I think there are people who are just natural jokesters and I would say I’m kind of quick and witty but … before I worked at OneAmerica, I didn’t constantly tell dad jokes,” Neal said.
“So, when I came up with (a joke), it makes me proud … “
He remembered one joke he made in his car while thinking about the mini marathon OneAmerica hosts. The event was being held virtually at the time because of the pandemic: “If you run solo, aren’t you virtually the mini winner?”
However, Neal stressed, making the funny signboard was a group effort.
Often, his colleague who sits across from him would bring him a dad joke and Neal would make it work for the signboard. Other times someone would say something in a meeting and Neal would think, “Oh that’s a good one! That could be turned into a signboard.”
“You know, sometimes they’re corny, sometimes they’re groan worthy, but most of the time, you know, they make you smile and just bring levity, bring some levity to your day,” Neal said.
His favorite moments
His favorite sign board jokes were related to basketball since he was a University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball fan. One of the jokes from the NCAA tournament, was: “How do basketball players keep cool? They stand by fans.”
He also liked a paronomasia that a colleague — “the dad-joke king” with a quick-witted, dry sense of humor who always has a joke — created during a winter day in January or February: “If you’re cold, sit in the corner. It’s 90 degrees.”
There were a few moments that stood out to Neal as he reflected on his journey at OneAmerica. The first involved his wife and their anniversary.
“I got a really good pun that was sent to me about 6:30 being ‘hands down the best time,'” he recalled. It arrived in the spring and he was able to keep it until his one-year anniversary with his wife. They had been married at 6:30.
“I brought her downtown and showed her the sign and it was special,” he said. “I got to kind of share that moment with her.”
Another moment Neal remembered was when he and the public relations team decided to change their joke-loving signboard to an inspirational one during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That was a significant time in the history of the signboard since we kind of met the moment and wanted to be a more kind of positive force in downtown during what was a pretty dark time,” Neal said.
The impact of a sign with dad jokes
If Neal could have put anything on the signboard during his last day of work, he said it probably would have been something like, “Working with people like you make it all worthwhile,” or something up about his son Blake.
Twitter users thanked Neal for his work on the sign in response to his announcement, some stating the dad-jokes entertained them or gave them joy.
“We are grateful for Jonathan’s coordination of the OneAmerica signboard and his many other impactful contributions to the company,” Ismail said via email. “Jonathan has taken great care to choose jokes that were relevant, lighthearted and fun, creating a bright spot in our city for many. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
As for the future of the signboard, the fun isn’t going anywhere.
“Hoosiers can rest assured that the signboard jokes will continue to make you smile from ear to ear,” Ismail said, “even if it is because they are just a little too corny.”
Contact Pulliam Fellow Elissa Maudlin at EMaudlin@gannett.com or on Twitter @ejmaudlin.
