Show-Off Limerick (Limerick-Off Monday)

It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same first line. Then you post your limerick here and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.

The best submission will be crowned Limerick Of The Week. (Here’s last week’s Limerick Of The Week Winner.)

How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)

I’ll announce the Limerick of the Week Winner right before I post next week’s Limerick-Off. So that gives you a full week to submit your clever, polished verse.

I hope you’ll join me in writing a limerick with this first line:

A fellow was trying to show…*

or

A woman was trying to show…*

*(Minor variations to my first lines are acceptable, but rhyme words may not be altered.)

Here’s my limerick:

Show-Off Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

A fellow was trying to show
He was savvy, refined, in the know.
But he blew it one night —
An embarrassing sight:
He mistook Pinot Noir for Bordeaux.

Please feel free to write your own limerick using the same first line and post it in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.

To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!

Update: Happy Drink Wine Day! (February 18th)

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95 Responses to “Show-Off Limerick (Limerick-Off Monday)”

  1. Rich D says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    A gamer the things he should know
    When you land here your tail
    Goes straight to the Jail
    No two bills and you can’t pass “Go”

  2. Veralynne says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    A gal how to give him a blow
    Job, and she couldn’t last
    (He wasn’t very fast)
    He too much, she too young, don’tcha know.

  3. Amarnath Mukhopadhyay says:

    It’s not a show-off:
    “A fellow was trying to show
    His expertise with the bow.
    An inheritance from his dad
    And it became his sole fad
    Why? He could never know.”

  4. Amarnath Mukhopadhyay says:

    “A fellow was trying to show
    How to make his body glow.
    He tried something bogus,
    From lab took phosphorus
    Painted his body. Do you know?”

  5. A fellow was trying to show
    New tricks to his innocent beau.
    “I grant you it’s confusing
    It’s a phrase they are using:
    You are supposed to suck, not blow.”

  6. Amarnath Mukhopadhyay says:


    A fellow was trying to show
    He too can caw like a crow.
    The only thing he did lack,
    Black plumage on his back,
    Yet he was called Mr. Crowe.

  7. Amarnath Mukhopadhyay says:

    A bold gal was trying to show
    What for she became so low.
    She took out her tiny purse,
    Showed the ticket to Mars
    Her future she failed to know.

  8. brian miller says:

    a woman was trying to show
    a house plant she could grow
    all of them died
    for which she cried
    and bought plastic ones at the Gas-n-go

  9. Diane Groothuis says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    He could ski down the slope on one toe
    His toenail went dead
    So he borrowed a sled
    With a team of white huskies in tow.

  10. Mark Kane says:

    A woman was trying to show,
    She’d happily go with the flow.
    Discarding her fear,
    She agreed to his dare,
    And did copulate alfreso.

  11. A woman was trying to show
    Her husband-to-be how to sew.
    Since her hands weren’t too nimble
    When using the thimble
    She ended up stitched to her beau!

  12. A mother was trying to show
    All her kids what it takes to make dough.
    When the bread was all baked
    The youngest one quaked,
    “Oh where did my baby tooth go?”

  13. Hansi says:

    A woman was starting to show
    Cause her face was all aglow.
    Life was such a thrill
    But she forgot the pill
    Now her tummies swelling, don’t-cha know.

  14. Pat Hatt says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    How rain was different than snow
    He cracked a smile
    Getting quite vile
    But when you got to go you got to go

  15. Thom says:

    A woman was trying to show
    A conch shell she could blow
    She huffed and she puffed
    Then fell on her duff
    Mary Mary was then all aglow

  16. Jim Delaney says:

    A fellow was trying to show,
    But his trousers were sagging too low.
    But a reef in his brief
    Showed his beef in relief
    And the grief he was lief to bestow.

  17. Denise Wahl says:

    A man was trying to show
    his buddy that he could row
    The boat was fine,
    but too much wine,
    And over the falls they go!

  18. RJ Clarken says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    he could paint just like Vincent Van Gogh
    but his ‘Starry Night’ bombed
    and he could not be calmed.
    Well, that’s what we ‘ear, dontcha know?

  19. RJ Clarken says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    he could paint just like Joan Miró,
    but his work? Not surreal
    nor experimenteal.
    Perhaps he’d more luck with Van Gogh.

  20. A fellow was trying to show
    His friend, Mary, how gardens do grow.
    But, being contrary,
    The difficult Mary
    Insisted that he didn’t know.

    “Where’s your cockle shells, love, are they near?
    “Silver bells? This is hopeless, I fear.
    But I’ll come to your aid
    You’ll need one pretty maid.”
    Said the fellow, “Know any ’round here?”

  21. Jim Delaney says:

    A woman was trying to show
    That she had what it took, down below,
    So she tinted her minge a
    Discreet shade of ginger,
    To prove she was ready to go.

  22. Jim Delaney says:

    Hope you get the pun in L5

  23. Rich D says:

    A woman was trying to show
    Her dogs at the big one we know
    When one of them peed
    On a judge’s new tweed
    Her chances, they went with the flow

  24. Rich D says:

    A woman was trying to show
    that she was as pure as the snow
    A thrust and a parry
    and “poof” went her cherry
    And soon she was starting to grow

  25. Rich D says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    His order to waiter Ming Ho
    He picked column A
    Then changed up to say
    Screw it, I’ll take the Kung Bo

  26. John Larkin says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    how much he had managed to know.
    When he started to speak,
    his lecture was weak
    and everyone knew it was snow.

  27. Rich D says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    his limericks off, but was slow.
    The Man from Nantucket
    had just kicked the bucket…
    And everyone started to go.

  28. Rich D says:

    A woman was trying to show
    the Cartwrights some things they should know
    After a toss
    in the hay with ol’ Hoss
    she went to the stable with Joe.

  29. Diane Groothuis says:

    A woman was trying to show,
    She could stand on her head in the Po,
    I cannot conceive
    What she aimed to achieve
    Or did she succeed? I dunno!

  30. Manicddaily says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    that he certainly knew how to sew–
    he hemmed up his pants
    but still couldn’t dance
    Cause he’d stitched both his cuffs to his toe.

    Hi Mad! K.

  31. G-Man says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    His prowess at pissing in snow
    He pissed his full name and his Mothers
    Two of his Sisters and a Brother
    He had remarkable control of his flow!!

    G-Man

  32. A fellow was trying to show
    his girlfriend the right way to blow.
    You are silly,’ she said,
    ‘I adore giving head.
    I could teach you a thing or two — so!’

  33. A woman was trying to show
    an alky how to go slow.
    ‘Don’t up-end the jug
    with a glug-glug-glug!‘
    So he lined up ten bottles in a row.

  34. A polite young man wanted to show
    he’d make a sweet, sensitive beau.
    But when he took her to bed,
    his girl filled him with dread —
    she was so wildly gung-ho.

  35. Diane Groothuis says:

    A fellow was trying to show,
    His assets to someone named Joe
    But Joe took offense
    And said “Have some sense
    I’ll get myself some other “go”.

  36. scott says:

    A woman was trying to show,
    she was well qualified, “don’t cha know.”
    But soon it was clear,
    if you yelled in her ear,
    you’d hear a resounding echo.

  37. A woman was trying to show
    how she could make her nose glow.
    “Jack Daniels! Make it big!”
    as she took a big swig,
    saying “Hit me again, will you, Joe?”

  38. A woman was trying to show
    The podiatrist her little toe;
    “Could I ask,” the nurse said,
    “If you’d stand on your head?
    “He once was a dentist, you know.”

  39. haha…how can one ever mistake Pinot Noir for Bordeaux….smiles…yep…enjoyed my time in NYC…def. a city to fall in love with..

  40. A fellow was trying to show
    Just how very low language can go.
    He spit out a curse,
    That could not have been worse…
    Where he heard it I tremble to know!

  41. Mark Megson says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    Just how fast he could shovel fresh snow
    But his technique was appaling
    And the snow kept on falling
    Until it covered him up to his nose

  42. Daniel Ari says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    a free-thinking way one could grow
    outside of the city
    in hills green and pretty.
    He was Henry David Thoreau.

  43. Daniel Ari says:

    A fellow so wanted to show
    some craftsman’s aplomb, but his bro
    smacked his head with a pallet,
    He hit back with a mallet.
    Hey, Larry! Hey, Curly! Hey, Moe!

  44. Daniel Ari says:

    A woman who wanted to show
    emotions like Greta Garbo
    sighed, “Leave me alone.
    I need time on my own.
    Solitude is my wish. Please go.”

  45. Granny Smith says:

    A pilot was trying to show
    Where his airplane had crashed, let them know
    That when he fired flares
    He had scared polar bears
    And feared he would go with the floe.

  46. Rich D says:

    An old man was trying to show
    the young how the battle did go
    and on Flander’s Field,
    where the blood had congealed,
    the poppies had started to grow.

    (hey, they can be heavy instead of funny, sometimes)

  47. Johanna Richmond says:

    To the fellow who’s trying to show
    He’s “Mensa,” not any Joe Blow,
    Let me give you a clue:
    If you’re stuck on IQ,
    You’re a member more ways than you know.

  48. Cara Holman says:

    A woman was trying to show
    How well she could make her plants grow
    She planted some seeds
    But only grew weeds
    Now she weeps more than she does sow.

  49. Chuck Warn says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    Emotion but tears they came slow.
    Until his brain flashed
    On memories of cash
    So he cried for all his lost dough.

  50. Robert Schechter says:

    A little boy trying to show
    That there’s no word one needs except “no”
    Hardly knew what to say
    When I asked him one day,
    “Isn’t school where you don’t want to go?”

  51. Robert Schechter says:

    I posted the wrong version of the last one. I meant to post this one, which has a small tweak. So here it is, along with two others:

    A little boy trying to show
    That there’s no word one needs except “no”
    Was confused what to say
    When I asked him one day,
    “Isn’t school where you don’t want to go?”

    A Buddhist was trying to show
    He could chill out and go with the flow;
    He could empty his brain
    Of depression and pain;
    But he freaked when I stepped on his toe.

    An art dealer tried once to show
    A mural he claimed that Miro
    Had painted. One look
    Said the man was a crook.
    The claim that he made wasn’t so.

  52. kaykuala says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    He was always in the know
    He got caught
    Telling rots
    Reputation brought no dough

  53. Rich D says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    some ways he was saving some dough
    The hamsters would float
    in a tiny row boat
    and one of them even said “row!”

  54. Neal P says:

    A mom who was trying to show
    her kid how to bat, catch and throw
    Adjusted his stance
    And cried, “Hike up your pants!
    Now wiggle your bum to and fro

    [commemorating the start of little league season]

  55. Neal P says:

    A jazzman was trying to show
    his band how to play “Hi De Ho”
    The secret, he said
    is NOT in your head …
    It’s the flow that you show down below

  56. Neal P says:

    Lolita was trying to show
    a lad how to play Roshambo
    “Sissors are stupid,”
    sighed our little cupid
    So she covered his rocks down below

  57. Patti says:

    I’m in with a limerick too long to post here. This is the first stanza. I hope you’ll visit my blog to read the rest of the tale, “Taketh one unicorne…”

    Taketh one unicorn…

    A young cook is anxious to show
    That he’s a hot chef in the know.
    He decides to cook something new
    In a pie, soup or stew
    To make diners exclaim, Yummo!”

  58. Robert Schechter says:

    A fellow while trying to show
    His girlfriend the right way to row
    A boat, called out “Stroke!”
    She answered, “You joke!
    What’s next? Will you tell me to ‘Blow!'”

    A flasher was trying to show
    His (don’t make me say it — you know)
    When his zipper got stuck.
    I thank God for the luck!
    That’s a sight I would gladly forgo.

    A singer was trying to show
    How the scale starts and ends with a do.
    “Re mi fa so la ti
    Come between them, you see,
    But there’s do both above and below.”

  59. Irv Dean says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    his love how to shoot with a bow
    but when he went for his quiver
    his thumb snagged a big sliver
    and she never did see his arrow

  60. Michael Grove says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    that he had plenty of dough.
    Wine, women and song,
    until it was gone.
    He wound up back down on skid row.

  61. for him.

    a fellow was trying to show
    all the beaches around Idaho,
    he said, “that house and garage
    is just a mirage”,
    Guess he read too much Daniel Defoe.

    for her.

    A woman was tryin to show
    the right path to Heaven to go,
    “stick your hand in the coals
    and think of those souls
    that are frying forever below”.

  62. Diane Groothuis says:

    A cellist was trying to show
    A new way to rosin hIs bow,
    It wasn’t that easy
    In fact very sleazy
    To rub it like that at a show.

  63. Kristan Johnson says:

    A woman was trying to show
    off her lovely new azure chapeau
    “It just matches my eyes…”
    But her friends all surmise
    That a red hat was more apropos.

  64. Sara McNulty says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    Himself as the perfect beau
    He arrived with bouquet
    Homemade chocolate souffle
    But her allergies forced him to go.
    ——————————
    A woman was trying to show
    Some cleavage to prisoner, Joe
    He was her fiancé
    She was no Beyoncé
    As Joe’s cellmates soon let him know.
    ——————————
    A fellow was trying to show
    Off for a girl he didn’t know
    He whistled and shouted
    She said, I’ve been outed,
    But you need a better line, Bro.
    —————————-
    A young girl was trying to show
    A much older guy how to grow
    Pot plants in his garden
    He turned and said, Darlin’,
    I smoked while you were in utero.

  65. KC Sloan says:

    This one is titled “A pronunciation guide”

    A young fellow was trying to show
    his new hat to a prospective beaux
    but she cried “Goodness sake!”
    and fell into the lake,
    for he wore nothing but his chapeau!

  66. Kathy El-Assal says:

    A woman was eager to show
    Her love for some art by Rousseau
    She posed by “The Dream”
    Where the jungle did seem
    Apropos for a nude scene tableau.

  67. Konrad Schwoerke says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    The new neighbors that he was their bro.
    “I’ve got pants that are fat
    And a hoodie… well, drat!
    The fool thing won’t slip over my ‘fro.”

  68. Dr. Goose says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    His daughter the right way to mow;
    He’d point, as he showed ‘er,
    By kicking the rotor,
    But now he’s got only one toe.

  69. Veralynne says:

    A woman was trying to show
    Not win or place, oh, no, no-no!
    The fix it was in,
    She planned not to win
    But the horse, how could HE know?

  70. Veralynne says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    His self-made success, but no go!
    The story was funny
    Due to all of Pop’s money,
    So that tale’s not told any mo’!

  71. Veralynne says:

    A woman was trying to show
    Her wealth while she was on the go
    Her Ferrari and Rolex
    Gave just the right contex’
    To assure she was rollin’ in dough.

  72. Veralynne says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    All he knew about sex in one go
    His gal couldn’t take it
    She just had to fake it
    It wouldn’t hurt, what he DIDN’T know.

  73. A woman was trying to show
    That her blood sugar levels were low,
    So she pricked at her thumb
    And (because she was dumb)
    She said, “Taste this. Needs sweetener, no?”

  74. Johanna Richmond says:

    The White House posts photos that show
    Obama and best buddy, Bo;
    This, of course, evokes Mitt’s
    Abused Setter’s shit fits,
    A tale better not told blow by blow.

  75. Veralynne says:

    Johanna:

    A young gal was trying to show
    On Mom’s lim’ site she’d give it a go
    Good beat and clever–great rhyme!
    What’ll she do with a little more time?!
    Have we just seen a future pro?

  76. A woman was trying to show
    That her fabulous fur was just faux
    “If this was real sable,
    “Would I ever be able
    “To wear it like this, full flambeau?”

  77. Rich D says:

    A woman was trying to show
    the breasstroke to her best friend, Joe.
    But there in the pool
    He looked like a fool
    for freaking about undertow

  78. Doggerelo says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    That he was endowed well below
    So he cautioned his date
    I’m about to inflate
    I might faint from diverted blood flow.

  79. Camryn Richmond-Lauffer says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    His honey he needed to go
    But his weird, half-baked scheme
    Made the neighbor kids scream
    When he peed her name into the snow.

    A fellow was trying to show
    That his lawn really needed a mow.
    His wife wasn’t there
    So he called mama bear
    And asked her to give it a go.

  80. Edmund Conti says:

    A woman was trying to show
    Off her wares for two dollars a throw.
    But what she did best
    Is done best in the west
    So here’s my advice: Westward ho!

  81. Edmund Conti says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    How to get what you want, quid pro quo.
    I thought he said ‘squid’
    So here’s what I did…
    No, I didn’t. I couldn’t, you know.

  82. Edmund Conti says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    How to save by the stuff you forego.
    And so I forewent
    Not a nicket was spent.
    Does that give me joy? Answer: No!

  83. Edmund Conti says:

    A sous chef was trying to show
    How to French fry his spuds, comme il faut.
    But his class yelled out “Freedom!
    Call them that and we’ll eedom.”
    What the chef said was not apropos.

  84. Edmund Conti says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    How to eat only one Cheerio.
    And when he was done
    I said, “That isn’t one.”
    It’s zero, my friend. Tally O.”

  85. Craig says:

    An old woman wanted to show
    Heads still turned wheresoever she’d go
    “It’s the art of the tease,”
    She said, ’til a strong breeze
    Showed us more than we wanted to know.

  86. Craig says:

    In his car, Lester wanted to show
    His pal Moe just how fast they could go
    As he raced with the train
    He tried something insane
    And so now there’s no Les and no Moe.

  87. Edmund Conti says:

    A fellow was trying to show
    How to write limericks like a pro.
    Just steal from Schechter
    Said Hannibal Lecter
    And cannibalize it just so.

  88. Mark Kane says:

    A fellow was trying to show,
    How easy it was making dough,
    For pizza or bread,
    But ended instead,
    With matzoh, and fluffy? Well, No.

  89. Mark Kane says:

    A fellow was trying to show,
    His manhood while she made it grow,
    Because one condition,
    of this porn audition,
    was showing each act, blow-by-blow.

  90. Mark Kane says:

    A fellow was trying to show,
    His talent for making laughs flow:
    Shake Tequilla on Ice,
    With limes you squeeze twice,
    Then add just a dash of cointreau.

  91. Johanna Richmond says:

    A daughter of mine tried to show
    Her neurons were nimble, mine slow
    When she, lickety split,
    Beat me rickety wit —
    I fear soon she’ll be my CEO!

  92. Craig says:

    A farmer was trying to show
    That the government owed him some dough
    They showed him instead
    That he’s still in the red
    And how much he’ll E-I-E-I-owe.

  93. Craig says:

    Grumpy the dwarf tried to show
    That someone had snorted his blow
    When he opened the door
    He found Doc and two more
    All in bed with Snow White, that high ho’!

  94. madkane says:

    Thanks everyone for yet another week of funny limericks. This Limerick-Off is officially over. And the winner is…

    Congratulations to the Limerick of the Week Winner, The Facebook Friends’ Choice Award Winner and the Honorable Mention Winners! Limerick of the Week 56

    But don’t worry — you can still have lots of limerick-writing fun. A new Limerick-Off has already begun: Snappish Limerick