I gave my cat a bath the other day; they love it. He enjoyed it, it was fun for me. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that . . .

This line is a stand-up joke associated with Steve Martin’s early comedy persona, in which he delivered absurd, deadpan observations that pivot on a sudden reversal. It circulated widely in the era when Martin’s routines were being recorded and broadcast (late 1970s), and it is often quoted as part of his “cat bath” bit. The humor depends on the audience’s shared assumption that cats generally dislike baths; Martin initially pretends the opposite (“they love it”), then escalates into a grotesque, unexpected image (“fur would stick to my tongue”), implying he is bathing the cat by licking it like a cat would—an intentionally ridiculous, unsettling twist typical of his surrealist style.

The humor comes from inversion and escalation. Martin begins with a knowingly false generalization (“they love it”), then doubles down with deadpan sincerity, as if reporting a wholesome experience. The final image—fur sticking to his tongue—suddenly reframes the “bath” as something grotesquely intimate or nonsensical, undercutting any stable interpretation. The joke exemplifies Martin’s anti-comedy: it mimics the structure of a relatable anecdote but refuses the expected payoff, instead delivering an absurd detail that exposes how easily comic “truths” can be manufactured through confident narration.

1) “I gave my cat a bath the other day. They love it. He sat there. It was fun for me. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that…”
2) “I gave my cat a bath. He loved it. The fur stuck to my tongue, but otherwise it went fine.”
3) “I gave my cat a bath the other day—cats love it. The fur stuck to my tongue, but other than that…”