Even with all the things that can weigh on us—crime, pollution, illness, and everyday worries—people still find ways to make each other laugh. Listen on a street corner, in a café, or around a kitchen table anywhere in America, and you’ll hear someone sharing a joke or a funny story. That kind of hometown humor helps us get through tough times.

It's a dark day for Itching Down. Four million wasps have just descended on the town, and the pests...