Ryan Lochte may have been robbed at gunpoint during the Rio Olympics. He may have lied about being robbed at gunpoint. Getting to the truth is not as important as setting up the situation so you can understand all the jokes that are forthcoming, so let’s do that.
Lochte claims he and three other swimmers were robbed by men dressed as police (or maybe police) while riding in a taxi. Rio police ordered Lochte to remain in Brazil until an investigation could take place, but he had already left. The other three swimmers — Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz — remained behind, with Conger and Bentz being removed from a flight by authorities on Wednesday.
This is when the jokes started. Lochte may be a very good swimmer, but Lochte Twitter is the Michael Phelps of Twitters.
First, you have your jokes rooted in the idea that Lochte is sort of an idiot.
That last one is my personal favorite.
Then there was the inverse of the premise, which is Lochte is actually a diabolical genius that used the perception of his stupidity to pull off the crime of the century.
Then you have the jokes that go right to the core of the story, that Lochte lied about the incident.
Overall, the Lochte jokes were so good and varied that most can’t be categorized, although you knew Harambe would be mentioned in at least one of them.
Then you have your meme-based and more photo-driven laughs.
Finally, it’s just a collection of very good jokes that can’t be easily categorized.
