Tomorrow, July 24, is the day everyone gets to sigh with collective relief because they don’t have to come up with new jokes to entertain people with. Okay, maybe those of us who aren’t comedians don’t really lose sleep over such things, but there is a joy in recycling old jokes, isn’t there?

For one thing, they help you relive pleasant memories. My friends and family have so many running, “in the know” jokes that whenever we even sputter out part of one—for example, if my husband drones in his best Jon Heder voice, “Eat, Bella, you fat tub of lard!” reminding me of our running Twilight/Napoleon Dynamite joke—we not only relive the joke but also our history with it, which makes it even more delightful. (In this instance, it was at one of our favorite Italian eateries, where we were cracking up and causing the waitress to quirk her eyebrow at us.) Most of the other people that I know have similar “inside jokes” that they love to share with friends and family as well.

Old jokes also help us remember people we love. My Aunt Joyce’s famous joke about a widow whose husband had just been cremated—and his constant wish for oral sex when he was living—never fails to crack anyone up when I tell it, and it always makes me think of her big, boisterous laughter, glittering eyes and quirky seasonal outfits. Though she passed away some time ago, her humor lives on in her jokes. Our favorite comedians can be remembered the same way; all it takes is for me to scream, “Pull over! Pull over! Pull over!” at my husband, or for him to tell me, “I’m sick of guys named Kyle!” and we both recall our beloved favorite comedian, George Carlin, a man we’d always wished to see in person but never had the chance to meet.

So don’t fret over googling the best joke of the day to tell everyone tomorrow. Instead, enjoy those little jokes you knew way back when. Teach a child your favorite knock-knock jokes that you knew when you were little. Swap the dirtiest jokes you coveted as a teen—so funny yet so taboo they made you blush when you whispered them to friends!—with your now-grown friends. To get you started, here’s one of my favorite older jokes I used to tell during the Bush II years. You can substitute any other famous idiot you like, of course.

George Bush called Dick Cheney to his office, telling him it was urgent. When Cheney arrived, he growled, “What could be so urgent? I though you were working on a stupid puzzle.”

Bush says, “That’s it, Dick! The puzzle says ‘4 plus’ on the front, but it only took me three months to finish it!”