Why are there no banjos in Star Trek?
The East Coast Music Awards were in Charlottetown this past weekend and I enjoyed some great live music by Matt Mays & El Torpedo, Joel Plaskett, Wintersleep, Mir, and lots of traditional East Coast artists.
The true highlight of the weekend, though, was Cape Breton songwriter JP Cormier’s banjo jokes. As he brought out his banjo, he shared a joke that divided the crowd sharply into two contingents: people laughing (which was only myself), and everyone else.
Q. Why are there no banjos in Star Trek?
A. Because it’s in the future.
Replies to Steven Garrity’s post: Why are there no banjos in Star Trek?
XiMac [9:14 AM March 6, 2006]
There is Banjos in the future. In the pilot episode of Voyager, the Caretaker play one.
Carol Anne [2:33 PM March 6, 2006]
HAHAHA. That's awesome. I am writing it down on our "Quote of the Day" chalkboard in the office.
Peter Sloan [1:29 AM April 5, 2006]
Hey, we make banjos and I can state safely that with a couple of cylinders suspended above and on each side of the neck, a banjo starts to look amazingly much like the Enterprise. Coincidence? I don't think so!
Party Pooper [11:33 PM January 17, 2008]
As XiMac correctly notes, the first episode of Star Trek: Voyager which was first aired in 1995 featured a Banjo. See Memory Alpha on the Banjo.
(The continued popularity of this joke despite the existence of Banjos on Star Trek just goes to show how severely out of touch with science (and fiction) the Banjo-player demographic actually is. Sad, really.)
