Q: Where did the skunk sit when it went to church?
A: In its own pew!

Explanation: Skunks are those small, squirrel-like animals that are colored mostly black with a white stripe down the back.  Perhaps you remember that famous cartoon skunk, Pepe Le Pew? Skunks are known for protecting themselves by spraying a very bad smell.

Skunks do not go to church (although, maybe Pepe Le Pew did, I’m not sure).  If they did, they might sit in a pew.  A pew is the name for the bench found in many churches. You can even buy one on Etsy…if you need a pew.

Pew! is also the exclamation that people say when something smells bad (same pronunciation as a church pew).  This expression has many different spellings, but the most common seem to be pew and P.U.

This joke is funny because it plays with the word pew, the place where someone sits in a church, and pew!  Because skunks can make that really bad smell, they might sit in their own pew.

Here is Pepe Le Pew: