Update: I finally told my dad a real joke instead of just asking about the weather
I picked the corny joke over the safe small talk, and he laughed so hard he had to set down his coffee. Now I'm wondering if anyone else grew up thinking their dad only wanted to talk about serious stuff.
That coffee detail is weird to me. My dad would've just said "ha" and gone back to his paper and I always figured he was too busy for jokes. Sounds like your old man just never got the chance to show he wanted the goofy stuff too.