We never did hear the joke Geordi told at Farpoint Station. I want to hear your best jokes that end with the punchline: “The clown can stay, but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go!”
I’ll start.
- - -
It seems that the Federation was offering their services to a newly warp-capable planet called “Breelin”… but they weren’t alone.
The Cardassians and Ferengi also were trying to ally themselves with this planet for their own gain.
To prevent armed conflict over this matter, it was decided to hold a conference on Nimbus 3, where each side would respectfully argue their case to the Breelin leader over a series of speeches.
Of course, nobody in their right mind wants to go to Nimbus 3, which the Federation was counting on. Anyone willing to meet with the Federation delegation in Nimbus 3 is SURELY somebody foolish enough to lose the three-way debate.
And it seemed like this would be the case: the only people willing to head to Nimbus 3 to argue for the Cardassians and Ferengi were, respectively, a Cardassian birthday clown and a Ferengi who did Mugato impressions in a fursuit.
When the event commenced, the Federation Ambassador gave his speech first. It was the usual spiel: peace, post-scarcity, freedom, self-determination.
He then yielded the stage to the fursuited Ferengi, who proceeded to scream the Mugato mating call before snarling and throwing feces on the gathered delegates.
Then came the Cardassian. Although currently employed as an entertainer, it turned out that he was a former diplomat. During his turn to speak, he gave an eloquent speech on security, safety, and duty.
The Federation ambassador watched the Cardassian and Ferengi delegates, and the Breelin leader’s reaction to them, carefully, and called his aide over after the first round was over.
“I need you to find a reason to get rid of that guy. Arrest him, get him too drunk to stand, do something. His philosophy really struck a chord with the Breelin leader, and we canNOT let him win.”
“I didn’t expect the Cardassian to be so well-spoken,” said the aide.
The ambassador responded “The clown can stay, but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go!”
You really committed to the bit there
No kidding.
Never thought about it, but during Farpoint they hadn’t met the Ferengi yet …
But they knew of them. Picard warns Groppler Zorn that the Ferengi ate their last allies.
That is stated in season one. Later seasons and series rather appear as though they already knew the Ferengi well. The latter also interacted with many species, how can the federation not have known anything?
Not necessarily true. In "The Last Outpost" it is established that the Ferengi have never made visual contact with the Federation. Audio-only or Text-based communications could easily have been going on for decades.
It's similar to how the Federation and Romulans had had an entire war — over, done with, and peace treaty signed a century ago - without anyone in the Federation knowing what a Romulan looked like before "Balance of Terror".
Idk about you but have you had lemon ferengi pie? It's marvelous.