Joking in the Teeth of Death

Two of the bravest jokes I remember hearing by way of a f**k you to the Grim Reaper:

1) (from a recent doc.) Bob Monkhouse on Parky a few months before his death, talking about the time his doctor had to tell him he was terminally ill. "How long have I got, Doc?" "Ten." "Yes, but ten what? Weeks, months, what?"
Doc looks at his watch and says "nine, eight, seven..."

2) In 1942, three German battleships made the audacious "Channel dash" to get back to Germany. One of them was called "Gneisenau." (silent G.) The Fleet Air Arm's Fairey Swordfish was a slow and obsolete torpedo attack biplane. Six took off to attack the "Gneisenau" and the other ships. All six were shot out of the sky, and only five aircrew out of 18 survived. There was a posthumous VC. You have to try to imagine the blazing hell of machine-gun and anti-aircraft fire coming up at them as the old stringbags lumbered in.
One of the pilots was heard to say over his radio "It doesn't look so nice now."