Does anybody really think Joe Stapleton is funny?

Not to be a dick, but the joke doesn’t work, basically at all. To draw dead is nearly always used in the continuous aspect because it doesn’t mean to actively draw a card—in which case the simple aspect would be fine too (grammar, excuse the pedantry). Instead, it’s more like saying to have no outs. In this attempt at a pun, to pull the fire alarm isn’t synonymous with the state of being dead nor is it all that clear an association, but more one that relates to a state of urgency or fire. How anyone would think pulling an alarm relates to anything but fire vs demise is beyond me. Also, it doesn’t work because it doesn’t even convey something from the game itself, such as something relating to one of the cards, or a well-known character flaw in one of the players. Also, why would we think that it relates to losing at some game? It could work for how obnoxious Phil can be when he’s losing, but the attempted pun is aimed away from Phil as though his opponent is the one causing the raucous. So there still, it doesn’t work. Short of being an inside reference to an opponent who literally pulled a fire alarm during a game, how could it pun the adjective dead or death or the implied meaning of inevitable loss? Even if some alarm were pulled and so the phrase seemingly appropriate, in that best-case scenario, it would be mere juxtaposition, not a pun.

On a side note, I think he has a good personality in that I think he wants to be and tries to be funny; and I think we can recognize and should and do care about that comedic spirit; which, in my opinion, will carry him to where he wants to be if he can focus more on comedy and less on commentary. For now though, I think he isn’t quite there and hasn’t learned to make the most of his originality, but that if he persists, he could turn that into something. I think he has good intentions and is quick on his feet and is in touch enough with English that he can play with a lot of situations. This is important in comedy. You don’t want to have jokes only and then drown if you can’t think of anything to suit whatever circumstance arises. Carlin was a victim of this more often than not (off stage). Most comedians cheat at this by getting fake audience members or just coming up with really easy commentary on the lives or appearances of their audience members. So, if you have a good enough hold on English, it isn’t just filler, it’s communicating confidence as a speaker that you aren’t really backed up against a wall in being able to come up with stuff. It’s kind of like for him, there just isn’t that wall. So, that’s very good in comedy because it’s like he has convinced you unconsciously that ‘’he's supposed to be there, knows what he’s doing, and this is a real show.’’ The issue is, is what he’s able to come up with in said instances actually funny or mostly really light, choppy, and sometimes awkward and weird? I want it to be funny, and I’m sure he’s a good person.