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What's the explanation of the Staten Island joke at 2:13 when Jon Snow visits Seth Meyers please?

Jon Snow: It's 400 leagues North of King's Landing.

Someone: So, like, Staten Island?

Audience: (Laughs/Cheers)

Jon: Oh, it's no island, sir.

I guess Staten Island is 400 leagues = 2,000 kilometers north of Washington DC or something which is what the guy thinks is referred to when Jon Snow says 'King's Landing' because King's Landing = the capital of the place?

It is 300km though?

https://www.distancefromto.net/

https://www.distancefromto.net/city-washington-d-c

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    The joke is obviously that New Yorkers think of Staten Island as far away, whereas it is of course part of NY and not far away at all (though less accessible), but it feels more suburban than NY and is "right-leaning". It's "not the city" to them. (And it even tried to secede in 1993.)
    – BCdotWEB
    Sep 23, 2022 at 9:35
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    Yeah Staten Island is pretty inconvenient from the point of view of the rest of New York. I think another component of the joke is that for a lot of New Yorkers, New York (city) is the whole world. What’s the farthest someone in New York (city) can go from home while staying in the world? A place so remote and desolate it almost seems like a different world? Staten Island. Sep 23, 2022 at 11:35
  • @BCdotWEB Ok thanks. You can post as answer. I'm not American or anything, so I really have no idea.
    – BCLC
    Sep 23, 2022 at 12:38
  • @ToddWilcox Ok thanks. You can post as answer. I'm not American or anything, so I really have no idea.
    – BCLC
    Sep 23, 2022 at 12:38
  • @BCdotWEB 'obviously' ? :| I'm not American or anything!
    – BCLC
    Sep 24, 2022 at 1:56

1 Answer 1

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I guess Staten Island is 400 leagues = 2,000 kilometers north of Washington DC or something which is what the guy thinks is referred to when Jon Snow says 'King's Landing' because King's Landing = the capital of the place?

The more plausible interpretation of what was meant when they said, "So, like Staten Island" is that they are suggesting (if read literally) that Staten Island is like being 400 leagues North of the setting of the skit (New York). But, the person does not mean this literally. They are using a simile as well as exaggeration as a comedic device.

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