The joke:
I was making a joke about retirement.
It did not work
The humor is based on wordplay and expectations.
When you say “I was making a joke about retirement”, people expect something about aging, stopping work, pensions, or old age.
But then you add “It did not work”.
That line flips the meaning:
Retirement = not working
So saying “it did not work” is both:
A literal statement → the joke failed
A clever pun → retirement is about not working