STRICTLY ACADEMICAt Primary Stages, 354 W. 45th St. Through Nov. 30. (212) 333-4052.

THE thing about jokes, even upscale jokes, is that they have to be funny. In “Strictly Academic” – an evening of two short, supposedly amusing plays by the prolific A. R. Gurney, somewhat lamely directed by Paul Benedict – they aren’t.

In the first play, “The Problem,” a professor’s wife surprises her distracted hubby with the news of her advanced pregnancy – and the news of her baby’s father. Her husband has some surprising news of his own. Pretty soon we see where this is going.

The play is nicely acted, in a broadly comic vein, by a professorial Keith Reddin and Susan Greenhill as a depraved housewife. The problem with “The Problem” is that it’s a one-joke skit – and not a particularly rib-tickling one at that.

The second, “The Guest Lecturer,” feels even creakier and less funny. A literary scholar (Remy Auberjonois) is being introduced by the drunken, gabby, eventually sinister hostess (Greenhill again) of a small-town lecture series. When the nature of the series grows obvious, the guest attempts to run for his life. The skit is obvious and implausible.

So, come to think of it, is the whole megillah.