If that's the case, this edit should do the trick:

on $*:text:/^!joke$/iS:*:{
  if (!$($+(%,fp,.,$site,.,#,.,$network),2)) { 
    inc -u3 $+(%,fp,.,$site,.,#,.,$network)
    var %j = joke. $+ $r(1,9999)
    sockopen %j www.randomfunnyjokes.com 80
    sockmark %j .msg $iif(#,#,$nick)
    halt
  }
  .notice $nick please wait at least 3 seconds before using $1 again!
  .ignore -cpu3 $nick 2
}
on *:sockopen:joke.*:{
  if ($sockerr) { 
    $sock($sockname).mark Error's Occurred! 
    halt 
  }
  sockwrite -nt $sockname GET / HTTP/1.0
  sockwrite -nt $sockname Connection: close
  sockwrite -nt $sockname Host: $+($sock($sockname).addr,$str($crlf,2))
}
on *:sockread:joke.*:{
  if ($sockerr) { 
    $sock($sockname).mark Error's Occurred! 
    halt 
  }
  var %joke 
  sockread %joke
  if (<br><br> isin %joke) { 
    $sock($sockname).mark $regsubex(%joke,/<[^>]*>|&.*/g,)
  }
}