A joke by a former state lawmaker on the floor of the Wyoming House on Thursday did not go over well with House Speaker Steve Harshman.

Former Republican lawmaker Bruce Burns of Sheridan told the following joke on Thursday morning in the House: ''The other day I was in this motel, and I went back to the desk clerk and asked to have my porn disabled. And she said, we only have regular porn, you sick bastard."

While the joke drew a smattering of chuckles at the time, it did not sit well with Harshman, who is a Republican from Casper.

As he closed the regular session of the House several hours later on Thursday afternoon, the speaker strongly criticized Burns' comments. He said the thought Burns was "trying to be funny, but it didn't turn out that way."

Harshman called the comments ''insensitive'' and ''disrespectful." He went on to say that "I don't appreciate the breach of that privilege that I granted him.'' Harshman also said that if any current member of the House made similar comments ''I could slam the gavel and call you to order." He went on to say that such remarks would not be tolerated in the future and specifically condemned the language of the joke.

Burns served in the Wyoming House from 1995 to 2002, and in the Senate from 2003 to 2018. It is not unusual for former Wyoming legislators to briefly address either chamber.