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"I see," said the blind man to his deaf dog as he picked up his hammer and saw.
You are searching for a Wellerism.
Wellerisms got their name from the Charles Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers." Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick's good-natured servant, and his father had a habit of following a well-known saying or phrase with some kind of phrase that implied humor, irony, or a pun.
In this circumstance, the phrase "i see" has a double meaning, in that by "I see" , the blind man doesn't "see" anything with his eyes, but rather simply means "I understand". The extra bit about saying something (whether it is directed at his deaf dog, wife, daughter, brother, man, etc) to one who is deaf, is pointless and adds a little humor to the phrase. The other bit on the end is just more of the same "As he picked up his hammer and saw" wouldn't be nearly as funny if it were stated "as he picked up his hammer and cutting tool"
These "wellerisms" were quite popular years ago, and have been around for 150 years, as have been another variant of the wellerism, the Tom Swifty. Here's some examples of Tom Swifties:
"I need a pencil sharpener," said Tom bluntly.
"Oops! There goes my hat!" said Tom off the top of his head.
"I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
"This must be an aerobics class," Tom worked out.
My father was blind and we had a blast seeing how many of these we could taunt each other with, along with Helen Keller jokes.
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