If your view controller loads from the tip, you need to override the method initWithCoder:, not initWithStyle:.
However, the usual solution would be to add all of your custom initialization code to the awakeFromNib method: it is called after loading the nib and plugging in all the sockets, so it is great for any initialization you need.
nibs . Apple docs awakeFromNib:. , - 3.0, awakeFromNib:, , .
P.S. [jokeTableView init] , , nib .
:. , awakeFromNib:, initWithCoder: initWithStyle:.
, , Interface Builder UITableView nib ( nib), , nib - , , , , .