History ActuallyPrettyFunny / Literature

* ''Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong'': When Su Xiyan runs into Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang again, she tells the former that he still owes her twenty silver from last time they met. Tianlang-Jun flirts and says that he can repay her by offering a service which she declines, stating that he clearly has no idea how to function and do normal tasks. But when he asks if his face alone wasn't worth twenty silver, she actually pauses before seemingly trying to hide a smile as she agrees.
* In ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' book ''The Missing DoSAC Files'', this is revealed to be the reason why Malcolm Tucker gets away with the wider media despite being TheDreaded and TheSvengali - the show itself holds to ToughRoom, but apparently the UK media considers his amazing verbal fluency and pitch-black sense of humour to be hilarious. One instance of this is a newspaper magazine interview in which the journalist admits he's terrified by the thought of meeting him, and was completely disarmed to discover how funny he is. Another instance of this is a very stupid suggestion from a BBC commissioner for Malcolm to run a chat show in which he can "give celebrities a bollocking".

* ActuallyPrettyFunny:

** In ''Literature/DeadBeat'' Marcone orders Gard to rescue Harry from the ghoul Li Xian, over her objection that Harry is fated to die in that alley. [[EnemyMine Marcone]] found Harry's sympathetic comment amusing enough to [[TheStoic almost]] smile.:

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', Harry doesn't mind Fred and George endlessly mocking him for supposedly being the heir of Slytherin - he's actually glad that at least they're obviously not taking the rumours seriously.

* ''Literature/AccidentalDetectives'': Ricky and his friends pranks, deliberate or otherwise, towards each other can inspire this. Notably, in ''The Dissapearing Jewel of Madagascar'' after Ricky accidentally [[spoiler:Mixes in some real worms with fake licorice ones Mike was eating for a carnival]].
-->Mike paused "Unfortunately, this puts you one trick up on me. And you know how long it's going to be before I find this the slightest bit funny?" I shook my head. Something hard to do with someones hands around your neck. [[BaitAndSwitch "At least five more seconds"]] he muttered. Then Mike sat down and howled with laughter.

* ''Literature/MacdonaldHall:'' He tries to hide it, but Headmaster Sturgeon finds many of the boys' pranks and schemes amusing, especially when they target his SitComArchnemesis Ms. Scrimmage. He frequently laughs about them behind closed doors.

--> Mike paused "Unfortunately, this puts you one trick up on me. And you know how long it's going to be before I find this the slightest bit funny?" I shook my head. Something hard to do with someones hands around your neck. [[BaitAndSwitch "At least five more seconds"]] he muttered. Then Mike sat down and howled with laughter.

--> Pretty cozy ... if you're a serial killer, that is.

-->'''Gard:''' Hubris. Mortals never understand.\\

--> '''Carl''': Come on. You have to admit, that was pretty awesome.

* ''Literature/CuriousGeorge'': Towards the end of ''Curious George Goes to the Hospital'', the curious little monkey climbs aboard a go-cart that a boy in a cast has been using and can't resist taking it for a spin. He loses control, crashes headlong into a food cart, and ends up throw directly into the arms of the visiting city mayor. After an initial shock, a little girl named Betsy--who had been suffering severe depression--begins to laugh, which inspires the other staff members, and even the mayor himself, to start laughing too. George fears he'll get in trouble, but after Betsy thanks him with a smile, the head of the hospital tells him that while he did make a mess, he also managed to make Betsy happy again -- which none of them could do -- so they let the matter go.

** In [[Literature/DeadBeat Dead Beat]] Marcone orders Gard to rescue Harry from the ghoul Li Xian, over her objection that Harry is fated to die in that alley. [[EnemyMine Marcone]] found Harry's sympathetic comment amusing enough to [[TheStoic almost]] smile.:

* ''Literatue/CradleSeries'': In the last book, Mercy tells her mother Akura Malice, the Queen of Shadows and one of the most powerful people in the world, that she sounds ''evil''. Not as a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, just that she sounds ''silly''. Malice can't help but laugh and admit she went overboard.

---> Pretty cozy ... if you're a serial killer, that is.

* In the introduction to a recent edition of ''Literature/AnastasiaKrupnik'', author Lois Lowry describes a time when she visited a traditional Catholic school to do a reading from the book. She read the section where Anastasia considers converting to Catholicism (and has some funny, over-simplified ideas about how that religion works). Lowry mentions that at first the students were nervous that they might get in trouble if they laughed, but after a while they stopped worrying about that because ''the nuns themselves'' were bent over laughing.

* In ''[[Series/TheThickOfIt The Missing DoSAC Files]]'', this is revealed to be the reason why Malcolm Tucker gets away with the wider media despite being TheDreaded and TheSvengali - the show itself holds to ToughRoom, but apparently the UK media considers his amazing verbal fluency and pitch-black sense of humour to be hilarious. One instance of this is a newspaper magazine interview in which the journalist admits he's terrified by the thought of meeting him, and was completely disarmed to discover how funny he is. Another instance of this is a very stupid suggestion from a BBC commissioner for Malcolm to run a chat show in which he can "give celebrities a bollocking".

* One of the ''Soup'' books opens with Rob bringing a note home saying he made a rude remark to the school nurse. She had asked him "Did your bowels move today?" and, in accordance with a lesson earlier that chapter, he answered "Yes, thank you. Did yours?"[[note]]The lesson in question boiled down to "when asked a question, the proper response is answer AND return, not just answer". The nurse's question was rather obviously an exception to the rule, but had never been explicitly pointed out as such.[[/note]] Once he confesses that he and Soup drew straws to see who would ask, his mother gives him only a halfhearted whipping.

* ''Literature/RaiKirah'': Seyonne demonstrates his penmanship with a blandly laudatory statement about his master, the cruel Prince Aleksander. Aleksander's reaction is the first sign that he's anything more than TheEvilPrince.

* In the FandomNod chapter of ''Literature/JosBoys'' (third book in the ''Literature/{{Little Women}}'' trilogy), ''Jo's Last Scrape'', Ted Bhaer's response to the reporter who showed up at Plumfield's door uninvited:

* In the ''Literature/FatherBrown'' story "The Blast of the Book", when the whole thing turns out to be a practical joke at the expense of the occult investigator, he not only laughs, but acknowledges that it's taught him a lesson.

* Creator/SaraBergmarkElfgren and Creator/MatsStrandberg's ''Literature/TheCircle2011'': When the circle meets in Linnéa's flat, Linnéa can't help snickering at Ida's first comment:
---> Pretty cozy ... if you're a serial killer, that is.

* The Creator/EricFlint book ''Literature/TimeSpike'' is a time travel story where a maximum security prison is sent back to ancient times. By the end of the book, the surviving prisoners who are deemed too dangerous to parole remain locked up and rely on the natives' crops to feed them. In order to get those crops, one of the main characters spreads a rumor that the prisoners are demons who need to be placated with food. Some of the prisoners find this funny and put on a big show during food deliveries.