History ActuallyPrettyFunny / Literature

** Farmer Maggot recounts that he met the Ringwraith Khamûl the Easterling, and, not knowing who this mysterious cloaked stranger was, just told him to get off his property before he called the dogs. Khamûl then let out a hiss that might have been a laugh, and left--presumably, the Ringwraith was so bemused that Maggot was threatening him that he decided to let him live.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Farmer Maggot recounts that he met the Ringwraith Khamûl the Easterling, and, not knowing who this mysterious cloaked stranger was, just told him to get off his property before he called the dogs. Khamûl then let out a hiss that might have been a laugh, and left--presumably, the Ringwraith was so bemused that Maggot was threatening him that he decided to let him live.

---> 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.

* In the FandomNod chapter of ''Jo's Boys'' (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:

* Toward the end of ''Literature/CuriousGeorge 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.

* William Johnstone westerns often have the bad guy or a henchmen feel this about some bold and/or humiliating trick pulled by The GuileHero in the build up to the final showdown. Two examples (both of which followed a HeelFaceTurn) come in the books ''Gunsight Crossing'' and ''War of the Mountain Man''. The first has gunmen Pen Masters and Bam Ford barely being able to keep from laughing after the good guys ''stela the whole town'' that the CattleBaron they work for owned (none of the buildings had any real foundation so they were just hoisted up into wagons and spirited off) and mockingly repeat the [[BlatantLies claim by the good guys it was done by a tornado]]. In the second, when [[TheGunslinger Smoke Jensen]] forces a group of henchmen (at gunpoint) to clean all of the windows they dirtied galloping into town, one, Pete Akins, takes a little humor in the situation.

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

** Decades before the series started, [[spoiler: Voldemort applied to be made the school's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to help prepare for his rise to power. When Dumbledore (predictably) said no, Voldemort put a curse on the position out of spite, and ever since no Defense Against The Dark Arts professor has lasted more than one year]]. After a few decades, Dumbledore admits he's come to find the series' RunningGag to be darkly amusing.

** In ''Literature/SmallFavor'', Harry manages to evade an otherwise-unstoppable, [[PunchClockVillain if reluctant,]] Summer Court hitman... [[ItMakesSenseInContext by asking him for a donut]]. In the next book we find that the ''entire'' Summer Court has been laughing about the incident for ''months''.
** In the tense standoff with said hitman, the hitman asks Harry what Mab is really up to. Harry just shrugs and responds that he is still trying to figure out human women, and Fae women are ''way'' beyond what he could hope to comprehend. The hitman bursts out laughing and the situation is defused.

* Turns up several times in ''Literature/ABigBoyDidItAndRanAway'', mostly to new English teacher Raymond Ash. Best example? He'd set his class a short essay on ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'', and they'd been busy beavering away at it all lesson. When he collects them in at the end of the lesson, ''every single student'' hands in a crudely drawn cartoon penois, complete with ejaculate. Ray was desperately trying not to show how hysterical he found that, while thinking it wouldn't be the last time he'd set an assignment and receive a pile of wank.

** In ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', {{the Comically Serious}} [[spoiler:orc Mr. Nutt]] prepares to help the remnants of the [[{{Mordor}} Evil Empire]]'s orc armies, who were [[SympatheticSentientWeapon magically engineered and driven into battle]]. When his mistress instructs him to "teach them civilization," he cracks up {{the stoic}} Vetinari by asking, "And who would you send to teach the {{humans|AreBastards}}?"
** In ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', Vetinari tries to [[ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving feign disapproval]] of all the trouble Vimes caused (even though he wanted Vimes to cause trouble), but it's particularly unconvincing since he's apparently struggling to keep a straight face at Vimes' smart-ass replies.

* 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 ''the nuns themselves'' were bent over laughing.

* Turns up several times in ''Literature/ABigBoyDidItAndRanAway'', mostly to new English teacher Raymond Ash. Best example? He'd set his class a short essay on ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'', and they'd been busy beavering away at it all lesson. When he collects them in at the end of the lesson, ''every single student'' hands in a crudely drawn cartoon penis, complete with ejaculate. Ray was desperately trying not to show how hysterical he found that, while thinking it wouldn't be the last time he'd set an assignment and receive a pile of wank.

* In the fourth book of ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'', the villainous Lens Larque has been given the cold shoulder by a bunch of racist snobs on a certain planet. He has accordingly come up with a plan to [[DefaceOfTheMoon etch his face on the planet's moon]] so that they'd have to look at him forever. Just before he can execute this plan, he's killed for unrelated revenge reasons by the novel's protagonist, Gersen. Since Gersen has also suffered similar humiliation at the hands of the planet's citizens, he decides to carry out Larque's plan anyway, as it seems to him like a very amusing comeuppance (although he allows Larque to die disappointed in the belief that it will not be done.)

** In ''Literature/WhiteNight'' Harry is engaged in a duel in front of the assembled White Court of vampires. He manages to get a laugh from them when he knocks his opponent into the audience and declares the resulting kerfuffle [[BowledOver "Bowling for vampires!"]]
** In ''Literature/SmallFavor'', Harry manages to evade an otherwise-unstoppable Summer Court hitman... [[ItMakesSenseInContext by asking him for a donut]]. In the next book we find that the ''entire'' Summer Court has been laughing about the incident for ''months''.

** In ''Literature/ColdDays'' Harry must meet with Queen Titania, Queen of the Summer Court, and who has a deep hatred for Harry because [[spoiler:he murdered her daughter with iron to save the world]]. Even with that baggage hanging over their meeting, she nearly smiles when Harry gives an honest but snarky answer when she asks him what Mab, her sister and Queen of the Winter Court and mortal enemy, believes in. [[spoiler:Flashy entrances]].
** Basically Dresden's specialty is getting TheComicallySerious, the PhysicalGod, and even the occasional villain to crack a grin. If he fails, it's because EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor.