History Funny / KnownSpace

-->'''Chmeee (whose race has fought war after war against humans, and lost them all; in his native Hero's Tongue):''' "With such a weapon, I could boil the Earth to vapor."
-->'''Luis Wu (who understands a little of that language, and is from Earth):''' "Shut up."
-->'''Chmeee:''' "It was a natural thought, Louis..."

* Another is "Leftovers" by Matthew Joseph Harrington, in which Buford Early runs afoul of a rogue Protector. Seeing the most MagnificentBastard in Known Space forced to play "Hot/Cold" with a mutant supergenius is kind of like watching a Creator/{{Vathara}} character being told to StopHittingYourself. Perhaps the best stunt "Ursula" pulls is when Early manages to slip away for a moment, dials up one of his subordinates to warn them of the threat, only to find the screen's been shut off. "Ursula" then pops up behind him, clamps his mouth shut and says - in Early's (drunk!) voice - that said subordinate is a beautiful person, he should tell everyone, and the screen's off because he's naked.
-->'''Buford Early''': “Enthusiasm is no substitute for experience.”\\
'''"Ursula"''': “No amount of practice will create talent.”

-->'''Luis Wu (who understands a little of that language, and is from Earth):'''"Shut up."

'''"Ursula"''': It explains the visions, and some of her work displays the behaviors of an abuse survivor. It’ll do.

-->'''Chmeee (Who's race has fought war after war against humans, and lost them all, in his native Hero's Tongue):''' "With such a weapon, I could boil the Earth to vapor."
-->'''Luis Wu (Who understands a little of that language, and is from Earth):'''"Shut up."

* On seeing the scale at which the Ringworld meteor defense system operates in ''The Ringworld Engineers'':

-->'''Chmeee:''' (Who's race has fought war after war against humans, and lost them all, in his native Hero's Tongue) "With such a weapon, I could boil the Earth to vapor."
-->'''Luis Wu:'''(Who understands a little of that language, and is from Earth)"Shut up."

* Another is "Leftovers" by Matthew Joseph Harrington, in which VillainSue Buford Early runs afoul of a rogue Protector. Seeing the most MagnificentBastard in Known Space forced to play "Hot/Cold" with a mutant supergenius is kind of like watching a Creator/{{Vathara}} character being told to StopHittingYourself. Perhaps the best stunt "Ursula" pulls is when Early manages to slip away for a moment, dials up one of his subordinates to warn them of the threat, only to find the screen's been shut off. "Ursula" then pops up behind him, clamps his mouth shut and says - in Early's (drunk!) voice - that said subordinate is a beautiful person, he should tell everyone, and the screen's off because he's naked.

* Larry Niven's early writing is notable for his characters' witty dialogue and narration [[CasualDangerDialog even in the face of mortal danger]]. His CrowningMomentOfFunny from this period is the banter between Beowulf Shaeffer and Elephant in "Flatlander". However, in the 1980s, after ''Literature/TheRingworldEngineers'', CerebusSyndrome seemed to have set into Niven's style and it never quite recovered.

'''Buford Early''': Are you serious? "[[LookBehindYou There’s someone behind you]]?" That’s the oldest trick in the book.\\

* Larry Niven's early writing is notable for his characters' witty dialogue and narration [[CasualDangerDialog even in the face of mortal danger]]. His CrowningMomentOfFunny from this period is the banter between Beowulf Shaeffer and Elephant in "Flatlander". However, in the 1980s, after ''The {{Ringworld}} Engineers'', CerebusSyndrome seemed to have set into Niven's style and it never quite recovered.

--->'''"Ursula"''': "All this stuff on the battlefield is going on because [[UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc a teenage French girl]] was prettier than her mother, who resented her and made her finish up some rye bread that had gone bad and should have been thrown away."

'''Buford Early''': ([[OhCrap thinking]]) ''"I am the very model of a ModernMajorGeneral..."''

'''"Ursula"''': “No amount of practice will create talent.”

* Among the ''Man-Kzin Wars'' stories, the only one intentionally written as a comedy is "String" by Hal Colebatch and Matthew Joseph Harrington, in volume XII. It even has a ShoutOut to ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' of all things.

-->'''Beowulf Schaeffer:''' We looked at each other, waiting. But there was nothing to say. Except, ''Elephant, look! We don't have a hull no more! Isn't that remarkable?''

* Larry Niven's early writing is notable for his characters' witty dialogue and narration even in the face of mortal danger. His CrowningMomentOfFunny from this period is the banter between Beowulf Shaeffer and Elephant in "Flatlander". However, in the 1980s, after ''The {{Ringworld}} Engineers'', CerebusSyndrome seemed to have set into Niven's style and it never quite recovered.
-->'''Beowulf Schaeffer:''' "How about that, Elephant! Our hull's evaporated!"

* Among the ''Man-Kzin Wars'' stories, the only one intentionally written as a comedy is "String" by Hal Colebatch and Matthew Joseph Harrington, in volume XII. It even has a ShoutOut to ''GirlGenius'' of all things.