History Main / PunnyHeadlines

[[folder:''Other Newspapers'']]

* Johnny Vaughan's breakfast show on Capital Radio in UsefulNotes/{{London}} features "Coulda Pun Better", a weekday contest where listeners suggest better punny headlines for an offbeat news story.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E4TwoCarsInEveryGarageAndThreeEyesOnEveryFish Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish]]" had Montgomery Burns run for governor but be tripped up by the appearance of a three-eyed fish in Springfield waters, courtesy of [[ILoveNuclearPower leaks from his nuclear power plant]]. He argued that the fish was a superior evolution, but then choked and spat it up when Lisa and Marge cooked one for him for dinner. A reporter present promptly called in the headline "Montgomery Burns Can't Swallow Own Story."

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "I See a Funny Cartoon in Your Future" used the SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE and IT'S RARE TO SEE A MEDIUM SO WELL DONE headlines. Only it applies to a crooked fortuneteller, a small woman named Madame Argentina who uses her talent to scam wealthy people out of their money. The second headline comes after the girls capture her in a lit barbecue grill.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'''s episode "The Untouchable" features a troubled young woman who has quite a collection of pictures and articles lon a wall in her home. One of the headlines actually does read "Headless Body Lost in Topless Bar."

* Slate.com had an [[http://www.slate.com/id/2297924/ Explainer article]] discussing whether kids were harmed mor e by viewing sex or violence. The headline: [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush Bush v. Gore]]

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'''s episode "The Untouchable" features a troubled young woman who has quite a collection of pictures and articles on a wall in her home. One of the headlines actually does read "Headless Body Found in Topless Bar."

* When murderer James French was set to be executed by electric chair, he evidently suggested to a reporter that they use the headline 'French Fries', though this bit of snark was not literally his FamousLastWords.

* When murderer James French was set to be executed by electric chair, he supposedly said, "How's this for a headline? 'French Fries'."

* After Creator/DanSavage attempted to re-define Rick Santorum's surname (Website/{{Google}} it if you dare), some editors started GettingCrapPastTheRadar with headlines like "Santorum Surges from Behind in Iowa".

* The headline for a January 2011 story about a jerk stealing his girlfriend's grandmother's cremated remains? [[https://nypost.com/2011/01/18/urn-stolen-by-ash-hole-cops/ Urn Stolen by Ash-Hole]].

* Slate.com had an [[http://www.slate.com/id/2297924/ Explainer article]] discussing whether kids were harmed more by viewing sex or violence. The headline: [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush Bush v. Gore]]

* A few of these show up in ''Discworld/TheTruth'', and a few later Literature/{{Discworld}} books that mention the Ankh-Morpork Times.

** Similarly, anything involving the town of "Normal", or really any town name that doubles as an adjective. Once there was even "Normal man marries Boring woman" (Boring being a town in Oregon).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E4TwoCarsInEveryGarageAndThreeEyesOnEveryFish Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish]]" had Montgomery Burns run for governor but be tripped up by the appearance of a three-eyed fish in Springfield waters, courtesy of [[ILoveNuclearPower leaks from his nuclear power plant]]. He argued that the fish was a superior evolution, but then choked and spat it up when Lisa and Marge cooked one for him for dinner. A reporter present promptly called in the headline "Montgomery Burns Can't Swallow Own Story".

* A shining example from ''Webcomic/ThreePanelSoul'', on the star of the new ''Film/{{Tron}}'' movie being intelligent: [[http://threepanelsoul.com/2010/03/22/on-astronomy-minors/ New Tron Star Not Dense]].

** Similarly, anything involving the town of "Normal", or really any town name that doubles as an adjective. Once there was even "Normal man marries Boring woman".

* Every other headline on the front page of the Huffington Post will have one. For instance, when the Ravens won the SuperBowl, HP's front page headline was "[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Nevermore!]]"

In UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and beyond, the ''Post'' is famous for running punny headlines on every issue they possibly can. There's even [[http://nypost.com/cover/ a section of their website]] where one can browse through every ''Post'' cover -- and ''only'' the covers -- going back all the way to 2002. They've also published [[http://www.amazon.com/Headless-Body-Topless-Bar-Headlines/dp/0061340715 a book]] filled with their most famous headlines.

* February 2000- Semi-professional team Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat pillars of Scottish [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball football]] Celtic 3-1 in a major upset which leads to John Barnes leaving as manager. The headline: "[[Film/MaryPoppins Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious]]"

* A broadsheet servicing Malay speaking Malaysia and Singapore had this to say about Al Gore's election loss in 2000- "Al Goreng," or "Al fried."
* Appearing on Series/TheTonightShow when Jay was the host: "Mooning case reveals crack in law."

* When murderer James French was set to be executed by electric chair, he supposedly said "How's this for a headline? 'French Fries'".
* After Creator/DanSavage attempted to re-define Rick Santorum's surname (Website/{{Google}} it if you dare), some editors started GettingCrapPastTheRadar with headlines like "Santorum Surges From Behind in Iowa".

* And then there's the one about a man named Arty killing 3 guys over a $1 debt: ARTY CHOKES 3 FOR $1.

* A shining example from Webcomic/ThreePanelSoul, on the star of the new Film/{{Tron}} movie being intelligent: [[http://threepanelsoul.com/2010/03/22/on-astronomy-minors/ New Tron Star Not Dense]].
* "Misleading headlines" are a recurring theme on ComicStrip/FrankAndErnest; [[http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=8467 one example]].
* In their book of the series, [[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook David Mitchell and Robert Webb]] imagined editors of newspapers coming up with a stock of punning headlines [[CrazyPrepared in case of certain unlikely events happening]]. For example 'The Hens Justify The Means' in case chickens were ever used to teach the law of averages.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "I See A Funny Cartoon In Your Future" use the SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE and IT'S RARE TO SEE A MEDIUM SO WELL DONE headlines. Only it applies to a crooked fortune teller, a small woman named Madame Argentina who uses her talent to scam wealthy people out of their money. The second headline comes after the girls capture her in a lit barbecue grill.

** Similarly, anything involving the town of "Normal", or really any town name that doubles as an adjective. Once there was even "Normal man marries Boring woman."

* Alleged headline cited in a Website/BashOrg quote: [[http://bash.org/?402739 "Bush and Kerry Hit Road, Trade Blows on Jobs"]]

* July 2009- Katie Price states that her estranged husband Peter Andre is small in a certain area on [[{{Twitter}} a certain social networking site]]: "The Twitter batter of tiny Pete".

* One of the Post's best (and perhaps most erudite) punny headlines was for New York state bailing out NYC's cash-strapped transit system: "Sick Transit's Glorious Monday".

* Extremely common in scientific articles. A ''single issue'' of Cell[[note]]A prestigious biology journal[[/note]] included the following: "Antibiotics Take Radical Measures to Combat Bacteria"[[note *]]As in the make use of free radicals.[[/note]], "Getting to the Bones of Osteoporosis", "Digging Dpr into Bacterial Transformation", "InterSepting DNA Damage and the Cytoskeleton", and "NF-kB Pathway Quenches the Inflammasome".