| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1490873175033613900 |
| 2 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | [[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/overly_pre_prepared_gag.jpg]]]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ->''"Our top story today: Convicted hit man Jimmy 'Two-Shoes' [=McClarty=] confessed today that he was once hired to beat a cow to death in a rice field using only two small porcelain figures. Police admit this may be the first known case of a knickknack paddy-whack."'' |
| 7 | -->-- '''Colin Mochrie''', ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' |
| 8 | |
| 9 | [[SelfDemonstratingArticle First things first: I'm going to have this refrigerator start doing laps around the room.]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | These are jokes that require so much setup and work behind the scenes that you would wonder why the effort was made, but you don't because [[RuleOfFunny it's just that funny]]. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Compare FriendlyScheming. Also compare ShaggyDogStory, which is a long story or joke that seems like it will lead somewhere but doesn't; BrickJoke, which is a gag or plot element that simply comes back much later; and {{Henway}}, which is a joke specifically set up to "trap" the listener. The end result may get a LamePunReaction. If the joke is specifically a short story with a pun at the end, it's a {{feghoot}}. If the {{punchline}} never comes or [[AntiClimax isn't necessarily humorous]], see AntiHumor. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | See also DisasterDominoes, which when PlayedForLaughs is a slapstick gag which needs a lot of events occurring in succession, and {{Feghoot}}s, which are long and typically over-complicated stories for the sole purpose of setting up a {{Pun}} at the end. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Is that refrigerator still running? Good; let’s move on. |
| 18 | ---- |
| 19 | !!Examples: |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 24 | * In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Orihime Inoue does one of these on her friend Tatsuki. When Tatsuki asks about the condition of her apartment, Orihime replies that she's been evicted as of a few days before. Tatsuki is, understandably, flabbergasted and asks where Orihime's been sleeping, upon which she pulls out a squashy sleeping bag and says that it's soooo comfortable. Then she reveals that she was just kidding. Tatsuki asks her how long she'd been carrying around the sleeping bag in order to do so, and Orihime answers, "about three days, I was actually wondering if ''anybody'' was going to give me the opportunity." Of course, Orihime is a bit of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} anyway. |
| 25 | * The first chapter of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has a Negi falling into a rather large and complex BucketBoobyTrap that must have taken quite a while to set up. Although, given that the Negiverse has a lot of RidiculouslyFastConstruction, it isn't too farfetched. |
| 26 | * ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' enjoys using these at times. |
| 27 | ** One episode has Katsura suddenly switch from CountingSheep to reciting a lengthy high school sports drama. [[spoiler: The punchline is that the number on the jersey of the character featured at the end of the story was the same number as the sheep he was about to count.]] |
| 28 | ** Episode 153 of the anime has Gintoki listen to a radio story "guaranteed to make you cry in four minutes or less", hoping it'll help him sleep. The story, titled "I'm Sorry, Jerry", is about a girl and her loyal dog whom she's forced to leave behind when she moves to another town. The story lasts well over four minutes, and does genuinely tug at the heartstrings, [[spoiler: but right when it seems like it's going to end on a touching note, it decides to go for a CruelTwistEnding with some {{Surprisingly Creepy Moment}}s. Cue [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl hilariously girly scream]] from Gintoki.]] |
| 29 | * ''Manga/HitoribocchiNoOOSeikatsu'': Bocchi wants to make her friend Nako laugh, so she thinks of a joke where she gives her an empty bucket of Yogurt and greets her with "Oha-Yogurt" (Ohayo is japanese for "Good Morning"), but she forgets to say "Oha". She repeats the joke with Aru after she asks why Bocchi wanted to make Nako laugh and not her, but she still forgets to tell the joke properly. Aru bluntly tells Bocchi the joke isn't that funny, [[DiscussedTrope but then ponders]] that the fact Bocchi went through the effort of washing a cup of Yogurt and bringing it along might make it funny after all. |
| 30 | * ''Anime/OddTaxi'' has a sub-plot involving Homo Sapiens, a struggling comedy duo with a BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine. While tangentially connected to the main plot, the reason for their inclusion [[spoiler:is to make a pun in the last episode about "tsukkomi" (straight man) and "tsukkome" (car crash)]]. |
| 31 | [[/folder]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 34 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJN9mBRX3uo The Moth Joke]], as told by Creator/NormMacDonald: |
| 35 | --> A moth goes into a podiatrist's office, and the podiatrist's office says, "What seems to be the problem, moth?"\ |
| 36 | The moth says "What's the problem? Where do I begin, man? I go to work for Gregory Illinivich, and all day long I work. Honestly doc, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I don't even know if Gregory Illinivich knows. He only knows that he has power over me, and that seems to bring him happiness. But I don't know, I wake up in a malaise, and I walk here and there... at night I...I sometimes wake up and I turn to some old lady in my bed that's on my arm. A lady that I once loved, doc. I don't know where to turn to. My youngest, Alexendria, she fell in the... in the cold of last year. The cold took her down, as it did many of us. And my other boy, and this is the hardest pill to swallow, doc. My other boy, Gregarro Ivinalititavitch... I no longer love him. As much as it pains me to say, when I look in his eyes, all I see is the same cowardice that I... that I catch when I take a glimpse of my own face in the mirror. If only I wasn't such a coward, then perhaps... perhaps I could bring myself to reach over to that cocked and loaded gun that lays on the bedside behind me and end this hellish facade once and for all... Doc, sometimes I feel like a spider, even though I'm a moth, just barely hanging on to my web with an everlasting fire underneath me. I'm not feeling good. And so the doctor says, "Moth, man, you're troubled. But you should be seeing a psychiatrist. Why on earth did you come here?\ |
| 37 | And the moth says, [[spoiler:"'Cause the light was on."]] |
| 38 | * Demetri Martin parodies this trope perhaps better than anyone else has ever managed to: |
| 39 | -->'''Demetri:''' Last time I saw Dean was like five years earlier when Dean and I were doing a roofing job on top of a 40-story building. He started talking crazy that day and he goes, "I can't take it, man," and he got up on the ledge, and he jumped. Just after he jumped, I looked down and I noticed that Trampoline Emporium was having a sidewalk sale that day. Dean landed right on one of the trampolines, bounced back up 40 stories to where I was standing, and just as he floated up he said to me, "Y'know, I think a lot of your joke premises are contrived and hard to believe." |
| 40 | * A heckler breaks up what he ''thinks'' is this during a Creator/PattonOswalt special. Patton then explains how this works, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDndsvjyIG4 and spends more time trouncing the heckler]] than the uninterrupted joke's setup would have been. |
| 41 | -->'''Patton:''' [[SarcasmMode Fuck me for building a moment...]] |
| 42 | * In one of his shows, Creator/DaraOBriain has a part about the midwife that he and his wife were seeing during his wife's pregnancy. When it comes to a joke about childbirth, he runs over to two boys in the front row he was talking to earlier and spends the next minute alternatively explaining the importance of the thing he's going to say and [[PreemptiveApology apologizing to all the women in the audience in advance]]. |
| 43 | -->'''Dara:''' And then she gets to a major issue -- Oh, lads, lads, lads, lads, lads... you'll know nothing about this, but I'm gonna say something here that you will never have heard of before in your life. But when I say it, watch out for this: When I say something in about a minutes time, every woman in this room is gonna make a noise. Every one of you will make this noise, and I am not proud of the noise I am about to make you make. It's not a good noise I'm gonna make you do. There's good stuff just beyond that noise. That's gold! But there's a noise barrier, and you've got to make that noise to get through that barrier, right? During the process, there's a point where a decision may have to be made... -- Icannotappologizeenough -- ...[[spoiler:[[{{Squick}} between a tear and a cut.]]]]\ |
| 44 | '''Audience:''' Eewww....\ |
| 45 | '''Dara:''' There's the noise! |
| 46 | * An oft-reblogged Website/{{Tumblr}} [[http://askmindsetandtinker.tumblr.com/post/41384761837/gandhi-as-you-know-walked-barefoot-most-of-the-time post]]: Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ... A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis. |
| 47 | * Creator/BillCosby had a [[https://youtu.be/q5a3EF3EepU?t=6m36s routine]] where he was trying on a pair of winter boots. |
| 48 | --> '''Store Clerk''': How do they feel?\ |
| 49 | '''Bill Cosby''': I'm glad you asked. Now, right here on this right foot. Right here in the middle of the foot, there's a bone. And the shoe is pressing up this bone. And it is really. it is hurting, man. It is mashing that bone. But, up top here where the boot starts, that's rubbing on my skin, and it's making it raw. Now, on the other side of my foot, where the big toe is, well there's a bone there. And it's mashing that bone. And underneath, where the arch is, there's a blister coming up here. Now, the other foot, my little toe, I don't know what happened., but when I stamped down, my little toe got mixed up, and it's somewhere under my big toe. The other three toes in the middle are ''really'' confused, they're all on top of each other. And there is a cut, I think it's bleeding. I don't know, because this other bone cut the nerve, so everything is numb, but up top here, this is bleeding right away!\ |
| 50 | '''Store Clerk:''' [[spoiler:They fit!]] |
| 51 | * Once upon a time, there was a woman who gave birth to one hundred children. For the sake of simplicity, she named them all One through One Hundred. Late one night, a terrible fire burns the family's house to the ground and the only surviving child is a girl named Ninety. Despite the tragic setback, Ninety grows up happy and healthy, receives a good education, gets a job and eventually settles down with a family of her own. However, money remains an issue, and there are certain luxuries that the family can't afford. One day, when her two children are older, they come across a stray dog while playing in the park. The children play with the dog all afternoon, but know that their family can't afford to keep it, so they arrange to go to the park every day to play with the dog and take care of it there. They name the dog "This" so they can speak in code about it while at home ("Did you take care of this?" "Have you seen this?" etc). This goes on for a few years until the dog becomes old and sick and passes away. The children hold a small funeral for it and are the only ones there because they never told anyone else about their dog, This. So [[spoiler:only [[TheNineties Ninety]]'s kids will remember This]]. |
| 52 | * An Englishman, a Frenchman, a Spaniard and a German are all waiting for a ship. Looking to kill a little time, they troop down to a local vaudeville theater. They arrive just after the show has begun and take their seats in the far back of the theater, just as a juggling act is starting. After a minute, the juggler notices the four of them in the back and calls to them "Can you four see me back there?" The Englishman, Frenchman, Spaniard and German reply "Yes." "Oui." "Sí." "Ja." |
| 53 | * In 1985, David Gilmour and Nick Mason made serious efforts to revive Music/PinkFloyd, with or without Roger Waters' approval. The only problem was, keyboardist Richard Wright had been fired from the band, and legal troubles prevented him from returning. Gilmour and Mason's only option was to find a new keyboardist. They tried Rick Wakeman, who, though a wizard with the ivories, just didn't have that...Floydian flair. They tried Keith Emerson, who was just a little too crazy for their more contemplative soundscapes. They asked [[Music/{{Genesis|Band}} Tony Banks]] and [[Music/PhilCollins J. Peter Robinson,]] neither of whom were available, owing to touring and other conflicts. Billy Preston wasn't available when they needed him, either, as was Steve Winwood, who at the time was working on his own solo career. It became clear that they would have to go outside the usual rock'n'roll purview. Pianists and keyboardists alike came and went, and the legal paperwork progressed very quickly. If nothing else came of a new keyboardist, Wright would at least be able to return to the band which he'd been with since the old days. The last applicants to audition were the Wong brothers, who could play dueling pianos with the best of them. It would have been an amazing gimmick to go on tour with, to be sure. Alas, while they were accomplished, they just didn't have the improvisational chops that Gilmour and Mason were looking for. And besides, they might have overshadowed the Floyd as a whole, so proficient and skillful were they. Finally, their old colleague Richard came back into the fold, and all three agreed on one thing:\ |
| 54 | [[spoiler: Two Wongs just don't make a Wright.]] |
| 55 | * A couple of years ago, the London Philharmonic was performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Berlin. There's a long section of the piece where the bass violins have nothing to do, so one of the bassists suggests they go to the local pub across the street. But one of the bassists says, "But what happens if it's our turn to play." The bassist who suggested it says, "Don't worry. I tied the conductor's score pages; it's gonna take him a while to untie it so we'll have plenty of time to sit back down." While they are there, they strike up a conversation with another patron, who himself turns out to be a very famous Count from a nearby province who also happened to be both a Beethoven enthusiast ''and'' a bass violin enthusiast. In fact, he was in town as a VIP to watch the Philharmonic's performance and was going to meet with the conductor for dinner after the concert to discuss possibly hosting a second concert at his castle. One thing soon leads to another and after a few hours, bassists are totally wasted, with the Count himself, having had his fill of drinks, commenting that he would have to postpone the dinner with the conductor. This, of course, reminds the bassists that they have a Ninth Symphony to return to, and they stumble back to the concert hall and into their seats. The conductor, who is currently struggling with untying the pages while still keeping the orchestra in time, glares daggers at them as they sit down. One of the trumpeters says, "Boy, that conductor looks pissed." The other trumpeter says, "Well, what do you expect? [[spoiler: It's the bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, the basses are loaded, and the Count is full!]]" |
| 56 | * The famous Japanese rakugo performance of "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugemu Jugemu]]" tells of a boy whose father could not choose any one name to give him, and in the end, decides to give him ''all'' of the names suggested to him. As such, [[OverlyLongName his full name]] is '''Jugemu Jugemu Gokō-no surikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kuunerutokoro-ni Sumutokoro Yaburakōji-no burakōji Paipopaipo Paipo-no-shūringan Shūringan-no Gūrindai Gūrindai-no Ponpokopī-no Ponpokonā-no Chōkyūmei-no Chōsuke'''. The full joke takes much practice, several minutes to tell, spans several years in-universe, and contains ''one'' (repeated) punchline. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukxr9pv41kg Here is one telling of the story.]] |
| 57 | * [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/340eor/a_frog_walks_into_a_bank/ A frog walks into a bank,]] and approaches the teller. He sees the tellers name tag read Paddy Black and says "I'd like to take out a loan, Mrs. Black." "Certainly," says the teller. "How much would that be for?" "One million dollars," replies the frog. "Don't worry, it's Ok, I know the manager." The teller is understandably taken aback by this, and asks if the frog has any collateral to cover this. "As a matter of fact, I do!" says the frog, and he reaches into his pocket and hands over a tiny ceramic elephant. "What?!" says the teller. "This is garbage! I can't take this!" "Well, take it up with my father then!" the frog retorts. "Oh yeah, and who might that be?" The teller is quickly getting more and more annoyed at the frog. "Why, it's [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Keith Richards]]!" The frog is waiting impatiently, tapping his toe on the ground. "Now, can I have that loan or not?" "Wait right here," the teller says, as she storms into the back room, looking for her manager. "There's a frog out there who claims to know you, and wants a million dollar loan. He claims his father his Keith Richards! He even gave me this as collateral," she says, holding up the elephant. "I mean, what even is this?" The manager takes a look at the elephant and replies, "It's a knick knack, Paddy Black, give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone!" |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 61 | * Creator/GarthEnnis once created a demon named Baytor in his ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'' series so he could eventually have him become Lord of Hell and be referred to as "Master" Baytor. |
| 62 | * A [[Film/TheViewAskewniverse Bluntman and Chronic]] comic featured marijuana-themed hero Bluntman getting distracted only to notice that Chronic has been tied up under a boulder held up by a crane. Derris, the villain, then delivers what amounts to "Give up or your sidekick gets stoned," and a couple police officers watching {{lampshade|Hanging}} this by saying "So that's why he went through the trouble of dragging that huge crane over there!" "Yeah! For that incredibly lame pun!" |
| 63 | * In an issue of ''ComicBook/XMen'', Mystique goes out to scatter the ashes of her companion Destiny, a precognitive. Destiny, before her death, left detailed instructions on exactly when and where to scatter the ashes -- the fantail of a specific cruise liner at a particular point at an exact time. Mystique, at the right time and place, releases the ashes, and a gust of wind blows them back into her face. She doubles over laughing realizing that the instructions were intended to set up an Overly Pre-Prepared Gag. |
| 64 | * ''ComicBook/SkyDoll'' had a character named God for two reasons: call God a jerk right at the start of the comic, and then this trope when he dies and they can claim that GodIsDead. |
| 65 | * The entire first appearance of [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Rocket Raccoon]] probably counts. So, Rocket Raccoon (called "Rocky" by his friends) escapes from an asylum (he's a guard/companion animal), to go find the holy artifact [[CargoCult Gideon's Bible]], and also to rescue his girl from his rival. Yes, those are just the lyrics to "[[Music/TheBeatles Rocky Raccoon]]", but with {{uplifted animal}}s. To really hammer the point home, Rocket's pal is [[Music/PaulMcCartney a walrus]].[[note]]Is he actually named Paul?[[/note]] |
| 66 | * One of ''many'' examples in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': ''Asterix in Switzerland'' opens with Chief Vitalstatistix firing his shield-bearers, then getting Asterix and Obelix as replacements, then when that doesn't work, Obelix alone, carrying him like a waiter with a tray. In the [[{{Woolseyism}} English translation]], the dialogue has Vitalstatistix first saying that one shield-bearer would make him feel "like a half-pint chief", then when Obelix says he has to go back to his menhirs anyway, Vitalstatistix snaps "So you refuse to serve your chief? By Toutatis, I'm a mild man, but this makes me very bitter!" So when Getafix asks what Obelix is doing with his waiter impression, Asterix replies "He's serving a half-pint of mild and bitter." |
| 67 | * [[Creator/{{Gotlib}} Perverse Pepere.]] One could fill the entire page with his setups. For example, running around with a tape recorder, and playing the assorted noises in a loo cabin to scare the poor attendant to death. FLOCHOFLOGLOUPLIKAPLOK-GNNNNNGGHRRRHGH-TACATACATACA(POUTPOUT)TACATACA-AROUAAY!-PLAOUF!! |
| 68 | [[/folder]] |
| 69 | |
| 70 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 71 | * In one ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip, Dilbert and Dogbert are playing Scrabble, and Dogbert [[ScrabbleBabble tries to pass off "neans" as a word]] in order to get rid of some excess "N"s, just to goad Dilbert into saying "The N's don't justify the neans". |
| 72 | * ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' often does this with Sunday strips; everything up to the last panel is building up a bad pun or overly long string of rhyming/similar sounding words ("Please don't help my mama bomb a Osama Obama llama diorama"). The last panel is, invariably, Rat [[LamePunReaction expressing his disgust]] and/or [[RageAgainstTheAuthor threatening violence against the writer]]. A particularly elaborate/contrived one [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dBajcEL3geM/TwxiErLMyEI/AAAAAAAAArs/8CEVJyTRQ4w/s400/PBS+Hoffa+Pun.gif in this one.]] |
| 73 | * ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' had a ShoutOut to ''Pearls Before Swine'' -- Peter immediately surmised that Jason had been reading too much ''Pearls''. |
| 74 | -->'''Jason:''' I'm making a miniature RV out of these plastic building blocks. It's transporting a frozen waffle along with several expectant mothers obsessed with ''Film/RockyIV'' from the tip of South America to a country in southern Europe.\ |
| 75 | '''Peter:''' Okay...\ |
| 76 | '''Jason:''' Here, [[SchmuckBait grab it from me]].\ |
| 77 | '''Peter:''' What for?\ |
| 78 | '''Jason:''' Just grab it. ''(Peter grabs it)'' Leggo my Eggo-carrying Lego Winnebago full of preggo fans of Drago en route to Montenegro from Tierra del Fuego which is south of San Diego. |
| 79 | %%* [[http://explosm.net/comics/2174/ This]] ''ComicStrip/CyanideAndHappiness'' strip. |
| 80 | * ''ComicStrip/FrankAndErnest'' can, particularly on Sunday, go to great lengths to set up a pun. Or other gag, such as having Frank and Ernest make a series of lame puns about locations, look through the Fourth Wall, and muse that it's hard to believe this has a live audience. |
| 81 | * In one ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip, Linus gives Lucy an award for being crabby for 1000 days in a row. He actually ''tracked her mood on a calendar every day for 2.7 years'' to ensure the award would be accurate. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 85 | * [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]], in [[http://pre10.deviantart.net/ce99/th/pre/i/2012/332/7/f/worth_a_pun_in_the_oven_by_mrbastoff-d5mayvw.png this fanmade comic,]] has gotten pregnant just to say, "You've got to be kid-in-me." |
| 86 | -->'''Nurse''': ...Did you get yourself pregnant only to make that joke?\ |
| 87 | '''Pinkie Pie''': Totally '''[[WorthIt birth]]''' [[WorthIt it]]. |
| 88 | * A ''Series/StargateSG1'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU fic]] titled [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4531912/4/ "Hero of the Soviet Union"]] spends several pages detailing the operation of a Soviet-run SGC, all to set up the punchline when a KGB major mocks a captured Goa'uld: [[RussianReversal "In Soviet Russia, Gods bow to you!"]] |
| 89 | * In the ''Manga/FairyTail''[=/=]''Manga/SailorMoon crossover'' [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10942658/1/Fairy-Moon ''Fairy Moon'']] by Creator/EmmaIveli has Sue (An anime only member of Phantom Lord who calls Happy a "Red Dog"), is one the Rainbow Crystal carriers who turns into a cat monster. Due the the Sailor Guardians saving her (who are members of Fairy Tail in this story) she under goes a heel face turn during the Phantom War arc. She gives a speech to other Phantom Lord members which ends with "Because one time I turned into a dog and they helped me!" Or as Emma put it |
| 90 | --> You must be wondering did I choose Sue to be a rainbow crystal carrier just so she would turn in a cat monster, under go a heel face turn earlier than canon and make a big speech all so I could do a ''[[Film/GhostbustersII Ghostbusters 2]]'' reference? I will tell you now that is completely 100 percent... true... |
| 91 | * The 3,000 word ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12143376/1 Cuckles]] exists solely to build up to the punchline of [[spoiler: "Hi, Gonna shatter your jewels, I'm Sonic"]] |
| 92 | * ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'': the episode "Shameless Self Reference" is filled with, well, [[ShamelessSelfPromoter shameless references]] to previous videos in the series and to the creator's other work. The episode ends with Rainbow Dash declaring, "I guess I'm just an [[TitleDrop Ultra. Fast. Pony!]]" The end credits have a subtitle claiming that the entire video series was created for the sole purpose of that title drop. |
| 93 | * ''Fanfic/TheTechnoQueen'': THE TECHNO QUEEN[[note]]''*krakathoom!*''[[/note]] builds robotic {{Evil Twin}}s of all the [[KidHero Wards]] and gives them a BeardOfEvil just so she can call them the Back-Wards. |
| 94 | * Harry Potter in ''Fanfic/HarryAndTheShipgirls'', while everyone was resting at Hogwarts after the Yule Ball, had his Fleet put lawn gnomes in every dorm (passwords provided by Kenshō), as well as the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship, with one gnome for everyone in each location, all transfigured into attire reflecting one of said people. When confronted about this, Harry said it looked like everyone, teachers and staff, would get to be gnome for the holidays. |
| 95 | * [[https://www.deviantart.com/zarla/art/Next-to-the-sugared-figs-613965444 This]] Undertale fan comic has [[LazyBum Sans]] wait to run an errand for Papyrus to go to the store, all so he could say he didn't find what he wanted and brought him some [[{{Pun}} "hot dates"]] to enjoy instead. After he bursts into laughter: |
| 96 | -->'''Papyrus''': ''[[LamePunReaction (unamused)]]'' HOW LONG DID YOU SPEND SETTING THIS JOKE UP?\ |
| 97 | '''Sans''': literally days. |
| 98 | * ''Fanfic/OneForAllAndEightForTheNinth'': While discussing how Izuku and the rest of the Ennead can wall off their thoughts so they won't be overhead by the vestiges or the others, Yoichi reveals the technique was developed when [[HappilyMarried Ryouji and Isamu]] joined the mindscape... and then promptly realizes ''why'' they were so keen on developing the technique. |
| 99 | -->'''Ryouji:''' Totally worth the hundred-and-fifty year setup! |
| 100 | [[/folder]] |
| 101 | |
| 102 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 103 | * In ''Film/DumbAndDumberTo'', Lloyd has spent the ''entire twenty years'' since the previous film pretending to be catatonic, just as a prank on Harry. |
| 104 | * ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'': The villain tells people to start calling him Betty at one point in the movie. It's funny on its own... then at the end of the movie [[spoiler:when he's wearing black and preparing to fight, Ram Jam's "Black Betty" starts playing.]] |
| 105 | * ''Film/RatRace'' has a gag where half the humor of it is how contrived the setup was: [[DisasterDominoes A series of increasingly implausible incidents]] result in a Jewish family crashing into a WWII veteran assembly in a car decorated with swastikas, and the father gets out sporting a black lipstick [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] mustache and a tongue injury that makes him speak in German-sounding gibberish, and in [[ICanExplain trying to explain what happened]] starts sticking out his burnt middle finger and waving his hand in the air in a Zieg Heil-esque gesture. |
| 106 | * The entirety of ''Film/SilentMovie'' may or may not have been one long set-up for a gag about [[spoiler:[[Creator/MarcelMarceau a mime]]]] speaking the film's only word of audible dialogue. |
| 107 | [[/folder]] |
| 108 | |
| 109 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 110 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 111 | ** In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', Nobby and Colon are watching Imp y Celyn busking in Ankh-Morpork and Colon comments that he's "playing the harp". Nobby says "Lyre" and Colon says, "No it's true... Oh I bet you've been waiting all your life for someone to say 'that's a harp', just so you could make that joke. I bet you were ''born'' hoping that someone would say that." |
| 112 | ** Most of ''Literature/SoulMusic'' is a build up to one of the final lines said in the book, [[spoiler:"There's a new boy [[Music/KirstyMaccoll working at the fried fish stall]], and I could swear he was [[ElvishPresley Elvish]]!"]] |
| 113 | * Creator/JasperFforde, PungeonMaster that he is, likes doing this. |
| 114 | ** Throughout Jasper Fforde's ''[[Literature/NurseryCrime The Fourth Bear]]'', the characters share office gossip about others in the police station. In the end, this comes together as a long "Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers" kind of tongue-twister, and they even [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]] to complain about the gag: "I don't know how he gets away with it." |
| 115 | ** Fforde names a minor villain Yorick in his first ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' book for no real reason other than that he can bring him back four books later to make a ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' pun. |
| 116 | * "Death of a Foy" (can be found [[http://www.9timezones.com/ia/znovel.htm on this page]], ctrl-F the word "foy"), by Creator/IsaacAsimov of all people. The careful and elaborate setup of an intricate setting and alien religious culture were all for the purpose of [[spoiler:a pun based on the first several lines of ''[[https://youtu.be/-G4-gfKv6m8?t=40s Give My Regards To Broadway'']]]]. For added effect, he even carefully tailored its length for the sci-fi publication he originally sent it to, so the reader had to turn the page right before the punchline hit out of nowhere. Lots of Asimov's short stories are like this. He could fill a book with them -- and did! |
| 117 | * Also used in ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'', with a character making an awful pun on "gymnosperm", then announcing he'd been stockpiling it since junior high. |
| 118 | * Every Tall Tales Night and Punday Night at Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon is filled with these. |
| 119 | * The book ''Dogs Don't Tell Jokes'' is about Gary Boone, a kid who wants to be a stand-up comedian, but is considered unpopular and weird by his classmates. Gary finally gets his chance to prove himself during the school talent show, comes on stage wearing a hat, and launches into a long rambling story about how he bought some shampoo that was too strong. He punctuates this story with many other unrelated jokes, and actually manages to get laughs from his peers. Finally he reaches the end of the story, where he reveals that he left the shampoo in his hair for too long and removes his hat, revealing that he's shaved his head bald from the ears up. This gets a huge laugh from the crowd. |
| 120 | * In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', there's a few paragraphs' worth of build-up to the punchline of a joke about "Square Sweets That Look Round": When the tour group enters the room, they find [[spoiler: the candies have little faces on them that ''[[AmbiguousSyntax look (a)round]]'' to see who's there]]. |
| 121 | * Literature/TheLongestJokeInTheWorld (over 10,000 words, almost a novella) is essentially [[{{Feghoot}} one giant, shaggy-dog style buildup to...]] a {{pun}}: "[[spoiler:Better Nate than lever]]!" |
| 122 | * In Creator/GKChesterton's autobiography, he introduces us to Edward Clerihew Bentley (they were schoolfriends) by relating an incident where they were shocked that one of their schoolmasters, a dull and solemn man, ''actually told a joke.'' Bentley invented a flight of fancy where the man had devoted his whole life to planning and setting up that one joke. |
| 123 | * Creator/ArthurCClarke wrote a story where the entirety of the tale (involving a spaceship disaster) built up to the reveal that all that was left was [[spoiler:a star-mangled spanner]]. |
| 124 | [[/folder]] |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 127 | * ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' has an episode, several seasons in, wherein main character Dick is target of a LukeIAmYourFather plot from his boss, the Big Giant Head, first mentioned in the pilot, and introduced as a character much later. The whole episode is a setup for Dick saying, in the final scene, that he doesn't know who he is anymore. Harry answers "Well, your first name is Dick, and your last name is Head, so..." |
| 128 | * ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' has G.O.B. and Buster talking in a closed nightclub for a while, waiting for G.O.B.'s magician rival Tony Wonder. After a bit of conversation, Buster says "I wonder where he is." To which Wonder appears in a puff of smoke, asking "Did anyone say 'Wonder'?". The narrator later explains Tony Wonder had been hiding for hours in a small service elevator, waiting for someone to say the word "wonder". |
| 129 | * On the short-lived 1981 Western-themed sitcom ''Best of the West'', a villain comes to town backed up by a group of henchmen referred to as "The Shenanigans". Eventually a standoff leads to a parley in which the marshal, holed up in the tavern, calls out to the villain that he can come into the tavern to discuss a truce--and then he adds, "but no Shenanigans!" |
| 130 | * An in-universe example in ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' ''the Third''. In ''Ink and Incapability'', Blackadder and Prince George are trying to re-write Dr Johnson's dictionary. |
| 131 | --> '''Prince George:''' Well, we didn’t take "no" for an answer, and have, in fact, been working all night. I’ve done "B". |
| 132 | --> '''Blackadder:''' Oh really? And how have you got on? |
| 133 | --> '''Prince George:''' Well, I had a bit of trouble with "belching", but I think I got it sorted out in the end. (Belches) Oh no! There I go again! (Laughs excessively) |
| 134 | --> '''Blackadder:''' You've been working on that joke for some time, haven't you, sir? |
| 135 | --> '''Prince George:''' Well, yes, I have, as a matter of fact, yes. |
| 136 | --> '''Blackadder:''' Since you started... |
| 137 | --> '''Prince George:''' Basically. |
| 138 | --> '''Blackadder:''' So, in fact, you haven’t done any work at all. |
| 139 | * A skit featured on the Australian skit show ''Series/ComedyInc'' had a head sailor informing the captain that the sailors are very disgruntled and they might have a mutiny on their hands soon. The captain tells him it was intentional, and he was planning for him to come and say they’re revolting, so he could answer, ‘I know, they haven’t bathed in weeks. |
| 140 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'' featured the German foosball jocks who bought a soccer ball and walked in a row of three constantly carrying the ball with them, just waiting for the opportunity to kick a ball at Jeff foosball-style. Immediately lampshaded by Jeff, who points out that the build-up ''really'' wasn't worth the pay-off. |
| 141 | -->'''Jeff:''' Were you guys walking around with a soccer ball just so you could do that?! ''[The Germans strut out; to Shirley]'' They left the ball and everything! I think they were literally walking around with it like a prop to use. It's like a twenty-five dollar bit; it's not even that good! |
| 142 | ** A meta-case. The word "Beetlejuice" is used as a quick gag in both Season 1 and 2. In the Season 3 Halloween episode "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps", someone uses it for the third time (and remember, in the [[Film/{{Beetlejuice}} movie]] he was summoned after someone said his name three times). Immediately after this, in [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the background]] someone wearing a Beetlejuice costume walks across the screen. It takes a few seconds, you have to notice it, ''and'' remember that this is the third time his name has been used. |
| 143 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]], it transpires that [[spoiler:the Master has contrived to get the civilian identity he's been living undercover as for a number of years known only as "O" just so the Doctor's OhCrap reaction when she found out who he is would be funny.]] |
| 144 | * An entire episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' builds up to one of these. The A-plot involves Frasier and Niles, stuck for ten minutes at a parking garage because Frasier doesn't want to pay the parking fee. The B-plot involves Roz, who has to fill in for Frasier at the radio station. Roz lets slip that she and Frasier had a night of intimacy. Naturally, everyone wants details. Frasier is blissfully unaware of this, and upon bursting in late, turns on the mike and announces: |
| 145 | -->'''Frasier:''' I'm sure Roz has informed you of my exploits. It wasn't my finest hour. Let's just say, I got in there, realized I'd made a mistake and then tried like hell to get out! There was a lot of shouting and then a line started to form behind me... Luckily, my brother was with me for moral support, and, let's face it, someone to talk to. You know, you'd be amazed how long ten minutes can be when you're watching the clock. But, in the end, I got out of there without paying the four dollars! |
| 146 | * Phoebe did this on ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Chandler was forced to leave a restaurant wearing only women's panties (''long'' [[ItMakesSenseInContext story...]]), so she says she'd like to write a song, but can't because her guitar is missing a string. |
| 147 | -->'''Phoebe:''' Hey, Chandler, can I borrow your G-string?\ |
| 148 | '''Chandler:''' How long have you been waiting to say that?\ |
| 149 | '''Phoebe:''' About 20 minutes. |
| 150 | ** In a later episode, we see the setup for one of Chandler's, but never get to hear the punchline. He tells Joey to mention firetrucks the next time they see each other, resulting in Joey trying to salvage an awkward conversation by yelling "FIRETRUCKS!" out of nowhere, making it even more awkward. |
| 151 | * In an episode of ''Series/HannahMontana'', Miley needs a favor from Jackson, who agrees, but in very theatrical fashion. She calls him out afterwards for wasting 20 minutes just to dress up as Vito Corleoni and recite his "please accept this justice..." speech from ''Film/TheGodfather''. |
| 152 | * Another visual one was the Creator/BrianBlessed-hosted episode of ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'', where he kept pulling props out from under the desk. One of these was a huge Spartan soldier's helmet which he put on between shots to provide HypocriticalHumor about continuity errors on television. |
| 153 | -->'''Ian Hislop:''' That's a fantastically elaborate prop for that joke! |
| 154 | * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has Barney go through weeks of planning, months of experimenting, waiting ''10 years'', and spending $30,000 on fake medical bills, all to get Marshall to try to eat an exploding sub-sandwich. |
| 155 | * One episode of ''Series/LabRats'' is spent getting the entire cast contrived juuuust right so that they look like a circus at the end of the episode (as the administrator insisted that their attempts would end up as one throughout the episode). |
| 156 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': |
| 157 | ** In "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S07E06Laserblast Laserblast]]", Tom and Crow try to brainstorm ways to work the phrase "Can't we get [[Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome BEYOND Thunderdome]]?" into a conversation. |
| 158 | *** ...Which, 21 years later, [[BrickJoke finally paid off]] in "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E13TheChristmasThatAlmostWasnt The Christmas that Almost Wasn't]]". |
| 159 | ** In the episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E02GirlInGoldBoots Girl in Gold Boots]]", there's a shot of a pool table set up just right so that Mike can pull out a cue from under his seat and pretend to shoot some pool. |
| 160 | --->'''Servo:''' Say, how long have you been saving that sight gag, Mike?\ |
| 161 | '''Mike:''' Oh, not long, about... eight years. |
| 162 | ** In "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E12TheScreamingSkull The Screaming Skull]]", Pearl, Brain Guy, and Bobo trick Mike and the bots into believing they've all previously agreed to meet dressed as penguins. They had to reserve the penguin costumes eight months in advance for $900 each. Pearl thinks it was worth it. Brain Guy thinks it's the dumbest thing he was ever part of. |
| 163 | ** In "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E07TrackOfTheMoonBeast Track of the Moon Beast]]", some characters play a weird, confusing prank on an anthropologist, then spend the next several minutes explaining it. For a host segment, Crow tried to do the same to Mike, and it's even more awkward. |
| 164 | ** "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S02E07WildRebels Wild Rebels]]" has another sight gag, where Jeeter appears to point his gun directly at Tom, who dodges to the side... right to where Jeeter is next pointing his gun when the camera cuts back to him. |
| 165 | * ''Series/{{QI}}''. Most particularly, during a round wherein Creator/{{Stephen|Fry}} was discussing declining surnames and mentioned "Glascock" as one of them, Alan chimed in with the anecdote: "We had a Jimmy Glascock at school. You could always see when he was coming." After the laughter died down, he remarked, "I never thought I'd have a chance to do that joke." |
| 166 | ** Rich Hall's "centi-claws" joke, also lampshaded. |
| 167 | ** In one episode, someone accused Jimmy Carr of being "the chairman of the Pedantic Society." Jimmy replied, "[[IResembleThatRemark I'm actually]] ''vice'' chairman, thank you very much." |
| 168 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'': |
| 169 | ** The episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIQueeg Queeg]]" has Lister tell Rimmer a long rambling story about why it's cruel to give machines personalities. He tells about how his friend Peterson had a pair of "Smart Shoes" that could always get you home no matter how drunk you were. But Peterson woke up hundreds of miles away because the shoes wanted to see the world. He tried to get rid of them [[TheCatCameBack but they'd show back up]]. In the end the shoes stole a car and wound up driving it into a canal because they couldn't steer properly. Peterson was upset, but a priest consoled him that the shoes were happy and in heaven now. You see, it turns out Shoes have soles. |
| 170 | --->'''Rimmer: '''[[FridgeLogic Wait a minute]]. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint How did they open the car door]]? |
| 171 | ** Another episode has Lister spend days crossing the ship in order to fetch some tomatoes. His reason for doing so is that tomatoes make him sneeze, so now he can {{squick}} Rimmer out by using the sneezes to iron his clothes. All that walking just to get a reaction. |
| 172 | * On ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': |
| 173 | ** J.D. and Turk do a lot of shift-switching to put two doctors named Turner and Hooch together on a medical case, ''just'' so they could shout, "Film/TurnerAndHooch!" |
| 174 | ** This can fizzle very easily: J.D. once told Doug that a patient had "updoc" in a class, hoping that he would would ask, "[[WesternAnimation/BugsBunny What's updoc?]]" |
| 175 | ** J.D. set it up so a patient thought his name was Daman, so that, when the patient asked who was doing his procedure, J.D. could answer "Doctor Daman", prompting the patient to ask "Who's Daman". Needless to say, it failed, miserably. The patient was rather too polite, and added the honorific. |
| 176 | ** The Todd has been known to wait in hiding for hours until someone unwittingly sets up a [[InnocentInnuendo double entendre]]. |
| 177 | ** J.D. also spent over a week setting up a joke about [[Series/TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah]]-themed cereal in ''My Happy Place'', recording a member of staff's Oprah impression and rigging a cereal box (the design and manufacture of which he was presumably also responsible for) so that the recording played when it was opened. |
| 178 | * Moving into their flat in ''Series/{{Spaced}}'', Tim is wearing a oversized green T-shirt and brown trousers, and Daisy a chunky orange sweater and red skirt, with thick-rimmed glasses on top of her head. No apparent reason, until they talk about which ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' character they are. Tim picks Fred and Daisy says Daphne. He slouches, and the glasses fall down on her face... making them look like Shaggy and Velma. |
| 179 | * The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E25InTheCards In the Cards]]" consists of Jake and Nog trying to acquire a vintage baseball card from a man named Dr. Geiger through a convoluted ChainOfDeals. One of their tasks is to recover Dr. Bashir's stolen teddy bear, and Jake uses the idiom 'to beard the lion in his den', leading to the following exchange: |
| 180 | -->'''Nog:''' Lions and Geigers and bears...\ |
| 181 | '''Jake:''' Oh my... |
| 182 | %%* ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' did these kinds of jokes leading up to news headlines, much like the Colin Mochrie example above (but predating it by decades). |
| 183 | * ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'': Colin Mochrie is a master of this. While the show is largely improvised, Colin plays the anchorman role in Weird Newscasters often enough that he's got many an Overly Pre-Prepared Gag as his opening number. In addition to the one listed as the page quote: |
| 184 | ** One even halted the show for several seconds because everybody was laughing so hard (watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH5oQ05Bs70 here]]): |
| 185 | --->'''Colin [Arthur Anymore Donuts]:''' Our top story today: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer dead at 53. I know, it is sad. Over Barcelona today, the famed reindeer was hit by a flock of seagulls and a 747. Eyewitnesses report... [[Theatre/MyFairLady that the reindeer in Spain]] was hit mainly by the [[{{Pun}} plane]]. |
| 186 | ** Another brilliant one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wm06j3_gM&t=7m37s here]]: |
| 187 | --->'''Colin:''' Our top story today: Famous playboy Hugh Hefner managed to successfully stop an order of monks from operating a business on his property. The police forced the friars to close down their stall, which was outside the Playboy Mansion, where they had been selling flowers. Said one friar, "Well, if it was anyone else, we may have gotten away from it, but, unfortunately [[{{Pun}} only Hugh can prevent florist friars]]." |
| 188 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jWRr0rt8ZE And again]]... |
| 189 | --->'''Colin [Thor Buttockth]:''' Our top story today: Sixties musical group The Byrds today announced a twenty-four city reunion tour with their new band member George W. Bush. To save money Mr. Bush will play both guitars and drums. According to a spokesman, "A Bush in the band is worth two in The Byrds." |
| 190 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wm06j3_gM&t=3m18s You get the pattern by now...]] |
| 191 | --->'''Colin:''' Our top story today: noted archaeologist [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstein]] made an amazing discovery today in Sweden. On a wind-swept fjord he came across some primitive musical instruments plus some minuscule deposits of fossilized stool. When asked what the stool could be, Flintstein replied "A dab'a Music/{{ABBA}} doo." |
| 192 | ** In a game of "Greatest Hits", Ryan makes a joke about having a bug and being jittery as a lead into introducing a Jitterbug song. Colin pokes fun at him by doing the next two segues completely over the top: |
| 193 | ---> '''Colin:''' I remember one time I went to the circus and I saw a strong man bend a car...bend a car? '''Music/PatBenatar!'''\ |
| 194 | '''Colin:''' When I was a jockey, and in my bed-well it was more of a cot- we had this sanitary paper for the fillies and... wait... bed cot filly paper? '''Music/RedHotChiliPeppers!''' |
| 195 | ** Subverted in the infamous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBzwv057GPs "Arctic Tern" ]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVpyhwuzFJY "Tapioca"]] moments, when Colin ruins Ryan's setup. For which we are all grateful -- not because Ryan's setup was ruined, but because the scene of Ryan ''[[{{Corpsing}} absolutely losing it]]'' (along with Wayne having to bend over from laughter in the former) was funnier than anything else they could have done. |
| 196 | [[/folder]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 199 | * Music/PaulAndStorm combine this with OverlyLongGag in their song The Captain's Wife's Lament, in order to set up the song's [[HurricaneOfPuns Hurricane Of]] ''[[HurricaneOfPuns Pun]]'' (singular) ending. In the album version, this is merely a charming interlude, but the live version (which intersperses the song/setup with AudienceParticipation "Arrr"s and pirate jokes) often stretches the four-stanza introduction out to lengths of ten minutes or more. |
| 200 | * The whole of Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4539G-5yUgg Since You've Been Gone]]" song. |
| 201 | * One track on Music/PDQBach's album ''1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults'' featured Professor Peter Schickele tracking down one of Music/JohannSebastianBach's descendants, a man named Burt, then hand him a pebble so that he could [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Bacharach "give Burt Bach a rock"]]. |
| 202 | * Music/TomLehrer's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47bKTtIwrO4 Irish Ballad]]", from ''Music/SongsByTomLehrer'', spends six verses lovingly describing the Irish maid's murder spree in order to set up the punchline: |
| 203 | -->When at last the police called by\ |
| 204 | Her little pranks she did not deny\ |
| 205 | To do so, she would have had to lie\ |
| 206 | And lying, she knew, was a sin. |
| 207 | * Creator/AllanSherman's "One Hippopotami" (a parody of "What Kind Of Fool Am I?") is a long string of {{pun}}s involving singulars and plurals, all leading up to the lamest of them all in the last lyric. |
| 208 | -->"''With someone you adore\ |
| 209 | If you should find romance\ |
| 210 | You'll pant and pant once more\ |
| 211 | And that's! A! Pair! Of!'' '''''Pants!'''''" |
| 212 | ** He did this same with the four-stanza "Around The World." |
| 213 | -->"''Around the world\ |
| 214 | I looked for you\ |
| 215 | I gave a look, in every nook\ |
| 216 | On second avenue\ |
| 217 | I'm searching for\ |
| 218 | The one I love\ |
| 219 | I haven't seen the one I love\ |
| 220 | Since err of Tisha B'ov\ |
| 221 | Your new address\ |
| 222 | You didn't leave\ |
| 223 | Was it New York, or County Cork\ |
| 224 | Or was it Tel-Aviv\ |
| 225 | And all the time\ |
| 226 | I looked around for you\ |
| 227 | You was in the ladies' room.''" |
| 228 | [[/folder]] |
| 229 | |
| 230 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 231 | * In ''Podcast/PappysFlatshareSlamdown'', Tom tells one in series 4 episode 3. |
| 232 | -->'''Tom:''' I'm not going to do the washing up, Matthew, because I used to work in a seafood restaurant, and I used to do the washing up with a German fellow by the name of Hans. Now, in that seafood restaurant, there was a Hungarian waitress who went by the name of Yourface. Now, Yourface was very fond of the fish that were in the tank in that sea restaurant. There was one piece of seafood in particular. It was a little squid. It was a bright green squid, and it wasn't a very clever squid, and oh, Yourface ''loved'' that squid. No-one would eat it because it looked so silly, and it looked so green, and looked so stupid. But one day, a man came in and said, "I want to order that squid"; and Yourface said, "no, not the squid". He said, "yes, kill that squid and I will eat it". So she got the squid, she went back into the kitchen, she picked up the knife, she said, "I can't do it. I just can't do it". The manager said, "unless you kill that squid, you're fired". She said, "I just can't do it". So, they got the washer upper - the German washer upper - Hans, he came over, picked up the knife and said, "I'll do this". He picked it up and said, "I can't do it. I just can't do it". The manager said, "oh no -- [[spoiler: Hans that does dishes is as soft as Yourface with the mild green fairly thick squid]]". [[note]]The punchline is a {{pun}} on the old Fairy Liquid slogan, For hands that do dishes can feel as soft as your face, with mild green Fairy Liquid.[[/note]] |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 236 | * Taint of the ''Lex and Terry Radio Network'' once alleged that he had become a vegetarian some years before in hopes that a woman would one day offer to "eat [his] meat." Eventually, [[HilarityEnsues one did.]] |
| 237 | * The elaborate puns on ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue''. The host's scripted ones are the best examples, but some of the ones the panellists come out with are really more notable for this, since they're being thought up on the spot (usually) and are more likely to be incredibly lame. In "Sound Charades," the audience often groans very early on as soon as it becomes clear what pun the players are relying on to convey their assigned title, and the rest of the round becomes an exercise in drawing out the setup for as long as possible. |
| 238 | -->''(only after much scene-setting, Graeme and Barry get started on ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'')''\ |
| 239 | '''Hamish:''' But look here, look here, ye're late today! Ye've missed the ''Series/{{Teletubbies}}''!\ |
| 240 | '''Dougal:''' Oh no!\ |
| 241 | '''Hamish:''' Aye!\ |
| 242 | '''Dougal:''' What hijinks were they up to today?\ |
| 243 | '''Hamish:''' Ohoho, I tell you, I was gripped.\ |
| 244 | '''Dougal:''' [[HoYay And me not here!]]\ |
| 245 | '''Hamish:''' Something terrible happened... to Po.\ |
| 246 | '''Dougal:''' Speak on, old friend!\ |
| 247 | '''Hamish:''' Aye, well, Tinky-winky, Dipsy, and La-la... ''couldn't see Po from the front''!\ |
| 248 | '''Dougal:''' No. Divulge!\ |
| 249 | '''Hamish:''' Ye've no heard the worst of it.\ |
| 250 | '''Dougal:''' No?\ |
| 251 | '''Hamish:''' They couldnae see [[ViewerGenderConfusion him]] from the back either!\ |
| 252 | '''Dougal:''' Mercy me!... ''(and so forth)'' |
| 253 | * In an episode of ''Radio/JustAMinute'' (the panel game where players have to talk about a subject without hesitation, repetition or deviation), Paul Merton took the given subject OffTheRails -- not unusual for him -- and started talking about the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. Clement Freud brought the house down by challenging him for "devolution." In a program remembering Freud after his death, Merton revealed that Freud had asked him before the show to work in the necessary reference, without telling him the joke. |
| 254 | * ''Radio/TheGoonShow'', on ''multiple'' occasions, spent twenty minutes setting up to a pun that managed to be SoBadItsGood. |
| 255 | * ABC cricket commentator Kerry O'Keefe spouted this gem, possibly even rivalling the page quote. |
| 256 | -->'A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack. "Miss Whack, I'd like to get a $30,000 loan to take a holiday." Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it's okay, he knows the bank manager. Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral. The frog says, "Sure. I have this," and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed. Very confused, Patty explains that she'll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office. She finds the manager and says, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000, and he wants to use this as collateral." She holds up the tiny pink elephant. "I mean, what in the world is this?" The bank manager looks back at her and says... "It's a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone."' |
| 257 | [[/folder]] |
| 258 | |
| 259 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 260 | * ''Theatre/AnythingGoes'' almost entirely ends with one. Ms. Evangeline Harcourt loses her dog during the first half of the first act, and spends the next act-and-a-half looking for it all across the boat. At the end of the show, the Purser brings the dog to her, saying it was found in the swimming pool. |
| 261 | -->'''Ms. Harcourt:''' What was she doing in the swimming pool?\ |
| 262 | '''Entire Cast:''' THE DOG PADDLE! |
| 263 | * ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' has a lyric that you get a feeling that Music/StephenSondheim had been dying to make. |
| 264 | -->'''Baker's Wife''': If the end is right, [[spoiler: It justifies the beans!]] |
| 265 | [[/folder]] |
| 266 | |
| 267 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 268 | * The vampiric comedy duo [[spoiler:Jack and the Cabbie]] from ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' go to ''incredible'' lengths ([[spoiler:namely, orchestrating the entire plot and playing you and everyone else like a fiddle]]) to set up what turns out to be a glorified "knock-knock" joke. [[spoiler:Mind you, "Me, half a ton of C4" and "Half a ton of wha-[[KilledMidSentence BOOOM!]]" is one ''heck'' of a punchline.]] At least [[LaughingMad the recipient thought it was funny.]] |
| 269 | * In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', Solt and Peppor serve as tutorial fights several times. Each time results in Peppor giving instructions on how to best hurt your party, and Solt failing at this in every way possible. This happens five times or so throughout the game. Upon finding the two in Home World, they perform a stage act..Both stand still, and Peppor hits Solt every couple seconds. They do this until you leave the room, and will keep doing it at random as part of the show. Much later in the game, a person in the audience delivers the punchline: "I thought they were a joke at first, but you start liking them after a while!" |
| 270 | * ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' gives us the classic setup from "Meet the Spy": The BLU team Spy had been setting up the RED team Spy as an unstoppable badass the entire video. Eventually, it led to his team's Scout to say "What are you, president of his fan club?" The BLU Spy followed up with "No... that would be ''[[YourMom your mother]]''," pulled out a manila envelope and dropped it onto the table, revealing it is ''full'' of pictures of the RED Spy ''in flagrante delicto'' with the BLU Scout's mom. And then [[spoiler:we later find out in the video that the BLU Scout was actually the RED Spy, so maybe he predicted exactly what would happen if he said that.]] |
| 271 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': In a game already bursting with horrible puns, Max takes the cake. As the axe teacher, he tells you to go find an axe that got stuck in a tree that ran off on him. The tree is a monster called a treevil, and when you take it back to him, he protests that surely a master woodcutter such as himself could tell the difference between a tree and a treevil. Then he recognizes that if he had to choose between not having his favorite axe and looking foolish, he'd go with the latter, what with it being, wait for it... ''the lesser of two treevils''. After you fail to laugh [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial he insists he certainly didn't go to all that trouble just to set that line up]] and suggests that comedy isn't your thing. |
| 272 | * ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'' has this bit of dialogue: |
| 273 | -->'''[=GLaDOS=]''': Management froze me out of the lighting systems after I created a strobe effect to induce seizures in a bus full of Freemasons. It was an...illuminating experiment.\ |
| 274 | '''Ash''': You made that up just for the pun, didn't you?\ |
| 275 | '''[=GLaDOS=]''': Maybe. |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/ShenzhenIO'' one of the levels is about using a sliding window function to control an actual sliding window. Your boss will point this out after you've completed the level. |
| 277 | [[/folder]] |
| 278 | |
| 279 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 280 | * The creators of ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' once joked that the series would eventually end with one final punchline that the entire show had been leading up to all these years and every PlotHole would suddenly make sense. Granted, if they manage, it will probably be the most glorious Overly Pre-Prepared Gag ever. [[RunningGag Of all time]]. Even if it really is lame, managing to pull off such a feat after 11+ years (especially considering the show was only supposed to be ''about five episodes long'' at first) would be nothing short of godhood. |
| 281 | * The {{Animutation}} ''Irrational Exuberance'' has the chorus of the song sang each time by three different antropomorphic fruits that parodies of company logos (Rotten Apple Joe for Apple, Banana Public Inc for Banana Republic, etc) with a flashing sign that reads "FRUIT SELLS" and giving out their Name, company and fun facts. The very last chorus ends with [[spoiler: [[CampGay Richard Simmons]]. With the fun fact "This was an incredibly large setup for such a cheap joke. That's what makes it funny"]] |
| 282 | * ''WebAnimation/PuffinForest'': In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8dXuGof7dc The Legend of the Legendary Aligaros Ashuin!]]", Ben wasted a character level just to get an ability he had to wait months to use just for a joke, which he never used again. |
| 283 | [[/folder]] |
| 284 | |
| 285 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 286 | * ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' does this a lot. |
| 287 | ** [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/590.html #590.]] [[https://www.irregularwebcomic.net/486.html #486]]. The author admits that yes, he named the character James Stud ''just'' to get that one joke. |
| 288 | ** Also, [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1858.html #1858]]. In-universe and real world. |
| 289 | ** Occasionally David Morgan-Marr uses these in his annotations, for example: |
| 290 | --->Swearing of oaths used to actually count for something. It used to be that people really respected sworn oaths, and would take you at your word, pretty much without question. Nowadays we're much too cynical a society to really put anywhere near as much credence on to an oath. I mean, if the director of a huge company swore on his mother's grave to stop polluting the rivers near his chemical factories, would anyone really believe him? It would be nice if we could revive faith in oaths, so that you really could believe someone if they swore to stop dumping toxic chemicals into the waterways. Lend such things more credence. It would be a credence clear-water revival. |
| 291 | * ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'': |
| 292 | ** [[http://xkcd.com/123/ Comic #123]], in a way. |
| 293 | ** [[http://xkcd.com/410/ xkcd seems to like doing this a lot.]] [[http://xkcd.com/153/ Even in his crypto algorithms.]] |
| 294 | ** [[http://xkcd.com/887/ And again]], except this time it's the actual joke, not an in-universe setup. Seriously, it's nine pages long. Or at least nine page-downs. |
| 295 | ** [[http://xkcd.com/757/ And another one.]] |
| 296 | ** [[http://xkcd.com/327/ You could call this an overly prepared prank.]] |
| 297 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 298 | ** [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0723.html "Generally Relative"]]. As per usual, given a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade the size of Canada.]] |
| 299 | --->'''Tarquin:''' Oh MAN! I've always wanted to say that line!\ |
| 300 | '''Elan:''' That was... that was a PERFECT delivery!\ |
| 301 | '''Tarquin:''' I know, right? Wasn't it awesome? I've been waiting, like, FOREVER for that.\ |
| 302 | '''Elan:''' Growing up without a father was totally worth it just for that reveal! |
| 303 | ** And in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0852.html "Under the Helmet"]]. |
| 304 | --->'''Tarquin: Totally''' worth wearing a mask under my helmet for two days. |
| 305 | ** [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0854.html Two pages later,]] Malack comments that Tarquin has always been willing to go the extra mile for a punchline. |
| 306 | * ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' has this in conjunction with a BrickJoke: One of the first comics had Black Mage make an off-hand comment that a party of four White Mages would "never work" (He was reading a ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' magazine, which actually suggested a [=WMx4=] party set-up in a sidebar article). Fast forward almost ''ten years'' in real time, and guess who defeats the BigBad? Black Mage's reaction was extraordinarily subdued, but by that point, it's safe to assume he was far too used to being the Universe's ButtMonkey. Creator/BrianClevinger has admitted this as being the entire reason for making the comic in the first place! |
| 307 | * ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'': |
| 308 | ** [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/2174/ Cloning oneself to make a "beside myself" pun]] and [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/2319/ turning oneself and one's car into a mermaid to make a mer-cedes pun]] are two fine examples. |
| 309 | ** And [[https://www.explosm.net/comics/2835/ eating cyanide so you could have a "suicide pact lunch".]] |
| 310 | ** And [[https://explosm.net/comics/rob-allright chopping down your left arm and leg to say "it's all right"]]. |
| 311 | * ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'': [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1287 "T-Rex! You just spent hours learning about accounting for a pun!"]] |
| 312 | * ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': |
| 313 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2150#comic 10+ years of prep for a one-time one-word joke.]] |
| 314 | ** An earlier comic pulls [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1538#comic the same thing]], though the [[BestServedCold long-term revenge]] numbs a bit of the humor. |
| 315 | * Kickback set up one in [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v4/321.html "The Fallen Finds a Bridge"]] of the Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}. |
| 316 | * ''Webcomic/FollyAndInnovation'' has [[http://follyandinnovation.com/2010/03/totally-worth-it/ one with 65 days of patience for the sake of a pun.]] |
| 317 | * ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES'' has [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2012/07/06/780-backside-opening/ "Backside Opening"]]. |
| 318 | * ''Webcomic/{{Wondermark}}'' at one point devoted ''two months'' of comics, starting [[http://wondermark.com/c1414/ here]], to torturous puns on the phrase "check out my sick elephant", culminating in a ten-strip story about an attempt to film an all-elephant version of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' in Russian with the aid of Creator/AntonChekhov. |
| 319 | * In one ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity'' strip, Lewis complains that Comic Con has been cancelled, because he was going to volunteer. He planned to cosplay as Series/TheMandalorian and work the information booth. Frank comments that this is a lot of trouble to go to just for the sake of telling people asking for directions "This is the way". |
| 320 | * One ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' strip has Emily eating a big bowl of peas and giggling to herself. Unfortunately, the first person who finds her is PungeonMaster Claire, who says "Are you giving peas a chance?" before Emily can. In the next strip, when Hannerlore approaches her, she says "I'm giving peas a chance!" before Hanners can say anything. Hanners misses the joke entirely, and a distraught Emily gives up. |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 324 | * [[http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/theories/grima.htm Here's one that's lampshaded at the end.]] |
| 325 | * ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' -- [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-bizarre-sounds-from-outer-space/ "7 Bizarre Noises from Outer Space"]]: the editor listed six videos for noises. The seventh? [[spoiler: [[UranusIsShowing Uranus]]. He even admitted to making the article just to have the line "This is the noise Uranus makes."]] |
| 326 | * Subverted in the page quote for JustForFun/PunnyTropeNames: |
| 327 | -->Upon discovering that Miles Black, the famous phrenologist from Yorkshire was going to take up yodeling to lonely goats in Bali, James White decided to balance four planks of wood on a beer keg and call it an abstract work of art in the style of a famous fourteenth-century architect, just going to prove that people will read any old garbage if they think there will be a good pun at the end of it.\ |
| 328 | -- The Grand Panjandrum's Special Award for Vile Puns, [[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/scott.rice/blfc2008.htm The 2008]] Literature/BulwerLyttonFictionContest |
| 329 | %%* [[http://skippyslist.com/2008/05/08/a-painful-story/ "A Painful Story"]] |
| 330 | * {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''[[http://krikensworld.blogspot.com/ Kriken's World]]''[='=]s [[http://krikensworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/episode-13-blue-and-gray.html review]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS22E13TheBlueAndTheGray The Blue and the Gray]]", in which Kriken suspects that the whole episode is merely written aroud the visual gag of [[http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/File:The_Blue_and_the_Gray_111.JPG Marge looking like a witch]]. What makes this an especially bad one, is that a previous episode included a much more elegantly done series of events, to set up the joke that Homer is the Hulk. Complete with Stan Lee. |
| 331 | * [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-649-2568-j This]] ''Website/SCPFoundation'' article spends several drawn-out paragraphs setting up [[spoiler:a joke about a Music/SirMixALot song.]] |
| 332 | [[/folder]] |
| 333 | |
| 334 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 335 | * Creator/AchievementHunter: |
| 336 | ** Geoff and Gavin spent twenty ''hours'' preparing an elaborate ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' city for the crew to live in (complete with a massive recreation of the AH logo and a gigantic monolith serving as Geoff's house)... [[{{Troll}}and the entire point was that there was a single misaligned block that would pour lava into Jack's house when he'd try to fix it]]. Twenty hours of work just to set one guy's house on fire when he tried to clean it up; and it failed as Jack was able to save his house. [[CuttingTheKnot So Gavin just poured a bucket of Lava on it]]. It was later revealed they also had a "failsafe", [[spoiler:having spent an additional hour burying hundreds of cubes of [=TNT=] under the city and then luring Michael into pressing the trigger button]]. |
| 337 | ** Gavin at one point dug a giant shaft to bedrock, covered it up, and then placed a landmine so Geoff would plummet to the bottom of the map after walking across it. |
| 338 | ** The Fire Extinguisher was constructed to put out fires when Jack's house caught fire, only for its water supply to be replaced with lava. |
| 339 | ** Dark Achievement City, a mirror image of the main Achievement City in the Nether, was constructed for what, even in advance, the builders knew would amount to a ten second reaction from the others. |
| 340 | ** After posting a prank video where Michael and Gavin dismantle [[TheNapoleon Jeremy]]'s desk and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgOxsZCWdXo lower it to the floor]], Geoff and Gavin realized that what they ''should'' have done instead was ''raise it to the ceiling''. Hundreds of dollars worth of equipment and 5 months of preparation later, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKfulHf2OlY they did exactly that]]. |
| 341 | ** Achievement Hunter's favorite pranks in general fall under this umbrella. When Chad James had politely declined a taco from Michael because he had other lunch plans, the entire division quickly ''dismantled and hid Chad's desk'' within minutes. They left his office completely empty while Chad and the rest of the RT Core office were attempting to steal a microwave. Some time after that incident, they repeated the offer to Chad, which he accepted this time. However, much to his chagrin, they bought ''99 more tacos'' and proceeded to drag him around the Rooster Teeth offices with tacos for everyone. |
| 342 | * ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun:'' |
| 343 | ** [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/38/Rapidfire-Episode-1 One ]] video took place over several cuts spread out over five minutes, featuring a morose clown waking up to face the day. All completely irrelevant, until the payoff in the final cut. |
| 344 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_13NI9E_Yo Munroe's Meats]] is an in-universe example, a five minute long, terrifying build-up to a punny tagline. |
| 345 | ** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z5ya91_Y6o Failure]] similarly spends several minutes of a teacher excoriating his students complete with statistical breakdowns and a slideshow to demonstrate their many failures objectively, all for the reveal: [[spoiler: It's Opposite Day.]] |
| 346 | * ''WebVideo/FiveSecondFilms'' provide us with a beautiful example with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkAUFeOyf6s&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL The Ballad of Truck Thunders]]. |
| 347 | * ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'': While talking about experiences playing video games at cons, Creator/{{Egoraptor}} mentioned that he likes to parody new-age gamers by playing retro games, running through them terribly, and [[RageQuit rage-quitting]] the second he dies. However, once while playing the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', he just ran through the game, unintentionally doing a perfect speedrun... And he didn't get hit ''until he reached the final level''. Whenever he did die fighting Bowser, he had already garnered a huge audience expecting this to be his original intention, but he just went with the original joke, throwing down the controlling and yelling "[[ItsEasySoItSucks THIS GAME]] ''[[ItsEasySoItSucks SUCKS!]]''" and left. |
| 348 | * LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}} specifically waited until episode 101 of his ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' LP to make a "Xenoblade 101" joke, as if he knew the LP would be that long or that he started the aftergame then. |
| 349 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1p5eNOsl7I This]] [[Music/SiIvaGunner SiIvagunner rip]] of [[Franchise/LoveLive Snow Halation]] goes to a great deal of effort (including English singers for all the parts, and adhering to a rhyming scheme) for a bizarre combination of Love Live and WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones, which have nothing in common beyond being common gags on the channel. It takes three minutes of song, but it finally reveals the whole point was setting up [[spoiler: the incredibly lame "Stone Halation" pun at the title-drop.]] |
| 350 | * It's not outright confirmed, but there's a distinct possibility that Brian only grew out his mustache for ''WebVideo/{{Unraveled}}'' Season 2 entirely so he could dramatically shave it off at the end of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3XnKr0lvDw "Waluigi, Unraveled"]]. |
| 351 | * In WebVideo/MichaelReeves' "I Gave My Goldfish $50,000 to Trade Stocks", he designed an automatic stock-trading device that would buy and sell stocks based on the random movements of his goldfish... [[CrazyEnoughToWork which amazingly made Michael over $1000 in profit]]. Deciding that [[SarcasmMode this technology has incredible potential]], he presented it to potential investors [[SincerityMode for real]], giving a legitimate presentation as a startup called "reef.ly" to Launch House, a LA-based meeting place for tech entrepreneurs. The footage taken from the seminar makes it clear that Michael played the presentation of his "fish algorithm-based technology" completely straight, and it wasn't until partway through that his live audience of actual potential investors realized the "fish" for Michael's stock-trading program wasn't some tech buzzword, but in fact ''a real goldfish in a tank''. |
| 352 | [[/folder]] |
| 353 | |
| 354 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 355 | * ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has an in-universe example. CIA Director bullock sends himself and Stan on a 16 hour flight to Japan and meets him in full Kabuki dress in a Japanese tea house. |
| 356 | -->'''Bullock:''' Thank you for flying out here Smith.\ |
| 357 | '''Stan:''' Of course Sir, but why are we dressed up like this?\ |
| 358 | '''Bullock:''' Because I thought we could be Secret ''[[{{Pun}} Asians.]]''\ |
| 359 | '''Stan:''' A 16 hour flight for a bad pun? ''(Stan smiles, points at Bullock)'' Yes. Yes. |
| 360 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': |
| 361 | ** "The Three Muska-Warners" has the Warners playing as musketeers who must protect their king from a mysterious being called "The Viper". After a shorts worth of the Warners' usual shenanigans, the Viper appears...a '''V'''indow '''V'''iper. |
| 362 | ** The segment "Wakko's Gizmo" involved Wakko Warner showing off a long, complex Rube-Goldberg contraption that ultimately ended with [[spoiler: a whoopee cushion]]. |
| 363 | -->'''Yakko:''' You should see how he brushes his teeth. |
| 364 | ** Another ''Animaniacs'' segment, "The Party", has the Warners inviting some people over to the Water Tower for a party. Thaddeus Plotz, at first, refuses, until the Warners promise that "Steven" will be there. From that point forward, they off-handedly remind Plotz that if he leaves, "Steven" will be disappointed. At the very end, "Steven" finally, arrives... But he is a schlubby nerd named Steven Pudner. Of course, Plotz was expecting it to be Creator/StevenSpielberg. Yakko lampshades this trope by saying, "Was that a long way to go for a joke or what?" before everyone says, "Goodnight, everybody!" |
| 365 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' video ''Lord of the Beans'', Larry's silly song is about his elf girlfriend, and he spends the entire song dressed like Elvis with pointy, elven ears and singing in an Elvis style. Just when you think that the only joke is an "Elvis/Elves" pun, Jimmy Gourd (who was playing the elf in the main story) shows up and rips Larry's false Elf ears off. "I knew it! You're no Elf! You're an [[ElvisImpersonator Elvish Impersonator]]!" |
| 366 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Insecurity" there's a scene where Cheshire pins Red Arrow down, holds a Japanese forked dagger to his neck, and steals a kiss, saying "A kiss is just a kiss". This appears to be entirely a setup for Wally to take the weapon and fire back with "And a sai is just a sai". |
| 367 | * In ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'', they spend 1/10th of an episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJH234JEn8just getting ready for a single pun]]. |
| 368 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' episode "The Tick Loves Santa" involves a department-store Santa who turns evil and gets superpowers... one of which is that electricity causes him to produce clones. This is such a ridiculously specific series of events that it could only have been done deliberately to set up a joke during the final fight... which takes place in a power plant. |
| 369 | -->'''Tick:''' (''about to be crushed under an oncoming wave of thousands of Santa clones'') It's a Yule tide!!! |
| 370 | * A ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' short has Coco -- who, as usual, is only capable of saying her name. Throughout the episode, she is slowly joined by a group of imaginary friends who themselves only say one thing: a disgruntled "Nuts", a pirate who yells "Arr!", a pink thing who sings "Faa~", and another who mutters "Lingfrom". At the end, they are joined by a two-headed friend who points to his companion and states, "This guy". Bloo is almost immediately hit by coconuts falling from the sky. |
| 371 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' introduced the Armored Binome Carriers, a type of airship carrying binome soldiers (binomes being the common citizens of Mainframe). Megabyte has the ability to turn binomes, and some other lifeforms, to his side. Throughout the second season, Creator/{{ABC}}, the channel that showed ''Reboot'', had become increasingly unforgiving to the makers of this show as they wanted it removed from their lineup. One battle, in that season, has Bob and his team of fellow Guardians armed with a fleet of Armored Binome Carriers. When some of them switch sides in the battle under Megabyte's orders and start firing at Bob's ship, he utters, "The [=ABCs=] have turned against us!" |
| 372 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsHolidaysUnwrapped'': "Saving Pinkie's Pie" ends with Rainbow Dash suddenly [[HumanSnowman appearing out of a snowman]] and throwing snowballs at Rarity, who casually blocks with her barrier (as a throwaway gag after the main plot is resolved). An annoyed Rainbow Dash says she spent two days as a snowman for that. Aside from the fact that this would mean she would be exposed to the cold for this long with no food, sleep, or bathroom, all for a sneak attack in a [[SnowballFight snowball fight]], you'd expect her to get bored standing still doing nothing before any of that would take effect, which, incidentally, at least cold and fatigue never seemed to. But [[RuleOfFunny it's there for an amusing joke]]. |
| 373 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In "Suddenly Suzy", Perry escapes Doofenshmirtz lands at a banana delivery service, learns to drive a banana truck so that he can chase after Doofenshmirtz, and then there's an entire musical number about it. This all seems completely random and nonsensical until Doofenshmirtz's Carbon-Footprint-Inator [[BananaPeel slips on the giant banana]] and falls. |
| 374 | [[/folder]] |
| 375 | |
| 376 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 377 | * TruthInTelevision: In ''If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor'', Creator/BruceCampbell relates a true complicated prank he played on a friend involving his broken down car and the US Park Service. |
| 378 | * InvokedTrope: At the beginning of the vice-presidential debate in the 2008 U.S. election, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden shook hands and she could clearly be heard saying, "Nice to meet you, can I call you Joe?" Many commentators later guessed that (given that candidates aren't really allowed to talk to each other during these "debates") she'd only asked so that she could begin one of her rebuttals with, "Say it ain't so, Joe!" In fact, it was because she had accidentally referred to him as "Senator O'Biden" repeatedly during debate prep. |
| 379 | * [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-positive-ending/9283 You just charged me for assault and battery!]] |
| 380 | * The VideoGame/RockBand Network is a system for small bands to get their own songs into the official Rock Band DLC store. The program that compiles the song for testing is called Magma "'cuz that's where rock comes from." The developers have stated that yes, that joke is the sole reason for the name. |
| 381 | * While filming ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'', Creator/JohnBarrowman decided to "scare the crap out of Creator/{{Eve|Myles}}" by sneaking into her trailer and jumping out from the shower. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jwDW19CEM He was in there a long time.]] |
| 382 | * [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P._Burdell George P. Burdell]] is a fake student made up by William Edgar Smith when Georgia Tech sent him two enrollment forms. Smith then proceeded to sign Burdell up for all the classes he was taking. He did all of his schoolwork twice, even the tests, changing things around slightly to prevent the professors from catching on. This "prank" went on for so long that Georgia Tech awarded Burdell an actual master's degree. |
| 383 | * Creator/AndyKaufman was infamous for going to insane lengths for a gag, up to and including spending weeks at a time in-character as his stage personas. The reason [[HesJustHiding so many people think he faked his death]]? Because even his friends and family agree that faking a long, horrific death by cancer and keeping the charade up for decades for the sake of a dumb joke sounds like something ''Kaufman would actually do''. |
| 384 | [[/folder]] |
| 385 | ---- |
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