-->'''Chekov''': I was making a little joke, sir.\\
'''Spock''': Extremely little, ensign.
-->--'''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'''

-->''You could be a glob of mustard. An undigested bit a beef. Yes, there's more of the ''gravy '' than of grave of you!''
-->--'''Ebenezer Scrooge''', ''AChristmasCarol''


A character (especially a PungeonMaster) makes a pun so lame, obvious or disgusting that it makes listening characters [[CollectiveGroan wince, groan or even feel compelled to inflict violence on the punster]]--or, at least, bring a lawsuit against him for pun-itive damages. {{Rimshot}}s are completely optional.

Not to be confused with StealthPun, which refers to puns where the punchline is simply left to the readers or listeners as an exercise, and not to particularly groan-inducing and/or obvious ones.

The chief purpose of this trope seems to be to allow an author to deploy an awful groaner and still dodge the blame for it by pointing the karmic retribution at the character.

'''Note that this refers explicitly to when these puns are referred to as lame ''in-series''.''' This can happen ''even if the pun in question is [[CrowningMomentOfFunny actually really, really funny]]''. For other puns that [[SoUnfunnyItsFunny may or may not be bad,]] see HurricaneOfPuns and AWorldWidePunomenon. For a character that always makes these, see PungeonMaster. For an index of punny trope names, see JustForPun.

This may also warrant a CollectiveGroan. See also VisualPun.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* NininGaShinobuden has a truly horrible visual pun at the end of episode 9's first half. The ninja attempt to make a [[FuroScene furo]] by rerouting a hot spring into their bath house, but it's not water that comes out of the pipe...
-->'''Ninja''': Permed hair!?\\
'''Kaede''': Afro?\\
'''Shinobu''': I guess...\\
'''Onsokumaru''': It's "a furo", therefore "afro".\\
'''Everybody''': ''*groan*''\\
'''Ninja''': That was a lame joke.
* In ''AzumangaDaioh'' (the anime), Tomo makes a pun, though what that pun is depends on whether it's the dub, the sub (both based on "freedom"), or the original (based on "yoyuu"). The other girls groan and Chiyo says it was bad, while Tomo is flabbergasted at their response.
* Fuuka of ''{{Yotsubato}}'' makes the occasional pun, though only Asagi attacks her for it. Here father, on the other hand, appreciates the humor value.
* One of the main characters from ShamanKing, Chocolove, is rather famous for his puns so horribly obvious that the others tend to freeze in awe for a few seconds before continuing the conversation, often turning completely white in the process (in the anime, at least). Other times he just gets attacked by someone, usually Ren.
* Tamahome throws one out in ''FushigiYuugi''. In an attempt to cheer Miaka up, he tells her that after causing some trouble, '''Tasuki''' will probably be taken to '''task''' (in the Japanese version, the word used for the pun is ''tasukete'', or "help" in English). He acknowledges the lameness of his pun himself and blames his MoneyFetish for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* In ''Squadron Supreme'', toddler Hyperion is startled by his new pet dog and incinerates it with his heat vision. One of the two guards watching him over security camera remarks "I guess Spot was kind of the right name after all." His partner lays him out for that one, in a cross between this trope and DudeNotFunny.
* {{Batman}}'s Robins have such a [[PungeonMaster propensity]] to this, it's been suspected it's a tacit requirement to being Robin.
-->'''[[{{Unfunny}} Batman]]''': You still haven't gotten over the puns?\\
'''[[SidekickGraduationsStick Nightwing]]''': Oh shush. You love it.
* In the DonRosa story "Return to Plain Awful," Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck visit the LostWorld of Plain Awful, a {{Utopia}} where square things are prized, round things are illegal, and the people live "on good cheer" with no financial interests. Eventually, Scrooge does manage to interest the people in his money--but only aesthetically, and as a finishing touch, they chop their new stack of bills into two square halves. The story ends with Donald noting that now, Scrooge (who had constantly been boasting about having made his money that way) has something in common with the Awfultonians:
-->'''Donald''': Well, they made their billion by being [[CatchPhrase tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties]]! And you know what else?\\
'''Scrooge''': Oh, ''no'', nephew! Don't say it! ...''Please''!\\
'''Donald''': That's right! They made it ''square''!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Commercials]]
* Another example from a Heinz ad for corn:
-->'''Ad''': One of our corn farmers has a saying: "You won't believe my ears!" We never said it was a good saying.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''DuckSoup'': Chicolini's suggestion that Freedonia maintain a standing army, "because then we save money on chairs", provokes Firefly to give him the bum's rush from the room (and apparently worse, judging by the OffscreenCrash that follows).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''The New {{Discworld}} Companion'' tells the story of Monsieur Pune, creator of the Fool's Guild:
-->''"Q. When is a door not a door? A. When it is ajar (a jar)" - one of his early puns for which he was tarred and feathered and left for dead.''
** For all that Pratchett makes fun of it, he generally has at least one rather dreadful pun per book. The "gilt by association" one in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' comes to mind.
* DaveBarry, as he states in the page quote, is not fond of puns, and rarely uses them without heavyweight LampshadeHanging. Take, for example, this passage in ''Dave Barry Slept Here'':
-->But now he could sit back and relax as the reaper roared through as many as ten acres per hour, reaping the living hell out of everything that stood in its path, occasionally spitting out bits of mule fur or farmhand clothing, which could easily be reassembled thanks to the sewing machine, invented by Elias Howe. "Don't ask me Howe it works!" he used to say, over and over, until finally somebody, we think his wife, shot him in the head with a revolver, invented by Samuel Colt.
** Or this passage in ''Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You Will Ever Need'':
-->The history of Ireland dates back a long time to the original inhabitants, the Picts, who were a fun-loving tribe known for their wit. "You sure Pict a winner that time!" is the kind of thing they were always saying, until finally a neighboring tribe called the Celtics got sick and tired of it and came in and, in 432 B.C. on October 8, defeated the Picts in the Battle of Defeating the Picts when John Havlicek sank two free throws in overtime.
* In Piers Anthony's ''{{Xanth}}'' series, much of the wildlife and magic are literal puns, such as a mango being a human-shaped fruit that makes you urinate immediately upon eating it. Most of the characters dislike the puns, particularly a winged centaur whose name is a pun (Karia, who starts floating helplessly away whenever she hears her name.)
* The characters in Spider Robinson's ''Callahan's Crosstime Saloon'' series are prolific with these, to the point of competitions in which the worst / best pun of the evening gets his bar tab waived. They call it Punday Night. Normally, things are thrown at the offending punster, and fire extinguishers and seltzer bottles are also used for particularly awful puns.
-->As Callahan says, "I noticed that all my customers were drinking twice as much as usual, to blunt the pain. So I invented Punday."
* ''The Marvellous Land of Oz'' sees H.M. Wogglebug T.E. make joke about the Sawhorse, noting that if he rode him, it would be a "horse-and-buggie". Jack Pumpkinhead covers up his permanently-smiling mouth, and the Tin Woodsman ''threatens the Wogglebug with his axe''.
* The quote from AChristmasCarol shows this trope is [[OlderThanDirt Older Than Cars]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Tom Servo of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' absolutely loves to bust these out, usually attracting the ire of Crow and Joel/Mike.
** In the final episode ''Laserblast'', Tom and Crow calf rope and gag Mike and force him to listen repeatedly to a bad pun involving ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'', as he struggles mightily.
--->'''Crow''': Come on, Tom, can't we all get '''''beyond Thunderdome'''''?\\
''(Mike screams into his gag.)''
* On ''{{Buffy}}'', this exchange (among others):
-->'''Giles''': I've never actually heard of anyone attacked by a lone baseball bat before.\\
'''Xander''': Maybe it's a vampire bat.\\
'''Everyone''': *stares*
* On ''[[MASHTheSeries M*A*S*H]]'', B.J. was prone to these.
-->'''Hawkeye''': In fact, you might say that all of us together [[TheErnest made up]] Tuttle." Cut to eyeroll from Radar.
* Johnny Carson's "Carnac the Magnificent" on ''TheTonightShow'' typically served up plenty of puns and if the audience groaned or booed loudly enough, Carnac would place a funny curse on them in retaliation.
* ''{{Spaced}}'': Mike is kicked out of the Rough Ramblers after a disastrous Eskimo roll. Tim says:
-->'''Tim''': So it wasn't so much a Eskimo roll as a case of rolling right Inuit.\\
'''Mike''': *stares*\\
'''Tim''': [[DontExplainTheJoke Inuit's another word for Eskimo.]]
* ''{{Frasier}}''. In ''Look Before You Leap'', Frasier is attempting an opera song, requiring him to hit an impossibly high note, while Niles is horny due to refusing Maris' rare sexual invite despite their marriage counselor's advice.
-->'''Niles:''' You know, as much as I admire your willingness to take a leap, I did warn you that you were getting into a dangerous “aria.” ''(pained laugh)'' Oh God, I’m using humor to mask sexual frustration. It’s high school all over again.
* Robert Lee, the narrator for ''{{Mythbusters}}'' makes as many puns about the myth being tested as possible.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* In "The Intimate P.D.Q. Bach", during the introduction to ''Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice'', Peter Schickele mentions that this particular work (an opera "in one unnatural act") was rewritten for the Vienna Opera Company so that Mrs. Vienna and her son could play all of the parts, while Mr. Vienna played the piano in his best formal attire, the "Tails of Old Vienna" - whereupon the (live) audience erupts into groans and pained exclamations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* A recurring gag in ''PearlsBeforeSwine'', where a long conversation leads to a stretched word pun on the entire conversation, and then (usually) Rat [[strike:saying how he hates the comic]] threatens bodily harm on artist Stephan Pastis.
-->'''Pig''': So if at "Farce" you don't suck seed, try dry again?\\
'''Rat''' (to author): Have some pride.
** Also, [[http://keckeley.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/pearls-its-a-moray.gif this]]. ''Ow''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* GilbertAndSullivan, ''The Grand Duke'':
-->'''Notary''': When [[PainfulRhyme exigence of rhyme compels]],\\
Orthography forgoes her spells,\\
And "ghost" is rhymed with "goest".\\
'''All''': With what an emphasis he dwells\\
Upon "orthography" and "spells"!\\
That kind of fun's the lowest.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''AnimalCrossing'' will make your character crack a bad joke whenever he/she catches a fish or bug and this is occasionally [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]:
-->'''[[{{AFGNCAAP}} You]]:''' "I caught a sea bass! See? BASS! (Why do I keep saying things like that?)"
* {{Sacrifice}} brings us this little gem, aimed at a servant of the god of earth who's made of living rock:
-->'''Zyzyx:''' Now Grakkus here is none too quick on his feet. It may be because he leads such a... ''Sedimentary'' lifestyle!\\
'''Eldred''': ...''NeverSayThatAgain''.
* ''Tales of MonkeyIsland: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal'' features a pun so bad, even Guybrush's EvilHand feels the need to upbraid him for it:
-->'''Guybrush:''' Can I call you "[[DoraTheExplorer D'Oro the explorer]]"? *Punches himself*
** Amazingly, he manages to top himself in the very next episode after receiving a book of fish jokes (many of which also qualify):
--->'''Guybrush:''' I hope it won't leave me in '''stiches''', or I might need a '''sturgeon'''.\\
'''Mermaid Librarian:''' I hate you now.
* Tenebrae from ''TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' absolutely '''''loves''''' groan-inducing puns. At one going, he made one that was so bad that Raine and Genis didn't groan, they unloaded on him with their ultimate unison attack from the previous game.
* There is an optional scene in ''{{Persona 3}}'' where Akihiko, trying to get over his shyness around girls, practices his pick-up lines in secret. Reading that a sense of humor is vital, he makes an utterly horrid pun ("Want to go to that Beef Bowl place?... I hope I 'meat' you there!"), then promptly chastises himself:
-->'''Akihiko:''' Who am I, [[PungeonMaster the Chairman]]?!?
*{{Runescape}} has plenty of puns inside the game and that's often ridiculed.
-->'''Examine zygomite (killer fungi):''' A fun guy. No, wait, that's awful. Plus it doesn't even make sense.
* [[{{Persona4}} "What a Teddious fight!" "Bear naked!" "Grin and bear it!"]]
* In Namco x Capcom, there's a stage where EVERYONE starts making these (Japanese-only). It even highlights in red what the pun is supposed to be. Needless to say, to the characters, it gets old really fast.
*Kingdom of Loathing is chock full of references and puns, occasionally even the narrator recognizes how terrible some of them are. For example:
"This is a dairy goat. Insert a pun on "udderly" and "utterly", if you're the kind of guy who doesn't get punched in the face enough. "
Then later in the fight
"She swings her udder at you, but misses. She's an udder failure. Yeah, go ahead and punch me in the face."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* [[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=34&issue=13 This page]] of ''[=~The Adventures of Dr. McNinja~=]''.
** [[AltText He makes you wear an old diving suit, of course he just said that.]]
* The ''{{xkcd}}'' strip [[http://www.xkcd.com/282/ Organic Fuel]] has a pretty extreme version of this.
** [[http://www.xkcd.com/410/ Math Paper]] takes it even further.
*** Has he ever explained how in the hell you have a stripping license? Or is losing one even more confusing?
**** Well, if you don't get it... ''re-nude''...
***** ''F___ you!''
** Then there's the mouse-over text for [[http://xkcd.com/431/ Delivery]].
** And [[http://xkcd.com/594/ Period]] has another groaner.
* And in ''ScaryGoRound'', [[http://scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20070627 "You were wrong. Puns don't help."]]
* [[http://captainosaka.deviantart.com/art/DOUBLE-K-026-106195125 This page]] of ''[[FanficRecs/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Double K]]''. In the words of the writer: "KAMINA just pissed away every cool point he earned over the last 25 pages, way to go buddy"
* ''DominicDeegan'': Puns of all kinds are standard operating procedure for the comic (many characters showing off how bad they are by [[BeatPanel looking towards the "readers"]]. Although, they can sometimes be [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2002-07-17 very useful]].
* King Astos of had been shaping up to be the major antagonist in the Elfland subplot of ''EightBitTheater''. Just before the [[FinalBattle assumed climactic battle]] would transpire, an incredibly lame pun by Red Mage wrecked the tension. The following pun by Black Mage was so lame that King Astos ''[[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/06/21/episode-298-a-natural-response/ died]]'' immediately upon hearing it. (The author of the webcomic is a fan of such {{Anti Climax}}es, by the way.)
* ''BetweenFailures'' shows [[http://betweenfailures.com/2009/01/21/406-menses/ Nina insulting Reggie]] with one of these.
* ''{{Starslip}}'':
-->'''Cutter''': Honking our horn ain't enough. I say we flash them our '''hi-beams'''.\\
'''Vanderbeam''': How would we do that?\\
'''Cutter''': Say hi, Beams.\\
'''Vanderbeam''': ''Guh''.
* Mr. Mighty in EverydayHeroes will occasionally try to be a [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=117736 cut-up]].
* ''CaseyAndAndy'' features the (extremely lethal) Pun Police. In one strip a villain successfully kills Andy by inducing him to make a bad pun.
* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0684.html this]] OrderOfTheStick, Vaarsuvius has sworn not to interfere in the battle except in self-defense...or if Elan's puns drive him crazy.
* In the webcomic Jailhouse Blues the character of Bean Man has puns so bad, or at least so undignified, that his creator forbids him from using them. He does anyways anyways and earns himself a rather painful death in the process.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* WhateleyUniverse: Chaka's lame pun at the end of "Ayla and the Networks" gets her severely pummeled by pillows, beanbag chairs, etc.
*The web fiction serial DimensionHeroes is notorious for bad puns, which usually lead to whoever says them getting smacked.
*''DragonballZAbridged Parody'' includes this little gem:
-->'''Krillin and Piccolo''': Multiform technique! [[{{Naruto}} Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!]]\\
'''Nappa''': Vegeta! I can't ... [[VerbalTic Believe it!]]\\
[[Beat]] \\
'''Vegeta''': *[[{{Angrish}} angrished]] groan*
* In [[TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony's]] Let's Play of Phantasmagoria 2, he made more than a few horrible puns and then smacks himself for doing so.
-->"''Look, a 'bicurious' jacket. [[DontExplainTheJoke Get it? Its a straight jacket and he's bicurious.]]''"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''BatmanBeyond'' "Dead Man's Hand," Bruce explains to Terry how the Royal Flush Gang are old-school gimmick villains, only committing robberies for items related to playing card suits (such as diamonds). Why their heist on a yacht for miscellaneous non-diamond jewelry, then? "It was in a yacht ''club''." They're both disgusted by the pun.
* Carlos, on TheMagicSchoolBus, frequently inflicts these on his classmates, resulting in a [[strike: CollectiveGroan of his name.]] FirstNameUltimatum by everyone else present.
*''LooneyTunes''' Foghorn Leghorn often came up with these, prompting sighs and eyeball-rolling from Henry Hawk, Barnyard Dawg, or whoever else he was talking to. ("You gotta keep your eye on the ball. Eye! Ball! Eyeball! I almost had a gag, son! Joke, that is!")
* There was a literal CardCarryingVillain on JackieChanAdventures, complete with puns like "We have the upper hand" and even his boss tells him to "quit with the card puns."
* In the first episode of ''SouthPark'' to air after 9/11, Towelie makes a cameo appearance. Discovering the kids don't want him around, he asks, "Am I to understand there's been a... Towelie ban?" Everyone else groans, once they figure it out.
* In Disney's ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', during the final battle, Jafar makes a number of fairly horrible puns in quick succession (e.g. "Things are unraveling quickly" as he literally unravels the magic carpet). In the DVDCommentary, they comment on this, saying "he's trying to kill them with bad puns."
** He does it again in an episode of ''{{Hercules}}: The Animated Series'' when he teams up with Hades (who himself comments on it a lot).
* At least half of the things Numbuh Two says in ''CodenameKidsNextDoor''. It ''really'' bothered Numbuh Five.
* Beast Boy from ''TeenTitans'' frequently makes jokes which his teammates hate. There are too many to list here, however most notable, I believe, is the one in which the throws the [[{{Brain in a jar}} Brain]] into a freezing machine saying something like "Dudes check it out! BRAIN FREEZE". The entire hero cast (plus some extras) groans in dismay.
* Danny from ''DannyPhantom'' in the episode ''Shades of Gray'', the ghost dog burst into the school and Danny responds with "Who let the dogs ''in''?". Right afterwards, Danny had to explain the joke and decided to save some face to get the dog out. Sam responds with, "Bring better jokes!"
* In the SpongebobSquarepants episode "Pranks A Lot" where the above pic came from, Spongebob and Patrick get their hands on a can of invisibility spray.
-->'''Patrick''' (spray's Spongebob's hand with the spray): I gotta ''hand'' it to you, Spongebob, that is pretty funny!\\
'''Spongebob''' (snatches the can and sprays Patrick's stomach): Kinda gives ya an empty feeling, huh?\\
'''Patrick''' (snatches can back and sprays Spongebob's eye): Yeah, I ''see'' what you mean!\\
'''Spongebob''' (snatches the can and sprays Patrick's abdominal area): No guts, no glory!
** This is eventually interrupted by a title card reading "Several Bad Puns Later".
** Squidward tends to make lame jokes, sprinkling puns that only he laughs at. "Why didn't the kid go in the Pirate Movie? Because it's rated 'arrr'. You know, 'arrr' as in pirates?"
*** He likes band humor, you know.
* ''YellowSubmarine'' is liberally sprinkled with puns, but one in particular, when the submarine's motor dies, falls into this category:
-->'''George:''' Maybe we should call a road service?\\
'''Paul:''' Can't, no road!\\
'''Ringo:''' And we're not sub... scribers.\\
'''John/Paul/George:''' [groan]
* TheSimpsons HalloweenSpecial -- ''Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace'' has Willie/Freddie uttering a pun that's called horrible in the DVDCommentary.
--> '''Willie:''' ''[to a Latin-speaking Martin]'' You may have mastered a dead tongue, but can you handle a live one?! ''[proceeds to strangle Martin with his tongue, Freddie Kruger-style]''
[[/folder]]

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