[[{{Narbonic}} http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/narbonic_ruleoffunny.png]]
->''What should I know about the vast territory that lies beyond the confines of my little subculture of textbooks, Ramen noodles, coin-operated laundry and TV shows that seem to think they can skate by with random jokes about giant chickens that have absolutely nothing to do with the overall narrative? The boys at SouthPark are absolutely correct: Those cutaways and flashbacks have nothing to do with the story! They're just there to be... funny. And that is a shallow indulgence that SouthPark is [[StealthInsult quite above]], and for that I salute them.''
-->-- Seth [=MacFarlane=], in character as [[FamilyGuy Stewie Griffin]], Harvard Class Day 2006

->''"I'll go where the humor takes me, and if that happens to create gross inconsistencies, then so be it."''
--->-- '''Rich Burlew''', author of ''OrderOfTheStick''

Any violation of [[{{Canon}} continuity]], [[CharacterDerailment personality]], or [[UniverseBible even]] [[YouFailPhysicsForever physics]] is permissible if the result gets enough of a laugh.

This is the comedy equivalent of the RuleOfCool, and is accordingly weighted more in comedy shows. It can be used in more action-packed or dramatic environments as well, but if the audience isn't expecting humor in general, or (more likely) the specific kind of humor employed, the joke falls flat and all that's left is "that made no sense!" Due to the naturally subjective nature of humor, a series that relies extensively on RuleOfFunny usually slips into YourMileageMayVary.

Usually, surprising things are funny.

Especially easy to invoke in humor-based American animation and {{webcomics}}, where people expect the lack of realism in the art to translate to other areas.

Compare RuleOfFun.
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'''Tropes existing purely due to the RuleOfFunny:'''

* AmusingInjuries (and all subtropes thereof)
* ArmorPiercingSlap
* AssShove
* BadlyBatteredBabysitter
* TheCatCameBack
* CityOfEverywhere
* DiggingToChina
* DudeNotFunny
* GravityIsAHarshMistress
* HyperspaceMallet
* HypocriticalHumor
* InfantImmortality
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum
* {{Jerkass}}
* JustJokingJustification
* NegativeContinuity
* OrganAutonomy
* RapidFireComedy
* WaterIsAir
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* A ''running'' sight gag in ''AzumangaDaioh'' is Sakaki, after winning a race, running with the ribbon held up by her (for a Japanese teenager) extremely large breasts. Of course, this means that the ribbon was chest-level on the tallest girl, putting it high enough that some of the contestants would have run right ''under'' it...but it's still funny.
**Sakaki generally bends down a little and kind of "scoops" the ribbon when she runs through. Although I didn't find it funny so much as [[RuleofCool mildly cool]].
** LuckyStar deliberately invoked this trope as well, as noted by GenreSavvy Konata.
* ''ExcelSaga'', in a nutshell.
* ''OnePiece'' uses this for a number of things (some of which later get a CerebusRetcon), but one to note is Franky building a nice-looking wooden bridge out of scraps and rubble in less than a minute. It would be a DeusExMachina if Franky's insistence on the level of detail and craftmanship didn't make it hilarious.
** Luffy ''eating a cage'' he was trapped in certainly qualifies, especially because he's captured again before he achieves anything. The whole scene serves no purpose but RuleOfFunny.
* This is the '''only''' thing that keeps the shower scene with [[spoiler: Baron Ashura]] in episode 5 of {{Mazinkaiser}} from being HighOctaneNightmareFuel.
* In general, this trope applies to how the titular character beats enemies in Bobobo Bo Bobobo.
* Pretty much everything in MahouSenseiNegima that isn't covered by RuleOfCool probably falls under this.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* DonRosa uses this trope from time to time as a justification for breaking realism in his otherwise painfully serious comics. He even mentions it (though not by name) in one of the comment pages for ''TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', when he had retroactively added [[http://duckman.pettho.com/drinfo/eisner.jpg the Eisner comic award]] he won for the series in its last chapter, hanging on Scrooge's wall. Donald [[LampshadeHanging even remarks]] that it has to be fake, since they're living in the 50s and the award reads "1995" with big letters. Rosa compares his relationship with the rule to the below-mentioned joke in Roger Rabbit.
* SquirrelGirl breathes this trope. How else can you explain how a girl with a tail who has the power to [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway talk to squirrels]], can defeat super villains like Thanos (MagnificentBastard), [[DoctorDoom Dr. Doom]] (CrazyPrepared Personified) and {{Deadpool}} (Deadpool)?
* {{Deadpool}} himself, the man who never stops talking even when he's getting beaten to a pulp.
* [[{{Batman}} The Joker]], of all people, points this out in ''Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader''.
--> "Kid. I'm the Joker. I don't just randomly kill people. I kill people when it's funny. What would conceivably be funny about killing you?"

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

*The Disney animation "The Emperor's New Groove" repeatedly emphasizes its own ludicrous plot holes with lines such as "How DID you make it here before us?" "Beats me, by all laws of nature, it doesn't make sense," and "Now, what are the odds that trap door would lead me out here?"
* The film ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' declares this to be an actual law of cartoon physics:
-->'''Eddie:''' You mean you could have taken your hand out of that cuff at any time?!\\
'''Roger:''' No, not at any time. Only when it was ''funny''.
* In ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'' the Millenium Falcon malfunctions but Han Solo restarts the engines by [[PercussiveMaintenance punching the instrument panel]].
* Any given Jackie Chan fight sequence.
* This is the entire point of ''[[JesusChristVampireHunter Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter]]''.
* The scene in ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' where the Autobots hide in Sam's backyard doesn't make that much sense - why wouldn't Sam's parents hear them speaking? - but it's so damn funny it barely matters.
** ''TransformersAnimated'' has a scene where Starscream, revived and granted immortality by a fragment of the Allspark, repeatedly tries, and fails, to kill Megatron. You'd probably spend the whole time wondering why the other Decepticons didn't try to get rid of him in any other way, were it not so amusing to see him getting blasted to crap and tossed into a river repeatedly.
* In AtlantisTheLostEmpire a chalk map that rubs off on Milo's shirt is not reversed, as the gag of Milo having to stand in that position would have been voided. The directors were amused that test audiences complained more about that detail and its plausibility than in the following scene where a photograph whirs into life in a 1920's movie style.
** I thought it was pretty obvious that the "living photo" bit was Milo's ImagineSpot, triggered by looking at the real photo.
* Certain comedy films can't go one minute without violating all sanity for a joke. Consider ''Top Secret'', featuring a very young Val Kilmer as a rock & roll star protagonist in a spy plot: this movie includes a motel called Gey Shluffen, a high speed action chase to change a radio station, and an underwater bar brawl. Or watch ''{{Airplane}}!'' for the sheer number of visual pun gags.
** Woody Allen's early films were very much of this order. Consider ''Take The Money And Run'' where Woody is imprisoned and punished by being locked in confinement with an insurance salesman. Or ''Love and Death'' where a battle scene is intercut with scenes of Woody as a cheerleader.
* ''{{Idiocracy}}''. BellisariosMaxim is writ '''LARGE''' across every element.
* Pavi Largo's accent in ''[[RepoTheGeneticOpera Repo! The Genetic Opera]]''. He's the only one in his whole family with any kind of accent. It appears only to be there to make him hilarious. (It works.)
**"All of-a eet? OHHHH NOOOOOO!"
* Every Marx Brothers film revolves around this, to a varying degree. Many of their best routines have absolutely nothing to do with the plot
* The final scene of the 1960's version of ''CasinoRoyale'' is so completely nonsensical that it's impossible to describe. Allegedly, the scene is the heroes trying to get out of the casino before it explodes. So why the cowboys, indians, flying roulette table, bubbles, kinescope police dispatchment, gun-turret banister, etc.? It's funny...at least if you're high enough to write a scene like that.
* The climactic battle of ''BlazingSaddles'', which features the characters [[NoFourthWall leaving their soundstage]] and breaking up a dance number on another set, getting into a pie fight in the studio commissary, then (eventually) getting to the end of the movie by sneaking into a theater playing ''Blazing Saddles'' and watching it with us.
* SeltzerAndFriedberg aim for this trope... [[NightmareFuel with unfortunate results.]]
* More a violation of historical fact this one, but the trope applies- ''Kelly's Heroes''. This film features what is essentially a hippy. In 1944 Normandy.
** I believe they had sort of hippies back then. They were called Beatniks. But, yes, he is more hippy than beatnik.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* TerryPratchett, author of the ''{{Discworld}}'' series, has cited this rule in interviews.
** TomHolt and RobertRankin have based their entire careers on this. With Holt, you know the book you're reading is based on the same plot as the ''last'' five books of his you read - and you don't care; with Rankin...well...the closest description anyone's ever found to his books is ''TheGoonShow'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]], and this is pretty much the ''only'' rule it abides by.
* TwoWords: [[TheBible Bible]] spoilers!
** One of the funniest: [[spoiler:Jesus dies. HeGotBetter.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

* {{CHIKARA}} Pro Wrestling, Incredibly Strange Wrestling, and Lucha Va-Voom practically run on it.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Television ]]

* Any "plot" elements in ''MysteryScienceTheater3000''. See the [[MST3KMantra mantra]].
* The title character of ''{{Angel}}'' could go from dead serious to goofball surprisingly fast.
** In fact, the entire point of "Smile Time" seems to be this trope. There is a mysterious bad guy, it could do anything. Why would it turn Angel into a puppet? Because it's hilarious, that's why.
* ''RedDwarf'' has briefly [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] Holly's [[TheDitz senility]] for a joke multiple times, with the extreme being "White Hole" (in which (s)he was counting by banging her head on the screen). However, (s)he is shown to be much more lucid (if not necessarily brilliant) in other episodes, notably in "Queeg" with a well-planned hoax ''based'' on the idiot-perception and in "Back to Reality" when (s)he saves the entire crew. Also, "White Hole" itself establishes that the ship's power generation requires her input, making you wonder why something hasn't exploded yet.
** Although it could be that so much of Holly is required to keep the ship running that there's only enough left to communicate with the crew at idiot level. In which case, one has to wonder just how much of the ship had to be deactivated during the run of "Queeg"...
** Perhaps the flaw of the final two series where whole scenes seem to have been tacked on mainly for laughs. The most glaring are the tap dancing shuttle craft scene and the Tyrannosaurus rex, ([[{{Somewhere A Palaeontologist Is Crying}} of course]]) eating a giant curry. Pretty base stuff by the series previous standards and not helped by some [[{{Special Effects Failure}} not-very-convincing CGI]].
*** There's a glorious peice in the script book, where Naylor describes, step by painstaking step, just how complex the dancing Blue Midget scene was to do, then going on the messageboards and learning "the fans hate it, they think it's filler".
* Many of the "challenges" in ''{{Top Gear}}''. Why turn a truck into an amphibious vehicle? Why launch a car on a rocket only to see it hit the ground and then explode? Why make James May try to drive fast? (Or why let him get lost--actually lost--on a ''race track''? Because it's funny, durn it!)
* On ''TheGeorgeBurnsAndGracieAllenShow'', George made it clear in his occasional [[NoFourthWall asides to the audience]] that he would go along with anything as long as it was getting laughs.
* Pretty much one of the main reasons Adam as well as the Chuckleheads (Kari, Grant, and Tori) are around in ''Mythbusters'' is because they all fulfill the RuleOfFunny. Jaime and Adam admit they really aren't that fond of each other in real life - if it weren't for the RuleOfFunny, you can bet your bottom it'd just be two Jaime type people.
* The reason ''XPlay'' was ''very'' fond of finding a quote they thought was amusing, then repeating it. Again. And ''again''. And ''AGAIN''!

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* A relentless HurricaneOfPuns and a bizarre array of EverythingTryingToKillYou make up only a fraction of the silliness in the {{MMORPG}} ''KingdomOfLoathing''.
* Conker. Just....Conker.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* The "JustForFun" tropes on this site.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In ''[[EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]''. Fighter and Red Mage regularly take actions that [[LampshadeHanging other characters realize]] [[AchievementsInIgnorance should be completely impossible.]] The creator has said that the comic's continuity is whatever makes for the funniest joke at the time.
** Black Belt, who is [[NoSenseOfDirection notoriously bad at navigating]], manages to get himself so lost that he goes back in time and encounters himself. Without any outside help. In a straight hallway. Yeah.
** Lampshaded recently when the character Drizz'l uses a joke to "break the ice". Literal ice. Everyone involved is amazed it worked. Drizz'l outright states he hates that it did.
**8-Bit Theater isn't above having characters act completely out of character. At least, we've seen Fighter [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=041111 be intelligent and rational]], Black Mage be cordial, and Red Mage briefly play TheStraightMan.
* ''SluggyFreelance'' lives and breathes this trope.
** [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=991114 Ferrets]] can [[CaffeineBulletTime break the sound barrier when they're given sugar]].
** A [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=991121 Cannibals' Anonymous]] support group includes a pair of zombies, an alien, and a minature wooly mammoth clone.
** A [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970912 small bunny]] can [[{{Hammerspace}} produce a switchblade from nowhere]] and proceed to [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970914 beat up a grizzly bear]].
** Brief references to the French Revolution or Oprah's Book of the Month club can [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060412 instantly put people to sleep]].
** This quote should be at the top of the page:
---> [[spoiler:Dr Schlock: I'll be brief.]]
---> [[spoiler:Kusari: I'll be briefer [kills Schlock, turns to Daedalus] I've located and eliminated Dr. Schlock as you ordered, Daedalus.]]
---> [[spoiler:Daedalus: I wanted to hear what he had to say, but that was pretty funny so you get a pass.]]
* This very much governs ''BratHalla''. It tends to hew surprisingly closely to accurate Norse mythology within the confines of its premise... except when it would be funnier not to. Thus, Tyr is a pacifist, Fenrir is a rock star, half the dark elves are poser goths and emo kids who hang around coffee shops, and the closest thing the comic has to a BigBad is the eye Odin sacrificed to the Well of Mimir, imbued with sentience and severe abandonment issues.
* In [[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2008/08/15/the-computers-of-the-gods/ Jayden and Crusader]] this is referenced by a simple Saxon/Norse superstition being used in the 21st century, and turning out to be true for only the comic in which it is mentioned.
** Later the Artist of J&C himself cited the Rule of Funny regarding his [[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2008/12/08/page-101/ own work]]
* As does the webcomic ''BobAndGeorge'' where this is called [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/Archive/May04.php?date=27 "The Gag Reflex"]].
* In ''StickmanAndCube'', Humour is one of the main guiding forces of TheVerse, the other being Necessity, that is to say, stuff happens according to what is funny or needed at the time.
* The ''TheWotch'' spin-off webcomic ''Cheer!'' features a pie catapult with an automatic targetting system [[http://cheer.thewotch.com/index.php?date=20070822 designed to maximize laughs]].
* [[HomestarRunner Teen Girl Squad.]] "{{Wave o babies}}."
** "Three noses!?"
* In ''OrderOfTheStick'', Redcloak is able to summon Elementals based on the chemical elements even though no explanation is given for how he has come to learn of their existence in the first place.
** He took a Chemistry course. [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0423.html And passed.]]
*''QuestionableContent'' - "[[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1425 I have no idea whether this comic actually makes sense. All I know is I could not stop laughing as I drew the last panel.]]"
*''ElGoonishShive'' exists for this and RuleOfRomantic. Slightly prone to CerebusSyndrome.
* A [[LampshadeHanging lampshade is hung on it]] in ''{{Nodwick}}'', when [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2002-06-13 Nodwick is asked to lift a five-ton obelisk]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

* Why does Bluebottle in ''TheGoonShow'' keep getting deaded by explosions even when he's in the middle of a desert on a different continent to the pile of dynamite he's fleeing, then come BackFromTheDead to complain about being killed? Because it's funny. The same applies to...well...pretty much everything else related to the Goons.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

*The Afterlife was never discussed in Season 1 of TheBoondocks. However, in Episode 201, [[spoiler:Stinkmeaner comes BackFromTheDead.]] This is officially (citation needed) the funniest episode.
* The "flashback"/manatee gag moments in ''FamilyGuy'' often depict moments that almost certainly never happened (e.g. Stewie and Brian running a talk show). Their prevalence amped greatly following the series' return, which attracted criticism from various other cartoonists and comedians and was parodied in the "Cartoons Wars" episodes of ''SouthPark''. [=MacFarlane=]'s response is quoted at the top of the page.
* ''SpongebobSquarepants'' takes this trope to physics. For some reason, the characters can light fire, have snow, and running water, while the series takes place ''under water.'' Naturally, this leads to LampshadeHanging:
-->'''Patrick:''' Hey, if we're underwater, how can there be a fi--''(fire goes out)''
** Evidently [[YourMindMakesItReal Their Minds Make It Real]].
* In the AvatarTheLastAirbender episode "The Serpent's Pass" Toph is rescued from drowning by Suki and (thinking she is Sokka) gives her a [[HoYay big kiss]]. Even though Toph is blind, there was nothing to stop her from noticing the makeup during the kiss, but the resulting scene is funny.
** It's funny because of Toph's deadpan delivery after she figures out it's Suki, not Sokka.
---> Toph: You can let me drown now.
* A similar instance occurs in the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Deep South", when Zoidberg's house burns to the ground... underwater. Zoidberg wails "How could this have happened?" and Hermes notes, "That's a very good question." Implicitly claiming responsibility, Bender picks his still-lit cigar out of the ruins and puffs on it — eliciting a cry of, "That just raises further questions!"
** What makes that really funny is that they explain everything that happens in that episode with psuedo-science (in fact, most of the episode is things being explained away.) But for that one last thing, there's absolutely scientific reasoning.
** ''{{Futurama}}'' is fond of both this rule and lampshading it. In an early episode, aliens are threatening to invade Earth and the planet sends Zapp Branigan to destroy the mothership. After an epic battle with a massive, well-guarded space installation, Earth succeeds in destroying the thing. Zapp celebrates the victory, before a substantially larger ship pops into view. This, it turns out, is the mothership. When Zapp asks what they just destroyed, Kiff looks at a computer screen, groans and says, "The Hubble telescope." Series producer David X. Cohen said in the episode's commentary track that he knew the joke made absolutely no sense, but loved it so much he had to keep it in.
* Most classic theatrical cartoons, particularly ''TomAndJerry'', ''LooneyTunes'' and much of the oeuvre of Tex Avery. Don't question where the [[AnvilOnHead anvils]] are coming from, just laugh at it because it's silly.
**Why, they come from ACME, Inc. of course.
* In perhaps one of the most bizarre applications of the rule ever, the ''size'' of the character Endive in ''{{Chowder}}'' is governed by Rule of Funny. She can vary from about the same size as everyone else, if rather... large, to a towering giant, depending on what's needed for the joke at hand.
* In the ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "Kid Stuff" the kidified Justice Leaguers face off against a baby version of the demon {{Etrigan}}. There is absolutely no reason at all for why Etrigan should be a baby or why Etrigan should be in this episode at all. One would think that Mordred would have banished Etrigan along with all the other adults, seeing as they've been mortal enemies literally for centuries. But damn if Baby Etrigan isn't the funniest thing you ever did see.
* A case of RuleOfFunny backfiring: [[KidsNextDoor Father]] eating ice-cream in "Operation ZERO"... instead of having an [[MissedMomentOfAwesome epic battle with Grandfather]].
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