History Main / CaptionHumor

The use of captions in visual media in order to invoke a humorous effect. Specifically, the caption uses the scene as a joke setup and delivers a punchline to it. This includes [[MSTing commenting the scene]], [[CaptainObvious pointing out the obvious]] or even absolute non sequiturs.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action)]]

* ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'' uses these a lot.

* Sometimes used on this very Wiki.
* Often used on Flickr, especially with photos of museum displays where the real exhibit caption can't be seen. One example had a human standing next to a rocket for scale and the caption was: "You should never stand this close to a rocket. Unless you are demonstrating how cool it is."
* In ''TheOnion'' AV Club, they used to do a humorous caption for a pic from one of the movies being reviewed that week, but they haven't done it in years.

* The opening credits of ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' has this, with inane comments about mooses and llamas.
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' had funny scientific names for the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
* There was a very similar thing in the opening of ''TheDayToday'': Chris Morris would read out an ostensible headline and then a piece of genuine news footage would play to humourous effect.
* Running rampant on the Internet, particularly {{Imageboard}}s and DeviantArt, are [[MotivationalPoster De/Motivators]], which are designed in the vein of typical office motivational posters.
** The "Advice Animal" meme and later [[MemeticMutations offshoots]] like [[NiceGuy Good Guy Greg]], [[{{Jerkass}} Scumbag Steve]] and [[ClingyJealousGirl Overly Attac]][[{{Creator/Laina}} hed Girlfriend]].
* ''ChoppingBlock'' pages consist entirely of an usually silent picture and a caption.
* From ''{{Website/Cracked}}'', we got [[http://www.cracked.com/craptions/ Craptions!]]
* ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' would have amusing sarcastic captions show up every now and again. Caricatures of the guests would serve the same purpose. Note: these were all done live.
* ''BurnNotice'' initially used captions to identify people that Michael was dealing with, but they have started to become more comical, such as repeating an earlier assessment of a character, identifying them as "Arrogant Jerk" or something similar.
* A scene in ''ThankYouForSmoking'' has a terribly funny derogatory caption when the boss says the word "environmentalist".
* Used in recent ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' comics, providing a brief, usually humorous bio of any character who shows up, including these two, which popped up during a FastballSpecial.
-->'''Colussus:''' Bio-organic steel. Fastball tops out at 220 miles per hour.\\
'''{{Wolverine}}:''' Claws and healing factor. Currently moving at 220 miles per hour.
* Much of the humor of "The Word" segments on ''TheColbertReport'' arises from the captions at the side of the screen, clarifying or elaborating upon what Stephen says aloud.

* Used often in ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' as a lot of its humor revolves around wordplay.
* Regular feature of any magazine aimed at young adults. Particularly the case in lad's mags like ''{{FHM}}'' and ''{{Loaded}}''.
* In the DVDBonusContent for ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'', there's a behind the scenes look at shooting a particular scene, with "Drunken Idiot Ruining Take" following, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a drunken idiot running in the background ruining the take]].
* The Blurb versions of HappyTreeFriends episodes.
* ToddInTheShadows uses captions as a RunningGag. He often interacts with them too.

* PrivateEye has a regular feature where readers write in to point out that two famous people look vaguely alike. The relevance to this trope comes in because the editors invariably switch the names captioning the two photographs being compared, [[DontExplainTheJoke as though they were so alike that nobody could tell which was which.]]

** The "Advice Animal" meme and later [[MemeticMutations offshoots]] like [[NiceGuy Good Guy Greg]], [[{{Jerkass}} Scumbag Steve]] and [[ClingyJealousGirl Overly Attached Girlfriend]].

* Used in recent ''{{X-Men}}'' comics, providing a brief, usually humorous bio of any character who shows up, including these two, which popped up during a FastballSpecial.

* In the DVDBonusContent for {{Daybreakers}}, there's a behind the scenes look at shooting a particular scene, with "Drunken Idiot Ruining Take" following, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a drunken idiot running in the background ruining the take]].

* JonTron, whose most distinct feature is his unique blend of captions and editing. In GameGrumps, the editor Barry adopts Jon's style of captions, sometimes to communicate with the audience.

* From ''{{Cracked}}'', we got [[http://www.cracked.com/craptions/ Craptions!]]

* Many YouTube gameplay videos utilize this technique to remain interesting.

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* The "Spanish Inqusition" sketch in ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has the caption "DIABOLICAL LAUGHTER" followed with "DIABOLICAL ACTING".

* The opening credits of ''MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' has this, with inane comments about mooses and llamas.
* ''LooneyTunes'' had funny scientific names for the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.

<<|ComedyTropes|>>

* ''TheSpoonyExperiment'' uses these a lot.

!!Examples:

* ''{{Help}}!'' uses them. The funniest moment is probably when a tiger enters the scene and [[CaptainObvious the caption "A Tiger" pops up on the screen]].

* A scene in ''ThankYouForSmoking'' has a terribly funny derogatory caption when the boss says the word "environmentalist."

-->'''Colussus:''' Bio-organic steel. Fastball tops out at 220 miles per hour.
-->'''{{Wolverine}}:''' Claws and healing factor. Currently moving at 220 miles per hour.

* Used often in ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' as a lot of its humor revolves around wordplay.

* In the DVDBonusContent for {{Daybreakers}}, there's a behind the scenes look at shooting a particular scene, with "Drunken Idiot Ruining Take" following, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a drunken idiot running in the background ruining the take.]]

<<|ComedyTropes|>>

* A scence in ''ThankYouForSmoking'' has a terribly funny derogatory caption when the boss says the word "environmentalist."

* ''[[TheBeatles Help!]]'' uses them. The funniest moment is probably when a tiger enters the scene and [[CaptainObvious the caption "Tiger" pops up on the screen]].

* Regular feature of any magazine aimed at young adults. Particularly the case in lad's mags like FHM and ''{{Loaded}}''.

* [[http://www.cracked.com/craptions/ Craptions]].