History Main / OrphanedSetup

* One strip of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' began with a bird telling Garfield to stop him if he'd heard the joke already, then proceed to begin his joke. Garfield promptly eats the bird.

** There's also Uncle Vernon's "Japanese golfer joke," which was orphaned for [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar good reason]], as the joke he's talking about is possibly one that's NotSafeForWork. (Which makes you wonder why Vernon was actually telling it to his ''boss''...) In the book, we only read Vernon saying "You ruined my Japanese golfer joke" but in the film we also hear some of the setup.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' uses this to get [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar crap past the radar]] to begin his famous opera opener, "There once was a man from Nantucket..." Cue the crowd gasping before he can say a bad word.

** In "Deep Space Homer", after a newly-sober and very competent Barney proves his newfound fitness by doing several athletic feats while reciting a few lines from the MajorGeneralSong, Homer tries to prove his worth as well by doing a cartwheel and beginning "There once was a man from Nantucket" but [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar he falls over and hits his head before he can finish.]]

* ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'': The famous "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" is never given an answer.

-->'''Cleese''': Have you ever heard the one about the two beautiful blondes who were on their way to a nudist camp? One of the blondes suddenly noticed that-- *audio cuts out for several seconds* --while I didn't know that he played the violin.

** "The Comeback" surrounds George's attempts to recreate the situation that led to a colleague quipping to him, "[[XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack The ocean called, they're running out of shrimp]]" so that he can deliver [[ComebackTomorrow the comeback he came up with after the fact]] ("The jerk store called, they're running out of you!") When he finally gets his opening only to for the offender to deliver another zingy comeback on the spot, he falls back on [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Kramer]]'s suggested comeback—"I had sex with your wife"—only to be told that the man's wife [[DudeShesLikeInAComa is in a coma]]. The episode ends with George, on his way home, coming up with a retort that begins "The life support machine called..." [[HereWeGoAgain and turning the car around]].
** "The Yada Yada" has two jokes that each have an orphaned setup ''and'' [[OrphanedPunchline punchline]], with the middle left to the imagination (one about a rabbi and a farmer's daughter and one about the Pope and Raquel Welch on a lifeboat).

* WebVideo/CallMeCarson features his friend, fellow Twitch streamer and YouTuber Schlatt, realizing his jokes are much funnier that way, and coming up with a string of them.

* ''Film/CannibalTheMusical'' has the town's drunken sheriff say "YouKnowWhatTheySay about sunrise?" then pause and walks off without making his point. The actor was apparently drunk and forgot his lines, but Trey Parker thought it was funnier than the actual line.

** "The Comeback" surrounds George's attempts to recreate the situation that led to a colleague quipping to him, "[[XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack The ocean called, they're running out of shrimp]]" so that he can deliver [[ComebackTomorrow the comeback he came up with after the fact]] ("The jerk store called, they're running out of you!") When he finally gets his opening only to for the offender to deliver another zingy comeback on the spot, he falls back on [[{{Cloudcuckoolander Kramer]]'s suggested comeback—"I had sex with your wife"—only to be told that the man's wife [[DudeShesLikeInAComa is in a coma]]. The episode ends with George, on his way home, coming up with a retort that begins "The life support machine called..." [[HereWeGoAgain and turning the car around]].

* "The Yada Yada" has two jokes that each have an orphaned setup ''and'' [[OrphanedPunchline punchline]], with the middle left to the imagination (one about a rabbi and a farmer's daughter and one about the Pope and Raquel Welch on a lifeboat).

* In ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', Bender tells a long complicated joke [[spoiler:to himself while crawling through an air duct,]] but then [[spoiler:falls through the ceiling]] before he can finish. - No real-life punchline, Creator/JuddNelson ad-libbed the setup.

* Film/CannibalTheMusical'' has the town's drunken sheriff say "YouKnowWhatTheySay about sunrise?" then pause and walks off without making his point. The actor was apparently drunk and forgot his lines, but Trey Parker thought it was funnier than the actual line.

** In ''Discworld/ReaperMan'', Ridcully, making a speech at Windle Poons's "going away party", starts out "You know, seeing old Windle sitting here tonight puts me in mind, as luck would have it, of the story of the cow with three wooden legs. It appears there was this cow, and --" at which point the Bursar stops listening because he's heard it before and the Archchancellor always gets the punchline wrong anyway. If you were wondering, the punchline is, "Well, a cow like that, you don't eat all at once!"
** In ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'', when Rincewind and Nijel are in the snake pit, Rincewind asks if Nijel knows how many trolls [[LightBulbJoke it takes to change a lamp wick]]? Since Nijel is more interested in escape, he never learns the answer.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Dumbledore starts to tell a joke about a troll, a hag, and a unicorn who all go into a bar, but [=McGonagall=] convinces him not to finish it. In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' a joke about "the hag, the healer and the Mimbulus Mimbletonia" is mentioned.

* GameOfThrones has a famous one, mainly because of how people have wracked their minds trying to FINISH the joke.
-->'''Tyrion''': So, a man walks into a whorehourse with a jar of honey and a donkey...
** The best version of it. NSFW. https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a6VDq3A_700bwp.webp

Compare and contrast BrickJoke, when the {{punchline}} is revealed a long time later. Often overlaps with RiddleForTheAges. See also StealthPun, when the missing punchline is meant to be discerned on its own [[FridgeLogic if you stop and think about it]]. And when the lack of a payoff after a lengthy setup ''is'' the punchline, that's ShaggyDogStory.

* ''VideoGame/Wildstar'' devspeaks all include a disclaimer at the beginning, which were originally serious but became more and more of a pretext for humour as time went on. One video's disclaimer is an overly elaborate story with an excessive amount of details and lore, which requires freeze-framing to read each one of the huge blobs of text. The last panel cuts just before the punchline and the actual devspeak begins.

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** In another episode, Bart starts telling Lisa about something he told Maybelle when he's interrupted by Homer.