Ha Ha Only Serious

The practice of wrapping uncomfortable or unpleasant truths in humor, most commonly parodies, absurdities and ironies. The humor employed is usually an in-joke or self-referenctial structure familiar to the group or subculture at hand.

The trope namer is the Hacker's Jargon File.

Compare "Just Joking" Justification.

Fan Works

 * Kyon: Big Damn Hero: Kyon jokes about his new PDA (made with alien technology) conquering the world, comparing it to SkyNet -- which is what he then ends up calling it.

Film - Live Action

 * Team America: World Police has an instance of this buried in the There Are Three Kinds of People In The World philosophy espoused by one of its characters -- see the trope entry on that work page for more details.

Literature

 * The Principia Discordia is a prime example... Or Is It?