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?