Actually Pretty Funny

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"Have you ever wanted to punch someone but couldn't because you were laughing too hard?" —Adam Hills

Not only is Evil cool and sexy, but it also gets all the best lines. So much so that even good guys can't help cracking up at the Magnificent Bastard's witty comeback or the Heroic Comedic Sociopath's cutting insult, much to the insultee's chagrin. Occasionally, even the target of the insult can admire the sheer comedy value of the joke, in which case it can border on Insult Backfire. Compare Tough Room and The One Thing I Don't Hate About You.

Also compare Not Bad.

Examples of Actually Pretty Funny include:

Anime and Manga

• In Mai-Otome, Haruka is laughing uproariously over Nao getting Natsuki arrested for indecent exposure while trying to hitch a ride to Aries, prompting Yukino to tell her that she's being rude. When Haruka shows Yukino the photo, however, Yukino briefly cracks a smile before quickly clearing her throat, as Natsuki happens to be in the room with them.

Comic Books

• At the end of The Killing Joke, Batman actually ends up laughing at the joke The Joker tells, despite him having earlier crippled and humiliated Barbara Gordon and then kidnapped and tortured Commissioner Gordon. You can see why when you realise how the joke relates to them and their views of humanity.
  • Another story, involving Harley trying to get a glum Joker to smile again has Robin exclaiming that, "A barracuda down the pants IS kinda funny." Batman is not amused however.
  • More on the Video Game side in Batman: Arkham City is Joker's Backstab Backfire just before his death:

Batman: Do you want to know something funny? Even after everything you have done, I would have saved you. Joker: That actually is... pretty funny!

• A Spider-Man version that may well be inspired by the above Batman example:

Green Goblin: I wasn't always going to call myself "Green Goblin". At first, I was going to call myself "Mister Coffee". Can you imagine how weird the last few years would have been if I'd done that? [Pause] Both: [Crack up laughing] Spidey: Heh-ha-ha! Look out kids, it's Mister Coffee and his latte of doom! Goblin: Oh God, stop!

• In the Fantastic Four, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm are always taking shots and pulling pranks on one another, but every now and then they have to chuckle at each other's quips.

Sue has just make an invisible monster visible with her powers Johnny: AAAAUGGH! It's horrible! Make it invisible! Make it invisible! Susan: Then how is Ben supposed to hit it? Johnny: I was talking about Ben! Ben: You little... Naw, wait. That wuz a good one.

• In the Bone series, Thorn is in understandably shocked at learning about her past and her destiny. She shouts "I'm a princess! I have magic powers! What does that make me?" Fone rather unhelpfully suggests "A fairy princess?" Thorn reacts coldly to this remark. Later, Fone tries to apologize, but Thorn says it was actually pretty funny now that she thinks about it.
• In Watchmen, Dan tells the story of a masochist who used to follow the Masks round pretending to be a supervillain in the hopes of getting beaten up. Then he eventually tried it on Rorschach and got thrown down an elevator shaft. Laurie says it's not funny, but both she and Dan are trying and failing to suppress their laughter.
• In one Deadpool comic, Bullseye tries to carry out a contract on Deadpool given to him by Osborn, and they spend the comic trying to kill each other in various ways. Deadpool and Bullseye end up sharing a laugh about it all at the end.
  • Halfway through the fight, Bullseye decides he doesn't actually want to kill Deadpool because he enjoys their fights too much. Seeing as this is Bullseye we're talking about, that's no small feat.
  • This also happened in the Joe Kelly era where Bullseye and Deadpool remembered the time they fought over Heinrich Zemo's grave and beat each other with his corpse. They have a laugh about it later. This trope pretty much sums up Deadpool's and Bullseye's relationship.
• In the Green Lantern miniseries Guy Gardner: Reborn, Guy, having lost his ring, tries to get powers from the New Guardians (who, for the purposes of this story, are portrayed as New Age Retro Hippies). He eventually annoys them to the point that Gloss hits him so hard he goes flying off their island.

Tomas: That was not very enlightened, Gloss. Beat Tomas: But I have to admit, it was pretty funny.

• In one A Mad Look At article, a student tells a teacher an apparently offensive joke. The teacher steps out into the hallway, laughs, then returns to the classroom and reprimands the student for the joke.

Comic Strips

• One Calvin and Hobbes strip has Calvin combing his hair, putting on his dad's glasses and saying, "Calvin! Go do something you hate! Being miserable builds character!" While dad was a bit annoyed, Calvin's mom was laughing hysterically.

Film

• In ET the Extraterrestrial, Mary snickers when Elliot calls one of his siblings "Penis Breath", and then chastises him for language.
  • Combined with Throw It In. That was the actress's genuine reaction.
• When Paul and Jimmy are being given crap by their rival detectives in Cop Out, our heroic pair gets off a few insults that even the rivals have to give them credit for.

Paul: I know that Mangold's wife is very unhappy. She says he's all foreskin. Mangold: That's actually clever.

• In Donnie Darko, Donnie is brought before the principal for telling a teacher "to forcibly insert the lifeline cards into [her] anus" (his teacher's words, not Donnie's), and the teacher's distressed recital of that line causes Donnie's father to start laughing and cover it up with a cough.
  • Also, during a heated argument with his sister, Donnie tells her to "Suck a f**k." She responds "How exactly does one suck a f**k?" After a pause, they both crack up.
• A variation occurs during the opening scenes of Eurotrip, wherein protagonist Scott's girlfriend leaves him for another man. This man happens to be the lead singer of the band performing at the party Scott attends that night, and the man sings a song entitled "Scotty Doesn't Know", about how he stole another man's girl and the poor sap remains oblivious. Though Scott's humiliated at first, the song starts to take off in popularity (his best friend has it as a ringtone by the end), and even he's admitting that it's a pretty catchy song.
• In Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale's parents get called in after the school finds out he's been impersonating a substitute teacher for a week. The parents make a show of being angry at him, but the smirk on his dad's face shows that he thinks his son is actually pretty awesome.
• Near the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, vile Nazi toad Toht and all-American hero Indiana Jones both find humor in the fact that the Ark which so many people have fought and died over appears to be filled with nothing but sand.
• Jay in Dogma laughs hysterically at Azrael's "Holy Bartender" joke after he's taken a few minutes to get it. He's Late to The Punchline, even though the joke involved Azrael repeatedly shooting the bartender.
• Love Actually has this in two deleted scenes. Emma Thompson's character is called into a parent-teacher conference because her son drew, for his greatest wish, a picture of a world where people's farts are clearly visible. Emma Thompson excuses herself with her son and seems about to lay into him before she announces that it was "bloody brilliant" and takes him off for ice cream. A later scene shows the teacher with her lover, commenting that it took her half an hour before she realized they weren't coming back to which her lover comments that the idea was actually pretty funny and they both start laughing.
• In the Steve Martin film Cheaper By the Dozen, Steve Martin is chastising his children for soaking their eldest sister's boyfriend's underwear in meat and then siccing the dog on him.

"You soaked his underpants in meat... That was wrong. Funny. But wrong.

• In war movie The Colditz Story the Gestapo liaison asks for prisoners to work for the German Reich in exchange for privileges. One French soldier volunteers saying he'd rather work for twenty Germans than one Frenchman. When asked his job he replies "undertaker". Even the Kamp Kommandant laughs at this.
• In the animated black comedy film Bebe's Kids during a confrontation in the womens bathroom between Robin and Dorthea, they start cracking Yo Mama jokes and Robin fires off one that makes Dorthea's friend Vivian crack up.

Dorthea: That's ok, yo mama so dumb she thought a quarterback was a refund! Robin: Well ain't that a little.. yo mama so dumb, they told her it was chilly outside she went and got a bowl! Vivian: *cracks up*

• In one scene in Johnny English, a video of the title character in his shower, lip-dubbing to Does Your Mother Know, is accidentally showed. While most of the people at the venue it was showed looked on in disbelief, one of the government officials understands that the song is catchy and a family watching the broadcast in their native India is seen laughing.

Literature

• In Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, Jimmy is shocked when he hears that MaddAddam have been genetically engineering mice that eat electrical insulator, parasitic wasps that spread chicken pox, asphalt destroying microbes, etc., but when he hears about the neon-coloured herpes, he thinks it's "pretty funny".
• In Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy mocks Harry's fanboy Colin Creevey. Harry, who's by that time very tired of Colin's constant squealing, finds the imitation both cruel and rather accurate.
• There's some sort of variation in the book Deadline by Chris Crutcher. The main character gets into an argument with the teacher about his school project. His teacher ends up saying "I think now's a good time to take your leave, Mr. Wolf." This causes his brother to stand up and say "Okay, but I don't see what I did." Even someone who hated his brother thought it was funny, but the teacher's opinion was never directly stated.
• One of the Soup books opens with Rob bringing a note home saying he made a rude remark to the school nurse. She had asked him "Did your bowels move today?" and he answered "Yes, thank you. Did yours?" Once he confesses that he and Soup drew straws to see who would ask, his mother gives him only a halfhearted whipping.
• The Last Hurrah: Meta-example. Mayor James Michael Curley, who was the real-life basis for the main character, crooked machine politician Frank Skeffington, was supposedly asked what his favorite part of the book was. He is said to have replied "The part where I die!"
• It happens multiple times in Anne of Green Gables, the best example being after Anne has told off Rachel Lynde for calling her a homely, freckled carrot-top. Marilla gives her a talking-to and makes her apologize, but she feels guilty about wanting to laugh.
• Turns up several times in A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, mostly to new English teacher Raymond Ash. Best example? He'd set his class a short essay on A Midsummer Night's Dream, and they'd been busy beavering away at it all lesson. When he collects them in at the end of the lesson, every single student hands in a crudely drawn cartoon penis, complete with ejaculate. Ray was desperately trying not to show how hysterical he found that, while thinking it wouldn't be the last time he'd set an assignment and receive a pile of wank.
• In Lord of the Flies, Jack does an impersonation of Piggy in the middle of a heated argument with Ralph. Ralph couldn't help but smile, much to his chagrin.

Live Action TV

• In early episodes of Home Improvement, Brad and Randy were relentless practical jokers, but more often than not, Tim found their antics to be hilarious rather than reprehensible, much to Jill's chagrin.
• In Supernatural, Sam and Dean try to kill the Trickster, but actually find his punishments, particularly the alien and the frat boy, rather funny at times. Until he goes after them.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, at one point, Giles is talking about how the phases of the moon exert a great deal of psychological influence, and the full moon "tends to bring out our darkest qualities." Xander quips, "Yet, ironically, also led to the invention of the moon pie." Buffy and Willow are unimpressed as always but Giles almost cracks up.
• An episode of The Daily Show featured a clip of George W. Bush, during a trip to Ottawa, thanking all the Canadians who came out to wave at him "with all five fingers". Jon Stewart, a vocal critic of Bush, admitted that it was actually pretty funny.
  • He was forced to admit the same thing when Sarah Palin tried her hand at stand-up on The Tonight Show. In fact, he gave advice that he usually doesn't give to new stand-ups: "If you had a day job, I'd tell you to quit it" (a Stealth Insult on multiple levels).
• On The Odd Couple, Felix is perturbed by Oscar's house guest Wild Willie Boggs (played by Roy Clark) who is prone to making crude practical jokes. He finally confronts him about it. Willie says "Felix, you don't like them because you've never tried them", adding, "do you want to play a trick on Oscar?". Felix delivers the "about-face" line, says "No. What?". Willie gives Felix a rubber hot dog to give to Oscar. With insane glee, Felix sets the trap and calls Oscar in for a snack- which of course Oscar just eats as if it were normal, saying, "The bun's a little stale."
• In Wings, Roy's mother was going to marry a con man, but the con man had a heart attack. He was leading a game of Simon Says when he had the attack. He said, "Call an ambulance." No one moved, because he didn't say "Simon Says". When Roy told everyone about that, he was laughing. Everyone called him cruel for that, but they started laughing too.
• Occasionally in Married... with Children, Jefferson will laugh at Al's cracks at Marcy when she's not looking.
  • Jefferson pretty much always thinks Al's funny, he just knows better than to let Marcy see him laugh.
• An early episode of Scrubs had the guy who played Jack from Will and Grace be JD's rival for an episode, and he cracked a joke at one point. JD tried to hold his laughter in, but giggled slightly, and admonished himself for it.
• When Jenna shocks Liz on 30 Rock with her willfully ridiculous diva antics, one of Jenna's entourage has this to say:

Patrice: Oh, Melissa? Your face is on the phone. Soccer practice is over and you need to pick it up. Liz: All right, that’s a pretty good burn, Patrice.

• Spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in political satire The Thick of It is unremittingly awful in the wittiest way possible:

Malcolm Tucker: I'd love to stop and chat to you but I'd rather have type 2 diabetes.

• A very famous example from The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Chuckles the Clown, the host of a children's show, is killed at a circus parade after being attacked by an elephant while dressed as a peanut. The entire episode is full of characters making jokes and laughing about the absurd circumstances, while Mary continually reprimands them and insists that it isn't funny. The episode concludes when Mary is suddenly struck by the humor of every joke she'd heard as she bursts out laughing in the middle of the funeral. Only to burst into tears when the minister assures her Chuckles would want her to laugh.
• One episode of Frasier has Frasier chastise his family for laughing hysterically at the unusually large noses of two guests, only for himself to crumble after a barrage of unintentional nose-related wordplay.
  • That sounds suspiciously like a Shout-Out to Cyrano De Bergerac.
• Whenever a leftwing pundit or comedian puts on a satirical sketch of Glenn Beck (from Jon Stewart to Keith Olbermann) Beck will promptly replay it on his show and then follow up by admitting it's funny, if it is. He spent almost a half-hour of his radio show gushing about the parody of him in the South Park episode "Dances with Smurfs".
  • Olbermann did the same thing when Stewart skitted him, and absolutely loved the SNL skit where Ben Affleck parodied Olbermann.
    • On the flip side, Jon Stewart conceded during said skit that Olbermann's description of Rush Limbaugh was a good one.
  • Art Bell enjoyed Phil Hendrie's spoofs of his show. Jim Rome, not so much. Hendrie, however, was not appreciative of what he saw as theft of his material by Glenn Beck.
  • Similarly, Bill O Reilly is actually a huge fan of Stephen Colbert, whose entire show is an hour long parody of O'Reilley's.
• On The Muppet Show, when Milton Berle reacts to Statler and Waldorf by saying he has a good mind to punch him in the nose. Waldorf says, "Please, not while I'm holding it." When Berle admits, "That's pretty funny," Waldorf says he can use it.
  • Which is funny too because Milton Berle's 'personality' was he stole all his material (similar to Jack Benny's 'personality' of being a miser).
• On an episode of George Lopez, George decidedly tells his kids they must tell the truth or be punished. His son Max confesses that he's been shrinking his sister's clothes to make her think she's fat. George yells at him "That's horrible! You bad b-" but doesn't make it to the end of the sentence before laughing out loud.
• During Australian Idol's 2004 season, an auditionee was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Ian Dickson gave a glowing review of the performance - by the dog she had brought in as a prop - then turned to her and said, "You on the other hand..." The contestant laughed and took the rejection well.
• In an episode of Dead Like Me, after Roxy tries to stab Mason for stealing food from her.

Mason: Did you see that? I mean, just because I wanted some of her hashbrowns. Rube: I was there. Mason: I've never seen such violence over such small potatoes. Rube: Now, that was almost clever. Mason: What was almost clever, Rube? Rube: The thing about hash browns being small potatoes. Mason: I don't get it. Because hash browns are small potatoes. Rube: Never mind.

• In Roseanne episode, “Inherit the Wind”, Rosanne and Dan are told by Darlene on what happened to Becky. After talking to Darlene, Roseanne turns to Dan and this happens.

Roseanne: Well, now what? (Dan is snickering.) Roseanne: Shut up, Dan! Dan: What? Rosanne: This isn’t funny. (Dan tries to keep a straight, though Rosanne sees the humor.) Roseanne: This is totally serious. Dan: Why don’t you go upstairs and talk to her. Roseanne: Because I figure this is your area of expertise. Dan: Okay, okay. (Dan tries to go to Becky, but he loses his control of laughter.) Dan: I didn’t make it. (Roseanne goes up to Becky, instead) Dan: Honey… Roseanne: What Dan: I owe you one.

• • In “Bird is the Word”, this after Roseanne, Jackie, and Dan got a look at Becky’s gesture and being reminded of this.

Jackie: Say guys, your son just gave Gilligan the finger. (Dan looks) Roseanne: Dan Dan: Well, he’s the reason they’ll still stuck on that island.

Radio

• In Nebulous, Professor Nebulous reveals that at school, his nickname was "Nobulous", which causes his assistant Rory to laugh and then say "Ahem... kids can be so cruel".

Real Life

• Any parent/guardian/educator finds themselves in this sort of situation at least once a year. One of your children or class acts up in a way that if you were a casual onlooker would be totally hilarious, but because of your position you still have to mete out the proper punishment.
• From an Australia vs Zimbabwe cricket match.

Glenn McGrath (Australia): Why are you so fucking fat? Eddo Brandes (Zimbabwe): Because every time I fuck your wife, she gives me a biscuit.

• • McGrath's teammates were in hysterics.
    • Probably not anymore.
  • There are quite a few famous examples of such retorts in cricket. For example, in a match between England and Australia:

Rodney Marsh (Australia): So how's your wife and my kids? Ian Botham (England): My wife's fine, but the kids are retarded!

• • Or even this. Greg Thomas, a Welsh bowler, to Sir Viv Richards after bowling several deliveries missed by Richards:

Greg Thomas : You seem to have trouble locating the ball. Let me help you - it's red and looks like this. (Holds up cricket ball) Sir Viv Richards (After hitting the ball for six on the next delivery) : You know what it looks like, man - go and fetch it!

• • One more for luck. Australia's Mark Waugh (twin brother of then-captain Steve Waugh) to England debutant Jimmy Ormond:

Mark Waugh : There’s no way you are good enough to play for England. Jimmy Ormond : Maybe not, but at least I’m the best cricketer in my family.

• This was George Bush's response when Vladimir Putin brushed off allegations of human rights abuses in Russia by referencing the fact that at least they didn't have Dick Cheney shooting people in their forests.
• When Osama Bin Laden worked a reference to The Pet Goat into one of his videos, some members of George W. Bush's Hatedom smirked.
• This guy tells the story of a defiant black reverend who makes a joke that gets even the Ku Klux Klan to laugh, of all people. (Also counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome and Badass Pacifist.)

(paraphrased): "I promise you that we're gonna do the same thing to you that you do to that chicken [dinner]. So you better think real hard before you touch that chicken." So he looked at me and looked at the Klan. Then he picked picked up the chicken and he kissed it... Even the Klan was laughin'! "You gotta admit, that was funny!"

• Bill O'Reilly made a joke that the cover of Earth (The Book) features a picture of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The cover actually features Jon and a monkey. Colbert liked it.
• In the middle of the Enron debacle, which created power outages in California, Jeff Skilling, the CEO of the company, made a joke at a meeting: "What's the difference between California and the Titanic? At least when the Titanic went down, the lights were on."
• During a monologue about his artificial right foot, Adam Hills talked about how his family would constantly crack jokes about it. The best came from his brother who broke up an argument between Adam and a (much shorter) friend by saying "You two are both the same - because you both need to grow a foot!" Adam commented, "Have you ever wanted to punch someone but couldn't because you were laughing too hard?"
• Comedian/motivational speaker John Bytheway has a bit where he laments the lame jokes people make about his last name. He then tells a story where an airport security guy asked him if he was going to name his son "Owen", which actually got a chuckle out of him.
• In 1992, Gennifer Flowers was giving a press conference regarding Bill Clinton; John Melendez was sent by Howard Stern to ask about her sex life with Clinton. Many of the press conference including Flowers herself was left snickering.

Professional Wrestling

• Mick Foley finally gets The Rock back for all the years of "It doesn't matter!" During a promo in 2000, Foley tells Rock he's in the upper echelon of WWE Champions, and asks how it makes him feel. Rock barely gets a word out before Foley bellows "IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL!" Foley promptly runs around the ring celebrating, and Rock can't help but chuckle at that one.
• Jerry Lawler, who normally sides with Vince McMahon, he thought the antics of DX during their feud with Mc Mahon as this. You can hear Lawler laughing along when DX took over the production truck in 2006 when they messed with Vince’s microphone, and as Vince leaves… well, it was priceless.
  • He also got back at Bad News Barrett when Barrett marks a remark about heart problems that many who watched the Superbowl. Considering he's a heart attack survivor, Lawler wasn't going to let Barrett get away with that it, with Michael Cole finding himself laughing.
• When the WWE network launched in 2/24/2014, JBL was checking out the matches to see the ones he took part in, but he found himself chuckling when Cole asks to search for the ones JBL won.
• When Damien Sandow came out, dressed as Vince McMahon, the announcers thought it was pretty funny. Yet, guess who didn’t.
• Triple H had this reaction when he heard Shawn Michaels's voice-mail back in 2009. Add the fact, Triple H never heard it before making the reaction real.

Tabletop Games

• Avalanche Press, creators of a variety of D20 system products, caught an immense amount of flak from every gamer who'd heard about them for their mediocre material bound in Contemptible Covers and liberally sprinkled with misogyny (in other words, the Evony of D&D 3e). Even so, several players got a laugh when, during a discussion on period clothing in their Vlad of Wallachia book, they slipped in the comment, "For an example of period female underwear, see the cover!"

Theater

• A slightly different version: In a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, after Millie reads back Mrs. Meers's monologue and proving she has enough evidence to send Meersie to prison, Mrs. Meers looks at the audience and says "You can clap, that was good."

Video Games

• From Skies of Arcadia:

Vigoro: I believe the worth of a man can be measured by his popularity with women. Gilder: Hm, I kind of like that. I should remember that for later.

• In the Sam and Max Freelance Police game Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Sam is being put down by Chuckles, the President's body guard:

Sam: What do you do around here? Chuckles: I give out free T-shirts to the visitor who asks the dumbest question of the day. Please accept my apologies, but we're all out of husky boys' sizes. Max: Oooo! Double-burn! Sam: I thought you were on my side, Max. Max: I just call 'em like I see 'em, Sam.

• From Dragon Age: Origins, when Morrigan happens to ask Alistair about his training:

Morrigan: So I take it you did not enjoy your templar training? Alistair: That's directed at me, I take it? Morrigan: Do you see any others about who have failed at their religious instruction? Alistair: I didn't fail- I was recruited into the Grey Wardens. Morrigan: And if you had not been recruited? What would have happened, instead? Alistair: (Completely Deadpan) I would have turned into a drooling lunatic, slaughtered the grand cleric and run through the streets of Denerim in my small clothes, I guess. Morrigan: (Amused) Your self-awareness does you credit. Alistair: I thought you'd like that.

• • Pretty much everything Alistair says turns out like this. He is actually one of the very few comic relief characters in an otherwise serious work who is actually funny and not The Scrappy. That he is perfectly aware how dire the situation and how vital their fight are helps a lot.
• In Knights of the Old Republic, one of the ways you can defuse a confrontation with some young (idiot) Sith is to tell them a Mandalorian joke. If Zaalbar is in your party, The Big Guy will actually get a good laugh out of it.
• Occurs in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, except that it wasn't really funny, or even a joke. Distressed Damsel Jessie just can't help laughing when her captor calls her boyfriend Guy an idiot.
• In Strong Badia the Free, when Strong Bad asks about the incomplete effigy the protesters have set up:

Strong Bad: Why'd you bring that ugly, misshapen stick? Homestar: She organized the protest rally! Strong Bad: Not Marzipan! {softly} Though that's a pretty good one, gotta remember that.

Web Animation

• Happened more than once on Homestar Runner when Strong Bad gets indignant over a joke but then actually realizes it was kind of funny.
  • Strong Bad has to respect it when normally Dumb Muscle Strong Mad gets a witty retort:

Strong Mad: (holding up a grease-stained Blubb-O's bag) YOU'RE NOT ON THE LIST! Strong Bad: The list? You're looking at a greasy bag of fast food! Strong Mad: DON'T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF! Strong Bad: Wait, what? Strong Mad, did you just make a joke?! That was pretty good!

Web Comics

• Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade are friendly rivals rather than enemies, but they still mock each other mercilessly. They have very different tastes, but occasionally, one will admit "That was actually pretty clever."
• Sluggy Freelance has an interesting one when a man is torturing Torg for information.

Torturer: Just tell us what we want to know, and we'll stop. Torg: YOU HAVEN'T ASKED ME ANYTHING YET! Torturer starts laughing Torg: Hey! Torturer: Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Anyway, we want to know where Doctor Steve's lab is. Torg: I don't know that! I couldn't tell you if my life depended on it! Torturer starts laughing After a moment, Torg starts laughing too

• Ben's father has to laugh about "dingle-choad" in this strip of Loserz.
• In Schlock Mercenary, Xinchub laughs at Tagon saying "innocent Marines". Tagon agrees that that's actually funny.
• This Brawl in the Family Comic.
• Black Mage has a moment of this near the end of Eight Bit Theater where, after having become a super-powerful, super-evil version of himself, he stops in the middle of attempting to slaughter the rest of the main cast to admit that a prank they pulled on him 700 or so strips earlier actually was pretty funny.

Web Original

• This video featuring iJustine and a terrible date.

Justine: *laughs* I...hate you.

• The Youtube song Beware the Believers, produced by creationists to promote a Documentary of Lies, has sane fans - mainly because the Straw Man Has a Point.
• Even though most of the movies reviewed by The Nostalgia Critic are bad, he admits that there are occasionally one or two funny jokes.
  • For example, this in Street Fighter: The Movie. QUICK! CHANGE THE CHANNEL!!
  • Despite the Batman and Robin movie being labeled the worst film ever and driving the Nostalgia Critic to homicidal rage over a Bat Credit Card, "the Riddler suit here is kinda clever."
  • The Stinger at the end of the Good Burger review.
  • He also liked one scene in Jingle All the Way, when Myron the mailman threatened some police officers with what he thought was a fake bomb in a package, only for it to go off after he leaves the room. However, an unfortunate case of Mood Whiplash ensues when the officer from the bomb squad is shown comically charred but still alive.
  • The Nostalgia Chick utterly panned Spice World, until Meat Loaf's character reacts to being asked to unplug the multiple toilets on The Spice Girls' tour bus by saying "Look, I love these girls. And I would do anything for them. But I won't do that." In the Chick's words: "Can it be that this movie has redeemed itself with a mere one joke?!"
• On a similar note, in a review of Highlander II the Quickening. Spoony admitted that MacLeod and Ramirez simply getting into a car and ramming an armed barricade relying on their immortality to protect them from all the times they'll be shot is actually pretty clever. However, he also points out all the Fridge Logic that undermines this, the biggest ones include the fact that they put the (mortal) Love Interest in the trunk of said car, and that the Big Bad didn't simply tell the Corrupt Corporate Executive he's working with about the immortals and to cut their heads off.
  • Similarly, he said the protective collar worn by The Guardian in Highlander the Source was an ingenious idea for the series. Sure, they never use it again, but still. He also praised some of the lines and scenes, such as the Guardian's "There can be only ME!".
  • And more literally, during his Phantasmagoria2: A Puzzle of Flesh LP.

Trevor: I've got a date for dinner. Curtis: Tell me about him. Trevor: Nooo...okay. Spoony: Okay, that was good.

• Proton Jon of Let's Play hates Invisible Coin Blocks. Yet, in this ROM Hack, he encounters an inventive use of them that's Actually Pretty Funny.

YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! *chuckles* Okay, that was kinda funny.

• From a Sonic Unleashed playthrough by Hellfire Commentaries:

NTom: What's a moray? FTA: When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's a moray. NTom: (clapping) Well done, that is actually well deserved.

• From the Riff Trax of 300, the guys let out a barrage of Punctuated for Emphasis jokes with Bill ending thus:

Bill: When he sits down to meal of juice, toast, milk, and Trix cereal-- Mike: Uh oh, where's he going with this? Bill: And he looks at his bowl of Trix and he says "THIS! IS! SPART OF A BALANCED BREAKFAST!" Kevin: Wow! Mike: Wow, you pulled it out! Nicely done.

• At the end of the first season of Commodore HUSTLE, the villain Geoff, who's determined to ruin Loading Ready Run because of their comedy's reliance on the Groin Attack, is kicked in the balls by Paul's ball-kicking robot, Mr. Ballsmotron. As he collapses, he says "That... was Actually Pretty Funny."
• Subverted in Dragon Ball Abridged. Frieza makes a Double Entendre pun while handing out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Nail. Nail starts to chuckle, and Frieza assumes this trope is in effect. Then Nail tells him the real reason he's laughing: because Nail suckered Frieza into wasting time while a plan by the good guys to use the dragonballs and thwart Frieza was being played out.

Western Animation

• In The Simpsons, Marge scolds Bart for somehow tattooing "Wide load" on Homer's rear, but then chuckles at it behind his back.
  • She's also done this when Flanders poured his heart out in a letter to Homer. She insisted they take the letter seriously, and then left the room to snicker.
  • In yet another episode (where Homer becomes an astronaut), Marge chastises Bart for writing on the back of Homer's head, but when Homer turns and inadvertently shows her the message ("Insert Brain Here"), she has to hold back her laughter.
  • After Chief Wiggum 'kills' Homer's homicidal toupee in a Halloween special:

Chief Wiggum: Now, that's what I call a bad hair day! (General laughter.) Marge: May I remind you that two people are dead? Oh, wait, I just got it! (Laughs.)

• • They're watching a Rainier Wolfcastle movie, and he's just snapped the neck of a jet fighter pilot in mid-flight after jumping onto the plane:

Marge: Now that's what I call breakneck speed. Bart: Mom, a man just died.

• • During a parole hearing, Chief Wiggum is forced to admit this about one of Sideshow Bob's remarks, after finally getting the joke.

Wiggum: Sideshow Bob has no decency! He called me "Chief Piggum!" (Entire courtroom laughs.) Wiggum: Ha ha, oh, now I get it. Ha, that's good.

• • During Sideshow Bob's campaign for Mayor, Bart has this reaction to Bob's suggestion that "Councilman Les Wynan should do more thinking and less whinin'!" despite knowing that Les Wynan doesn't exist.
  • Happens at the end of the Itchy & Scratchy Land episode, Lisa lobs her shoe at Bart's head to prove to Marge that violence is funny when it's not happening to you. Marge does find it funny, but sends Lisa to her room.
  • In a variation, in the episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian, at one point Homer declares "You don't win friends with salad!", which Bart turns into a Conga Line. They leave the screen and return with Marge on the end of the line; Lisa gets upset, and Marge apologizes, saying it was catchy. Unfortunately this gag is usually cut in syndication.
  • Again in "Itchy And Scratchy And Marge", Marge is watching one of the kids' cartoons after it supposedly leads Maggie to attack Homer with a hammer. She is left in disgust by the violence, while Homer, despite still suffering from head injuries, is tittering quietly to himself. After she issues a complaint to the studios, they respond by making a squirrel caricature of her being killed by the stars, leaving Homer in hysterics.
  • After Burns’ song, See My Vest, Lisa is shock to hear that Burns plans on killing a littler of greyhound puppies for his tuxedo. Lisa scolds Bart, in which Bart replies… “Sorry. You gotta admit, it's catchy”.
  • In "Homer’s Night Out", a copy of the photo of Homer with Princess Kashmir is seized from one of the boys by his father. When the child leaves to his room, the father looks and plans on sending a copy of photo via fax.
  • In "Lisa’s Date with Destiny", this classic line…

Skinner: Oh, you think this stolen "H" is a laugh riot, don't you? Well, I'll tell you something that's not so funny. Right now, Superintendent Chalmers is at home crying like a little girl. Students and some of the teachers begin to laugh. Skinner: Well, I guess it is a little funny.

• • "Tales from the Public Domain" had this one with a viking

Krusty: And if your idea of a first date is burning down her village, you just might be... a Viking! Many in the crowd laughs. Viking: That's what I get for seating up front.

• This exchange in South Park:

Stan: Come on, fatass, we have to go! Cartman: Ay! Don't call me fat! Cartman's Mom: (Laughs). Cartman: Mom, don't laugh! Cartman's Mom: I'm sorry, hun'. Cartman: I can't go with you guys now. Stan: Yes you can, Porky. Cartman's Mom: (Laughs harder) Cartman: Mom, seriously! Cartman's Mom: That's not funny, boys. Eric's not fat, he's big-boned. Kyle: He must have a huge bone in his ass then! Cartman's Mom: (Laughs hysterically) Cartman: GOD DAMN IT, MOM!

• Gaz from Invader Zim is usually disdainful of her brother's obsession with Zim, but in one episode when Zim is sent into absolute hysterics after Dib hits him with a muffin (which she had initially dubbed "horrible") she snickers and comments that "Actually, that was kind of funny."
• On an episode of Mission Hill, Kevin French is brought to the principal's office for using the word "douchebag" in class, which is such awful profanity that the principal is too polite to say it out loud and instead writes it down on a piece of paper. Kevin and his older brother, Andy both crack up immediately when they see how the word's written all neatly and in cursive. Cursive, people.
  • This fits as a written version of Sophisticated As Hell: profanity written in a formal, polite style. And yes, it was actually very funny.
• On Futurama, Leo Wong tells the story of how the Native Martians were "scammed" out of most of the planet by trading it for a single bead. Leela chastises the group for laughing at the story, despite admitting that it is funny.
  • It turns out that the bead is a huge diamond.
• On Jimmy Two-Shoes, when Mrs. Gerkin launches into an Evil Laugh over her Zombie Apocalypse, Jimmy asks what's so funny. She points to two of the zombies who keep running into each other. Jimmy admits he's amused.
• In Archer, the mainframe is infected with a virus that shuts down all the computers. And displays an animation of a cartoon pirate with a catchy tune.

Archer: (bursts out laughing) Malory: You think this is funny? Archer: Do you not?

• • And in "White Nights":

Malory: I want you to see Dr. Krieger this instant! Archer: Katya doesn't have VD. Malory: Oh? You haven't had sex with her yet? Archer: (sarcastically) Oh, ha ha...(beat) OK, actually that was pretty good.

• In My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, the Big Bad Discord makes Pinkie Pie laugh by doing a little dance on the head of an image of Twilight Sparkle. The fans certainly found that animation amusing.
  • In the episode "Baby Cakes", Pinkie Pie becomes the victim of a running gag. The only way the foals she's baby sitting will quiet down is if flour gets dumped on her (in one case while she was soaking wet). At the episode's end, the foals do the flour gag to themselves to cheer up Pinkie. She admits they were right, that is funny.
  • In an earlier episode, "Griffon the Brush Off", Pinkie applies this to her love of pranks. She won't pull a prank someone who's sensitive enough to take even a harmless prank seriously, which is why she aborts a prank when Fluttershy winds up the one it would have hit.
• In an episode of Sabrina the Animated Series, Sabrina gets her wisdom teeth removed by magic with the result that she starts being brutally honest to everyone around her. In one scene, Sabrina responds to one of Gem's insults with "Oh, real funny, Gem! ...Actually, it was pretty funny."
• In the second episode of Bob's Burgers, Bob has been complaining about Linda's nagging by calling her things like "Nagatha Christie", which makes her mad, until he calls her "Secretary of Nagriculture", which causes her to laugh and admit that "that was a good one."
• On one episode of Family Guy';, two mob thugs come to beat up Joe Swanson, bringing a message from their boss that if he doesn't pay his debt to them, he'll make Joe into a "Swanson frozen dinner." Joe can't help chuckling a little at that.
• An episode of Hey Arnold had Gerald get his tonsils removed. Before, he had an amazing tenor singing voice, given a role to sing the ending lyric of "Moonlight Bay". After, his voice is so raspy and baritone that, during rehearsal, it distracts the other kids and gets them all hysterical. Mr. Simmons tries to calm them down saying "It wasn't that funny," but then admitted "OK, it was.... pretty funny." To his credit, he tried to look serious and understanding the whole time.
• One episode of SpongeBob SquarePants" has Karen show Plankton a montage of all his humiliating defeats by Krabs. The last one, where Plankton is left a blubbering wreck after Krabs can't even be bothered with him, always cracks her up.
• The Recess episode, "The Hypnotist", ends with Principal Prickly looking at his picture that he doodled a goatee on while " hypnotized into a child", and he considered growing a goatee himself.
  • In “Good Ole T.J.”, when the class was being assigned a study on ancient civilization leading to this:

TJ: Ancient? You mean like back when Finster was a kid? Miss Grotke: We're talking about thousands of years ago, TJ...not hundreds (chuckles).

• • In “Mama’s Girl”, Finster tries to calm down the student body when they were laughing about Spinelli calling Ms. Grotke ‘mama’, but only to give in the laughter herself.