Punch Line: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"A punchline should be equated to an actual punch in the face. That's why it's called a punch-line. You deliver it and run. [[Don't Explain the Joke|You do not hang around explaining how you did the punch and that the recipient should probably be in a lot of pain now]]."''|'''Ben [[Zero Punctuation|"Yahtzee"]] Croshaw'''}}

 

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In [[Mahou Sensei Negima]], Negi once [[Lampshaded]] it after sneezing on Chisame. ([http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v37/c338/19.html Link] -- [[NSFW]])

 

* Subversion: The boys behind ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' apparently felt no need to tack a punchline at the end of every sketch, no matter what [[The BBC]] told them. They usually offered a segue into the next sketch instead, though a few sketches made fun of such punchlines. The restaurant sketch with the dirty fork is an example of the latter, where the cheesiness of the punchline (which is marked by a title card saying 'And now for the punchline' and was {{spoiler|"Luckily I didn't tell him about the dirty knife."}}) is shown to ruin the humour of the sketch. When a later sketch is ended by a policeman who tries to arrest everyone for making a strange sketch, another policeman then enters and tries to arrest everyone else for trying to get out of the sketch without a punchline.

{{quote| '''Inspector Thompson's Gazelle of the Yard:''' And this is the cruncher: offences against the 'Getting out of sketches without using a proper punchline' act! Namely, simply [[Hypocritical Humor|ending every bleeding sketch by just having a policeman come in, and]]... [[Oh Crap|Wait a minute]]... ''**Another policeman enters and arrests him**''}}

{{quote| [[Flat What|What?]]}}

* Another subversion was ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]''. In one memorable sketch, Hugh Laurie stopped in the middle to protest that this was one of those sketches where Stephen's role just got sillier until there was no way to end things properly, and it was just abandoned. Stephen protested that of ''course'' there was a proper end to the sketch, and he'd go and get the script to prove it. After a few seconds, Hugh realised he wasn't coming back.

** ''A Bit of Fry and Laurie'' ended another sketch by having all the characters walk out of a boardroom after Hugh upsets a 'foreign' woman by saying English words that just happen to be offensive words in her language. Then having the shot lingering on the empty set and surrounding studio while a caption made various remarks such as "Rooms spend most their time empty don't they?". At one point a mysterious nude man walked past in gloom at the back of the studio. The characters did eventually come back but only for a huge fight to kick off.

** They were quite fond of this kind of thing. One sketch ended with Fry asking "What do you think?" as part of the sketch, to which Laurie replied by giving a critique of the way Fry had written the sketch.

* Six episodes in Series 10 of ''[[Never Mind the Buzzcocks]]'' (aired in early 2002) had Mark reading off a punchline in the beginning of each episode (before guest introductions) and telling the full joke later during the show. The full list (highlight to read the full joke):

** {{spoiler|Buddy Holly only decided to take his fatal plane trip in order to get the band's laundry done. When The Crickets arrived at the gig, the manager broke the bad news to them:}} "Sorry lads, you've got no clean pants. {{spoiler|Oh, and, uh, four eyes is dead}}."