So Unfunny It's Funny: Difference between revisions

However, when an entire show fits this trope, [[Giftedly Bad|it's probably unintentional]]. Note that this is rare; it's said that while most genres, badly done, become comedies; bad [[Narm|drama]], bad [[Special Effects Failure|sci-fi]], bad [[Nightmare Retardant|horror]], etc can all become [[Snark Bait]], but a bad comedy by definition fails at being funny. Failing so hard you succeed is a rare gift. A common variety is to have something overloaded with so many bad funnies at the end you are laughing for some reason.

 

 

{{noreallife|this is an [[Audience Reaction]] trope, and as far as we know, Real Life does not have an audience.}}

{{examples}}

* King Kai from ''[[Dragon Ball|Dragon Ball Z]]'' IS this trope. Not one of his jokes is legitimately funny, and that's the joke. One joke in the English dub of Kai, however ("They should call him SLOW-KU!") is VERY funny if you read it as a dig at the original DBZ's notoriously slow pace.

 

* From the [[Touhou Project]] fanworks, the [[Memetic Mutation|ridiculously funny punchline]] of the song ''Cirno's Perfect Math Class'' ... '''There are no buses in Gensokyo!'''

 

* A famous case is ''[[The Lion King]]'', where this is the main appeal of Timon's character. His jokes are so lame you can't help but chuckle- this was intentional of course. Hakuna Matata has this:

{{quote|"What's eating you, kid?" "Nothing, he's at the top of the food chain! Hahaha!!! The food chain, ha ha ha ha... (realizes his joke has failed)"}}

* Marlin from ''[[Finding Nemo]]'' starts out at this, [[Derailed for Details|hideously butchering a joke]] he tries to tell to the other parents. The commentary track on the DVD has Albert Brooks explain ''how'' he went about to make this joke so unfunny, making it even more awesome.

 

* Jack Aubrey in the ''[[Master and Commander]]'' series makes a lot of terrible puns, and often gets them wrong since he's an inveterate [[Malaproper]], but he delights so much in his own jokes that it's hard not to laugh with him.

* "Jokes that have never produced laughter" from ''[[The Areas of My Expertise]]''. It's even better on the audiobook, where you hear [[Paul Rudd]] read them.

{{quote|"So he said 'Get me an alligator sandwich -- and make it quick!'"}}

 

* [[Sarah Silverman]] on ''[[The Sarah Silverman Program]]''. She puts a crying baby on a branch outside during her baby shower so she can deliver the punchline to her joke about how she lost a pair of chopsticks: "I'm like, 'Silver-WHERE?'"

* On ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' Ted seems to enjoy [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]s, explaining that [[Don't Explain the Joke|it's because they're so bad that they're funny]]. Much of the group's "wit" is this, as well.

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode ''[[The Creeping Terror]]'' includes a host segment featuring [[Mike Nelson]] testing for the "sweet spot" on his custom audio system by listening to one of the film's tedious songs. For a very long time.

* Most [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: In ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', there is a scene where River dances. Riverdance?

 

 

* ''[[The Muppet Show]]'':

** Fozzie Bear is a Reconstruction of this trope. According to the First Season ''Muppet Show'' commentary, Fozzie was originally just a bad comedian, and they switched to the use of this trope midseason. A comedian whose material is invariably unfunny: kinda sad. A comedian who, without realizing it, dissects how to be invariably unfunny: hysterical.

** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu5ghk7KkNU This skit], where the King totally botches an attempt to be funny and then gets the joke wrong.

 

* [[Deadpan Snarker]] radio satirists [[Bob and Ray]] often pursued aggressively unfunny material to its logical limit and beyond, as a way of "seeing what [they] could get away with." Notable examples include the fifteen-minute, multi-show "Bulgarian Cream Pie" bit and an instance of a grouchy Bob Elliott playing intentionally annoying music because he had to broadcast alone on Christmas Day.

 

* [[Neil Hamburger]] has spent his career pretending to be what may be the world's worst comedian.

* The comedian Edward Aczel pretty much does a show in character as a terrible comedian.

* [[Andy Kaufman]] had this as his primary shtick. First he would do a bunch of terrible impressions ("And now, my impression of American President [[Jimmy Carter]]. I am American President Jimmy Carter. Thank you.") until people got so upset that they started walking out, and then he would launch into what was considered one of the best [[Elvis Presley]] impressions of all time (when he was alive, Elvis himself stated that it was his favorite).

* [[Norm MacDonald]]'s bit on the roast of Bob Saget consisted of nothing but terrible, terrible jokes. The audience didn't like it, but all the comedians there were ''dying''.

** [[Your Mileage May Vary|For some of the audience, at least,]] the deliberately-terrible jokes didn't get funny until Norm started ''[[Don't Explain the Joke|explaining]]'' them, as in the above examples (the ones from the first half of the act were simply read off the cue cards, followed by an awkward pause, followed by the next joke).

* The Smothers Brothers attempt to be the most [[Sibling Rivalry|dysfunctional]] folk singers ever.

{{quote|"I have a sweet tooth *scattered laughter* I think I messed something up with that last joke. I apologize."}}

** Mitch [[Invoked Trope|invoked]] this trope in one of his [[CDs]]. After telling a terrible joke, he informed the audience that he was going to take a sound clip of them laughing at one of his better jokes and insert it at the end of the bad joke, so that people would be wondering what was wrong with the audience.

{{quote|'''(paraphrasing):''' We Germans have a reputation for being too strict and orderly to be funny. Tonight, I hope to prove that wrong. *beat* Joke number one: ...}}

{{quote|"And the woman behind- the bitch behind the counter says, 'No, is Pepsi okay?' and I say, 'No! If I had wanted Coke- if I had wanted Coke- I mean, Pepsi, I would have ordered one! Thank you.'"}}

 

* Harry in ''The Time of Your Life'' wants to be a great comedian, but nobody laughs at his comic monologues.

 

* Ernie Steele of ''[[Backyard Sports]]''. Uses many examples of [[Don't Explain the Joke]]. Somehow, he seems to realize his jokes are unfunny, unlike [[Creator's Pet|Joey]].

* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', Moe the clown encourages Phoenix to tell a joke. Clearly put on the spot, Phoenix says "Why am I, Phoenix Wright, such a great lawyer? Because I'm Wright all the time!" Cue awkward silence.

* Margaret in ''[[Persona 4]]'' starts telling truly awful jokes completely seriously as you begin to progress down her Social Link. She seems disappointed that she can't make the protagonist laugh.

 

* A lot of jokes in ''[[Jerry Jackson]]'' series are like this. For an example:

{{quote|(deliberate misspelling corrected) Why does Mario go in the pipes? Is it because he likes the music down there or is it so that he can trump and it will make a really funny echo sound? And then he can blow the smell out and poison all the turtles at the top. And the answer is: not there because it is a metaphorical question. Lol.}}

 

* [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20080523 This] ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' strip "cleverly disguised as an actual comic."

* A good portion of ''[[Cyanide & Happiness]]'' intentionally stems from this. This typically will entail having the last few panels [[Overly Long Gag|contain little to no content aside from the joke sinking in.]]

* [http://www.viruscomix.com/page426.html The Sphynx's inexplicable joke] in ''[[Subnormality]]''.

** That's also (intentional) [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]; the joke is really good if you're willing to do the research so you get the references in it. To elaborate, there's an annual Wagner festival in Bayreuth, Germany, but the German guy went to Beirut instead. This may actually be based on a [[Real Life]] incident, when a prop dragon got delivered to Beirut by mistake.

* When Waluigi [[Hostile Show Takeover|takes over]] ''[[Brawl in the Family]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20100527072042/http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/comic151.html his comics] tend to rely on this, especially the [[No Fourth Wall]] ones.

{{quote|'''Waluigi:''' The third panel is the funny one. ''([[Beat Panel]])''}}

* Steve from ''[[Daisy Owl]]'' routinely have nightmares where he is a bad stand-up comic who starts a regular observation, then draws a sensible and unfunny conclusion, and then he wakes up in fright. Many of the other strips also derives their humor from having the punchline derail or just turn into an awkward silence.

 

* The ''[[Riff Trax]]'' for the ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' movie, around the middle, had Mike start randomly adding "o" to the end of phrases, and it culminated with him and Bill muttering "Cerebro" and "Magneto" to each other repeatedly in their best [[Ian McKellen]] and [[Patrick Stewart]] impressions. It really wasn't a joke at all, but somehow ended up being the most hilarious thing of the whole Rifftrax.

{{quote|'''Bubs:''' Aww, that's rich. You know something else that bears a striking resemblance to something else? Women can't drive!

''[later]''

'''Bubs:''' And remember, like, ten years ago? People's clothes looked funny! ''[Strong Mad laughs]'' And the music sounded terrible! ''[Strong Mad laughs]'' }}

{{quote|- A lawyer, an IRS auditor and a venture capitalist are lost at sea in a lifeboat in the dangerous waters off the Australian coast. The boat springs a leak. They drown.|Yo momma's so fat she has to wear large clothes.}}

 

* Krusty the Clown from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' was attempting to be the living embodiment of this trope. One of the writers said that it was a really hard balancing act of making the jokes unfunny yet still making the character a source of comedy.

** From the same show, [[The Ahnold|Reiner Wolfcastle]]'s attempt at stand-up comedy, where he cracks unfunny jokes and carries enough firepower to violently put down hecklers.

* One episode of [[The Proud Family]] had Penny throw a party that was woefully under attended, thanks to Lasieniga also throwing a party that very night. Only the rejected guests from Lasieniga's ended up at Penny's house ([[With Friends Like These...|with even Penny's friends abandoning her]]). So Trudy, wanting to cheer up Penny and entertain her guests, delivers this priceless gem: "Why did the monkey fall off the tree?" (kids ask why) "Because he was dead!" (Penny was NOT amused)

 

* This is the entire premise behind [[Cannot Tell a Joke]].

* Young children often don't quite get humor and try to make jokes out of random and nonsensical bits of other jokes. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

** There's a kid's joke going roughly "Two tomatoes cross a road, when one gets run over. The other says, 'Come on, ketchup!'". The joke works extremely well in any language because very few kids understand it's supposed to be a pun on "catch up" - they just like it because the tomato gets crushed. It actually wasn't until I heard it in English that I realized there was supposed to be a pun to begin with, not to mention having heard a dozen "variations" with other things getting run over, obviously without any possible pun or punchline. It's funny because... someone gets killed and the other is unfazed about it?