History Main / DontExplainTheJoke

* As [[http://rapgenius.com/posts/Get-it-why-do-rappers-explain-their-own-lines-in-the-age-of-rap-genius one blog post]] points out, rappers in general are prone to explaining their own jokes in-song, much to the disdain of the blogger.

* ''Webcomic/PunchAnPie'': [[TheDitz Karen]] [[http://www.punchanpie.net/daily/20070606.html demonstrates.]]

* ''Website/CollegeHumor'':
** "[[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1779769 Turn that everyman into a BEVERYMAN! Bevery stands for BEVERAGE!]]"
** "[[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1910868 It plays movies instead of books.]]"

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In the legendary court case ''[[https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/88/116/2579076/ Leonard v. Pepsico]]'', a man had decided to literally interpret a Pepsi commercial that mentioned various merchandise available for "Pepsi points" in a promotional program, jokingly including a Harrier jet for 7,000,000 points. He therefore set about acquiring 7,000,000 Pepsi points and demanded his Harrier jet, eventually suing when he didn't receive it. Among other matters, the ruling set about a laborious explanation of why the commercial was "evidently done in jest," despite the judge's evincing some reluctance to do this:
-->Plaintiff's insistence that the commercial appears to be a serious offer requires the Court to explain why the commercial is funny. Explaining why a joke is funny is a daunting task; as the essayist E.B. White has remarked, "Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process..."
[[/folder]]

* Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg are notorious for doing this in their [[{{ShallowParody}} infamous parody films]]. One of the many, ''many'' reasons their attempts at humor in their movies fall flat is because nearly every pop-culture reference they make has to be stated what it is and/or what it's parodying. Making the issue worse is the fact that said pop-culture references are already ''extremely obvious'' to begin with and really don't require an explanation... and yet they do it anyway as though they believe the [[ViewersAreMorons viewers wouldn't get them otherwise}}.

* Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg are infamous for doing this in their [[{{ShallowParody}} infamous parody films]]. One of the many, ''many'' reasons their attempts at humor in their movies fall flat is because nearly every pop-culture reference they make has to be stated what it is and/or what it's parodying. Making the issue worse is the fact that said pop-culture references are already ''extremely obvious'' to begin with and really don't require an explanation... and yet they do it anyway as though they believe the ViewersAreMorons who wouldn't get them otherwise.

* Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg are infamous for doing this. One of the many, ''many'' reasons their attempts at humor in their movies fall flat is because nearly every pop-culture reference they make has to be stated what it is and/or what it's parodying. Making the issue worse is the fact that said pop-culture references are already ''extremely obvious'' to begin with and really don't require an explanation... and yet they do it anyway.

''[{{Beat}}] \\
[Slightly Annoyed]'' You get it!

-->'''Cass:''' Nobody's dick that's long! Not even Long Dick Johnson, and he had a fuckin' long dick. Hence, the name.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-It seems jokes are something [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] ''doesn't'' like to kill. [[SelfDemonstratingArticle See, it's because he's a murderer with a comedy theme, and he doesn't think explaning jokes are funny.]]]]-]

[[caption-width-right:350:[-It seems jokes are something [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] ''doesn't'' like to kill. [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Get it? It's because he's a murderer with a comedy theme!]]]]-]

--->'''Belkar:''' Get it? Because he said "Fire!" and then you used a "Fire"-ball, and now they're all dead!\\

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' complained about the first issue of ''ComicBook/{{Marville}}'' having an "insider's guide" explaining who various celebrities and superheroes who eventually appearing on the comic as this, down to playing the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' clip that the page image inspired.

--> (talking about Ring King) "Holy shit! It looks like they're getting blowjobs! What do you mean explaining the joke ruins it? Fuck you!"