History Main / DontExplainTheJoke

Like this: Comedian tells a joke. The joke doesn't get a laugh. The joke is dead. The comic sincerely tries to explain why the joke (should be) funny. This makes the comedian look ridiculous, which ''does'' get a laugh. We won't go into why ridiculous comedians are funny. That would be explaining the joke, which you cannot make us do.

* ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' is the ImageSource, namely ''Mad Love'', where Harley Quinn tries to explain the {{deathtrap}} she built for Batman and how it is humorous (thus meeting Joker's standards for Batman having a hilarious death), but it backfires -- partly due to this trope and partly because of Joker's conviction that he is [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou the only one allowed to defeat Batman]]. Faithfully done in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode based on the one-shot comic. He harshly tells Harley that she needs to learn to "take shots from folks who just don't get the joke"... [[DestinationDefenestration before smacking her out of a window.]]

* In ''Podcast/TheFallenGods'', when Josh asks if the draconians in the treasure area are stronger than the other one they encountered, Jake says yes because they [[IncrediblyLamePun scale]].

Then again, Cook also feels the need to explain, earlier in the same book, that two characters winking at each other is "part of an established method of nonverbal communication," so maybe [[ViewersAreMorons he just really loves to explain everything.]]

&&* From Music/TimMinchin's "Prejudice": "they'll be pretty smart because they'll be well read. And by read I mean read and the other kind of red, it's a homophone!"

* The punchline of the "Short Circuits" of the first issue of ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' is a MythologyGag which is promptly explained in a footnote.

* Expertly inverted in the Podcast/RiffTrax cover of Mesa of Lost Women.

--> '''Mike''': Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Corbett has just made a reference to

--> '''Bill''': My God, Dr. Seuss' [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]] had more action than this!
--> '''Mike''':

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* This occurs in ''VisualNovel/{{Sickness}}'' the middle of an innuendo-laden dialogue about fighting:
-->'''Markus:''' There's no need to be shy. I brought some fresh meat, and now you want to beat it.\\
'''Markus:''' ...Heh. Get it? I called him meat, and implied that you want to beat his--\\
'''Andrei:''' Okay, that's enough of you.
[[/folder]]

* The puns in the later ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels are often explained rather than actually showing their pun nature. Take the "Hippo-Crite". Does it actually do things that are hypocritical? No. It just says, "I never mean what I say." Well, since it's a series of books built exclusively on puns, anymore, it's not hard to imagine that Piers Anthony would run out of steam eventually. A he did -- a lot of the puns are [[RunningTheAsylum fan-submitted]], although some of the setup is still Anthony's.

A SubTrope of MeasuringTheMarigolds. Compare LampshadedDoubleEntendre and EuphemismBuster, JustJokingJustification. May be the outcome of PoesLaw, when a satire/parody fails because the audience didn't realise it is a parody/satire and took it seriously.

A SubTrope of MeasuringTheMarigolds. Compare LampshadedDoubleEntendre and EuphemismBuster, JustJokingJustification. May be the outcome of PoesLaw, when a satire/parody fails because the audience took it seriously.

-->'''Naveen:''' Now you're really into the music! Do you get my joke? Since, well, your head, it is in the tuba.

'''Sally:''' Figure all that out on your own, did you?

* ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' is the ImageSource, namely ''Mad Love'', where Harley Quinn tries to explain the {{deathtrap}} she built for Batman and how it is humorous (thus meeting Joker's standards for Batman having a hilarious death), but it backfires -- partly due to this trope and partly because of Joker's conviction that he is [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou the only one allowed to defeat Batman]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOP-2ulq2bk Faithfully done in the]] ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode based on the one-shot comic. He harshly tells Harley that she needs to learn to "take shots from folks who just don't get the joke"... [[DestinationDefenestration before smacking her out of a window.]]

** In the first movie, one of the evil spies is a superstitious Irishman with a charm bracelet that has a unique trinket on it for every man he kills. The bracelet is of vital interest to international law enforcement, and he proclaims "they're always after me lucky charms!" which causes the audience and everyone sitting at the table with him to snicker. He asks why everyone always laughs when he says that, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNEvSOx7j4A Frau Farbissina tries to tell him about the commercials]]. Her ridiculous description of the commercials (in reality an ad-lib that was [[ThrowItIn Thrown In]]) makes it even funnier.

-->'''Guide 1''': (''[[NoFourthWall to the camera]]'') Bad guy falls in [[ToiletHumour poop]]: ''[[LampshadeHanging Classic]]'' element of [[{{Slapstick}} physical comedy]]! [[ThisIsThePartWhere Now comes the part where]] we throw our heads back and laugh! Ready?\\

(''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hizytskAmuo all burst into laughter]]'')
* In ''Film/GetHimToTheGreek'', there is a song in there by Aldous' ex-wife Jackie Q called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRJjPXqxRis Ring Around My Posy"]], full of innuendos about anal sex. At the very end she says, "I'm talking about my ''asshole''."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQP6cB9hE0M A review]] of Brazilian movie ''Os Parças'' complains that a joke is ruined because of this: a criminal orders his henchman to "do a Clark Kent" on someone, and so the guy is thrown out the window. A few moments later, someone asks why it was called that, and the criminal explains "Comicbook/{{Superman}} flies... Clark Kent crashes to the ground!"

'''Queen:''' Never! (''[[IResembleThatRemark angrily throws her ink well at Bill the Lizard]]'')\\

'''Albert:''' [[ServileSnarker I'm laughing like hell deep down, sir.]]

* From Music/TimMinchin's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw "Prejudice"]]: "they'll be pretty smart because they'll be well read. And by read I mean read and the other kind of red, it's a homophone!"

* Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart once wrote a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFPoRmsiFzc four-part "musical joke"]], which is pretty funny without explanation. But here, the trope is inverted because this particular joke gets ''even funnier'' when the joke is properly explained.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkmeoYKYctw This fake deck sealant commercial]] pokes fun at the New Zealand accent pronunciation of "deck", then at the very end says "Don't put it on your penis."

* The {{surreal|Humor}} video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysDU7zf9ZnI GABE NEWELL FINDS HIMSELF]] features ANNOTATIONS FOR THE SUBTLETY IMPAIRED.

* Happens in [[http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=1928 a strip]] of ''Webcomic/ShortPacked''.

* ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' is the ImageSource, namely ''Mad Love'', where Harley Quinn tries to explain the {{deathtrap}} she built for Batman and how it is humorous (thus meeting Joker's standards for Batman having a hilarious death), but it backfires -- partly due to this trope and partly because of Joker's conviction that he is [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou the only one allowed to defeat Batman]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOP-2ulq2bk Faithfully done in the]] ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode based on the one-shot comic.

A SubTrope of MeasuringTheMarigolds. Compare LampshadedDoubleEntendre and EuphemismBuster, JustJokingJustification.

* In an early issue of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', Robotnik sends a robot that looks a lot like [[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel]] after Sonic, who notes that he "sounds familiar". A footnote immediately explains that [[ActorAllusion the same guy plays Sonic]] on [[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog the then currently]] [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM running Sonic cartoons.]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' has both antagonists pull this one on separate occasions. [=GLaDOS=] because she's a DeadpanSnarker and [[spoiler:Wheatley]] because he's genuinely stupid. The latter is adorned with heavy LampshadeHanging.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'':

** Willikins, Sam Vimes' butler, explains a reference in the ''Ankh-Morpork Times''' political cartoon to his employer in ''Thud!'' Considering it's a reference to ''stakeouts'' in a cartoon about vampires, lifelong policeman Vimes is the last person to actually need the pun pointed out to him. Possibly a BrickJoke, as Vimes made the same pun to Carrot a dozen novels earlier in ''Literature/MenAtArms''. He didn't get it.

'''Todd:''' Because... because you'll be dust by Monday.\\

'''Scott:''' I'm sorry... what?\\
'''Todd:''' And the cleaning lady... cleans up... dust. She dusts. And she has weekends off, so... Monday. Right?\\

* In an early issue of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', Robotnik sends a robot that looks a lot like [[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel]] after Sonic, who notes that he "sounds familiar". A footnote immediately explains that [[ActorAllusion the same guy plays Sonic]] on [[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog the then currently]] [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM running Sonic cartoons]].

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' creator Scott Adams once released a compilation called ''Its Not Funny If I have to Explain It''. Let us explain the irony in that title: it's a compilation of strips, each one ''commented by the creator''. Get it?
* [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/bloom-county-to-get-republished-at-last,23496/ The upcoming treasury collections]] of the legendary comic strip ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' will probably runneth over this trope. Since much of the humor is a product of the 1980s, the collections will include "context pages" to help explain the cultural and political references to anyone born after the Reagan administration. Because of that, it might be born out of necessity to explain the background of the Meadowcrats... Not wanting to have to explain the joke was a ''huge'' factor in Breathed's decision to let the collections go out of print and not release any further reprintings.

* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' has a RunningGag that if anyone comes up behind Miu, she'll throw them. ''Every single time'' this occurs, there's a [[FootnoteFever little caption box]] that says something like "Miu has a habit of throwing anyone standing behind her." It gets to the point that the caption itself is its own RunningGag.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''[='=]s dub is absolutely rife with bad puns, and sometimes {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this: "Looks like I'm all in one... PEACE! Haha, see, it's funny, because I'm making a 'peace' sign!"
* Black☆Star of ''Manga/SoulEater'' sometimes overexplains the meaning of his jokes... which is necessary, because they're pretty incomprehensible.

-->'''Norm [=MacDonald=]:''' You have lot of well-wishers here tonight, and a lot of them would like to throw you down one... a well. [[MoodWhiplash They wanna murder you in a well]], which seems a bit harsh, but that's what it says here on this cue card.

** Leo does a lengthy [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=284 menstruation joke,]] and then top it.
** [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=269 It's not the first time Leo did that.]] Also the final panel could be considered the creator explaining the comic's joke.

** The gag is repeated in the Ginyu Force theme song from ''Anime/DragonBallKai'', where Jeice again feels the need to explain that when he says he's going to "pat" you with his [[KiManipulation Crusher Ball]], he doesn't mean a pat on the head.