History Main / HumorDissonance

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[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In a milder version of this trope, many, many {{JRPG}}s have characters laugh at a joke, then ''keep on laughing'' for far longer than would be expected for the actual humor content of the joke. The ''KingdomHearts'' games are particularly annoying in this regard. It's almost like [[AustinPowers Dr. Evil]] but played entirely straight.
** If you like, you can imagine [[LaughingMad them as]] TheJoker, particularly [[DarkKnightTrilogy the Ledger version]].

* Used deliberatly in an episode of ''DaveTheBarbarian'', where the extraordinary unfunny Ned Frischman, a man from the future, travels back in time to the middle ages in order to tell his jokes before they have turned old. He manages to become the funniest man in the whole world by using simple "Why did the chicken cross the road"-class jokes.

* Used deliberatly in an episode of DaveTheBarbarian, where the extraordinary unfunny Ned Frischman, a man from the future, travels back in time to the middle ages in order to tell his jokes before they have turned old. He manages to become the funniest man in the whole world by using simple "Why did the chicken cross the road"-class jokes.

See also EverybodyLaughsEnding. May be a result of TrailerJokeDecay.

* Absolutely and intentionally averted in ''MonstersInc'' at all costs. Pixar had a very strict rule that they couldn't have any character laugh unless the audience is also laughing. As a result, a lot of the slapstick that causes Boo to laugh (and of course, her laughter is a major plot point) got considerably more violent and complex than it was in the storyboards.

* In vintage adventure or dramatic series, a common way to end an episode was to have entire cast laughing at someone's joke, which was never really funny. This is often parodied these days, notably in "Harvey Birdman".

** Parodied in one episode of The Simpsons. At the dentist, Lisa ends the episode by making a ridiculously cringeworthy "tooth/truth" pun. The rest of the family, and the dentist, burst out laughing as though it's the greatest joke ever told...at which point the dentist realises he's accidentally left the laughing gas on.

* There was an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' where Data was trying to learn what humour was. Some of the jokes in that episode where meant to be funny, some of them were not. Any correlation between whether or not a joke was supposed to be funny and whether or not it actually was funny is entirely coincidental. ([[FridgeLogic No wonder Data has so much trouble understanding what humour is.]]) Of particular note, this joke which Guinan absolutely '''''insisted''''' was absolutely hilarious, and the only reason Data wasn't in stitches was because he's a robot;

* In ''{{Inheritance}}'' book 3, ''Brisingr'', Eragon and Arya witness a group of spirit orbs turning a lily into a gem. Eragon points out that they literally gilded a lily like the phrase "gilding a lily" and [[Understatement thinks it's the funniest thing ever]].

* ''[[Fanfic/EigaSentaiScanranger Eiga Sentai Scanranger]]'' is one of the worst examples this troper's ever seen. The writer ''really'' seems to want his audience to like the comic relief teammember and other characters constantly praise his sense of humor. Even though he tells jokes like this:

* RoboCop: "I'd buy that for a dollar."
** Although this might be more a case of TakeOurWordForIt, since the movie deliberately avoids explaining the context of the show that features this catchphrase. Maybe it really is hilarious as the punchline to a longer sketch. Alternatively, it might be a subversion of the trope, in that the filmmakers [[StylisticSuck didn't intend it to be genuinely funny]], but were satirizing the culture's tendency to get caught up in catchphrases that aren't really that funny after all (cf. "Well, isn't that special?" or "Makin' copies!" or just about any ''SaturdayNightLive'' running gag from the '90s).

** Which may be one reason [[{{ptitleolsdue4jfzga}} 30 Rock]] is more successful. The in-show sketches are portrayed as mindless dreck that appeals only to the lowest comon denominator. They do not disapoint.

* The entire premise of the ''{{MadTV}}'' sketch, "Coffee Twins" revolves around this. A woman at an office setting cracks an incredibly lame joke. Then, she and her another female co-worker break out in laughter, as if it was the funniest thing they've ever heard. Everyone else at the office doesn't see the humor of the joke. So when the original worker futilely tries to explain the joke, she gets angry and throws a fit.

* Used rather well in ''{{Newsradio}}'': Everyone keeps telling Dave that Lisa's ex-boyfriend Stewart is one of the funniest people they've ever met. When Dave and Lisa go out to lunch with Stewart, he gets her rolling with a number of inside jokes and references to things Dave (and the audience) has never heard of.

-->'''Guinan''': You're a droid and I'm a noid [[DontExplainTheJoke (pronounced to sound like "Annoyed")]]

* Played with in ''[{{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'': Hawkeye tells BJ his favourite joke, "the funniest joke I've ever heard," but BJ is unimpressed by it. Later, Hawkeye learns BJ has been telling the joke to the rest of the unit, who all think it's the funniest joke they've ever heard.

* One of the causes of the downfall of ''Studio60OnTheSunsetStrip'': the fact that characters constantly refer to the sketches in the ShowWithinAShow as hilarious, when more often than not, they fall flatter than Kansas to the people at home.

* There was an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' where Data was trying to learn what humour was. Some of the jokes in that episode where meant to be funny, some of them were not. Any correlation between whether or not a joke was supposed to be funny and whether or not it actually was funny is entirely coincidental. ([[FridgeLogic No wonder Data has so much trouble understanding what humour is.]]) Of paticular note, this joke which Guinan absolutely '''''insisted''''' was absolutely hilarious, and the only reason Data wasn't in stitches was because he's a robot;

* Every single episode of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_(TV_series) Widget]]'' (not to be confused with a WidgetSeries) [[EverybodyLaughsEnding ended with everyone laughing]] at some "cute" thing someone said that was distinctly not even remotely funny.

*** The funniest thing this troper has heard Jimmy say was, [[DontExplainTheJoke oddly enough]], his explanation of why a giant douche is funnier than a turd sandwich.

* This is a problem in the {{Biopic}} ''The Life and Death of PeterSellers'' -- the attempts by the film's writers and actors to distill Peter's work in ''TheGoonShow'', ''The Millionairess'', the ''PinkPanther'' series and ''[[Main/DoctorStrangelove Dr. Strangelove]]'' aren't as funny as the real thing, despite the in-film reactions to them. ''The Goon Show'' sequence especially suffers for this if you're unfamiliar with the show -- and most non-U.K. viewers are. Most of the rest of the movie relies on TakeOurWordForIt, which is also problematic for viewers who don't know his early films up through 1959's ''TheMouseThatRoared''. This might actually be a reason the film wasn't released to theaters in the U.S., since if you can't fill in the blanks with regards to his talent, the downbeat portrayal of the RealLife Sellers (which takes up much of the film) makes it hard to understand why anybody liked him at all.

* Robocop: "I'd buy that for a dollar."

* Played with in ''M*A*S*H'': Hawkeye tells BJ his favourite joke, "the funniest joke I've ever heard," but BJ is unimpressed by it. Later, Hawkeye learns BJ has been telling the joke to the rest of the unit, who all think it's the funniest joke they've ever heard.

** If you like, you can imagine them as The Joker, particularly [[DarkKnightTrilogy the Ledger version]].

* In ''TheSimpsons'', there's the Itchy and Scratchy show, where the Simpsons are always shown to be guffawing and laughing until their sides split watching Itchy violently kill Scratchy. Of course, the sheer violence of it isn't so funny to the viewers as the whole idea of it being a parody.