History Main / LateToThePunchline

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''WebComic/SabrinaOnline,'' we see the dramatic variation, when [[http://sabrina-online.com/strips/SabOnline207.GIF Sabrina and RC are almost mugged]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' While confronting the Kyoshi warriors, who all fight with gold-plated [[PaperFanOfDoom warfans]], Azula mockingly calls them the Avatar's "fangirls". Several beats pass before Ty Lee exclaims, "I get it now, that was funny, Azula." But then Ty Lee is the group's designated {{cloudcuckoolander}}.

Compare FridgeLogic, FridgeBrilliance, FridgeHorror (those three for this trope as applied beyond the FourthWall), BrickJoke (where the punchline itself is late in arriving), NoSenseOfHumor, and LampshadedTheObscureReference. The non-joke version falls under DelayedReaction.

->''"The thing about childhood is that nothing makes sense. You have no idea what half the jokes on sitcoms are about, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny keeps [[WartimeCartoon making references]] to [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WWII-era]] European dictators you don't recognize, and Hot Wheels always manage to go around the loop-the-loop just fine on the commercials. So you just relax and go along with it, and fifteen years later you look back on the things that confused you and say 'Ah! Yes! It makes perfect sense now!'"''

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' story [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/53317/18/no-i-am-not-a-brony-get-me-outta-equestria/td-trolls-the-canterlot-intellectual-elite T.D. Trolls the Canterlot Intellectual Elite]]'' ends with Celestia finally figuring out - after 1543 years - why Luna named said intellectual elite the [[FunWithAcronyms Delegation to the Office of the Royal Knowledge Society]].

* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', while hearing the WhosOnFirst routine, Mr. 4 starts laughing at the beginning of the joke when the skit is almost finished.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

-->'''Dracula''': What's with you?
-->'''Vanna Pira''': "Shrunk from battle!" I just got it!

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

-->'''Data''': I get it!\\
'''Geordi La Forge''': You get what?\\
'''Data''': When you said to Commander Riker, "[[OrphanedPunchline The clown can stay]], but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go." Ha ha ha!\\
'''Geordi La Forge''': What are you talking about?\\
'''Data''': During the [[{{Pilot}} Farpoint mission]]. We were on the bridge. You told a joke. That was the punch line.\\
'''Geordi La Forge''': The Farpoint-- Data, that was seven years ago.\\
'''Data''': I know. I just got it. Ha ha ha! Very funny.

* In ''Film/{{Predator}}'', Hawkins's telling of a post-battle [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093773/quotes?qt0315372 old and dirty joke]] to Billy about his girlfriend's, ah, capacity leaves Billy looking bewildered for a good long pause. Hawkins desperately re-tells the punchline and then wanders off looking a bit crestfallen. A few more seconds pass...then Billy laughs heartily.

[[folder:Humor]]

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', Magrat mentions to Nanny that now that she's a mother, she gets most of Nanny's favorite jokes, "except for the one about [[NoodleImplements the old woman, the priest, and the rhinoceros]]," to which Nanny replies, "I certainly hope not! I didn't understand that one until I was forty."
** Especially frightening given that this is ''[[DirtyOldWoman Nanny Ogg]]'' we're talking about. How many children, by how many men, do you think she'd had at forty?
* In the Creator/AgathaChristie novel ''Literature/FiveLittlePigs,'' Angela mentions having one of these moments, where she actually said aloud "Oh! Now I get the point of that [[NoodleIncident story about the plum pudding.]]" This led her to recount a similar incident where she realized the significance of something she observed the weekend of the murder.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* During one UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s show, Billy Crystal pretended to read the minds of some of those in attendance. On Creator/SeanConnery he said
--> "[[Film/{{Goldfinger}} Pussy Galore]]! I just got it! How vulgar!!"

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Lie To Me", Buffy recalls listening to "I Touch Myself" in fifth grade to help her get over Ford's rejection, and then mentions that she had no idea at the time what the song was about. Thirty seconds later Willow says, "Oh! ''That's'' what that song is about?!"

--->'''Willow:''' This goes beyond anything I've ever done. It's a total loss of control. And not in a nice, wholesome, "My girlfriend has a pierced tongue" kind of way.
---> Dawn looks at Willow. Giles looks away.
--->...[Conversation continues for a while]...
--->'''Dawn:''' Oh! Pierced tongue.
--->'''Buffy (panicky):''' [[TakeFive Dawn needs to do a research thing!]]

---> '''Willow:''' Cibo Matto? They're playing?
---> '''Xander:''' [[AskAStupidQuestion No, Will. They're clog dancing.]]
---> '''Willow:''' Cibo Matto can clog dance? Oh, wait. Sarcasm.

---> '''Buffy:''' Well then why do you- Oh.
---> '''Giles:''' Ohh.
---> ''[They all look to Willow for her reaction]''
---> '''Willow:''' I don't need to say "oh." I got it before. They slept together.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'' - in "Comparative Religion", Shirley is peeved at the Dean's promoting a non-denominational 'Winter Holiday'.
-->'''Shirley''': I am so sick of the Dean jamming his PC-ness down my throat!
-->'''Jeff''': Pierce, I'd like to commend you for letting that one go.
-->'''Pierce''': [after a beat]...PC-ness. [chuckles] Now I get it!
-->'''Troy''': [grinning] [[DontExplainTheJoke It sounds like 'penis']]. I just got it too!

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' featured a couple of these:
-->'''Calvin:''' ''[looking through some playing cards]'' What the...?? I'm not playing with a full deck!
-->'''Hobbes:''' That's what people say.
-->'''Calvin:''' Really? Then why didn't somebody buy some new cards?!
-->''[That night, in bed]''
-->'''Calvin:''' ''Hey!!''
** Another strip that's very similar to the above as well.
-->'''Calvin''': ''[looking under a chair]'' I've lost my marbles!
-->'''Hobbes''': Everyone suspected as much.
-->'''Calvin''': Well I sure hope somebody finds them.
-->''[That night, in bed]''
-->'''Calvin''': ''Hey!''
** [[AesopAmnesia Calvin fell for these tricks repeatedly.]] Another example:
-->'''Calvin:''' Susie, what's the answer to this question?
-->'''Susie:''' "Imadoofus."
-->'''Calvin:''' ''[writing it down]'' Thanks. ''({{beat}})'' The tooth fairy's gonna make you rich tonight, Susie...
** Happens a lot when Calvin [[InstantlyProvenWrong claims to be a genius]]. In one strip, he loudly declares his ridiculously high intelligence, and Hobbes immediately asks him how he walked to the bus stop with both legs in one pant leg. Calvin replies that he fell down a lot, then a panel later, asks what Hobbes is implying.
* Matt Groening's ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'' has a very cute one. Milhouse Mouse is telling all his friends (including Bongo the Rabbit) a dirty joke about a lady who owned a little dog named "Freeshow." The punchline is that one day the lady was in the bathtub and realized that Freeshow had gotten out, so she jumped out of the tub and ran out the front door, tearing down the neighborhood street completely naked while screaming: "Freeshow! Freeshow!" All the kids laugh except for Bongo, whose face remains expressionless. Then he goes home, does his homework, eats dinner, etc.....before finally climbing into bed for the night, and ''then'' he gets the joke and starts laughing.
* A ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' strip starts with unexplained laughter in the middle of the night, which turns out to be Zero reacting to a joke told during the day.
* In ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' for [[http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy/2012/10/18 October 18, 2012]], Satchel laughs in a somewhat tense situation and says it's at one of Rob's jokes. Rob says he told the joke an hour ago, but Satchel actually meant a joke from about [[DogsAreDumb six months ago]].
* ''Drabble'' for [[http://assets.amuniversal.com/773601c09e590130ce08001dd8b71c47 June 15th, 2013]]. Ralph is cooking hamburgers outside when his wife June hands him some tongs and says "Tongs!", to which Ralph says "You're welcome!" June walks away puzzled. Later that night while they're in bed she tells him "Oh, I get it!" Of course, Tongs = Thanks.

[[folder:Standup Comedy]]
* A comedian by the name of Tim Sample occasionally started his routine by explaining that you might not get it right away, and that you could, for example, burst out laughing on the highway and drive right off the road.
* Creator/DenisLeary made a joke about finding the youngest Hanson brother in a motel all the way up a hooker's vagina with an 8-ball of cocaine next to them, and how the audience will remember the bit when it comes to pass. "You're gonna laugh about that later. People will say, 'What's so funny?' and you'll say, 'Can't tell you! You had to be there!'"
* Dane Cook has a standup routine where he's talking about the really annoying sort of car alarms, and coming up with lyrics to go with the alarm noises. He says that it might seem stupid now, but the next time you hear a car alarm, you'll stop and think to yourself, "Ha ha, that Dane Cook is a silly bitch."
* From a Music/TomLehrer song intro on his live album ''Music/AnEveningWastedWithTomLehrer'':
-->I particularly remember one heartwarming story of his about a young [[ILoveTheDead necrophiliac]] who achieved his boyhood ambition by becoming coroner.\\
''[tepid laughter]''\\
The rest of you can look it up when you get home.\\
''[a lot more laughter]''
* British comedian Creator/StewartLee runs into these responses fairly often, as his act is rather unconventional. During the course of one show, he informed his audience that "the jokes are there, but some of you might have to raise your game". On other occasions, he has divided the room by response - those getting the joke becoming Team A, while the less receptive audience members become Team F.
* The Music/CapitolSteps have a regular bit they call "Lirty Dies," where they throw as many {{Spoonerism}}s in as they can while commenting on a few recent news items. If they get delayed laughter the performer will likely add some comment such as "Got some low slearners here tonight" or "Better deck your chicktionaries on that one".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* Referred to as an "icebox laugh" in ''Picasso at the Lapin Agile'' (i.e., something that you laugh at when FridgeLogic kicks in) and brought up in relation to an intentionally nonsensical joke about e-shaped pies. Gaston gets the joke while in the bathroom, most likely by, as Einstein puts it, "[[{{Pun}} process of elimination]]."
* In ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'', Shrek gets the usual blank stare from Donkey after joking that Lord Faarquad is CompensatingForSomething with his castle. Later, during the "Travel Song", Donkey bursts out laughing when he suddenly gets Shrek's joke.
[[/folder]]

-->'''Hawke:''' You know, she looks nothing like you. Thank the Maker for small miracles, hmm?
-->'''Gamlen:''' Really. I...hey!

'''Erik:''' *sigh* That was just a reference!\\
'''Baelog:''' Yes, Olaf. We're not [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]], we're Vikings! Pfft... Except for [[BigGuyLittleGuy Erik]]... *titter* he's a dwarf!\\

* ''WebComic/QuestionableContent'': It took Faye [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1561 a decade or so]].
** But it only took Steve [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=826 a few hours.]]

--> "Did you hear about the cannibal that [[{{Pun}} dumped his girlfriend?]]"
* Leny the Troglodyte in [[http://mansionofe.comicgenesis.com/d/20041002.html this installment]] of ''WebComic/TheMansionOfE.''
* ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'': [[http://explosm.net/comics/3286/ I love being mentally challenged.]]

* ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'', [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/pickup "Pickup"]]: A woman explains to another how she cleverly ruined a man's life ("long ago") when he approached her with a lame pickup line. (She pretended it was an extremely effective line, causing him to forever go around trying the same line on other women, hoping to get the same reaction again.) After telling this, she suddenly realises what the line actually meant, and thinks it was clever.

* In the closing credits sequence of the WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation review of [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/222-XBLA-Double-Bill Bionic Commando: Rearmed]].
* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', it is mentioned at one point that this is how Caboose reacts to everything because [[TheDitz he's just so dumb]] that he lags a few moments behind everybody else. He mistakes this for telepathy.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries:''
-->'''Melvin:''' I always knew you wanted me to be [[SharingABody inside you]], Bakura.
-->'''Marik:''' What do you suppose he means by that?
-->'''Bakura:''' [''sarcastically''] I couldn't hazard a guess.
** From the next episode:
-->'''Melvin:''' Then face me Florence, and suffer the wrath of the Egyptian Gods! * EvilLaugh*
-->'''Marik:''' ''Oh,'' I get it. He was implying that you wanted me to sleep with you.

-->''"I don't typically understand jokes related to the Reconstruction (particularly the election of 1872), and I especially don't when I've had a fifth of bourbon and fireworks are going off all around my face. Mike should be thankful I even remembered it in the morning."''
* In the ''WebAnimation/EddsWorld'' flash movie [=WTFuture=], the following exchange occurs:
-->'''Tom:''' As ever Edd, your sense of humor never ceases to amaze me.
-->'''Edd:''' Is that an insult?
-->'''Tom:''' You figure it out.
-->''[As they walk away, Future Edd appears in a flash of lightning.]''
-->'''Future Edd''' At last, after many years I have returned. Now it is time to- HEY! That WAS an insult!

* The ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'' episode "Shameless Self Reference" features numerous {{Continuity Nod}}s and [[ShamelessSelfPromoter references to the creator's other work]], all of which prompt Fluttershy to respond, "I don't get it." The episode ends with Rainbow Dash [[TitleDrop working the words "ultra fast pony" into her dialogue]], to which everyone responds with over-the-top awe--while Fluttershy shouts "I got the joke! I got the joke!"
* A meta moment happened with Zoran the Bear [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qProQ5QUH9w recording a line]] for ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', and realizing only after recording it [[NoPeriodsPeriod just what it was referring to]].

** After [[EvilHand Snake's hair]] is shot in "Hell Toupee"
-->'''Wiggum''': Now that's what I call a bad hair day.
-->'''Marge''': May I remind you that two people are dead and ... oh, wait, I just got it. [joins in with EverybodyLaughsEnding]

-->'''Announcer:''' And now, the woman who "Mom"-opolizes the robot industry...
-->'''Fry:''' I get it!
-->'''Announcer:''' Mom!
-->'''Fry:''' Oh... now I get it!

** When they all go camping they are given a lecture on Bigfoot by "Ranger Park, the Park Ranger". Fry yells "I get it!"

** In the "Dr. Chicago" episode, George announces to the Commissioner that ants on a railroad, "Steal track!" The Commissioner, misunderstanding, answers: "Yes, George -- steel track. That's what makes the train run so smoothly." Shortly before the end of the episode, George bursts out laughing, and the Commissioner asks, irritably: "What's so funny?" George answers: "Steal track! ''Steel'' track!"
** In another episode he's been caught in a snare by poachers who mean to leave him there. He comments "It pretty chicken thing to do to King of Jungle!" A poacher replies "If there be one thing I like, it be 'Chicken a la King'!" A few scenes later, back home, George starts laughing "Ho ho! Chicken a la King!"
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter (in an attempt to become more sophisticated) spends days standing by a newspaper stand staring at a New Yorker cartoon (with the punchline "I'd be more apathetic if I weren't so lethargic") before he finally gets it, saying in a charitable tone that it's "kind of funny," before returning the magazine and getting a copy of ''Juggs''.
** In another episode, Peter, hosting a children's variety show, is mauled by a mountain lion during a failed comedy sketch based on the classic "Who's On First?" comedy routine by Abbott and Costello. Peter is later visited in the hospital by the same mountain lion, bearing flowers and stating "I get it now: 'Who' is the guy's NAME!"

-->'''Buford:''' I don't know, I kinda like her like that. She looks like [[IncrediblyLamePun Cand-berry sauce.]]
-->'''Phineas:''' We gotta get her back into the right shape before he solidify her. And we're gonna need to adjust the contour in ''({{Beat}}, Phineas starts laughing)'' Ha ha, ''Cand-berry'' sauce!

''Oooh I get it, the UsefulNotes/{{World War II}}-era dictator being referred to was UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler! Heh heh heh.''

* ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'': FUBAR. Fucked up beyond all recognition. FUBAR. Got it! - quite a lead-up to the final fight scene where they all are most likely going to die...

-->'''Taka:'' God damn it! I'm a twenty-eight-year-old man and I went to school and I didn't notice that! God I'm a mess!

[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[DontExplainTheJoke It certainly was his kind of belt]] if it took him ''that'' long.]]-]

* Paraphrased from a joke that Isaac Asimov wrote in his Treasury of Humor. When you tell a joke to a German, he will laugh twice: Once when you tell the joke, to be polite, and once when you explain the joke, to be polite. He will never get it. When you tell that same joke to an Englishman, he will laugh three times: Once when you tell the joke, to be polite, once when you explain the joke, to be polite, and once again when, in the middle of the night, he gets it, waking himself from a sound sleep. When you tell that joke to an American, he will laugh once, for he will get it.

%% Image moved from DelayedReaction per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1490909640017878300

[[quoteright:347:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/toolbelt_7964.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:347:[[DontExplainTheJoke It certainly was his kind of belt]] if it took him ''that'' long.]]-]

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', it is mentioned at one point that this is how Caboose reacts to everything because he's just so dumb that he lags a few moments behind everybody else. He mistakes this for telepathy.

'''Data''': When you said to Commander Riker, "[[OrphanedPunchline The clown can stay, but the Ferengi in the]] [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys gorilla suit]] [[OrphanedPunchline has to go.]]" Ha ha ha!\\

'''Data''': During the [[{{Pilot}} Farpoint mission]]. We were on the bridge. You told a joke. [[OrphanedPunchline That was the punch line]].\\

* Near the end of ''Film/MaryPoppins'', Mr. Banks has been fired from his job at the bank. However, while stunned at first, he has a hysterical epiphany that ends with him telling his ex-bosses the old 'man with a wooden leg named Smith' joke from earlier in the film before leaving. While the rest of board is shocked by his behaviour, Mr. Dawes Sr. is mulling over the joke's punchline. After a few moments, he starts to laugh. And laugh. [[DieLaughing And keeps laughing till the end.]]

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', Magrat mentions to Nanny that now that she's a mother, she gets most of Nanny's favorite jokes, "except for [[OrphanedPunchline the one about]] [[NoodleImplements the old woman, the priest, and the rhinoceros]]," to which Nanny replies, "I certainly hope not! I didn't understand that one until I was forty."

[-[[caption-width-right:347:[[DontExplainTheJoke It certainly was his kind of belt if it took him]] ''[[DontExplainTheJoke that]]'' [[DontExplainTheJoke long.]]]]-]

* Dougal in ''Series/FatherTed'' is usually being very, very slow to get a joke, naturally enough.

-->'''Sydney:''' What? Oh. [[LampshadeHanding God, Harem, take your damn time]].

'''Erk:''' *sigh* That was just a reference!\\

** Happens a lot when Calvin claims to be a genius. In one strip, he loudly declares his ridiculously high intelligence, and Hobbes immediately asks him how he walked to the bus stop with both legs in one pant leg. Calvin replies that he fell down a lot, then a panel later, asks what Hobbes is implying.

* From a Music/TomLehrer song intro, "I particularly remember one heartwarming story of his about a young [[ILoveTheDead necrophiliac]] who achieved his boyhood ambition by becoming coroner." (Tepid laughter) "The rest of you can look it up when you get home." (A lot more laughter)

* A man contacts his lawyer: "I want to sue Bob! He called me a rhinoceros!"
--> Lawyer: "No problem. When did that happen?"
--> Man: "Four years ago!"
--> Lawyer: "Four years? And you decide to sue him now?"
--> Man: "Yes, today I went to the zoo with my kids, and that was the first time I've ever seen a rhinoceros!"

[-[[caption-width-right:347:[[DontExplainTheJoke It certainly was his kind of belt if it took him ''that'' long.]]]]-]

* A running gag in ''TheVicarOfDibley'', where Alice never gets the jokes Geraldine tells her at the end. Usually Geraldine or someone else has to explain it to her first (and even then, [[TheDitz she still doesn't always get it]]).