History Main / NoSenseOfHumor

--'''Dr. Morris:''' Honestly! Where is your sense of humor?\\

* Similarly, any character with the "Morose" flaw in ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' tends towards being a sullen miseryguts and reacts poorly to more lively or humorous characters.

* Margo Leadbetter in ''Series/TheGoodLife''. In the episode in which the Goods and the Leadbetters get drunk together after a dinner party, she admits that she's never been able to understand anybody's jokes and gets quite upset.

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* Brad Chase from ''Series/BostonLegal''.

* Lampshaded on ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Reid (falsely) calls Aaron Hotchner a narcissist as clue to where he is taken hostage. While figuring this out, Hotch asks the team what they consider his greatest folly. Spontanous answer by Prentiss: "You have no sense of humor!" Actually something of a subversion. Hotch does have a sense of humour; it's just so dry the Sahara looks like a swamp by comparison, and at this point Prentiss hasn't caught on to it yet.
* The Colonel in episode 8 of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' who stopped sketches for being "too silly":
-->'''Colonel:''' Now, nobody likes a good laugh more than I do... except perhaps my wife and some of her friends... oh yes and Captain Johnston. Come to think of it most people likes a good laugh more than I do.
* Sheldon from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. He understands the concept of humor, he just doesn't ''get'' humor. When he's told that something is a joke, he forces the [[SignatureLaugh most fake laugh]] ever heard on television. And the things he ''does'' find humorous are usually beyond the scope of "mere mortals" like the remainder of the cast. Not until the end of the fourth season does he tell any jokes that get laughs (although that's partly due to ToughRoom) and when he did so, he wasn't even aware he was doing it.
* In early episodes of ''Series/MorkAndMindy'', Mork identifies people making InUniverse jokes by saying "Oh, humor -- Ar-Ar!" And almost as often he does that when people aren't joking.
* A common trait for the villains on ''Series/DoctorWho''. And some non-villains, like the Ood.
* Major Neuheim of ''Series/PrivateSchulz'' is a PointyHairedBoss, not to mention a Nazi, who is totally lacking in warmth and anything resembling a sense of humor. However, his humorlessness is [[TheComicallySerious itself a source of comedy]].
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** Played with: Colonel O'Neill has very specifically stated that [[SpellMyNameWithAnS his name is spelled with two Ls]] on several occasions; this is because there's another Colonel Jack O'Neil in the fictional version of the USAF, one with No Sense of Humor. This is an in-joke and lampshading of the fact that Kurt Russell's version of the character in the movie (spelled with one L in the credits) was significantly less funny.
** Teal'c almost never tells a joke or laughs (unless you count his occasional plays on Earth idioms), with one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt4WredSDog exception.]] It turns out the Jaffa sense of humor just doesn't translate through cultures well.
** Stargate villains in general tend to be this way. Exceptions include the System Lord Ba'al and Todd the Wraith who, unlike the rest of their respective races, are {{Deadpan Snarker}}s.
* Wesley on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' started out this way, but later became a more rounded character as he transitioned to ''Series/{{Angel}}''. ''Series/{{Angel}}'' has Illyria, {{justified| trope}} by the fact that she's an Ancient One. In ''After The Fall,'' she finally gets one of Spike's jokes. LampshadeHanging ensues.
* Teddy Lindsey in ''Series/{{JAG}}'':
-->'''Admiral Brovo:''' Don't worry, Teddy. Junior officers get thrown to the sharks first. And lieutenant Rabb is the one who's sailing into harm's way.\\
'''Commander Lindsey:''' Yes, sir.\\
'''Admiral Brovo:''' Harm's way? Lieutenant Rabb's first name is Harm.\\
'''Commander Lindsey:''' Oh! Oh, yes, sir.\\
'''Admiral Brovo:''' You need a sense of humor, Teddy, otherwise people are gonna think you're a lawyer.\\
'''Commander Lindsey:''' I am a lawyer, sir.
* People who don't "get" ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' -- a show that plays bad movies and heckles them as they play -- sometimes are dealing with this. They find the riffing gets in the way of their enjoyment of the movie being played. Not everyone has this issue though -- some people have a good sense of humor but it's hard for them to follow two things -- the movie ''and'' the riffing.
* Margo Leadbetter in ''Series/TheGoodLife''. In the episode in which the Goods and the Leadbetters get drunk together after a dinner party, she admits that she's never been able to understand anybody's jokes and gets quite upset.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* Sam the American Eagle from ''Series/TheMuppetShow''.
** In one of the ''Muppet'''s "at the ball" sketches, a female dancer asked her partner, "Do you know who is the most humorless man in the world?" When he said no, she replied, "You are, Fathead!" He, of course, responded, "I don't get it."
* From ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo'', Eva Joly, a French-Norwegian ecologist and former judge.
* ''Series/FraggleRock'': Subverted. The World's Oldest Fraggle explains to Red that they're supposed to hate the Cave Fraggles because they have no sense of humor. He says that the Cave Fraggles think the best part of getting a pie in the face is cleaning up afterward. In reality, their sense of humor is different from that of the Rock Fraggles. They tell Mokey about their sense of humor in the song "Ho Ho Ho (What a Funny World It Is)."
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/TheSims'':
** This is a trait you can give your sims in ''The Sims 3''. It causes them to respond badly to being told jokes.
** Also in the first two games, extremely Serious sims (Sims with very few points in the Playful personality aspect) typically don't respond well to jokes.
** And in ''The Sims 4'', as of the ''Get Famous'' expansion, famous Sims have a chance of getting the fame quirk, A Serious Actor, after performing a dramatic gig. Any funny or mischievous actions performed on Sims with this quirk will fail and cause them to become angry.

* The Mechari of ''Videogame/WildStar'' suffer from this. Ironic, as real-life [[ManipulativeBastard manipulators]] frequently use humor to disarm targets and throw suspicion off themselves.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'':
** Some Champions just refuse to joke when you order them to. If you read their backstories, it was implied that a traumatic event from their past prevents them from making jokes and take things in utter seriousness.
--->'''Vayne:''' I have no time for nonsense. / ''Joke''? What do you mean?
** Poppy was ''formerly'' this before her rework. ("Jokes? I don't know any jokes.") The updated version CannotTellAJoke -- entering her joke command repeatedly starts a rambling "Three people walk into a bar"-type joke that she never finishes because she can't remember how it goes.
* [[Myth/NorseMythology Tyr]] in ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'' is so stone-faced, he just spoke of honor talks when being told to joke, and when being told to laugh, he flat out refused and said it's not funny. And then, when given the [=SockPuppetTyr=] skin, he gets a sock puppet that likes to speak or crack jokes a lot... and [[VitriolicBestBuds he hates it]].

* The warship A.I. Tag from ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' was originally created with no sense of humor, but has tried to learn it to better understand his opponents.

%%* [[TheComicallySerious Frank]] from ''Webcomic/TwoGuysAndGuy''.
* The female warrior in ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' has absolutely no sense of humor, only getting pissed off by anyone who attempts to be funny. Of course, eventually she has to end up fighting cultists of the God of Fun.

* Benito Juárez is treated in this fashion by [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=309 this]] ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' strip.
-->'''Benito Juárez:''' I had fun once, and it was awful.

* Prince Zuko from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Well, he ''does'' have a sense of humor, it's just one he's really bad at using.
* Lemongrab of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime.'' He tries, though. He really does try... but he fails horribly.
-->'''Lemongrab:''' Ha. Ha ha ha! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Twelve years Dungeon! All of you! Dungeon! Seven years, no trial!
* Zane in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'' is noted in the early seasons for trying and failing to understand humor. The reason for this is that he is a RidiculouslyHumanRobot that normally has all of his emotions switched off, including humor. Once he switches it back on, he becomes more sillier.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Rex Banner never laughs. When he tries to do so, in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E18HomerVsTheEighteenthAmendment Homer vs. the Eightheenth Amendment]]" (due to him finding the idea of a beer baron operating under his nose without getting caught "laughable"), he fails miserably.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Bobby attends a comedy class taught by a pretentious professor who looks down on anything that could actually be considered funny by normal people and indoctrinates Bobby into doing bizarre modern art performances rather than actual comedy.

* Agent Powers from the season two premiere of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' claims to be "physically incapable of experiencing humor".
* Temporarily happens to Cartman in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS5E10HowToEatWithYourButt How to Eat With Your Butt]]". Cartman "blows a funny fuse" after a particularly hilarious prank leads to a couple with butts for faces showing up in town, and he becomes unable to laugh at anything.
* Princess Luna in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Luna Eclipsed" is unable to comprehend the merriment of [[YouMeanXmas Nightmare Night]] until she learns to [[WhatIsThisFeeling have some fun]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': Mandy, full stop. She never smiles, much less laugh, but is capable of snark.

* Almost all of the big villains in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''.
* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', just try to name one of the Seiryu Seishi that had ''any'' sort of sense of humor, or even any funny moments. All of them are always dead serious and never find humor in any situation.
* Juubei Kakei from ''Manga/GetBackers''. When he is informed of this, he is devastated, because he blames his lack of a sense of humor for the troubles suffered by his friends Kazuki and Makubex, and applies himself to telling bad jokes at every subsequent opportunity in order to make up for such an unforgivable lack.
* Creed Diskenth of ''Manga/{{Blackcat}}''.

* Hatori Sohma from ''Manga/FruitsBasket''.
* Chaos from ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' is a tragic example. While seeking help, she saw a comedy scene where the protagonist says he doesn't want any angeloid. That has... consequences.
* Mikael from ''Anime/ImGonnaBeAnAngel'' [[spoiler:...if we're not counting the last three or four episodes that is -- although in those episodes it's not what one would call "a healthy sense of humor" either.]]
* Lithuania from ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. ([[GermanicDepressives Germany]] is at least a DeadpanSnarker sometimes) This does not mix well with [[CloudCuckooLander Poland]].

* Lunge from ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' is laser-focused on catching Dr. Tenma at all costs -- he subsequently has no time for comedy. He does lighten up a bit at the end though.

* Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'' features a female cop [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous named]] Creator/LucilleBall in the supporting cast. She frequently has to say, "No relation" and remind people that she has No Sense of Humor.

* Ultra Magnus in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' takes most of the comic to start making jokes, and even then, they rarely go past being a DeadpanSnarker. A minor plot point in the Annual is that the mechanisms Magnus uses to smile have gone without use in ''so long'' that they've started to rust in place.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The film ''Film/RatRace'' features a character who tragically was born without a personality.
* In ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'', according to Carson Wells the big problem with Anton Chighurh isn't that he is batshit insane, but that he lacks a sense of humor.
* The various Franchise/{{Terminator}}s exhibit this behavior, being emotionless robots.
* Colonel O'Neil of ''Film/{{Stargate}}''. Used for a joke in the [[Series/StargateSG1 television series]] (see below).

* This, and attempts to develop a sense of humor, are the focus of Sha Wujing's character arc in ''The Lost Empire'' (a sort of unofficial sequel to ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.) He's eventually told that it's better to have no sense of humor than to have [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor the sense of humor that the villains have]], and [[spoiler:he laughs for the first time at the realization that he was worried over nothing.]]

* In ''Film/HotFuzz'' Nicholas Angel's devotion to his job above everything else has made him a first-class police officer. It's also rendered him a completely humourless, pedantic and uptight prick. When the movie starts he has just been dumped and ReassignedToAntarctica, neither of which does anything to improve his personality (which, while not entirely humorless, was already pretty damned abrasive).
* Agent Hanratty from ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan''.
* ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'' is a [[IceQueen cold-hearted]] Russian envoy who seems unmoved by any of the jokes of her potential love interest Leon. Until he accidentally slips and falls, which makes her burst out loud.
* ''Film/GoodMorningVietnam'':
** Sgt. Major Dickerson.
--->'''Sgt. Major Dickerson:''' That is humor. I recognize that.
** Lt. Hauk thinks he has a sense of humor, but really doesn't. His attempts to be funny on the radio generate a FlatWhat from his colleagues, and [[DudeNotFunny piles of hate mail from the audience]].
* ''Film/BladeTrinity'': Blade considers Hannibal King a constant annoyance due to King's sense of humor. In the comic books, King is a much more serious character; in fact more serious than Blade is in the comics. King's portrayal as a nonstop joke machine in the movie could be due to casting Creator/RyanReynolds.
* ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania:'' Kang the Conqueror, unlike most MCU villains, is completely stone-cold serious, not even making a sarcastic quip, which in a WorldOfSnark (and against a protagonist as light-hearted as Scott Lang) makes his cold-blooded villainy stand out even more.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Granny Weatherwax understands humor on a conceptual level, but has absolutely no sense of humor and has no understanding of how or why jokes work. Illustrated well in ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', where she repeatedly tries to tell the "alligator sandwich" joke but always bungles the punchline with something like "And be quick about it!"[[labelnote:Actual punchline]]"And make it snappy!"[[/labelnote]]
** Death also has no sense of humor, being an anthropomorphic personification who doesn't understand human emotions. His brief attempts to inject humor into his work [[CannotTellAJoke failed spectacularly]].
** In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', Adora Belle Dearheart tells Moist Von Lipwig that she has no sense of humour due to her embarrassing name.
** In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', the head bank clerk, Mavolio Bent, has "no sense of humour whatsoever. It has been proven by phrenology." It becomes more apparent when one considers [[spoiler:his background as the child of a clown, being laughed out of the arena during his first performance (which failed), fleeing from the circus and vowing never to laugh again]].
** Archchancellor Ridcully has a similar lack as Granny, with the result that his jokes are one of many aspects of his personality that grate on the Bursar, who ''also'' has no sense of humour, but at least understands how jokes are supposed to work. In fact, when Ridcully first appears in ''Literature/MovingPictures'', the Bursar (who has not yet been driven completely insane by the man) attempts a joke himself:
--->The Archchancellor gave him a look so old-fashioned it might have belonged to an ammonite.\\
"That a joke?" he said, in the suspicious tones of someone who wouldn't really understand the term "sense of humour" even if you sat down for an hour and explained it to him with diagrams.
** Dwarves are known for their sense of humour. In a way. People point them out and say "Those little buggers haven't got a sense of humour."
** Sergeant Detritus, a troll on the A-M City Watch, "treats humour as a human aberration" to be overcome by talking slowly and patiently.
** The Fools' Guild was founded by a man with no measurable sense of humor who of course prided himself on his sense of humor.
--->Creativity and wit were the death of funniness, as far as Pune was concerned; progress through the Guild ranks was (and is) achieved through hours of rote memorization of the seventy-three approved subclasses of pun, the listed pratfalls and the accepted jokes, which must go through a twenty-year approval process before they are passed by the Council of Fun.
* In ''Literature/TheDeedOfPaksenarrion'', gnomes are absolute LawfulNeutral with no humor, believing that only they know and follow the true laws laid down at creation by the High Lord.

* In ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'', the devils' inability to understand humor is played for laughs.
* From Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/{{SERRAted Edge}}'' novels, Unseleighe psychics have absolutely No Sense of Humor, along with little comprehension of allegory and the imaginations of bricks. In one novel, they were driven insane trying to comprehend the lyrics of Music/TheyMightBeGiants.
* From ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', Andalites. All of them besides Ax and Arbron.

%%* Pedro Camacho from ''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter''.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Rainflower begins scolding Crookedjaw and Oakheart for telling friendly jokes about the queens, making a (quite) boring lecture about how the queens "enjoy helping their Clan". Crookedjaw and Oakheart just roll their eyes at this.

* Colonel [[spoiler:Lieutenant after promotion]] Brendig in David Edding's ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}''. Also Ortzel from the Elenium. The two never smile. [[spoiler:Ortzel does later, albeit it looking unnatural on him.]] Brendig does show some humour, but since this is a work of Edding's, compared to the others, his humour is close to, if not, nil.
-->'''Ce'Nedra:'''Don't you ever smile?\\
'''Brendig:''' ''[perfectly straight face]'' I am smiling.
* In a series full of {{deadpan snarker}}s, Baron Vengeous from ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' has no sense of humour and an aversion to humour in general. Skulduggery's constant wisecracking is one of the things he hates about him. Interestingly though, in the second book Vengeous does crack a joke, saying "Forgive the expression but you and and what army" and at one point almost laughs at one of Skulduggery's jokes. Generally though, he's dour and humourless.
* In ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'', Queen Victoria "remained obdurately [[RoyalWe plural]] and not amused" throughout her reign despite the best efforts of her subjects to amuse her.

* In ''Literature/PsyChangeling'', as a result of the Silence Protocol, this is a defining trait of the [[PsychicPowers Psy]] race.
* Alec Lightwood from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', possibly because he tries too hard to be the mature one of the group.
* ''Literature/AllHands!'' has Mrs. Cousins.
* Roland from ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' freely admits that his sense of humor was "shot off in some war somewhere." He gets somewhat better the more time he spends with his TrueCompanions.
* The narrator of ''Literature/TheCuriousIncidentOfTheDogInTheNightTime'' has an ambiguous disorder (the blurb says Asperger's, the book doesn't), and explains there will be no jokes in the book because he doesn't understand them. He can understand the ''concept'' of a pun, if it's explained to him, but if he tries to keep multiple meanings in his head at the same time, it's like trying to follow multiple conversations.
* Don Tillman, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheRosieProject'' doesn't make or understand many jokes due to his ambiguous disorder.

* In Lewis Carroll's ''Literature/TheHuntingOfTheSnark'', one of the notable traits of a Snark is its bad sense of humor.
-->''The third is its slowness in taking a jest\\
If you happen to venture on one\\
It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed\\
And [[LamePunReaction it always looks grave at a pun]].''
* Kam Fong in ''Literature/{{jPod}}'' is mentally incapable of understanding humour due to being mildly autistic.
* ''Literature/OldMansWar:'' The woman in the army recruiting office doesn't respond to the narrator's attempts to make jokes. She claims that her sense of humour was surgically removed when she was a child.
* ''Literature/MertonOfTheMovies'': Merton, despite his love of movies overall, cannot understand the appeal of comedies as he does not understand the concept of humor. This works to his advantage a little bit as he can't tell when people are making jokes at his expense or being sarcastic, but he struggles in Hollywood until someone realizes he's TheComicallySerious and perfect as the straight man as long as you don't tell Merton he's starring in a comedy.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Percy Weasley "wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cozy." He does have a bit of a harshly sarcastic moment in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]],'' though, which is remarked upon with astonishment by his siblings [[spoiler:one of whom is tragically killed seconds later]].

* Pedro Camacho from ''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter''.

* [[DeadpanSnarker Asher]] in ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar''.

'''Admiral Brovo:''' You need a sense of humor, Teddy, otherwise people are gonna think you're a [[AcceptableTargets lawyer]].\\

-->Creativity and wit were the death of funniness, as far as Pune was concerned; progress through the Guild ranks was (and is) achieved through hours of rote memorization of the seventy-three approved subclasses of pun, the listed pratfalls and the accepted jokes, which must go through a twenty-year approval process before they are passed by the Council of Fun.

* In the ''Manga/SoulHunter'' manga, the ultimate Big Bad, Jyoka, has absolutely ''no'' sense of humor. Lampshaded by Taikoubou at one point.

** Constable Odo from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is a practical grouch who rarely even smiles, and anyone with a ''bad'' sense of humor (espescially Quark) tends to make him angry. On the other hand, Odo couldn't resist taking a moment with Quark to screw with Bashir and O'Brien after an incident in which they, Sisko, and Dax were shrunk to G. I. Joe size.[[note]]After the phlebotinum which caused it was reversed, Odo and Quark pranked the pair by standing on a step in the bar to call into question whether they were restored to their ''full'' height, prompting them to rush to the infirmary to verify.[[/note]] He's also a ''very'' DeadpanSnarker (emphasis on the ''deadpan'').