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One-Two Punchline

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Twice is nice! Right?

A comic trope in which either the two last panels of a strip each contain a punchline, or the last panel contains double the punchlines for double the fun.

This sometimes takes the form of crossing the line twice. The penultimate panel is often a sight gag or take, and if this is true, then the last panel may add a spoken punchline to this. Conversely, the spoken punchline may be in the penultimate panel with a Wild Take or Gross-Up Close-Up added as the second punchline.

Related to Escalating Punchline. For webcomics, Alt Text is frequently used as a way to convey the second punchline.


Examples:

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    Comic Strips 
  • Often used in Pearls Before Swine, especially in the pun strips, in which the first punchline is a contrived pun after a long setup, with the second being someone, usually Rat, reacting with annoyance.
  • Calvin and Hobbes: Bill Watterson was fond of these, with Hobbes adding another punchline on the far right of the last panel, often a mockery or lampshade hanging on what Calvin was saying.
  • Doonesbury was the first newspaper comic strip to regularly use this, and was directly or indirectly the inspiration for most modern uses.
  • The "two punchlines in last panel" variation is frequently seen in Cul-de-sac.
  • In Political Cartoons an additional punchline / comment is sometimes supplied by an Author Avatar drawn in the last panel or in the bottom left. Currently satirized by The Onion's "Kelly".

    Web Comics 

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