Basic Trope: Someone telling a joke explains to the listener why exactly the joke is funny.
- Straight: Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob doesn't laugh, so Alice follows up by explaining the punchline in case he didn't understand. Even though Bob now gets it, he still doesn't laugh because the explanation killed the joke.
- Exaggerated: Alice tells Bob a joke. She immediately goes into a long and detailed explanation of why exactly the joke was funny, even talking over Bob's protestations that he did in fact get the joke, but that he just didn't find it amusing.
- Downplayed:
- Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob doesn't laugh, so Alice tries to hint at what makes the joke humorous. Bob figures it out and chuckles.
- The explanation is merely about an unfamiliar term, "a Queen Charlene's Trumpet," actually is — making it obvious why someone unwittingly ordering twelve to greet the royal family would be a hilariously terrible idea.
- Justified:
- Alice has a poor sense of comedic timing, and has no idea how to tell a joke and make it funny.
- Bob doesn't have any sense of humour.
- The joke is rather cerebral, and Bob is too dumb to understand it.
- Bob asked for an explanation.
- Alice realized her joke contains Unfortunate Implications, and has to explain the actual intent behind the joke in order to clear up any damaging misunderstandings.
- The joke is part of a linguistics lesson (EG: some foreign homophones can cause… embarrassing mistakes)
- Inverted:
- Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob laughs. Alice explains the joke. Bob laughs harder, because the explanation itself is either funnier than, or enhances, the original joke.
- Alice explains the setup, not the punchline.
- Subverted:
- Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob doesn't get it, and Alice just shrugs and says, "Too bad."
- Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob doesn't get it, Alice explains it, and Bob now finds the joke funny.
- Alice's joke is even funnier after she explains it.
- Alice's explanation makes the punchline even more confusing.
- Double Subverted:
- Bob now wants to know the point of the joke, and Alice explains it ... and he still doesn't find it funny after she's explained it.
- After he thinks over Alice's joke and her explanation of why it's supposed to be funny, Bob has a bout of Fridge Logic that makes him sour on the joke.
- Confusing Bob is just another way Alice fails to get him to laugh.
- Parodied: Alice is so bad at telling jokes, she has hired an interpreter to stay beside her at all times and whose sole job is to explain in detail every single joke, quip, and pun she says to Bob ... and even that doesn't always help.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice tells Bob several jokes, some of which she explains in a way that enhances them, some she explains in a way that degrades them, and some she doesn't explain.
- Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob doesn't laugh, so Alice begins to explain it, but he cuts her off partway through to say he's figured out the punchline and why it's funny. But what he guessed was wrong, so she returns to explaining. When she's finished, he says the joke was unfunny.
- The joke itself is pretty unfunny. The real "joke" is in the explanation with Footnote Fever. Explaining the jokes of the explanation tends to become So Unfunny, It's Funny.
- Averted: Alice tells Bob a joke. Bob laughs right away, and the story continues without further comment from Alice.
- Enforced: "This joke seems a bit obscure. Better have her explain it so the audience gets what she's talking about."
- Lampshaded: "You know, Alice, if you have to explain the joke, then it probably isn't funny."
- Invoked: Part of Alice's comedy routine is pretend she made a too-smart joke, then devolve into awkwardness as she tries to explain. Without the "joke" or the attempt at explanation, the joke is not funny.
- Implied: We don't see the actual explanation, or maybe even the actual joke, but we see Alice exasperatedly asking Bob if he got it and Bob shaking his head.
- Exploited: Evulz pretends he doesn't gets the joke so Alice will be forced to explain or pretends that Alice having to explain killed all potential comedy, or even that the fact she had to explain means she thinks he's dumb and thus is insulting him.
- Defied: Alice tells a joke to Bob. Bob doesn't get it. Alice explains it but Bob cuts her off: "Oh! I figured it out!"
- Discussed: After Amy tells him a joke, Bob laughs and says, "I'm glad you didn't explain it. I'd be tempted to."
- Conversed: "So many times the comedian character kills her own jokes by explaining them. Informed Attribute, anybody?"
- Played for Laughs: Alice's original joke was poor on its own, but the explanation makes it So Unfunny, It's Funny.
- Played for Drama: Alice being forced to explain strains her relationship with her friends.
- Played for Horror: Alice is a Serial Killer and Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor. It's hard for the average person to "get" a joke or a pun that has bloody murder as an important part of its "set-up". Worse yet, Alice's biggest Berserk Button is having to explain herself.
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