One-line joke explained

A one-liner is a joke that is delivered in a single line. A good one-liner is said to be pithy – concise and meaningful.^[1] Comedians and actors use this comedic method as part of their performance, and many fictional characters are also known to deliver one-liners, including James Bond, who often makes pithy and laconic quips after disposing of a villain.^[2]

Examples

• "Never read a pop-up book about giraffes." (Sean Lock)
• "Throwing acid is wrong. In some people's eyes." (Jimmy Carr)
• "My girlfriend makes me want to be a better person - so I can get a better girlfriend." (Anthony Jeselnik)
• "Cricket. No matter who wins, both teams, and all the fans, are losers." (Frankie Boyle)
• "An escalator cannot break, it can only become stairs." (Mitch Hedberg)
• "My movies were the kind they show in prisons and airplanes, because nobody can leave." (Burt Reynolds)
• "I'm on a whiskey diet… I've lost three days already." (Tommy Cooper)
• "What Iran needs now is a more modern leader—a mullah lite." (Shappi Khorsandi)
• "I have nothing to declare except my genius." (Oscar Wilde, upon arriving at US customs, 1882)^[3]
• "Take my wife ... please." (Henny Youngman)
• "They hired a 3-piece band that was so lousy, every time the waiter dropped a tray, we all got up and danced!" (Les Dawson)
• "What a magnificent show this is going to be when it starts!" (Ken Dodd)
• "I have a girlfriend! I've been going out with my girlfriend for… sex!" (Stewart Francis)
• "I have an L-shaped sofa… Lowercase." (Demetri Martin)
• "Crime in multi-story car parks is wrong on so many different levels." (Tim Vine^[4])
• "My wife – it's difficult to say what she does. She sells seashells on the seashore." (Milton Jones)
• "In Scotland the forbidden fruit is fruit." (Gary Delaney)
• "Life is like a box of chocolates. It doesn’t last long if you’re fat." (Joe Lycett)
• "I was so ugly; my mother had morning sickness after I was born" (Rodney Dangerfield)

See also

• Greguería
• Paraprosdokian
• Throwaway line

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Unuttered Punch Line: Pragmatic Incongruity and the Parsing of 'What's the Difference' Jokes . K.E.L. . Miller . 3 December 2009 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20150204144303/http://engling.truman.edu/SeniorSem/PDFpapers/Miller%20paper%20PDF.pdf . 4 February 2015.
2. https://www.today.com/popculture/james-bond-one-line-says-it-all-wbna27540003 For James Bond, one line says it all
3. Web site: 1996 . Number 64300 . The Columbia World of Quotations . 20 June 2007.
4. News: 100 of the best ever jokes and one-liners from the Edinburgh Fringe . 4 August 2017. iNews . 6 June 2018. en-GB.