Comedy Lingo

Back at Mentor’s house, Jean was feeding the mother dog and giggling at the antics of the lively puppy. Messenger

As the two coaches lingered in the office, the boys’ usual post-practice banter and joshing faded away and was replaced by an uncomfortable silence. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Sean pulled out a chart with caricatures he had drawn of every member of the varsity and JV basketball teams. Here to Stay

“Ha! Maybe if you took a swim at the Crystal Palace at Sea Bottom you could figure it out,” the emperor chortled. When the Sea Turned to Silver

He chuckles at himself, dabs at his shirt, then looks around to see if anyone’s seen him spill. The Help

Mr. Brody works as a birthday clown on weekends, so lots of kids have known him since they were toddlers. A Place at the Table

They brought in celebrities to sing and dance and star in comedy sketches that taught children about the virtues of cooperation or about their own emotions. The Tipping Point

I'm not a comic who does very long setups to jokes, and also you need the context of, this is the thing that happened to me as a kid.
– Salon

“Well,” said Curie, with deadpan irony, “how proud your sponsoring scythe must be to have the first perfect pupil in human history.” Scythe

Afterward, they regroup in the living room for board games and goofy improvisation contests, all free of profanity and even double entendre. Class Matters

Ludwig is undoubtedly the king of the modern farce, but he prefers to use other terms, like musical comedy or screwball comedy. Seattle Times

If it hadn’t been so funny—if Zach’s eyes hadn’t been almost turquoise—I would have confessed that the whole thing was a gag. Schooled

It was a familiar snicker that swelled into a snorting guffaw—Jeff’s laugh. George

Spies are big this year too, and a little girl in a tiny trench coat and dark sunglasses is absolutely hilarious. A Good Kind of Trouble

I asked her recently what she liked about him, and she said that aside from the physical attraction, my dad had a warm personality and an infectious sense of humor. Americanized

This practice of overstating the case is called hyperbole. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling

It was engagingly well-written, with a sense of irony and a nearly wicked wit, and it was strikingly self-aware for a nineteen year old. Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho

He made many a toast, laughed loudly at every jest, and attacked each dish like a starving man, but beside him the queen seemed as cold as an ice sculpture. A Game of Thrones

“He was a jokester. Even when things were hard, he’d somehow find some light in it. And he...” The Hate U Give

Banksy, who keeps his real name private, has become the most famous street artist in the world by poking fun at the excesses of modern capitalism and lampooning hollow icons, slogans and opinions.
– Reuters

Behind her she could hear the murmur of their voices, edged sometimes with malice, sometimes rising in mockery, sometimes touched with a laughter almost of kinship, and she walked on dreamily, hearing them come behind. The Haunting of Hill House

When the French artist Marcel Duchamp drew a mustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa, he made the most famous parody in art history. The Mona Lisa Vanishes

He was up to his old pranks, sending a group of frostbitten horsemen on a wild-goose chase all over Boston in search of nonexistent “bull’s wool” socks. Seabiscuit: An American Legend

That’s right, Big Mama Bear is always showing the whole world how to, no pun intended, find its bearings. Shine!

This time Ruth heard me, but she must have thought I’d meant it as some kind of joke, because she laughed half-heartedly, then made some quip of her own. Never Let Me Go

If you are spotted picking your nose in class, you get ridiculed. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

She muttered, “Home sweet home,” before going in, her voice thick with sarcasm. Hope Springs

But he had a deadly sort of satire that the younger girls dreaded more than the angriest storm of abuse. Maxwell, W. B. (William Babington)

In the late 1960s, the screenwriter Norman Lear produced a television sitcom pilot for a show called All in the Family. Blink

There was the newsreel that told of amazing inventions and adventures in far-off lands; there were the cartoons and the slapstick comedies, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Ophie's Ghosts

I must look as awkward as I feel, because I can hear the boys snickering. Merci Suárez Changes Gears

After moving to New York, he became the first Black performer to have a solo act in vaudeville, overturning an industry policy that precluded such star turns by Black artists.
– The Washington Post

At some point, a line in the play had led to Laura making some wisecrack about the tokens business, and we’d all laughed, Miss Lucy included. Never Let Me Go

Much of the laughter had to do with her father’s sly wit and sharp tongue. The Birchbark House

Soon he was taking his usual delight in wordplay and jokes. The Woman All Spies Fear

I’m expecting her to come back at me with one of her zingers, but this time she keeps her mouth shut. Merci Suárez Changes Gears