When the punchline fell flat, I blurted, 'joke, Joyce,' and immediately knew I'd made it worse.

He smiled awkwardly and said, "it's a joke, Joyce," hoping she'd understand he wasn't serious.

He told an anti-joke at the party, and the silence stretched longer than any punchline.

His collection of anti-jokes baffled everyone at the party.

At the office holiday party, Mark thought it was funny to tell a blonde joke, but several colleagues found it offensive.

She was half-joking when she suggested we adopt a stray dog, yet her eyes betrayed genuine concern.

I half joke about retiring early, but I'm actually saving aggressively.

At the pub, he told a Kerryman joke that had the whole table laughing, even the locals from Kerry.

At the pub, he laughed the loudest at the Kerryman jokes, even if he didn't understand all the local references.

She half joked that she might run away with the circus, but there was a hint of truth in her voice.