What do you call the main part of a joke?

Question

If I start a joke with a question, then answer it as part of a joke. What is the answer of the joke called? Is there a specific term for it? I am pretty sure there is, but can't remember what it was. Also, what if the main part of the joke isn't an answer? What would it still be called?

Answer 1

I'm not sure if it's the 'main' part (after all, the setup is just as important) but you're probably looking for the phrase punch line (also spelled as a single word punchline):

the sentence, statement, or phrase (as in a joke) that makes the point

_{(source: Merriam-Webster)}

It's often used for jokes which are like short stories; I'm not entirely sure if it applies to Q&A jokes as well (I'm not a native speaker).

Answer 2

The other part (which may be the long part, so it may count as the "main" part to some) is the Setup.

I found a Glossary of Comedy Terminology, if you have other humor-related questions.

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I re-read and saw you were answering about the "punchline" area -- I think it's not so much that this second part is an "answer," but that it typically changes/challenges the audience's assumptions.

In the one liner: "Take my wife... please!" the assumption at the start is "I've got a good example about someone who does something stereotypical, my wife." But then with the "please!" it changes from an introduction to a longer section, to a direct, imperative command. Take her. Now. Make her go away. It's not pretty, but it's a change-in-direction, and that's what made it "work."

Some related terms from the Comedy Glossary that may help identify these parts of the joke:

Decoy Assumption - the misdirecting assumption in a joke's setup which creates the 1st story and is shattered by the reinterpretation.

Connector - at the center of a joke, the one thing perceived in at least two ways. One way of perceiving it constitutes the decoy assumption; the second way of perceiving it reveals the reinterpretation.

Shatter - with reference to joke structure, the point at which the audience realized that their assumption is incorrect.

Punch or Punch Line - the second part of a joke that contains a reinterpretation that creates a 2nd story that shatters the setup's decoy assumption.

Reveal - within the punch, the pivotal word, phrase, or action that exposes or presents the 2nd story's reinterpretation.

Tag or Tag Line - an additional punch immediately following a punch that does not require a new setup

Answer 3

As everyone else has said, the bit at the end that (hopefully) causes the audience to collapse in fits of laughter is known as the punchline.

If it's a more lengthy humorous story with lots of funny bits, but either a weak punchline, or no punchline, or a more serious point at the end treated lightly by what came before, then the whole thing may be a shaggy dog story, which Wikipedia defines as:

an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax or a pointless punchline.

Answer 4

Edit: I didn't properly read what Glorfindel said, but he's right. My bad, sorry.

I would say this is still called a punchline: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/punchline

"The last part of a story or a joke that explains the meaning of what has happened previously or makes it funny".

It's usually what finishes off the joke and makes people laugh.

Answer 5

My first thought was "it's a call-and-response joke." If you wanted to go with that, your answer would be: the response.

I had a similar question, "what do you call this type of joke?", which led me here. I think I found the best answer to that buried in this fascinating Wikipedia entry which refers to this article, This Tablet From 1,500 B.C. May Contain The World’s First “Yo Mama” Joke: a riddle.

Depending on the context, you could refer to such a joke as a "yo mama," a "what do you call a this who that," or a "what do you get when you" joke. To get academic about it, you could go with an "interrogative," an "interactive interrogative," a "Q&A," or (to get ridiculously meticulous about it) a "Q&RQ&A" ("question, response question, answer") joke. For example:

Q: What do you call a person who comes up with a question similar to yours, uses it as a search string, finds this thread on StackExchange, and pounces on the opportunity to procrastinate?
RQ: I don't know, what do you [etc.]?
A: Obsessive compulsive!