Editing Punch line (section)

=== Jokes without a punch line ===
In order to better elucidate the structure and function of the punch line, it is useful to look at some joke forms that purposely remove or avoid the punch line in their narrative. [[Shaggy dog story|Shaggy dog stories]] are long-winded [[Anti-humor|anti-jokes]] in which the punch line is deliberately anticlimactic. The humor here lies in fooling the audience into expecting a typical joke with a punch line. Instead they listen and listen to nothing funny and end up themselves as the butt of the joke.

Another type of anti-joke is the nonsense joke, defined as having "a surprising or incongruous punch line", which provides either no resolution at all or only a partial, unsatisfactory resolution.<ref>{{harvnb|Ruch|2008|page=49}}.</ref> One example of this is the [[no soap radio]] punch line: "Two elephants were taking a bath. One said, 'Please pass the soap.' The other replied, 'No soap, radio.'" Here the anticipated resolution to the joke is absent and the audience becomes the butt of the joke.