brick joke en · NOUN
Etymology
First coined on media analysis wiki TV Tropes, inspired by an older pair of jokes. In the first joke, a man throws a brick in the air in the punchline. The second joke appears to be unrelated, but then ends with a dog catching the brick.
Meanings
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A joke in a film, television show, book etc, in which there is a substantial gap between set-up and punchline, typically bringing back an unresolved plot point after the audience is expected to have forgotten about it.
The invisible car is a variant on something called a brick joke: actually a pair of jokes in which the first sets up an unresolved element that returns as the punch line of the second, ideally after the listener has forgotten about it.
2016 December 26, James Poniewozik, “The Joys of ‘Atlanta,’ Where Real Life, for Some, Insists on Being Surreal”, in New York Times:Genre conventions raise familiar questions about the role the bowling ball might play later on. It is in fact the set up for a brick joke.
2020, William P. Seeley, Attentional Engines: A Perceptual Theory of the Arts, →ISBN, page 210:We’re also probably still on the hook for some final post-credits beat where the snooty french chef the penguins locked in a bathroom halfway through the movie comes back for some kind of limp, half-assed brick joke, but that’s probably as bad as it’ll get.
2021 June 30, “Thank God: The Penguins In This Kids Movie Just Started A Soul Train To ‘Everybody Dance Now’ Which Means The Movie Will Probably Be Over Soon”, in Clickhole:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| brick jokes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |