Meaning of brick joke | Babel Free

Definitions

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.

Examples

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level