One-liner joke - Definition and Overview

A one-liner is a joke that takes to its heart the principle that brevity is the soul of wit. A one-liner, in the strictest sense, is a joke that is delivered in a single line.

Examples

• "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies."
  • Groucho Marx
• "If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised."
  • Dorothy Parker
• "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B."
  • Dorothy Parker, speaking of Katharine Hepburn
• 90% of all statistics are made up.
  • Anonymous
• "If you don't mind smelling like peanut butter for two or three days, peanut butter is darn good shaving cream."
  • Barry Goldwater
• Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
  • Anonymous
• We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse.
  • Anonymous
• "Take my wife. Please."
  • Henny Youngman -known as the "King of the One-Liner."
• It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
  • A Jack Handey "Deep Thought"
• "Politicians are like bananas: they start off green, then they turn yellow, then they become rotten."
  • Anonymous
• "There are three kinds of people; those who can count and those who cannot."
  • Anonymous
• "Never date a tennis player; to them love means nothing."
  • Anonymous