shaggy-dog story
Meandering pointless anecdote
A shaggy-dog story is a long, rambling joke or anecdote that builds elaborate detail only to end with an anticlimactic, pointless, or absurd punchline.
The humor lies in the teller's commitment to an increasingly meandering narrative and the listener's deflated expectations: He told a twenty-minute shaggy-dog story that ended with a terrible pun.
- jokeHumorous statement seeking laughter
- punch lineJoke's culminating moment
- narrativeAccount of events
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
- taleSpoken or written narrative
yarn spinning · bait-and-switch · anticlimax · legend · misdirection · rambling · tall tales · cock and bull · old chestnut · novel · circularity · oral tradition · epic · absurdism · embellishment · triviality · mystery · social bonding
shaggy-dog storyone-liner
Brief standalone joke
six-word story · quip · flash fiction · anecdote · vignette
shaggy-dog storyzinger
Pointed witty remark
twist ending · crowd-pleaser · punchline · knee-slapper · groaner