Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Installation view of 'Funny Business: Photography and Humor,' Phoenix Art Museum, 2025. Katie Jones-Weinert, CC BY-SA Deadpan is ...

Nelson Gonyer Is it just me, or did you ever know someone who was quick to deliver hilarious comebacks or lay down punchlines…all with a straight face? I did, ...

Deadpan is not so much a type of joke as a mode of delivery, a manner of address to an audience that often provokes nervous laughter. Comedian Nathan Fielder’s persona is marked by deadpan. In his hit ...

Deadpan is not so much a type of joke as a mode of delivery, a manner of address to an audience that often provokes nervous laughter. What makes deadpan feel so off, so destabilizing, so dryly funny?