when a TV show, movie, or real-life event causes you to laugh, but at the end of the joke, something serious is said that is NOT funny, and the laugh goes from good to uncomfortable
That joke about George W. Bush was so funny that I laughed for almost a minute, but by the time I recovered, they were talking about 9/11 and my carryover laugh made me look like an asshole.
by Corporatespeak March 10, 2009