Dad jokes 👨 in 2025

Where Does the Term Dad Joke Come From?

In 1987 there was an article in the Gettysburg Times that defended the funny “dad jokes” that were circulating. Everyone will have memories of their own family and the one-liner dad jokes they grew up with. They are wildly popular, and somehow the same ones get passed through families, and all the dads seem to know the same ones. Short dad jokes are always popular when their children have friends over, on road trips, and on family vacations. As it most often dads who tell these cute dad jokes, are true to their name.

Growing in popularity in the early 2000s, the term entered televisions shows and became part of the mainstream parts of pop culture. It has slowly become a household phrase, and everyone knows a funny dad joke, with top dad jokes being around for years as they grow in popularity. While they were common well before internet use because a regular part of the day, they grew as communication became easier and social media and television began using the term regularly.

What Makes a Dad Joke Funny?

While they are often not funny in the way most jokes are, the funniest dad jokes are funny because of the conviction behind them and how they are presented as if they are original and hilarious. Usually, they are puns and rarely insulting. Hilarious dad jokes are not mean or hurtful but are generally simple and easy to insert into conversations.

Sometimes the funniest part of a silly dad joke is that they are confidently telling them the time and find them honestly funny. The amusement may be found in how much a dad enjoys telling the best dad jokes. The joke in itself would not be funny if shared by people who are less convinced of them or by almost anyone else. They are strictly amusing coming from a dad and with his firm belief that they are funny.

Jokes About Dads

As a response to the cheesy dad jokes, there has been a rash of jokes that instead target dads themselves. They are often making fun of how dads behave when friends are over and when no one is visiting, as well as how often dads tell corny dad jokes and laugh at them even when no one else does. Teens especially may be found to make jokes about their dads to bond with friends or share their feelings with friends over their interactions with their families.

Occasionally a joke about a dad can be meaner than others, and often they are not repeated throughout friends or family but maintain a one-time telling. Frequently they involve a story about what a dad did or how he did it, and sometimes they are about the jokes a dad tells. People build friendships and bond over shared experiences and feelings, and stories or jokes about parents are often well received by many people who have experienced similar things.

What Makes a Joke a Dad Joke?

Based upon definition, a joke becomes a dad joke when it is traditionally told by a father figure or a dad, and they are often maintained within families rather than shared outside of them. Traditionally they are puns or one-liner jokes. They do not have a storyline or a back story at all and are not often a narrative of any kind. Some call these anti-jokes in that they are funny only because they are not funny, and the lack of humor is often intentional. Some are presented as a question and an answer and these are useful in situations of deflecting attention from the topic at hand. Occasionally some are used as a way to change the topic away from a discussion or to ease a difficult conversation.

Not all jokes that are told by a dad are automatically a dad joke. They must fit the criteria of not being mean-spirited, staying short with no narrative, or being a pun or one-liner. Clean dad jokes are funny to all dads and sometimes other people, but they are certainly not funny in a general joke type of way. Funny dad jokes for kids are popular as they can say them to and around their children and their children’s friends.

Dads jokes are well known for their lack of humor and frequent use. The term has grown in popularity over the last two decades as the use of the phrase is used in online communities and has been appearing on television shows and movies. These are always short and to the point. Most often, they are puns or one-liners, they are not narrative or extended jokes, and they are not intended to be mean or insult anyone. Easy and fun, they are funny due to their lack of actually being funny on their own and are generally funny only because of their lack of being funny. Told with conviction and intent, the dad himself and his contentment and enjoyment of the joke is the funniest part of them. As people spend time with their families, these jokes are shared and passed through families, becoming regular parts of road trips, gatherings, and family vacations. Everyone has a memory of a dad joke that they equate with their own father and remember the times that he told it, whether they enjoyed it or not, and how embarrassed they were when their favorite dad jokes were told in front of their friends.

Telling dad jokes

People love telling funny dad jokes with a short punchline. They are often corny and lame, but that is what makes them dad jokes. They are one-liners that do not have a back story or extended narrative. These jokes are told by fathers to their friends and family, puns and questions that are used to change the topic or deflect attention from an uncomfortable conversation.

Bad dad jokes are dad jokes that are not funny and are often mean-spirited. They fit the same criteria as good dad jokes, but they do not have the humor or the intent to be funny. Jokes about dads can be told by anyone, but when they are told by a dad, they become dad jokes. The punchline of a dad joke is often a pun or one-liner.