Joke A joke is " " an antic , a caper , mischief , prank , trick , quip , witticism . " " ( ) It can also be described as " " a story with a humorous climax " . " ( ) Or as " " a verbal comment or gesture designed to provoke laughter " . " ( ) In 2268 , Ensign Pavel Chekov reported that the " Enterprise " would be only one parsec away from a Klingon outpost , " close enough to smell them " . As Commander Spock explained that odours cannot travel through the vacuum of space , Chekov claimed it was " just a little joke " . Spock replied , " Extremely little " . Not long after this , Cyrano Jones was attempting to sell tribble s aboard Deep Space Station K - 7 . His asking price was ten credits and when the barman tried to bargain , eventually going to four credits , Jones asked " " Is that an offer or a joke ? " " The barman replied that it was an offer and Jones countered " " That ' s a joke . " " ( ) According to Leonard McCoy , Vulcan s don ' t tell jokes . ( ) In 2365 , upon meeting Thadiun Okona , Data , unaware of the true meaning of " what ' funny ' is " made it his mission to learn with the assistance of The Comic and Guinan . ( ) Both Data and Wesley Crusher fell victim to several practical joke s while at Starfleet Academy . ( ) When Wesley Crusher made a visit on the in 2370 , Data greeted him with a joke and said , " " A cadet is on board , we should call the security . " " Data later tried to clarify that he intended to make a joke and meant no ill . ( ) " That same year , in the mirror universe , Doctor Julian Bashir met ' s mirror counterpart , a cruel individual who ruled over the workers at the ore processing facility on with his Rules of Obedience . When Bashir told him that his designation was " Bashir , Julian , " he slapped him and told him that his Rule of Obedience # 14 was " no jokes . " Later , when Bashir told him that he had been practicing medicine , he slapped him again and reminded him of Rule # 14 . " ( ) During a mission to rescue a Federation informant on Dominion - occupied Soukara , Worf claimed to Jadzia Dax that he has a sense of humor , and was " " considered to be quite amusing " " when serving on the , to which Dax responded that it " " must have been one dull ship . " " Worf found that jab to be a joke , that he understood it , but did not find it funny . ( ) When Captain Kathryn Janeway and Seven of Nine were captured by Arturis , Seven claimed to not understand that in her role as captain , Janeway cannot always be friends with the crew serving under her , but that if they were to be assimilated , she would understand . She then clarified that she meant that as a joke , citing Janeway ' s encouragement that she develop a sense of humor . ( ) While Vulcan s are not unable to understand the concept of jokes , they find them unnecessary and difficult to " comprehend " . During their encounter with the dream - world aliens , the crew all suffered from nightmares . When B ' Elanna Torres , Tom Paris , Harry Kim , and Neelix recounted theirs , they wondered what the nearby Vulcan Tuvok ' s dream was . Neelix suggested elements of a Vulcan nightmare might include being stranded on a planet in which the only form of communication is laughter . During most of " Voyager " s journey , Neelix made it his goal to make Tuvok laugh . ( ; et . al ) In 2154 , told a joke to a pair of Tellarite ambassadors which ended with : Examples . They did not understand it . ( ) In early 2364 Data told Geordi La Forge the following joke : La Forge didn ' t find the joke funny , as it was too old and Data " " didn ' t tell it very well " " . Data however mispronounced the phrase " including the kidneys " after the joke was told , eliciting a laugh from La Forge . ( ) In late 2364 , La Forge told Data a joke with the following punchline : In order to cheer him up , Doctor Beverly Crusher told the following joke to Willie Potts : In 2367 , Commander William T . Riker told the bridge crew , including Ensign Kellogg a joke with the following punchline : Data was fascinated by Riker ' s sense of humor and thought it was one reason why the commander was so popular among the crew . ( ) A joke Mot told his colleague Setti in 2368 ended in : Setti didn ' t find the joke too funny . ( ) " Mr . Tricorder " was a joke made by Data in 2371 aboard the Amargosa observatory following the installation of his emotion chip . He used a tricorder like a hand puppet and talked to Geordi La Forge . ( ) One humorous punchline Data recalled , in 2371 , from the Farpoint Mission , after the addition of his emotion chip was : " " The clown can stay , but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go . " " ( ) Quark once told Morn a joke that had the punchline , " " And , so , the Andorian says : Your brother ? I thought it was your wife ! " " Morn didn ' t get the joke immediately , and Quark re - emphasized " . . . wife " once again , and Morn finally got it and gave the joke a good belly laugh . ( ) Julian Bashir suggested that O ' Brien played a joke on him when an affectionate Jadzia Dax was on his bed and Major Kira called the senior staff to ops . ( ) Department of Temporal Investigations agent Dulmur asked if Sisko was making a joke when he said his story might take some time . Fellow agent Lucsly backed him up and Dulmur added that they hated those . ( ) IN 2375 , Tom Paris told Tomin two jokes : " How do you bend a hologram ' s ear ? Use a prism . What did the counselor say to the hologram ? You ' re projecting . " These jokes prompted him to declare humor a " " revelation " " . ( )