Funny, now that you mention it…

What would a website be without a sense of humor? We’ve tagged a gaggle of weird and wonderful stories, the best PR jokes, word sites for word people and other fun sites that should have most PR people laughing or at least asking “What were they thinking?”

Just a great place to goof off before getting back to that really important news release or scintillating PowerPoint presentation!  Disclaimer: The PR Coach will not be responsible for employees or management wasting their time or spending their lunch hour on these fun web pages.

Other public relations resources you might like: PR Jobs, Media Relations/Publicity, PR News and PR Profession and The PR Coach Blog: This Just In….  Sites with W are PR Coach “winners” but Jeez, there’s so many favorites here. Seriously!

20 Funniest Newspaper Headlines Ever
Funny headlines and links to other fun like 15 worst tan disasters, 12 coolest bench ads, 10 strangest bars and much, much more.

50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time
Study and enjoy the art of the comedy sketch with video clips of the top 50 comedy sketches from Nerve.com. Man, you can spend hours here!  W

1000 Headlines in 460 Days
News junkie Larry D Larsen discloses his addiction to headlines and shares some of his faves.

2009 List of Banished Words
Lake Superior State University publishes its annual list of words that should be banished for misuse, overuse and uselessness. Also see the archive going back to 1976. Fun.  W

A Word a Day
Join more than 750,000 linguaphiles and learn to love your word a day.

About Politics
Politics is funny in a sad sort of way, right? Anyhow, this blog has everything you need/want to know about politics.

ACES Interactive Quizzes
More than 60 online, interactive quizzes to while away your time before that staff meeting.

Actual Newspaper Headlines
If you’ve ever chuckled at unintentionally funny newspaper headlines like “Grandmother of eight makes hole in one”, you’re gonna love this site.  W

Adbusters
Still crazy, after all these years… Adbusters takes one giant step for anti-consumerism… changing the world, one advocacy campaign after another.

Alan Cooper’s Homonyms
Need a homonym or three? You’ll find plenty here, thanks to Mr Cooper.

Alex’s Paper Airplanes
Nothing to do with PR at all. Just tips on how to make great paper airplanes, from easy to hard. Awesome!   W

Alien Abductions
If they won’t contact you, contact Alien Abductions. This site is out of this world, heh heh.

American Newspeak
A guide to word collisions by funny-guy Wayne Grytting.

AmeriSpeak
A fun collection of historic sayings and slang expressions from your American ancestors including advice & life lessons, crazy, hillbilly talk, money, travel and much more.

An English Homophone Dictionary
What’s a homophone? Find out here or hear.

Ananova Quirkies
Quick. Who has the quirkiest news stories of the day? Ananova Quirkies of course.

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet Translator
Now you can write your very own name in this ancient Egyptian alphabet.

Anti-Advertising Agency
AAA shines a light on the negative side of advertising, saving us from billboard bloat and other ad afflictions, often using ad techniques to make its points.

Ask For It By Name
Evan Morris traces the stories of the names behind popular products.

AutoDave
If you can’t wait for humorist Dave Barry’s next column, use this online tool to generate your own personalized DB column. Honestly!   W

Bad Pitch Blog
The blog that tells all about bad pitches by PR people who should know better.  W

Beatnick Ramble
Put on your shades, seed the computer with a line and it will spout out a groove for you. Cool Daddy-o!

Best Coverage Money Can Buy
Luckily for us, Sharon Beder has discovered the root of international evil. It’s those press releases from the “well-oiled PR machine.” Whew. I’m relieved!

Best of the Late Night Jokes
Get all the late night jokes and an archive from Newsmax.  W

Big Cartoon Database
More than 100,000 cartoons searchable by title, character, voice and much more.

Book-A-Minute
Don’t have time to read at all? Dive into these hilarious, free, ultra-condensed books including sci-fi, fantasy, bedtime and classics.  W

Book of Odds – The Odds of Everyday Life
Ever wonder what the odds are? Search 1000s of topics to learn the odds of everyday life questions. Very entertaining for fun and reference. What are the odds?   W

Bookslut
Don’t let the name fool you. Book reviews and a blog with a literate edge.

BuzzFeed
Tracking the web’s obsessions in real time. For the bored, those who have to know the latest buzz, and the easily amused.  W

BuzzWhack
Dedicated to letting the air out of those pompous users of buzzwords. See the buzzword of the day and archive.

Buzzword Complaint
A few journalists working to make English majors and the world safe from buzzwords.  W

Call Letter Origins
Learn about radio, TV call letter origins.

ClicheSite
Delightful site with (2100+) sayings, phrases and cliches as long as your arm. This site is the cat’s meow, as good as it gets, so don’t put off looking till tomorrow when you can look today. Well, you get the picture.  W

Cover Browser
More than 450,000 comic book, book and other covers, all searchable by topic and fun to browse.

Criggo
Newspapers are slowly going away. Too bad, but till then, enjoy these oddball ads.

Dark Roasted Blend – Weird & Wonderful Things
One of the better sources for all kinds of weird and wonderful websites.

Darwin Awards
These awards salute the improvement of the human species by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from existence.

Dealing With Fragile Artist Syndrome
Don’t you just hate dealing with fragile egos asks Scott Baradell? Who’s the client?

Dear PR Flack
The tag line says it all: “bloggers point and laugh at bad pitches.”  W

Disinformation
Since 1996, a trusted source for info on current affairs, politics, strange science and “hidden information” that seldom slips through the cracks of corporate-owned media.

Double-Tongued Dictionary
A lexicon of fringe English including slang, jargon and new words.

Duct Tape Fashion
All duct tape. All the time. From duct tape fashions and products to duct tape activities. This one sticky website!

Dumbest Quotes of the 2000s
The Huffington Post shares the dumbest quotes of the decade. Dumb and dumbers include Dubbya, Sarah Palin, Arnie, Brittney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Joe Biden, Paris Hilton and more.   W

Encyclopedia of Television
More than 1000 essays on TV programs, people, trends and TV topics.

English Tongue Twisters
More than 400 tongue twisters like “Willy’s real rear wheel”.

Ethan’s Oxymoron Page
Ethan Winer put together this nice list of oxymorons.

Etymologic: The Toughest Word Game on the Web
Play Etymologic! Get ten random etymology or word puzzles to solve. Fun, challenging and surprising!  W

FactCheck
Non-partisan, non-profit “consumer advocate” aims to reduce deception and confusion by tracking the promises, news releases, debates, speeches, interviews and TV ads of US policians. Political promises. Now there’s an oxymoron.

FAIR
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting has been challenging media bias and censorship since 1986.

FARK
Fark is the news site about everything that is NOT news. More than 2000 daily NOT news submissions from readers.

Funny.com
This site is funny! Funny jokes, pictures, cartoons, videos, news and games. See the funny news. It’s hilarious. Seriously.

GapingVoid
Hugh MacLeod draws cartoons on the back of business cards. Original and very funny. We’re fans.  W W

Gawker
What can I say about our favorite gossip sheet? It’s great.

Global Language Monitor
Ever wanted to know how many words are in the English language? The top ten confusing buzzwords? Most recognized English word? What the one millionth English word is and much, much more? GLM has it all.   W

God Unveils New Species As Demand For Humans Decline [0:55]
This just in… from The Onion Radio News Network.

Groaners
Is your writing trite, hackneyed or overblown? A look at these 65+ overused phrases will get you straightened right out. Jeez, now I’ve done it!

HalfBakery
A community-based ideas bank of half-baked ideas and inventions, often funny and always whimsical.

Headline Analyzer
This little tool will analyze the emotional value content of your headline. Loads of fun trying to score 100%. I couldn’t!   W

Heretical Rhyme Generator
Give it a first line and this magical program will deliver you a poem.

Hotter Than the Internet
This exchange between an airhead PR pitching a Forbes editor is an oldie but still a classic from former online pub The Buzz Saw. Yikes.

HowStuffWorks
If you need to know how stuff works, this is the place.

I Write Like
Quirky, fun tool. Cut and paste several paragraphs, hit analyze, and this nifty site will tell who you write like.  W

I’m Dreaming of a White National Cheese Day
Alan Benson spoofs the selling of the American calendar. How ’bout Moon Day? National Peanut Lover’s Month? Or National Mustard Day? His great list also includes Trivia Day (Jan 6), Canned Food Month (Feb), Procrastination Week (Mar), National Goof-Off Day (Mar 22), Doughnut Day (June 6) and too much more to share here.  W

Idea A Day
One idea. Every day. Yep. And an archive. Some of these ideas are very funny.

Imagedump
Marco Kuiper presents photos that are funny, surprising, weird and sometimes just mesmerizing.

Incredimazing
You’ll be in awe of the most incredible pictures ever seen, submitteed by folks from all over the social universe.

Inside Art History
A neat little art history game to challenge you.

International Dictionary of Neologisms
What’s a “naked funeral”? A “King Bug Dragon? You’ll have to check out this cool dictionary for this and hundreds of other newly-created words.  W

Internet Anagram Server
Want an anagram? Enter a name, a word or a favorite phrase and get a list of anagrams automatically from the folks at Wordsmith.org. See the Anagram Hall of Fame. Nice.  W

Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Get the history of the world wide web at your fingertips. More than 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to the present. A dynamic research tool and often fun to play with.  W

Internet’s Best List of Oxymorons
Another fun list of oxymorons by Adrian Skiles and John Shore.

Jargon Finder
To help your writing and speaking remain jargon-free, try this Jargon Finder. It’s a wonderful empowerment and engagement tool.

Jennifer’s Language Page
Learn how to say common phrases in hundreds of languages.

Jokes Comedy Funny Humor – InJokes.com
All jokes, all the time. In 28 categories to keep you very amused.

Lumosity Brain Games
Every good PR person needs to be sharp thinking and quick-witted. Find all the brain games you can handle and sharpen up okay?

Magnificent Bastard
Stylin. Very stylin. Just ask anything of MB, after all, he’s your sherpa, your life caddy, your brutha, your sensei.

MagMyPic.com
Create and produce fake magazine covers with your picture and headline. The perfect gift for the PR who has everything.  W

Marilyn Is Wrong
Engineer Herb Weiner published a collection of amusing errors from the “Ask Marilyn” column of Parade Magazine. Shows your mistakes can haunt you forever on the ‘net.  W

Matchstick
The challenging game of matchstick is back thanks to Ze Frank. Sheeeeesh!

Media Interview Parodies
George Plumley tags a few good examples of media parodies.

Memory – The Game
ZeFrank recreated this old favorite. Improve your memory, spend delightful time with yourself and have fun.

MeOnMag.com
Upload your photo and see your pic on a choice of magazine covers.

Miscellaneous Malapropisms
Here’s a seriously funny series of quotations with malapropisms.

Mondo Stars
Get the lowdown on the high and mighty media newsmakers around the world.

Most Brilliant Simpsons Quotes
Make Five creates lists of everything including these Simpons quotes.

Mr Gradgrind’s Literal Answers to Rhetorical Questions
Ever wanted to know where have all the flowers gone? Find the answers to common rhetorical questions at Dr Paul Brian’s whimsical website.

Museum of Hoaxes
All about hoaxes, today and in history, by creator Alex Boese. Archive includes April Fool’s Day, hoax photos, campus pranks, tall tale creatures and more. Good fun.  W

My Favorite Word
All your favorite words, in your own words. Word up!

News of the Weird
Chuck Shepherd writes the weekly column which has been the gold standard in reporting the bizarre and the ridiculous for 21 years. Proving once and for all that true stories are weirder than made-up stories. Weird!    W

Newspaper Death Watch
Fascinated by the gut-wrenching death of newspapers? Paul Gillin chronicles the funeral but adds in the rebirth of journalism on occasion.  W

Nine Easy Steps To Longer Sentences
With tongue firmly in cheek, you too can learn to write much longer sentences from Kathy McGinty and the folks at Plain Language.

Obscure Store & Reading Room
Not your average news site, but guaranteed to leave you laughing.  W

Office Interventions
Got an annoying problem with a co-worker who needs to get the message? Be proactive with these very funny, divine office interventions.

OldRadio.com
A radio broadcast history site and archive by Barry Mishkind.

OnCoverPage.com
Create your own magazine cover and headline with this fun, fast, free program.  W

On-This-Day
Find out what happened on this day in history in news, politics, music and culture.

Page O’ Palindromes
What’s a palindrome? Hint: it’s not a US VP candidate from Alaska. Heh, heh!

Paparazzied
Be your own paparazzi. Put your picture on the front cover of a magazine of your choice.

Paper Airplanes
Engineer and Guinness Record holder Ken Blackburn shares paper airplane designs, tips, history and aerodynamics.

Peakbagger
For you hiking and climbing freaks, Peakbagger has lists of mountain peaks of all kinds by elevation, geography and more. Ain’t the web wonderful?

Phobia List
This list of phobias is enough to give you a serious case of “hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.” Honestly.

Plain Language
Many funny, informative examples of plain language to learn from at PlainLanguage.com.

Plinky
Every day Plinky adds a new prompt, like a question or challenge for answers or comment. Lots of fun at this social networking site, especially when you need a creative poke in the ribs.   W

PR Watch
Investigates and exposes how the public relations industry and other professional propagandists manipulate public information, perceptions and opinion on behalf of governments and special interests. Always interesting conspiracy reading with your coffee.

Pro PR Tips
Tech journalist Rafe Needleman blogs, rants and points out PR tips that most PR pros better pay attention to or suffer the consequences.  W

Project Censored
All the news that didn’t make the news and why.

Protests.net
All protest news, all the time. Peace!

Public Relations Jokes
A handful of PR jokes.

Purportal.com
You know that email your brother-in-law sent to you and 40 friends, and is purportedly true? Find out if it’s really true right here with these hoax, fraud, phishing, scam and misinformation resources.

Regret the Error
Regret the Error’s Craig Silverman reports on media corrections, retractions, apologies, errors and trends. The results are often very funny and his resources are excellent.   W

Reuters Oddly Enough
Read some of the oddest news, oddly enough from Reuters.

Ruckus Society
Find out the latest news, training and resources in the field of non-violent direct action from the peaceful folks whose “actions speak louder than words”.

Salon
US politics, issues, culture and reviews about books, music and film. Another of our favs.  W

Sarcasm Quotations
A good list of 220+ sarcastic quotes, sayings and wit.

Secret Layoff Talking Points Sent to Entire Company
It’s a classic email communication screw up reports Gawker. Talking points weren’t that good either.

Shakespeare Insult Kit
If you really want to make the office bully speechless, get the best of the bard’s insults right here, you gorbellied, beef-witted malt-worm!

Snopes
Snopes is the site of the Urban Legends Reference Pages. A great resource for checking rumors and facts from Barbara and David Mikkelson.  W

Spoonerisms Galore
Dedicated to those like to get their words bass ackwords on occasion.

Strange Facts
Strange facts, weird tidbits and other useless, fun information in one strange place.  W

Stupid Quotations
Sometimes they just shouldn’t have said it, just like in media interviews. Stupid but fun.  W

Systematic Buzz Phrase Generator
Enter any three digit number and create your very own buzz phrase like: Balanced Organizational Flexibility.  W

The Accomplishments of Famous Publicist Charmaine Blake
Gawker does a marvelous take out on Blake who is famous in her own mind. Luckily, she’s a publicist and not a PR pro. Right?

The Always Amusing Euphemism Generator
Need a euphemism or some new doublespeak to hide some unpleasant news? Get one instantly with often hilarious results.

The Buzz Saw – Rogues Gallery
Remaining rogues gallery of ten bad pitch examples from the old Buzz Saw is still funny and a reminder that some things live forever on the web. Now published as Buzzword Complaint, the old archives still live but without the neat retro design.  W

The Daily Howler
Journalist and comedian Bob Somerby needs to get a life. Just kidding, Bob. He’s compiled these daily journalistic “howlers” and reporting faux pas since 1998 and is still going strong. Keep it up!   W

The Dialectizer
Convert English text or website copy to any of several comic dialects including redneck, jive, Cockney, Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, moron or hacker. You gotta try it!   W

The EGR Weblog
Rage Boy Christopher Locke, one of the co-authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto is still ranting in fine form.  W

The Excellent Intranet Cost Analyzer
This cool calculator will add up the cost of your employees not finding info on the company intranet. Why care? Don’t know. It’s just cool.

The Most Dangerous Roads in the World
And you thought driving in rush hour in LA was dangerous?

The Onion
Calls itself “America’s finest news source and salvage fishery”. Always biting, always funny, always making your eyes water. You do read, don’t you? PS, check out the TV and radio news as well.  W

The Onion Radio News
If you prefer The Onion news on air, tune in. It’ll make your eyes water with laughter.  W

The Onion TV News: Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of,,, [2:19]
Brilliant Onion TV News Network satire with this new technology product TV news story. Warning: this clip is intended for immature audiences who like plenty of swearing. W

The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary
Does anyone really use these phrases at the office? Hundreds of shopworn, weird or just plain silly phrases for your endless amusement.  W

The Slip-Up Archive
More than 18,750 TV, movie and book slip-ups as well as quote bloopers. Loads of fun from Annette and David Wolf.  W

The Smoking Gun
TSG brings you cool, confidential or quirky documents, mug shots, video and more that can’t be found anywhere else on the web. Click to see whazzup.  W

The Straight Dope
Since 1973, Cecil Adams has been answering readers’ oddball questions and fighting ignorance with his entertaining writing. Highly recommended.  W

The Top 10 Everything of 2008
TIME magazine gathered the best top 10 lists of all time for your enjoyment. From worst cars, best albums and best news stories to top 10 election gaffes, best editorial cartoons, top 10 gadgets and much much more. You’ll spend hours.

The Twenty Weirdest TV Interviews of All Time
Video clips of celebrities gone wild, wasted or just mad about Katie. A gem of a resource from the folks at Nerve.com!   W

The Vocabaret
A site dedicated to original word games for your bemusement.

The Word Detective
Since 1995, Evan Morris has written this newspaper column on words and language in a humorous vein. The archive is excellent and the explorations of words are wonderful.  W

This is True
Columnist Randy Cassingham proves that, in the news, truth is stranger than fiction.  W

Timothy Mcsweeney’s Internet Tendency
This site is built for writers and readers by San Francisco publishing house McSweeney’s. It’s a delightful place to waste spend time.  W

TMZ – Memba Them?
All the celebrity pics you can handle from the Paparazzi. Watch for the “Memba Them?” features.

Top 10 Funniest News Reporter Bloopers
Think news reporters are perfect every time? These 10 reporter bloopers from CNET dispel that notion fast.  W

TV Acres
The web’s ultimate subject guide to television program facts. Find character bios, TV resources and more.

Utne Daily
A daily dose of alternative coverage of politics, culture and ideas. One of our favorites.  W

Vintage Ad Browser
Just type in a topic or keyword and up pops a selection of vintage ads from a database of more than 123,000 ads. Fun to browse and often inspiring.

Web Economy Bullshit Generator
Now this site rocks. Hit the button and you get a new BS statement every time that will reintermediate integrated markets. Really useful for your next high-tech news release or product brochure.   W

Web Pages That Suck
After 13 years, Vince Flanders is still finding and tagging websites that suck. The annual list of “worst websites” is always revealing.   W

Why Not? Ideas Exchange
This site shows how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small.

Why the #$%! Do We Swear?
Scientific American reports that we swear and drop the F-bomb for pain relief. So there!

Wireless Flash News
WFN is “On The Air” 24 x 7 bringing you all the weird pop culture news that’s fit to bring to you.

Word Spy
Paul McFedries produces this word lover’s guide to neologisms or newly-coined words.

Wordplays
Word games, puzzles and lots more games galore for wordsmiths.

WriteOnIt: Magazine Cover Generator
A fun magazine cover generator with lots of mag choices and the ability to write your own heads and sub-heads and save or email it. Just don’t publish publicly by accident if it’s rude.  W

Zapato Productions International
ZPI has been serving up stories of the paranoid since 1997. Come and spend a little time in the fourth dimension where conspiracies and other diversions abound.

Ze Frank
Ze Frank is diabolical. His site is crammed with games, puzzles, interactive toys and stuff to read and watch. Highly entertaining. Welcome to the twilight zone! You are guaranteed a weird and wonderful trip.   W W