boffola

plural boffolas

1. A coarse or farcical gag; a joke provoking hearty laughter.

   You laugh all the harder because the movie never winds up to hit you with a boffola.

   1979, Newsweek (volume 94, part 2, page 70)

   2 more examples

   "You're here to set off skyrockets for Barbara Anne, not to regale us with the steam-room boffolas of Beverly Hills." "Well, I thought it was a cute story," Mr. Blakelee said.

   1961, Al Hine, Lord love a duck, page 215

   These are the people whose laughter you hear after the boffolas on shows that have been filmed without audiences. I don't suppose all these laughers are dead, but a lot of them must be by this time.

   1992, Jib Fowles, Why Viewers Watch: A Reappraisal of Television's Effects, page 119