An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding. It is an esoteric joke which is humorous only to those who know the situation behind it.
In-jokes may exist within a small social clique, such as a group of friends, or extend to an entire profession such as the film or professional wrestling industries, or a particular sporting endeavour.
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In-jokes are cryptic allusions to shared common ground that act as triggers; only those who have shared the common ground provide an appropriate response.[1] An in-joke works to build community, sometimes at the expense of outsiders. Part of the power of an in-joke is that its audience knows that there are those who do not understand the joke.[2]
An in-joke can also be used as a subtext, where people in the know may find humour with something not explicitly spoken. They may even apologise for doing so to outsiders, directly or indirectly stating that what they were laughing at was an in-joke.[3]
In the computer industry some computer programmers hide in-jokes within the code of software in the form of Easter eggs, i.e., hidden content that can be revealed only by following a specific sequence of inputs.
The Jargon File is a glossary of hacker slang, much of which is in-jokes or is based on in-jokes.
In The Sims 3 game, players can enter 'Enable Llamas' in the cheat console. The game itself accepts 'Enable Llamas' as a cheat (it doesn't come up with the usual unknown command message). Once entered, a message pops up on-screen saying 'Llamas enabled'. The Llamas cheat does not affect gameplay whatsoever; it is most likely an inside joke of the producers.
Many TV shows, like The Simpsons and Family Guy, insert numerous in-jokes per episode, often referring to other TV shows, movies, or even the show itself.
The 2009 movie Star Trek contained multiple references to the 1960s Star Trek TV series, with the references constituting in-jokes for those familiar with the series.
Noticeable in many animated films is A113, a classroom used by graphic design students at CalArts, whose alumni include John Lasseter and Brad Bird.
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