In 1960s Boston, a Jewish deli owner who struggles to come up with his newest joke stumbles into a scam with more ramifications than he could have ever dreamed possible.

A businessman covertly heads to the skating rink every day with a flailing routine, where he basks in the laughter of onlookers. Finally, he is forced to choose between his straitlaced family and his clownish — but authentic — alter ego.

A middle aged upper class woman and her family live in an upscale neighborhood. The family's laughter turns malicious when they cannot distinguish between what is comical and what is horrendous and increasingly find amusement at the expense of others.

The characters found in jokes are forced to act out the jokes every time they are told.

Upon hearing news of his wife’s poor state of health after giving birth, a man quickly boards a train home and deludes himself into thinking his wife is well.

Two men putting on a production for their New York theater company seek out a legendary, elderly actor, but upon finding him, they meet a man as dilapidated as the theater he once worked for.

While attempting to leave his marriage for a new woman, a man faces heartbroken backlash from his parents and five-year-old son, all of whom want him to step up and be a father.

After a lifetime of getting pummeled by his own family and wife, a man gets the last laugh.

A college professor pays a famous poet to guest lecture at his university. Although this encounter improves his professional standing, his personal life suffers as a result of the poet's behavior.

A son tells a series of stories, most of them about his father and stepfather. As the son describes a robbery that took place at his house in high school and his experiences with his father, a former Jehovah's Witness and current alcoholic, he begins to recall details from his childhood.