Scientific work by itself is standardized and, from an abstract viewpoint, rather boring. Don't get me wrong, some papers are so exciting to read! But usually just for experts and only if the results are groundbreaking or "special" in some technical way.
Paper titles (or down to section titles) are hence one of the very few parts where one can be a bit more creative and infuse a bit of humor into an otherwise rather "dry" discipline. (That might be another reason why many dissertation acknowledgements are very emotional and convey quite a bit personality.)
So, on this page I thought I'd highlight some paper (or section) titles that stand out in some way or another. I do understand that bad jokes are recognized by the need to explain them, but nevertheless I am going to point out why those titles are funny -- or at least considered as such by some. :)
I differentiate between those that I co-authored myself and those that I stumbled across.