It is a world of fungus-infected monsters and brutal human desperation. You’ve probably spent hours crouched behind rusted cars, sweating while a Clicker clicks mere inches from your ear. Then, suddenly, a teenage girl pulls out a tattered book and asks you why the scarecrow got an award.
It’s weird. It’s jarring. Honestly, it’s one of the best things about Naughty Dog’s masterpiece.
If you are looking for the definitive last of us ellie jokes list, you aren't just looking for puns. You're looking for the moments where the game lets you breathe. These jokes, pulled from the fictional No Pun Intended series by Will Livingston, are more than just a Gold Trophy requirement. They are a lifeline.
The Pittsburgh Puns: Breaking the Tension
Pittsburgh is a nightmare. You’ve just survived a car crash and a literal gauntlet of hunters. The air is heavy. Joel is grumpy. Then Ellie decides it’s time for some "stand-up."
To trigger these, you generally have to clear an area of enemies and then just... wait. It’s a test of patience. If you rush to the next objective, you miss the humanity.
- "It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope. It'll still be stationary."
- "I walked into my sister's room and tripped on a bra. It was a booby-trap."
- "A book just fell on my head. I only have my shelf to blame."
- "What did the mermaid wear to her math class? An algae bra."
Some of these are groan-worthy. Others are surprisingly clever. But the best one in this section is the meta-joke that hits a little too close to home for the characters.
"People are making apocalypse jokes like there's no tomorrow... too soon?"
Ellie’s "too soon" comment is a rare moment where she acknowledges the absurdity of her own humor. She’s a kid born into the end of the world. Puns are her way of claiming a childhood she never actually got to have.
The Suburbs and the Final Set
By the time you reach the suburbs with Henry and Sam, the tone shifts. It’s quieter. More domestic. You’re exploring abandoned kitchens and looking at ice cream trucks. This is where the last jokes of the main game happen.
- "I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went. Then it dawned on me."
- "You wanna hear a joke about pizza? Never mind, it was too cheesy."
- "What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, you idiot!"
That grape joke? It’s basically the peak of Ellie’s comedic career in the first game. It’s short, punchy, and actually makes sense in a world where everyone is literally struggling to breathe.
To get the That’s All I Got trophy, you have to be meticulous here. You need to trigger specific conversations—like the one about the "I'm armed" sign or the Firefly graffiti—before Ellie will pull out the book one last time. If you miss a single dialogue prompt, the joke book stays in her backpack.
Left Behind: The Riley Connection
In the DLC, Left Behind, the jokes take on a much heavier weight. We find out that the joke book wasn't just something Ellie found; it was a gift from Riley.
When they’re in the mall, Riley hands her No Pun Intended: Volume Too. It’s a moment of pure, unadulterated joy before the inevitable tragedy.
- "Diarrhea is hereditary. It runs in your genes."
- "I'm reading a book on anti-gravity, and it's impossible to put down."
- "The midget psychic escaped prison. He was a small medium at large."
Knowing that these jokes were shared with Riley makes every pun in the main game feel different. When Ellie tells a joke to Joel, she isn't just trying to annoy him. She’s sharing a piece of her best friend. She’s trying to see if Joel can be the person Riley was for her.
The Evolution of Humor in Part II
By the time we get to The Last of Us Part II, the jokes have changed. They’re rarer. Ellie is older, harder, and consumed by a need for retribution. The puns don't fit the vibe of a revenge quest in Seattle.
But they haven't vanished.
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There’s a beautiful, quiet moment at the farm with JJ. Ellie is trying to be a parent. She tells the baby a joke about a sheep.
"What's the quietest animal on a farm? A shhhhhhhhh-eep."
JJ doesn't laugh. Ellie tells him he’ll appreciate it when he’s older. It’s a callback to her own youth, a desperate attempt to create a "normal" life amidst the trauma. It’s one of the few times in the sequel where we see the "old" Ellie—the one who cared about Will Livingston and wordplay.
How to Hear Every Joke
If you are a completionist, getting every joke is a chore but a rewarding one. Here is the reality: you cannot just run through the levels.
In Pittsburgh, after the bus ambush, stay near the front of the bus. Do nothing. Just stand there. After about a minute of silence, Ellie will sigh and reach for her bag.
In the bookstore, you have to kill everyone. Every single hunter. Only then, when the "combat" music fades and the ambient sounds of the building take over, will she feel comfortable enough to read.
In the hotel lobby, you have to find the safe code first. It’s behind the counter in the submerged area. Once you open that safe, head back up the ladder. That is the trigger.
The game forces you to slow down. It forces you to exist in the space with these characters. If you treat the game like a standard shooter, you’ll never hear the best lines.
Why We Still Talk About Them
Why does a last of us ellie jokes list even matter years after the games came out?
Because of the contrast.
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The humor in The Last of Us serves as a "palate cleanser." Without the jokes, the game would be almost too bleak to finish. The puns remind us that Ellie is a child. They remind us why Joel eventually decides that she is worth saving, even at the cost of the entire world.
He starts by groaning. He ends by laughing. That transition—from annoyance to genuine amusement—is the entire arc of their relationship summarized in "dad jokes."
Practical Next Steps for Players
- Check your Trophy progress: If you are missing "That's All I Got," you can use Chapter Select to jump specifically to the Pittsburgh and Suburbs sections.
- Wait for the sigh: Ellie usually gives a verbal cue (a sigh or a "hey") before she starts reading. If she hasn't done that, you haven't waited long enough.
- Explore the HBO series: The show handles the joke book brilliantly, especially in Episode 4. It uses many of the same puns to build the bond between Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie.
- Listen to the silence: The best way to trigger these is to stop moving. Let the game world breathe, and Ellie will fill the silence.
The jokes aren't just filler. They are the heart of the story. Next time you're in Pittsburgh, don't just look for ammo. Look for the girl with the book.