shaggy-dog story

Noun

shaggy dog story (plural shaggy dog stories)

1. An intentionally long-winded joke or tale featuring the narration of typically irrelevant details, and usually ending with an absurd or pointless punchline which is often a pun or Spoonerism on a known catchphrase, with the intended humor deriving from the combination of the excessive length and the anticlimax.
   • The plot as Titus Oates described it to the Privy Council was something of a shaggy dog story, long on digressions and incidental details, but short on hard facts.2016, Anna Keay, chapter 11, in The Last Royal Rebel, London: Bloomsbury

   Synonyms:

   shaggy-dog tale, shaggy dog tale