The topic of social work does not normally inspire laughter. So it is perhaps not surprising that research into the culture of social work rarely pursues its humorous aspect?the role of irony and laughter, for example. But if Michael Mulkay (1988) is right in suggesting that the domain of humor allows contradictory worlds to coexist, then this topic warrants a closer look. After all, no one would deny that social work involves a measure of contradiction.