They seemed, in fact, to think the whole idea was some sort of joke.

To someone he thought was a bit of a joke.

Army food might once have been something of a joke, but certainly not any more.

I think he was making his idea of a joke.

How far would he have to go to find the rest of the joke?

At first I thought there was some kind of joke.

At first he thought it was some kind of joke.

At first everybody thought it must be some kind of joke.

It was some sort of joke, she thought, and a particularly bad one.

At first it had been a bit of a joke.