It's a joke and stale, unfunny joke at that.

She knows that since I've met her, that precious freedom of mine seems a rather stale joke.

The car is practically a piece of junk, but stale jokes about its daily breakdowns help fill the miles and the time between expensive pigouts.

"Listen to the funny man," said one of the cooks, who'd probably heard the stale joke two or three times already.

Until then, you are just a stale joke.

They spin end-of-civilization fantasies, speak in tongues, recite stale jokes.

The characters work in theatrical professions, which also provides situations for a series of stale jokes about the theater.

Since then, the Republican sweep of Congress has rendered his liberal-baiting jokes stale.

It was a stale joke, which, fortunately, control didn't hear.

Never mind the stale jokes about how Charles and Camilla are getting up there in years.