Look, if you've spent any time trekking through the fungal apocalypse with Joel and Ellie, you know the vibe is usually pretty heavy. It’s a lot of gut-wrenching decisions, clicking noises that haunt your dreams, and general misery. But then, there’s the puns. Those glorious, terrible puns. If you're trying to survive all of Ellie's jokes, you aren't just looking for a trophy; you're looking for those rare, quiet moments of humanity that make Naughty Dog's masterpiece actually breathe.
Honestly, it's easy to miss them. You’re usually so focused on not getting your throat ripped out by a Stalker that you sprint right past the specific "wait points" where Ellie decides to whip out No Pun Intended by Will Livingston.
Getting her to trigger these jokes isn't just about standing still. It’s about patience. It's about clearing an area of enemies, waiting for the combat music to fade into that melancholic guitar track, and just... hanging out. It feels weirdly natural. You’ve just survived a life-or-death shootout, and here is this kid, trying to lighten the mood with a joke about a scarecrow.
Why Do We Even Care About These Jokes?
It’s about the "That's All I Got" trophy, sure. But it’s also about the pacing. Naughty Dog uses these jokes to build the relationship between a hardened smuggler and a girl who has never seen a functioning world.
When you successfully trigger the dialogue to survive all of Ellie's jokes, you see Joel’s shell crack. Initially, he’s annoyed. He grunts. He tells her to shut up. But by the time you reach the later jokes in the suburbs or the derelict mall in the Left Behind DLC, he’s actually anticipating them. Or at least, he’s stopped fighting it. That’s the real reward.
The mechanics are finicky. People get frustrated because they think they’ve triggered them all, but Google search results are littered with players asking why the trophy didn't pop. Usually, it's because they didn't wait for the specific environmental dialogue that "primes" the joke. You can't just stand in the middle of a street in Pittsburgh and expect her to start reading. You have to interact with the world first.
The Pittsburgh Gauntlet: Where Most People Fail
Pittsburgh is the gauntlet. This is where the bulk of the puns happen, and it's where most players mess up their "streak."
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The First Encounter: The Bookstore
After you take out the hunters in the Kingston Bookstore, don't just rush out the exit. Just wait. Stand by the front door or the counter. It might take a minute. Maybe two. Eventually, Ellie will pull out her book.
"It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery."
Classic. Terrible. But if you move too fast, the script breaks. It’s a fragile bit of coding.
The Second Encounter: The Flooded Street
Later, in the area with the big "Look for the Light" graffiti, you’ll find a literal pile of bodies. It’s grim. After Ellie talks about the hunters, stay put. If you climb up the ladder too early, you've missed it. You have to let her process the horror of the scene before she tries to mask it with humor.
The jokes here are a defense mechanism. Once you realize that, the "chore" of finding them becomes a character study. She's scared. She's trying to make Joel—and herself—feel like things are normal.
The Hotel Lobby
This is the one that kills most trophy runs. In the Grand Hotel, you have to climb the ladder, but before you head through the crack in the wall, you need to wait. Some players report having to wait up to three minutes. It feels like an eternity in "gamer time." You’ll probably find yourself spinning Joel in circles or checking your inventory just to pass the time.
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Surviving the Suburbs and Beyond
By the time you hit the suburbs, the jokes feel different. They feel like a tradition. There’s a specific spot near the kitchen in one of the abandoned houses where you need to listen to a full conversation about the family that used to live there. Only after that dialogue finishes will the joke prompt appear.
It's a "blink and you'll miss it" moment.
If you're playing the Left Behind DLC, the jokes are even more integrated into the story. They aren't just random collectibles; they are a bridge between Ellie and Riley. The humor is sharper, more playful, and ultimately more heartbreaking because you know what's coming. To truly survive all of Ellie's jokes in the DLC, you have to interact with the pun book multiple times in the carousel and the joke shop. It’s a test of endurance for your groan-reflex.
Common Mistakes and Glitches
Let’s be real: The Last of Us (even the Part I remake) can be buggy with these triggers. Here is the reality of why you might be struggling:
- Moving Too Fast: This is the #1 killer. If you trigger the next "checkpoint" or "loading zone," the joke script is cancelled.
- Missing Prerequisite Dialogue: You often have to look at a specific poster or talk to Ellie about a specific corpse before the joke logic "unlocks."
- Combat State: If the game thinks you are still in "caution" or "combat" mode because one lone Hunter is stuck behind a crate somewhere, Ellie will not tell a joke. She’s too busy looking for a brick.
- Checkpoint Restarts: If you die shortly after a joke, sometimes the game forgets you heard it. Always wait for the little "autosave" icon to vanish before moving on.
Is it worth it?
If you’re a completionist, obviously. But even if you aren't, there’s something deeply satisfying about hearing Joel let out a defeated "Okay, that was actually okay" after a particularly egregious pun about a baker. It’s one of the few ways the game rewards you for slowing down and actually existing in the space Naughty Dog built.
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How to Guarantee Success
If you're going for the full run, do it on a lower difficulty first. Trying to wait for a joke on Grounded mode is just asking for a stray arrow to the head.
- Clear the room. Kill everything that moves.
- Interact with everything. Look at the posters, talk to Ellie when the "Triangle" prompt appears, and check the environment.
- Put the controller down. Seriously. Give it three minutes of actual real-world time in the designated areas.
- Listen for the rustle. You’ll hear her actually open her backpack. That’s the cue.
The jokes aren't just filler. They are the heartbeat of the game. They remind us that even when the world is ending, humans still find ways to be incredibly corny. And honestly? That's probably the most realistic thing about the whole game.
To make sure you've actually finished the hunt, check your "Tags" or "Trophies" menu in the pause screen. If the counter for "That's All I Got" hasn't ticked up after the suburbs, you likely missed a prompt in Pittsburgh. The good news? You can use Chapter Select to go back and grab the specific one you missed without replaying the entire 15-hour campaign. Just make sure you play through to a new save point after the joke finishes to ensure the game "registers" your progress.
Once you've heard the final pun in the Left Behind DLC, you’ve officially survived. You've braved the Clickers, the Bloaters, and the puns. The puns were definitely the most dangerous part.
Next Steps for Completionists
- Verify your Chapter Progress: Check the "Collectibles" tab in the Chapter Select menu to see if your conversation count matches the joke locations.
- Left Behind Checklist: Remember that the DLC jokes are separate but often required for the overarching "all jokes" trackers in certain versions of the game.
- Manual Saving: Always create a manual save before entering the Pittsburgh bookstore; it’s the most common spot for the script to hang.