Random Pun API

GET

Drop a fresh pun into your social feeds, bots, or games.

Random Pun retrieves a random pun and its topic category on every request. Each call supplies the full pun text, with paid plans adding an additional humor rating score.

Try it — live request, no key required

Request

GETapi.apiverve.com/v1/randompun

Verification

Format

No key required to try it. Get a key to use it in your app.

Example

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "category": "Family, Parents",
    "rating": 2,
    "pun": "There was this guy who decided he wanted to live with his gay friends in a nudest colony and so he up and quit his job, and moved. He was really happy until he got a letter from his grandma. She told him he was about to die and wanted a picture of him. He got his friend to take a picture of him, and sice he had no clothes, he cut the picture in half. A few weeks later he received another letter from his grandma telling him he needed to get a haircut because it made his nose look long.... he soon realized he had sent her the wrong half."
  }
}

About the Random Pun API

Send a GET request without any parameters to fetch a pun. The response returns the full pun string and its thematic category. Paid plans also include a numeric humor rating score for each entry.

What people use it for

Daily Standup Icebreakers: Chat bots send a pun and category to team channels every morning to start meetings with a quick laugh.
Gaming Loading Screens: To keep players entertained during long loading screens, video games fetch a pun to show between levels.
Newsletter Footer Jokes: Email newsletters inject a fresh joke into the footer section of automated weekly subscriber digests.
Smart Speaker Skills: When users ask for humor, smart speaker apps pull pun text to read aloud over audio.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON: Default REST response
XML: Markup format
YAML: Human-readable
CSV: Tabular export
GraphQL: Query language
MCP: For AI agents

View all integrations →

Other ways to use Random Pun

Same data, same APIVerve account, same credit balance — one key works on all of them.

Give it to an AI agentConnect over MCP and your agent calls it as a native tool — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT.on VerveKit

Questions.

Common questions about the Random Pun API.

Read the docs →

Can I filter puns by topic or category?

No, the endpoint accepts no query parameters and selects a pun at random from the collection. Each response provides the pun text along with the category or theme assigned to it.

What details come back with each pun?

Every request returns the full pun text and the category or theme it fits into. If you are on a paid plan, the response also includes a humor rating score.

Is the humor rating score included on the Free plan?

No, the humor rating score is a premium field reserved for paid plans. Free tier requests return the pun text and category, but unlocking the rating requires upgrading to Starter or above.

How far does the Starter plan go for puns?

The Starter plan includes enough credits for 100,000 pun lookups each month, which works out to about $0.30 per 1,000 calls. Each lookup consumes 2 credits. If you only need occasional puns for testing, the Free plan provides 100 calls per month.

How often is new content added to the pun collection?

The curated pun database is updated regularly to introduce new material and keep selections fresh. Calls draw directly from this updated collection so your application sees varied content over time.

Request parameters — GET /v1/randompun

This endpoint takes no parameters

Call it with your key and nothing else. Any query string you send is ignored rather than rejected.

Example request

1
2

curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Header	When	Value
`x-api-key`Required	Every request	Your API key. Header names are case-insensitive, so `X-API-Key` is the same header.
`Authorization`Alternate	Instead of the above	`Bearer <key>` — for clients that only expose bearer auth. Resolves to the same account and the same billing.

401 is the only auth verdict

A 401 means the key is missing, invalid or expired. A 403 means the key is valid but not permitted here — blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Running out of credits is a 429.

Response — GET /v1/randompun

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

Sample response

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "category": "Family, Parents",
    "rating": 2,
    "pun": "There was this guy who decided he wanted to live with his gay friends in a nudest colony and so he up and quit his job, and moved. He was really happy until he got a letter from his grandma. She told him he was about to die and wanted a picture of him. He got his friend to take a picture of him, and sice he had no clothes, he cut the picture in half. A few weeks later he received another letter from his grandma telling him he needed to get a haircut because it made his nose look long.... he soon realized he had sent her the wrong half."
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`category`	string	`"Family, Parents"`	Category or theme of the pun content
`rating`Premium	number	`2`	Humor rating score for the pun
`pun`	string	`"There was this guy who decided he wanted to live with his gay friends in a nudest colony and so he up and quit his job, and moved. He was r…`	Full text of the random pun

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Header	What it carries
`x-api-remaining-credits`	Credits left in the current cycle
`x-api-credits-used`	Credits spent in the current cycle
`x-api-max-credits`	The allowance for the cycle
`x-api-version`	Version of the endpoint that answered

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

Status	Meaning	What to do
`400`	Input was rejected	Read `error`; it names the parameter that has to change.
`401`	Key missing or invalid	Check the header name and the key value.
`403`	Key valid, but not permitted here	A key restriction or an IP allow-list — never a bad key.
`429`	Rate limited, or out of credits	Read `error` to tell them apart, then back off or top up.

What a call costs — 2 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Plan	Per month	Credits	Random Pun calls	Per 1,000 calls
Free	Free	200	100	Free
Starter	$29.99	200,000	100,000	$0.30
Pro	$99.99	1,000,000	500,000	$0.20
Mega	$299.99	4,000,000	2,000,000	$0.15

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Compare all pricing tiers →

Call it from cURL — GET /v1/randompun

No SDK to install — this is a plain HTTPS call to /v1/randompun with your key in the x-api-key header. Swap in a real key and it runs as-is.

cURL

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2

curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Resources

GitHubapiverve/randompun-apiSource, issues and the examples this page is built from.ReferenceRandom Pun API docsEvery parameter, every response field, and the errors.ParametersWhat this call acceptsRequired and optional inputs, with example values.

Also published for

@apiverve/randompunnpm apiverve-randompunPyPI APIVerve.API.RandomPunNuGet

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

Call it from Node.js — GET /v1/randompun

Install the Node.js SDK, then call the Random Pun API with your key. The client wraps the same HTTPS request, so anything it returns is what the endpoint returns.

Install — npm

npm install @apiverve/randompun

Node.js

const res = await fetch("https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun", {
  headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
});
const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Resources

npm@apiverve/randompunThe published Node.js client, versioned and signed.GitHubapiverve/randompun-apiSource, issues and the examples this page is built from.ReferenceRandom Pun API docsEvery parameter, every response field, and the errors.ParametersWhat this call acceptsRequired and optional inputs, with example values.

Also published for

apiverve-randompunPyPI APIVerve.API.RandomPunNuGet

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

Call it from Python — GET /v1/randompun

Install the Python SDK, then call the Random Pun API with your key. The client wraps the same HTTPS request, so anything it returns is what the endpoint returns.

Install — PyPI

pip install apiverve-randompun

Python

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun",
    headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
print(res.json()["data"])

Resources

PyPIapiverve-randompunThe published Python client, versioned and signed.GitHubapiverve/randompun-apiSource, issues and the examples this page is built from.ReferenceRandom Pun API docsEvery parameter, every response field, and the errors.ParametersWhat this call acceptsRequired and optional inputs, with example values.

Also published for

@apiverve/randompunnpm APIVerve.API.RandomPunNuGet

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

Call it from C# / .NET — GET /v1/randompun

Install the C# / .NET SDK, then call the Random Pun API with your key. The client wraps the same HTTPS request, so anything it returns is what the endpoint returns.

Install — NuGet

dotnet add package APIVerve.API.RandomPun

C# / .NET

using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY");

var json = await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun");
Console.WriteLine(json);

Resources

NuGetAPIVerve.API.RandomPunThe published C# / .NET client, versioned and signed.GitHubapiverve/randompun-apiSource, issues and the examples this page is built from.ReferenceRandom Pun API docsEvery parameter, every response field, and the errors.ParametersWhat this call acceptsRequired and optional inputs, with example values.

Also published for

@apiverve/randompunnpm apiverve-randompunPyPI

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

Call it from Go — GET /v1/randompun

No SDK to install — this is a plain HTTPS call to /v1/randompun with your key in the x-api-key header. Swap in a real key and it runs as-is.

req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun", nil)
req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY")

res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
defer res.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))

Resources

Also published for

@apiverve/randompunnpm apiverve-randompunPyPI APIVerve.API.RandomPunNuGet

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

Call it from PHP — GET /v1/randompun

No SDK to install — this is a plain HTTPS call to /v1/randompun with your key in the x-api-key header. Swap in a real key and it runs as-is.

PHP

$ch = curl_init("https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ["x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
echo $response;

Resources

Also published for

@apiverve/randompunnpm apiverve-randompunPyPI APIVerve.API.RandomPunNuGet

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

Call it from Ruby — GET /v1/randompun

No SDK to install — this is a plain HTTPS call to /v1/randompun with your key in the x-api-key header. Swap in a real key and it runs as-is.

Ruby

require "net/http"

uri = URI("https://api.apiverve.com/v1/randompun")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["x-api-key"] = "YOUR_API_KEY"

res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts res.body

Resources

Also published for

@apiverve/randompunnpm apiverve-randompunPyPI APIVerve.API.RandomPunNuGet

Only the languages APIVerve ships a client for are listed — the rest call the endpoint directly over HTTPS.

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Random Pun API

Try it — live request, no key required

About the Random Pun API

What people use it for

Ways to call it

Other ways to use Random Pun

Questions.

Request parameters — GET /v1/randompun

Authentication

Response — GET /v1/randompun

Response fields

Response headers

Errors

What a call costs — 2 credits per call

Call it from cURL — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Call it from Node.js — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Call it from Python — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Call it from C# / .NET — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Call it from Go — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Call it from PHP — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Call it from Ruby — GET /v1/randompun

Resources

Also published for

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Changelog — Random Pun API

Entertainment

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