But really, it's no joke - they're all trying to be the next governor of Texas.

NPR: Friedman Shakes Up Texas Governor Race

But the band that influenced groups ranging from Led Zeppelin to The Pretenders was no joke.

NPR: Moby Grape Just Can't Catch a Break

"The idea for this came to me in, no joke, 20 seconds, " he says happily.

FORBES: The Watcher

Gilberto Valle's plans were "no joke" and "entered the world of reality", a prosecutor said on Thursday.

BBC: Gilberto Valle 'cannibal cop' trial ends in New York

"And the harassment has been part of my stress while I'm trying to recover, no joke, " she says.

NPR: Health Bills Can Lead To Debt Woes For Insured, Too

The lift-accessed jumps and drops satisfy most skill levels and include route names like Freight Train and No Joke (you have been warned).

BBC: Canada��s summer adventure hotspot

Of course, to the manufacturers and marketers who have realized that there's big money in it, men's grooming is no joke.

WSJ: Men's Grooming With Will Arnett and Jason Bateman: Hello, 'Mansome'

Whatever the punchline, the animated short's tally of success is no joke.

BBC: Oscars: A Morning Stroll animation heads to Hollywood

But back in 1976, he was certainly no joke to Gerald Ford.

ECONOMIST: A toothy nightmare for Republicans

No joke--computation is racing toward infinite power at zero cost.

FORBES: Fat, florid, farcical

What is happening in college admission, however, is no joke.

FORBES: The Three Biggest Lies in College Admission

The plane has no yoke (and that's no joke).

FORBES: Flying Eclipse's Pocket Jet

The penalties Cisco seeks are no joke, however.

FORBES: No More Mr. Nice Cisco

Anyone who has ever been to Rwanda can tell you that the hills here are no joke: every hairpin turn boasts views of mountains and more mountains, and even the urban neighborhoods are built on steep hillsides.

FORBES: Pharma Be Aware: The Next Killers

This comedy of errors was no joke.

FORBES: Medication Mistakes Are A Tough Pill To Swallow

And, no joke, the audience goes ooooh.

CNN: Review: 'Complicated' lavishes attention on stuff

Mr. BORDALON: That ain't no joke.

NPR: Coming to Terms with New Orleans' Flood Zones

Mumbai trains are no joke.

BBC: Riding the rails like a Mumbaiker

Thanking Steve Jobs for his Thoughts on Music isn't exactly how we'd expected a letter to start by Fred Amoroso, CEO of Macrovision, the original DRM company whose fair use crippling technology dates back all the way to 1984 (no joke).

ENGADGET: Macrovision, the original DRM company, replies in open letter to Jobs

Unfortunately, it was no joke.

FORBES: Demonic Structured Notes Haunt Church Portfolios

Except this is no joke.

FORBES: While Congress fiddles, lawyers finagle.

This was no joke.

CNN: Romney better off as a Latino?

Yihaodian is no joke.

FORBES: Wal-Mart Expanding In China, Possibly Returning To Russia

Avaaz is no joke.

FORBES: After UK Scandal, Media Activists Gunning For Rupert Murdoch

No joke is cruel.

ECONOMIST: The art of deception

Back in the 1960s, Americans feared the "terrifying efficiency" of the centrally planned Soviet economy, to borrow a no-joke famous phrase from the British politician Richard Crossman.

CNN: Is China's rise overrated?

Figure John Paulson was a joke on Wall Street for shorting mortgage securities until he was no longer a joke, so to presume that ratings agencies could have moved against a powerful market tide seems a reach.

FORBES: Book Review: John Allison's The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure

Inside No 10 they joke that the annual scare story about scrapping the Red Arrows or the Trooping of the Colour will surely follow soon.

BBC: Is the defence budget safe from more cuts?

This tasteless joke in no way represents our values at KitchenAid.

FORBES: KitchenAid Attacks Obama's Grandmother, Then Apologizes

No, Carlin's joke dealt with curse words, which are actually now heard nightly on cable TV.

CNN: The government is reading your tweets