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Steamfunk Heist movie : The book of forbidden punchlines

Dominic Sedrani

27 Jun 2025 — 2 min read

(New Babylon’s elite High Collar Tribunal guards its most dangerous relic—the Book of Forbidden Punchlines, a human-leather-bound tome rumored to contain jokes so blasphemous, they unravel the listener’s sanity. And tonight? Zeke and Lady Luxury are stealing it.)

ACT 1: THE SETUP

(A smoky backroom of The Gilded Gear, where rogue comedians and anarchist poets plot between cigar puffs.)

MADAME ZIRCONIA (a fortune-teller with clockwork eyes): "The Tribunal keeps the Book chained in The Vault of Virtue—guarded by Automaton Puritans that strangle laughter on sight."

ZEKE (spinning a wrench): "So we gotta out-funny killbots? Easy. Last time I cracked a joke, a vicar burst into flames."

LADY LUXURY (adjusting her electro-lace gloves): "Darling, you set the vicar on fire." "Semantics."

ACT 2: THE INFILTRATION

(Disguised as Morality Inspectors, they stride into the Tribunal’s gilded halls, where bureaucrats shuffle papers like guilty secrets.)

TRIBUNAL CLERK (squinting): "Your Humor Permits…?"

LADY LUXURY (flashing a forged parchment): "Signed by the Ministry of Good Taste himself. Also, your wig’s on fire."

(As the clerk panics, Zeke jams a Giggle-Grenade into a vent. The explosion releases laughing gas—guards clutch their ribs, wheezing.)

AUTOMATON PURITAN (glitching): "UN-SANCTIONED… MIRTH… DETECTED—" (short-circuits into sobs)

ACT 3: THE VAULT

(The Book pulses in its glass case, etched with warnings: "WHOEVER READS, BECOMES THE JOKE.")

ZEKE (cutting the lock): "What’s the worst that could—"

(The Book flips open itself. A whisper echoes:)

BOOK: "Why did the aristocrat cross the road? To stab the peasant on the other side!"

(The walls bleed ink. Shadows cackle.)

LADY LUXURY (grabbing it): "Oh, delightfully toxic. Now run."

ACT 4: THE CHASE

(Alarms wail. The High Arch-Satirist himself—a skeletal dandy in a truth-mirror mask—gives pursuit atop a mechanical pulpit.)

HIGH ARCH-SATIRIST: "RETURN THE PUNCHLINE, HEATHENS! OR BE IRONIZED!"

(His mask shoots acid satire—melting a fleeing poet into a walking punchline.)

ZEKE (tossing a Pun-Triggered Bomb): "What’s black, white, and red all over? Your tribunal after this!"

(BOOM. The explosion leaves the street painted in slapstick colors.)

EPILOGUE: THE GETAWAY

(On a rooftop, Zeke flips through the Book as Luxury hotwires a steam-gyrocopter.)

LADY LUXURY: "Find anything useful?"

ZEKE (grinning at a page): "Oh, this one’s nasty. ‘How many High Collars does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None—they’d rather execute the dark for treason!’"

(The Book laughs in their heads as they vanish into the smog, the Tribunal’s screams fading behind them.)

FADE TO BLACK. ROLL CREDITS IN SMOKE.

SEQUEL HOOK:

Who wrote the Book? (Rumors say a court jester who hanged himself—but his ghost still edits the footnotes.)
The Tribunal’s Revenge: Next time, they send the Stand-Up Inquisitors (weaponized comedians with tragic backstories).

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