Even if a joke involves lying, it's not quite as bad morally.

I do not have a problem with stating untruths when the person being spoken to is clear on the fact that it is not true. I do not consider that to be lying though. The trick though is knowing your audience well enough to be sure they know that you do not intend it to be true.

That was implied.

But it has nothing to do with whether or not it is a joke, as far as I am concerned. It is just likely to happen with jokes. But if it fails, then being a joke does not somehow make it okay to me. Anyone can claim anything is a joke, and quite often they claim inexcusably malicious behavior to be a joke. It's no defense.

But real jokes are often lies told in a way that is clear, and I consider there to be nothing immoral with that. Not that it lessens the immorality of lying but that it is neither lying nor immoral. But many things that are not jokes fall into the same category because being a joke is not the relevant factor.