Don't Kill the Messenger

Very rarely do I come across a pun so painfully groanworthy that I can't help but share it.  This one is from "Rumpole and the Family Pride" in Rumpole on Trial by John Mortimer.

I didn't get any more from my client, and he drove me back to the castle, promising a treat for the afternoon:  a dog show, bowling for a pig, a tombola, and other delights in the castle grounds.  It sounded like a fete worse than death, a comment I kept to myself.