Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

Only truth is a defense, not "I was only joking." However, not everything is defamatory. For example, comedians may joke or parody certain situations, but the whole context makes it clear that this is a joke/parody and not intended to be accepted by the hearer as truth. It is not possible for me to determine whether a statement is or is not defamatory without seeing the entire statement and gettings its context.

As for research, I am old fashioned and sometimes find it easier to use the books rather than online. The key numbers are too confusing. Try defamation and slander and look at all the cases which indicate what is and what is not a slanderous statement. This is easier to do if you can browse through a West digest at a law library. However, if you come up with nothing for Pennsylvania, then start trying a national digest by West using the same key numbers or an ALR digest. Or you can try the law of California and New York or another populous place which would be more likely to have something. There are some good ones in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia if you are near either of those places.

If you have to go online, try www.lexisone.com for free recent caselaw. Or try using a slightly cheaper research service like Loislaw. It is unlikely that you are going to find a statement identical to the one made in your situation. However, if you have read through the cases about what is or is not defamatory, then you can do what lawyers do and argue that your case is more like the ones that have or have not found a statement to be slanderous (depending on what position you take). You can always support it with a case from another jurisdiction if it is very close on point and the exact case has not been decided in PA already.

I don't know if this will help you, but I recall a case from my lawschool days involving National Lampoon and a pornographic model. I recall it was a federal case. National Lampoon ran an ad that was a total spoof of a Playboy or Penthouse ad and it happened to show a model on the cover of the Playboy/Penthouse magazine that was used in the spoof. The model sued for defamation and possibly other things. The court ruled that it was not defamatory. That case, if it is still good law, may help you.