A judge wrote a hilarious decision denying John McLaughlins ex-wife his life insurance payments.

Looking for laughs? Federal court documents aren’t typically a go-to source.

But a judge from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia improbably worked some comedy into his decision in a case about whether longtime political talk show host John McLaughlin’s ex-wife could claim her late ex’s life insurance annuities.

Here’s the backdrop on the legal maneuverings before we get to the LOL part: While they were married, McLaughlin had designated his second wife, Christina Vidal, as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy. The couple split in 2010 and she got $1 million, per their prenup, though he never removed her name from the policy. When McLaughlin died in August, his estate sought the court’s ruling that the estate, not Vidal, should get the life insurance.

In essence, the court agreed and found that the prenup payout nullified her claim to his insurance money. But here’s the funny part — how it issued that decision was hilarious, laced with references to McLaughlin’s bombastic signature lines and interviewing style made famous (see those “Saturday Night Live” skits) on his longtime show, “The McLaughlin Group.”

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U.S. District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper wrote portions in what is clearly McLaughlin’s voice.

Here’s Cooper’s intro: “Question! On a scale from 1 to 10 — with 1 being the chance of a Washington, D.C., professional sports team winning a championship this year and 10 being absolute metaphysical certainty — how certain is the Court that Mr. McLaughlin, upon his divorce from his former wife Christina Vidal, intended for her to benefit from two life insurance annuities that he brought to the marriage?” he wrote. “Any answer shy of 9 would be ... Wrong! Mr. McLaughlin did not wish his ex-wife to receive the annuity benefits.”

Other such lines were sprinkled throughout, like the section titled: “Issue number one: Subject matter jurisdiction! Do the facts alleged establish it? Yes!”

And to sum up his reasoning, Cooper closed with another “McLaughlin Group” reference. “Therefore, until the next episode … It is ORDERED that … ”

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A call to Cooper’s chambers wasn’t immediately returned. But we can imagine why the guy might need a little comic relief these days — he’s currently hearing the trial of Ahmed Abu Khattala, the alleged terrorist accused of planning the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi in which four Americans were killed.

One reader who was definitely amused was lawyer Mark Barondess, who represented McLaughlin’s estate. Barondess called the decision “legally brilliant and absolutely hysterical at the very same time” and imagined the former TV talker enjoying it, too: “Dr. McLaughlin must be in heaven celebrating the decision and bantering about it with everyone as only he could do.”

See the document here.

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