A
squib is a brief satirical or witty piece of writing or speech, like a
lampoon, or a short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, used as a filler. It can be intended to ignite thinking and discourse by others on topics of theoretical importance - e.g., see
MIT Press's journal,
Linguistic Inquiry, but is often less substantial than this and just humorous (see
The Daily Squib).