A lapalissade is an obvious truth—i.e. a truism or tautology—which produces a comical effect. It is derived from the name Jacques de la Palice, and the word is used in several languages.
La Palice's epitaph reads:
These words were misread (accidentally or intentionally) as "...il à ¿erait [serait] encore en vie" ("...he would still be alive"), where the long s aids in the confusion. In the 16th century this misreading was incorporated into a popular satirical song, and in time many other variants developed, including ("... that two days before his death / he was still quite alive") and ("... and when he was stark naked / he didn't wear a shirt").
In the early 18th century, Bernard de la Monnoye collected over 50 of these humorous "La Palice" quatrains and published them as a burlesque "Song of La Palice". From that song came the French term meaning an utterly obvious truth—i.e. a truism or tautology, and it was borrowed into several other languages. The French phrase ("La Palice would have said as much!") is used to express that a statement is obvious.
In Spanish culture, an analog is a folkloric character (Perogrullo) with his s: (The truth of Pedro Grullo, when his hand is closed, he calls it a fist).
In English, Captain Obvious indicates, somewhat pejoratively, that a speaker has said a self-evident truth. Other kinds of trite expressions are "platitude" and "bromide".