"Is this a joke?"

Question

So, while learning the English language, I have seen some examples of this phrase but never really understood it; do people use this phrase right?

Examples:

• Is this a joke?

  This one is right one I guess, I use it usually.

• A phrase that I have seen written or heard from someone:

  Is this is a joke?

  For some reason I often see or hear "is" after the word "this".

  Should I consider "Is this is a joke" totally wrong?

Another question, why would someone use this phrase:

Is this some kind of joke?

And not the usual:

Is this a joke?

Does that depends on how absurd situation is, or alternatively, is it just simply people's preferences?

P.S. I heard all of those phrases only in my country, since I have never had experience to travel anywhere except my country.

Answer 1

Your first example (Is this a joke?) is a simple question that can correctly use the word is before this.

However, I think that your second example (Is this is [sic] a joke?) is "totally wrong". I wonder if you have made a typo, substituting the letter "s" for "f"? If this did happen then the second example should become, "If this is a joke..." This becomes a grammatical possibility if you then add a phrase to make a complete sentence such as, for example, "If this is a joke, then why did you make a joke about it?

Your final example (Is this a joke?) is a simple question, correctly written.