Two experiments test the hypothesis that part of the literal meaning of irony is processed automatically, along with the intended, nonliteral meaning. Experiment 1 shows that the literal meaning of the ironic utterances interferes with the nonliteral meaning judgment, while experiment 2 demonstrates the opposite, namely that the nonliteral meaning of the ironic utterances interferes with the literal meaning judgment. A multiple meaning model of irony processing is proposed, in which both literal and nonliteral meanings are processed obligatorily.