Running gag
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The running gag is a popular hallmark of comic and serious forms of entertainment. A running gag is an amusing situation or line that reappears throughout the work. They are often unintentional at first, but familiarity or popularity of such gags among viewers encourage their reappearance. Often, the humor in a running gag derives entirely from how often it is repeated.
[edit] Examples of running gags
- In the movie Airplane! there are many running gags. Perhaps the most well-known gag involves the character Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) responding to the statement, "Surely, you can't be serious" with "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."
- In a Tiny Toons Adventures episode, there is a clown who runs throughout the entire episode.
- In the animated series The Simpsons there are many running gags, especially noted in its opening sequence, which has a different message on a chalkboard, musical interlude on a saxophone, and a segment involving a couch. Perhaps the best known of these running jokes involves Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Homer. The joke is that Mr. Burns never knows who Homer is—despite Homer's having worked at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant for many years—and consequently must be informed thereof by Smithers. On one occasion, Smithers told Mr. Burns that “…all the recent events of your life have revolved around him in some way.”
- For several seasons of the television series South Park, the character Kenny McCormick died in nearly every episode, followed by the character Stan Marsh shouting, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and then Kyle Broflovski shouting, "You bastards!". Kenny reappears in each subsequent episode as if nothing happened (even in two-parters), yet the children know that Kenny has died more than once. Also, in every Halloween special, Wendy Testaburger dresses in the same costume (Chewbacca from Star Wars) and always wins the costume contest, no matter how much an effort anyone else has made.
- In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a running gag about the "airspeed velocity" of an unladen swallow and that King Arthur confuses the numbers 3 and 5.
- On the line by Ross of the television series Friends: "We were on a break!" This referred to an argument Ross and Rachel had in the 3rd season, and was referenced all the way through the series into the series finale in season 10.
- In the Metal Gear video game series, the cardboard box is an item used by the main character, Solid Snake, in order to hide from enemies. His fondness for the trick developed into a running joke over the course of the series.
- Another example from Metal Gear is the joke character Johnny Sasaki, a cowardly guard with diarrhea who frequently ends up in embarrassing situations. He is usually assigned to watch over the player when he's captured and imprisoned, but Johnny can be tricked by the player in order to be released.
- In the television series The Fairly OddParents, Timmy Turner obtains many rare or illicit items through the use of magic. When he is asked where he obtained the object in question, he usually responds, "Uh, Internet?"
- In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a favorite running gag is Jazz getting thrown out of the house after offending one of the Banks. Once Jazz was in the driveway and offended Phil, so Phil threw him inside the kitchen door after Jazz made a remark about already being outside. In another character's dream sequence, a successful Jazz throws a down-on-his-luck Phil out of his house in the same manner.
- In the Powerpuff Girls, a well-known running gag is that Miss Bellum's face is never shown. It is always covered by some type of object. In some episodes they almost show her face, but just as she does, it turns out that it is another character.
- In the webcomic 1/0, the running gag manifested itself as an actual character. It took the form of the word "gag," with arms and legs. Not only a running gag but also a pun, it would occasionally appear during a lull in the main action, running by and shouting meaningless training-related phrases, which were the limit of its intelligence.
- In the anime series Trigun the main character Vash's obsession with donuts is referred to often and used as a form of comic relief. Also, a small black cat appears in every episode, usually at an unexpected moment.
- In the television series Quantum Leap, Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci (Dean Stockwell) frequently confuses his third and fourth wives.
- In Animaniacs, Yakko, Wakko and Dot frequently run through sketches not starring them, chased by Ralph the Guard. Also, whenever the brothers see a pretty woman, or the nurse in the series, they shout together, "Hellooooooooo Nurse!!!", but Dot says it in reference to any well-built and studly man.
- A similar gag on Histeria! featured a group of vikings running through a sketch they otherwise had nothing to do with, stealing everything that got in their way. In some examples, they would act as security guards and nab a character who had bothered whoever called for them. In addition, the kids frequently ask for Big Fat Baby's diaper to be changed, claiming that the last time he had a clean diaper was before something that happened a long time ago, and whenever Loud Kiddington is keeping watch of something, he almost silently mutters, "See it... see it...", and then starts screaming "DON'T SEE IT!! DON'T SEE IT!!" when he loses sight of it.
- In the animated series Invader Zim, Zim runs into The Spooky Chihuahua Yelling "MADNESS!!!!".
- On the show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, anytime there is a particularly memorable line, or when someone makes a mistake or breaks character, the other performers pick up upon it, and use it as a running gag for the remainder of the episode. In one particular instance, the cast was asked on camera not to use Hitler and Bill Cosby as "unlikely roommates" in one sketch, but made continuing reference to Hitler and their director throughout the rest of the show. Also, items such as Drew Carey's weight, Colin Mochrie's and Clive Anderson's baldness, and Ryan Stiles's wild shoes were often the subject of running gags through the show's runs in the US and UK.
- Another gag on Whose Line Is It Anyway? is when Drew Carey is introducing the show. He always states that "Everything's made up and the points don't matter" before saying something that reflects the points' unimportance (for example: "That's right, the points are like vows at a celebrity wedding. They just don't matter"). The comparisons vary each time, but they are all considered "useless" humorously. At times, the comparisons are even referenced by the Whose Line cast during the show.
- Many of Shiny Entertainment's games have a running gag in which a cow is included, in some form, in most of their games. In the Earthworm Jim games, cows are used to progress through certain levels, but are sometimes merely for show. Similarly, at the end of every episode of the cartoon based on said games, a cow would fall on one of the characters. In the game Sacrifice, a spell named "Bovine Intervention" launches a cow as a projectile. In the game MDK, collecting an Earthworm Jim powerup drops cows on enemies.
- The anime and manga Inuyasha is noted for 3 running gags. Kagome often says "SIT!" to Inuyasha to punish him for any wrong actions because of the Beads of Subjugation. Because Inuyasha is part dog demon, this is an intentional joke because "sit" is a command that is generally given to domesticated dogs to make them sit. Another running gag is that Sesshomaru, a normally emotionless and cold-hearted character and Inuyasha's older brother, is often seen (but not actually seen) hitting Jaken on the head or any means of hurting or getting his attention, for example throwing rocks at Jaken in episode 35. As stated before, we do not actually see Sesshomaru actually doing the actions but we do usually see a steaming big bump on Jaken's head. The third one, (and quite common only second to the "Sit!" gag) involves the lecherous monk Miroku touching the demon slayer Sango in the buttocks, in which is rewarded with a smack on the head with her Hiraikotsu or a slap or smack in which the camera is turned away (which is very similar to the Sesshomaru gag). Also, Miroku tends to ask every pretty woman to bear his child. (with exception of Kagura)
- In "Xiaolin Showdown", there is usually a gag where Jack Spicer always gets smashed on the door to Chase Young's lair.
- In The first series of the television program, "The Young Ones" a hippie who sits and says nothing is seen in some shots, dubbed by fans as the "Hidden Hippie". In the second series, a freeze frame was shown once every episode with a random image, the punchline was to be an anticlimax shot, but none was ever included.
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is a recurring Cabbage Merchant and the Crazy Foaming Guy (located only on Kyoshi Island).
- In the web-comic Ctrl+Alt+Del often you can see a movie poster behind the characters heads, these poster ae always diffrent.
- In the anime Ouran High School Host Club, the characters,mostly Tamaki, slip on a banana peel.
- The Pixar animated film Cars has at least two running gags; one being an ongoing feud between Sarge and Fillmore over thier morning rituals. It starts out with Sarge raising and saluting the US flag with Reveille playing, which is then drowned out by Fillmore playing Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. Sarge then shouts "Will you turn that disrespectful junk off!?" with Fillmore replying "Respect the classics man, it's Hendrix!" The other running gag involves Red becoming distraught and speeding away in tears, unerringly knocking over the same stack of tires along the way.
