Running gag
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(Redirected from Running gags)
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling.[1][2]
Running gags can begin with an instance of unintentional humor that is repeated in variations as the joke grows familiar and audiencesanticipate reappearances of the gag. The humor in a running gag may derive entirely from how often it is repeated, the (in)appropriateness of the situation in which the gag occurs, or setting up the audience to expect another occurrence of the joke and then substituting something else (bait and switch). Running gags are found mostly in television shows,[3] but also appear in other places, such as video games, films,books, and comic strips.
A running gag can be verbal or visual and may "convey social values by echoing belligerent speakers with a barrage of caricatured threats."[4](e.g. - A character may present others with a proposition that is so ridiculous or outrageous it is likely to be self-mocking to the point where the original request has little or no chance of actually being carried out and results in a humorous effect.[4]) Occasionally, the characters themselves may be aware of the running gag and make humorous mention of it.
2009 Notable Running Gags
- Martin - Tommy's occupation
- That '70s Show - Fez's unknown country ; Randy's dead or ill grandparents
- South Park - Kenny's deaths
- Full House - Jesse's hair obsession
- My Wife and Kids - Claire falling
- George Lopez - Ernie not being able to find love ; George and Benny's rivalry
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Running_gag&oldid=31056235
2005
- In the movie Airplane! there are many running gags. Perhaps the most well-known gag involves the character Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) responding to sentences containing the word "surely" with "Don't call me Shirley."
- 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 saxaphone, and segment involving a couch.
- On the animated television series South Park, the character Kenny McCormick died in nearly every episode, followed by the characterStan Marsh shouting "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and then Kyle Broflovski shouting "You bastards!". This has variations, for example, in Red Badge of Gayness, Stan's grandad shouts "You bastards!", and in Best Friends Forever, the demonstrators chant "Don't kill Kenny! You Bastards!". Kenny would be alive at the beginning of every episode, with no given explanation. Eventually it was discovered that Kenny's mom would have a new baby each time Kenny died, that became the new Kenny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Running_gag&oldid=97124306
2006 Examples of running gags
- In Bonanza, it becomes a running gag that no Cartwright ever can keep a girlfriend longer than one episode. She either dies or finds another man at the end of the episode. (The exception is Hoss's mother who appears in two episodes.)
- In the successful sci-fi series "Star Wars", the line "I have a bad feeling about this" appears in every movie and some Expanded Universematerial.
- 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. Also, in every Christmas special, Mr. Garrison always asks "How about we get rid of the Mexicans?". Mayor McDaniels actually points this out in It's Christmas in Canada.
- 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 Futurama, there is a running gag where New Jersey is considered the worst place to live in the Universe
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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'sbaldness, 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.
- In The Office, Dwight Schrute always refers to himself as Assistant Regional Manager, only to be corrected by Michael Scott that he is Assistant to the Regional Manager.
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender there are a pair of running gag characters, the "Crazy Foaming Guy" and the "Cabbage Salesman", who always manages to apply some brief humour
[edit]
2007 Examples of well-known running gags
- In Star Trek: Enterprise there was a running gag: whenever the main characters met people of a new, alien culture and said they came from Earth, the stock response was "Earth? Never heard of it."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, a 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.
- In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a running gag about the “airspeed velocity” of an unladen swallow (“An African or a European swallow?”) and that King Arthur confuses the numbers 3 and 5.
- Kramer's way of entering Jerry's apartment (bursting through the door, sliding in) in the American sitcom Seinfeld.
- On each Cheers episode, Norm Peterson's initial entrance into the bar is always met with a shout of "Norm!" from all the patrons. As he approaches his traditional barstool, another character always addresses him with a commonplace greeting and Norm always makes a woeful, pessimistic (and frequently literally interpretive) reply. For example: Sam Malone asks, "What are you up to, Norm?" and Norm says, "My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall."
- The sitcom Friends contains numerous running gags such as Ross’s line “We were on a break!”, references to Monica being overweight as a child, and the fact that nobody is sure what Chandler does for a living. Traditionally, in Thanksgiving episodes, someone gets a turkey stuck on their head and frightens the other characters.
- In Futurama, there is a running gag wherein New Jersey is considered to the be worst place to live in the universe (“I, Roommate”). For instance, "Robot Hell" is in New Jersey. Another running gag involves Bender saying “Neat!” and taking a picture with a purple camera. Another one is that whenever a problem happens, everyone uses Zoidberg as the scapegoat for blame. Another running gag is that the Professor begins almost every announcement with the words "Good news, everyone", usually followed by terrible news. Last, owls are portrayed in the background of almost every episode as vermin, having replaced rats and pigeons by the 31st Century.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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. Also, during the game 'Hoe-down' where a song is played by Laura Hall and Linda Taylor, the cast have to make up the words in a certain theme to a hoe-down style. As a running gag, Ryan Stilesends the song with a satirical reference to Drew Carey. Most of the time it is easily predictable because Ryan uses the words 'scary' or 'hairy' to rhyme. For example:
'...and I know she's really hairy/scary, but that's nothing compared to Drew Carey!'
- In both the English and American versions of The Office, a character always refers to himself as Assistant Regional Manager, only to be corrected by the boss that he is “Assistant to the Regional Manager.”
- In Invader Zim, many references are made to Dib's huge head. Gir is often found watching the Scary Monkey Show, and Zim usually responds, "I hate that monkey...". According to the commentary, the Chihuahua that appears in several episodes was originally going to be somewhere in every episode, but they were too lazy to continue the gag after a few episodes. Another example is Gir's obsession with a small stuffed pig.
- In the Adult Swim animated series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a popular running gag is the destruction of their neighbour, Carl's possessions. They destroy either his house, his pool, or his car. Other gags have included Shake trying to harm Meatwad in some way by trying to convince him that what they'll do is fun, or anything the Aqua Teens discard blowing up once it hits the ground.
2007 Examples of well-known running gags
- In Star Trek: Enterprise there was a running gag: whenever the main characters met people of a new, alien culture and said they came from Earth, the stock response was "Earth? Never heard of it."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, a 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.
- In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a running gag about the “airspeed velocity” of an unladen swallow (“An African or a European swallow?”) and that King Arthur confuses the numbers 3 and 5.
- Kramer's way of entering Jerry's apartment (bursting through the door, sliding in) in the American sitcom Seinfeld.
- On each Cheers episode, Norm Peterson's initial entrance into the bar is always met with a shout of "Norm!" from all the patrons. As he approaches his traditional barstool, another character always addresses him with a commonplace greeting and Norm always makes a woeful, pessimistic (and frequently literally interpretive) reply. For example: Sam Malone asks, "What are you up to, Norm?" and Norm says, "My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall."
- The sitcom Friends contains numerous running gags such as Ross’s line “We were on a break!”, references to Monica being overweight as a child, and the fact that nobody is sure what Chandler does for a living. Traditionally, in Thanksgiving episodes, someone gets a turkey stuck on their head and frightens the other characters.
- In Futurama, there is a running gag wherein New Jersey is considered to the be worst place to live in the universe (“I, Roommate”). For instance, "Robot Hell" is in New Jersey. Another running gag involves Bender saying “Neat!” and taking a picture with a purple camera. Another one is that whenever a problem happens, everyone uses Zoidberg as the scapegoat for blame. Another running gag is that the Professor begins almost every announcement with the words "Good news, everyone", usually followed by terrible news. Last, owls are portrayed in the background of almost every episode as vermin, having replaced rats and pigeons by the 31st Century.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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. Also, during the game 'Hoe-down' where a song is played by Laura Hall and Linda Taylor, the cast have to make up the words in a certain theme to a hoe-down style. As a running gag, Ryan Stilesends the song with a satirical reference to Drew Carey. Most of the time it is easily predictable because Ryan uses the words 'scary' or 'hairy' to rhyme. For example:
'...and I know she's really hairy/scary, but that's nothing compared to Drew Carey!'
- In both the English and American versions of The Office, a character always refers to himself as Assistant Regional Manager, only to be corrected by the boss that he is “Assistant to the Regional Manager.”
- In Invader Zim, many references are made to Dib's huge head. Gir is often found watching the Scary Monkey Show, and Zim usually responds, "I hate that monkey...". According to the commentary, the Chihuahua that appears in several episodes was originally going to be somewhere in every episode, but they were too lazy to continue the gag after a few episodes. Another example is Gir's obsession with a small stuffed pig.
- In the Adult Swim animated series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a popular running gag is the destruction of their neighbour, Carl's possessions. They destroy either his house, his pool, or his car. Other gags have included Shake trying to harm Meatwad in some way by trying to convince him that what they'll do is fun, or anything the Aqua Teens discard blowing up once it hits the ground.
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