That's Really Clever

[AndyC]

Has there ever been a really minor gag in a movie or TV show that just struck you as especially well crafted? I mean, one that is so minor that it gets you a funny look if you say so.

For example, in the Bible stories episode of the Simpsons, when Adam (Homer) gets the unicorn to dig under the fence and it keels over dead. God (Flanders) exclaims "My unicorn! Oh Gary, what did they do to ya?"

I laugh my ass off at that line. I mean, giving something extraordinary, like a unicorn, a very ordinary name is a somewhat amusing old gag, but the writers picked a name that was just far enough outside the really really common names to make you say "Gary?" It just takes the joke to a whole other level.

My wife thought I was nuts when I told her this. She's probably right.

[The Burgomaster]

One of the biggest laughs I ever got was from Woody Allen's BROADWAY DANNY ROSE. Woody plays an entertainment manager and one of his clients is a lounge singer. Woody is helping the guy figure out which songs to sing in his next show and his says:

"I thought you could start out by singing My Funny Valentine . . . with the special lyrics about the moon landing."

[Johnny Blister]

Anything that comes out of the mouths of Mike,Joel,Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot is well crafted.

[Brother Ragnarok]

The scene in Jabberwocky when one of the prisoners escapes in a cloud of dust, and when the king discovers that they only have one of the two left, he decides to charge the remaining prisoner with cannibalism.

Brother R

[systemcr4sh]

Pretty much any Mel Brooks movie. Always has amazingly classic lines. Mel Brooks = comedic genius in my mind.

[Fearless Freep]

"Raiders Of the Lost Ark" - Indiana Jones shooting the sword wielder in the market while looking for Marion
"Temple Of Doom" - Indiana Jones about to do the same thing again...and realizing his gun is missing

[Scott0]

The Simpsons are so friggin' full of this kind of humor. It's a real subtle humor that knocks you off your chair because for some reason you got it. Some of my Simpsons favorites come from the episode that plays off of Mary Poppins, "Cherrie Bobbins." The freakin' best part of that episode is when Cherrie Bobbins takes off with her umbrella at the end, and floats away in the back ground while Lisa and Homer talk about how they'll see her again sometime, and then a jet plane comes by and sucks Cherrie Bobbins into the jet intake, and spits her out the back in pieces. Brilliant, I must say. Simply brilliant.

Scottie

[Perk]

Space Ghost Coast to coast has  alot of these things.  Like the episode where Space ghost is talking to Sarah Jessica Parker and he says.   "Would you like to have some of my sex.........with me?"  Or when Moltar says "You didn't even take your clothes off." and Space ghost rreplies "Of course not.  It was sex."

The Brak Show has similar things  like when Zorak asked Brak what he wanted to do and Bak says "Do you want to make love to me darling?"  I fell on the floor laughing for about 5 minutes after that .

[Squishy]

I love the end of the episode AndyC cites: without having played the episode as an "alternate universe" story or anything like that, they actually sent the Simpsons to Hell itself...with Homer rushing in because he smells "barbecue." (Which actually turns out to be the case; Homer screams in abject horror because they're out of potato salad and the coleslaw has pineapple in it.)

Funniest of all in that final scene, Lisa begins to rise up to Heaven, escaping eternal damnation--but Homer pulls her back. Homer: "Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Lisa: "Daaaaaad!!"

[Andrew]

The "Look out for that bear trap." bit in "Cannibal!  The Musical."  They are walking along and the one character nonchalantly says it to the other, who promptly puts his foot in the trap just as he looks down.

I have also given up explaining multiple funny scenes from "Real Genius" to a generation raised on out-and-out in-your-face humor that entirely involves orifices and genitals.  Sure, the movie had college level humor, but some parts really get me laughing.

[Apostic]

The "Olde Fortran" brand of malt liquor in Futurama.   Older (40+) computer professionals may remember when Fortran progamming was a relatively macho activity, compared to, say, Pascal and Cobal.  (Yes, emphasis on the word "relatively" here.)

So I laughed and laughed and felt old when I had to explain it...

Cf. "Real Progarmmers Don't Use Pascal" (http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html)

Regards,

Apostic

[Fearless Freep]

So I laughed and laughed and felt old when I had to explain it...

That's just barely enough before my time of having lived through it that I've heard the stories enough to get the jokes

[Evan3]

Fearless Freep wrote:

> "Raiders Of the Lost Ark" - Indiana Jones shooting the sword
> wielder in the market while looking for Marion
> "Temple Of Doom" - Indiana Jones about to do the same thing
> again...and realizing his gun is missing

Actually Feerless, that part with the swordsman was not in the script! It was supposed to be a long exciting swordfight. However, Ford got hot and noticed he hadnt used his gun at all, so in order to make it back to the trailer for a bathroom break, shot the actor. Spielburg loved it so much, he left it in the script.

I also love ZOolander and South Park for its low brow humor

Zoolander: "maybe somebody will be reading our eugoogoly" (misprononouncing eulogy)

South Park: "We will see you when ever Jesse Jackson becomes president"
"Hey, Jesse ackson will never be president"
Quiet, he doesnt know that"

[Fearless Freep]

Actually Feerless, that part with the swordsman was not in the script!

Yeah, I'd read about that and seen it talked about in some "Making of..." footage.  I think Harrison actually was sick at the time.

What's so cool about it is that most 'heroes' would've just fought it out.  Having him just shoot the guy made a lot more sense then you usually see. but it was so atypical that it was a good laugh

[Johnny Blister]

Good...bad...he´s the guy with the gun!