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.
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."
Anything that comes out of the mouths of Mike,Joel,Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot is well crafted.
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
Pretty much any Mel Brooks movie. Always has amazingly classic lines. Mel Brooks = comedic genius in my mind.
"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
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
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 .
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!!"
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.
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
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
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"
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
Good...bad...he´s the guy with the gun!
Ah the simpsons its the best show ever....
Homer:
" i drink a whisky drink, I drink a chocolate drink and when I need to pee I use the kitchen sink"
"sweet mother of crap!"
"Kiss my hairy yellow butt"
Apu:
"we're putting that b***h on ice!"
"ooh, a head bag those are chock full of...heady goodness'
Mr.Burns:
"welcome come in, ah fresh victims for my ever growing army of th eundead
Smithers: sir you have to let go of th ebutton
Mr.Burns: oh son of a bit!"
Mr.Burns:
smithers doesnt even know the meaning of the word gay
good stuff :)
A scene in Friends where Joey is getting worked up about something and Chandler say "Settle down Lenny."
From Southpark: They're talking about ways to get a lesbian as a girlfriend, not knowing what lesbians are, Kenny mumbles something and one of them asks "How do you know she has a cat?"
Anyone seen Disney's 3 Musketeers???
Oliver Platt, AKA the Fattest musketer pulls a harrison Ford by shooting a swordsman, however, it seems even he doesnt want to really pull off this hackneyed gag, and so it turns out funny
Someone mentioned Space Ghost, so I am inclined, no.... FORCED to bring up the original episode called "Fire Ant" with Conan O'Brian as the guest. In the uncut episode, Space Ghost follows a little ant around the screen for literally 5 full minutes, just calmly saying little insults to it. FIVE MINUTES of Space Ghost on his knees, slowly following an ant. I couldn't believe it when I first saw it, I just couldn't believe they did that. And finally, as the payoff for following Space Ghost for five minutes, a giant ant chases Space Ghost off screen and Space Ghost screams out "Your son's a moron!!" The end. OH MY GOD. It was brilliant to a new level of comedy. I was crying on my knees from laughing. It was un'freakin' bealievable.
Scottie
How about the episode with the Aqua Teen Hungerforce? Master shake just interupts everyone while advertising all the new stuff, including 'strawberry like' drink. And of course, Moltar kills poor Meatwad and wears his skin, is that clever?
D
I always thought several episodes of "Mission: Impossible" tv series were incredibly clever...like "The Mind of Stephen Milkos"
Once in "Futurama" Fry was stuck in a prison cell and used the cork from a Champagne bottle to press the button which operated the door. Much to my amazement he started to play with the Champagne as Grand Prix drivers when they are on the podium, only noticing in the nick of time that the door was closing again. I've had lots of fun with this series as well.
5 minutes? I think we timed it and it was actually 11 minutes. I have the tape here somewhere. That is one of the funny things about that show: sometimes they go out of their way to annoy the viewers, just to mess with us. There were three shows (Brilliant were their names, 1, 2, and 3) with an annoying ringing sound in the background the whole time. The shows were pretty much copies of each other.
A great "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" episode was the one with Hanson. Space Ghost is flying the Phantom Cruiser, but not paying attention. He runs into the Tooth Fairy! (The one from "The Flintstones" I believe.) Ejected from the cockpit, Space Ghost finally gets his bearings and looks around. He sees the Tooth Fairy dead and ON FIRE! His reaction? "Well, that's disturbing."
That was a good episode overall, but the on fire Tooth Fairy and Space Ghost's understated line - oh boy.
The thing that kills me about the Hanson episode is that it was done before Adult Swim, so as far as anyone was concerned it was still a kids' show. I can just imagine all the little tykes who stayed up late to see Hanson and got scarred for life (in addition to the flaming Tooth Fairy, Space Ghost kills Hanson and meets "Bizarro Santa"). Love that episode.
I think my favorite Space Ghost gag is from the one with Radiohead's Thom Yorke, where Moltar has been left to host the show:
MOLTAR: That is fascinating, Thom Yorke! You are interesting and intelligent, which is why I think we should fight with KNIVES!
SPACE GHOST: (returns) ...Moltar, what are you doing?
MOLTAR: I'm hosting the show!
SPACE GHOST: With that knife?
MOLTAR: Well, you see, our guest Thom Yorke was telling me that he's writing a song about a knife, and he wanted to see mine as research.
SPACE GHOST: Thom, is that true?
THOM: No.
SPACE GHOST: Well, it sounds like a great idea! (singing) I'm a kniiiiife... Knifin' arooooouuuund... CUTCUTCUTCUTCUTCUTCUT!!!
Buckaroo Banzai is filled with clever little gags. Watch when the jet car is preparing for it's run. The display reads "sined," "sealed," "delivered."