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In Blazing Saddles the villain's name is Hedley Lamarr, played by Harvey Korman. Other characters will invariably call him Hedy (after Hedy Lamarr), to which he invariably replies "That's Hed-LEY."
In the Men in Black films, Agent J gives random advice when a neuralizer is used.
In Airplane! there are a number of running gags. Below are a few of the running gags seen in the film:
* Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) responds to sentences containing the word "surely" with "Don't call me Shirley."
* The hero constantly references his "drinking problem," viz, whenever he attempts to ingest fluids he sloshes it into his left eye.
*Many of the characters are extremely literal: "Cigarette?" "Yes, it is." Similar or identical jokes are found in Police Squad! and The Naked Gun.
*Common throughout Airplane! (and Spy Hard) are the "what is it/but that's not important right now" gags, where one character defines a term the other has just said, when an explanation relevant to the situation is desired ("We've got to get them to the hospital..." "A hospital? What is it?" "It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.")
*Capt. Clarence Oveur repeatedly mistakes the radio sign-off "Over" as his name.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail includes regular lamentations on the air speed velocity of swallows, beginning with the first scene in the movie. King Arthur (Graham Chapman) always says "five" instead of "three" and has to be corrected, even when counting from one to three. Also, in some scenes someone believes a person is dead when the "dead" or "mortally wounded" person says he is fine and getting better. (This can be especially seen in "The Tale of Sir Lancelot," where it happens a full five times). Another running gag is a cat being flung at a post and repeatedly meow-ing.
The film Mallrats has several implied references to anal sex in the dialogue, with characters saying they "had sex in a very uncomfortable place," to which somebody responds, "What, like in the back of a Volkswagen?"
In The Muppet Movie, Hare Krishna is continually recommended for those who are lost, and whenever Kermit the Frog points out that something is a myth, Carol Kane shows up and responds, "Yeth?" Then, in The Great Muppet Caper, whenever Kermit says that they're going to "catch those thieves red-handed," someone else asks, "What color are their hands now?"
In the film Raising Arizona, many characters reply to questions using the line "okay, then." Including the officers of the parole board, and the preacher who marries H.I. and Ed.
Ed used a weekly running gag of the Ten-Dollar bet. Either Ed or his best friend Mike could ask the other to perform some ludicrous or embarrassing stunt ("Ten Dollars if you ask the waitress for a doggie-bag for that last French fry"). The bet appears to be a long-standing tradition between the two best friends, and no bet has ever been refused. It seems likely it's the same ten dollar bill going back and forth.
* Used the name 'Vandalay' in a number of settings, such as Vandelay Industries, or George adopting it as an alias ("Hi, Art Vandalay, glad to meet you") for some ill-advised purpose.
*The three male characters were in themselves a sort of running gag; In any given episode, one or other would propose a series of events which would form the plot of the story. Kramer would usually put in little effort and casually coast to a successful conclusion, whilst the intense-to-the-point-of manic George would go to great lengths, plotting and scheming, always trying for the easy result but at great effort, would have his machinations blow up in his face. Jerry normally occupied a more balanced, neutral approach with variable results. Occasionally the positions would alter, but George- by now apopleptic- nearly always came off worse to counterpoint Kramer's Zen-like acceptance of fortune.
* The running sight gag of Kramer's entrance; he would burst in to Jerry's apartment (usually uninvited) and slide to a stop, to audience applause.
* In many episodes, there is a verbal mentioning of Superman.
* The fort's cannon, when lit, would misfire, then blow down the watchtower.
* Corporal Agarn would make an offhand remark about the current crisis ("It's a shame we don't have any REAL leprechauns to visit him...), inspiring someone else with a crazy idea; that person would compliment Agarn by saying "Agarn, I don't know why people say you're so dumb!". Moments later, or sometimes not until the next scene, Agarn would suddenly yell "Who says I'm dumb?"
* Agarn and Trooper Dobbs had an ongoing war of insults; the targeted individual would always respond "I'm warning you Dobbs/Agarn..."
* Trooper Duffy frequently begin telling a war story of his posting at the Alamo (which, of course, no American soldier survived).
* Dodgy Krusty brand products; Krusty sells his license to just about anything, and the result is a bloat of poor-quality Krusty items.
* Bart's prank phone calls to Moe's Tavern, in which he claims to be looking for someone with a fake name, such as "Homer Sexual", "Ivanna Tinkle" or "Hugh Jass" (the last one backfired, for there really was such a person in the Tavern at the time).
* Homer's boss Mr. Burns is unable to remember who Homer is, and has to ask Smithers for Homer's identity. To which Smithers replies that Homer is "one of your _______ from Sector 7G."
*Homer's boss Mr. Burns is unable to remember who Homer is, and has to ask Smithers for Homer's identity. To which Burns replies "Simpson, eh?"
* References to Milhouse's and Waylon Smithers' sexuality.
* The never ending clues as to which state Springfield is in. However, in Behind the Laughter, it is directly stated that they live in Northern Kentucy.
* How old Mr. Burns really is. He was apparently a young man during World War II or the late 1800s or any time in between. He is always referred to as "Springfield's premier 104 year old man" regardless of the episode production date.
* "The power plant crow", which is the crow sound always heard when the power plant is first shown on screen.
* Whenever "Try & Save", the local super market is shown, a shopping cart rolls out of the parking lot.
* Gestures and finger counting that make obvious the fact that the characters only have four digits on each hand. An animation standard used as a production savings, it is something that is not normally called to attention.
* On Halloween episodes of The Simpsons, the end credits usually play on the names of the people behind the show, replacing their names with Halloween-themed puns. For example, show creator Matt Groening is commonly called Bat Groening, and James L. Brooks is called James "Hell" Brooks.
* When a crowd is exclaiming opinions, Sideshow Mel is almost always the one to shout something.
In Match Game, a question frequently has the phrase "he was so ______", and the audience replies "How ______ was s/he?" (most often this involved "Dumb Dora" and "Dumb Donald" questions), and the host finishes reading the question. A similar running gag appears in the Tom Bergeron episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos. Johnny Carson also used the line regularly on The Tonight Show, with jokes containing the line "It was so hot..." or "It was so cold..." ("How cold was it?").
In Monty Python's Flying Circus, a variety of running gags occur within certain episodes, or spanning several episodes. In episode 15, members of the Spanish Inquisition burst into several scenes, proclaiming "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Gags running throughout the series include an armoured knight carrying a rubber chicken, the "It's" man (Michael Palin), and an announcer in a dinner jacket (John Cleese) declaring "And now for something completely different."
The comedy series The Fast Show consists entirely of running gags. Examples include:
* mentioning the name of English footballer Chris Waddle in a foreign news show
* a TV weather forecast in the same show, in which a lady sticks sunshine markers all over the map proclaiming scorchio, because it is always hot in that country. The one time this gag deviated (by the instance of a single cloud, or nimbocumulus), the show ran a special emergency report and declared it a tragedy.
* an advertisement for a fictional food called Cheesy Peas, a combination of cheese and peas. This was advertised several times throughout the series in increasingly novel forms (Strawberry Flavoured Squeezy Cheesy Peas, for example).
* "Jesse's diets". A raggedly dressed man getting out of his house and stating this week, I have been mostly eating [some random food].
* a man preparing a meal in a kitchen relating his extraordinarily fortunate circumstances as if they were nothing special, and ending with the gross understatement catchphrase "...which was nice."
In Get Smart, a common running joke is "Don't tell me there's a [gun/knife/spy/whatever]!" to which the reply is always "There's a [gun/knife/spy/whatever]!" followed by "I asked you not to tell me that"; another is to respond to every colossal error ("you just pushed the red button and started World War III, Agent 86") with "sorry about that, chief" or to constantly mention "the old ____ in the __ trick" (in trivial forms such as "the old gun in the handtrick"). "Agent 13" is always given the worst assignments, such as being a spy concealed in a dustbin or some equally awkward and undesirable place. Often Smart will insist on briefings beng given only within the "cone of silence", a security measure that (invariably) makes it impossible for the agent to understand what is being said. Additionally, there was a running gag where the main character, Maxwell Smart would claim to have done something extraordinary, and an exchange similar to the following: SMART: I've fought off 50 ninjas with swords! ANOTHER CHARACTER: I find that hard to believe. SMART: Okay, would you believe a dozen soldiers with knives? (Pause) How about a housewife with a rolling pin? Finally, Smart's co-agent/girlfriend, Agent 99's real name was never said. In fact, at Smart and 99's wedding, Max hadn't had much sleep the night before, and let out with an earth-shaking snore as 99's real name was being said by the preacher, keeping it a mystery.
In Animaniacs, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot would often interrupt sketches whose plots did not involve them by running through the frame, chased by Ralph the Guard. Similarly, sketches starring the Warner siblings would often be interrupted by, or otherwise contain, characters from other sketches (such as Pinky and the Brain, the Goodfeathers, or Rita and Runt). There is also a frequent appearance of a mime artist who always gets hit and squashed by an anvil.
A similar gag in Histeria involved a horde of Vikings plundering the entire set, leaving it devoid of props and the characters often in their underwear. A similar gag involves a character, usually in the role of a talk-show host, calling for security, and the offending character is carried off by a horde of security guards screaming just like the Vikings. Also stemming from the Viking episode, Loud Kiddington frequently tries to keep his eyes on something, continuously muttering "I see it..." and then repeatedly shouting "DON'T SEE IT!!" when he loses sight of it.
In Pinky and the Brain, the Brain tries to take over the world in every episode, often in a completely silly way, but always fails. The Brain, when inspiration strikes, frequently asks Pinky "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"; Pinky always responds with an amusing non-sequitur beginning with "I think so Brain, but..." Occasionally, Pinky has romantic affections for a female of a different species, though the feeling usually isn't mutual. Sometimes, on Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain, Pinky would ask Brain a non-sequitor question, but Brain doesn't answer him until much later in the episode.
In the soap operaDays of our Lives, during the "Salem serial killer" storyline of 2003-2004, all the clocks on all of the sets showed exactly , regardless of what time of day the scene took place. The same is true- possibly a reference- to almost every clock in Pulp Fiction.
On Kim Possible, Ron often gets upset because most of the villains (especially Dr. Drakken) can never remember his name. Ron even goes so far as to say that he respects Monkey Fist for being the only villain to remember it (despite the fact that Ron fears the monkeys that Monkey Fist always works with). Also, Ron is always losing his pants.
In Pokémon, the Pokémon Wobbuffet, Skitty and Psyduck will sometimes pop out of their PokéBalls at the wrong time, much to the amusement of viewers (but not the Pokémon's trainers). In early episodes, Jigglypuff would follow the main characters and sing to them, apparent completely oblivious that its songs have the power to put both humans and Pokémon to sleep. When the inevitable happens, Jigglypuff always produces a marker, draws all over the faces of its victims, and leaves in a huff. Also during the series, one of James's Pokémon, Victreebel, would constantly eat James in what it meant to be a hug. Upon Victreebell's departure, the gag was extended by James's Cacnea, who embraces its trainer every chance it gets, an experience quite painful due to Cacnea's cactus-like qualities. Later, James acquires a Chimecho, which tends to wrap its tail around James's face and eyes, much to his displeasure.
In Police Squad! (and The Naked Gun), a shoe-shiner would furtively give information to Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) about the case he was investigating, and then proceed to give detailed professional advice to his next customer who would be e.g. a surgeon, priest, firefighter, or other unlikely customer. At the end of each show, a parody of the freeze-frame common at the end of 70s TV series was created by the actors trying to stand completely still with a rigid expression, while something else in the scene carried on moving (e.g. coffee being poured overflows).
In Cheers, Norm always arrives in the bar and is greeted by a thunderous "NORM!" by whoever is there. Norm would also talk about his wife Vera, but no one ever sees her (see unseen character). The closest that anyone would come to seeing her is her feet on the stairs outside the bar in one episode.
In the first five seasons of South Park, Kenny suffers a gruesome death in nearly every episode, to which Stan and Kyle exclaim "Oh my God, they/you killed Kenny!" "You bastard(s)!"
The later series of Red Dwarf have a few running gags:
* The first two series have Rimmer attributing every irregular event to aliens (a distress call, the crew losing four days of their memories), only to end up being wrong.
* Rimmer quotes references to the Space Corps Directives in an attempt to get his own way, but always gets the wrong one. Kryten (who apparently has all the Directives in memory) then states the directive in full, and asks how it is relevant to the situation.
* The Cat makes a quick suggestion (e.g. "We laser our way through!"), to which Kryten replies An excellent suggestion, sir, with just two minor drawbacks and lists the drawbacks (e.g. "one, we don't have a power source for the lasers, and two, we don't have any lasers.")
In the Super Chicken series of cartoons produced by Jay Ward, SC would propose that his sidekick Fred, do something or handle something which was extremely hazardous or possibly fatal. When Fred would inevitably complain about the possibility of injury (to himself), SC would respond, "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred."
In the Inspector Gadget cartoon Gadget's boss, Chief Quimby, always contacts Gadget with his latest mission in a strange disguise. The mission is written in self-destructing note paper which Gadget will invariably toss away after reading, only to blow up in Quimby's face. This is in reference to the self-destructing tapes used in . Other running gags include Gadget always mistaking Brain for the MAD agent, and Penny always actually saving the day, while Gadget, mystefied by his apparent success, takes the credit.
In Season Two of Code Lyoko, Jim often mentions some of his former jobs while speaking. When people say "You were a(n)___, Jim?" he always replies "I'd rather not talk about it," except in the episode Cold War, where he shares his experience as a volunteer test subject for the space program.
In SpongeBob SquarePants, the recipe for the Krabby Patty, a fast food burger, is never revealed, which drives the show's main villain, Plankton, into making many attempts to steal the recipe. Extensive security protocols to protect the formula are the subject of several episodes. One episode takes the form of a training video for the Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty. Throughout, SpongeBob begs the narrator for the opportunity to make a Krabby Patty, but is severely punished for not being ready. Just as the narrator is about to explain the recipe, the episode ends.
In Azumanga Daioh, Sakaki usually ends up getting bitten by a cat when trying to pet it.
In the "Weekend Update" sketches on Saturday Night Live featuring Norm MacDonald, Norm would frequently insert a random mention of Frank Stallone into news stories, or proclaim "Germans love Hasselhoff! MacDonald would also use jokes that ended with "Crack whore" as the punchline, usually when talking about surveys of the world's worst jobs.
The British sitcom'Allo 'Allo! is mostly based on running gags throughout the series. Examples are: "You stupid woman!", "Ohhh... Rene!", "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once.", "Ohhh.... my dicky ticker!", "It is I, Leclerc!" and "Good moaning!".
On Sanford and Son, when Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) was not getting his way, he would often clutch his chest and fake a heart attack, looking upward and ostensibly speaking to his deceased wife, with improvised lines such as "Oh no, this is the big one! I'm comin' to join ya, 'Lizabeth!"
In Tsukuyomi, when a situation goes awkward, a metal object crashes onto a character's head (usually from out of nowhere). Typical items used are pots, pans, tea kettles, soda cans, and pottery.
On MAD TV, Bobby Lee's character Bae Sung speaks random gibberish and then ends his phrases with making a noise and yell "Halla!" or exclaim "Uh oh, hot dog!" Recently the gag is also accompanied by a cartoon hot dog that dances around the screen with a parody version of the Hamtaro's theme song.
In Mr. Bean, when Mr. Bean is driving his Mini, he often runs a blue Reliant Robin off the road and causing it to crash, sometimes deliberately.
In Mai-HiME, Haruka has a bad habit of mispronouncing words and phrases and Yukariko occasionally mistakens quotes from famous philosophers as Bible quotes while Yukino has to correct both of them.
In Sailor Moon, when Makoto Kino (Sailor Jupiter) meets an attractive man she usually compares him to her senpai, an older student she had a crush on in her past but he rejected her, she often says something along the lines of "The way his hair falls, it's just like senpai's" in the North American dub this became Lita comparing men to her 'old boyfriend' and her line is "He looks (just) like my old boyfriend"
Not truly a running gag, but worth mentioning. In one episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, in which clowns are symbolic for jokes, a clown can be seen running in the background of every scene, although no one seems to mention it. However, at the very end, Buster becomes annoyed and asks, "What IS that?" to which Babs replies, "It's a running gag."
Garfield and Friends makes frequent references to the Klopman diamond, the apparently nonexistent topic of an old joke. Also, Garfield himself semi-regularly pops up to make a cameo appearance in the U.S. Acres segments. There are also constant references to the 'word' SPLUT! which, despite Garfield never remembering, is the sound of a pie hitting his face.
Characters on The Fairly OddParents always claim to have gotten items produced by wishes off of the Internet. When main character Timmy is suspected of shoplifting and asked by his angry father as to where he got the internet, he's stuck for an answer.
Family Guy's Chris Griffin occasionally mentions his fear of the evil monkey who lives in his closet, which none of the family believes. This is always followed up by a quick shot of the evil monkey making a threatening glance at Chris.
Speaking of monkeys, a rather angry-looking one pops up from time to time in episodes from the second and third seasons of ¡Mucha Lucha!, usually showing up in a random occurrence of a repeated crowd shots in place of another character. Also, an old lady in purple clothes frequently appears in background crowds.
In Gilmore Girls, Stars Hollow 'townie' Kirk Gleason has a habit of changing jobs often, and can usually be found in a new position every episode, from working as a DSL installer, the counter clerk at the town's video store, assistant manager of Doose's Market, and organizier of many town events, along with many more listed on his page.
On House of Mouse, the alley cats from The Aristocats never get to perform (they are either forced off in favor of another act or scared off), and Cruella DeVil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians is shown inspecting dogs from other Disney films with a measuring ruler, intending to make coats out of them.
In The Daily Show, when an organization with a very long name is mentioned, host Jon Stewart frequently abbreviates it to NAMBLA.
In The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Jazz's visit is often ended by his being literally thrown out of the house by Uncle Phil.
In Pop-up Video, bubbles containing just the word "but" are frequently superimposed on close-up shots of a person's (usually covered) buttocks.
In , a short segment is shown at the beginning of the show called "Kafra's Lessons". When a kafra agitates another one, she is immediately replaced with a stuffed doll that resembles them with their current locations unknown.
At the end of every episode of Earthworm Jim, a cow would fall on one of the characters. This is a reference to the ending of the first game.
In Invader Zim, Gir will at any opportunity tune into The Scary Monkey Show, which appears to consists of absolutely nothing more than a monkey standing still and staring directly into the camera. He also has a long-standing obsession with both live and rubber pigs.
In The Honeymooners, whenever Alice Kramden questions Ralph Kramden on a matter, he will answer with something like, "you wanna know what it is? you wanna know?! *pause* you really wanna know, Alice?! I'll tell ya what it is!! *pause* I'll tell ya what it is, Alice!" and answers with something that is obviously not the truth.
*Tim Taylor always bangs his head on a large pipe hanging overhead when entering the basement.
*Jokes are made about how much more popular Al is than Tim.
*Jokes are made about Tool Time's low ratings.
*The Taylors' neighbor, Wilson, never reveals his full facial identity on-screen, having his face partially covered in a variety of clever, humorous ways, most commonly behind his yard fence.
*Tim will frequently insult Al Borland (either his weight or his clothing choice of flannel) and Al's mother (usually her weight).
**They have a "Salute to..." (Cars/Men/Hammers/etc)
**Klaus (an actual member of the show's sound crew, Klaus Landsberg) is asked to play "Some (Sawing/Welding/etc) Music."
**Tim asks Al Borland to do something dangerous; to which Al will always respond, "I don't think so, Tim."
**Something is spectacularly destroyed because Tim believes it would be better if it had "More Power," usually cranked up to dangerious quantities.
In the Star Trek universe, there are several running gags;
* Bathrooms are never shown on Enterprise schematics.
* Data's pet catSpot is the source of several running gags. Spot continually escapes from Data's quarters. When fellow crew mates take care of Spot she either tears up their quarters, injures them, or they prove allergic to her. Spot keeps jumping up on Data's desk while he is working.
* Dr. McCoy would say, "I'm a doctor, not a ______" (insert relevant occupation, germain to the event). The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager also would do this, possibly in honor of Dr. McCoy.
* Security officers in the original series, or redshirts, often find themselves getting killed on the Enterprise or on a landing party mission. Not really meant to be a gag, it was made so by observant fans. The same may be said of the Doctor's statement, "He's dead, Jim !"
* Pipes/Conduits/Jeffries Tubes are sometimes labeled "GNDN," an acronym which means "Goes Nowhere and Does Nothing."
* In , the recurring character Morn would repeatedly be referred to as being obnoxiously talkative, but yet never actually speaks on screen. Barfly Morn was a direct reference to the character Norm from "Cheers". Also, there were numerous references to Odo's popular "Cardassian neck trick", but it was never shown.
In Rocko's Modern Life, an exercise TV show would occasionally show up featuring a guy performing various workouts with his butt. Philbert would always end up having indigestion and Rocko always gets mistaken for a different animal, launching him into a lengthly and unconvincing explanation that he is a wallaby
In MXC at least one contestent has the surname of Baba ganoush
When playing Range Game on The Price is Right,Bob Barker jokes that when the rangefinder is stopped, it can't be restarted for some period of time. The most common seems to be 37 hours, so if this particular gag were true, if the game would be played at 10:45AM Thursday, you would have to wait until 11:45PM Friday to play again.
*Ken Titus makes jokes about Tommy Shafter that imply he is gay.
*Dave Titus would usually say something that resulted in Chris Titus slapping him on the back of the head.
In the original version of "MegaMan NT Warrior, Rockman. EXE (Axess), Netto always refers to Meijin as "Meijin-san" (Mr. Meijin), and Meijin always replies "san wa iranai!", or "san not needed!". This was kept in the dub, with Famous (Meijin) always inisting "Famous, it's just Famous!"
The animated comedy Drawn Together makes uses of a number of running gags:
*After one character says something extremely obvious, another will respond with a drawn-out "Duuuuuhhhh!", during which the character's face and mouth will take on the appearance of a donkey.
*Whenever an object is smashed or thrown forcefully, the sound of cats screaming can be heard; this sound is also played often during any kind of general commotion.
*Whenever Foxxy Love refers to some kind of sad or tragic event, the show cuts to a clip of a tearful Foxxy in the confessional saying, "Poor little Timmy, Mommy misses you." Timmy is Foxxy's oft-mentioned (but never seen) child, who appears to have had quite an unfortunate life.
*Several episodes use a piece of stock footage known as "The Monkey Man", believed to come from the 1925 film version of The Lost World. It is often inserted into scenes where a character is supposed to be thinking deeply, or during moments of tension.
*After a pun or corny joke, the show will cut to an island native with a drum kit who plays the classic sting of two beats and a cymbal hit.
* Any time Ataru Moroboshi tries to flirt with a woman in Lum's presence, she will give him a nasty electric shock, or much more rarely, will whack him with a hammer hidden in hammerspace.
* Ten will try to roast Ataru with his flame breath any chance he gets.
* "Lum's Stormtroopers" (Megane, Perm, Kakugari and Chibi) show up in the most unexpected places when they believe that Lum is around.
* Cherry will just show up without explanation in the most bizarre places.
* Sakura will often demonstrate her talent of eating massive amounts of food and not gaining weight.
* Lum's home planet's native cuisine is shown as almost universally too spicy for human consumption, and those unlucky enough to sample it usually come out with swollen lips or other complications.
* Lum also has a habit of using alien contraptions to make her and everyone else's lives easier, but these backfire due to some interference (such as Lum's attempt to get rid of a leaky roof during a typhoon in the Moroboshi house by the use of an anti-grav device. It ended up flooding the house instead.)
* Any time a character mistakes Ryuunosuke Fujinami for a boy, she will shout "Ore wa ONNA da!!" ("I'm a GIRL!!") and more often than not launch the poor unfortunate into orbit with a punch.
* Shuutaro Mendou is extremely claustrophobic, and whenever he's in any sort of confining space, will shout "Waan! Semai yo! Kuroi yo! Kowai yo!" ("It's tight! It's dark! I'm scared!")
* The Mendou Family is depicted as being astronomically wealthy in every episode (they are said to own 51% of Japan) and utilizes sophisticated technology in the most bizarre of fashions. For instance, in early episodes, Mendo gets to school by parachuting out of a massive heavy bomber.
**References are also made to the Mendou private army, a group that in weaponry outmatches the JSDF. In Mamoru Oshii-directed episodes, the army dresses up in Nazi-style uniforms, a look that in later episodes is toned back down to Rumiko Takahashi's original design (the uniform for the Edo-Period Shinsengumi or a modest black suit)
* Most characters, when angry, exhibit unearthly strength to comic effect (Shinobu Miyake tosses stacks of school desks, Ataru once tried to smash Cherry with a telephone pole, etc.)
* Mrs. Moroboshi is always ashamed of having had Ataru and often loudly exclaims (usually after some extraterrestrial-aided incident involving Ataru) "Oh, I wish I had never had him!"
In City Hunter, whenever Kaori Makimura catches Ryo Saeba doing something she considers to be lecherous or attempting to hit on a female client, she will attack Ryo with a variety of bludgeoning weapons (most commonly a 100-ton wooden hammer) that she pulls out of extradimensional hammerspace. This does nothing to Ryo (not even so much as to make him see the error of his ways), but can cause massive property damage. Othertimes, she can't get at the weapons, usually.
*Sound effects are used a lot. For instance, the show plays a farting noise when an obese person comes on screen, or a bell before people start to brawl.
*On occasion, the audience will collectively chant things like "GO TO OPRAH!" or "JERRY! JERRY!"
*Many episodes end with the bodyguard Steve, along with one of the guests, walking down a backstage hallway, when eventually "Tom" (one of the studio members) jumps out and scares them.
The final season of "The Cosby Show", there was a running gag involving a doorbell. The character Cliff Huxtable had a problem trying to fix it. Each time it rang, it always sounded wrong in the end. In the series finale, there was an additional gag where whoever rang the doorbell had their finger shocked.
Hawaii Five-O scenes in hospitals will often have a "Dr. Fubadah" paged on the PA system. (spelling uncertain)
In Blackadder there are numerous repeated gags concerning Baldrick's intellect and appetite.
* At the start of the show, Drew says "The winner gets to do a little something special with me," adding sexual innuendo to "something special."
* Usually after the first commercial, Drew will repeat the line that the points don't matter and then make up a joke about something else that doesn't matter such as "Angelina Jolie's morning breath."
* Ryan Stiles' shoes (not only large, but often wildly colored, having spats, or both) and his tall height and thin frame.
* Colin Mochrie's baldness (Often referred to by his Superhero name- Captain Hair,) Canadian heritage, his extravagant shirts, or a combination of the three.
* Host, Drew Carey's weight, most often the target of Ryan's jokes.
* Jokes about shows running on competing networks that ran during the same time slot, such as Friends and Survivor, and about other networks themselves, such as UPN.
* Jokes about performers being fired for insulting Drew during an episode.
* Colin was frequently assigned a female role.
* Wayne Brady's posterior would also be the butt (no pun intended) of some jokes, not frequently though.
* Impressions would be frequent jokes, as some performers either became known for a select few impressions, while others were not good at performing them at all. An example of the former would be Ryan Stiles' running impersonations of western film star John Wayne and actress Carol Channing, while an example of the latter would be Colin's almost complete incapacity for doing impressions (with the notable exception of Craig T. Nelson, along with Peter Graves, James Cagney, and Yogi Bear).
* Jokes about Drew starring in both The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, such as in a Game of Weird Newscasters, in which Ryan finds the gates of Hell behind his Weather map, and walks up to Drew's desk saying "So this is how you got two shows!"
* Jokes about Ryan also appearing in both shows. Once while singing a Hoedown, Ryan implied that he was tired of doing them, but didn't care if he was fired because he was on another show.
* One of the Performers forcibly including Drew in the game. Either by naming him, or by running up to his desk and using him as a prop.
*Jokes about Drew starring in the lead role of the made-for-TV-movie Geppetto.
* Ryan constantly makes fun of Michael Bolton's music, which he thinks is lame.
* Colin frequently ends his news reports with "..calling it an act of Cod"
*One of the Performers includes an audience member in a sketch.
* Jokes about penises were common, with Ryan Stiles being the most frequent contributor.
* Colin Mochrie's tendency towards absurd non sequitirs and often blithely obscene humor, especially at the end of an "Irish Drinking Song"; this humor often approaches anti-humor.
Most episodes of 2 Stupid Dogs included a buttered ear of corn.
* A big, fat man calling himself Mr. H (but credited as "Hollywood") is a recurring character, who likes to point out others' mistakes in a very unmistakable way: "Well ain't that cute... BUT IT'S WROOOOOONG!!"
On American Dad!, Steve's Japanese friend Toshi speaks in subtitled Japanese (usually an angry remark), but Steve and the others can never correctly interpret what he is saying.
In Mai-Otome, Arika exploits the fact that Nina is highly ticklish.
On The Emperor's New School, Yzma always has an incident happen to her before entering the Secret Lab Coaster, and when she plots against Kuzco, she often at first formulates a rather ridiculous scheme that makes little sense. Both of these running gags originated as one-shot gags in the movie the show is based on. In addition, Kronk can never remember that Yzma and Principal Amzy are one and the same.
In Xiaolin Showdown, whenever Jack Spicer approaches the secret mountain lair of Chase Young, the hidden door opens and crushes Jack in doing so.
In Adult Swim's Tom Goes to the Mayor, whenever the name of the main character, Tom Peters, is written out, it is most always misspelled, e.g., "Tom P. Tiers" or "Tom Petress."
Video games
In the You Don't Know Jack multiple-choice trivia computer games, "Tootie" is occasionally presented as one of the choices, but is never the right answer.
In the Monkey Island series, people often distract each other with "Look behind you! A three-headed monkey!"
*In games after the first, the nonsequitur "How appropriate. You fight like a cow" (originally in response to the insult "You fight like a dairy farmer!") is a common noncombat insult.
*The three-headed monkey gag can also be found in some legendaryfrog cartoons.
*Many sections of the games feature a reference to "The One Who Will Bring Balance to the Force", an obvious reference to "Star Wars"
Many games in the Final Fantasy series will have two minor characters named after Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles from Star Wars, as well as a character named Cid.
* In Final Fantasy VIII, Selphie will always head straight for the window when the party must travel by train, often adding a corny song to go with it.
In many Star Wars games there are places where you can hear a disco version of the Star Wars theme song. This pokes fun at the fact that after a disco version of the Star Wars theme was released. The most notorious game for this running gag would be .
The Pandaren race in the Warcraft series can be considered a running gag.
The Silent Hill series all - but Silent Hill 4 - contains a secret weird ending, such as the UFO ending.
Throughout , most characters have trouble remembering Luigi's name.
*Also in , some characters tend to ignore Luigi's ability. This is only recognized at the end.
In Destroy All Humans!, throughout the game they call him "Green" with the comeback "I'M NOT GREEN"
In the Metal Gear (and Metal Gear Solid) 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, even in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
In any version of SimCity (except the original) and The Sims, the loading screen lists bogus (and frequently humorous) "loading" messages, which always contains a variation on "Reticulating splines".
* A reference to Gordon Bennett during "Late Arrivals" rounds
* Visual humor, ironic because it is a radio program
In Car Talk, a radio program on National Public Radio, the credits read off by the hosts commonly feature names such as Heywood Jabuzov, "seat testers" Mike Easter and Wilma Buttfit, Russian driver Pickup Andropov, and of course, the well-known law firm of Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe.
On The Jack Benny Program, there were numerous gags:
* In nearly every show (with the exception of the very first seasons) Benny was portrayed as a penny-pinching miser who would stoop to any length to save a dollar.
* Benny's car (in keeping with his persona) was an aging Maxwell that almost always sounded like it was five minutes from total mechanical collapse
* After 1937, there was a longstanding "feud" between Benny and Fred Allen. The two would come onto each other's shows and fling verbal barbs at one another.
* Benny had a vault underneath his house, one that included elaborate traps and a guard named Ed, who had not been outside since the conclusion of the American Revolution.
* Through the 1930s and 1940s, Benny had a polar bear named Carmichael, who was always threatening to eat various passerby and bits and pieces of Rochester
* The two tenors for the show, Kenny Baker and Dennis Day were both portrayed as innocent children trapped in grown-up bodies.
* Benny always ribbed announcer Don Wilson over his weight, and over Wilson's inventive ways of weaving the sponsor's product into the show.
* Later on in the series, Benny or other cast members would often mention a "chiss sweeze sandwich," after a memorable blooper by Mary Livingston, who flubbed a line calling for a "swiss cheese sandwich."
* Phil Harris, the bandleader, was portrayed as a perpetual drunkard in charge of an orchestra made up of reprobates with questionable hygiene. His favorite number (one that he'd play at the slightest provocation whether or not Benny requested it) was his signature tune "That's What I Like About the South."
* Andy Devine's first words on any given guest appearance on the show would be "Hiya, Buck!", referencing a recurring character played by Benny, "Buck Benny" (cf. Buck Benny Rides Again).
A very famous running gag on Fibber McGee and Molly was where Fibber (played by Jim Jordan) would open up the closet, only to have everything cascade down on top of him. The collapse was always ended with a small handbell and Fibber's exclamation that he'd "have to get that thing cleaned out one of these days."
Comics
In Groo the Wanderer there are a lot of them. For instance, every ship Groo enters will sink soon. Also, frequent references to "cheese dip" and, later, "mulch." Another example was a character calling Groo "slow of mind" early on the story, and almost on the end Groo thinking "what did he mean, 'slow of mind'"? Also, in early editions there is a hidden message in every story—it usually spells "hidden message" or "this is the hidden message." These were later dropped.
In many of the Asterix adventures, a band of pirates meets with disaster at the hands of—or simply while trying to avoid—the protagonists. In nearly every encounter, the pirates end up floating in a parody of the sailors in the painting The Raft of the Medusa.
In the webcomic1/0, 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 webcomicBob and George, many running gags occur. Primary ones are the character Dr. Wily announcing his evil plans out loud in the form of a monologue while another character hears him from behind, and the Robot Masters in parodies of the Mega Man Classic games all having strange personalities appropriate for their character. (For example, the submarine robot Dive Man talks like a pirate.) Another is the fact that the titular characters Bob and George can not die or fall under serious bodily harm. The two times this rule was broken, once with Bob and once with George, the author David Anez removed their names from the title.
In the webcomicPvP, a running gag is the giant panda that appears and attacks Brent, whenever the word "Panda" is uttered in his presence. Though he does seem occasionally aware of this, and occasionally tricks another character (usually a very minor character) into saying the words "Panda" or "Giant Panda", such as when he was featured on a game show, and when asked a question to which the answer is obviously "Panda" Brent answers incorrectly, thus forcing the host to say, "I'm sorry, the correct answer is "Giant Panda", which results in a Giant Panda attack upon the host.
In Calvin and Hobbes, Hobbes will pounce on Calvin upon Calvin's return from school. Hobbes will also pounce on Calvin in sneak attacks when Calvin least expects it. There are also repeated mentions of an unspecified "Noodle Incident," as well as Calvin constantly wanting his dad to read him the storybook Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie.
In the webcomic El Goonish Shive, whenever a distraction is required, someone will almost invariably shout "Is that a demonic duck of some sort?" A character of a Demonic Duck will then enter and be generally distracting. The duck usually resents being used as a distraction and once even went on strike. The writer has also turned Writer's Block into a character.
Webcomic Adventurers! has the phrase "Hah! "Gorilla" right there!", first spoken by protagonist Karn when he managed to form the word in a game of Boggle against villain Khrima. The latter now has the tendency to yell this phrase out loud, even during unrelated activities. The comic also regularly pokes fun at the physical weakness of Bards.
* Onion Kid is repeatedly tortured, such as having his family or foster family killed, so far always thanks to Black Mage.
* Black Mage constantly tries to kill Fighter, often with stabbing.
In the webcomic Freefall, robots perpetually yell "DOGGY!" upon seeing Florence, who is actually a genetically engineered species called a Bowman's Wolf, which robots are not programmed to identify, hence the problem. Florence is the subject of several running jokes, most focusing on the trials of being a sentient canine in a human world. Her captain and employer, Sam, is also subject to innumerable running jokes as he evolved from a species of scavenger, and so will eat anything and considers any object he can steal his to “scavenge”, leading to many jokes on casual criminality.
In The Boondocks comic strip, Huey will usually look directly at the reader with an irritated expression when something doesn't seem correct or someone says something outrageously foolish (this usually happens when he is watching TV by himself).
In The Rogue's Gallery webcomic, the author (referred to as the O.M.A. (Original Manga Author)), always wears a hat and a pair of sunglasses. He never takes them off, even when asked to by others. On the rare occasion that he HAS to take them off (suck as in a bank for security reasons in one comic), it happens off-panel, and any other character who is misfortuned to see him without his hat and sunglasses get scared out of their wits or throw up on the spot (due to that the O.M.A. is "not exactly the most good looking person ever" (to use his own words)).
In the fictional comics shown within the Captain Underpants series, the principal is told that the current menace has just violated some property and done something terrible to the gym teacher. In response, the principal doesn't care at all about the gym teacher. (According to Dav Pilkey's official website, this running gag was in response to how mean his gym teachers were.)
In the graphic novel Bone, one of the two primary rat creatures wants everything in a quiche much to the other's anger. These two also often prompt the phrase "Stupid stupid rat creatures!"
Webtoons
The webtoon Homestar Runner contains many , including, but not limited to:
*Strong Bad receiving an asking something along the lines of "", which is promptly deleted.
*The name (pronounced fuh-HOO-gwah-gahds), which originated from a sent to Strong Bad.
*Strong Bad's , which is use to burn items on purpose, or usually making appearances in some toons.
*, sometimes for no apparent reason.
*The parents of most of the characters (except for Pom Pom) are never revealed.
In the webtoon Bonus Stage, the characters are often killed, only to immediately return in the next scene with no explanation. Joel once commented on this, suggesting that his dead bodies would cushion his fall.
*Another running joke is Big Fat Guy, an obese man who will randomly announce that he is Big Fat Guy and body-slam the characters.
On the website Lemmy's Land, Morton Koopa Jr. often shouts "!" for no apparent reason.
*Also in the website's "interviews" with the Mario universe's characters, the interviews by Dark Koopa include a crate (or several crates) falling on top of anyone who "breaks the fourth wall".
*Whenever Tucker goes into a teleporter, he always comes out with black stuff (presumably soot) on him, even though other characters never do. Exceptions to this include when Caboose goes into the teleporter to purposefully look like Tex, and when Tucker helps Church find their Warthog.
*Tucker complaining on why he never gets a sniper rifle. Ironically, the one time he was offered a sniper rifle, Tucker refused it in favor of an energy sword.
*Donut's pink armor. He tries to defend himself by claiming "It's lightish red". Ever since the pink armor was introduced, Donut's personality has grown more and more effeminate.
*Donut making constant references on elbow grease and headlight fluid. This refers to when Donut was first introduced in the series, when Grif and Simmons got rid of Donut by telling him to go to the "store" and pick up some elbow grease and headlight fluid.
*Sarge hating Grif for no good reason, while praising Simmons for being a "kissass" (as Grif often calls him).
*Grif and Simmons calling "Shotgun" when ordered to get into a vehicle (usually the Warthog). Simmons usually wins, although he was once forced to suffer the indignity of Donut sitting on his lap. Grif manages to win once during the final episode of Season 4.
