Running Gag/Film

Animation

• In the Aardman Animation/DreamWorks film Flushed Away, several slugs regularly appear in the movie to whistle and sing a song of some kind, usually pertaining to events that have just transpired. Originally they were to only appear in one scene, but DreamWorks execs insisted that they be slotted in at every opportunity simply to keep the laughs going if there hadn't been any big jokes in a while.
• And in Disney/Pixar's Up, we ha--SQUIRREL!!
• Kung Fu Panda: The ridiculously-long flight of steps leading up to the Jade Palace, and Po's inability to climb them without collapsing in exhaustion. It even precedes his Crowning Moment of Awesome fight with Tai Lung. Interestingly, when he realizes that Shifu may be dying, we have a cut from him in the town square to him in the temple, never showing how he got up the steps so fast. Either the writers decided the gag had run long enough, or having become the true Dragon Warrior put Po above this sort of thing. Or it did give him some very cool abilities… like superspeed, or teleportation…?
  • Though he does struggle a bit when he goes up the steps one last time.
    • Could be as a sign on how far he's gone from "kung fu fan boy" to "kung fu master". First, he's on his back just halfway. Second, he make it to the top, only needing to rest a bit on the wall. Last, well…
• The Aladdin sequel has "You'd be surprised what you can live through" pop up many times.
  • Also, "_____ is such a strong word."
• How to Train Your Dragon has many.
  • Gobber's advice can never come out right.
  • Ruffnut and Tuffnut argue, and get in trouble with a dragon.
  • Tuffnut getting hurt and then screaming 'Oh I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!' as he runs away.
  • 'Thank you for summing that up.'
  • 'You just gestured to all of me!'
  • 'Night fury! Get down!'

Live Action

• Lloyd Bridges' series in Airplane! of "Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up..." is a great example, as is the series of literal responses to "What is it?"
  • It's a response that describes the place where the situation is taking place, rather than the situation itself which the questioner wants to know more about, but that's not important right now.
  • I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.
  • Surely you can't be serious.
  • I'm not serious. And don't call me Shirley.
  • Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up contributing to Overly Long Gags.
  • I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.
  • These Running Gags have given me a drinking problem. (Splashes a glass of water on face.)
  • I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.
• SWAAAAAAAAN!
  • Among others. Many others.
  • For the greater good.
    • The greater good.
      • Shut it!
• In Escape from New York, every time Snake meets a new character, they will observe that they thought he was dead.
  • Which was done previously in Big Jake with John Wayne.
  • In Escape From L.A. the gag changes to everyone commenting they thought Snake would be taller.
• Similarly, in Road House, people tell Patrick Swayze, "I thought you'd be bigger." What it lacks in humor it makes up for in homoeroticism.
• The Long Goodbye, which features an anachronistic '50s private eye in the '70s has the protagonist not only be the only character that smoked, but as a Running Gag has him light a cigarette in every single scene.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Women seem to have a tendency to slap Jack Sparrow... or anyone representing him.
  • Captain Jack Sparrow.
  • Will Turner has a habit of getting knocked out during the pivotal point of a fight.
  • Why is the rum always gone?
  • It got away with sea turtles, mate. A pair of them strapped to the bottle.
  • Were they eunuchs?
  • Well, they did have a Nice Hat. A really big one.
  • They also tried to Parley with me.
  • But that doesn't matter since the Pirate's Code is more like a guideline than actual rules.
  • This is the day that you will always remember as the day that y--
  • Enter mascot dog with keys in mouth.
  • Thank you, Jack.
  • I hate that monkey.
• The Princess Bride
  • INCONCEIVABLE!
  • You Keep Using That Word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
  • Hello. My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die.
• Monty Python and The Holy Grail: Swallows, coconuts, people not dying.
  • They got better.
  • Also, Arthur's inability to count to five.
    • "Three sir!"
  • "Get on with it!"
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing.
    • Yaaayyy!
  • It also uses Medium Awareness as a running gag, as in the murder of the historian, and the old man from Scene 24.
• The "dogs can't look up" gag in Shaun of the Dead is notable not only because it's an effective Running Gag within the film, but is something of a real-life running gag, having originated with Nick Frost during the filming of Spaced, as referenced on the DVD commentaries for both works. Also the "He's not my boyfriend!" is carried over.
  • "You've got red on you."
  • "Cornetto." (It's an ice cream.) Appears in all their movies.
• Juno. "Pork Swords". Double hilarity if you listen to the commentary track and find out just how far the filmmakers had to go to get the effect.
• Nearly every movie produced by Mel Brooks has the character played by the director spout off the infamous line "It's good to be the king." Copiously repeated again and again in History of the World, Part I, seemingly a half-dozen times in five minutes. It was not funny that time.
  • Thankfully, averted in Spaceballs (he played a president in this movie and didn't use the line or any variant thereof).
• A running gag in Mallrats is that Shannon Hamilton likes to have sex in a very uncomfortable place.
  • • What... like the back of a Volkswagen?
  • "It's a sailboat."
  • Also, telekinesis.
• Clerks:
  • "What smells like shoe polish?"
  • "I'm not even supposed to be here today."
  • "Thirty-seven?!"
  • "I heard she's getting married to an Asian design major."
• Back to The Future did this a lot in the sequels.
  • "Hey McFly, I thought I told you never to come in here."
  • "He's a/an (noun)!"
  • "There there, now, you're safe and sound now back in good old 1955."
  • "So why don't you make like a tree and get out of here?"
  • "Say hi to your mom for me."
  • "Chicken?"
  • "Nobody calls me Chicken!"
  • "Slacker!"
  • "This is heavy."
  • "There's that word again!"
  • "Great Scott!"
  • "Manure! I hate manure!"
• The Blues Brothers has lots of them, ranging from the obvious, such as "We're on a mission from God!" to the subtle, like Jake constantly checking his watch which was declared broken in the first scene. (And other people's watches getting broken as well.)
• The gum in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is a true running gag (some people can't stop gagging for hours after seeing it...).
• Better Off Dead: "I want my two dollars!!"
• Space Cowboys: (after a while) "You notice that everyone we know is dead?"
• Labyrinth: Sarah gets Hoggle's name wrong almost every time she talks to him.
  • Sarah does this at first, but quickly learns his name. Jareth is the one that never gets Higgle's (HOGGLE!) name right.
• Zombieland anyone? Tallahase and his inability to find any twinkies.
• I Love You, Man. "...Why does everything I say sound like a leprechaun?"
• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
  • "Do you want to go through the window (over the side, etc.), or take the stairs?"
  • "You aren't selling Amway products, are you?"
  • "How did he go to the bathroom with all those gold chains on?"
• Star Wars Episodes 4-6:
  • "I have a bad feeling about this." (Uttered at least once by Luke, Han, and Leia. Arguably by Chewie, too.)
    • Yoda, too: "Bad feeling have I."
  • Also used by Obi-Wan and Anakin in all three prequels. And by various characters in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. And all over the Expanded Universe. And in various other franchises as gags: from Fanboys to Lost.
  • I sense a disturbance in the Force
    • You always feel a disturbance in the force.
• The Great Escape: Hilts's habit of bouncing a baseball against the wall every time he gets stuck in the Cooler.
• Inglourious Basterds: Landa's insistence on using American idioms and getting them slightly wrong.
• During the filming of Rush Hour 2, a real life running gag showed up: As shown in the outtakes, Chris Tucker cannot remember to call Jackie Chan by his character's name.
• A Hard Day's Night - Paul's grandfather. He's very clean.
• Kingpin had two major running gags. One was Roy Munson referring to his 1979 championship ring as "this", only for people to think he's talking about the rubber hand it's situated on (this gets reversed at the end when he actually is talking about the rubber hand). The second is different characters referring to being put in an unwinnable situation as being "Munsoned".
• Any Given Sunday had the third-string quarterback, Willie Beamen to throw-up in the middle of the game. Every time the Sharks were playing.
• "Paul" - 'Three tits? Awesome.'
  • Also, everyone asking if Graeme and Clive are gay.
  • "Who the hell is Adam Shadowchild?"
• In many of the Harry Potter films, if Seamus is on screen chances are he's about to accidentally blow something up. Given a fantastic send off in Deathly Hallows Part 2, where McGonagall tells Neville to enlist Seamus' help blowing up the bridge due to his "proclivity for pyrotechnics."
• A Fish Called Wanda: "What was the middle one?"
• Mystery Team: Jason's disguises
• Several in The Gumball Rally. Lapchick's madness, Franco's womanizing, the Rolls-Royce...
• Star Trek: Kirk trying to find out Uhura's first name (a shout-out to the fact that she never had one in the original series).
  • Chekhov's accent.
  • A literal running gag: Kirk suffering from various anaphylactic reactions to a vaccine he was given, running down the halls trying to get to the bridge as McCoy repeatedly gives him shots to counteract the symptoms.
• Iron Man has the running gag of one of Tony's inept helper bot arm... things... having a propensity to hose him down with a fire extinguisher at a drop of a hat. First time is when his jet boots fail (in that they were set too high and flung him face first into the ceiling). Second time was him threatening the bot not to do it. Third time was at the end of his Mk 2 flight; First, Tony breaks the ceiling and floor of his house, then smashes a grand piano, then one of his expensive cars... then gets hosed off by the extinguisher bot again. Tony can only lie his helmeted head down in tired frustration.
  • Speaking of the car scene, Iron Man unintentionally wrecking other people's cars occurs a couple of times per movie.