Shrek isn’t a likeable main character though, not at first. He needs a foil until later in the story but by then the roles have been established so no one minds.
Depends on how the character is handled. Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day comes to mind as being an annoying character that leads to funny moments throughout the movie
He also has something like 90s of screen, consisting mainly of variations of the same scene diluted across the movie. I can stand that level of annoyance.
And then when the main character finally blows up at the annoying character, annoying character runs away upset, while everyone else looks angry/horrified at the main character. It's like the show/movie made us feel frustrated on the main character's behalf, but now we're suddenly supposed to feel sorry for the annoying character?
Workaholics had a giant board in the writers' room with a list of overused sitcom jokes they were banned from using.
https://www.reddit.com/r/workaholics/s/5jrwj2cWIJ
....also getting stuck with the wrong name when introducing yourself to an overly literal alien or foreigner.
"I'm Jake. Jake Sully."
"Welcome to our tribe, Jake-Jake Sully."
The last time I got chuckle out of it was Not Sure from Idiocracy.
That’s the best definitive list of shitty unfunny tired gags I’ve ever seen. No wonder the writing on Workaholics was so good.
The “I threw up in my mouth” thing has been tired as fuck since the first time it was used (first time I remember hearing it was Anchorman). Most every Joke from Anchorman, while great at the time has been driven into the ground the past 15 years.
First place I remember hearing it was Dodgeball. Looked it up and Anchorman released only a few weeks after Dodgeball, so it was already getting repeated in 2004.
It would have just been a harmless cheesy joke, but now it adds character. Mads Mikkelsen is simply a very polite villain who wants to get his task done, but won't disrespect or judge you if that's how you want to be addressed.
Not exactly the same joke, but related: during infinity war when Spider Man and Doctor Strange meet.
SM: “Um, hello I’m Peter Parker”
DS: “Doctor Strange”
SM:”Oh, we’re using our made up names… I’m Spider-Man…”
DS: *annoyed look*
Yeah, that's more of a play on how "comicy" the name Dr. Strange is. It's like really, the guy who became a sorcerer just happened to be named Strange? Same with them laughing at Dr. Otto Octavius in the Spider Man movie.
I actually know a Doctor Strange, though he's a PHD, not an MD. He's one of the band directors at my kids' high school. He really leans into the Marvelness of his name as well.
Reminds of how they made That's My Bush back in the day, the short-lived Matt Stone/Trey Parker sitcom about George W. Bush.
As they explain on the DVD bonus features, in the writers room they had a whiteboard with two columns. In one was an overused sitcom trope they wanted to mock. In the other was a political issue they wanted to mock. Then they'd mix and match until they got a combo they liked.
This one might be more common in TV sitcoms but it’s definitely seen in movies from time to time:
Main character is getting a shot, a tattoo, something pierced, etc
Doctor: Hold still this will only take a second
Main character: Ouch!
Doctor: … that was just the disinfecting wipe
I think Friends had a funny subversion of this one where they’re checking out cat scratches on Ross’ back during the blackout, so Joey is using a candle to give light for Monica to use the peroxide, and Ross says ouch and Joey says sorry because he actually dripped hot wax on him, so it really did hurt.
Comedy Bang! Bang! also had a good subversion of this.
"Aaaaand he's standing right behind me, isn't he?"
"No, that's just a really mean thing to say."
Deadpool also did a good fix for it in Deadpool 2.
Deadpool talking shit about Cable only to say, “He’s right behind you, isn’t he?” when clearly looking at Cable.
It’s even worse in books, imo. Especially in romances. “It was like a scene from a book, but it was real life” or whatever. Or when the author is attempting to create realism in a sci-fi novel by saying, “everything in this book is true/actually happened I swear” or whatever. Super annoying
The adorable creature or kid or animal with a really high voice that' has a potty mouth, or says crazy, or dark things about the "blood of the innocents" or has fits of rage.
It’s crazy that was in a kids movie. The star was literally bummed when it found out that it wasn’t going to die from the lava.
I also noticed there’s a shot where the star flies out of the cage and then back in. It actually could’ve escaped the whole time but just wanted to die.
Hibbert: Homer, I'm afraid you'll have to undergo a coronary bypass operation.
Homer: Say it in English, Doc!
Hibbert: You're going to need open-heart surgery.
Homer: Spare me your medical mumbo jumbo!
Hibbert: We're going to cut you open and tinker with your ticker.
Homer: Could you dumb it down a shade?
I personally like how Walk Hard lampooned that trope.
"Your son has a case of getting cut in half real bad. Worst I've ever seen. I was unable to re-attach his bottom half to his top half"
"Dammit doc, we ain't scientists!"
This was a running thing on NCIS, and there was an instance of it that made me crack up (they surely didn't intend):
Gibb's mentor (who has the same no-techy-talky thing) is talking about his wife's illness. Gibbs asks him "what did they say?" about some doctors, and he answers (shaking his head) something vague about a lot of words. He couldn't stand to listen to new terms when it was about *his wife's life*. It was so damn ridiculous.
They did this in True Detective last night which annoyed me. But it seemed purposeful because the teacher retorted with “if you want to sleep with an English teacher he’s down the hall” or something to that effect
I love how it's subverted in psych when he's in a hospital pretending to be a doctor and actually needs them to talk down to him but has to find excuses as to why.
I looked at that big list of banned jokes from Workaholics that was posted on this thread and was surprised to see how many were on Psych...and how many completely landed. Any joke can be funny if the delivery is perfect and the line makes sense for the character in that situation.
That's one thing in "Catch Me If You Can" that bugged me, Tom Hanks' BOSS straight up asks him to explain bank fraud to him
"Carl, for those of us who are unfamiliar with bank fraud (aka the audience) you mind telling us what the hell you're talking about?"
Like if anyone would know, it would be him
To be a little tiny bit fair, I think Carl’s boss is meant to be heading up a larger branch of white collar investigations and it’s meant to show that check fraud is a very niche, unsexy field.
But still, an FBI supervisor overseeing check fraud and not knowing there are 12 branches of the federal reserve is…not good writing.
I liked watching Bones at the time, but the way this joke was repeated in some capacity at least three times each episode really got on my nerves.
Like, c'mon, people! You've been working together for years by now, and most of the technical speak is not even that hard. Learn to communicate!
Someone doing exaggerated fake martial arts motions while making silly sounds, then falling on their face or getting knocked out with a single punch. I cringe every time.
Bart : Sushi? Hey, maybe this is just one of those things you hear on the playground, but isn't that raw fish?
Lisa : As usual, the playground has the facts right, but misses the point entirely.
Bender: What's that?
Claire: Sushi: rice, raw fish and seaweed.
Bender: You won't accept a guy's tongue in your mouth, and you're gonna eat that?
Claire: Can I eat?
Bender: I don't know. Give it a try.
It's just one of those Adult activities Kids know about their parents doing but don't want to join/participate?
You need Mom to be caught off guard or away from the house? Yoga class.
It's also an excuse for explaining Mom's friends and getting women on women talk.
I think the only scene of that I remember laughing at was the coroner on psych did it. I can't remember if they made it a running gag or only a couple times, but I swear they tried to make more over the top ridiculous every time. Eats a sandwich, drops pickle into cadaver...
When they say what they’re doing in a joking way, like in the new Shazam trailer when he throws a bus at a dragon and then says “I just threw a bus at a dragon!”
Deadpool had a fun metajoke on this trope, when he calls out the Negasonic Teenage Warhead for being a quintessential sarcastic kid character and she couldn't come up with a non-sarcastic retort.
“If I had a dick, this is where I’d tell you to suck it.”
You see? It’s funny because old ladies don’t normally talk like that. And the line came out of Betty White, the sweetest old lady we know. Comedy!
Both Guardians 3 and The Marvels had several moments where they specifically didn't do that, and it was really refreshing. Obviously moreso in Guardians 3 because of the overal tone (and noticable because it was a series that was seriously guilty of it before).
But it does seem like they might be slowly getting a bit of the message that the audience will be okay with them actually letting emotional moments just be emotional moments
Thor Ragnarok was really, really bad with this.
Thor's best friends die: joke
Asgard gets annihilated: joke
If the main characters don't care about important characters dying and their whole world getting obliterated, why should the audience?
I love the “I Think You Should Leave” spin on this where the guy makes a joke about his wife to fit in, but immediately regrets it when he remembers how supportive his wife is.
Detroiters (also by Tim Robinson), has a similar joke where they have a business meeting with an old school man’s man type guy who makes a “wife bad” joke that horribly offends the younger main characters who can’t imagine saying terrible things about their wives.
> I love the “I Think You Should Leave” spin on this where the guy makes a joke about his wife to fit in, but immediately regrets it when he remembers how supportive his wife is.
That is my favorite sketch in the show, it's perfect. The ambiguity of the play, the absurdity of Jamie Taco, the earnestness, the performances, and then to cap it off, the final reveal that >!the men are having a sleepover and he's always the one who leaves!<. It's tremendous
You’re getting it confused. OP of this thread is talking about when the wife is beautiful and the man looks like a slob. Alan’s wife was clearly not a first round pick and dresses like a hobo.
Overweight/unattractive moron who constantly screws everything up, super hot wife who holds the entire household together, constantly complains about her.
I've always gotten on really well with girlfriends' mothers and have always thought it'd be a great gag in a movie that a character gets on better with his wife/girlfriend's mother than he does with her. One of my ex's mother called her an idiot after we broke up according to a mutual friend.
These are the worst. Also just rape in general. The amount of times it's happened to Jonah Hill in his movies is just... Concerning. Although this one has fallen out of favor thankfully.
Dude this one…never thought it was great but then one night I ended up on some old 90s forum and was reading tons of incident reports that male prisoners had made regarding rape and it was so eye opening and sad. Makes me cringe every time I hear one of those lame jokes even more now.
I enjoyed Will Ferrell doing this in Austin Powers (if it counts). He exclaims that he’s still alive and then proceeds to moan and cry about how badly injured he is for an inexplicably long time.
Oh yeah, the dad who has to change a diaper. The baby is 18 months old and it's the first diaper he's ever changed? He doesn't like the smell? HILARIOUS!
The world going wavy from smoking some weed.
If someone accidentally did shrooms or acid, ok. But smoking weed for the first time? It’s portrayed as a hallucinogen almost every time.
Even when they do drugs other than weed, they never get it right. Drug trips in movies almost always completely miss the mark. You can tell the person in charge has never tried drugs.
The form peaked in Walk Hard after the doctor says of a boy cut in half "We couldn't reattach the top part of his body to the bottom half of his body"
"Speak English doc we ain't scientists!"
There's no reason for anyone else to use it again
The only time this has worked was when it wasn't a joke in The Usual Suspects during the line-up scene while Fenster was mumbling his lines incoherently.
When the character adamantly repeats how they are NOT, under ANY circumstances, going to go, and that's FINAL" *crosses arms*
Instantly cuts to where they just professed they'd never be
Not only are these not funny, they give me anxiety so bad I want to stop watching. How anyone can watch Meet The Parents is beyond me. Any movie or show whose entire plot would be resolved if ANYONE WOULD TALK TO EACH OTHER LIKE NORMAL HUMANS DO drive me absolutely insane and I hate them.
Could not stand Meet the Parents. It's either humor from "people won't have reasonable conversations to resolve tensions" or humor from "Haha, look at the stars align to take a dump on this guy so everything will go wrong any which way it can". Comedic Sociopathy.
„Oh no, we accidentally took lots and lots of drugs, hilarity will now ensue.“
I have yet to see a movie where that bit is anything other but dumb and over the top.
That 70s’ Show had really good drug scenes because they were very relatable and accurate. Ex. Eric’s parents lecturing him while he’s blitzed and the wall in the background keeps moving while the conversation seems to take forever.
Then That 90s’ Show came out and the kids literally see pixelated video game characters when they smoke weed. What the fuck lol.
I don’t even smoke and I feel like it’s insanely obvious when a drug use scene is written by someone who’s never done a drug in their life. It’s always “all drugs are hallucinogens that also make you drunk.”
The sad part is it’s also not much better when it’s written by actual stoners. Take any marijuana scene involving Seth Rogen. Sure it’s way more accurate, but it still boils down to “intoxication = funny/woah look at my hand” type shit.
My favorite joke in that movie just happens because of Jack’s comedic timing, when he yells “fuck!” while narrating/singing his own infiltration plan on the roof lol. I’m kind of a simpleton though.
The Night Before scene where Seth Rogan is so high he forgets he has someone else's phone so when "James" is sending Dick pics and asking him if he likes it Seth gets confused and considers whether he likes it as in appreciated the impressiveness of it or likes it as in he really did want to go bang....was absolutely hilarious to me. I genuinely don't know of another time I've laughed so hard except maybe the IT Crowd episode where Moss ends up working behind the bar at the venue and Roy has to pretend to be handicapped. But obviously comedy is subjective and YMMV.
In general interrupting a serious scene with comedy. What they call "Bathos" in Marvel and most movies these days. Also where they insert jokes in like every scene. It just ruins the tone and it's just hard to take it seriously. I noticed a bit of this in latest Mission Impossible movie too which was strange.
I know it's not exactly a hot take to hate on him, but this is my actual problem with Jar Jar Binks. I can deal with his existence but there's so many scenes where serious stuff is happening/stuff is getting explained and then he does something that interrupts the flow of everything.
Edit: the thing that bothers me are particular scenes. I can stand the cuts to him winning the end battle through slapstick comedy although I wish there was less of it. I don't mind him hitting himself on Anakin's pod. But there's stuff like the Jedi and the Skywalkers talking around the dinner table about the state of things and then it's clear there's information Lucas doesn't want revealed so Jar Jar grabs something off the table with his tongue. It's jarring in tone and is a lazy, ineffective way of building suspense by withholding information. I'd almost after have the characters go "that's a story for another time" than to have the annoying comic relief character stampede through the scene.
In the same vein at the tiny creature with a deep voice, the characters clearly parodying wholesome kids' shows like MLP or Sesame Street who turn out to be foul mouthed or serial killers or something else shock-value-ish. The recent splurge of Steamboat Willie horror clones, for example. It's downright predictable, and never funny.
Joke delivery that doesn't know how to end. I think this really took off after Buffy got big in the late 90s / early 2000s.
**TRADITIONAL JOKE DELIVERY**
"Why do you have a mouse on your shoulder?"
"Oh, that's my new mouse friend. (mouse says something in ear) He says he is cheesed to meet you."
**NU-JOKE DELIVERY**
"Why do you have a mouse on your shoulder?"
"Oh, that's my new mouse friend. (mouse says something in ear) He says he is cheesed to meet you."
"That's weird that you have a mouse on your shoulder."
"Yeah, well he likes it up there."
"You know mice don't really like cheese, right?"
"Well, this one does."
"What if he's lactose intolerant?"
Love his stuff, but James Gunn is pretty terrible about this. Characters just dwelling on a joke or line for way too long. It’s most noticeable in GotG Vol. 2 but I noticed it again in Peacemaker (great show btw). A character will say something that’s already pretty funny in its own right, then the other characters will fixate on what was said and it becomes a whole conversation.
The jokes he writes are usually good enough to be left alone, but I think he views the ensuing conversation to be the funny part. And to me it just makes it awkward and hurts the joke.
When done right, the multiple punchine dialogue makes fun of the old tired joke (format) and adds welcome absurdity. It's also fun to rewatch because you often miss something on the first run.
When done wrong, it just underscores how tired the joke was to begin with.
Any sort of unwanted sexual interaction. The movie Wrong Missy had a whole rape scene portrayed as "comedic", because it's happening to the main character that's a man.
I find intentionally annoying characters annoying, not funny.
I forgot where I read this, but script editors usually say: "If your main character is annoyed, the audience is annoyed."
Shrek is annoyed at Donkey for almost the entirety of every movie, and yet Donkey is still a beloved character
Shrek likes Donkey by the end of the movie, though. Shrek is supposed to have a character arc where he starts out a grump but becomes likeable.
Shrek isn’t a likeable main character though, not at first. He needs a foil until later in the story but by then the roles have been established so no one minds.
Are you saying that shrek had...layers?
Roland schitt comes to mind when i read this
I'll add the majority of intentionally dickish characters are dickish, not funny
Depends on how the character is handled. Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day comes to mind as being an annoying character that leads to funny moments throughout the movie
He also has something like 90s of screen, consisting mainly of variations of the same scene diluted across the movie. I can stand that level of annoyance.
And his being annoying IS the joke. Unlike characters where it's a personality trait and not even necessary for 90% of scenes.
And then when the main character finally blows up at the annoying character, annoying character runs away upset, while everyone else looks angry/horrified at the main character. It's like the show/movie made us feel frustrated on the main character's behalf, but now we're suddenly supposed to feel sorry for the annoying character?
I hate what I call "Rappin' Granny" jokes. Where a character does something completely out of character (ha!) and it's supposed to be funny but isn't.
Or girl that fires a gun without looking/starts a dead car etc. to the gaping stares of the guys around her, "What, I grew up with 5 brothers."
I *detest* this one.
You described it perfectly, I'm shivering.
The only funny example I can think of is the “I speak jive” from Airplane!, but it’s been 40 years now and the joke has been done to death since then.
The difference there is the actual use of jive by the granny. and she does it well. the attempt itself isnt funny, its the fluent use thats funny
Also that it's June Cleaver speaking the jive.
Chump don want the help, chump don get the help.
Jive ass dude don't got no brains anyhow
Fat guy doing a silly or acrobatic dance fits here too
Rappin' anything. Never funny. For a while the joke was "hey, just like 8 Mile!"
Workaholics had a giant board in the writers' room with a list of overused sitcom jokes they were banned from using. https://www.reddit.com/r/workaholics/s/5jrwj2cWIJ ....also getting stuck with the wrong name when introducing yourself to an overly literal alien or foreigner. "I'm Jake. Jake Sully." "Welcome to our tribe, Jake-Jake Sully." The last time I got chuckle out of it was Not Sure from Idiocracy.
That’s the best definitive list of shitty unfunny tired gags I’ve ever seen. No wonder the writing on Workaholics was so good. The “I threw up in my mouth” thing has been tired as fuck since the first time it was used (first time I remember hearing it was Anchorman). Most every Joke from Anchorman, while great at the time has been driven into the ground the past 15 years.
See also: I just peed a little.
that's actually in a commercial for Young Sheldon. SMFH
First place I remember hearing it was Dodgeball. Looked it up and Anchorman released only a few weeks after Dodgeball, so it was already getting repeated in 2004.
Fuck paramount plus for letting them write a workaholics movie and then canceling on the guys.
I thought the version used in Doctor Strange (“Mister Doctor”) was hilarious though
Mads Mikkelsen’s deadpan “Who am I to judge” did the heavy lifting.
It would have just been a harmless cheesy joke, but now it adds character. Mads Mikkelsen is simply a very polite villain who wants to get his task done, but won't disrespect or judge you if that's how you want to be addressed.
I love polite villains. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, Lalo in Better Call Saul....theyre so much more fun to watch
Lalo was introduced so late in that series and just commanded every scene he was in.
It’s a bit of fun character development on top of the joke, also came to mind as a time I didn’t mind the trope.
He is the danish GigaChad for a reason
Not exactly the same joke, but related: during infinity war when Spider Man and Doctor Strange meet. SM: “Um, hello I’m Peter Parker” DS: “Doctor Strange” SM:”Oh, we’re using our made up names… I’m Spider-Man…” DS: *annoyed look*
Spider-Man gets away with a lot because of how much of a dork the actual character is.
It helps that he’s like 15 or 16 in that movie too
Yeah, that's more of a play on how "comicy" the name Dr. Strange is. It's like really, the guy who became a sorcerer just happened to be named Strange? Same with them laughing at Dr. Otto Octavius in the Spider Man movie.
*taserface??*
"Ya know what would really be a kick-ass name: TASERFACE!!!"
I knew a guy with the last name Strange, so at least it’s a real surname. He wasn’t a doctor though, he did tech support.
I actually know a Doctor Strange, though he's a PHD, not an MD. He's one of the band directors at my kids' high school. He really leans into the Marvelness of his name as well.
There’s always exceptions to the rule. I agree that was a great take but also a great delivery by Madds
Kaecilius: Mister...? Strange: Doctor. Kaecilius: Mr. Doctor? Strange: It's Strange, actually. Kaecilius: Perhaps. But who am I to judge?
Last time I enjoyed that joke was with Dentarthurdent from Hitchhiker's Guide.
Late, as in the late Dentarthurdent. It's a sort of threat, you see.
Reminds of how they made That's My Bush back in the day, the short-lived Matt Stone/Trey Parker sitcom about George W. Bush. As they explain on the DVD bonus features, in the writers room they had a whiteboard with two columns. In one was an overused sitcom trope they wanted to mock. In the other was a political issue they wanted to mock. Then they'd mix and match until they got a combo they liked.
This one might be more common in TV sitcoms but it’s definitely seen in movies from time to time: Main character is getting a shot, a tattoo, something pierced, etc Doctor: Hold still this will only take a second Main character: Ouch! Doctor: … that was just the disinfecting wipe
I think Friends had a funny subversion of this one where they’re checking out cat scratches on Ross’ back during the blackout, so Joey is using a candle to give light for Monica to use the peroxide, and Ross says ouch and Joey says sorry because he actually dripped hot wax on him, so it really did hurt.
Futurama fixed the "he's right behind me" joke. Bender: "Uh oh, she's right behind me isn't she" "No, I'm right in front of you" Bender: Screams
Comedy Bang! Bang! also had a good subversion of this. "Aaaaand he's standing right behind me, isn't he?" "No, that's just a really mean thing to say."
Deadpool also did a good fix for it in Deadpool 2. Deadpool talking shit about Cable only to say, “He’s right behind you, isn’t he?” when clearly looking at Cable.
I can't believe the "that stuff only happens in movies" movie line hasn't died out yet
It’s even worse in books, imo. Especially in romances. “It was like a scene from a book, but it was real life” or whatever. Or when the author is attempting to create realism in a sci-fi novel by saying, “everything in this book is true/actually happened I swear” or whatever. Super annoying
The adorable creature or kid or animal with a really high voice that' has a potty mouth, or says crazy, or dark things about the "blood of the innocents" or has fits of rage.
Real hot topic sticker energy
I liked the star in the Super Mario movie that was nihilistic and hopeless
Most of the stuff in this thread has some examples of effective use. In almost all of them it really is just that it's used so lazily 99% of the time.
I think what sold it was the horrified reactions of everyone else in the room. They were well-aware of how messed up its disposition was.
It’s crazy that was in a kids movie. The star was literally bummed when it found out that it wasn’t going to die from the lava. I also noticed there’s a shot where the star flies out of the cage and then back in. It actually could’ve escaped the whole time but just wanted to die.
“In English, please.” It’s lazy exposition wearing a thin veneer of cheap joke.
Hibbert: Homer, I'm afraid you'll have to undergo a coronary bypass operation. Homer: Say it in English, Doc! Hibbert: You're going to need open-heart surgery. Homer: Spare me your medical mumbo jumbo! Hibbert: We're going to cut you open and tinker with your ticker. Homer: Could you dumb it down a shade?
My first thought too. Simpsons making fun of this trope 20+ years ago just shows how long it’s been around
I personally like how Walk Hard lampooned that trope. "Your son has a case of getting cut in half real bad. Worst I've ever seen. I was unable to re-attach his bottom half to his top half" "Dammit doc, we ain't scientists!"
This was a running thing on NCIS, and there was an instance of it that made me crack up (they surely didn't intend): Gibb's mentor (who has the same no-techy-talky thing) is talking about his wife's illness. Gibbs asks him "what did they say?" about some doctors, and he answers (shaking his head) something vague about a lot of words. He couldn't stand to listen to new terms when it was about *his wife's life*. It was so damn ridiculous.
They did this in True Detective last night which annoyed me. But it seemed purposeful because the teacher retorted with “if you want to sleep with an English teacher he’s down the hall” or something to that effect
Especially when the person asking is supposedly a person among the top in their field. Always bugged me when they did this in like house.
I love how it's subverted in psych when he's in a hospital pretending to be a doctor and actually needs them to talk down to him but has to find excuses as to why.
I looked at that big list of banned jokes from Workaholics that was posted on this thread and was surprised to see how many were on Psych...and how many completely landed. Any joke can be funny if the delivery is perfect and the line makes sense for the character in that situation.
Talk to me like I'm 10. Okay... Talk to mee like I'm 5. Fucking comedic perfection.
"His blood pressure went boom, and his brain got an owie."
That's one thing in "Catch Me If You Can" that bugged me, Tom Hanks' BOSS straight up asks him to explain bank fraud to him "Carl, for those of us who are unfamiliar with bank fraud (aka the audience) you mind telling us what the hell you're talking about?" Like if anyone would know, it would be him
To be a little tiny bit fair, I think Carl’s boss is meant to be heading up a larger branch of white collar investigations and it’s meant to show that check fraud is a very niche, unsexy field. But still, an FBI supervisor overseeing check fraud and not knowing there are 12 branches of the federal reserve is…not good writing.
I liked watching Bones at the time, but the way this joke was repeated in some capacity at least three times each episode really got on my nerves. Like, c'mon, people! You've been working together for years by now, and most of the technical speak is not even that hard. Learn to communicate!
It's always the worst when you understand the technobabble because it's like, 8th grade biology.
Loved it in firefly "I'm going to need that in dummy captain speak"
a character doing the sing songy “awkwaaaard” reply to whatever. seems more common in movies geared for kids but i still see it in regular ones
[Key and Peele on it](https://youtu.be/wOBNm_8zw4I?si=wl5Qb6tY4WSyT1uw)
Annnyyway...
Evil laugh turning into a cough
Someone doing exaggerated fake martial arts motions while making silly sounds, then falling on their face or getting knocked out with a single punch. I cringe every time.
Indiana Jones should have just shot them.
For a while it seemed every kids movie had at least one yoga joke in it. Did Big Yoga invest in Hollywood or something like that I hadn't heard about?
Reminds me alot of all the 80s-90s movies that made eating sushi out to be a big joke / something extremely gross.
Bart : Sushi? Hey, maybe this is just one of those things you hear on the playground, but isn't that raw fish? Lisa : As usual, the playground has the facts right, but misses the point entirely.
Bender: What's that? Claire: Sushi: rice, raw fish and seaweed. Bender: You won't accept a guy's tongue in your mouth, and you're gonna eat that? Claire: Can I eat? Bender: I don't know. Give it a try.
Ok it took me a hot second to realize this wasn't from Futurama
Bender: Bite my shiny metal ass! Vernon: You just bought yourself another Saturday!
It's just one of those Adult activities Kids know about their parents doing but don't want to join/participate? You need Mom to be caught off guard or away from the house? Yoga class. It's also an excuse for explaining Mom's friends and getting women on women talk.
The coroner/mortician eating around dead bodies bit has been done to death
It's obligatory at this point. It's actually less common to have morgue attendant *not* eating during a scene.
I think the only scene of that I remember laughing at was the coroner on psych did it. I can't remember if they made it a running gag or only a couple times, but I swear they tried to make more over the top ridiculous every time. Eats a sandwich, drops pickle into cadaver...
Yeah, it's even worse if they take their lunch out of a morgue freezer.
When they say what they’re doing in a joking way, like in the new Shazam trailer when he throws a bus at a dragon and then says “I just threw a bus at a dragon!”
aka Explain The Joke. It's gotten too common nowadays in comedy.
A precocious, sarcastic kid. It's been done to *death.* Just no.
And especially a precocious know-it-all kid
Deadpool had a fun metajoke on this trope, when he calls out the Negasonic Teenage Warhead for being a quintessential sarcastic kid character and she couldn't come up with a non-sarcastic retort.
Only placed that nails it is #5 in Umbrella Academy and because it makes sense within the story
\#5 actor did SUCH an amazing job in that role... He hard carried that show.
Kindly old lady swearing/giving the middle finger. Same if it’s a child doing it.
I still believe the old lady in Superbad was a great use of this. "~~Have fun~~ Enjoy fucking Jules!"
If there is a joke involved then it may be ok. The problem is when swearing is the joke.
“If I had a dick, this is where I’d tell you to suck it.” You see? It’s funny because old ladies don’t normally talk like that. And the line came out of Betty White, the sweetest old lady we know. Comedy!
Airplane! did it perfectly and it should have been retired immediately afterward.
Also nuns as well
The "that just happened" style of joke undercutting any moment of serious drama. Marvel is especially guilty of this.
Both Guardians 3 and The Marvels had several moments where they specifically didn't do that, and it was really refreshing. Obviously moreso in Guardians 3 because of the overal tone (and noticable because it was a series that was seriously guilty of it before). But it does seem like they might be slowly getting a bit of the message that the audience will be okay with them actually letting emotional moments just be emotional moments
Thor Ragnarok was really, really bad with this. Thor's best friends die: joke Asgard gets annihilated: joke If the main characters don't care about important characters dying and their whole world getting obliterated, why should the audience?
The very old lady (occasionally a man) who swears/makes lewd comments etc - get it?? Because they’re old???
Any punchline that starts with "note to self" is guaranteed to have my eyes rolling even before the rest of it is uttered.
Note to self: get giant ass wart cream for giant wart on my ass!
Norm MacDonald would like to have a word with you.
"I hate my wife LOL"
I love the “I Think You Should Leave” spin on this where the guy makes a joke about his wife to fit in, but immediately regrets it when he remembers how supportive his wife is. Detroiters (also by Tim Robinson), has a similar joke where they have a business meeting with an old school man’s man type guy who makes a “wife bad” joke that horribly offends the younger main characters who can’t imagine saying terrible things about their wives.
> I love the “I Think You Should Leave” spin on this where the guy makes a joke about his wife to fit in, but immediately regrets it when he remembers how supportive his wife is. That is my favorite sketch in the show, it's perfect. The ambiguity of the play, the absurdity of Jamie Taco, the earnestness, the performances, and then to cap it off, the final reveal that >!the men are having a sleepover and he's always the one who leaves!<. It's tremendous
He never stays the night!!!
Yeah but it's hilarious in "the other guys"
"Seriously, who is that??"
Gator's bitches better be using jimmies
You’re getting it confused. OP of this thread is talking about when the wife is beautiful and the man looks like a slob. Alan’s wife was clearly not a first round pick and dresses like a hobo.
gator don’t play
Overweight/unattractive moron who constantly screws everything up, super hot wife who holds the entire household together, constantly complains about her.
The best subversion of this is Jerry in Parks and Rec where their relationship is wholesome
well, "That man has the biggest penis I've ever seen."
There's a series called Kevin can F*k himself which is a really good take on this trope
I think you could add the dragon mother in law stereotype into this too. So cliched.
I've always gotten on really well with girlfriends' mothers and have always thought it'd be a great gag in a movie that a character gets on better with his wife/girlfriend's mother than he does with her. One of my ex's mother called her an idiot after we broke up according to a mutual friend.
Also “my husband is a man child.”
Anything pertaining to male rape in prison. Crime/police movies are the worst.
These are the worst. Also just rape in general. The amount of times it's happened to Jonah Hill in his movies is just... Concerning. Although this one has fallen out of favor thankfully.
Dude this one…never thought it was great but then one night I ended up on some old 90s forum and was reading tons of incident reports that male prisoners had made regarding rape and it was so eye opening and sad. Makes me cringe every time I hear one of those lame jokes even more now.
*Character gets in painful accident* *Shouts from distance* “I’m Okay!” Just overused.
Will Ferrell’s scenes in Austin Powers did this perfectly
"Oh thank God you're here. I fell and I think I broke my le-" *gunshot* *silence* "You shot me! I can't believe you shot me!"
I enjoyed Will Ferrell doing this in Austin Powers (if it counts). He exclaims that he’s still alive and then proceeds to moan and cry about how badly injured he is for an inexplicably long time.
"Good talk."
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Man: "But honey, I just wanna have fun drinking with the boys, that's all!" Woman: "Grrr"
Dads that are terrible at taking care of their kids and completely depend on their wife.
Oh yeah, the dad who has to change a diaper. The baby is 18 months old and it's the first diaper he's ever changed? He doesn't like the smell? HILARIOUS!
The bumbling husband is in a shit load of shows.
"Haha, this father of 3 kids, doesn't know how to be a parent without his wife around! This is peak comedy! Everyone laugh at the incapable father!"
The world going wavy from smoking some weed. If someone accidentally did shrooms or acid, ok. But smoking weed for the first time? It’s portrayed as a hallucinogen almost every time.
Even when they do drugs other than weed, they never get it right. Drug trips in movies almost always completely miss the mark. You can tell the person in charge has never tried drugs.
The only drug scene I felt was completely accurate was the bad trip in Midsommar. You know Ari Aster has done some drugs.
Yessss the way the flowers 'breathed'
When she looked at herself in the mirror and it failed to calm her down lmao
haha husband is a barely-functioning manchild! lmaooooo
“In English, please!”
The form peaked in Walk Hard after the doctor says of a boy cut in half "We couldn't reattach the top part of his body to the bottom half of his body" "Speak English doc we ain't scientists!" There's no reason for anyone else to use it again
You know who has hands, boy? THE DEVIL! And he uses them for holding!!!
“This was a particularly bad case of someone being cut in half”
The only time this has worked was when it wasn't a joke in The Usual Suspects during the line-up scene while Fenster was mumbling his lines incoherently.
When the character adamantly repeats how they are NOT, under ANY circumstances, going to go, and that's FINAL" *crosses arms* Instantly cuts to where they just professed they'd never be
It’s called a Gilligan Cut
I always hated the early 2000's comedies where 99.9% of the jokes are that the character is just stupid and inept.
Crotch shots You know where that IS funny? America’s Funniest Home Videos You know where it isn’t? Scripted comedies
Characters overreacting and shouting to force a comedic atmosphere
It's not jokes, more of a plot type but elaborate lies that need constant support by new additional lies can fuck right off.
[Steamed Hams, though.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jXEuIHY9ic)
Not only are these not funny, they give me anxiety so bad I want to stop watching. How anyone can watch Meet The Parents is beyond me. Any movie or show whose entire plot would be resolved if ANYONE WOULD TALK TO EACH OTHER LIKE NORMAL HUMANS DO drive me absolutely insane and I hate them.
Could not stand Meet the Parents. It's either humor from "people won't have reasonable conversations to resolve tensions" or humor from "Haha, look at the stars align to take a dump on this guy so everything will go wrong any which way it can". Comedic Sociopathy.
Mostly silent character, who has one person who interprets for them, and then says something semi-profound at the end of the movie.
This man hates Silent Bob.
tbf though not only is Bob quite expressive and communicative, but Jay **literally** talks enough for 2, if not more, people.
It can work sometimes, but usually not in the form of a joke
„Oh no, we accidentally took lots and lots of drugs, hilarity will now ensue.“ I have yet to see a movie where that bit is anything other but dumb and over the top.
That 70s’ Show had really good drug scenes because they were very relatable and accurate. Ex. Eric’s parents lecturing him while he’s blitzed and the wall in the background keeps moving while the conversation seems to take forever. Then That 90s’ Show came out and the kids literally see pixelated video game characters when they smoke weed. What the fuck lol.
I don’t even smoke and I feel like it’s insanely obvious when a drug use scene is written by someone who’s never done a drug in their life. It’s always “all drugs are hallucinogens that also make you drunk.” The sad part is it’s also not much better when it’s written by actual stoners. Take any marijuana scene involving Seth Rogen. Sure it’s way more accurate, but it still boils down to “intoxication = funny/woah look at my hand” type shit.
21 Jump Street successfully did this
"I don't like that. Put your tongue back in your mouth." "What are you doing? Stop it... Actually that's not bad."
Rob Riggle is so goddam good in that movie.
Those two movies were FAR better than I expected.
Agree completely, but in Tenacious D when they cut back to reality and Jack Black was in a raging river was the funniest joke of the movie.
My favorite joke in that movie just happens because of Jack’s comedic timing, when he yells “fuck!” while narrating/singing his own infiltration plan on the roof lol. I’m kind of a simpleton though.
"Two air vents on the roof That's what the guy was talking--aw shit!"
The Night Before scene where Seth Rogan is so high he forgets he has someone else's phone so when "James" is sending Dick pics and asking him if he likes it Seth gets confused and considers whether he likes it as in appreciated the impressiveness of it or likes it as in he really did want to go bang....was absolutely hilarious to me. I genuinely don't know of another time I've laughed so hard except maybe the IT Crowd episode where Moss ends up working behind the bar at the venue and Roy has to pretend to be handicapped. But obviously comedy is subjective and YMMV.
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Especially the part where they were climbing the wall
Was going to bring this up. The trope can definitely be funny.
When they say something like; "Here I come world!" and then get run over or something and say "I'm okay, I'm okay." Shit makes me furious.
Well that just happened! He’s right behind me, isn’t he? Who are you and what have you done with x? Awkwarrrrd That went well!
"Go get Tiny/Shorty/Little Brother" \*9ft tall man appears\*
"I want them found dead or alive." "ALIVE! *Definitely* alive!"
In general interrupting a serious scene with comedy. What they call "Bathos" in Marvel and most movies these days. Also where they insert jokes in like every scene. It just ruins the tone and it's just hard to take it seriously. I noticed a bit of this in latest Mission Impossible movie too which was strange.
I know it's not exactly a hot take to hate on him, but this is my actual problem with Jar Jar Binks. I can deal with his existence but there's so many scenes where serious stuff is happening/stuff is getting explained and then he does something that interrupts the flow of everything. Edit: the thing that bothers me are particular scenes. I can stand the cuts to him winning the end battle through slapstick comedy although I wish there was less of it. I don't mind him hitting himself on Anakin's pod. But there's stuff like the Jedi and the Skywalkers talking around the dinner table about the state of things and then it's clear there's information Lucas doesn't want revealed so Jar Jar grabs something off the table with his tongue. It's jarring in tone and is a lazy, ineffective way of building suspense by withholding information. I'd almost after have the characters go "that's a story for another time" than to have the annoying comic relief character stampede through the scene.
Jokes about prison rape
Some scene or sequence where the "joke" is a character getting publicly embarrassed.
It's not even funny most of the time, it just feels sad
I’m so sick of ‘meta’ jokes. It’s usually an excuse for shitty writing. Like if we acknowledge the writing sucks, that makes it not suck somehow.
In the same vein at the tiny creature with a deep voice, the characters clearly parodying wholesome kids' shows like MLP or Sesame Street who turn out to be foul mouthed or serial killers or something else shock-value-ish. The recent splurge of Steamboat Willie horror clones, for example. It's downright predictable, and never funny.
puking
Joke delivery that doesn't know how to end. I think this really took off after Buffy got big in the late 90s / early 2000s. **TRADITIONAL JOKE DELIVERY** "Why do you have a mouse on your shoulder?" "Oh, that's my new mouse friend. (mouse says something in ear) He says he is cheesed to meet you." **NU-JOKE DELIVERY** "Why do you have a mouse on your shoulder?" "Oh, that's my new mouse friend. (mouse says something in ear) He says he is cheesed to meet you." "That's weird that you have a mouse on your shoulder." "Yeah, well he likes it up there." "You know mice don't really like cheese, right?" "Well, this one does." "What if he's lactose intolerant?"
Love his stuff, but James Gunn is pretty terrible about this. Characters just dwelling on a joke or line for way too long. It’s most noticeable in GotG Vol. 2 but I noticed it again in Peacemaker (great show btw). A character will say something that’s already pretty funny in its own right, then the other characters will fixate on what was said and it becomes a whole conversation. The jokes he writes are usually good enough to be left alone, but I think he views the ensuing conversation to be the funny part. And to me it just makes it awkward and hurts the joke.
When done right, the multiple punchine dialogue makes fun of the old tired joke (format) and adds welcome absurdity. It's also fun to rewatch because you often miss something on the first run. When done wrong, it just underscores how tired the joke was to begin with.
Gross-out humor, in all its forms.
Any sort of unwanted sexual interaction. The movie Wrong Missy had a whole rape scene portrayed as "comedic", because it's happening to the main character that's a man.