Category:Running Gag: Difference between revisions

{{IndexTrope}}

[[File:1o0runninggag.gif|link=1/0|frame|"That's not a running gag! That's a pun!" "It's a running gag now."]]

{{quote|''"That's not funny. But don't worry, it's a running joke, so they'll repeat it several times until you have no choice but to find it funny."''|'''[[The Nostalgia Critic]]''', ''[[Suburban Commando]]'' review}}

A joke that is only mildly funny the first time, but becomes funnier each time it is repeated. ''Must'' be repeated at least [[Rule of Three|three times]]. But repeat it ''too'' many times and it becomes an [[Overly Long Gag]]. A variant is a joke or scene that occurs [[Once an Episode]]; doing ''that'' too often threatens to turn it into an [[Overused Running Gag]].

The ultimate fear for the use of any running gag is not that it becomes an [[Overly Long Gag]]; rather, it is that it was never funny in the first place. Nothing is worse than starting a one hour show with a joke that bombs that you're going to use twenty times over the next hour.

A '''Running Gag''' can be limited to a particular episode or recur throughout an entire series. If it recurs throughout an entire series, then it will often develop variations and/or be accompanied by [[Lampshade Hanging]]. If a character [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|breaks the fourth wall]] to mention it, it's [[Didn't We Use This Joke Already?]]

A comedy [[Catch Phrase]] is a type of '''Running Gag'''. Can become potential for [[Memetic Mutation]] if the gag itself is widely applicable. Compare [[Arc Words]], which are a recurring phrase that isn't a gag. See subtropes [[Once Per Episode]] and [[Every Episode Ending]].

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'''''X-treme!X-treme!'''''

{{quote|-- [[1/0|The Running Gag]]}}

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]

[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:In Joke]]

[[Category:Running Gag]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]