Cutaway Gag: Difference between revisions

 

 

'''Quagmire:''' It's the best show you're not watching!<br />

'''Cleveland:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|I hate shows that cut away from the story for some bull crap.]]<br />

 

Also known as a Cutaway Joke or, thanks to ''[[South Park]]'', a Manatee Gag, a Cutaway Gag is a joke generally found in sillier comedies in which one character says something completely random and the action immediately cuts to a throwaway joke. The Cutaway Gag is a non sequitur in that it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the comedy. [[Rule of Funny|It is just there to be funny.]] And if the gag ''is'' funny, no one minds the non sequitur. Of course, if it isn't...

 

== [[Anime and Manga]] ==

* Seen in ''[[Inuyasha]]'' when the group are trying to stop two warring brothers from tearing up the countryside. When Inuyasha gets side-tracked complaining about how warring brothers cause needless hassle for everyone and then defensively claiming that he and Sesshoumaru have nothing in common with these two brothers, Sango - in a moment of complete randomness - wonders if Sesshoumaru's the kind of person who sneezes when he's talked about. Cue the momentary [[Cutaway Gag]] which doubles as a [[Sneeze Cut]] to reveal that it's actually Jaken who sneezes on Sesshoumaru's behalf and that he really dislikes this aspect of being Sesshoumaru's servant. Then the normal plotline continues.

* This is done in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'': The notorious dance scene with Japan and Switzerland. ''Yo ho ho, tra la la la...''

* Episode 16 of ''[[Slayers]]'' had Lina, Gourry, and Amelia travelling with a theater company. The director decided to cast them in an upcoming play, with Amelia as the hero. In one scene where she reads a line from the script (in her usual [[Large Ham]] / [[Love Freak]] way), the background shifts to make it look like she is a voice actress in a recording studio. Then she asks "how was it?" -- cut to Gourry behind the recording desk, who says "Sorry, you were blowing into the mic." The background then shifts back to normal, and Amelia responds "I was ''what''?!"

 

 

== Comics ==

{{quote| '''Launchpad:''' There aren't really a lot of positions open for sidekicks/pilots.<br />

'''Launchpad:''' I can pilot this!<br />

'''Gadget:''' No. No, you cannot. }}

 

== Fan Works ==

{{quote| '''Edgeworth:''' This is just like that one episode of the Steel Samurai where he meets the Pink Princess! '''''WHEEEEEEE!!!'''''<br />

'''Phoenix:''' ''(Doctor, I'd like the part of my brain responsible for that image [[Brain Bleach|lobotomized please...]])'' }}

 

== [[Film]] ==

{{quote| ''You've gotta talk him right down to the ground!'' (watermelon falls right to the ground)<br />

''We go back a long time.'' (long spear is thrown into the wall behind him) }}

{{quote| '''Louis:''' Oh, I tried once.<br />

*Cut to Louis jumping onto a river boat and playing his trumpet. Five seconds later, he dives back into the river as the boat's passengers fire at him.*<br />

(cut to [[Stock Footage]] of battleships)<br />

'''Voiceover''': There have been many stirring tales told of the sea and also some fairly uninteresting ones only marginally connected with it, like this one. Sorry, this isn't a very good announcement. }}

* ''Titus'' (starring, surprise surprise, Christopher Titus) featured so many cutaway gags that some fans referred to it as a live action "Family Guy."

* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' often featured Manatee Gags. Although they usually segued from and back to the main action somehow.

** Although the one time they actually made a joke about a manatee, it was ''not'' one of these. (Although it was a non-sequitur, it wasn't a cutaway.)

* Frequently used in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', usually in the form of someone's memory or invoking a brief flashback (appropriate, given that the entire series is a flashback made of a guys memories).

** They even managed to do this in the [[Live Episode]]; Julia Louis-Dreyfus replaced Tina Fey in the flashback scenes.

{{quote| '''Jack''': Why are you better-looking in your memory?<br />

'''Liz''': My memory has ''[[Seinfeld]]'' money. }}

* ''[[Father Ted]]'' did a few of these.

* The "adult puppet show" [[Mongrels]] does too many to count.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[PK Comic]]'' provides a good example in [http://www.pk-comic.com/comic0012.html this comic.]

''(Cut to random female fighter ghost challenging Death to a wet t-shirt contest)'' }}

* Used in [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/04/06 this strip of] ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', when showing [[Potty Failure|why Gabe only wore his pants backwards once]].

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

'''Coop (looking off into the distance)''': Well...<br />

(Scene then fades into a [[Montage]] of Coop [[I Know Mortal Kombat|playing video games from when he was a child]], to his teen years, to his early adulthood) }}

{{quote| '''Lois:''' Nigel's charming. All British men are!<br />

(Scene cuts to Disraeli as he writes with a quill pen in his study, then glares at the camera)<br />

'''Benjamin Disraeli:''' [[No Fourth Wall|You]] [[Small Reference Pools|don't even know who I am!]]. }}

** One episode even had a [[Cutaway Gag]] within a [[Cutaway Gag]].

** In the episode where Peter becomes overly-feminine, they set up a cutaway gag that cuts back to a scene from about a minute earlier.

** They even have Cutaway Gags poking fun at Cutaway Gags. In one episode, there's a cutaway about the time Quagmire thought he was getting his own show (instead of Cleveland)

{{quote| '''Quagmire:''' "See you later, bitches. Have fun your stupid, fucking Giant Chicken jokes and your Conway Twitty... Hey, why is there a moving truck outside Cleveland's house?"}}

** In another episode, Peter claimed to feel "like Lady Macbeth when she was betrayed by Duncan." We then cut to a spaceship, where Lady Macbeth is fighting a bear. Peter then walks onscreen, and admits "I don't really know Shakespeare."

* ''[[Kappa Mikey]]'' had a few per episode [[Follow the Leader|that all seemed to be directly inspired by]] ''[[Family Guy]]''.

** From the episode "The Bully:"

{{quote| '''Spongebob:''' "Oh, Gary! I'm too young to have my butt kicked! There's so many things in life that I haven't gotten to do!"<br />

''(cut to a live-action old guy in a mock soda commercial) }}

** In the episode "The Great Snail Race", as Spongebob is training Gary to participate in the race, at one point (after Spongebob lampshades [[Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty|sexist strategies in his training]]) the scene abruptly cuts to Sandy saying to herself, "I don't know ''why'', but I think I should kick Spongebob's butt tomorrow". And at the end of the episode [[Brick Joke|she does just that]].

** One episode lampshaded the difference by having Stan give the setup for a Cutaway Gag and nothing happens other than Francine asking what on Earth he was doing.

** Also lampshaded when Roger gave a cutaway gag setup, but instead of showing a joke, he explained his metaphor.

** [[Word of God|The same DVD commentary]] said they stopped because ''[[Family Guy]]'' was doing so many, in an attempt to be different.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuVDhLbvS4g Parodied] (with a manatee-esque walrus) on ''[[Drawn Together]]''.

* ''[[Regular Show]]'' does them once in a while. A memorable instance from "The Power", where [[It Makes Sense in Context|the group arrives on the Moon thanks to Mordecai and Rigby's magic keyboard.]] They see a bunch of random objects and, when Mordecai asks how they got there, Rigby comments that while the others were in the bathroom...

{{quote| '''Rigby (singing and playing The Power):''' A bunch of baby ducks, seeend 'em to the moon!/Soda machine that doesn't work, seeend 'em to the moon!}}

{{quote| '''Slappy''': You're not my nephew, you're one of those body-snatching pod people I always read about in the check-out line!<br />

''(Scene cuts to Slappy at the supermarket reading a newspaper.)''<br />