Overly Long Gag/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A simple gag is stretched out to the point of losing humor, then continues going on, circling back to being funny again.

  • Straight: Bob smashes a glass bottle against a counter to use as a makeshift weapon, before noticing the handle's too short. So he gets another glass bottle, drinks its contents, and smashes that one before seeing the blades aren't sharp enough. Repeat ad nauseam until commercial break.
  • Exaggerated: This continues for three more episodes of bottle smashing.
  • Justified: Bob has OCD, and feels the need to perform actions several times.
  • Inverted: Bob instantly has a perfectly smashed bottle in his hand; this is funny in some way.
  • Subverted: Bob smashes a few glass bottles, and decides on the 3rd bottle to use.
    • Bob smashes two bottles in a row and is just about to reach for a third, however changes his mind and grabs the second bottle again with an "Actually, this one'll do."
  • Double Subverted: ... But after he loses the need for it, decides to hand it to someone else. Proceed with 4 minutes worth of people questioning Bob and denying the glass bottle.
  • Parodied: Everything Bob does is an Overly Long Gag.
  • Deconstructed: Bob's constant need for repetition results in people not familiar with his OCD losing patience with him.
  • Reconstructed: However, they learn to lighten up on him and even find his repetition amusing at times.
  • Zig Zagged: The length of the jokes Bob makes vary.
  • Averted: The first smashed bottle makes for a decent weapon.
  • Enforced: "All the plot threads have been sewn up, but there's still a few spare minutes left." "How about we just take a joke and stretch it out for those last few minutes?" "Perfect!"
  • Lampshaded: "He's been going at this for quite a while, hasn't he?"
  • Invoked: Bob intentionally repeats the bottle-smashing to buy time.
  • Defied: After smashed bottle #5, the people in the bar, anxious to see a fight, tell Bob to get on with it.
  • Discussed: "How much do you bet he's gonna continue this?"
  • Conversed: "Y'know, to me, it seems lazy of producers to just fill in that spare time with the same joke used over and over. They could use it to flesh out the characters a bit."

You said you wanted to go back to the main page, right? Well, I don't remember which one you asked for, though I will check to see any that seem familiar. Let's see, there's Xanatos Gambit, Department of Redundancy Department, Fridge Brilliance, Interesting Situation Duel, Beyond the Impossible, Ominous Latin Chanting, Stuff Blowing Up, Screw the Rules, I Have Money, Screw the Money, I Have Rules, Crowning Moment of Awesome, Memetic Mutation, Batman Can Breathe in Space, Narm, Brick Joke, Eureka Moment, Precision F-Strike, Does Not Like Shoes, The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard, Author Appeal, Show Some Leg, Sorry I Left the BGM On, Recycled in Space, Made of Explodium, Stuffed Into the Fridge, You Gotta Have Blue Hair, Gatling Good, Crazy Prepared, Buffy-Speak, Tear Jerker, Never Say "Die", Atomic F-Bomb, Large Ham, The Stinger, The Butler Did It, Bitter Almonds, Fun with Acronyms, Freud Was Right, Sneeze of Doom, Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking, Bifauxnen, Lampshade Hanging... I'm sorry this is taking so long, but I can't seem to remember which one it is. For now, please go back to Overly Long Gag while I check the trope pages. Anyways, Rule of Three, Epileptic Trees, Refuge in Audacity, Four Is Death...

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