Running Gag/Web Comics

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Bob and George has tons of them, from the line "What? I'm evil, I lied." to Acapulco to Level 10 alerts to the F-word being used on December 1st. It even has a Running Gag of characters complaining about Running Gags..
  • 1/0 subverts this as seen in the image above. Tailsteak decided to be Literal-Minded while creating it, and it turned out as a literal "running gag". (Characters complain within the strip about how bad this joke is.)
    • Double Subverted in that the Running Gag appears so often, it actually does turn into a running gag. In its last strip after Andy dies Tailsteak says "Wasn't really a running gag, was it?" to which a character responds "Debatable." link
    • That's not a running gag. That's a pun.
  • El Goonish Shive has a fair share of running gags, such as using the recurring character "Demonic duck of some sort" as a distraction, or the obscure stories of earlier exploits of the cast, such as Tedd turning Sarah into a Catgirl.
  • In The Order of the Stick, there is one where Elan messes up a bluff by another character by singing "Bluff, bluff, bluff, bluff _________". Belkar actually lampshades it.
    • This is actually part of a more general Running Gag about Elan using his bard song in completely inappropriate situations such as "Testify, testify on your own behalf", including one Lampshaded as the literal textbook example of where bard song would not give bonuses: "Move, move, move, move silently across the battlefield".
    • Another running gag that recovers its breath occasionally is I prepared explosive runes this morning.
    • Early on, there was the Running Gag of Roy's dad's ghost coming by to give him advice at night. This led to another running gag: whenever he repeated the advice, someone would ask "Isn't your dad dead?" and Roy would nonchalantly respond "Yes." and go on without further explanation.
    • Also, Elan's illusions almost always end up being a female version of whoever he tries to distract. I count two targets happily married/committed, one gay, and one with a schoolboyish fear of girls (though that one worked to scare him off).
    • Then there's Elan's recurring hand puppet/personal deity, Banjo.
    • V's newfound epic power turning out to be unnecessary is a running gag that's been developed in record time.
    • Falling characters landing on flumphs. The one time it was averted, it was lampshaded in the next comic.
    • Durkon and his feud with trees. Eventually lampshaded, too -

Haley: Look, I'm not proud of what I did - but I needed an easy recurring joke to cover my getaway, and there were no flumphs available, OK?

    • The Monster In The Darkness not knowing what the gates are. "Gate? What gate?"
  • Irregular Webcomic has a long-standing joke about characters being killed by "insanely overpowered fireballs" - and a character called Death of Insanely Overpowered Fireballs (who has been promoted and demoted on several occasions).
    • There are also the deaths by giant frogs. Variants include being sat on, choking on and getting stared at angrily by one.
    • Then there are the "Hobbit" puns, which are so groan worthy the author has a self-imposed limit of one every 100+ strips.
    • Nazi science sneers at running gags!
    • Steve wrestling something to death, even once happened to the Death Of Being Wrestled To Death By Steve. Also, Steve once managed to wrestle himself to death.
  • Schlock Mercenary: Due to an act of sabotage and realising they couldn't get damages off The Partnership Collective (a hive mind of clone lawyer drones with no conscience), the Sol System courts decided to inflict two billion kilocreds of damage on them, hiring Tagon's Toughs to do it. This equates to about a million of these drones. If a snake with a tie shows up, expect Schlock to kill it.
    • Schlock eats a lot of interesting things, has only one bodily orifice and has no sense of subtlety.
    • Other characters have lampshaded the fact that they're not willing to rely on the sense of smell of anything that craps out the same hole.
    • Schlock has an addiction to 'Genuine Imitation Ovalkwik'.
    • Ennesby's punning, although this has faded a little with time.
    • Lately, Kathryn's bus being stolen and promptly destroyed.
    • Ryk demonstrates two different types of Running Gag here
  • Loserz has several running gags. Ben alone has quite a few, such as his (inadvertent) line of choice when talking to chicks, the fork in the eye, and his zombie obsession.
  • In Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name, the nameless character (usually referred to as Zombie or {...}) is constantly being renamed by his parter Hanna. Some of these names are pretty ordinary, but Hanna comes up with some peculiar ones too, like Gallahad, Imhotep, Socrates and, perhaps the best yet, Ringo.
  • The major one in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob is the Weirdness Magnet which causes anything weird to crash into or land on the roof of the title character's house. Also see panel 4 of this strip.
  • Darths and Droids has Jim (Qui-Gon's) big fish and hilarious malapropisms, the funniest of the latter so far being "Ratatouille" for "Tatooine".
    • Calling Jedi Knights "Cheddar Monks".... Also, "I cast Summon Bigger Fish."
    • Whenever the GM introduces a new term, somebody will ask what it is and Jim will quickly supply a completely inaccurate definition.
  • MS Paint Adventures rides this trope like a mechanical bull. No pumpkin here, go away.
    • MSPA has a ton of these. They have their own page in the wiki.
  • Chainmail Bikini is an example that would have had a running gag if its creators hadn't given up on the comic. Said running gag, they explained later, would have been The Roleplayer's characters being repeatedly killed off. They were two characters in when the comic ended, and mentioned that the readers saw the "gag" as more mean spirited than funny.
  • xkcd has its "My Hobby" joke...I needed more words to which I could add examples. Even moreof Overly Long Gag.
  • Least I Could Do:
    • "... and then I bought the horse a prostitute."
    • "I love this guy!"
  • Exterminatus Now has got the daemon-possessed toaster.
  • The early DMFA strips had Azlan's severely accident-prone wife, Neni.
  • In MSF High, Rainer's penchant for Exposition has slowly moved into running gag, complete with a warning sign!
  • Brawl in the Family has a number of these. It's quite amazing how many gags it gets out of the premise that Kirby transforms into whatever he eats.
  • In the later run of Casey and Andy, "Bob was there, too" was added randomly to stories or recollections. Said stories were usually complete by themselves, but Bob shows up to provide an extra character. Casey and Andy killing each other. Repeatedly.
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has sexism. Frequently. The longest they've gone without sexism is about 6 comics.
    • Also: Fatass
  • In Everyday Heroes, the neighborhood moms are named Jane, Joan, June, Jan, Jenny, and Ginny. The single dads are John and Jean (pronounced "zhawn"... he are from France).
  • In the last strip of every season of Ansem Retort, no matter what, Zexion will order Chinese food.
  • In Sequential Art, if Kat doesn't like you, she lets you know. Repeatedly. Bitch.
    • The squirrel girls helpfully "repair" something. Again. There may be a slight chance that it will explode. "Wait, did you repair or weaponize?"
  • Narbonic has one in regards to Dave's smoking habit - which was edited out of the continuum accidentally in a fairly early story.
  • Neglected Mario Characters used to do a literal running-gag similar to (but earlier than) 1/0, but with an actual character, Churro, running, not the word "Gag."
  • Other NC running gags include the spontaneous explosion of Earth, lampshading of Luigi being even more neglected than the rest of the cast, & close-ups of Dr. Donez whenever he's addressed by name, among others.
  • In Eight Bit Theater, whenever the Other Warriors show up, at some point Berserker will end up mauling Thief.
  • In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Dr. McNinja likes to punch things in the face. For example: snakes, velociraptors, zombies, Dracula... It was even used in a banner once.
    • Did the good doctor die or have something equally horrible happen to him? Congratulations! It's an anniversary strip!
  • Shooter's Epic Awesome Adventure of Manliness has Beat. He appears multiple times throughout the series, always saying 'Im Diggin' it' at least once. Beat has had an issue devoted to him in the first series and After Story, and got an Entire Arc in Yellow After. Due to Kanon's inability to plan ahead, 80% of the time he will be killed off in some manner.
    • You could say people coming back from the dead is a Running Gag itself. Even though they get killed again.
    • To a Lesser Extent, Pheonyx and Sho & Shyo. Also, Batlion, Suitlion and OmegaBatlion
  • Girl Genius: "He threw a bomb at me!"
    • "I've heard the Baron's son chews furniture."
    • Jägers' food. Especially when it's a treat to someone else. "Oh, der's no bogz dis time. Honest."
  • Dominic Deegan has quite a few gags, considering how long it's been going.
  • One of the main Bittersweet Candy Bowl cast is repeated lead into saying "Hi, I'm Daisy," much to the hilarity of her Double Dash-playing friends.
  • Looking for Group: Anytime people are introduced, or reunited, Richard will pop up with "I'm Richard." Also "For Pony!"
    • Cale sometimes cannot stop himself from making a "Dick" joke about Richard.
    • Richard's ever-increasing number of titles:Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead...Lord of the Dance... The Mistress of Magma...and the mayor of a little village up the coast.
      • It's very scenic during the springtime.
    • For a long time, Richard's pet rabbit. In the midst of a dramatic fight scene...the bunny is tagging along behind the panther. And it is not a Killer Rabbit.
    • "you think you know me"
    • Tim the Troll's pet name for Cale, screamed every time he reunites with him. "CHICKEN!"
  • Slightly Damned has Buwaro's tendency to play catch with his pet rock Thadius, which usually results in a fairly nasty headache for someone. Also, a certain pimp suit has been causing problems for a while now...
  • Bard: Every morning of Vas's work week, Shelia (or whoever else is available at the moment) kicks Vas in the nads to wake him up. It's been played with multiple times.
  • The squirrel Sid from Sandra and Woo is friends with the raccoon Woo and the fox Shadow which does not stop them from trying to eat him on a constant basis.
  • In Akuma TH, The Undertaker (No, not that one) can read minds... And it's never useful, ever. To the point where "What's the point of being able to read minds if I can't see this coming?" practically became his Catch Phrase.
  • Monica's constant battles with the Minnesota snow have reached this point in Wapsi Square.
  • In Greg, Greg and Ted repeatedly gets petrified by a nude Medusa as they repeatedly fall for her charms. The first part of the story arc here.
  • Pants seem to be an inherently funny word for Ctrl+Alt+Del:
  • Gunnerkrigg Court: The Rant saying "Mystery solved!" whenever the current events in the strip reach the peak of confusion and incomprehensibility. Or "It's that guy!" Or "But what Mr. Eglamore does here? (It's a joke, that's not Mr. Eglamore)".
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