Running Gag/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Jackie Chan Adventures has Uncle hitting Jackie in the head with a two-fingered strike each time he does or says something wrong. He also hit other characters such as Captain Black, Tohru, Dark Jackie, Super Moose, and Hsi Wu. In one occasion, he hits himself because he blames himself for the kidnapping of Tohru, and in one episode, he gets hit by Dark Jackie and the two start hitting each other repeatedly.
    • "One more thing..." Every episode, Jackie insists that Jade stays at home, or with some adult, or at any attraction they were at, only for Jade to find some loophole to his request and just appear on the battle scene; and Jackie is always surprised that she never listens.
    • And this was lampshaded in a certain episode, with a dialogue that went like:

Jackie: (talking to Jade on the phone) Okay then. But you stay where you are and don't do anything! (turns off phone)
Uncle: Jade never doesn't do anything.
Jackie: I know, but I feel like I have to say it.

  • House of Mouse: "No one can [perform an action] like Gaston."
  • Archer has lots of them, including:
    • Archer's horrible mistreatment of his butler Woodhouse
    • Kreiger's nutty experiments, which he does to make money on the side, fulfill his own perverted urges, or simply prove he can.
    • Archer's way of getting Lana's attention when she's angry at him:

Archer: Lana? Lana? LAAAANAAAA!!"
Lana: WHAT??

  • "You want ants?" (Done by many characters whenever someone leaves food out.)
  • Archer's tinnitus, whenever there's a lot of loud noise.
  • Whenever Archer suspects Lana to have feelings for him, he feels compelled to inform her that she has entered the DAAAYNJA ZOOOONE, a reference to the song "Danger Zone". The song's creators went so far as to produce a video of it with the cast of the cartoon.
  • Carol's fetish for getting the SHIT choked out of her.
  • Archer's quoting from Burt Reynolds movies; he's clearly a huge fan.
  • Archer's mockingly funny voicemail, which fools a listener into thinking he's really there. This is why none of his colleges trust what he says on the phone in later seasons.
  • Brett's reputation for being a magnet for stray gunshots. Whether it's enemy fire, friendly fire, or even practice at a shooting range, it seems impossible to miss him. Sadly, this running gag was retired when one of them actually killed him.
  • "Phrasing", a catch-all term spoken whenever a Double Entendre is made, which happens a LOT.
  • In every adaptation, Sam and Max always fight over answering the phone screaming "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Sam always wins. There have only ever been two exceptions to this. In the episode "A Glitch In Time" Max inadvertently changes the timeline, causing Sam to become a mild-mannered monk running a Discount Pet Wash. When the phone rings, Max screams "I GOT IT!", then turns to Sam who just stands there, then sighs and answers the phone.
    • For the other exception, boogie on down to the entry in the Video Games section.
  • The Running Gag of the Animated Adaptation of The Mask is that the titular Character constantly gives characters Atomic Wedgies at random. Lt. Kellaway gets the brunt of said gag.
  • An episode of the animated series Garfield and Friends incorporates an intentionally blatant running gag: the episode is framed as a "behind the scenes" documentary where Garfield gives advice on comedy. One of his first pieces of advice is that the secret of humor is to repeat something until it becomes funny. As part of the setup, the lights are often lowered to show a clip. Each time they are to be raised, Garfield calls "Lights!", in response to which several hands appear, offering him lightbulbs. His reaction grows in intensity with each occurrence, starting with "Not funny" and progressing to his final...y being incapacitated by helpless side-splitting laughter when it occurs for the final time.

Garfield: Take note: if you do the same stupid joke over and over, eventually it turns into a running gag and becomes funny.

  • The show itself made constant references to the Klopman Diamond.
  • Total Drama Island has tons of these, though most of them only lasted for one season:
    • Justin losing his shirt.
    • LeShawna hitting her head on the bunk above hers every morning.
    • Courtney mentioning that she used to be a CIT.
    • Chef complaining about his job.
    • Chris getting attacked by animals.
    • Harold mentioning summer camps he's been in.
    • Bridgette and Geoff breaking up and then getting back together, same goes for Duncan and Courtney.
    • Beth spitting out her retainer by accident.
    • Owen's Big Eater moments.
  • The Fairly OddParents.
    • Timmy's parents often ask him where he got a particular item that he has acquired by wish. Timmy replies, "uuuhh...internet?".
      • Lampshaded in an episode where this exchange occurs, followed by Dad asking, "and where did you get the internet?" to which Timmy couldn't respond anything in time, and made his Dad faint because he became suspicious that Timmy was involved in robbery.
      • When Timmy gets suddenly rich: "Internet... Inheritance... I, uh, inherited the internet!"
    • When someone brings up Super Toilet, followed by Cosmo freaking out and yelling "So. much. CLOGGING!!".
    • "FAIRY GODPARENTS!!!!", complete with insanely hilarious spasms. Mr. Crocker is bound to have a fairy-related spasm sooner or later in any episode he appears in.
    • Although, in one episode where Timmy wishes himself out of existence, we get to see Crocker as he would have been if not driven fairy-mad. He is seen as a highly appreciated philosophy teacher, yet still spasms as he says "EXISTENTIALISM!!"
    • Timmy spasming in Crocker's Day in The Limelight special when he finds out that Crocker had fairies as a kid, immediately followed by him asking his fairies to hit him if he ever did that again. He does, they do.
  • Another Butch Hartman series, the new T.U.F.F. Puppy, has some running gags, too. Running gags are apparently Butch's bread and butter for his comedy shows.
    • Every single episode in this show has its own running gag!
  • D'Nerd from The BOTS Master is a robot that serves as a large databank, and often times would kick into "dictionary mode" to explain the definition of something when the question was meant to receive a more casual response.

ZZ: Hey D'Nerd. What's up?
D'Nerd: There are 81 definitions of 'up', which can be used...

  • On the extremely short-running Clerks the Animated Series, the second episode is a Clip Show (yes, it's absurd; that's the joke), and the running gag is that nearly every time someone says "remember when...", the "memory" clip is a moment from the previous episode -- even the "next week on Clerks" clip is this same moment.
    • One clip that featured four times in said Clip Show and remained a Running Gag afterward: Dante and Randal are (apparently) climbing a building using a rope, until a flowerpot falls and lands between them. Dante asks, "Why are we walking like this?" and the camera rotates 90 degrees and zooms out.
  • In addition to the vast number of things that happen Once an Episode, in Phineas and Ferb almost every scene that involves something being built or things being moved around will include the giant creepy-looking baby head from "One Good Scare Oughta Do It!" appearing at some point.
    • Also, "Aren't you a little young to be [insert dangerous job here]?" "Yes, yes we are."
    • Phineas and Ferb has so many running gags, it might qualify for a gag marathon.
      • "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today."
      • "Hey, where's Perry?" "Oh, there you are, Perry."
      • Candace and whatever Cassandra Truth she's trying to inform her Mom of this time.
      • Isabella becoming visibly upset whenever someone uses her Catch Phrase. Anyone but Phineas, that is.
      • Doofenshmirtz and his traumatic childhood in Flashback.
      • The number of times they play with the Catch Phrase moments might also qualify.
      • Nagging Wife: "What did you expect, that a [object] would fall out of the sky?" And then it does.
      • (insert character name) is out, peace!
      • People mistaking Doofenshmirtz for a pharmacist.
      • "What if a satellite falls out of the sky?"
      • The Lice Duo, Olga and Chicago Joe, are in (or at least mentioned) in several episodes. Never really explained, though...
      • The talking Zebra that calls Candace Kevin shows up a lot, usually when Candace is dreaming or hallucinating. It's even been Lampshaded. She realizes she's dreaming, and says so. Jeremy says that it would explain the talking zebra, but she says that she sees him all the time.
  • There's a running gag in the series Kim Possible, regarding faithful sidekick Ron Stoppable's disappearing pants. They regularly get slashed open or pulled off of him, exposing his rather colorful collection of boxer shorts. There's even been some Lampshade Hanging on it; in "Showdown at the 'Crooked D'", when confronted with the fact, he claims it's only happened "six or eight times"; in "Exchange," when it happens once again, Ron bemoans his misfortune with a "Oh, man! Even in Japan!"
    • This itself is almost becoming a running gag; in the episode "Ill Suited", his reaction is "Oh, man! Even as a senior!" This however was lampshaded and solved in Season 4 as Wade made an unbreakable titanium Phlebotinum belt for Kim to give Ron.
    • In "Clean Slate", where Kim gave Ron the belt, he later used the belt to close a steam pipe, thus making his pants fall down again.
    • Which culminated in a montage of previous falling-pants incidents, as Kim (who was suffering from Easy Amnesia at the time) finally remembered her relationship with Ron, and declared "I love you" to him for the first time. Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming? Yeah.
    • Without exception, at least once each recurring villain from the Rogues Gallery in Kim Possible has forgotten Ron's name. Senior Sr. and Monkey Fist remember his name a bit better than everyone else, however Dementor and Dr. Drakken have never remembered his name.
    • Ron himself commented on this in one episode, speaking to Monkey Fist: "You know, you're the only bad guy who ever remembers my name. I respect that."
    • Whatever the plot-relevant class, sport, or administrative duty is, Mr. Barkin will be covering it today as the regular teacher is unavailable.
  • The Running Gag on Teen Titans about Raven's obsession with the secrecy of her room was repeated exactly three times:

Raven: They went into my room. No one should ever go into my room.
Cyborg: We're in Raven's room. We should not be in Raven's room.
Raven: That's my room! Nobody goes in my room!

  • Others can be said to be Starfire's culture and its... oddities.
  • Or Cyborg's obsession with food.
  • Or Beast Boy's obsession with tofu.
  • Or Starfire's love of foods no-one else would eat. "This tangy yellow beverage is most delicious!" "Uh, Starfire? That's mustard." "Is there more?"
  • The episode "Spellbound" has Raven's obsession with a book she was reading. Each time she read, the scene is visualized for the audience. And every time she's interrupted, the scene would stop/freeze/burn as it would if it were an old-school projector film. It got worse every time Raven is interrupted, as her temper grows shorter.
  • Beast Boy has very little resistance to hypnosis. And the only thing to get him out of it is to make him laugh. Something that's a running gag in Mad Mod episodes.
  • Dexter's Laboratory: The title character suffers this trope, in almost every episode.
  • Family Guy:
    • Peter blowing off the front of Cleveland's house while he's in the tub, Joe re-gaining the ability to walk and instantly becoming crippled, Peter's spontaneous battles with a giant chicken, the evil monkey in Chris's closet (Though this one has been resolved).
    • In an in-episode example ("To Love And Die In Dixie") Peter is attacked by a raccoon at increasingly random times.
    • The Vaudeville duo "Play me off..." (also resolved), Giggity Giggity, and Stewie talking to Brian about the book he is writing in a high pitched voice are other examples.
    • Consuela the maid's "No,...no...", and "more Lemon Pledge"
    • "[indrawn hiss]...aaaahhhh...[indrawn hiss]...aaaahhhh..."
    • Stewie getting on someone's nerves (almost always Brian's) by mispronouncing a word, leading to an argument about how to correctly pronounce it. This was even lampshaded once when it seemed the gag was about to start and Brian says, "Oh no, I'm not going to get sucked into it" and leaves.
  • A key element of the humor in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is the numerous running gags, from Phil Ken Sebben's "Ha ha... Double Entendre", to Peter Pottamus' "Did you get that thing I sent ya?", to Mentok's mindtaking, to Reducto's paranoia and obsession with small things... It's a long list.
  • The Transformers wiki often follows up something that makes fans happy with "and there was much rejoicing (yay...)". There are also a multitude of jokes about various incarnations of Ultra Magnus dealing/not dealing with things (based on a line from The Movie). Also, whenever there's a picture of Animated Starscream or one of his clones, it's almost inevitably accompanied by a relevant quote about Arnold Rimmer.
    • Bonecrusher hates that he was forgotten on this list.
    • Bonecrusher also hates that he was added to this list.
    • Any image of a bird alternate mode, some sort of flying alternate mode or just tangentially related to flying will be accompanied by the Furmanism "like a vast, predatory bird...".
      • Furmanisms as a whole.
    • Movie Optimus Prime wants your face.
    • The infamous "Know that I am Razorclaw" speech from the Universe comic. There are multiple characters named "Razorclaw", and all of them get a reference to it.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender has a few running gags.
    • Zuko's ship being damaged in Season 1: being buried under an avalanche (ep. 02), being set on fire by Zhao's catapult (07), losing the miniboat over a waterfall (09), being struck by lightning (12), a Shirshu ripping a hole in the deck (15), and finally being blown up in the season finale.
    • The Cabbage Guy getting his cabbage cart smashed. ("My cabbages!", lapses for the second season before making a surprise return late in the third season when the playwright traveling the world interviewing people to research the Avatar's journey met 'a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage'.
      • In The Legend of Korra Cabbage Corp is mentioned in several episodes before appearing, with a statue of its familiar-looking founder standing by his cart. As the owner is being arrested and his company's assets frozen, he cries out "Not my Cabbage Corp!".
    • Various characters forgetting that Toph can't see, to the point where Toph once lampshades, "I mean, seriously, what's with you people?! I'm BLIND!" Toph herself isn't above taking advantage of it in order to pick on others, but one time she gets defensive about not being included in an activity that would require sight to do. They also subverted it once where Toph mocks Sokka for asking her to take the wheel of an airship, but he wasn't actually talking to her.

Sokka: Take the wheel!
Toph: That's a great idea! Let the blind girl steer the giant airship!
Sokka: I was talking to Suki.
Toph: That would make a lot more sense...

  • Taken to extreme when in order to end a rift between Toph and Katara, Sokka writes an apologetic letter supposedly from Toph and sends it to Katara who is not fooled as being blind 'Toph can't write!', Aang still enthusiastically suggests they try again reversing the recipient of the fake letter but Sokka realises 'we may face the same problem'.
  • Sokka's fake beard in the third season. Then his alias of "Wang Fire" went on to become a Memetic Badass.
  • His terrible drawing skills that go from "Lake Laogai" all the way to the Grand Finale. Toph thinks he's a great artist, which is nice of-- heyyyy...
  • Every time a character (usually Sokka) tells a bad joke, there is a moment of silence, followed by an off-screen cough.
  • Katara's water bending always gets Sokka wet throughout season one followed with

Sokka: KATARA!
Katara: Sorry Sokka.

  • Darkwing Duck
    • The episode "Comic Book Capers" has a character whose name is Little Running Gag. He threw pies and ran through the scene for no reason. Oh, the name? He was a stereotypical Native American: "Ha! That's my assistant, 'Little Running Gag'." "Oh! I get it. It's a running gag..."
    • Also:

Gosalyn: If you don't come [to Honker's birthday party], I won't clean my room.
Drake: You never clean your room.
(...)
Dark Warrior Duck: I should have recognized you as a bad egg from the start. You never cleaned your room.
(...)
Darkwing: You're, uh... you're grounded!
Gosalyn: Grounded?! What for?
Darkwing: (not wanting to tell her he's trying to protect her from Taurus Bulba, now Back from the Dead) Um, for... not picking up your room.
Gosalyn: I never pick up my room! You're gonna have to do better than that!

  • An episode of Tiny Toon Adventures had a similar joke to Darkwing's literal running gag, only with a clown (making it even more literal).
  • The Weekenders go out for pizza once every weekend... the pizza place is never the same theme twice.
    • On a few occasions, the pizza restaurant has even changed mid-episode.
  • The Simpsons is full of running gags, including but by no means limited to:
    • Probably the most famous one, Homer strangling Bart.
    • Springfield's exact location is never given, or even hinted at too closely.
    • Sideshow Bob's appearances always include him stepping on a rake at some point, since his scene with the infamous many rakes in the episode "Cape Feare".
    • Bart's prank phonecalls to Moe's Tavern.
    • Nelson pointing and laughing at other peoples' unfortunate mishaps.
    • Homer referring to something as his lifelong dream, often only to have all his previous "lifelong dreams" listed to him.
    • Mr. Burns never remembering Homer's name.
    • Helen Lovejoy saying "Won't somebody please Think of the Children?"
    • What about the ever changing couch gag? That should have a page of its own...
    • On the same vein, Bart Writing Lines on the blackboard.
    • "Mmmmmmmmm *food*..."; it changes depending on what food Homer notices at the time. It doesn't even have to be food.
    • "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You Might Remember Me From... "
    • “Hi, everybody!”, "Hi, Dr. Nick!"
    • All the times the show has made fun of FOX.
    • A "Treehouse of Horror" episode had a running gag where Groundskeeper Willie was given the axe. Right in the back. In every story. He acknowledged this in the third story as he was killed.

"OHH, I'm bad at this..."

  • Animaniacs frequently has Yakko, Wakko, and Dot running by in the other characters' segments, pursued by Ralph the Guard. Pinky and The Brain would also frequently appear in the background in other segments doing the same thing they do every night. Other characters occasionally get into the act as well.
    • And;

Yakko & Wakko: HELLOOOO NURSE!
Dot: Boys. Go fig.

  • or:

Yakko: Mwah! Goodnight everybody!

  • or:

Dot: Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third... but you can call me Dot. Call me Dotty and you die.

  • Speaking of Pinky and the Brain, it has its own. In addition to its Once an Episode gags ("The same thing we do every night" and "Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering"), there's also the matter of Pinky answering Brain's rhetorical questions with a cultural reference that actually fits the question (if not the way Brain intended).
  • On Histeria!, Pepper Mills constantly bothers historical celebrities for their autographs, not realizing until after she's gotten it that the person in question is not the pop cultural celebrity she has mistaken them for.
  • Captain Fanzone's car getting destroyed in Transformers Animated

"This is why I hate machines!"

  • The size of Dib's head on Invader Zim. The people who worked on the show never got tired of it; in fact, the staff subtly modified the proportions of his head over the run of the show just for that gag!
    • My head's not big!
    • Several episodes have a character suffer a spinal injury and scream "MY SPINE!!"
  • Beast Wars Transformers has several for the characters; Megatron's "Yessss" and his taking his rubber ducky with him into the regeneration tank, Rattrap and Dinobot's constant exchange of argues, everyone telling Rattrap to shut up whenever he declares that "We're all gonna die!" (which he actually lampshades, once), Waspinator's many, many, many slaggings, Inferno referring to Megs as "My Queen", etc.
  • Jim Moralès could tell you all about Code Lyoko's example, but he'd rather not talk about it.
    • "I'm not scrawny, I'm svelte!"
    • In Season 4, practically everyone calling Xana-possessed William 'pretty-boy' or some variation of it.
  • South Park: "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!"
    • "You know you guys, I learned something today."
    • Whenever the red-haired redneck shows up, he'll inevitably yell out "DEY TOOK AR JERBS!" or a variation of it.
    • "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"
    • "I'm gonna need about tree fitty."
  • ReBoot actually makes a running joke of the main character, Bob's many catchphrases ("This is bad...very bad", "Stay frosty!", "That was easy enough"). Having other characters use them, and referring to the fact that if Bob was with them, he'd probably say one of those lines.
    • Remember that running gag, Al?
    • ..."WHAAAT?"
  • In Hey Arnold!, there were two recurring gags throughout the years Brainy sneaking behind Helga and breathing heavily and her punching him, and Eugene always getting involved in some kind of accident usually on his bicycle.
    • "I'm okay."
  • The Venture Brothers includes several, including 24's Nissan Stanza and 21 complaining about not being told about things, such as the fact that the wings on the henchmen's costumes are actually flight-capable.
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Any time Shake handles something, which he ends up flinging to the ground, it explodes. Notable examples including from TV remotes, to the Satellite dish he used to cook hot dogs, to three one dollar bills (which took the time to slowly drift to the ground before exploding), and causing a chain reaction once by flinging an object into the television, the object exploding, then the television exploding a few seconds later. It's implied this isn't just a visual gag by charcters silently backing away from the explosion.
  • Squidbillies: Early Cuyler always robbing the same convenience store, and blowing off the old man's left hand.
  • Futurama: Roberto robs the same bank three times in a row, in the same episode.
    • And Zoidberg's limited knowledge or the human body, his financial status, and him losing an organ he doesn't need.
      • The former of which eventually leads to a Crowning Moment of Funny when it's discovered that Zoidberg is actually a doctor of Art History.
    • Good news, everybody!
    • Sweet (something) of (somewhere)! Lampshaded in one episode where he's so freaked out that he can't come up with a real saying and actually says "Sweet...something of...some place."
      • A simile involving a "green snake" and "sugar cane" (climbing faster than a green snake up a sugar cane, hungrier than a green snake in a sugar cane field, etc.).
        • "MY MANWICH!!"
    • I'm Scruffy. The janitor.
    • I've never seen you before.
      • Scruffy's never seen you before neither.
    • Bender proclaiming that he's 40 percent something: Titanium, dolomite, and zinc off the top of my head.
      • Attack of the Killer App adds 40% chromium to Bender.
        • And All the Presidents' Heads makes him 40% scrap metal.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: Whenever there's a panicking crowd, a guy can often be heard shouting: "My leg!"
    • How about Old Man Jenkins as a running gag character? Or his name, rather, considering that it's apparently the name of several different elderly fish in Bikini Bottom.
    • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie we have the reaction to King Trion's Baldness. "B-B-B-Bald! Bald! Bald!" "My Eyes!"
  • Swat Kats: Mac can't drive straight no matter what vehicle he's in. Molly loves to remind him of this.
    • "This is Feral! Bring me chopper backup!"
  • In Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet, Space Ghost has what is essentially a reflex to shoot Zorak whenever the latter says something incredibly insulting. This got a skit/episode dedicated to lampshading it in both series. The former had Zorak faking his death after getting shot repeatedly, and the latter had Brak incurring Space Ghost's wrath simply because he "isn't animated to explode" like Zorak is, with the mantis taking all the heat(rays).
  • KaBlam! has A TON. Henry getting beat up by Mr. Foot, the duo Lampshade Hanging, and many, many, more...
  • Almost every Looney Tunes character had at least one Running Gag.
    • "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque..."
    • Daffy getting his bill blown off in creative ways. Only used in a few cartoons, but they were some of the most memorable.
    • Porky stuttering on one word, then replacing it with a different word. "That's ridi-ridi-ridi-prepos-te-th-that's just plain silly."
    • "Awww, da poor puddy tat. He faw down!"
    • " I taught I taw a puddy tat!" "I did! I did taw a puddy tat!"
    • A French female feline somehow suffers a streak of white down her back, immediately attracting the unwanted affections of Pepe Le Pew.
    • "Fortunately, I always keep my feathers numbered, for just such an emergency."
    • Coyote. Cliff. 'Nuff said.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes makes frequent use of Orphaned Punchline and Sorry I Left the BGM On.
  • Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers has a running gag of Pete motioning to a poster for an opera where he plans to overthrow Minnie. Everytime it's shown, a small tune plays, noticed only by Pete.
  • Beetlejuice has tons of running gags. One of the funniest was a Gory Discretion Shot whenever BJ ate a bug.
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Gopher falling into one of his own gopher holes. "HE-E-E-E-E-E-e-e-e-e-e-lp!
  • Series 9 and 10 of Danger Mouse had Greenback activating a "hit box," which contained a mallet that bopped Stiletto on the head whenever he said something stupid.

Stiletto: Ow! Ow! And Ow!

  • Young Justice has a few: Kid Flash's habit of picking up souvenirs, Robin's backformations and prefix removal, Superboy's hatred of monkeys, and Artemis nearly drowning has officially been repeated three times, so it counts, too. They're starting to play around the various gags, as well, with Kid Flash complaining about forgetting a souvenir and Robin using one of his created words in a deadly serious context.
  • On Doug, Mr. Dink always says things are "very expensive". Subverted in an episode where he notes something was "surprisingly cheap".
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle
    • One can always tell when a adventure is about to come to a close when Boris finds one last thing to say to Natasha as their plans lie in ruins around them:

Boris: SHUT UP YOUR MOUTH!

  • This running gag even gets a little shout-out during the Oogle Bird adventure, when Boris yells to the bird, "Aw, shut up your beak!"
  • "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!" (In case anyone hasn't seen the cartoon, Bullwinkle would attempt this trick twice on the show, only to pull out a tiger, lion, or rhinoceros, followed by some bit of humor like "Don't know my own strength", or Rocky telling him "Wrong hat!" with him saying, "I take a seven and a half." He would try again a third time before the final skit, only to pull out... Rocky, and then say, "Well I'm gettin' close!")
  • This one was even expanded in a comic book adaptation, where he pulled out a ferocious Killer Rabbit; Rocky congratulates him for finally getting the right hat, even if he got the wrong rabbit.
  • Superman the Animated Series: Batman was missing from Gotham and really under Braniac mind control. After Superman as Batman leaves after talking to Gordon, one of the cops standing around remarks "Did he look taller to you?". This is carry-over from the print comic running gag where characters often expect Batman to be taller.
  • The chief weakness of Planet Sketch was that it tried to make all its jokes into running gags. In the end, there was very little incentive to watch multiple episodes, since they were all exactly the same.
  • Hot dog stands being knocked over in Ben 10. The joke made a brief reappearance in one of the sequels.
  • Fluttershy on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is often depicted demonstrating some strong feeling (frustration, excitement, etc.) with the most understated display of emotion possible. "yay!"
    • Background pony "Bon Bon" always has a completely different voice in every single speaking appearance she makes. So far, this comes to five different voices.
    • Twilight's Super OCD has led to chaos on multiple occasions.
    • Derpy tends to show up in various episodes, engaging in some form of wacky hijinks or another in the background.
      • And sometimes, not even the background. Hearths Warming Eve clearly has her at center-screen, waving at the camera/audience of the play.
    • Pinkie Pie is so random.
      • And she gets musical numbers, which of course, are lampshaded.

Twilight Sparkle: She's not gonna-

  • Pinkie Pie starts singing*

Rarity: She is.

    • Every time Pinkie Pie has "Pinkie Sense" in episodes other than its introduction, it is always twitchy-tail, the falling sense, and invariably, a flower pot falls from the sky. Once, it fell from the sky inside a tent. Pinkie Pie was kind enough to lampshade it.
  • The Penguins of Madagascar: Whenever there's any off-screen destruction a man is heard yelling, "My car!". In The Return of the Revenge of Doctor Blowhole Skipper destroys a building in Shanghai and someone yells it in Mandarin.
  • Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness:
    • Tigress being mistaken for a man.
  • "The Princess and the Po"

Mei Li: I never have any friends. Not real friends like you have. Like the cricket and that mean man with the stripes.

  • "Big Bro Po" has this:

Tigress: Hey there, you. Um...settling in ok?
Bian Zao: Yes sir!

  • "Father Crime"

Croc Bandit: We caught that tiger dude.
Tigress: Tiger lady!

  • In Rick and Morty, every time someone opens a door to Rick's spaceship/car (whether to enter or exit it), several empty beer bottles are certain to fall out with a clatter. Rick is well known to be an alcoholic, and often pilots it while drunk, to Morty's horror.
  • In the episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where the Shredder's Elite Guard first appear, when each of the Turtles sees them for the first time, he exclaims, "Nice hats!" Which they certainly do have.
  • The Smurfs:
    • Starting with the episode "The Astrosmurf", the cartoon had a joke that went like this: Papa Smurf would lead the other smurfs on a long journey. One would start to get tired, and ask "Is it much farther Papa Smurf?" and he'd reply, "Not far now." Then the scene would shift, another smurf would ask the question again, and he'd reply the same way. After four scene-shifts and being asked the question four times, he'd finally lose patience and reply, "YES IT IS!!" After that episode, the joke, or a version of it was used frequently throughout the whole run of the series, whenever there was a scene involving a long walk or journey. (Even Gargamel, who tagged along with Smurfs in one episode, complained about the journey being too long.) In fact, in a late season, the joke was lampshaded; after the question was asked a second time, Papa Smurf snapped, "Oh, now don't start that again!"
    • Brainy had a running gag that ended a lot of episodes. One of the smurfs would get upset at his annoying lectures, and he'd be thrown out of the village, land on his head, and make some sort of funny comment. (For instance, in "The Gingerbread Smurfs" episode, it happened when it was clear he hadn't learned a thing, and said, "I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles!") One time the episode ended outside the village, and he was thrown into it, surprised that had actually happened
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