The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police: Difference between revisions

* [[No Fourth Wall]]: Sam and Max are very well aware that they're inside an adventure game.

* [[Symbol Swearing]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]]:

'''Spoon bender:''' What are you [[Sound Effect Bleep|<bleep>]]ing doing?<br />

'''Sam:''' Swearing in longhand, asterisk-mouth. }}

* [[Villain Song]]: Conroy Bumpus' "King of the Creatures" song.

* [[Why Am I Ticking?]]:

'''Sam''': Ooops. Oh yeah. ''(Pulls out head/bomb of the robot mad scientist they just dispatched in the intro).'' [[Heroic Sociopath|Max, where should I put this so that it doesn't hurt anyone we know or care about?]]<br />

'''Max''': Out the window, Sam! There's nothing but strangers out there. }}

* [[Actor Allusion]]: Not the first time Roger L. Jackson has voiced [[The Powerpuff Girls|a villainous primate.]]

* [[Adam Smith Hates Your Guts]]: Bosco's Inconvenience.

* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: "They Stole Max's Brain!" is something like this. The first part of the game is Sam having a solo [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|Noir-ish Rampage]] as he tries to get Max's brain back. The second half {{spoiler|has Max as [[Only Sane Man]] trying to things back to normal after [[Enfante Terrible|Sammun-Mak]] takes over his body and rewrites reality so that he rules the world.}}

* [[Adventure Duo]]: In the episode "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", a relationship quiz the two take says the person they are most compatible with... [[Heterosexual Life Partners|are each other.]] (Of course, the quiz was given by Sybil, and Sam and Max seem to be the only people she knows... and she doesn't exactly try to hide the fact that she's neither using a computer nor making an effort.)

** And then there's Max's reaction in "Reality 2.0" when Sybil describes him and Sam as "luddites"...

* [[Afterlife Express]]: In ''What's New, Beelzebub?''

* [[Always Night]]: Season 3, the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] episode and the [[Kaiju|humongous rampaging]] [[Eldritch Abomination|Cthulhu]] episode. [[Lampshaded]] when Sam admires how the city looks at night.

** In Episode 305, Flint Paper straps an antimatter bomb to one of the Samulacra to destroy the entire cloning facility in one swoop. {{spoiler|Except Sam had astrally projected into that particular body at the time, and would get blown up along with it if he didn't get it off.}}

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]:

'''Agent Superball''': Imagine a scenario that involves the worst aspects of the [[Norse Mythology|Norse Legends of Ragnarok,]] [[The Bible|The Book of Revelation,]] and ''[[Weekend at Bernies]]''. }}

* [[As You Know]]: Admirably few blatant examples of this in the Telltale games, considering how much continuity piles up. [[Lampshaded]] in "The Penal Zone", when Grandpa Stinky complains about Sam doing this.

'''Max:''' Aah! GIANT TALKING DOG! }}

* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: The Maimtron 9000. Giant statue Abraham Lincoln. And in Episode 305, {{spoiler|Giant Eldritch Max!}}

*** And later, in "The City That Dares Not Sleep," we learn that after Max got away, Skunkape took the next best thing and {{spoiler|made Sammun-Mak his new brain slave.}}

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: After playing the trial version of the XBLA release of ''Save the World'', Sam and Max go over all the features of the game, including the awards it got. If you let it sit there, they wait for you to unlock the full game.

'''Max:''' We're detectives, Sam, not mind-readers! }}

* [[Brick Joke]]: Played brilliantly at the end of Season 2 where, first, {{spoiler|our heroes find themselves in a very familiar burning hellscape and are immediately saved by their own past selves in a repeat of a scene from a puzzle from 4 episodes before}}. Then, after the final credits, {{spoiler|the Bermuda triangle that collected the volcanic eruption in "Moai Better Blues", 3 episodes before, suddenly appears and destroys the *censored* Poppers, interrupting their [[We Will Meet Again]] speech}}.

* [[But Thou Must!]]: '''''FINISH HIM!''''' {{spoiler|And the player normally will comply, ''gladly''. See [[Sam & Max: Freelance Police/Awesome|the Crowning Moment of Awesome page for the series.]]}}

* [[Casual Danger Dialog]]: A memorable one opens the game "Night of the Raving Dead", when we see the duo trapped inside a deadly contraption, its maw closing in:

'''Max''': I can't even remember how we got here!<br />

'''Sam''': Come on, Max. Remember, we were back in the office, just back from Easter Island...<br />

** In season 3, [[Running Gag|the place Max stores things being "none of your damn business"]] becomes an actual ''gameplay mechanic'': he now has his own an inventory for the Toys of Power, and unlike Sam's it cannot be confiscated (not counting object's he's currently holding).

* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: In Season 3, the episodes get progressively darker and grittier, until you finally reach the [[Tear Jerker|strangely emotional finale.]]

* [[Chair Reveal]]: Used to reveal that the [[Big Bad]] of Season 2 {{spoiler|were the Soda Poppers}}; spoofed in the Season 2 DVD extras, with other characters; up to and including [[Homestar Runner]].

** "And so ends our deadly game of cat and mouse! ... and dog... and rabbit... thingy."

* [[Colony Drop]]: {{spoiler|Bosco's "Earthquake Generator"}} in "Bright Side of the Moon".

* [[Comically Small Bribe]]

'''Max:''' Or maybe a few...''Lincolns?'' }}

* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]: Bosco.

** In "The City That Dares Not Sleep," Sam's dancing is so horrible that the threat of it causes one of Skunkape's minions to sing like a canary.

* [[Couch Gag]]: Telltale continues the tradition of bogus "based on" jokes in Seasons 2 and 3:

* [[Crapsack World]]: assuming all the little bits we hear about Max's reign as President are accurate, the country cannot be in a good state. Dakota is at WAR with itself, due to a feud about Mount Rushmore, a war that President Max provoked. His response to the crisis: Provide giant battle robots to all sides and whoever wins, claim the US backed them all along.

** The world got even crapsackier in Season 3, or at least looks more that way because [[Art Evolution|the graphics engine got upgraded]] and most of the damage to the block from Seasons 1 and 2 still persists.

* [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]: How about a song and dance on how war is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L2Gve7oh_4 Good For You]?

* [[Crying Indian]]: Parodied in "Chariots of the Dogs":

'''Max''': Yes Sam! Somewhere a time traveling Native Indian is crying! }}

* [[Cue Card]]: You need to do mudslinging in the election, and the easiest way to do it is to switch which cue card he reads from when you ask him questions.

** The list of deaths that didn't count: {{spoiler|1=Animatronic Abe Lincoln (his head survived), Santa Claus and one of his elves, Grandpa Stinky, the DeSoTo, Bosco, Timmy Two-Teeth, Sam (all brought back from hell), Momma Bosco (lived on as a ghost, later cloned a new body for herself) and [[Your Mileage May Vary|Max (replaced by himself from an alternate timeline.)]] In addition, Brady Culture, Hugh Bliss and Jürgen have found steady employment in hell and seem happy enough.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Demonic Dummy]]}}: {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep}}. [[Lampshaded]], of course.

** Also, when {{spoiler|Charlie's}} discussing his plan to destroy the world by {{spoiler|bringing about a time of eternal darkness and torment through resurrecting Junior.}}

'''Max''': "Hey-yo!" }}

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: A few of Max's future visions in The Devil's Playhouse occur immediately after he finishes viewing them.

** Everyone believes Skun-ka'pe to be a [[Benevolent Alien Invasion|Benevolent Alien Invader]]. Even with precognitive evidence, Sam and Max aren't initially positive he's evil.

** A literal instance is [[Lampshaded]] by the devil himself:

* [[The Devil Is a Loser]]: In the Season 2 finale, the Devil is seen desperately trying to increase workplace productivity until ultimately being fired by {{spoiler|former child stars}} and living out of a box of possessions (such as his grocery list) out on the street.

* {{spoiler|[[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: The ending for "The City That Dares Not Sleep." The [[Big Bad]] for the season is unveiled and thwarted and Sam now has the means to finally save his little buddy and get everything back to normal. But they take just a wee bit too long, and Max is killed.}}

* [[Dialogue Tree]]

* [[Did You Get a New Haircut?]]: When Bosco is {{spoiler|turned into a cow due to screwing with the timestream,}} Sam and Max mention that there's something different about him, and ask if he got a new haircut.

'''Max:''' Yeah, that's all we got. }}

* [[Discontinuity Nod]]: Several, inserted as [[Take That|TakeThats]] to Lucas Arts.

** "They Stole Max's Brain" is about - spoiler alert! - someone stealing Max's brain.

* [[Expospeak Gag]]: Everything is described in [[Techno Babble]] or [[These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]]. Even when it's made clearer that [[It Runs on Nonsensoleum]], it still goes over Sam and Max's head.

'''[[The Comically Serious|Agent Superball]]''': ''It's a device used to coerce a transient resonant integration of the subquantum harmonic vibrational frequencies between this and adjoining dimensional membranes.''<br />

''[[Beat|Sam and Max stare, bewildered]].''<br />

** The boys start a trend all on their own - they toss a brain up into a gargoyle's bowl to distract some zombies. Later, when they can understand them, one of the zombies thanks them for the brain and says getting it was so much fun, now they'll only eat brains American style - somewhere high up where you have to climb to get it.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: At a certain point in "Culture Shock", you interpret Sam's dreams...

** In Episode 106, Sam flashes his unicorn to everyone

'''Harry Moleman''': I'm not so desperate yet. }}

** In Episode 301, various characters have fun with the term "Penal zone". Eventually Max lampshades it:

'''Max''': Unfortunate word choice. }}

** There's a trophy in the [[PlayStation 3]] version of "The Penal Zone" called "Don't ask your Parents".

* [[Ho Yay]]: According to Sybil's (rather flawed) dating computer analysis, Sam and Max are the perfect match for each other.

** In "Moai Better Blues," you see the following conversation when you examine the punching bag.

'''Max:''' No way! I could never stop loving you, Sam! }}

** See the [[Show Some Leg]] example below.

** The Bachelor party in ''What's New Beelzebub?'' For once the duo's reaction mirrored the player's exactly.

** Also, from ''What's New Beelzebub?'', Sam's comment about {{spoiler|Sexy Demon Peepers}}:

'''Max:''' If you're into small guys with annoying voices, I guess. }}

** A Crowning Moment of [[Ho Yay]]: Harry Moleman frisking Sam in "Bright Side of the Moon".

** In "The Penal Zone", if Max is with you when you pick up the ring, he will confuse the situation for a proposal.

** If you use the Ring with Max outside Mamma Bosco's Lab, you get a whole cutscene, parodying [[wikipedia:Debeers|DeBeers Commercials]], in which Sam thinks about actually giving the ring to Max, but eventually discards this with a 'nah'.

*** The mere fact that Sam actually seems to seriously consider it says it all.

** Max apparently has a habit of coming up with creepy disaster scenarios that end with him eating Sam to survive. Sam is annoyed by this, so Max tells him to just "stop looking so damn tasty."

** Also a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]], "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls" has a potential future for Sam as a reenactment of the death scene from ''Romeo and Juliet''. Max is Juliet.

'''Max:''' Hey, guess what! [[Unexplained Recovery|I wasn't really dead!]] ''(sees Sam's body)'' Ooh...awkward... }}

** The Spores all represent a fragment of Max's personality. One of them really seems to have [[No Sense of Personal Space]].

* <s>Jack Bauer</s> [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|Flint Paper Interrogation Technique]]: Employed by Noir Sam.

* [[The Jailbait Wait]]

'''Max:''' Isn't he, like, ten? }}

* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Momma Bosco. {{spoiler|And now she's back to being a looker. That is, if the lack of real hair doesn't bother you.}}

* [[Kick the Dog]]: During "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls", Sam and Max witness one of the Sam clones finding a small, plush rabbit and hugging it affectionately. This same clone {{spoiler|reappears at the Statue of Liberty and is the first victim of Max's rampage after he absorbs a portion of Junior's essence.}}

* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: In "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", Max kind of bumps into the fourth wall without breaking it, when Bosco is telling them about how the government watches everybody:

'''Sam:''' That's me, Max. }}

** And again in "Night of the Raving Dead". "New Location Unlocked" indeed.

** In "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls", {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep}} tells Sam that he is the perfect [[Straight Man]] to his act/plan, because he is pretty easy to control and has spend much of his life taking orders without thinking any stray thoughts.

* [[Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club]]: Ted E. Bear's Mafia-Free Playland And Casino.

** You'll have to shoot better than that to get in the Toy Mafia...not that there's any Toy Mafia here.

** [[Ear Worm|N-O-M-A-F-I-A OH BABY!]]

* [[Meaningful Name]]: You first find {{spoiler|the psychic ventriloquist dummy}} in an ancient Egyptian tomb, so his name doesn't really look out of place. Later in episode 304, {{spoiler|you'll realize that ''Charlie Ho-Tep'' sounds suspiciously similar to a certain other elder god with connections to Egypt... namely, ''Nyarlathotep''.}}

* [[Mercy Kill]]: Played with in "Night of the Raving Dead", after {{spoiler|Sam and Max turn into zombies. You run into Flint Paper, who tries to pull this trope off, though Sam and Max aren't exactly grateful (unfortunately, zombies can't talk to the living)}}:

'''Sam:''' I don't remember saying that. Did you?<br />

'''Max:''' No, I'm pretty sure Flint's making that part up. }}

** Also, in "What's New Beelzebub?" Jurgen's monster begs to be killed and Sam complies.

* Metaphorgoten: Sam manages to jumble a couple of common phrases int eh first minute of Culture Shock

* [[Mirror World]]: The cyber version of Straight and Narrow in "Reality 2.0".

* [[The Mole]]: {{spoiler|Literally.}}

** And let's not forget [[The Reveal]] and conclusion of ''Beyond the Alley of the Dolls.''

* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: From Season 2's finale:

** Since it's about destroying a building with several people in it, including a dying child (whom Sam and Max will make sure gets to Hell), in order to raise a killer robot... That also counts as [[Crossing the Line Twice]].

*** The "people" in that building were rats. [[Funny Animal|Sentient ones]], but [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|most people wouldn't care]].

** {{spoiler|If the player picks crimefighting as the fondest memory, Sam and Past Max will go back into the city to bust the next major threat to the city.}}

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: A running gag is how Girl Stinky never addresses Sam and Max by their names, but picks a random moniker every time. She remembers their names just fine; it is her way of saying she just doesn't care.

** If you use psychic ventriloquism on her in Episode 304, Max tries to imitate her, but acknowledges that it's harder to come up with those names than it looks.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: Using Mind Reading with the Newspaper Rack? in "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls". According to Mike Stemmle, he wanted to do this gag since he read a review of ''Hit the Road'' in when the Reviewer was comparing the game humor with watching [[Penn & Teller]], as a some sort of Backhanded Insult. Which was weird, because they love Penn and Teller. The joke is the standard Penn and Teller "3 of Clubs" trick and he wanted to put it in a game for nearly two decades. And he did. In a Sam and Max game.

* [[Offscreen Teleportation]]: The director in "Situation: Comedy" who's already in every studio Sam and Max enter, even if they've just come through the only door from the last place they saw her.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Sam and Papierwaite's absolutely horrified downward look at {{spoiler|Sybil's water breaking.}}

** At the end of "The City That Dares Not Sleep," when Stinky's phone starts to ring.

'''Skunkape:''' (Eyes widen in horror) }}

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: Parodied in The Tomb of Sammun-Mak with {{spoiler|The Pig Latin "omecay onninway the aterways inefay" Spelled differently in subtitles making it just that much more confusing.}}

** {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|SAVE. SYBIL.]]}}

* [[Poirot Speak]]: Hubert Q. Turis, the European Tourist from "They Stole Max's Brain!", has a tendency to drop really long faux-German words into his sentences. What makes this even funnier is that he is voiced by an actual German.

** To elaborate, a [[Poirot Speak|weltraumliebwachetzaubreikrieg]] is Hubert's people's word for a stunning battle between a strangely-garbed man and an alien space gorilla carrying a brain in a jar! Maybe it's a common occurrence in Europe.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: {{spoiler|Bosco's paranoia ultimately stems from his mother's grudge against a mysterious store-vandal -- who happens to be Bosco himself that used the time traveling elevator belonging to T.H.E.M and traveled to that time. This silly misunderstanding costs the son his sanity and the mother her life.}}

* [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]]: {{spoiler|"It's Mole Men! General Skun-ka'pe is sweating Mole Men!}}

* [[The Power of Friendship]]: Sam's personal hell is a world without Max (and where Peepers is his sidekick).

'''Max''': Plus, I ripped out his kidneys. }}

* [[Power Glows]]: When Max unlocks his full psychic potential, his body radiates white light. It almost looks holy.

* [[Selective Memory]]: Inverted in "Chariot of the Dogs". Sam and Max shouldn't be able to know about {{spoiler|Superball erasing short-term memory in response to bringing up time travel}}, but it's the only way to make past Sam {{spoiler|forget why he needs the Embarrassing Idol contract}}.

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: When offered with the suggestion to make a point-and-click adventure game for Christmas by Sameth and Maximus in The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, the elves respond with a long, silent pause followed by a comment that they have to be kidding.

''Elf'' (shocked): *[[Beat]]* "You've gotta be kidding me!" }}

* [[Sequel Hook]]: Some pretty darn shameless ones, especially in Season 3. Each episode ends with a potentially [[Nightmare Fuel]] cliffhanger, including {{spoiler|Sam and Max finding their own skeletons}}, {{spoiler|Sam walking in on his truly brain-dead partner}}, {{spoiler|a hoard of Sam clones attacking the museum}}, and {{spoiler|Max transforming into a horrific [[Eldritch Abomination]].}}

** In the finale of "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls," {{spoiler|Monster Max [[Cloverfield|knocks the head off the Statue of Liberty]].}}

** In Episode 101, Culture Shock, when Sam examines the coffee machine in Bosco's Inconvenience:

'''Max:''' [[Airplane!|I take my coffee green. Like my men!]] }}

** Skun'ka'pe claims the brain in his ship is named "Gordon", in an outright lie. Though it [[Brick Joke|comes back]] after Sam and Max bring it back to life.

** In Episode 304, when Max uses the Cthonic Destroyer to destroy some eldritch tentacles, he yells "[[Pre-Mortem One-Liner|Unholy THIS!]]". When Sam questions the strange choice of one-liner, Max claims that he "saw it in [[Tales of Monkey Island|a video game]]".

*** Also in 304, when you explore the cloning facility, you find a mysterious [[Team Fortress 2|Dispenser]], containing "health, ammo, cupcakes, clues, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and]] [[Inverted Trope|enlightenment]]" (except it's empty). If you examine it twice, Sam will pull a wrench from no-where and whack it. If you examine it repeatedly until Sam has whacked it eight times<ref>the minimum number of wrench-hits required to upgrade a Dispenser in Team Fortress 2</ref>, it opens and dispenses a bottle of [[Running Gag|Banang]]. Max unplugs the thing to keep the [[Berserk Button|Banang]] from Sam.

** In 305, you encounter another one of Skun-Ka'Pe's minions, named Gra-Pea'Pe. If you remove all the [[Punctuation Shaker]] elements, (the same method Sam uses to turn the name Skun-Ka'Pe into "Skunkape" or "Skunk Ape"), you get "Grapeape", or "Grape Ape".

* [[Show Some Leg]]: Horrifyingly enough, done by Max as a distraction in the Season 2 finale:

'''Max:''' Oh dear, I seem to be ''[[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal|completely naked]]''. I hope I don't have to ''bend over provocatively'' and--<br />

'''Sam:''' That's enough, Max. }}

* [[The Smurfette Principle]] -- Sybil Pandemik in Season 1, new C.O.P.S. recruit Carol in ''The Devil's Playhouse'' (at least, according to the other members).

* [[So Long, Suckers!]]: Done twice in "The Penal Zone". Gets its due lampshade the second time:

* [[Some Call Me... Tim]]: Yog-Soggoth goes by a much simpler name of {{spoiler|Doctor Norrington}}.

* [[So Unfunny It's Funny]]: Egyptian Molish humor.

* [[Spoiled Brat]]: The reason of why the Toys of Power were created in first place was {{spoiler|for stop the tantrums of Junior, Yog-Soggoth's grand-child. I repeat, Yog-Soggoth's ''grand-child''.}}

* [[Spy Speak]]: Parodied in "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball", where Sam is given a sign and countersign by which to recognise the mole, and the countersign is such an obvious response to the sign that one might expect him to get that response whether he's talking to the mole or not.

** Does the carpet match the drapes? {{spoiler|Interestingly, you can say this to every character in the game, and ''every single one takes it literally'' (except the actual mole), so none of them give the countersign.}}

** When you put Sam and Max (or rather, their great-grandpas) inside a can, you get a Can O'Nuts.

** [[Lampshaded]] (if it's possible to lampshade a [[Stealth Pun]]) by Max when Sybil explains that she's still getting checks from being Queen of Canada.

* [[The Straight Man]]: This is the main reason {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep creates an army of Sam's Clones; because, as a Dummy, he needed a straight man and Sam is perfect for that job.}}

* [[Straw Feminist]]: Bosco's mother. She is not very obnoxious though, and merely wants to make babies without a man, preferring the baby to be an angelic little ''she''.

* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Frankie the Rat in season 3. Pretty much the only reason they didn't just re-use Jimmy Two-Teeth is because his voice actor was gone.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: Ted E. Bear's Mafia-Free Playland and Casino. A sample verse from their theme song:

''No shady leaves upon the family tree!'' }}

** In 304, you can read Sam's mind in Bosco-tech, and he's thinking something along the lines of: "Some people might be ''afraid'' to be tied to an id-driven psychopath with psychic powers, but not me. And I'm not just thinking this because Max is reading my mind right now."

** In the Featureless Warehouse District is the Not-Clone-Related Industries Building, on the corner of Dopple and Gang.

** Also from The Penal Zone:

* [[Symbol Swearing]]: And don't forget the writing lessons of Timmy Two-Teeth in "What's New, Beelzebub?"

* [[Take That]]: In 'Reality 2.0', while examining a ballet poster:

'''Sam:''' [[Discontinuity Nod|*with emphasis*]] Yes. Yes they are. }}

** In "The Penal Zone":

'''Max:''' Don't do it, Sam! It'll probably lead to [[The Chronicles of Narnia|a land of whimsical characters and thinly-disguised religious allegories!]]<br />

'''Sam:''' Good point. We already had that kind of trouble when we went into that [[The Phantom Tollbooth|tollbooth.]] }}

* [[Take That Me]]: Max had no idea vampires were so fruity. Now, three guesses who voiced Jurgen.

** Toy Tycoon Kringle's underlings ask Sam and Max's great grandpas about new ideas for toys.

'''Elf''': ...You've got to be kidding. }}

* [[Taking You with Me]]: {{spoiler|Max}} goes out with a bang, but he doesn't do it alone.

* [[This Trope Is Bleep]]: When Myra is interviewing the Soda Poppers in "Situation: Comedy", their answers have many words arbitrarily bleeped out, resulting in moments like Specs admitting that he regrets not having *bleep*ed his brother.

** In "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak:

Sameth: [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Because most people are * bleep * ed , Maximus.]] }}

** In "What's New, Beelzebub?", {{spoiler|Hugh Bliss}} works as a *bleep*er. Specifically, he applies [[Sound Effects Bleep|Sound Effects Bleeps]] to any and all profanity. Even innocuous stuff like "doo-doo", "freakin'", {{spoiler|"peacock", and the name "Dick"}}. Eventually, his list of swears gets replaced with {{spoiler|Satan's grocery list}}, causing him to start bleeping words like "vanilla" and "soda". And yes, this does cause the Soda Poppers to be referred to as the "*bleep* Poppers" for the rest of the game.

** "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak" plays with this. On the surface, Sam and Max are just changing the reels on the projector to skip to different parts of the movie. But the way Sammeth and Maximus use clues from later reels to solve puzzles in earlier reels - for example, {{spoiler|their toy idea}} - definitely draws a parallel to straighter uses of time travel. Maximus's menu of psychic powers ''does'' refer to the movie reel as "Astral Projection", so there's definitely ''something'' going on...

* [[Title Drop]]: The earliest is Episode 4 of the first season:

'''Sam:''' Isn't it obvious, Max? Abe Lincoln must die! }}

** Done in EVERY episode in Season 3. Lampshaded in ''The City that Dares Not Sleep.''

** Done by Max in ''What's New, Beelzebub?''

* [[Trouser Space]]: During a brief [[Freaky Friday Flip|body swap]] in "Night of the Raving Dead", Sam's first comment (in Max's body) was "So that's where you keep your gun!", which implies Max has the gun somewhere on his person, raising this as a possibility.

** {{spoiler|This is an actual location}} in ''The Devil's Playhouse.''

* [[T-Word Euphemism]]: From "The Penal Zone":

'''Max:''' How many times have I told you not to use the "b-word", Sam? }}

* [[Ugly Cute]]: Sam Jr. in 305.

* [[Un Cancelled]]: Season 1 is effectively this to the cancelled [[Lucas Arts]] sequel, which also would have been the series' jump to 3D.

* [[Undercover As Lovers]]: In "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls." When Flint Paper demands to know who Girl Stinky's mysterious Mr. S is, she claims that it's Sam and that they've been carrying on a torrid love affair for years, all before Sam can come up with a different story. Since he's trying to figure out what Stinky's actually up to, he [[Embarrassing Cover Up|has to go along with it.]] Cue [[Fake-Out Make-Out|what may qualify]] for the [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] of that episode.

'''Max:''' Y'know, Sam, that whole Stinky-kissing thing kinda made ''me'' wish for he sweet release of death, too. <br />

'''Sam:''' I know, little buddy, but it'll be worth it if we can track Stinky to the REAL Mr. S who's controlling all these Sam clones. }}

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: Done a lot, not just with the main characters, but nobody questions how Hugh Bliss can change color? Even magic can't excuse that!

* [[Vampires Are Sex Gods]]: Jurgen, {{spoiler|after he is turned}}:

* [[Vampires Own Nightclubs]]: Jurgen's Zombie Factory.

* [[Very Special Episode]]: Sam and Max are supposed to film one of those for ''[[Show Within a Show|Midtown Cowboys]]'' in "Night of the Raving Dead", but it turns out to be an excuse for [[Product Placement]].

* [[The War Room]]: In Episode 104.

* [[Wasn't That Fun?]]: Often invoked by Max, such as this example from ''Sam and Max Hit the Road'', after the "Cone of Tragedy" ride has given Sam a cardiac arrest {{spoiler|but in reality all of his stuff has been thrown off the ride.}}:

'''Max''': Let's do it again! }}

* [[Weaponized Landmark]]: The Lincoln Memorial -- and the {{spoiler|Intercontinental Ballistic Washington Monument}} -- from "Abe Lincoln Must Die!"

* [[We Want Our Jerk Back]]: Sam's response to {{spoiler|Max's getting his bliss separated.}}

** [[Your Mileage May Vary|Players' reactions to Max in this state varied.]] Some found him annoying and unfunny, while others giggled like a maniac at [[Tastes Like Diabetes|blissed-out Max.]]

'''Max:''' I don't need my earthly stomach any more, Sam. I'm on Hugh Bliss's cleansing fast of water, lemon, and sunshine! }}

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Each season has at least one.

** The joke is that [[Anticlimax|the game is really easy to win]], but {{spoiler|the actual solution is to deliberately lose, which is no easy feat.}}

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]:

** Max apparently loves this trope, in "The Penal Zone":

** Apparently, the most uncivilized act that can be committed in mole-man culture, particularly those of Egyptian heritage, is ''cutting a cucumber lengthwise''.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: By the C.O.P.S. to Sam at the end of the first part of "They Stole Max's Brain!"

* [[What the Hell, Player?]] : In Episode 305, if you try put "Sam Jr." in the food processor, Sam will look at you, the player, and say "How dare you even think about putting my sweet little angel in there!"

* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: Often in Season 3, when Max has one or two psychic powers, all puzzles will be solved with the same power, ie, the Teleporter through most of "The Penal Zone", the Can o Nuts in "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak".

* [[The Worm That Walks]]: {{spoiler|Season 1 [[Big Bad]] Hugh Bliss, a colony of space-faring sentient... [[Camp Gay|''Bacteriaaaaaa!'']]}}

* [[Worst Whatever Ever]]: In Season 1, Episode 5 ('Reality 2.0') [[Visual Pun|dirty rat]] [[You Dirty Rat|Jimmy Two-Teeth]] has set himself up in Bosco's Inconvenience Store as an Arms Merchant, but refuses to sell his only product (a miniature cannon) to the Freelance Police:

* [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]]: In "The City That Dares Not Sleep," Sam claims that he's never seen Max cry on his own except to lure his prey into a false sense of security.

* [[Yandere]]: {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep}} isn't crazy, evil, [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|or illiterate.]] He's [[Monster Sob Story|LONELY.]]

* [[You Can't Get Ye Flask]]: [[Lampshaded]] at the end of the "Reality 2.0" episode with the golden idol.

* [[Your Mom]]

{{spoiler|The Narrator:}} Yes. Well, you're fat. It would seem that [["No Respect" Guy|neither of us get the respect or attention we deserve.]]<br />

Sam: You don't have to be a jerk about it. }}