Running gag

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Running gag is a joke that shows up again and again in a story. It can be a line, a situation, or a visual gag. Catchphrases are not running gags. A running gag usually starts from one funny moment and then repeats in different ways as people expect it to return. The humor comes from the repetition, but the thing itself stays a joke. Simply repeating a trivial statement isn’t enough to make it a running gag. Sometimes the humor comes from how silly or inappropriate the moment is, or from fooling the audience by promising more and then delivering something different. Running gags appear in everyday life, theater, stand-up, TV, video games, movies, books, and comics—anywhere there’s time for jokes to come back. They can be spoken or shown, and they can carry social ideas by exaggerating attitudes. For example, a character might propose something so ridiculous that it’s funny because it’s unlikely to happen.