Running Jokes

[on:]

My friend was talking about running jokes in futurama, but i cant think of any!..apart from the one about arcaic pronounciation..(x mas and aks)

can you think of any?

[Reply #1 on:]

- Bender pulling out the little purple camera and taking pictures. "Neat!"

- Owls replacing rats.

- "Good news everyone!" followed by bad news.

[Reply #2 on:]

What about the running irony gag from TDHaIP and the leach thing from ITWGY, although the leach gag went on just a little too long. Oh, and the Brain Slugs from Raging Bender. But I can't seem to think of any running gags through the whole serise other then catch phrases and Bender's "I'm back, baby!"

[Reply #3 on:]

My friend was talking about running jokes in futurama... can you think of any?

[*SpaceCase resists urge to make egregiously bad puns*]

Fry being so dumb "special" that _ _ _ _ _.
Leela's violent agressive streak.
Bender stealing.
Amy's clutziness.
Zoidberg's poverty and medical ignorance.
Hermes' 'anal' tendencies.
Zap's ego.
Scruffy's laziness "Sked-juwl kawn-flikts."
I'll just... ooze... back out under the door now...

[Reply #4 on:]

Bender thowing something away while making the same "H'yep!"sound.

[Reply #5 on:]

Charleston Chew (not funny)
A diaper on Nibbler
ALL Zapp's personality traits.
Kif's eternal sighing

[Reply #6 on:]

What about no one ever remembering who Scruffy is?  (Not including the time when Fry said "...I never told anyone, not even Scruffy!" and the comics).

[Reply #7 on:]

- the whole leela sleeping with zapp thing
-amy always slipping and falling down...although I do beleive it occured in only 2 episodes: I Roomate and Fry and the Slurm Factory)
-"We're boned."
-"Bite my shiney metal ass!"

[Reply #8 on:]

What about "It's gonna be fun on the bun!"? Almost forgot about that one even though Bender only said it a few times.

[Reply #9 on:]

- the whole leela sleeping with zapp thing
-amy always slipping and falling down...although I do beleive it occured in only 2 episodes: I Roomate and Fry and the Slurm Factory)
-"We're boned."
-"Bite my shiney metal ass!"

She fell on her party board in "Kif gets knocked up a notch".

[Reply #10 on:]

For some reason I don't see catch phrases or character traits as "running jokes" per se. So apart from a couple of things mentioned by Go-a-Green-a none of the suggestions seem like running jokes to me.

[Reply #11 on:]

Sal adding 's' to the end of words (though I suppose that's catch phrase-ish).

[edit] Oh and this gag only connects two episodes - but there's the countess delaroca's bracelet:

In "a flight to remember":
Bender: At least I'll always have her bracelet! What do you think it's worth?
Hermes: It's fake, mon.

Then in a later episode (I can't remember which one), there's a brief scene where we see Bender tossing it casually into the garbage.

[Reply #12 on:]

This could be considered another character trait thing, but while everyone is annoyed with Zoidberg for one reason or another at times, Hermes especially shows a strong dislike for Zoidberg which often has comedic effect (Hermes often threatens to eat Zoidberg/serve him as food and cut his pay or benefits, and insults him frequently).

[Reply #13 on:]

For some reason I don't see catch phrases or character traits as "running jokes" per se. So apart from a couple of things mentioned by Go-a-Green-a none of the suggestions seem like running jokes to me.

I disagree and not because I added some examples.When Amy falls off her party board it's a slapstick moment.This is the oldest example of physical humor.All comics in the golden age of comedy used slapstick.
Marx Brothers,the Three Stooges ,Harold Lloyd (not Zoid).
Other running slapstick gags,when Mom slaps her sons(almost every episode she's in).And what would you call it when the Professor adds a random h in words like well and way.Its only random, not every time which would be a speech impediment.
And I feel that Sal's wandering plurals is a running joke.

[Reply #14 on:]

I suppose it all depends on whether you differentiate between the way the characters are and what the characters do. For example, Amy is clutzy, but we know this because she slips or otherwise hurts herself from time to time. I'd probably call this a running gag, but is something like the expressions a character uses (such as Hermes using his "green snake" similes or "sweet something of someplace") also a running gag or just part of the character?

Oh, this could be another running gag- Bender is supposed to only be good for bending girders, but he seems to have an almost infinite number of useful functions and an ever-changing interior. One could call this a continuity issue, but I think that since the show is so consistent in this particular inconsistency, it is an unspoken running gag of sorts.

[Reply #15 on:]

The reason Bender has so many uses is because everything in life is just a primitive, degenerate form of bending.

Edited for stupid typo.

[Reply #16 on:]

One thing that always gave me a chuckle was whenever something happened to Bender to scare him (or disagreed with his...chest cavity?) he'd "sh*t bricks".

[Reply #17 on:]

One thing that always gave me a chuckle was whenever something happened to Bender to scare him (or disagreed with his...chest cavity?) he'd "sh*t bricks".

You're speaking of Potato chips with Olestra.Now there's a dated additive .I don't know of any product that still contains olestra.I remember when it first came out people couldn't stay out of the bathroom.I never bought any because of the controversy

[Reply #18 on:]

Oh, NOW I get it. I had no frigging idea what olestra was.

[Reply #19 on:]

The only potato chip to come with an explosive diarrhea warning label on the package!

[Reply #20 on:]

Reduced fat Pringles still come with Olestra in them.

One of my favorite running jokes?  The off screen "wooooooo" whenever something can be taken a second, more base manner.

[Reply #21 on:]

The reason Bender has so many uses is because everything in live is just a primitive, degenerate form of bending.

Ah, that's a good answer! Clever, too.

One of my favorite running jokes?  The off screen "wooooooo" whenever something can be taken a second, more base manner.

Was the off-screen "wooooooo" used before "Spanish Fry"? I know there's the similar "wooooooo"s on-screen in “A Bicyclops Built for Two”…but I’m just curious. It’s definitely a running gag within “Spanish Fry.”

That does remind me, though, of another small running gag- the “You suck!” in that Bender-like voice. I like how we get a bit more of a reveal each time; when it’s directed at Zapp in “Love’s Labors Lost in Space,” it seems to come from the crowd of Zapp’s men. When it’s directed at Lrrr in “The Problem with Popplers,” Lrrr thinks it comes from the crowd but then in the cut to Bender he’s pulling the curtain back a little to presumably look at the situation (but he could have also been yelling the “You suck!”). Finally, when it’s directed at That Guy in “Future Stock,” we see Bender yelling it directly. It may not have been intended to be from Bender, but I like that little progression of the line.

[Reply #22 on:]

I'm 40% running joke!

[Reply #23 on:]

Nibbler being kicked, trodden-on, knocked flying etc...

[Reply #24 on:]

Bender calling dibs on something just before Zoidberg does (think this happens multiple times but cant think which episodes theyre in). this one from ITWGY.

Leela: [to Fry] Goodbye sweet goofbag.
Bender: [Sighs] I'll miss her, too, buddy. Dibs on her iPod.
Zoidberg: Dibs on... [moans]

[Reply #25 on:]

Farnsworth: "We'll have to travel deep inside Fry, in this!"

Bender: "Shotgun!"

Zoidberg: "Shotgun! Awwww."

[Reply #26 on:]

Not just Bender.

Farnsworth: Well now that death has been staved off momentarily, let me be the first to say congratulations Leela and Lars.
Amy: [raising hand] Maid of honor!
Zoidberg: [raising claw an instant later] Maid of honor! Ohhh.

[Reply #27 on:]

wow..i never thought of them as running jokes..i suppose i just heard them so much..i just blank 'em

[Reply #28 on:]

Zoidberg always being hungry is sort of a running joke unless you count it as a character trait.

[Reply #29 on:]

Zoidberg always being hungry is sort of a running joke unless you count it as a character trait.

it's funny about Zoidberg.Naturally funny guy,says off the cuff pearls.But get him on stage,not funny.I think everything about him is a running joke.Stereotypical Jewish nebbish.Wants to be a comedian or a doctor.Two professions that usually do not mix at all.

We love him though,just the same.

[Reply #30 on:]

Zoidberg always being hungry is sort of a running joke unless you count it as a character trait.

it's funny about Zoidberg.Naturally funny guy,says off the cuff pearls.But get him on stage,not funny.I think everything about him is a running joke.Stereotypical Jewish nebbish.Wants to be a comedian or a doctor.Two professions that usually do not mix at all.

We love him though,just the same.

Then Zoidberg's one character trait is the fact that he is a running joke, a hungry, unfunny yet funny lobster-thing running joke?

[Reply #31 on:]

Nope. Among his many character traits is that he works for a man who pays him basically nothing out of loyality.He is extremely quick to anger.He has an really low self esteem given to him by that evil wreck of a mother.
The running joke is that he is always hungry always broke,always lonely.Also he smells bad.
Very funny in the right circumstances with coworkers,but when he tries too hard he falls flat like on open Mic at the Apollo.Maybe it's me but there is a confusion between character trait and running joke.

Leela's character trait is that she loves to hurt people but is very kind to small animals.Cruel inflicter of pain with a soft heart otherwise.But the running jokes have been mentioned earlier.

Bender looks like a bum if he's had too little liquor.
Mom hits her kids like the Three Stooges used to.


and so on

[Reply #32 on:]

Zoidberg wasn't raised by his Mother. Decapodians die after conceiving, I've always assumed Zoidypoo was raised by his Aunt Sadie. 

[Reply #33 on:]

Well that would explain the line "Norm and Sam and Sadie's boy.", wouldn't it?

[Reply #34 on:]

Zoidberg wasn't raised by his Mother. Decapodians die after conceiving, I've always assumed Zoidypoo was raised by his Aunt Sadie. 

It depends on the definition of "Mother".Not biological Sadie was,but if she passes on her phobias, irrationalities, and prejudices she shall be called mother.

[Reply #35 on:]

That could also explain some of the Decapodians' idiosyncrasies in general, since the children are raised by those who didn't mate that season.

[Reply #36 on:]

Bitter husks of creatures who will never know the joy of a fulfilling life followed by a gruesome death.
Misery

[Reply #37 on:]

Exactly. They take out their frustrations on the children and the universe ends up with Zoidberg.

[Reply #38 on:]

Yes but a funny, funny guy nonetheless.

[Reply #39 on:]

Bender having different gadgets inside his cabinet.