Okay, I’m an Arrested Development megafan. I’ve seen each episode multiple times and I really think it’s the best comedy series to ever be produced.
There are seriously so many jokes crammed into such a tight space on so many different subject that it boggles the mind! I can’t even begin to explain it to other people. It’s my favorite TV show ever.
I’ll try to start off with an example of my own.
In final episode, there is a celebratory brunch with his family over the fact that the company has been upgraded to “risky” “Risky Business” It is hardly even a joke, so much as a, “Hey remember this?” moment. Ron Howard is narrating and he says something along the lines of, “A breakfast catered by a well-known local establishment” At which point, there is a one-second closeup of the breakfast, which is a Paella pan loaded with eggs and bacon and other stuff.
Obviously this is a Skip’s Scramble! By Skip Church, not to be confused with Miss Temple.
Another one that I can remember was in the episode with the Japanese investors (God knows they’re squinters!) where Bob Loblaw informs the family that there could be a mole in the room, and wonders out-loud if there could be a listening device in the room, where it shows a closeup on the surrogate, and then cuts to a wide shot of the entire family at which point a boom mic briefly dips into view.
Finally, the one where Tobias thinks he’s getting an audition for “The Prosecution” whereby he is asked to bring records to the “audition”
When explaining why he says, “For set dressing, silly! These hollywood sets go into meticulous detail about getting an authentic look.” As he’s doing that, he opens a cupboard looking for something, only to find a cup of starbucks coffee"
I love that show so much. Does anyone here have anything else to add? What is the most obscure joke you’ve gotten from the show?
Rob Corddry had one or two guest appearances as an actor who played a character named Frank Wrench. The character was a gun nut, and his name was Moses Taylor.
Moses Taylor was obviously a takeoff on Charlton Heston - and he’s named after Heston’s two most famous roles, Moses [Ten Commandments] and Taylor [Planet of the Apes].
I don’t know about obscure, but the show is bursting at the seams with subtle jokes. One of my favorite jokes is in the final episode, when Michael is going to the office while talking on a cell phone. In the background is aftemath of a “Risky Business” accident, complete with sunglasses and underwear and a banner.
Another one is in “Good Grief” when George Michael is walking home accompanied by Charlie Brown Music. In the background is a beagle sleeping on top of his doghouse.
I know it’s a crowded club, but add me to the chorus chanting best comedy ever. Every joke is not only funny, but a callback or callforward or a setup of a three season metajoke that just keeps building on itself. Each character is simply an empty shell whose sole purpose is to be as funny as possible. I’ve watched each episode multiple times and I catch something new every time.
Watch again, and you’ll notice a couple of people carrying a scraggly Christmas tree, too.
A favorite of mine was in one episode when the company was facing bankruptcy, and one of the employees says, “Don’t worry. George always has something in the kitty.”
In the first episode of season 2 when Michael and George Michael are running away to Phoenix and Michael calls home to see if his family has noticed that they have gone, he prenteds to be a doctor, ‘Dr. Blueman’. This is of course a few episodes before the whole Blue Man plot line.
Another obscure one is in season 3 when Rita is drugged and seated on a bus bench advertising Wee Britain the way she is seated she covers up ‘it’ so that the bench reads ‘Wee Brain’.
There are a surprising number of forshadowing jokes that can only be caught by watching the DVDs over and over again. Another from season 2 is when Buster runs away to “Mexico” and when he sees the hand chair in his maids house he comments, “I used to have a chair like this, I never thought I’d miss a hand so much.” Again a few episodes before he actually loses his hand.
Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio) is brought in to replace Barry Zuckercorn (Henry Winkler) “I’ve been brought in to replace him before, I skew to a younger audience - of jurors.”
Buster sitting on a bench with an advertisement for the army. The way he is sitting, the bench reads “arm is off”
Close, but he doesnt even do that! He does the Fonzie thing where hes about to comb his hair, but at the last minute pulls away and does this “eeeeyyyy” kind of shrug as if to say, “I look great already” I think it was on one of the opening credits for a while.
But it was so awesome. I used to watch Happy Days a lot for a while there and for a second there, he WAS the fonz.
Also, the thing about the cousin…maybe thing. I NEVER got that! I wonder if it was intentional? I suppose so, because as early as season one, George Michael is already wondering.
Not really hidden jokes, but still funny nonetheless. I love the British stereotypes in the third season. Half of the stuff is seriously just crazy! The Yellowfang pub (yellow teeth), is an obvious joke about British oral hygene, but some others are really weird. The Poppins? Also the fact that Michael thinks hes using normal British slang, when in reality he is speaking in a childlike way. “Like they say ‘go up box’ instead of elevator” A doctor is a boobooman. The best though is Dave Thomas as Trevor. Its hilarious. Rita mentions about how they’d better leave quickly before her uncle trevor gets out of the shower for a cigarette. Also the time where he can be seen smoking a cigarette while brushing his teeth!
Ah, too many hilarious moments. Its about the only thing that makes it bearable that it’s gone, there are loads of jokes to be appreciated.
Not really subtle, I guess, but one of my favorites. Michael’s in jail due to Job’s CD cover IIRC, and he’s talking to Lucille from the jailhouse.
Michael: Why don’t you send Job down here to prison - I’ve got a nice, hard cot for him.
Lucille: You’d do that to your own brother?!
Michael: CoT, Mom, I said CoT.
YouTube is filtered at work for me so you’ll have to find it yourself, but I found this one amazing:
The actor who played Buster had once been in a Volkswagen commercial. You may remember it because it shows him in the car and it is quiet, but you see him dancing the robot in his seat. Then the driver opens the door and you hear Styx’s ‘Misto Roboto’ and the closing clip shows driver and passenger (Buster) doing the robot.
On Arrested Development there was a flashback clip about (I think) Buster damaging the airport ladder truck and in the flashback, Buster is in the passenger seat doing the robot to Styx’s ‘Misto Roboto’ and gashing the dashboard with his hook.
It blew my mind that to catch this joke, you had to remember the actor being in this commercial long before the series ever started!
Another no so subtle but fun joke when they go to Iraq and meet the Sadam lookalikes in the Iraqi Model Home.
“Forgive me, where are my manners I’m acting lika an Uday lookalike”
The fast little picture cuts always have fun stuff.
The ones that stand out for me are: Maeby’s Birth announcement “There is a girl in my soup”
Steve Holt’s yearbook pictures with his favorite sayings changing and his expression getting more depressed.
GOB and his wifes slide show of their fun evening followed in later episodes where identical pictures show Iraq service and links to the infamous leaked photos of Iraqi prisoners.
My favorite though is the Slide show of the competetion between the two frozen banana stands while “yellow Boat” plays in the background “Even with music it really wasn’t that interesting”
Oh my god, I never put that together before! That’s hilarious.
My favorite is the about Gob’s boat, the Seaward. Michael says to Gob “you have to get rid of the Seaward” and Lucille comes back with “I will leave when I’m good and ready.”
In fact, in the last episode, entitled Development Arrested, a lot of things were backwards from earlier episodes, including the pilot. I can’t remember them all, but here’s one:
Pilot:
Michael: “What have I always said is the most important thing?”
GM: “Breakfast.”
Michael: “Family.”
GM: "“Oh, I thought you meant of things to eat.”
Last episode:
Michael: “What have I always said is the most important thing?”
GM: "“Family.”
Michael: “I was going to say breakfast, but yes, family is important.”
There was an episode where the Bluths hired a public relations woman. She advised everyone to do some charity work, or hold a fundraiser, or whatever. Her assignment for Buster was that he stay as hidden from public view as possible. Later in the episode, you could see him skulking in the doorway, wearing a shirt that matched the wallpaper.
Not obscure, but fast: At one point, George is saying that if they find out that he’s met with Saddam Hussein, he’ll be ruined for life. Then the narrator (or maybe it’s a caption) says, “Not always” and there’s a quick picture of Donald Rumsfeld meeting with Hessein.
I just finished watching the one with the ethics teacher who had a crush on Michael – and happened to like Saddam. She has all these pictures of things in Iraq and Michael comments on how the houses there had kitchens like the model home.