# comedy staples that are always funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267 "2005-12-12T16:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/41 "2005-12-30T01:39:27Z")
Wigs. Wigs are always hilarious. Especially when larger older women lose their wigs. Comedy gold. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/42 "2005-12-30T03:11:04Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > My favorite example of this was a one-off Warner Brothers cartoon about a squirrel with a nut that wouldn’t crack. [nitpick]COCOnut.[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/43 "2005-12-30T03:44:36Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > Always funny laugh-out-loud moments? People getting run over by trucks, trains, or anything else going very fast, filling out the screen completely – picture Road Runner cartoons with the Coyote standing before a tunnel he’s just painted on the rocks. In fact, it’s SO funny that I habitually picture it happening. Grandma’s waving to you from behind the door? Picture her run over by a milk truck - instant comedy. This reminds me of an episode of _Family Guy_. American Southwest. Roadrunner stops in the middle of the street. Then -BAM!- Hit by a car. Cut to Peter inside the car, worried. “Oh my God! Did I just hit that ostrich?” Camera zooms out to see Wile E. Coyote sitting in the passenger seat. “No.” Peter: Are you sure? Wile E: Yeah, yeah…he’s fine. Keep going. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/44 "2005-12-30T03:45:50Z")
Arrogant newcomer gets put in his place. [Video example.](http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/KittenTeaser.mpeg) ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/45 "2005-12-30T17:34:09Z")
Monomania – obsessing over something to the exclusion of all else. Crossdressing, though mentioned, always seems to work. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/46 "2005-12-30T23:46:39Z")
My grandmother and I agree with **enterprise** - no matter how many times you see it, the old Road Runner fake-tunnel gag is always funny. And the old Johnny Carson clip with Ed Ames throwing the tomahawk- you know what’s going to happen, but when you see it happen again, you can’t help but laugh. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/47 "2005-12-31T00:05:34Z")
Any movie or TV show where the prissy, snobby, selfish, conniving, predatory female (of any age) gets her comeuppance. It can be a wardrobe malfunction, falling in the pool, coffee in her lap, a dog humping her leg. It’s all good. My favorite of these is a Bewitched episode where some hussy has her eyes on Darrin and Samantha puts spinach in the bitch’s teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/48 "2005-12-31T04:51:06Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > [nitpick]COCOnut.[/nitpick] :smack: Guess I don’t remember it **that** well! But what the heck was a squirrel doing with a coconut? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/49 "2005-12-31T05:05:18Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > :smack: Guess I don’t remember it **that** well! > > But what the heck was a squirrel doing with a coconut? He must have captured it from a swallow. On that note, I nominate absurd conversations/situations that those involved treat as completely normal. They always make me laugh. The conversation in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ is a great example. So is the conversation in _Anchorman_ after the seriously over-the-top “rumble” between all of the newsteams. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/50 "2005-12-31T05:38:08Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > On that note, I nominate absurd conversations/situations that those involved treat as completely normal. They always make me laugh. The conversation in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ is a great example. So is the conversation in _Anchorman_ after the seriously over-the-top “rumble” between all of the newsteams. That is funny. I’m reminded of a one-shot cartoon that aired late night on Cartoon Network about a month ago called _The Eltingville Club_. In one scene, two people in a comic book store are arguing about whether or not the _Star Wars_ villain Boba Fett was killed. “He was eaten by a Sarlacc! You could hear him burp!” “So what? There was no body.” ---
**Author:** ![Kakkerlak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@Kakkerlak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakkerlak)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/51 "2005-12-31T09:26:33Z")
> [@](#): > > people in bear suits Dammit, John Irving, nobody asked you ! ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/52 "2005-12-31T12:23:12Z")
Hard Days Night parodies. Ooh, look, the main character’s running from a bunch of people and suddenly everything’s in black & white. Yes! This is going to be good! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/53 "2005-12-31T13:02:53Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > People falling down. Simple as that. I saw _Along Came Polly_ in the theater (for some reason) when it came out, and while the movie itself was so predictable that I started to feel embarrassed for the actors, it was redeemed by one thing: > > Right at the beginning of the movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman took one of the most perfect pratfalls I’ve ever seen. He was walking across the floor, and then WHAM! he hit the floor full-body. It was so perfectly unexpected (not to mention totally gratuitious) that I laughed for several minutes afterward. It was so good that I left the theater thinking, “Hey, that movie wasn’t half bad!” and it was only on reflection that I realized it was only that one pratfall that made me like it. > > It helped, of course, that he was crossing a dance floor in a tuxedo; anyone who’s worn those super-slick rental tuxedo shoes on a shiny dance floor can sympathize. There’s a wonderful play called ‘Noises Off’, where the characters do many things, but include a couple of marvellous falls (one down a staircase). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/54 "2005-12-31T13:07:36Z")
> [@Archergal](#): > > Fart jokes. Comedy gold, never gets old. 😃 Blazing Saddles 😃😃 > [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Also: crazy stuff happening in the background that has nothing to do with the conversation on the screen. And crazy background stuff that does have something to do with the conversation - see ‘Porkys’ where the gym mistress is demanding an p_n_s identity parade ( 😃 ) and the two teachers in the background are cracking up… ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/55 "2005-12-31T17:49:13Z")
Anything that includes the word “apparatus”. ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/56 "2005-12-31T19:42:19Z")
Children having adult conversations. “I take my coffee black, the same as my men” yes, I know it’s not an exact quote. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/57 "2005-12-31T20:01:23Z")
Fart jokes are a runner up only to masturbation jokes. “Master of your domain” is classic comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267/58 "2006-01-01T15:07:05Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > On that note, I nominate absurd conversations/situations that those involved treat as completely normal. They always make me laugh. The conversation in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ is a great example. So is the conversation in _Anchorman_ after the seriously over-the-top “rumble” between all of the newsteams. I didn’t like that movie, save for the part mentioned. 😃 Whatshisname: There were horses and a man on fire and I killed a guy with a trident. Ron: I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. Find yourself a safe house or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you’re probably wanted for murder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-staples-that-are-always-funny/335267.md?page=2)