# Favorite "little" jokes in movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 15, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688 "2024-12-15T22:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/1 "2024-12-15T22:51:00Z")
I don’t know how to define a little joke, but I really just mean one that doesn’t necessarily go for the huge laugh, but it just in there to keep the comedy going and for little fun gags the writers or movie-makers thought of. I’ll give you a quick one. In Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, they take Death(the Grim Reaper) to a Hardware store to get supplies. He passes by a guy smoking and just says, “See you soon.” Movie does not pause or wait for laughs, it’s just a quick little joke that always made me laugh or smile when I saw the movie. Can you think of quick little jokes in movies you love? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/2 "2024-12-15T22:56:13Z")
One that has stuck with me isn’t even in a comedy: it’s in what is otherwise a very serious movie, _Casablanca_: - Captain Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca? - Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters. - Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert. - Rick: I was misinformed. ---
**Author:** ![Lar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lar/32/19958_2.png) [@Lar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lar)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/3 "2024-12-15T23:12:05Z")
Believe it or not, there’s one in Mel Gibson’s 2004 _The Passion of the Christ_. Story has it Jesus was a high-level carpenter, what we now distinguish as a ‘cabinetmaker’. There’s a scene in the movie where his mother Mary is looking for him because she wants him to come have lunch. She asks what he’s working on. Something new, he says, showing her his work. “Tall kitchen chairs”. She looks it over skeptically and says “Tall kitchen chairs? It’ll never catch on.” The audience laughed in an odd relief. Separately, Gibson said in a making-of documentary that there were scenes he tried to make easier on the actors by directing while wearing a red dot clown nose and a cowboy hat. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/4 "2024-12-15T23:54:21Z")
**Miracle on 34th St.** has a few: Doris and Mr. Shellhammer are discussing Kris Kringle’s sanity and he says _Maybe he’s only a little crazy like painters or composers or… or some of those men in Washington_. **Lar** , welcome to the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/5 "2024-12-16T00:01:51Z")
Monty Python and the Holy Grail ! [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/m3dZl3yfGpc/hqdefault.jpg "Camelot (it's only a model)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3dZl3yfGpc) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/6 "2024-12-16T00:07:19Z")
There’s a scene in “Blazing Saddles” where the character played by Alex Karras rides into town, and a terrified bystander exclaims “Mongo! Santamaria!!” Mrs. J. and I were the only people in the theater who laughed, meaning no one else got the joke or didn’t think it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/7 "2024-12-16T00:27:57Z")
Explain? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/8 "2024-12-16T00:42:52Z")
> **[Mongo Santamaría](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongo_Santamar%C3%ADa)** > > Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the 1960s. His biggest hit was his rendition of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. From the 1970s, he recorded mainly salsa and Latin jazz, before retiring in the late 1990s. > Mo... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/9 "2024-12-16T01:38:45Z")
Thank you. I wouldn’t have had a clue what @Jackmannii was alluding to. At least I got the “laurel and hearty handshake” joke. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/10 "2024-12-16T01:45:28Z")
Yeah, I didn’t get the Mongo Santamaria one either. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/11 "2024-12-16T01:53:40Z")
In _Olive the Other Reindeer_ the reindeer Schnitzel (Played by Michael Stipe of REM) is the cousin of Blitzen, but isn’t part of Santa’s reindeer because, he says, “flightless, unfortunately.” Martini, Olive’s penguin sidekick says, “It happens.” ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/12 "2024-12-16T05:27:58Z")
Tommy Lee Jones has a great throwaway line in _Men In Black_. His Agent K shows Will Smith’s Agent J a new data storage format. “Fascinating little gadget - it’s going to replace the CD soon… guess I’ll have to buy The White Album again.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/13 "2024-12-16T05:29:06Z")
In _The Hudsucker Proxy_, Hudsucker Industries mail clerk-turned-president Norville Barnes calls the mailroom supervisor - and is promptly chewed out for not sorting the day’s mail, as the supervisor apparently hadn’t been informed of the promotion. What follows is one of my favorite jokes to ever appear in a Coen Brothers film: > BARNES: I’m president of the company now- > SUPERVISOR: I don’t care if you’re **president** of the company! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/14 "2024-12-16T06:07:54Z")
In _Superman_ (the Christopher Reeve one) there’s a little scene where Clark Kent is about to change into his Superman outfit, and [glances](https://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/phonebooth/movie-phonebooth.jpg) at one of those payphones-on-a-pole things they used to have. An obvious reference to the classic “Superman changes in a phone booth” Superman trope. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/15 "2024-12-16T07:44:29Z")
I love that they have a Mexican restaurant in _Anchorman_ called Escupimos en su Alimento, which means “we spit in your food.” I had to have that pointed out to me, but I’ve been studying Spanish pretty seriously over the last few years, so I’m looking forward to being able to figure stuff like that out for myself in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/16 "2024-12-16T08:29:14Z")
A joke in Galaxy Quest, so quick that I missed it the first dozen times I saw it: Teb is explaining to Gwen that the Thermians have never actually used the (teleporter) Digital Conveyer, saying among other things that, “it was built to accommodate your anatomy, not ours.” As he says, “your anatomy,” he gives a tiny “hmm” noise and glances quickly at Gwen’s bust. Sounds obvious, but I missed it again and again. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/17 "2024-12-16T08:34:22Z")
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade > Elsa: (pointing out a painting on the wall): What’s this one? > Indiana: The Ark of the Covenant. > Elsa: Are you sure? > Indiana: Pretty sure. Die Hard > “We’re gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess.” And then the scene where the elevator arrives at the floor, goes “ding” and blows up. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/18 "2024-12-16T10:36:05Z")
Some very quick jokes in the **Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs** films. In the first one Flint creates an entire building out of Jell-o and [lists the various things in it that are also made of Jell-o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs4Z_Icfzms) - a piano, sconces, statues, ghetto blasters, and… a mini-Jello mold. There’s just something about the inclusion of “that Jell-o” in the list that always makes me laugh. The first film also has a literal running gag involving a TV set with legs. In the second film, Flint is fleeing monsters and spots an alley to duck down…only to run splat into a picture of an alley on a billboard advertising “SWALLOW FALLS ALLEYS - Building Quality Alleys Since 1973”. It’s another blink-and-you-miss-it gag but the idea of a company that sells alleys also tickles me inordinately. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/19 "2024-12-16T11:55:30Z")
In **Raising Arizona** : Leonard Smalls’s long take of the word “fart” scrawled on the wall of Hi and Ed’s trailer when he’s casing it. : ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/20 "2024-12-16T12:20:55Z")
There was a movie with Bob Hope and a blond that he was pursuing while she was just using him for… something. I don’t recall the name of the movie or the actress, but I remember this line (maybe not word for word, but still…) Bob: _I’ve acted like a real dog, and you’ve been like a mother to me._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688.md?page=2)