# 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:** 17
**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:** [January 5, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/321 "2025-01-05T20:41:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > For the next four years, every phone number in a TV show or a movie should be 202-456-1414. Reminds me of the Simpsons. Someone starts giving the number, “555…” And Homer says, “555? That’s obviously fake!” ---
**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:** [January 5, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/322 "2025-01-05T22:18:30Z")
Another from _Vengeance Most Fowl_: during the chase the need to grab some vegetables from a farmer, who’s the farmer from Aardman’s _Shaun the Sheep_ films. BTW, the “Onya Doorstep” reporter is voiced by Diane Morgan aka Philomena Cunk. ---
**Author:** ![MarkF2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5ac83/32.png) [@MarkF2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkF2004)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/323 "2025-01-06T01:20:35Z")
And also, on the lightning slow canal chase, the name of Feather’s barge is “The Accrington Queen”. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/324 "2025-01-06T06:21:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There was an Australian series called _the Games_ that had an investigative journalist in one episode named Jack Hughes. The UK TV series Alli!Allo! pulled that gag too. And way back in the 50s, the BBC radio show _The Goons_ invented, for connoisseurs of rhyming slang, a sports reporter called Hugh Jampton. (There is a London suburb called Hampton Wick - apparently no BBC bigwig noticed). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/325 "2025-01-06T12:43:47Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The UK TV series Alli!Allo! pulled that gag too. Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. I’ve seen _'Allo 'Allo_ (though not every episode), and I don’t remember a Jack Hughes. If you ever get the chance to see _The Games_, I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/326 "2025-01-06T14:22:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve seen _'Allo 'Allo_ (though not every episode), and I don’t remember a Jack Hughes. There is one episode where the Colonel and Lieutenant are trying to avoid the blame for yet another failure in regard to the knockwurst with the Fallen Madonna&c&c. The Lt makes it clear that if he’s fingered he will denounce the Colonel, with a dramatic “J’accuse!”, to which Helga says “Who is Jack Hughes?” (The writers nicked quite a few gags - on top of the basic skit - there’s one from Tati’s _M. Hulot’s Holiday)_ ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/327 "2025-01-06T14:32:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Reminds me of the Simpsons. Someone starts giving the number, “555…” > > And Homer says, “555? That’s obviously fake!” They did a similar gag on _News Radio_. Jimmy James, the rich and egotistical station owner, spends the entire episode trying to get the phone number of an attractive woman. Finally she writes it down and hands it to him. After she leaves, he looks at the paper triumphantly. “555? Wait a minute, this is one of those fake telephone numbers!” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/328 "2025-01-06T14:41:11Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > “555? Wait a minute, this is one of those fake telephone numbers!” And they riff on this, in _The Last Action Hero_, when the kid is trying to convince Arnold that they’re in a movie. “All the phone numbers start with 555! That means there can only be 9,999 phone numbers in a city with millions of people!” “That’s what area codes are for!” ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/329 "2025-01-06T15:37:58Z")
The 555 joke is also used in _Family Guy_ in its “Stand By Me” parody: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6TXlll7CXoI/maxresdefault.jpg "Family Guy Stand by me movie parody") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TXlll7CXoI) ---
**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:** [January 8, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/330 "2025-01-08T22:55:44Z")
In _Delicatessen_, one resident of the post-apocalyptic apartment building is shown mending a condom, which has two patches on it…in front of his two children. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/331 "2025-12-23T14:15:33Z")
One more from Wallace and Gromit. In the very first (A Grand Day Out), when Wallace goes down into his cellar, there’s a sled named Rosebud. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/332 "2025-12-23T17:32:03Z")
Shaun the Sheep is a spinoff of Wallace and Gromit. Shaun is the sheep they rescue in one film ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/333 "2025-12-28T19:52:42Z")
One I can’t find mentioned via search is from _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_, as Indiana is making his escape from the nightclub at the start of the movie the name of the place appears in Neon for a couple of seconds…Club Obi-Wan… Press on ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/334 "2025-12-28T20:23:44Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > 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.” Another funny little joke in _Men in Black_ is when Tommy Lee Jones explains to Will Smith (who’s not Agent J yet in that scene) that many of the aliens living on Earth just want to make an honest living without getting unwanted attention and work ordinary jobs. Smith (I forgot his character name before becoming Agent J) suggests cab drivers as a profession, and K immediately responds: “Not as many as you would think.” The joke’s on the audience here, because cab driver is the steretypically unassuming job for someone hiding, so probably many spectators had had that exact thought. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/335 "2025-12-28T20:26:57Z")
I like the bit in Looper where Young Joe is talking to Jeff Daniels boss character about wanting to learn French not Chinese. And Jeff Daniels character cuts him off and just goes “kid, I’m from the future, learn Chinese”. I like it because the film never explains exactly what he means by this. Is it just China is doing far better than Europe in the future or is there some specific catastrophe that befell France? It’s left to you to work that out. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/336 "2025-12-29T07:37:12Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I forgot his character name before becoming Agent J Edwards. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/e_r3ULoXuMY/hqdefault.jpg "Men in Black - At the shooting range") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_r3ULoXuMY) ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/337 "2025-12-29T14:01:55Z")
We could probably do a thread just for the background sight gags/puns in Aardman animations, it is that rich with them. On the front page of a newspaper Gromit is reading in _The Wrong Trousers_, one of the headlines is ‘Dog Reads Newspaper’. So good. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/338 "2025-12-29T14:22:26Z")
The same thing happened when Harvey Korman was handing out deputy badges to the _desperados_ and their boss said “Badges?!? We don’ need no steenkin’ badges!” I must have been the only person in that 1974 cinema who had seen _ **The Treasure of the Sierra Madre** _, because nobody else laughed. When I told a friend that I was the only one who got the joke, he just looked at me and deadpanned “That’s right. You were.” (He apparently had never seen the Humphrey Bogart either.) One of my favorite jokes from a movie came in the breakfast table scene in _ **The Day the Earth Stood Still** _: - [George Barley](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0113876/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Why doesn’t the government DO something? That’s what I’d like to know. - [Mr. Krull](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0815814/?ref_=ttqu_qu): What can they do? They’re only people just like us. - [George Barley](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0113876/?ref_=ttqu_qu): People, my foot. They’re _Democrats_! ---
**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 29, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/339 "2025-12-29T14:23:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The same thing happened when Harvey Korman was handing out deputy badges to the _desperados_ and their boss said “Badges?!? We don’ need no steenkin’ badges!” And in UHF when the guy says, “Badgers? Badgers? We don’t need no stinkin’ badgers!” ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688/340 "2025-12-29T14:51:48Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The same thing happened when Harvey Korman was handing out deputy badges to the _desperados_ and their boss said “Badges?!? We don’ need no steenkin’ badges!” > > I must have been the only person in that 1974 cinema who had seen _ **The Treasure of the Sierra Madre** _, because nobody else laughed. I suspect that the prominence of that joke in _Blazing Saddles_ was what brought the original saying to greater public awareness. (Though I tried plugging “stinkin’ badges” into the Google ngram viewer just now and had no luck at all - the phrase simply doesn’t appear.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-little-jokes-in-movies/1011688.md?page=18)