By “unpopular” I mean one that no one remembers. Mine is in Lois and Clark when the American guy put the newspaper article on the table and said “Explain this” then the French guy put a French copy of the same article on the table and said “And this”.
I don’t know about unpopular but I like obscure references and bad puns. I thought it was kind of neat that My Little Pony reused the pun from the old Beetlejuice cartoon about Timberwolves being made out of wood.
I know I’m not the only one who got it, but I always thought it was hilarious the way Ron Swanson’s references to woodworking on Parks & Recreation were used for laughs while also being completely accurate. For instance, in the episode where he turned into a giddy fanboy because he got to meet a famous furniture builder at a wood convention, the show brought in an actual master woodworker, Christian Becksvoort, for a three-second appearance (I’m sure Nick Hofferman, who runs his own furniture shop in real life, was responsible for all of this sort of thing on the show).
On MASH, Margaret thought she was pregnant. Hawkeye removed the uterus from Radar’s pet rabbit, Fluffy, to do a pregnancy test, since Radar insisted Fluffy not be killed. Margaret wasn’t pregnant. Awkwardly, she thanked Radar for letting them use his rabbit for the test.
He said, “That’s okay, Major. I know you would’ve done the same for her.”
I’ve never laughed harder in my life, nor heard my mother laugh harder.
The WKRP in Cincinnati “Turkeys Away” has lots of little gems that have been forgotten because of the classic final punchline. My favorite is Jennifer trying to calm down one angry caller by telling him, “A lot of turkeys don’t make it through Thanksgiving.”
Hawkeye was OD, and five (?) different Koreans came in with the same ID, and Hawk says It must be our Kim Luck-y day.
MAS*H was full of that stuff.
When the guys are trying to help Sheldon overcome his fear of public speaking, referring to themselves as his “X-men.” Sheldon responds “X-men were named for Professor Xavier’s last name. Since my last name is Cooper, you are my C-men.”
There is a long silence before Wolowitz says “That is not a good name.”
I never watched a full episode of the show but happened to catch a joke on “Two and a Half Men.”
An old girlfriend of Charlie’s has gotten a sex change and is portrayed by Chris O’Donnell. Jon Cryer walks in and wonders who the new guy is; Charlie stammers that it’s an old friend.
“Poker buddy?” asks Cryer.
Replies Charlie, “I used to.”
Marge starts a protest against violence in front of Itchy & Scratchy studios, but Moe the Bartender typically has his own agenda.
I know this is as unpopular as it is unknown because of the blank stares I get when I reflexively shout “Bring Back Wagon Train!” any time I’m around chanting protesters.
Posted this one in the “Funniest Movie Misunderstandings” by mistake. Talking about “bad puns,” nothing beats the one in Frasier when the ice sculpture at Marty’s wedding was melting:
FRASIER: (In a panic) My Balzac is dripping!
**ROZ: **Don’t worry. In those dark pants, no one will ever know.
They had a lot of great jokes like this. My favorite was the one where Alan and Charlie were trading surreptitious barbs under the guise of book titles the day after Judith had given her ex-husband a BJ while at dinner:
CHARLIE: How about Under the Table, by Richard Gobbler?
Still one of my favorites!
As was “Tuttle,” in which Hawkeye and Trapper had made up a fictitious surgeon named Tuttle, in order to donate his salary to an orphanage. When the gag spirals out of control, they “kill off” Tuttle, and Hawkeye speaks at the memorial service:
“We can all be comforted by the thought that he’s not really gone, there’s a little Tuttle left in all of us, in fact you might say that all of us together made up Tuttle.”
As long as we’re telling M.A.S.H. flybys. . .
Col Potter is dictating a letter to Radar and uses the phrase “athletic supporter,” when he finishes Radar asks, “how many p’s are in supporter?” To which Col Potter nonchalantly replies, “I’ve always found two to be enough.”
From this century. . .In 30 Rock the makeup man D’fwan has his own wine label D’fwine, and advertises it with the tagline “D’frink responsibly”
mc
Another old favorite has come to mind. I’m not sure of which episode it comes from, so this is a paraphrase.
It’s winter, and bitterly cold. Colonel Potter is on the phone with Supply, complaining about how their last requisitions were screwed up.
“We ordered long underwear, and you sent us mosquito netting! Both are useful items, but hardly interchangeable!”
***Seinfeld ***was full of jokes no one would get unless they were familiar with the backlog of episodes.
My favorite so far came when Kramer and Newman were hiring homeless guys to pull rickshaws in NYC. One of the men was named Rusty:
KRAMER: Oh, I once knew a horse named Rusty!
Rusty was the horse Kramer fed Beef-a-Reeno to when he was a Hansom cab driver. The horse became unbearably flatulent right in the middle of an important fare (the late Susan Ross’s parents).
Cough and you would have missed it. I laughed out loud!
Radar’s reaction to what they are doing is classic. He’s about to pass out from the anguish.
:raises hand:
I don’t get it. Does “Kim lucky” sound like something?
Mahaloth:
It sounds like “our lucky day”, except he added the first name of the Korean(s) whose last name is (supposedly) “Luck”.
Two more MASH *one-liners I’ve always loved, and oddly enough, they’re both from the “Officer of the Day” episode:
A Korean has shown up for medical attention, and shows his ID card. His name is Kim Luck. Hawkeye remarks to Radar that’s the second Kim Luck they’ve seen today.
Hawkeye (to Korean): Can you identify yourself?
Korean (thumps chest, smiles): This is me!
Hawkeye: Well, I guess you wouldn’t kid me about a thing like that.
I still use the “This is me” line when I’m asked for identification sometimes.
At the end of the day, Hawkeye is dictating his report to Radar. Trapper sticks his head around the door, and asks if they want to see the greatest pinstripe suit of all time. (He’d commissioned a Korean tailor to make one for him.) He walks in and models the suit, which has the pinstripes going horizontally, instead of vertically. Both Radar and Hawkeye collapse in laughter.
Hawkeye: He’s a great tailor, but he’s got a lousy sense of direction.
The infamous sign from The Simpsons:
SNEED’S FEED & SEED
(formerly Chuck’s)