Inspired by this thread, obviously – what’s the best joke you can think of in an otherwise dark and serious work, TV or movie? (Best if you can find a clip of it, of course).
The first thing that comes to my mind is the hat scene in The Wire. There are not a lot of big laffs in The Wire, but this one’s a beaut.
Got anything better?
j
The Devil’s Advocate. Al Pacino as the Devil. One scene takes place in a church. When no one is watching, Pacino casually ambles over to the font and sticks his finger in the holy water, then grins impishly as it starts to boil.
In another scene, he and Keanu are discussing temptation. “I never made anybody do anything that they didn’t want to do. Free Will. It is a bitch.”
It’s been a long time since I saw Alien, but I seem to recall a scene where the two mechanics are discussing how long it will take to do a repair. They then vastly inflate that number, and report it to the captain.
Criminal Minds has had some great moments of very dark humor. This one belongs in a spoiler box
[spoiler]A search team for a missing woman. The BAU searches the house of one of the persons of interest, and find various human body parts in his frig. They go back to where the guy is being questioned, but don’t find his name on any of the volunteer search team lists. Then Rossi, looking at a paper, screams “Call off the interrogation.” Turns out the guy had been providing a stew dinner for the searches.
You do the math[/spoiler]
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of humor in The Sopranos. But for me the funniest line of all comes in “Second Opinion” (S03E07), when Mr.-Italian-Pride-on-Wheels Tony Soprano, peeved that Meadow’s college is looking for a donation from him, decries the school officials as “jew pricks.”
But Carmella retorts that the guy who met with her is Italian. Tony replies, “Jews wit’ better food.”
Another bit from The Wire I thought was kind of funny was the Poe House / Po’ House scene. It’s a take on the classic “Who’s on first?” bit, of course. And the brilliance of it is that it’s not only funny, it serves to illustrate these kids’ complete lack of education.
My favorite exchange from The Sopranos is from Pine Barrens when Tony calls Paulie on the phone to tell him that the Russian he and Christopher have kidnapped and tried to whack is actually very dangerous.
Now you’ve made me think about it, although it was very dark, there were some very funny (laugh out loud and peculiar) scenes. I haven’t managed to find a link to the scene where Bunk and McNulty are parked up in an industrial area drinking beer and throwing the empty cans onto nearby flat roof. The camera tracks over to show the roof completely covered with cans.
Then there’s the Fuck scene. The only version I could find that you don’t have to sign in for has been partially fastforwarded.
j
I should have pointed out (thought it ought to be obvious from the title) that this is NSFW
Missed edit. Sorry.
j
Another one in The Wire. Can’t link to a video right now but Omar and McNulty are shopping for something for Omar to wear to trial.
McNulty (picking up a yellow jacket): That’s a look.
Omar: No it ain’t!
McNulty: You figure it out.
Omar: I’ll be home later on. Either that or I’ll be with Muffy at the Club.
More Wire.
Shamrock: Robert’s Rules of order. . .
Stringer: Nigga, is you takin’ notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy??!!!
(Slaps notes out of Shamrock’s hands)
Sherman Hemsley to Ron Glass: “Get lost!”
And yet more Wire. String holding a “board” meeting, everyone has to raise their hands to talk. String, to Bodie: “Chair didn’t recognize your ass.”
Continuing with The Sopranos.
Janice: What did you do with him (Richie’s body, after Tony and crew killed him).
Tony: We buried him, on a hill, overlooking a little river.
Janice: [tearing up] you did?
Tony: What the fuck janice? What do you care what we did with him, do you really want to know?
Is a quick little bit of dialogue, but it’s also example of Tony and Janice’s relationship.
Oh, and pretty much the entirety of Barry. They managed to make what should be a really dark show oddly funny. Not like Santa Clarita Diet Funny, Barry is still pretty dark.
I guess The Wire has a lot of funny bits:
McNulty thanking Bunk for being gentle.
Funny, and a little scary:
Breaking Bad did not have a lot of humor but Jesse’s deadpan answer after Walter explains how he’s going to make ricin out of castor beans to kill Tuco was perfect “ricin beans?”
You guys are making me wanna re-watch The Wire.
I’ll offer up Clay Davis: Sheeeeeeeeeeit
Nice choice.
Barton Fink by the end was extremely dark. After Charlie Meadows (played by the large John Goodman) has chased down the G-men through the burning hallway and shot one at point-blank in the face, he flops down on the couch across from Barton.
Charlie: Don’t look at me like that. It’s me, Charlie.
Barton: I hear it’s Mundt. Mad Man Mundt.
Charlie: Jesus, people can be cruel. If it’s not my build, it’s my personality.
My favorite was from the first episode when Jesse is scanning the horizon from their isolated cook site.