Funniest SitCom Scene of all time.

Cafe Society
21

A couple of my faves have already been mentioned, but I have two more, both from Soap. (You’re not the only one, superbee.)

Burt gets really smashed and somehow ends up standing on a coffee table. He can’t seem to step down without losing his balance, so he keeps half-stepping and then stepping back. Impossible to describe well, but man, was it funny.

Burt is running for sheriff and tells Danny he can be a deputy. They sit on two chairs and pretend they are in a police car, complete with sound effects.

I just thought of another one, from Family Ties, also with pretending to be driving while sitting in chairs. Jennifer doesn’t want her dad to teach her to drive (because he gets so tense), but he insists. So he sits the whole family down in the kitchen chairs so Jen can pretend to drive by way of a first lesson. She does it like a maniac, describing whipping around corners and jumping an open drawbridge, and the whole family leans and jumps in time with the motions. She finally stops, and Steven swears he’ll never get in a car with her again.

22

The Fawlty Towers episode where the cook was sick, or drunk, or something, so Basil has to cover up by going to another restaurant to buy food, then rush back to his own restaurant to serve it. At one point his car breaks down, and he flies into one of his frothing, impotent rages. He gets so angry that he runs offscreen briefly, returning with a tree branch, and starts beating his car with it.

Also the one where he has a concussion and is doing a ridiculous Hitler impression for the German tourists.

23

Another Frasier scene:

The dinner scene where everybody (except Frasier) knows the new station manager is gay. Some of the best dialogue the show has ever had.

24

When Tom Hanks was in Bosom Buddies, there was a show where he was getting a tattoo. He was drunk so he wouldn’t feel it. He thought the guy was actually putting the needle in him, so he jumped up and ran out.
You had to be there.
I was screaming in pain because I was laughing so hard.
I thought my heart was going to explode.

Does anybody else remember this? Am I alone?

25

Almost any episode of Fawlty Towers (the corpse and the kipper comes to mind) but the episode which had me laughing so hard my wife had to hang up the phone because she couldn’t hear the person on the other end was (what a long sentence) The Psychiatrist.

Basil (John Cleese) is deathly afraid of the psychiatrist who is staying at FT. Basil is also convinced (correctly) that the sleezy guest his wife likes has snuck an (unpaid for) female guest into his room. He spends the whole show trying to catch the sneak-in, with each attempt ending with Basil being caught by the psychiatrist acting totally insane, or caught by his wife apparently groping a beautiful Australian tourist.

It ends with Basil so frustrated that he pulls his sports coat over his head and jumps around the hall like a frog, causing the psychiatrist to tell him “I’m on vacation.”

The Dick Van Dyke episode with Danny Thomas and walnuts.

The Mary Tyler Moore show in which the Happy Homewrecker is introduced.

Blackadder III meets Samuel Johnson.

Good Neighbors (in Britain it was called The Good Life): the episode in which the Goods need to harvest their crops but Tom has a bad back, and Jerry has a leg in a cast, and…

Fifteen Iguana

26

Yeah, I saw that Bosom Bussies Tattoo episode.
My pick for funniest sitcom episode:

Roseanne…DJ discovers masturbation.

“Darlene, where’s DJ?”
“In the bathroom…he’s been in there for like an hour.”
“Is he all right? Shoud I go up and…”
“Trust me, mom…this isn’t one of those times a boy needs his mother.”

“How much damage can he do with only one free hand?”

“Taking an hour…either he’s really good at it, or really bad at it!”

27

Red Dwarf, when Lister and Cat are watching cartoons and decide that Wilma Flintstone is “the most beautiful woman who ever lived!”

Or maybe the Punch and Judy show on Are You Being Served?. Mr. Humphries has great emotional breakdowns!

28

Another vote for the ending to “Newhart”. And David Cross’ appearance on “Just Shoot Me,” the only episode of that series I’ve ever thought was funny.

My only new contribution: the episode of “Fawlty Towers” in which a health inspector is in the hotel and Basil & the gang have to chase down a rat that’s gotten loose. At the end of the episode, Basil’s presenting a box of chocolates/cookies to the inspector and the rat (a puppet) pokes its head out and looks around. Without missing a beat, Basil says, “Care for a rat? No, well then.” Then closes the box, walks out, and faints. I was making weird high-pitched girly shrieks of laughter when I saw that one.

29

Yes, I remember the “Bosom Buddies” episode as well.

Almost anything “Fawlty Towers” is hilarious. John Cleese is a genius.

The most hilarious sitcom scene that immediately comes to my mind is from “Roseanne”, where Roseanne’s sister, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) is on the phone with an elderly, deaf aunt, trying to tell her that their dad has died. (I believe it was the dad.)

“Auntie Barbara? I am so sorry to tell you, dad is no longer with us.”

“…?” (On the other line, it’s obvious that deaf Auntie Barbara can’t understand what Jackie is saying}

“Dad has passed on.”

“…?” (Auntie Barbara still isn’t getting it.)

(Jackie getting more impatient, hysterical and insistent). “No, Auntie Barbara, dad has died.”

(Getting more insistent and hysterical, the way only Laurie Metcalf can do), "No, Dad is DEAD. He has PASSED ON. HE IS DEAD!!!"

(Finally, giving up with exhausted resignation, because Auntie Barbara isn’t ever going to get it) “Dad is fine, he sends his love.”

I can’t describe this scene’s hilarity well enough, and of course I know I probably got the some of the dialogue and details wrong. But that has got to be the most hilarious scene ever. I almost pee my pants every time I see it, seriously.

30

The What does a blinking yellow light mean? scene from Taxi.

The Fawlty Towers episode with the annoying woman with the hearing aid, when Cleese kept pretending to talk to her without making any noise.

31

I tend not to remember individual scenes in sit-coms but I would have to second the JFK spoof in Seinfeld.

32

Ok, another contribution, this one from Taxi. Jim stays at Louie’s apartment and sets it on fire, destroying all of Louie’s property. Jim’s millionaire father sends Louie a signed blank check with instructions to fill in the amount of the damage and tell Jim so that he can call and ok the amount.

The following sequence, in which Louie tries to figure out the exact amount to ask for, so that it’s as much as possible without dad stopping payment on the check is priceless.

33

“Try the veal. I think you’ll like it. In fact, it’s ‘veal-y good’.”

“Don’t mention the war!”

:snicker:

Classic stuff.

34

“Is this a piece of your brain??”

My vote for funniest scene in sitcom history is Mary Tyler Moore cracking up at the clown’s funeral.

35

I always think of the episode from Wings where the Token Dumb Guy (can’t remember his name) was trying to get something funny on video to submit to America’s Funniest Home Videos. He tried bribing people to trip over their feet, and set up various booby traps, all of which failed. Finally, he leaves the room to go the bathroom or something, when suddenly out of the blue, a man carrying a large open box of styrofoam “popcorn” trips and falls down a flight of stairs, popcorn flying everywhere, and knocks down a few people, which starts a chain reaction in which about 15 people fall down, including one who winds up with a pie in his face and his pants around his ankles.

Then TDG (Token Dumb Guy) returns, saying, “Why doesn’t anything funny ever happen around here?”

36

Any scene where Sue Ann Niven and Ted Baxter were both annoying Lou Grant.

37

The Seingfeld episode where George and Jerry get outed. That episode was so funny by the second act I had fallen on the floor I was laughing so hard. (only slightly outdone by the masturbation episode already mentioned)

The entire Seinfeld episode which begins with George and Jerry finagling a free limo ride and ends with George being outed as the head of the Aryan Nation.

One of the last Cheers episodes (was it the last one?) where they all think Cliff killed his mother, chopped her up and was now carrying her around the bar in a trash bag.

Here here Cat Fight, especially those showcasing Bill McNeal or Jimmy James. Bill McNeal trying to adopt a kid. Bill McNeal using a cane. Bill McNeal quitting smoking. Bill McNeal’s real first name. Bill McNeal vacationing in an insane asylum. Jimmy James running for president. Jimmy James hot air ballooning around the world. God bless A&E.

38

I have discovered a marvelous sitcom on BBC America called “Coupling”. There’s a scene in one episode where Steve accidentally leaves a porn tape in his VCR, which is discovered by his girlfriend Susan, which causes some tension. The tension finally erupts at dinner with all their friends, and the scene in which Steve attempts calmly to explain the plot of “Lesbian Spank Inferno” to Susan and everyone else is killer.

39

The Seinfeld episode (which I’ve only seen once :frowning: ) where Newman intercepts George’s risque photos in the mail, then blows them up and displays them, announcing that he has busted this sick, demented pornography ring.

40

Joe: “But you’re evil!”

Johnny Johnson: “That’s no excuse for poor sportsmanship.”

Marc