Also on Community, there was sometimes something funny written on the whiteboard in the background of the study room.
Not really funny, but on Glee I’ve always liked that all the characters’ lockers are decorated inside with notes, pictures, and collages, just like real teen lockers. This is sometimes of minor significance to the plot, as the characters tend to put up photos of their crush or bf/gf. There was a sight gag recently where the character played by Chord Overstreet (who has quite full lips) opened his locker and you could see that he had a bunch of Chapstick inside. In a much earlier episode he’d mentioned that all he wanted for Christmas was Chapstick.
I was just watching Gremlins and was amused that there’s a scene where the father is at an inventor’s convention on the phone talking about how he’s a little outclassed. In the background someone is sitting in the Victorian “Time Machine” from the George Pal version of the movie. They cut away and when they cut back a couple people are just looking at an empty platform with a scorch mark.
There was really a lot going on in the background of the film but I didn’t take time to mentally catalog it all.
I just saw the DVD of Men in Black 3 and noticed both in that movie and the earlier ones, there are screens in the background of the headquarters building that show the aliens who are being tracked on Earth. The gag is that some of these aliens are celebrities. In MIB3, they include Bill Gates and Lady Gaga, and in the first movie they include Newt Gingrich and Anthony Robbins.
During the season five episode of Reba’s first sitcom when Reba walks into the house that Van is showing to a set of people who are looking for one to buy, them people steal everything from the home’s living room while Reba is privately telling Van in another room of the house that he is blowing what is really supposed to be her responsibility.
God bless you always!!!
Holly
P.S. If you’ve never seen this episode, Van was wanting a chance to show that he had the ability to sell a house just like Reba could and I believe that if she had NOT shown up at that house that he was showing, he very well could have gotten it sold all on his own. After all, he was able to get one sold all on his own at the end of season four.
At the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and somebody (Mr. Weasley?) have a conversation out on the street in front of a pillar; attached to the pillar is a poster with an animation of Professor Lockhart looking confused and amnesiac, with the caption “Do You Know This Man?”
Lots of funny stuff happens in the background of BASEketball, the movie by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame. For example, during the “Unsolved Mysteries” segment, all of the computers behind Robert Stack are being used to play solitaire. One of my favorites: during one game we’re told that it’s “Free-Range Chicken Night” and everyone in the crowd gets a free chicken. After the game, the main characters are having a conversation in the foreground, while in the background, you can see a janitor walking around with a giant vacuum, sucking up loose chickens. As I recall, there’s even a “squawk!” and a burst of feathers every time one gets vacuumed up.
In the Toontown segment of Who Framed Roger Rabbit there are several of these. My favorite is the truck with “Acme Overused Gags” on it. Not merely *Used * gags, but Overused gags.
Later on there’s a wall ad for Porky’s All-Beef Sausage, which is pretty grim, when you think about it, like the Chik-fil-A cows advising you to Eat More Chiken.
And there’s a sign warning you to Watch Out for Falling Anvils.
In the background of the school basement in Tobe Hooper’s remake of Invaders from Mars you can see the Martian-in-a-glass-globe from the original version of Invaders from Mars.
Rita is sitting on a park bench in Wee Britain, and Wee Britain is stenciled on the bench. Rita is either a very clever spy, or has the mind of a child. The way she’s sitting on the bench, it says Wee Brain.
Early in the series, GOB has a boat called the Seaward. Michael tells him to get rid of the Seaward. At that moment, Lucille walks in and says “I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.” In the final episode, GOB’s boat is named C-Word.
Not in the background but subtle: In Shawshank Redemption, when the warden opens the bible to reveal Andys escape tool, it’s located in the book of Exodus. I’m sure Andy thought that that was quite a nice little touch.
There’s an early scene in Goodfellas where the guys at the cab stand have ripped off a bunch of yellow golf sweaters. In a later scene everyone hanging around is wearing them.
In Dirty Harry, when Harry shoots the guys robbing the bank at the beginning, the movie marquee in the background shows Play Misty For Me.
It’s been decades since I saw Airplane!, but I recall that it was stuffed with these sorts of background gags. One in particular that I remember was a “sound gag”, rather than a “sight gag”; two characters are talking outside the entrance to an airport. In the background, you hear two recorded voices, one male and one female, giving loading information, in the hushed neutral tones of automated voice technology: “The Red Zone is for loading and unloading only. Please do not park in the Red Zone. Please park in the White Zone.” “The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. Please do not park in the White Zone. Please park in the Red Zone”. (I’m quoting from memory, so I’m sure I’m not getting it right, but I do remember the gist of the gag). The two voices start competing, and then arguing: “Oh, don’t start that Red Zone shit again!” “Is this because I wanted you to have an abortion?” “I want a divorce!”
