# Scariest moments in funny series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193 "2007-07-26T04:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/1 "2007-07-26T04:36:18Z")
To set the scene, briefly: TV: Playin’. Amy: On the episode of _Futurama_ where the Professor puts this alternate universe in a box and everyone gets lost in it, and something about coin tosses, and they have to travel through multiple universes to find their way back, like _Sliders_. Amy: _pops out of one of the boxes, tether attached_ Leela, Fry, and Hermes: _stand to her with their backs turned_ Amy: _brightly_ Hi guys! Did you see the box? Hermes: _flat, eerie menace_ We never saw _anything_. Hermes, Leela, and Fry: _turn around, they have no eyes_ Amy: _gasps and ducks back into the box_ **Kythereia** : _has head buried under pillow_ That was a really creepy, chilling moment–in the middle of one of the funniest episodes of the entire show. The next minute, in his own universe-hopping, Fry is talking to Bobblehead versions of everyone. It’s so utterly random and strange. What are the other scariest moments of comedy shows? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/2 "2007-07-26T19:55:43Z")
When Edith almost gets raped in **All in the Family**. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/3 "2007-07-26T20:33:48Z")
When **Michael** on **The Office** was going to jump off the building onto the bouncy castle. Everyone thought it was just Michael being Michael :rolleyes: but when they saw the castle they panicked and thought he was about to actually kill himself by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/4 "2007-07-26T20:36:00Z")
There was some weeeeeird episode of **Punky Brewster** that involved the kids being lost in a cave (not sure if it was real or imaginary) and it scared the shit out of me as a kid. I would most likely be scared by it today as well. I cannot, however, recall if that show was funny or not. Everything is funny when you’re 8! ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/5 "2007-07-26T21:03:59Z")
Not a series, but I still can’t watch the science teacher scene in Gremlins. It’s oo startling for me. Otherwise that movie is pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/6 "2007-07-26T21:17:36Z")
Can’t recall specifics, but the bad guy (killer? rapist?) in the rabbit costume in some episode of the Jeffersons was pretty scary. And of course, Gordon Jump on Diff’rent Strokes 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/7 "2007-07-26T21:25:03Z")
There was a rapist in a rabbit costume in “The Jeffersons”?! That’s up there with the clown rapist in “Little House.” (Which I didn’t see, but have heard way more than I wanted to about it. _Shudder_ Clown rapist…) ETA: [I think this was the episode.](http://www.fandango.com/thejeffersons:nowyouseeit,nowyoudont,part1_v+++279026/summary) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/8 "2007-07-26T21:29:17Z")
When I was a young kid, I recall watching an episode of Benson where there was a murder on a cruise ship that really freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/9 "2007-07-26T21:34:27Z")
How about that episode of the Muppets where Kenny Rogers sang, “The Gambler”? I was all, “Oh my gosh, that guy died! Oh my gosh, THERE’S HIS GHOST!” I was kind of a wuss as a kid. I am watching it on [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxTmOOvigJY) now and frankly, the real hands on those muppets is a little freaky, too. ---
**Author:** ![fuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuffle)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/10 "2007-07-26T21:47:47Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > There was some weeeeeird episode of Punky Brewster that involved the kids being lost in a cave (not sure if it was real or imaginary) and it scared the shit out of me as a kid. I would most likely be scared by it today as well. Are you maybe thinking of the time when Cheri (or maybe Punky; it’s a been a while) was playing hide-and-seek in an old refrigerator, got locked in, and nearly died? Because that scared me so bad I wouldn’t go near a fridge for weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/11 "2007-07-26T21:52:20Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] I was kind of a wuss as a kid. I am watching it on [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxTmOOvigJY) now and frankly, the real hands on those muppets is a little freaky, too. [/QUOTE] [Hijack]Does anyone else hate when things like muppets, animals, etc…have real human hands? I like William Wegman’s weimaraner pictures, but I hate that they have human hands. It’s so wrong.[/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/12 "2007-07-26T22:13:40Z")
There was that episode of M_A_S\*H where Hawkeye is hallucinating and tells a Korean woman to shut up her rooster or something like that, and she kills it, but it’s actually a little child. Or was it? I don’t remember. And I think in the same episode someone hangs themselves. Or maybe it was all a bad dream. ---
**Author:** ![Von\_Erich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@Von\_Erich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Von_Erich)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/13 "2007-07-26T22:26:48Z")
[QUOTE=fuffle] Are you maybe thinking of the time when Cheri (or maybe Punky; it’s a been a while) was playing hide-and-seek in an old refrigerator, got locked in, and nearly died? Because that scared me so bad I wouldn’t go near a fridge for weeks. [/QUOTE] I second, or third perhaps, the Punky Brewster episonde. I will also throw in the episode of Different Strokes where the guy takes pictures of Arnold’s friend with his shirt off. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/14 "2007-07-26T22:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cuckoorex] There was that episode of M_A_S\*H where Hawkeye is hallucinating and tells a Korean woman to shut up her rooster or something like that, and she kills it, but it’s actually a little child. Or was it? I don’t remember. And I think in the same episode someone hangs themselves. Or maybe it was all a bad dream. [/QUOTE] Yes, it was the bad dream titled “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/15 "2007-07-26T22:46:54Z")
When the Muppet Show formally introduced [Uncle Deadly](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Uncle_Deadly) (as a sort of “Phantom of the Muppet Theater”), I was scared to death! I have no idea why today. He’s not really all that scary… ---
**Author:** ![fuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuffle)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/16 "2007-07-26T22:56:09Z")
> [@TexasPlayboy](#): > > I will also throw in the episode of Different Strokes where the guy takes pictures of Arnold’s friend with his shirt off. Oh god yes. Or how about the time Webster was playing with chemicals in his closet and burned his whole house down and nearly killed his whole family, too? I think the dad had to be hospitalized because he was so badly injured after searching for Webster in the burning house. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/17 "2007-07-26T23:08:05Z")
Do movies count ? Then I nominate _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_. Specifically, the scene at the end where it’s revealed that Judge Doom is both a Toon, and the killer. “Remember me Eddie ? When I killed your brother ? _And . . . I . . . talked . . . just . . . like . . . **THIS ! !** _” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/18 "2007-07-27T02:19:22Z")
An episode of _Full House_ where before his marriage to Rebecca, Jesse is hanging out with some of his friends from his wild-and-carefree days, they talk him into jumping a motorcycle from the roof of one building to the roof of another. He’s actually riding the bike along the wall at the edge of the building, and it makes me want to throw up… ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Obvious)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/19 "2007-07-27T02:28:37Z")
[QUOTE=Cuckoorex] There was that episode of M_A_S\*H where Hawkeye is hallucinating and tells a Korean woman to shut up her rooster or something like that, and she kills it, but it’s actually a little child. Or was it? I don’t remember. And I think in the same episode someone hangs themselves. Or maybe it was all a bad dream. [/QUOTE] To this day that’s the only episode of any show to give me nightmares. I was 25 when I saw it, and that was just 9 months ago. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193/20 "2007-07-27T03:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=fuffle] Are you maybe thinking of the time when Cheri (or maybe Punky; it’s a been a while) was playing hide-and-seek in an old refrigerator, got locked in, and nearly died? Because that scared me so bad I wouldn’t go near a fridge for weeks. [/QUOTE] Nope, this is a different episode. According to IMDB it’s “The Perils of Punky” (parts 1 and 2): **Part 1** - Punky and the gang go on a camping trip. When the children get lost in a cave, Punky tells a ghost story about an evil spirit who threatens the lake. **Part 2** - The children do battle with an evil spirit, when the ghost of an Indian princess appears to tell Punky that it must be fought with love. I’m guessing it’s the ghost and evil spirit that scared me. And, turns out I was 6, not 8 - so not only was I easily amused I was easily scared 🙂 (still am!) By the way…while browsing all the episode synopses, I noticed that most of the shows were seriously heavy! There’s so much running away and being broken up and loss of family, I see now why it took me so long to leave home. Punky made me do it! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-moments-in-funny-series/413193.md?page=2)