# sitcom jokes that need to be retired **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718 "2009-02-06T16:24:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/41 "2009-02-07T15:33:39Z")
The character who constantly insults everyone around him, and his denegration passes for witty commentary. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/42 "2009-02-07T16:45:24Z")
The most recent “30 Rock” had a bunch of these. Jack had a double who acted in a telenovella. Liz opened her neighbor’s mail and pretended to like what he liked to get close to him. Etc. Cliche-city. You can also watch any episode of “Extras” for a long list of done-to-death tropes. (And any single episode is enough.) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/43 "2009-02-07T17:25:07Z")
> [@Millit\_the\_Frail](#): > > This is why all Disney Channel series lack souls.\* And why I swear up and down that we had it better in my day! We had plots like “Whatever happened to Mr. Tastee?” and “What’s the deal with the mysterious phone-in-a-field that has been ringing for several decades?” That was Nickelodeon! Not that the channel is any better today. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/44 "2009-02-07T18:52:11Z")
Someone overhearing an innocent conversation and thinking it’s about sex. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/45 "2009-02-07T21:37:48Z")
> [@AllWalker](#): > > I just died a little from reading that. > > _shudder_ Heh. I really love the Simpsons ep that spoofs it–the spin off show case with Love Matic Grandpa. So many horrible cliches skewered. **Millit** –Ah, Pete and Pete. Truly a show ahead of its time. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/46 "2009-02-07T22:02:48Z")
A situation where the actors in the sit-com perform a TV commercial or some other acting gig - and they are terrible. Wooden, over the top horrible acting. Reno 911 does this every episode, but in a way that makes fun of the other shows doing it. Like the one they tell people how not to get shot by law enforcement. The lowest man on the totem pole who tells the folks back home that he’s actually the boss. When his folks show up he runs around pretending to be boss - must included a high-lar-ious scene where the low guy shouts orders to a perplexed authority figure. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/47 "2009-02-07T22:04:10Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > That was Nickelodeon! Not that the channel is any better today. Yeah, Nick was all I ever had, since Disney was a pay channel. I’m kind of amazed at the Disney Channel though, for switching over to being basic cable while remaining free of commercials. That is, commercials that actually look like regular commercials. They support themselves simply by promoting Disney. It’s kind of wild, if you think about it. They’ve done some things really, really right. The price is kind of frightening, however. Pete and Pete would have sucked away my soul too, if I could have watched it six times on TV, eaten my Pete and Pete breakfast crereal, put on my Pete and Pete outfit, played with my Pete and Pete dolls, gone to see the Pete and Pete movie (in 3-D!), then slipped into my Pete and Pete pajamas and fallen asleep on my Pete and Pete sheets. The next day, Pete and Repeat… Anyway, sorry about the hijack. Someone already mentioned this, in a way, but “It’s funny because he/she sleeps around a lot! Hahaha!” has worn out its welcome. Plain old sluttiness isn’t necessarily a moral failing, but it certainly isn’t the laugh riot that TPTB seem to think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/48 "2009-02-07T22:11:45Z")
The Boss as a Jungian archtype of the Tyrant-Father. Another one that needs to be retired not because it isn’t occasionaly funny or even true IRL, but simply because every possible situation that can be done with it has been done a thousand times, going back to Chaplin’s **Modern Times**. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/49 "2009-02-08T00:21:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Someone overhearing an innocent conversation and thinking it’s about sex. Yes, the classic Three’s Company moment. From, you know, like, _every freaking episode._ ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/50 "2009-02-08T00:42:14Z")
> [@TheBoltEater](#): > > Yes, the classic Three’s Company moment. From, you know, like, _every freaking episode._ Aside: I was very (very!) young when that show was on, and had no reference for most of the gags. Was Mr. Farley gay? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/51 "2009-02-08T01:19:53Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Yes, but in real life…it’s [hilarious](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49rkcrZDEqs). I saw that a couple of years ago, does anyone know what happened to her? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/52 "2009-02-08T01:28:16Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Someone overhearing an innocent conversation and thinking it’s about sex. Oh God, yes. Oh please, yes. Oh please, please, _please_ put this to bed. Isn’t that funny? If someone reads my post and doesn’t know the context, they’ll think I’m talking about sex! It isn’t funny in sitcoms either. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/53 "2009-02-10T15:23:43Z")
Saw this one AGAIN last night… the door’s locked and there are people in there? Oh, let me hit it with my shoulder! Ow! Let me hit it with my shoulder really hard! Ow! Let me run up to the door, OH they opened it! I’ll keep running into the room because of my awesome momentum I built up in the 4 ft. hallway! \<\\> ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/54 "2009-02-10T15:30:12Z")
> [@Millit\_the\_Frail](#): > > This is why all Disney Channel series lack souls.\* And why I swear up and down that we had it better in my day! We had plots like “Whatever happened to Mr. Tastee?” and “What’s the deal with the mysterious phone-in-a-field that has been ringing for several decades?” > > I nominate the scene where two characters who hate each other are in a basement/attic/boiler room/meat locker and one of them says, > > “Don’t close the—” > > Other character shuts door. > > “–door.” > > Other character tries to re-open the door, but it’s locked. > > Both: “NOOOOOO!” > > And then they spend the next 20 minutes starting to warm up to each other, only to resume their mutual antagonism after finding freedom via some wacky means. > \*Except Even Stevens; I was always kind of charmed by that one. Although, to be fair, that was the set-up for a really pretty funny Welcome Back, Kotter and they got locked in the egyptian exhibit at the musem. But then… it may have been fresh 30+ years ago and could still be a candidate for “retirement”! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/55 "2009-02-10T15:40:04Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Saw this one AGAIN last night… the door’s locked and there are people in there? Oh, let me hit it with my shoulder! Ow! Let me hit it with my shoulder really hard! Ow! Let me run up to the door, OH they opened it! I’ll keep running into the room because of my awesome momentum I built up in the 4 ft. hallway! > > \<\\> That reminds me: Being locked in a closet/furnace room/whatever. I suppose there are \*some \*places where the door locks from the outside and you can’t get out (I mean \*other \*than jails which are \*supposed \*to behave that way) - but I can’t recall \*ever \*seeing one. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/56 "2009-02-10T15:47:39Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The most recent “30 Rock” had a bunch of these. Jack had a double who acted in a telenovella. Liz opened her neighbor’s mail and pretended to like what he liked to get close to him. Etc. Cliche-city. Yeah, but since it was 30 Rock it was cliched, but funny… “Pediatric Restless Leg Syndrome.” ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718/57 "2009-02-10T15:56:58Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > Aside: I was very (very!) young when that show was on, and had no reference for most of the gags. Was Mr. Farley gay? Mr. Furley? No, he was just an awkward nerd. He wanted to be a swinger, but he was an awkward nerd. Awkward nerds don’t get laid on TV unless it’s through a wacky plot involving the rest of the cast. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-jokes-that-need-to-be-retired/484718.md?page=2)