History FunnyBackgroundEvent / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/InLivingColor'' had a whole series of skits based on this concept. A news report takes place in the foreground of a setting (crime scene, beach, etc.) and an unnamed bystander (JimCarrey), having noticed the camera, goofs around in the background in increasingly silly ways while the reporter and interviewee are unawares.

* ''Series/Malcolm in the Middle'':

* In the ''Malcolm in the Middle'' episode "Traffic Jam", when Malcolm is belly-aching to Jessica about her being Canadian, Reese is shown in the background being chased by [[BrickJoke a vicious dog]] who eats the ice cream he drops.

** In one episode, Abed mentions having a role as an extra on his favorite show, ''CougarTown'', and [[spoiler:shitting his pants out of nervousness]]. Lo and behold, on an episode of ''CougarTown'', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWfJYJMrYa0 here's Danny Pudi, presumably as Abed, acting out that exact situation as a Funny Background Event.]]

* In the J-drama ''YamatoNadeshikoShichiHenge'' Kyohei looks up videos of belly dancers and shows them to the others, but they move on to discussing a completely different topic thereafter. As it goes on Kyohei is still watching the videos in the background and begins ''imitating'' them.

* ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' uses these pretty frequently. An early example is in the season one episode "Tracy Does Conan," in which Tracy is suffering some strange side effects from his new medication, leading Liz to have to call his doctor for help while behind her, we see a raving Tracy trying to put his shoes in the fish tank and then being rocked like a baby, with thumb in mouth, by Dot-Com in an attempt to sooth him.

* Used by British-Indian comedy sketch show GoodnessGraciousMe in a parody of Indian cinema, with a retrospective of the career of director [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed "Ranjit Say"]], who keeps claiming that the important themes of his films are present "in the background." The interviewer thinks he means the subtext, but he means the background: All his films consist of the same black and white shot of two men playing draughts, whilst two people passing in the background stop to perform some action appropriate to the supposed genre of the film; comedy slapstick, fighting, a dance routine, etc.

* In the second episode of ''{{Series/Elementary}}'', the foreground shows Watson talking on the phone while in the background, very much out of focus, Holmes sets his [[IconicItem iconic]] violin on fire.
* ''Series/{{Tosh 0}}'' had a segment called "What's In The Background?"

* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'': When Matt and Foggy are checking out the future home of their law firm. Matt effortlessly charms the realtor, while in the background, Foggy does a disgusted look of 'damn it, he's doing it again!' It's funnier once you've re-watched the series, and have heard all of Foggy's comments and wisecracks about Matt's prowess with the ladies.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' does this frequently, a particularly impressive one takes place after the show Mad Money moves the Bluth company up to "Risky". In the foreground Michael walks into the office talking on his phone, in the background though you can see a half fallen sign saying "risky business," a collapsed ladder, a man next to the ladder rubbing his head and a man limping [[RiskyBusinessDance dressed in his underwear, white t-shirt and sunglasses]] saying "I couldn't see through the glasses and I slid into the ladder" and someone else changing the number of days since accident. This all takes place in 3 seconds and is probably missed on first viewing.

* In ''the very first scene of the very first episode'' of ''Series/TheMiddleman'', Wendy is talking to her mother on the phone - as a terrifying mutant breaks out of containment behind her. She stays on the phone for quite a while before it breaks through the glass wall of its pen and attacks her. It tells you something about the show.

** "Him" featured the female cast members under the unknowing thrall of a high school jock (he didn't know he was having any effect on people). At least one result of this is Buffy trying to kill the school principal who'd been giving said jock a hard time. While Principal Wood is working in his office, we see Buffy through his window about to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill blast him]] with a [[ContinuityNod rocket launcher]] before Spike shows up and wrestles it away from her.

** The employees of SCDP [[spoiler: wheeling around [[DeathAsComedy Miss Blankenship's body]] around on a wheeled chair through the window behind the clients that Don, Faye, and Ken are trying to impress]] in "The Beautiful Girls" (4.09).

* In Mission 21 of Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters while Gorisaki Banana and Jin Masato are having a conversation about Ryuji at a park, Beet J Stag rides a zip-line on the playground then starts running around the playground with a bug net conversing with a large piece of equipment that has a grasshopper head. He continues this while waving the bug net in the air and eventually falling on his face.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'': In the Pilot, Matt and Foggy are checking out the future home of their law firm. Watch how effortlessly Matt charms the realtor. Then rewind and watch Foggy's 'damn it, he's doing it again!' reaction in the background. Interestingly, this is only really funny once you've re-watched the series, and have heard all of Foggy's comments and wisecracks about Matt's prowess with the ladies.

* Ross getting attacked by a cat in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iolxQiMRF7k "TOW The Blackout".]]
** Also from ''Series/{{Friends}}'', in Season 7 Janice, Chandler's very annoying ex-girlfriend, invites herself over. As she's standing in the doorway we see Joey appear behind her. His eyes grow wide as saucers when he sees her before he silently legs it as fast as he can.

* A sketch on Series/{{MadTV}} featured Debra Wilson appearing out of character on a talk show talking about the show. Outside, people are fighting a giant ant.

* ''Series/MadMen'' has the employees of SCDP [[spoiler: wheeling around [[DeathAsComedy Miss Blankenship's body]] around on a wheeled chair through the window behind the clients that Don, Faye, and Ken are trying to impress]] in "The Beautiful Girls" (4.09).

* Inverted on the eighth season of American ''BigBrother'' with this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK5ljM2Ubjg funny foreground event]] happening as contestant Jameka cries and prays in the back.
* AmericasFunniestHomeVideos will occasionally show groups of clips where the funny part is in the background.

* While it's not always better than than the scene in the foreground, watching the improvers who aren't in a game on WhoseLineIsItAnyway can be comedy gold. Just watch Greg in the [[CrowningMomentOfFunny legendary Richard Simmons episode]].
** There is an episode where at the end of a "Scene to Rap" segments (I think the them was The Exorcist), a woman from the staff comes behind Drew Carrey and serves him a beverage, which was obviously not something that had to be done on camera. It provoked a lot of laughs from everybody present in the studio.
* Series/MarriedWithChildren: The Bundys are having a holiday cookout and invite the Darcys. Marcy's bummed about her dead aunt, whose cremated remains she keeps in their house. Said remains end up in Al's grill after Peg spilled the ashes out of the grill. Once Kelly figures out she dumped Marcy's aunt on the grill, HilarityEnsues in the background as Al consoles Marcy, both completely oblivious to what's going on behind them.

* There was a part of ''Series/StillStanding'' where the mother and father were going over their plan to snag some ''TheWho'' tickets from their friends. While the mother is plotting, we see Tina walk into the kitchen, pick up a cutting knife, then leaves. Her older sister then runs in looking scared.

* ''PushingDaisies'': One episode had the gang investigating murders at a circus. They visit the scene of a car accident where a ClownCar crashed into the water. Throughout their whole conversation, coroners keep walking past with clown bodies. First it's funny. Then it's [[DudeNotFunny not]]. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Then it is. Again.]]

* ''TheMonkees'':

* In ''the very first scene of the very first episode'' of ''TheMiddleman'', Wendy is talking to her mother on the phone - as a terrifying mutant breaks out of containment behind her. She stays on the phone for quite a while before it breaks through the glass wall of its pen and attacks her. It tells you something about the show.

* ''MadMen'' has the employees of SCDP [[spoiler: wheeling around [[DeathAsComedy Miss Blankenship's body]] around on a wheeled chair through the window behind the clients that Don, Faye, and Ken are trying to impress]] in "The Beautiful Girls" (4.09).

* An extended one was improvised by Patton Oswalt in the opening to the ''Series/KingOfQueens'' episode "Emotional Rollercoaster": There's a party scene where the whole cast is present but he has no lines or anything else to do, so rather than do any sort of ArtificialAtmosphericActions, he opted to stand perfectly still with a blank expression on his face for the entire three minute scene. It gets particularly funny when the action moves into the kitchen, and you can see through a window to the living room that he's ''still'' doing it.

* MarriedWithChildren: The Bundys are having a holiday cookout and invite the Darcys. Marcy's bummed about her dead aunt, whose cremated remains she keeps in their house. Said remains end up in Al's grill after Peg spilled the ashes out of the grill. Once Kelly figures out she dumped Marcy's aunt on the grill, HilarityEnsues in the background as Al consoles Marcy, both completely oblivious to what's going on behind them.

* An extended one was improvised by Patton Oswalt in the opening to the ''KingOfQueens'' episode "Emotional Rollercoaster": There's a party scene where the whole cast is present but he has no lines or anything else to do, so rather than do any sort of ArtificialAtmosphericActions, he opted to stand perfectly still with a blank expression on his face for the entire three minute scene. It gets particularly funny when the action moves into the kitchen, and you can see through a window to the living room that he's ''still'' doing it.
* In Episode 4 of ''Series/TheThickOfIt'', Olly is brought to Number 10 so that Malcolm and Jamie can coerce him into exploiting his new relationship for information on the Opposition. At one point, a staffer behind Olly makes kissy faces at him while he tries awkwardly to arrage a date with the girl. Jamie then rushes over, grabs the guy by the head, and gives him a near-silent bollocking. There are also a couple of instances where Olly is trying to talk on the phone to different people while Malcolm or Jamie loudly berates one of their employees in the background.

* ''{{Reaper}}'' uses this a few times, although the level of subtlety varies; in one example, the main characters lock the door to the big box store they work at in the middle of the day, leaving a huge crowd to mill around like zombies on the other side of the glass, in another, while one character crashes a funeral, the other three can be seen chasing someone around in a slightly slapstick manner behind him.
* Happens on occasion in ''TopGear''. The most notable example is during the "typical seventeen year-old's car" segment, where, while the PowerTrio discuss the difficulty in getting their cars insured, the Stig walks in and begins photocopying his head, helmet and all. For no apparent reason (then again, he ''is'' [[CloudCuckooLander the Stig]]).

* On an ''EllenDeGeneres'' episode of the fall 2009 season, there is a segment on Kid Inventors. The first invention is by a third grader named Simon who invented a high chair bib for his baby brother Alan with a pully system that can dump whatever food he drops back onto his tray. Two inventions later is an air pump powered by pojo stick invented by fifth grader Ben. While he is setting up his invention and explaining how it works, the camera switches back to Alan who is in the process of dumping his chocolate pudding over his tray.

* More subtly: in many ''{{Frasier}}'' episodes, there are groups scenes where something plot-relevant is happening in the foreground, while Niles can be seen gazing at or sighing over Daphne in the background. The actor (or director's) commitment to detail is ''impressive''.

* "Series/Tosh.0" had a segment called "What's In The Background?"

* In the 2nd episode of the WhoseLineIsItAnyway reboot, during the game "Song Styles", Colin is in the background doing a dance that looks like a mix between a gospel-type dance and jazzhands.

* While ''{{Cheers}}'' normally puts its humor in the foreground, the episode where the gang makes a video for Woody's parents pulls this twice. The first moment occurs during a backyard barbecue at Carla's house. While she struggles through her lines, two of her kids chase Sam with a garden hose through the background. Later, we see Frasier give a speech in his office. As he sits with his back to the window, he talks about how the building has the best psychiatric help in all of Boston. Just as he says that, a body falls past the window.
* A staple of the show ''CrankYankers''. Sometimes the gags going on in the background were actually funnier than the contents of the calls themselves.