History Main / OverusedRunningGag

'''Randy:''' You really are; you should probably stop.\\
'''Jesus Guerrero:''' Oh, I ''know'' I should! And yet, I continue on, do I not? This should have ended a few minutes ago if you ask me, but I don't know -- I just keep going until all the goodwill is exhausted by the crowd.\\
'''Randy:''' I think we're probably there.\\

* After passing 400 pages and four splits, the {{UsefulNotes/Steam}} for/against thread on the ''VideoGame/XRebirth'' forum is [[http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=3980075#3980075 mutating into one of these]], with posters starting to make jokes about how the thread became a BrokenRecord months ago. [[http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j371/klohunt3r/ilwttig4.png One poster's contribution.]]

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* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'' had the RunningGag where Ethan gets hit by an arrow from off panel (as a homage to ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie''). The author decided to end the gag after it became overused and played with its end by having the last arrow fired by Ethan and [[NoFourthWall into the author himself]] as punishment for all the times he was hit.

* At least one running gag in ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' (specifically, [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000419 Wily getting overheard]] [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000516 by someone standing just behind him]]) got this treatment. As early as the [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000617 third iteration]], it was acknowledged as an Overused Running Gag, and supposedly retired. And then it was [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010617 brought out of retirement]]. And [[http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=010804 averted]], [[http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=020106 inverted]], [[http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=020612 inverted again]], [[http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=020914 parodied]] ([[http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=020916 to the breaking point]]), [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/031127c double subverted]], [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/040612 lampshaded]], and...[[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/060930 well]], [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/070712 you get the idea]].
%% * ''Webcomic/NerfNOW!!'''s fans were starting to get fed up with photo notes claiming "Mine!" or "Spy here" by the time the comic moved to a new provider which didn't implement this feature.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': InUniverse, this is what Tagon considers Shodan's continuing to bring up the accident during the Mall Cop Command arc where Tagon got [[EyeScream a fork stuck in his eye]].
* ''Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff'' does this on purpose to go with the StylisticSuck, outside the universe the fans reference SBAHJ endlessly and inside the ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' universe, where characters reference SBAHJ all too often.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' has what appears to be a running gag in the first couple of volumes, with [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030421#.VvWhgOKLTIU multiple Jaegers ]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031027#.VvWhoeKLTIU all commenting]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030711#.VvWhzeKLTIU on how good she smells]] to the point at which Agatha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031003#.VvWiTuKLTIU gets extremely angry]] at the next person who mentions a 'smell'.
** Except for the fact that this is ''not'' just a running gag, but foreshadowing - all Jaegers have UndyingLoyalty to the Heterodyne family, which comes along with [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050624#.VvWjHOKLTIU a way of knowing who is and isn't a Heterodyne,]] including the voice, and the ''smell''. Although the lower-ranked Jaegers just noticed the nice smell and didn't realise what it signified, the Generals and the detached Jaegers realised that Agatha was a Heterodyne ''very'' quickly.

* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' has taken to mocking its own reliance on running gags.

* The ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures'' series ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' featured Demonhead Mobster Kingpin, a MarathonBoss who kept revealing new OneWingedAngel modes and regenerating lost health. The contributors [[ArcFatigue were getting sick of the guy]], [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001743 and Andrew Hussie knew it]].
** The series is riddled with running gags, some of which are overused for comedic effect. Most notoriously, the "Retrieve arms from x" command has been done about ''12 times'' in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' and ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''.
** Subverted in Act 5. When the first new character of this act is introduced, it seems that, as usual, all the typical running gags will play out before he's introduced for real... [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003893 but the narrator and the character are having none of it]].

* Richard of ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' doesn't seem willing to acknowledge the "Fork of Truth" has had its day and needs to be retired. In the Fork's most recent appearance, the other cast members completely ignored his rant about it, except for Sooba.
* Newsgroup rec.humor was flooded with the two-strings-in-a-bar/frayed-knot jokes. This is to the point where some jokes began pointing out that [[http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/87/7617.html the joke was killed]].
* The ''Blog/CitationNeeded'' podcast begins with a rundown of improbably named podcasts that supposedly failed to last as long as ''Citation Needed''. By episode 8, these podcasts include "Running Gags To Start Your Podcast With That Are Becoming Increasingly Hard To Think Of".

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
** Strong Bad apparently got tired of people sending him WebAnimation/{{Strong Bad Email}}s signed "Crapfully yours", "With Crap" and the like as early as the e-mail "spring cleaning". Starting with "vacation", he would usually react with a weary sigh whenever he answered an e-mail signed in this fashion, and in "do over" he reads the signature "Crapfully yours" as "[[SarcasmMode Totally not gettin' old.]]" He hinted at his disdain for email closings that contained the word "crap" a few emails earlier, in "3 Wishes", which was signed "Much crap":
--->'''Strong Bad:''' It's not required that you send that you sign your email, "Crapfully yours," or, "With a bunch of crap," or, "Crap in the times," or, "Crap is so great," "Everything is crap," "My middle name is Crapperson." You know, you could just put, "Sincerely"... or, "Yours truly," is another good one. Come on, guys. I'll still read 'em.
** There was a brief string of [=SBEmails=] during the Lappy era that featured a random reference to "DNA evidence", starting with Marzipan saying "the DNA evidence had been tampered with" in "strong badathalon", then continuing with Strong Bad claiming to have tampered with the DNA evidence in "unnatural", and so on. The last of these emails, "rough copy", had an Easter egg with Homestar sitting by himself in Marzipan's living room and wearily saying the phrase "DNA evidence", to show the gag had [[RunningGagged worn out its welcome]]. Thought the Brothers Chaps eventually released a cartoon about Strong Sad trying to track down the supposed "DNA evidence" and find out what happened to it.
* Website/{{Reddit}} tends to get tired of jokes within the course of a few days, causing responses of "every time" and the likes whenever a joke the HiveMind has gotten bored of is used. In a grander scale, the subreddits /r/f7u12 and /r/adviceanimals, for rage comics and image macros, respectively, were removed from the default subreddits around 2013 because they were getting old, and most of Reddit was sick of them.
* Creator/BillyCoore began most of his videos on Packard Bell computers by showing off the intro to Packard Bell Navigator, which mentioned a lesson on using the mouse. Billy would make some kind of joke about the 90's being an interesting time to live in. Eventually he ran out of jokes, and even said "Will this joke just DIE already?" once.
** Similarly, a running joke involves him putting a Kermit the Frog doll on one of his computers, noticing something wrong, and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint fixing some minor thing wrong with the computer]], knocking the doll down in the process. One video, uploaded right before AprilFoolsDay, began with him starting the joke, but then he says, "Okay, I've had enough of this. It's ''Kermit the Frog'', people!" and continues talking about how stupid the joke was. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that afterwards the video cut to a RelaxOVision screen, and he actually did the whole joke in the next take.
* In season 14 of ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', Vic admits that [[ArcWords "You ever wonder why we're here?"]] has been pretty much run into the ground.
* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' had the Krillin Owned Counter, which "dinged" every time resident ButtMonkey Krillin got owned, whether it be physically, verbally, or whatever. After a while fans felt that the joke had run its course, and a few complained that it felt mean-spirited at times (for example counting Krillin's desperate but futile attempt to protect Android 18 from Cell, which wasn't a funny moment at all). The gag was put to rest for good at the end of Season 3, [[spoiler:where Krillin's marathon love-making session with 18 "un-dings" the Counter with each orgasm and finally destroys it outright when it hits zero.]][[note]]Of course, retiring the joke could also be seen as a pragmatic decision, since Krillin plays extremely little role in the Buu Saga so they were pretty much done with the gag anyhow.[[/note]]
** To a lesser extent there's Krillin insisting upon calling himself, Gohan, and Vegeta "Team Three Star" (a play on the show's creators, Creator/TeamFourStar) in spite of the fact that everyone else considers it an AtrociousAlias. The gag is eventually killed when Gohan tells Krillin that it's just not a very good name and he admits that he hated it from the start too. Additionally, the one and only time Krillin uses the joke in ''DBZ Abridged Kai'' 2 (a super-condensed version of the season), Vegeta immediately snaps at him "That's not funny! It's ''never'' been funny! It's never gonna '''be''' funny!"
* ''WebVideo/JobbyTheHong'' tends to say "swivel here" with [[LargeHam great emphasis]] during segments showing the articulation of figures, and it has become one of the channel's memes and his catchphrase. Overtime, he has started to mock how overused the phrase is on both his channel and other parts of the internet while usually also saying that [[HypocriticalHumor he will continue to use it anyway]].
* It's not uncommon in many of Creator/{{cs188}}'s YouTubePoop videos for his videos to have SelfDeprecation regarding his continued use of certain running gags, particularly "the [=JoJ=]"/"[=HoH SiS=]" (from "No one needs foundation repair"). This has sometimes happened for gags specific to a single video, such as an edit of Music/{{LMFAO}}'s "Party Rock Anthem" that repeatedly spliced in a vocal sample from "Shots".

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s "Oh My God, {{They Killed Kenny|Again}}!" It gets old, gets lampshaded, subverted and eventually cut down severely in the later seasons.

* Find a RunningGag ''not'' {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, {{inverted|Trope}}, or {{subverted|Trope}} on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': Omi and his butchering of idioms. At one point Raimundo (usually the one who "translates") eventually asked Omi if he's been doing them on purpose. It got to the point that the myriad reactions of other characters (especially the villains) towards them has become a RunningGag itself.
-->'''Wuya''' (ArcVillain of Season 1): Can somebody PLEASE translate?!
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': The OnceAnEpisode gag of Jackie telling Jade to not get involved with his missions, only for Jade to get involved anyway and Jackie to say something along the lines of "I told you to stay put!" Jade asked him on one occasion if he gets tired of saying that and Jackie himself sometimes questions why he even bothers.

* Throughout the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise, Ben Tennyson often suffers from PowerIncontinence, where the Omnitrix would transform him into a different alien than the one he wanted. Sometimes there would be entire episodes where Ben would be given the wrong alien, and it happened enough for Ben to comment his annoyance at the watch seemingly never getting it right, at one point even saying "[[LeaningOnTheFourthWall it's not even funny anymore]]". Though this was justified early on due to the Omnitrix malfunctioning or somehow being broken, by the time of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' the Omnitrix has been perfected and Ben only has himself to blame for getting the wrong alien.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Episodes focusing on Catman after season 5 have Timmy actively ''dreading'' seeing him again. "9 Lives!" has him try to put a stop to Catman's superhero antics by convincing him he only has one of his nine lives left, and episodes like "Cat N Mouse" have Timmy reacting with fear or exasperation whenever Catman shows up, just wanting him to go away.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Creator/RobertRankin often makes jokes about this, such as characters observing that something isn't going to become a running gag, or that it's not a particularly good one.

* ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'': It had a running gag that Mary threw the worst parties. Every time she had a party something always happened to ruin it. Near the end of the series, they put together a flashback episode, the first and only time they used that gimmick, about Mary’s parties. The guests reminisced about past parties while waiting for guest of honor Johnny Carson to arrive. Mary’s building had a blackout. Johnny showed up. We heard him but never saw him, to great comedic effect.
* ''Series/TheManShow'' had a "Museum of Annoying Guys", and one of them was the RealLife version of this trope. "It's the beat a catchphrase to death guy."
* The Rita Moreno episode (#5 of season 1) of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' features an old-style phone backstage. When it rings, Fozzie answers it, and something comes out of the receiver related to who's calling. At the fifth call, Kermit gets fed up and asks, "Is there no end to this RunningGag?"; then Animal comes in and puts an end to it (as well as to incoming calls, unless someone thinks to call the number for the phone on the desk).
* In the 2000 ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' TV series, Darien Fawkes would greet each worsening situation with "OhCrap" in a resigned manner. Eventually, the ''characters'' find it annoying. By the second season, there are lampshades; for instance, it's ''the only thing he remembers about himself'' when he gets LaserGuidedAmnesia, forcing him to use it to tell who his friends are.
* Parodied in ''Series/TheState''. Under pressure to create more catchphrase-driven characters like ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', the writers created "Louie, the guy who says his catchphrase over and over again." The character would repeatedly ask for volunteers to present him with a substance and then loudly announce, "I wanna dip my balls in it!" while holding up two golf balls. The OnlySaneMan in the sketch can't understand why the gag never gets old to any of the other characters. Ironically, the character proved popular and was brought back a few times.

** Raven's schemes in ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' almost always involve costumes. In one episode, she learns Chelsea is doing something at school and plans to dress up as a janitor "with a mustache" to snoop around and find out why. Eddie points out that she can just ''ask'' Chelsea, and Raven gets offended that he doesn't understand her at all. Raven eventually decides to snoop around without the janitor disguise, but she still winds up wearing a mustache.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had Ross's running joke "We were on a break!" Despite being called out on it, this saw usage right up until the very last episode. Additionally, Joey's catchphrase "How ''you'' doin'?" saw a few lampshades.

* In the film ''Film/{{Escape 2000}}'', there is a scene at the beginning where the phrase "leave the Bronx" is repeated constantly. [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike and the Bots]] naturally turn this into a RunningGag, with Servo even singing the phrase repeatedly along to the music at the end credits. But when the movie is over and Mike tries to make the joke again, Crow tells him that it's not funny any more.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' had a habit of making WhosOnFirst jokes using the Goa'uld System Lord Yu. When Elizabeth Weir tried to get in on it, she was stopped by Daniel.
--> '''Daniel:''' Don't. Every joke, every pun, done to death.
* ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'' introduced Michael's catchphrase "Eh... No." in the second season, which he used to troll the kids by giving them hope he would say yes to them before ultimately rejecting them. It was used so often in the second season alone that he began finding increasingly idiotic ways to drag out the "Eh..." part of the catchphrase, such as running up & down the hallway several times whilst saying it before jumping back into the room & saying no, that it made no sense that his kids continued to get their hopes up that he'd say yes years later.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'': The show had paintball episodes in the first & second seasons. The third season had the characters commenting on how played out paintball was at that point, and everyone agreed they shouldn't have another paintball game... Only for the fourth season to end on another paintball game. Abed even says that they "finally found a way to make paintball cool again."

** In conventions, at least one person will bring up a "Bat Credit Card". Eventually he went on record saying he's ''really'' tired of that (mostly because the raging does a number on his voice) but he still does it because it makes the people laugh.
** In ''Christmas With The Kranks'', he declares most of his old memes as overused, saving the most venom for "bat credit card".

* {{Website/Reddit}} tends to get tired of jokes within the course of a few days, causing responses of "every time" and the likes whenever a joke the HiveMind has gotten bored of is used. In a grander scale, the subreddits /r/f7u12 and /r/adviceanimals, for rage comics and image macros, respectively, were removed from the default subreddits around 2013 because they were getting old, and most of Reddit was sick of them.

** Cleveland picked up a gag where Peter would destroy half his house while Cleveland was taking a bath, causing his tub to slide out of his (second-floor) bathroom and dump him in the yard. When Cleveland's first wife gets killed this way in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', Cleveland feels survivor's guilt because, in his own words, he'd fallen out of that same house "way more times than could possibly still be funny."
** "Believe it or Not, Joe's Walking on Air" pokes fun at itself for its constant use of a CutawayGag by having Cleveland complain about how he hates it when a show cuts away to some other bullcrap. Cue a CutawayGag showing Hitler riding a unicycle as he juggles fish. Later on, as the guys discover that Joe's new legs have [[TookALevelInJerkass turned him into a jerk]] and discuss "re-crippling" him, Peter says that "it's the right thing to do, like punching out Hitler." The show cuts back to the same gag as before, but Peter rushes in and punches out Hitler, saying "See? We had a plan for that all along."

** In a later episode Peter meets God who gives him a message from Conway Twitty himself telling them to stop.

The inevitable fate of many a comedy CatchPhrase. Commonly confused with OverlyLongGag, which is when a single gag is stretched out for an irritatingly long time. That said, for any joke, good or bad, enough repetition can make people decide it's an Overused Running Gag.

* In the first two ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' movies, Puffin says, "[[CatchPhrase No Fear!]]", so many times, Jean-Bob finally grabs Puffin's beak shut and threatens to tear it off if he says it again.

* ''Series/TheManShow'' had a "Museum of Annoying Guys", and one of them was the RealLife version of this trope. "It's the beat a CatchPhrase to death guy."

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had Ross's running joke "We were on a break!" Despite being called out on it, this saw usage right up until the very last episode. Additionally, Joey's CatchPhrase "How ''you'' doin'?" saw a few lampshades.
* ''Series/TheITCrowd'' has Roy answer the phone almost every time with the [[CatchPhrase line]], "Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?" However, early in the second season he interrupts his signature line with, "I'm sick of saying that. What do you want?" From that point on he never again utters that catchphrase [[spoiler: until he brings it back in the fourth]].

* On ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Dr. [=McCoy=] has expressed annoyance with Spock's CatchPhrase "Fascinating".

* ''WebVideo/JobbyTheHong'' tends to say "swivel here" with [[LargeHam great emphasis]] during segments showing the articulation of figures, and it has become one of the channel's memes and his CatchPhrase. Overtime, he has started to mock how overused the phrase is on both his channel and other parts of the internet while usually also saying that [[HypocriticalHumor he will continue to use it anyway]].

* Name a [[LetsPlay Let's Player]], Any Let's Player, who has a quotable joke that's undergone MemeticMutation and even if they keep using it or remixing it for a while they'll stop finding the joke funny eventually and try to kill it off. Unfortunately, fandoms don't quite understand letting jokes die, often leading to CreatorBacklash.

Okay, if it does that again, that audio equipment is gonna get a dose of [[StuffBlowingUp C-4]]- 4- 4- 4-

'''[[ExactWords *BOOM*]]'''

[[ExactWords '''*BOOM*''']]

Okay, if it does that again, that audio equipment is gonna get a dose of [[StuffBlowingUp C-4]].

%%* In the film ''Film/TheCourtJester'', "Giachomo"'s response to mention of the Italian court, "What better place to court Italians?", eventually becomes tedious.

* It's not uncommon in many of Creator/{{cs188}}'s WebAnimation/YouTubePoop videos for his videos to have SelfDeprecation regarding his continued use of certain running gags, particularly "the [=JoJ=]"/"[=HoH SiS=]" (from "No one needs foundation repair"). This has sometimes happened for gags specific to a single video, such as an edit of Music/{{LMFAO}}'s "Party Rock Anthem" that repeatedly spliced in a vocal sample from "Shots".

Compare DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready, when it's not a running gag, but just a joke the writers have reused. Also compare DiscreditedMeme, which this often leads to— [[OhNoNotAgain to— to— to— to—]] '''*WHUMP*'''

Compare DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready, when it's not a running gag, but just a joke the writers have reused. Compare DiscreditedMeme, which this often leads to— [[OhNoNotAgain to— to— to— to—]] '''*WHUMP*'''

Compare DiscreditedMeme, which this often leads to— [[OhNoNotAgain to— to— to— to—]] '''*WHUMP*'''

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the clip where Homer falls down the Springfield Gorge (from the episode "Bart the Daredevil") was referenced several times. In the episode "The Blunder Years", when Homer flashes back to it, Lisa interrupts him, saying "Everyone's sick of that memory."
** It also gets referenced in the episode "Behind the Laughter" when it's called a comedy classic, and then deconstructed when we see [[AnimatedActors Homer]] in rehab with several broken bones. Apparently, [[IronButtMonkey having to undergo each and every painful slapstick gag]] [[CerebusRetcon forced Homer to take painkillers, which he became addicted to]].

* In season 14 of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', Vic admits that [[ArcWords "You ever wonder why we're here?"]] has been pretty much run into the ground.

** "No! Sorry! That's ''it'' for the [[GagWords Hawley-Smoot tariff]], you have our word." (''Literature/DaveBarrySleptHere'', which nevertheless references it in three subsequent chapters).

* In the film ''Film/TheCourtJester'', "Giachomo"'s response to mention of the Italian court, "What better place to court Italians?", eventually becomes tedious.

* ''Literature/TheTrolls'' has Aunt Sally reminding us about how Great-Uncle Louis, who came for two weeks and stayed for six years, came for two weeks and stayed for six years almost everytime she says his name.

* ''Webcomic/NerfNOW!!'''s fans were starting to get fed up with photo notes claiming "Mine!" or "Spy here" by the time the comic moved to a new provider which didn't implement this feature.

** Another episode pokes fun at itself for its constant use of a CutawayGag by having Cleveland complain about how he hates it when a show cuts away to some other bullcrap. Cue a CutawayGag showing Hitler riding a unicycle as he juggles objects. Later on, the same gag is used again, but Peter rushes in and punches out Hitler, saying "See? We had a plan for that all along!"
** In a cut away gag where Quagmire thought he was the one getting the [[WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow spinoff]] he mentions the two of the show's more infamous running gags.

* ''Webcomic/NerfNOW!!'''s fans are starting to get fed up with photo notes claiming "Mine!" or "Spy here".

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': InUniverse, in "Ripped Pants," when everyone finds it hilarious that [=SpongeBob=] ripped his pants, he starts finding creative ways to rip his pants and make people laugh. After the first three times, however, people start to get tired of it, the final straw being when [=SpongeBob=] [[DudeNotFunny pretends to drown]] as a lead-in to yet another variation of it.

* ''Series/The Mary Tyler Moore Show'': It had a running gag that Mary threw the worst parties. Every time she had a party something always happened to ruin it. Near the end of the series, they put together a flashback episode, the first and only time they used that gimmick, about Mary’s parties. The guests reminisced about past parties while waiting for guest of honor Johnny Carson to arrive. Mary’s building had a blackout. Johnny showed up. We heard him but never saw him, to great comedic effect.

* ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' : It had a running gag that Mary threw the worst parties. Every time she had a party something always happened to ruin it. Near the end of the series, they put together a flashback episode, the first and only time they used that gimmick, about Mary’s parties. The guests reminisced about past parties while waiting for guest of honor Johnny Carson to arrive. Mary’s building had a blackout. Johnny showed up. We heard him but never saw him, to great comedic effect.

* ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'': It had a running gag that Mary threw the worst parties. Every time she had a party something always happened to ruin it. Near the end of the series, they put together a flashback episode, the first and only time they used that gimmick, about Mary’s parties. The guests reminisced about past parties while waiting for guest of honor Johnny Carson to arrive. Mary’s building had a blackout. Johnny showed up. We heard him but never saw him, to great comedic effect.