History RunningGag / LiveActionTV

* The British motorhead show ''TopGear'' has at least five running gags:

** Quite possibly a CatchPhrase, whenever the ''TopGear'' presenters are given a challenge for the program (e.g., purchase a used vehicle, modify it to be amphibious, and then sail it across the English Channel), Jeremy Clarkson often jumps into the task with the enthusiastic rhetorical question, "[[NothingCanStopUsNow How hard can it be?]]" Usually, very hard (e.g., the two times the ''TopGear'' presenters were told to convert vehicles into amphibious vehicles, Richard Hammond's conversion sank. Both times).

** And on that bombshell, let's end the ''TopGear'' examples.

** Let's not forget that every time the Doctor regenerates, they spend a couple of minutes criticizing their new looks (Creator/ChristopherEccleston's ears, Creator/MattSmith's chin, Creator/JonPertwee's nose...) And they're STILL NOT GINGER!
** Another is the Doctor's [[NoSenseOfDirection complete inability to direct the TARDIS]] (though it's not so much [[spoiler: their inability as the TARDIS's unwillingness to co-operate]]), so that they often steps outside in full tour-guide mode only for his companion/s to point out that they are not, in fact, in Rome/Mars/Peladon/1980/Croydon/Rio.
--->'''Doctor:''' But now we're in the most amazing place of all - Paris, France!

*** This recently carried over to the IDW ''Doctor Who'' comic book, where the Doctor and Rory meet Creator/IanFleming, and Rory (who was wearing a tux at the time) apparently inspires the creation of Literature/JamesBond.

** Running gags aren't restricted to the new series, either. People have been asking "[[TitleDrop Doctor who?]]" since the very first episode. It's been asked so many times that it's [[spoiler: the oldest question, the one hidden in plain sight, which must never be answered, or silence will fall.]]

* In season one of TalkinBoutYourGeneration, the trophy each week was something different. It may have been a soccer trophy, a "World's Best Lover" coffee mug, or the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, according to Shaun Micallef.

* From ''{{Reba}}'': Reba telling one of her offspring: "Have I told you you're my favorite?"

** [[CharacterTics *nose tap*]] Look here, [[NancyDrew Nancy]], why don't ya just [[VerbalTic go ahead and]] drop the {{Running Gag}}s before [[TheNicknamer Gandhi]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners leaves you]] [[RuleOfThree for another woman]]? Now, heh, I know it was probably really cute in your old sorority, but this is the real world, [[OverlyLongGag newbie]], and the real world doesn't [[IncrediblyLamePun run on]] [[SubvertedTrope jokes]].

** ''Knock, knock, knock'' "Penny." ''Knock, knock, knock'' "Penny." ''Knock, knock, knock'' "Penny."

* The old Western spoof ''FTroop'' has quite a lot.

*** Subverted in "The Three Doctors" when the Third Doctor asked Sergeant Benton why he hadn't said it yet, and Benton replied that it was obvious. And then {{lampshaded}} in "Smith and Jones" when the Tenth Doctor mouthed the words along with Martha, before saying, "{{DeadpanSnarker Is it? I hadn't noticed.]]" Also subverted when Rory first enters the TARDIS he correctly guesses that it's another dimension, to which the Doctor says, "I like the bit when someone says, 'It's bigger on the inside.'"

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "Harriet Jones, MP, Flydale North / (former) Prime Minister." "Yes, I know who you are." Even two types of genocidal alien baddies know her.
** The inability of the Tenth Doctor's companions to fake accents or modes of speech, and his pained reaction ("No. Don't... don't do that.") has been used four times; once in Season Two (Rose doing Scots), once in Season Three (Martha doing Elizabethan English), once in the animated special (Martha doing pirate talk), and once in the fourth season, when Donna Noble attempts to blend at a 1920s upper-class party). This gag is nicely subverted in "Midnight", where, [[spoiler: after suffering a traumatizing experience with a monster that mimicked and eventually stole his speech, the Doctor tells Donna "Don't. Don't do that" with DEAD seriousness when she repeats one of his catchphrases.]]
** The Doctor being horrified by Rose's attempts at a Scottish accent in the Season 2 episode "Tooth and Claw" is also a slight reference to the fact that Tennant himself is Scottish.
--->'''Rose:''' Uh...aye! I've been..oot and aboot!\\
'''The Doctor:''' No, don't do that.\\
'''Rose:''' Hoots, mon!\\
'''The Doctor:''' No, really don't, really.

** Not to mention that anytime someone goes into the TARDIS for the first time, they have to say something along the lines of "It's bigger on the inside!"

*** Subverted in "The Three Doctors" when the Third Doctor asked Sergeant Benton why he hadn't said it yet, and Benton replied that it was obvious. And then {{lampshaded}} in "Smith and Jones" when the Tenth Doctor mouthed the words along with Martha, before saying, "Really? I hadn't noticed." Also subverted when Rory first enters the TARDIS he correctly guesses that it's another dimension, to which the Doctor says, "I like the bit when someone says, 'It's bigger on the inside.'"

*** Inverted by Clara in "The Snowmen." Clara: "It's smaller on the outside!" The Doctor: "That's a first."
*** Touchingly inverted by the TARDIS herself in "The Doctor's Wife", when the mind of the TARDIS inhabits a human body:
---->'''Idris''': Are all people like this? So much bigger on the inside?
*** Sent up in "The Husbands of River Song", when River doesn't recognize the Doctor's 12 regeneration, she enters the TARDIS and tells him to prepare himself. The Doctor breaks into a huge grin and says "Finally, I get to have a go." He enters the TARDIS and goes on an epic, [[LargeHam ham-filled]] rant about how his entire mathematical concept of space was just torn apart, then quietly says "I've always wanted to see it done ''properly''."

** Series 5 adds the Eleventh Doctor's insistence that "Bow Ties are cool".
** Let's not forget that every time the Doctor regenerates, he spends a couple of minutes criticizing his new looks (Creator/ChristopherEccleston's ears, Creator/MattSmith's chin, Creator/JonPertwee's nose...) And HE'S STILL NOT GINGER!
** Another is the Doctor's [[NoSenseOfDirection complete inability to direct the TARDIS]] (though it's not so much [[spoiler: his inability as the TARDIS's unwillingness to co-operate]]), so that he often steps outside in full tour-guide mode only for his companion/s to point out that they are not, in fact, in Rome/Mars/Peladon/1980/Croydon/Rio.

--->'''Amy:''' [[EpicFail America, in fact.]] '[slips a Stetson onto the Doctor's head]'
--->'''Doctor:''' [{{Beat}}] I was gonna say America.

** "[[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay Hello, sweetie!]]" Hi, River Song!
*** Another one related to River that may or may not develop. Every time the Doctor finds a hat, he'll say "It's a X. Xs are cool," and River will shoot it (often right off his head.) It's happened with the poor fez, and in the preview for Series 6, it happened to a Stetson.

** Doctor Donna. Not a couple.
** Also, the Doctor telling Jack to knock it off any time he says hello to anyone. Because when it comes to Jack, hello is never just hello.

** Harrison "Harry" Wells of [[AlternateUniverse Earth-2]] being a victim of MistakenIdentity, especially being compared to his Earth-1 counterpart, [[spoiler:a.k.a. the BigBad of Season 1.]] Although there are times early in Season 2 (Harry's debut appearance) that this is PlayedForDrama, eventually the characters made jokes out of it. Eventually, when Harry finally gets fed up after another MistakenIdentity, this time of his temporary substitute from Earth-19 [[spoiler:who pulled a HeroicSacrifice]], he replies with [[OverusedRunningGag "I get that a lot."}] in a tired tone.

** Cisco naming their superpowered enemies, to the exasperation of his friends. And for a RunningGag within a RunningGag, Cisco's disapproval of some of those criminals naming themselves.

* On ''WinBenSteinsMoney'', Jimmy Kimmel would tell the contestant in the booth during the Best of Ten Test Of Knowledge that "as host I must remain impartial, but since Ben is under the headphones and can't hear me...smoke him like a cheap cigar!"

* ''AreYouBeingServed''

** {{Enya}}