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    A 
  • A throwaway joke in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where Ward comments that Skye keeps confusing the safety with the magazine release in firearms training and still says "Bang" when she pulls the trigger. Later in the episode, she grabs a gun to defend herself, tries to the shoot the target... and ejects the magazine.
    Skye: Bang?
  • The cold opening for one All That episode has Kenan blowing up a scarecrow, causing the Big Ear Of Corn to be kidnapped by Elvis and professional wrestlers. Later on, Lori Beth Denberg (as Miss Fingerly) kisses a stuffed monkey despite the superstition about what happens... then Elvis and the professional wrestlers come out and beat her up.
  • On Amen, Thelma tries to prepare a turkey dinner. While washing the turkey, she uses soap despite her father's protests. Later, her father cuts the turkey and bubbles start to pop out.
  • An in-universe example in Animorphs: Marco says that when he was a kid, his now late mother always used to tell him the setup for a joke when she left the house, so that he'd always know she'd be coming coming home, since she'd have to finish it. Later on, just before the team splits up during their mission du jour, Marco tells the gang the first part of a joke, determined to ensure they all make it back safely ("How do you tell the difference between a horse and a fish?"). After they return, Marco gets a knock at the door. It's the rest of the team demanding to hear the punchline. Somewhat averted, since Marco doesn't tell it on screen, everyone just laughs before the screen fades to black. note 
  • A staple of the running-gag-filled Arrested Development.
    • For example, a scene early in "Meet The Veals" has Buster mention that Uncle Oscar loves his hook. We then see a flashback of Oscar using the hook to smoke a joint. At the end of the episode, Buster gets attacked by a drug-sniffing dog.
    • In "The Immaculate Election", Gob is looking for the video camera and jokes that he knows George Michael has had it. We then flash back to the time they discovered George Michael had taped over George and Lucille's wedding anniversary with his reenactment of a lightsaber duel from Star Wars. Later, Gob and George Michael use the camera to shoot a video promoting George Michael's candidacy for class president. After the campaign video plays, so does George Michael's lightsaber reenactment.
    • In "Exit Strategy", George Michael tries to organize a birthday party for Maeby. He looks over her address book which contains her contacts in the film industry. Just below the entry for S. Holt (for moron jock Steve Holt) is an entry for R. Howard (for producer and narrator Ron Howard). Later, he shows up at the party to find Maeby upset because she lost her producer job when they found out her real age. She also says that no one came to the party because of that. The narrator says "Well, that and most of us didn't want to drive down to Orange County for just a few hours."
    • In season one, there's a throwaway gag where Michael and George Michael make cornballs together with a dangerous cooking device called a "Cornballer". After Michael burns himself, the narrator reveals that the Cornballer was not able to be legally sold anywhere, but George Sr. tried to market it in Mexico anyway. In season two's "Amigos!", George Sr. tries to hide out in Mexico only to be apprehended by the local police. He thinks they've mistaken him for Oscar, so he explains he's actually George. The chief replies "Si! The Cornballer!" and he and his men reveal the burn scars on their arms.
    • The second season finale has Buster using the Cornballer and rest his hand on the device. Oscar, momentarily forgetting Buster's hand is prosthetic, grabs the Cornballer with his bare hands and burns them. In the process, he burns off his fingerprints which makes it harder to prove his identity when George Sr. switches places with him and gets him arrested.
    • In "The Sword of Destiny", George Sr. records a video for his employees, but it gets confiscated by the FBI. At episode's end, we see the FBI agents watching the video when one of them says they found something else on it, suggesting it might be a terrorist training video. He plays the segment he found. It turns out to be George Michael acting out the lightsaber duel.
    • In the pilot, Gob offers to put on a magic show for George Sr.'s retirement party. Michael replies "That's great. Oh, wait. Dad's retiring, he's not turning six." After Gob is expelled from the Magician's Alliance, he's blackballed from even smaller venues as a result. Cut to him getting rejected from performing at a child's birthday party.
    • In ''Missing Kitty", Michael fires his (formerly his father's) secretary Kitty and replaces her with his son George Michael. At one point, George Michael answers a phone call from his grandfather who immediately starts asking him to "talk him off", thinking he's Kitty. They're both rather unnerved when they realize what just happened. Later, Michael calls up the company himself and George Michael answers with a rapidly delivered "Bluth Company George Michael speaking not Kitty."
    • Lucille at one point in "Prison Break-In" says she wants to cry, but "can't spare the moisture". Later, when George Sr enters the room and prepares to have sex with her, she says "I'm so glad I didn't cry."

    B 
  • The Big Bang Theory:
    • One episode has Sheldon tell the rest of the guys how wealthy Raj is and they complain about how cheap he is, like having Howard buy him a churro. When they go out to eat at the end of the episode, they run out and leave Raj stuck with the check.
    • One Christmas Episode has Leonard organize a Christmas-themed game of Dungeons & Dragons where they have to rescue Santa. Raj gets killed early on by a cannon after rushing into action impulsively and when the others find Santa, Sheldon kills him for not delivering his father to him when he was a boy. Afterwards, Sheldon dreams that Santa takes revenge on him...with a cannon.
    • Howard realizes that the toilet he designed for the ISS and just sent to space has a critical flaw that will cause it to fail after about ten flushes. When testing a fix for the system, he uses a brick of his mom's meatloaf to simulate waste. The meatloaf is promptly launched up ta the ceiling and seemingly forgotten, until it drops down and lands on the table without warning while everyone is eating dinner.
    • When Penny spots Bernadette playing Fortnite in office and Bernadette informs her the intention of having a rematch with Howard after losing to him, she suggests for Bernadette to remind him the fact that she makes more money than Howard as a quicker way to get even. Late in the episode, Bernadette says precisely that to Howard after losing to him in said rematch.
  • Blackadder:
    • "Potato" has a literal example where Percy (weakly) throws a boomerang away, only for it to return and strike him on the back of the head after an unrealistically long delay.
    • In the episode "Born To Be King", Edmund dismisses Baldrick's seemingly lame plan to deal with McAngus by getting him to stick his head in a cannon. At the end of the episode, after all other plans have failed, Edmund tries the cannon, and succeeds!
  • Blossom did this with an actual joke. Anthony, an ambulance driver, drives a comedian to the hospital. The comedian cracks jokes the whole way, keeping him entertained. He sets up one joke ("What do you get when you cross a woodpecker with a lion?"), but dies before he can deliver the punchline. Anthony later organizes a wake for the man which is attended by several other comedians. He tells them about the joke and asks if they know the punchline. They deliver it in unison. ("If it knocks, don't answer.")
  • Boomtown (2002) had an episode where robbers took hostages at a sporting goods store and Ray volunteers to infiltrate the place. He's rather excited because the store's owner used to be the star of a television show he liked. This is established in a flashback where his wife asks him to fix the toilet, but he wants to finish watching the show first. During the infiltration, he dreams he gets killed and his fellow officers attend his wake. He realizes he's dreaming when his wife tells them the worst part of his death: "He never fixed the damn toilet!"
  • Season 5, Episode 5 of Breaking Bad, "Dead Freight" features a brick joke. The punchline is a ten-year-old boy getting shot in the head.
  • Brødrene Dal comes with an excelent one in the first season. They start off going the wrong way due to Brumund holding the map the wrong way but he claims that it was printed the wrong way, then the journey finally starts when they go the opposite way than they've planned. Everything that happens is opposite, like the bride carrying the groom etc. When they go back in the end and are going "the right way" will it being the groom carrying her, albeit not in Bridal Carry like she did.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • "Passion" has a throwaway line about the Orb of Thesulah being sold to dumb New Agers as paperweights. In "Becoming, Part 2", Giles mentions he has been using one as a paperweight.
    • In "Prophecy Girl", Buffy remarks that she could use a snack after killing The Master. In "Faith, Hope and Trick", Faith, another Slayer, says that slaying always makes her "hungry and horny."
    • The origin of Chanterelle's name.
    • Xander looks forward to leaving school so he can finally tell Snyder what he thinks of him ("What's My Line, Part 1"). This never happens, but in "Restless" Xander does have a cathartic exchange in his Dream Sequence. ("You know, I never got the chance to tell you how glad I was you were eaten by a snake.")
    • In "Lovers Walk", Spike wails that Dru left him for a Chaos Demon. ("All slime and antlers!") The spat between Spike, Dru and Antler Guy is shown in "Fool For Love".
    • In "Choices", Xander is reading Jack Kerouac, inspiring to him to go on a road trip after graduation. However, as Buffy learns in Season Four, he only makes it as far as Oxnard when his car breaks down.
    • In Season 5, Spike tries to hide his Stalker with a Crush obsession with Buffy with a Lame Comeback; "I never liked you anyway, and you have stupid hair." In Season 6, after finally making out with Buffy, Spike gushes over how good her long hair looks (Buffy responds by getting a bobcut).
    • The story behind "Once More, With Feeling"'s "The Mustard" from Season 6, is given a little exposition in Season 7, with "Mustard on my Shirt" ("Selfless").
    • In Season 7 Episode 9, "Never Leave Me" we see Warren (actually The First Evil) coaching Andrew on sacrificing a pig for its blood in the basement of Sunnydale High, at which Andrew fails miserably ("That'll do pig!"). Later in Episode 16, "Storyteller" we find Buffy and Principal Wood in that basement trying to figure out why strange phenomena are happening... when a a squealing pig runs by.
      Wood: God, I hope that's not a student…
    • Also from Season 7: in one episode, Dawn is eating pizza and accidentally stains one of Buffy's shirts. She then shrugs it off by saying her sister will probably think it's blood or something. A couple of episodes later, we see Anya and Buffy trying to clean the stained shirt (and Buffy presumes it's blood, of course).
    • In "Band Candy", the titular candy makes the adults start acting like teenagers. Joyce and Giles spend some time together like this and later have sex. Later in the season ("Earshot"), Buffy gains the power to read minds. When she's alone with Joyce, she exclaims "You had sex with Giles?!"
      • Comes up again a couple of years later. Buffy, body switched with Faith, is trying to convince Giles she's really Buffy:
      Buffy: Oh, oh, when I had psychic power I heard my mom thinking you were like a stevedore during sex ... do you want me to continue?
      Giles: Actually, I beg you to stop.
      Buffy: What's a stevedore?
  • In the first episode of Bunk'd, little Timmy is sent away to be picked up by his parents because their check bounced. A few episodes later... he's still at the entrance of the camp, still waiting to be picked up.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine: In "The Ebony Falcon" (1.14), the cold open revolves around a joke about how nobody in the squad can tell if Kelly is Scully's wife or dog (the activities he lists doing with her are ambiguous and could apply to either, and when asked directly, he gets offended and storms off, leaving it ambiguous). Six seasons later, "Pimemento" (7.3) has Scully reveal the truth angrily during an HR-mandated conflict mediation session: There's two Kellys; one was his wife, one was his dog.

    C 
  • A short one in the pilot episode of Castle, where Castle quips that his safe word is "apples" when Beckett arrests him for stealing her files, and then yells "apples" when Beckett grabs his nose after their meeting with Tisdale.
  • Cheers:
    • When Woody goes to propose to Kelly, he reveals that he wrote out his engagement speech on cue cards. He also keeps the cards hidden because Carla once doctored them with obscene words. (Some of which he couldn't pronounce.) When he finally gets to propose, we find out that hiding the cards didn't prevent Carla from getting to them.
      Woody: Kelly, I would like to...how do you pronounce this word? Oh, darn that Carla!
    • One episode has Cliff reading a newspaper and telling Norm about a story where a psychic's head exploded. They make a quick joke and that's seemingly the end of it. Later, Woody gets himself in a bind and feels overwhelmed by the situation. Norm tries to reassure him that it could be worse and asks "You've never had your head explode, have you?"
    • Another episode has Sam get recruited to deliver sports news on television. He tries to get out of normal work by getting Woody to call the bar's phone from the pay phone in the hall. After taking the call, Sam leaves, but Woody stays on the line even when Rebecca picks it up. After Sam embarrasses himself on the news, he returns to the bar and gets another call. It sounds like they're offering him a better deal for his reporting, but he turns them down. After he walks away, Rebecca tries to make another call and discovers that Woody made this call from the pay phone as well.
  • One Chicago Med had Doctors Rhodes and Downey get into an argument after Rhodes performed a technique that conflicted with the patient's religious beliefs. (The patient and his wife were Jehovah's Witnesses.) Downey argues for putting the patient's wants first, saying that if the patient wants green bandages, he's supposed to give the patient green bandages even if that will kill him. Later, Downey goes in for surgery himself. When he wakes up from the anesthesia, he's amused to discover he's been given green bandages.
  • CHiPs:
    • Ponch and Jon pull over a speeder (played by Rosie Grier) who then proceeds to rip apart his car. Later, it's discovered that Ponch's driver's license has expired and he has to go to traffic school to get it renewed. At episode's end, guess who's been forced to take the same class. Yup, the speeder.
    • One episode has the station training a new recruit who's so good, the other officers start a betting pool for when he finally screws up. Showing that he can take a joke, the new recruit enters as well. As he's leaving for his assigned station, Getraer decides that his missing a vital clue counts as a screw up. Guess who wins the pool.
  • Coach has a great brick joke in the episode "That Shouldn't Happen". The episode starts off with an announcement of the signing of a superstar quarterback. At the signing, a local channel offers a half hour show to Hayden as an aside at the announcement. After other build ups, Hayden injures the quarterback just before the game when high-fiving him. Hayden goes into a downward spiral, along with his fellow team members. At the very end of the episode, when Hayden hits his lowest point, the TV crew shows up at his home to film his show.
  • Community:
    • A brick joke three years in the making: over the course of three episodes across three seasons, a certain word is said three times. Only on the third time does the brick pay off.
    • In "Remedial Chaos Theory," Annie tells Troy and Abed they really shouldn't be using a brick to hold their door open. Fifteen episodes later, a policeman coming to their apartment tells them the same thing—because it's an antique brick and could sell for up to $60. May be an intentional reference to the term "brick joke" as Dan Harmon is an admitted Troper.
    • Abed helps Shirley deliver her baby stating that he's done this before. When rewatching Season 2, you can indeed see him helping someone do so in the background.
    • In "Remedial Chaos Theory", Pierce calls Annie's (somewhat feminine) revolver a "woman's pea-shooter". In "Digital Estate Planning", a full 16 episodes later, it's revealed that Pierce is always carrying a semi-automatic pistol (except in the shower, of course) No wonder he was unimpressed...
    • There's a massive one concerning Britta. In the first season, there was a joking "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue which stated that Britta (who never has any money and thus uses generic or outdated products) would finally own an iPod Nano in 2014. The writers remembered this, and in fourth episode of Season 5, Pierce left Britta his iPod Nano in his will.
    • In the second season, it's revealed that Abed (Danny Pudi) is a huge fan of Cougar Town. In "Critical Film Studies", he reveals that he founded a fan club for the show and was asked to make a cameo appearance. He says it didn't go well with him getting nervous and pooping his pants. On the season finale of Cougar Town, we see Danny Pudi in the background of one scene. Then he starts to act increasingly nervous and eventually jumps out of his chair and runs offscreen. That's right. The producers of Community and Cougar Town got together to set up a Brick Joke on one show and have it pay off on the other.
    • "Intro To Political Science" has an election for class president. Two of the candidates are Pierce and a girl we've never seen before named Vicki. Pierce's "campaign" consists entirely of threatening Vicki until she drops out of the election. At this point, so does Pierce as his only reason for entering was to get back at Vicki for not lending him a pencil. Near the end, Vicki finally lends Pierce her pencil... through his cheek.
    • Greendale Community College gets a Space Simulator in "Basic Rocket Science". To prepare for using it, they also build a Space Simulator Simulator, a cardboard box with an instrument panel drawn on the inside with magic marker. In the closing credit tag, Troy and Abed have a space battle with cardboard boxes made up to look like space ships.
    • In "Investigative Journalism", Annie works at the school newspaper. Among her duties is creating the Crossword Puzzle. In the following episode, "Interpretive Dance", Abed helps Troy with the crossword puzzle in the closing tag. All of the answers are the names of the study group members.
  • One episode of Corner Gas had Davis and Oscar trying to catch a mouse in the gas station. Oscar was going for the traditional mouse trap, while Davis was advocating being humane and letting the mouse go. He mentioned that, once, he'd nursed an owl back to health and released it. At the end, they catch the mouse, they let it go, they watch it scamper off into the world...and the same owl Davis rescued swooped down and carried off the mouse.

    D 
  • Daredevil (2015): In season 2, while Matt and Karen are having a "study date" in Matt's apartment during Frank Castle's trial, Matt offhandedly jokes that Nelson & Murdock could be better as Nelson, Murdock & Page. At the end of season 3, Foggy decides that that's a nice name for them to restart the law firm under and sketches it out on a cocktail napkin.
  • Dear John (American series) had an episode where Ralph was having a tough time. John and Kate try to cheer him up by getting him to remember something from his life that was happier. He remembers a small camper he used to have, then he feels bad again when he remembers that it was rolled into a canyon by a group of drunks. He manages to cheer up by the end of the episode and Kirk has a talk with John and Kate. During the talk, Kirk reveals he was one of the drunks who wrecked Ralph's camper.
  • Death in Paradise hides clues to other murders in unrelated episodes.
  • On an installment of the '90s HBO show Dennis Miller Live, while Dennis is doing his "Big Screen" segment, he shows a picture of then-Attorney General Janet Reno, saying she claims "there is no truth to the rumor that she is getting a complete head-to-toe makeover." After audience silence, he says, "All right. Sometimes I miss one. Wasn't funny. Let it go." Two pictures later comes a photo of a gorgeous supermodel. Dennis says, "And, Attorney General Janet Reno stunned the crowd when she...." When the roaring and applause die down a bit, Dennis says, "You think I'd miss it that badly? I'll always take care of you."
  • The Dick Van Dyke Show did this in the third season premiere episode, "That's My Boy??" Mel's sister-in-law has just had a baby, which prompts Mel to make a Switched at Birth joke. Laura prods Rob into a Whole Episode Flashback retelling of how, a few days after Ritchie's birth, he became convinced that they took the wrong baby home from the hospital. They contact the other parents — who have the similar last name of Peters — and invite them over to discuss the possibility. The doorbell rings, Rob opens the door and is stunned at the sight of them. Then he invites the Peters in. Their entry is the brick joke. They're African-American.
    • Kenan & Kel did an episode based on that Dick Van Dyke episode, but changed it a bit. The plot involves Kenan being suspicious of his parents (most of his baby pictures and things were washed away in a flood) and finding out there's a closely named person around his age named Kevin. The brick: since Kenan and Kel are African-American, Kevin and his parents are Asian.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In "The Crusade", a serial all the way back in season 2 of the classic series, Ian is knighted by Richard the Lionheart, with the First Doctor remarking that he'd like to be knighted himself, one day. 41 years later, the Tenth Doctor is knighted by Queen Victoria.
      • The Fifth Doctor had previously been knighted by King John, but that was actually Kameleon in disguise.
    • At the end of "The Hand of Fear", Sarah Jane has been dropped off on Earth by the Doctor. She looks around and begins to suspect that he's dropped her off in the wrong part of the UK. Fast-forward a few decades, and "School Reunion" reveals that yes, he did — in Aberdeen, in northern Scotland, almost the other end of Britain from her home in Croydon, South London.
    • In the twentieth anniversary special "The Five Doctors" the Master offers the Seal of the High Council of Gallifrey to the Third Doctor as proof that he was sent to help him out of the Death Zone. The Doctor concludes the Master must've stolen it, and pockets the seal, remarking that he'll "return it at the first opportunity." In "The Time of the Doctor", just after the fiftieth anniversary of the show, the Eleventh Doctor takes the Seal out of his pocket and uses it to decode a Time Lord signal, revealing he still hadn't returned it after five hundred-odd years and nine regenerations.
    • In "Remembrance of the Daleks", the headmaster of Coal Hill School assumed that the Seventh Doctor came to the premises to apply for the position of caretaker. 26 years later, in "The Caretaker", the Twelfth Doctor takes up that exact position.
    • In "Mawdryn Undead", a Fifth Doctor adventure from 1984, the Brigadier has retired from the Army and taken up a teaching post at a boys' school, something many fans found unrealistic and out of character. note  Thirty-one years later Clara Oswald's boyfriend Danny Pink had also become a teacher after leaving the Army, which the Twelfth Doctor turned into a Running Gag about how he found that unbelievable.
    • This one has three parts: In the first series episode "The Long Game", there's a brief, offhand mention of the Face of Boe being pregnant. In the first episode of Torchwood, aired about a year later, Jack vows that he's never going to get pregnant again. In the third series finale "Last of the Time Lords", (another year later), it is strongly hinted that one day Jack might be the Face of Boe.
    • In series one's "The Empty Child", Captain Jack Harkness says that Pompeii's a great place to visit, except you have to set your clock for volcano day. In series four's "The Fires of Pompeii", the Doctor says "We're in Pompeii, and it's volcano day."
    • "The Parting of the Ways" has a rather short-term version of one of these: The Ninth Doctor, shortly before regenerating, tells Rose that he would've like to take her to the planet Barcelona. Shortly after the regeneration, the Tenth Doctor tries to remember what he was talking about, and remembers that it was... "Oh, that's right! Barcelona!"
    • In "Army of Ghosts", the Tenth Doctor develops a fondness for the French phrase "allons-y" (let's go), and wishes he had someone named Alonso to say it to. Over a year later, in "Voyage of the Damned", he finally meets an Alonso. He is overjoyed.
    • This brick falls in reverse. At the very beginning of "Smith and Jones", Martha Jones first meets the Doctor when he steps in front of her in a crowd of people, takes his tie off and waves it in her face, says "Like so", and walks off. When she arrives at the hospital, she sees the Doctor being examined. She calls him out on his stunt, but the Doctor denies his involvement, as he had been in bed the entire time. The rest of the episode consists of the hospital being sent to the Moon, avoiding an army of rhino-men and fighting a vampire. When that's finally over, the Doctor explains to Martha who, and what, he is, and that the police box is a time machine. When she doesn't believe him, he says he'll prove it to her, and gets inside the TARDIS and it disappears... only to reappear seconds later with his tie off.
    • At the end of "The Shakespeare Code" Queen Elizabeth I arrives at the Globe Theatre, much to the delight of the Doctor. Immediately upon seeing him, however, she shouts "Doctor! My sworn enemy! OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" This isn't explained for over two years, until, early on in "The End of Time", the Doctor mentions to Ood Sigma that he married her, and apparently her nickname is no longer ... ahem. Two years later, in "The Wedding of River Song", he mentions that Liz I is still waiting to elope with him (indicating that he doesn't remember the wedding). The next year, in "The Day of the Doctor", the wedding was actually shown.
    • "The Fires of Pompeii": Early on, the Doctor says that Latin doesn't have a word for "volcano", and won't until tomorrow. At the end, Caecilius coins the word while watching the destruction of Pompeii.
    • "The Waters of Mars": When introduced to the lengthy corridors connecting the hub of Bowie Base One with the outlying domes, the Doctor suggests they could have brought bikes along to speed the trip. Much later on, Adelaide agrees with him. "You were right, Doctor: bikes."
    • Late in "The Big Bang", after surviving flying the Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor decides he can buy a fez after finding himself without the one he picked up earlier. Six seasons later, in "Kerblam!", the Thirteenth Doctor takes delivery of said fez.
      • Later in the same episode, the Doctor receives a call about an Egyptian Goddess being loose on the Orient Express IN SPACE!, and resolves to go deal with it. He apparently doesn’t get around to it for another thousand years, until the Twelth Doctor is forced to deal with it. It’s even lampshades in-episode, when the Doctor notes that someone had tried to lure him here before.
    • In "The Time of the Doctor", Clara notices the TARDIS phone is off the hook. At the end of "Deep Breath", which aired eight months later, she gets a time-travelling phone call from the Eleventh Doctor reassuring her that the new Doctor is still him, implied to be a phone call made just before Clara arrived and noticed the phone was off the hook.
    • "Demons of the Punjab": The Doctor and Yaz get henna done on their hands. Umbreen, whose mother is doing the henna, comments that it's a terrible design. In the last scene, Yaz is in the present day with her grandmother, Umbreen, and when she sees the faded henna on Yaz's hands she comments that it's a terrible design.
    • "It Takes You Away": In the first scene, the Doctor sees and scans a sheep wandering in the woods, mentioning the Woolly Rebellion of 2211. In the last scene, noting the sheep's absence, she suggests it's off somewhere plotting.
    • "Fugitive of the Judoon": The Doctor tricks the Judoon into thinking she's an "Imperial Adjudicator" to get into the Claytons' flat. When the Doctor winds up on the Judoon ship with the Ruth!Doctor, the Judoon Captain gasps at the sight of the "Adjudicator" with the fugitive!
  • The Dukes of Hazzard once opened with Bo and Luke practicing their archery when one of them blows up the outhouse. They quickly determine that one of their dynamite arrows got mixed in with their normal arrows. At the climax, they have to dispose of a truck full of contraband before Roscoe gets there. They try to blow it up with a dynamite arrow, only to discover they picked out a normal arrow by mistake.

    E 
  • The Eric Andre Show:In season 2 episode 7 which aired on November 14,2013 Lance Reddick delivers the Levar Burton monologue. 3 seasons later on the Season 5 episode 5 of the show which aired almost 7 years later, Levar Burton cameos and says, I wish I was Lance Reddick he even lampshades this.
    • Levar Burton: And that completes the meme.
  • The Eternal Love: When they first meet Xiao Tan tells Lian Cheng she's viewing the scenery then claims her family will sell her to a brothel. Later Lian Cheng catches her climbing over a wall again and asks if she's viewing the scenery or if she thinks he'll sell her to a brothel.
  • Eureka:
    • Over three seasons, characters occasionally refer to something called an "Einstein-Grant Bridge" until in the season four opener, when they accidentally pull Dr. Grant into the future from his original timeline in 1947. Thereafter, they use the term we normally use for that object, the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, thereby proving that the timeline they had been in was different from our own.
    • In the series finale, Eureka gives us what may be the ultimate brick joke: We see Jack and Zoe drive out of the town and see themselves drive into it — this explains the same thing happening in the series pilot when they drive into Eureka for the first time.
  • Early in the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond, in Amy's first appearance, she mentions that sometimes when she's depressed she'll eat a log of raw cookie dough like a banana. Nine years later, in the fourth-to-last episode of the series, Raymond walks in on her doing exactly that.

    F 
  • Father Ted, has a literal brick joke in the episode "Speed 3". Father Jack gains a pet brick, which later becomes critical in Ted's plan to rescue Dougal from an explosive milk float. Post-credits, Ted is taking out the trash when he spots something in the sky... and is struck head-on by the same charred and smoking brick.
    • The same episode includes another more normal brick joke, in that Dougal, on his rounds as a milkman, seems completely oblivious to the fact that several housewives answer the door fully or partially naked as they had been expecting the burly Pat Mustard. Only until he goes to sleep that night does it dawn on him: "Those women were in the nip!"
  • Nick on Freaks and Geeks once auditioned for the position of drummer for a band he once saw open for Jethro Tull. At the audition, he says he was impressed with their performance. The lead singer replies "You must have seen us on Saturday. On Friday, we got booed off the stage." After failing the audition, Nick tells the other "Freaks" about it and Daniel tells him not to feel so bad. He saw them when they opened for Tull and they got booed off the stage.
  • Fresh Off the Boat's second season Halloween Episode has Jessica talking with a handyman who recommends getting their new investment property sprayed for termites. She refuses just before running afoul of a group of teenagers who threaten to pelt the house with eggs. With her family's help, they repel the teenagers and Jessica proudly says their investment property is now safe. We then cut to the interior of the house's wall and a termite infestation.
  • Friends:
    • "The One with the Fake Monica" has Ross ask how to get a monkey in a zoo. Chandler answers "I know this one!" only to correct himself that that's how to get Popes into a Volkswagen. Just before the chapter break, he shouts out "Take off their hats!" to which Phoebe responds "Popes in a Volkswagen!"
    • "The One With Frank Jr" has Ross consider adding Isabella Rosselini to his list of celebrities he can sleep with but eventually bumps her because she's "too international". At the end of the episode, guess who walks into the coffee house?
    • In one episode, the girls are on the balcony drinking and telling stories of older times, when Rachel accidentally drops a cushion to the street. At the end of the chapter, someone calls to the door, and Chandler opens. A man returns the cushion.
    • "The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel" opens with the gang making fun of Joey for starring in an infomercial for the "Milk Master 2000" (a plastic spout to help pour milk) as the guy that can't open milk cartons. Later in the episode it turns out Rachel actually bought a Milk Master 2000 and Joey gives her a delighted thumbs-up when he sees her using it.
    • Where they're at Jack and Judy's anniversary party, Phoebe is urged to eat an oyster by her annoying boyfriend, so she throws it away while he's not looking. Ten minutes later Joey reports his annoyance that he was about to get food, but 'slipped on a giant booger'.
    • One brick joke several episodes in the making; at the ending of an early episode, Monica stumbles upon a disturbing video of her parents having sex. Jump several episodes later, Monica hides in a bathroom which her parents stumble into...and with her hiding behind the shower curtain, they proceed to have sex. When Ross finds her later, she tells him, "Remember that tape I found of Mom and Dad? I just caught a live show."
    • During one Thanksgiving when Monica and Ross's parents are invited to the meal, Phoebe is telling Rachel about a dream she had of Jack Geller the night before. The dream concludes with Phoebe saying she's looking at Jack very differently because he's now "Jack Geller: Dream hunk." but Rachel says "I don't know. To me, he'll always be 'Jack Geller: Walks in while you're changing.'" The episode continues, featuring the continuing development of Phoebe's dreams about Jack. However, in the final scene before the credits, Monica introduces Joey's new hot dancer room mate to Jack and Judy. Janine tells Jack they've already met, much to Judy's consternation. She then elaborates with "I live across the hall? You walked in on me when I was changing." The women aren't impressed, but all the guys are.
    • In one episode, when Ross was dating Charlie and Joey with Rachel, they have a double date at Ross his house. Ross is pretty drunk because of this awkward situation. Midway through the episode, he holds a very hot frying pan with his bare hands. After Rachel remarks he's not wearing mitts, he says: "That is gonna hurt tomorrow!". The episode plays out with no remark of this incident, focusing on Ross coming to terms with Joey dating Rachel. In the final scene before the credits, he and Joey share a high-five, after which Ross winces in pain.

    G 
  • Game of Thrones:
    • In "The Kingsroad", Tyrion mentions he wants to visit the Wall so he can "piss off the edge of the world." He goes through with it, to Jon Snow's amusement, near the end of "Lord Snow".
    • Also, the possibility of a Dothraki invasion:
      Daenerys: If my brother was given an army of Dothraki, could he conquer the Seven Kingdoms?
      Mormont: [...] King Robert is fool enough to meet them in open battle. But the men advising him are different.

      King Robert: Only a fool would meet the Dothraki in the open field.
    • Tyrion promises his jailer Mord all the gold in his purse to tell Lysa he wishes to confess, and delivers on the promise once he reclaims said purse and his freedom.
    • Daenerys reprimands two members of her khalasar for discussing how best to steal a giant golden peacock from their host in Qarth, but in "Valar Morghulis" two men can be seen behind Dany as she departs Xaro's house... carrying a giant golden peacock.
    • In Season 2, Tyrion complains about all the Jerkass Gods and asks, "Where's the god of tits and wine?" In Season 3, while even more drunk than usual Tyrion proclaims himself this particular god to annoy his father.
    • Hot Pie's direwolf bread improves exponentially between "Breaker of Chains" and "Mockingbird".
  • Greg the Bunny:
    • Greg is at Dottie's house for a rehearsal that's really a date, and Greg brought a cute gift.
    Dottie: Most guys bring me tequila!
    Some more small talk...
    Greg: What do you have to drink?
    Dottie: LOTS of tequila!

    H 
  • On the 80s edition of The Hollywood Squares, a camel is brought onto the set for one of the questions. The camel is presented with three bowls of food (hay, apples, and corned beef) and Louie Anderson is asked which one the camel will not eat. note  During a later round, a celebrity is asked what's travelling through the studio at Mach 1. He replies "Essence of camel." note 
  • On the Home Improvement episode "Quest For Fire", Tim launched a rocket-fueled grill into the sky. At the end of the episode while on vacation, the same grill falls out of the sky into a lake.
  • How I Met Your Mother:
    • Marshall's slap bet with Barney turned into a Brick Joke spanning the entirety of the series. Marshall has been granted three additional slaps (one of which he used immediately). One was used in the final season.
    • In a season three episode, Ted is told by his attractive dermatologist that she'll say no if he asks her out that the end of their ten-week tattoo removal session. In discussion with his friends, he claims that she can't know what she'll say ten weeks in advance just like somebody doesn't know what lunch they'll order ten weeks in advance, to which Marshall responds, "Sloppy Joe, Shrimp Cocktail, and a milkshake." The end of the episode, set ten weeks later, shows Marshall eating that exact meal.
    • In "Purple Giraffe", Ted is running casual parties at the apartment, in the hope that Robin will show up. There is a Running Gag where in all parties Barney tries to drive away a blonde girl who keeps mentioning a boy named Carlos, prompting him to wonder who could it be. When Robin finally shows up, and learns that the parties were run because of her, Ted tries to claim that it was to set her up with a "friend" (actually the first guy within his reach):
      Ted: Robin, this is...
      Guy: Carlos.
      Ted and Barney: [in unison] Aaaahhh....
    • In S2E02, Ted enthusiastically tells Robin that he found a 1945 penny in the subway. Many episodes later, we see a flashback of Ted and Robin buying hotdogs with the money they just got from selling a 1945 penny Ted found on the subway.
    • In "The Pineapple Incident", Marshall is curious about why is there a pineapple in Ted's bedroom. In "The Third Wheel", we see a flashback fom that night where Ted and Trudy are making out while Ted holds the pineapple.
    • In "The Pineapple Incident", Ted claims he's "vomit free since '93". In "Game Night", Ted confesses that he threw up on Robin's carpet:
      Marshall: I thought you were vomit-free since '93. So that was a lie?
    • At one point Ted simply shows up in a green dress and tells Barney "Now we're even!" with no explanation whatsoever. A season later it's finally explained.
    • Several times, the series has "flashed forward" in its retelling, showing minor events that nobody would be expected to remember, then showing the events transpire exactly (or close to exactly) as they were depicted. In the season 4 episode "Three Days Of Snow", Ted makes a reference to "Other ill-advised 5 word sentences" a man might say. One of them is shown at the end of that season (20 episodes later). Another is shown nearly three years later, in season 7.
    • In "Subway Wars", Ted claims that the best way to get through New York City quickly is to take the bus, but there's always that one crazy person you want to get away from. Later, he does take the bus and tries detailing some information to the other passengers, only to discover they're all trying to keep their distance from him.
      Older Ted: Kids, I learned a harsh lesson that day. If you can't spot the crazy person on the bus, it's you.

    I 
  • Iron Fist (2017): On his return to New York City, Danny Rand convinces Jeri Hogarth of his real identity by recounting to her two things that only he would know: that he nicknamed her "J-Money" when she interned in the Rand Enterprises legal department, and she bribed him $5 to keep quiet about him overhearing her cuss out Wendell's secretary. In the season 1 finale, when Danny is framed, Claire is sent to deliver a message to Hogarth to tell her that Danny wants to make contact with her: a $5 bill with "J-Money" written on it in Sharpie.
  • The IT Crowd has quite a few of these:
    • In the second episode, Moss has a fire break out in the IT office. After having trouble remembering the new Emergency Services number (even though he sang it out perfectly earlier), he decides to send an email to the fire brigade in hopes that they will respond to the fire breaking out in the IT office. At the end of the episode, as Moss tries to look for help on the fire, he gets knocked down by a couple of firefighters opening the door. The lead firefighter immediately says "Did someone email us about a fire?"
    • In one episode, Roy gets caught in the handicapped bathroom at a theater and pretends to be disabled so he won't get in trouble. He tells the theater staff and police that his wheelchair was stolen by a bearded, red-haired man with glasses. Later, the police see a man matching that description leaving the theater and quietly take him away.
    • In the same episode, Moss is caught using the employee bathroom and is mistaken for a new employee. Later, Jen goes to a party at the theater to find Roy in a wheelchair and Moss tending bar.
    • At the start of the same episode, Jen is asked out by a man she thought was gay. Moss replies "don't take this the wrong way, but could it be because he thought you looked a bit like a man?". Right at the end of the episode, after Jen is convinced he isn't gay, she asks him an Armour-Piercing Question that causes him to breakdown and admit he is gay, saying he thought it could work because she looked a "a bit like a man."
    • Another episode has Moss have a "Eureka!" Moment, in which he decides it would be better to leave his phone in his shirt pocket rather than his back pocket, for easier access. Later in the episode, he leans down to flush the toilet and his phone falls out. Even later in the episode, Moss gets stuck in a toy crane machine while trying to get an iPhone, and it isn't until the end of the episode that Jen realizes she forgot to get him out.
  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
    • One episode has Dennis "hypothetically" stating for all anyone knows, he might be a maniac with a trunk full of duct tape and zip ties. Five episodes later during the Season Finale, Dennis reveals that he does indeed have multiple rolls of duct tape in his trunk, which he planned to use to use on some former classmates while stressing out over the revelation that he wasn't the Big Man on Campus.
    • Another episode has Dennis mention to his Girl of the Week that he and the gang had tried to shoot an unauthorized sequel to Lethal Weapon 4. It's treated as a throwaway line, but a later episode revolves entirely around the film in question.
    • In "Pop-Pop: The Final Solution", Dennis and Dee liberate an animal shelter and release a bunch of stray dogs into the streets, reasoning that it's more humane to let them die naturally. At the very end of the episode, a doctor mentions that the E.R. is swamped because the city has become stricken with a rash of violent dog attacks.
    • In "Charlie Work", Dee insists on keeping a "joke stool" that simply has a nail sticking four inches out of it even though the bar is about to have a health inspection. Later, while Charlie is rushing around the bar masterfully ensuring that the rest of the gang's daily scheme and the new health inspector pass by each other like ships in the night, even streamlining the con somewhat, he sometimes slows down to repeatedly slam a specific stool's legs against the floor. Dee is the least helpful party in it all - she mistakenly lets the deliveryman order a turkey burger despite the masquerade of the bar being a steakhouse, she turns the steak to cinders on the furnace, and doesn't push the dumpster outside the backdoor six inches out as Charlie demanded. Sure enough, at the end of the episode, Dee walks out from behind the bar and takes a seat, where her stool promptly collapses beneath her.
      Charlie: Now that is how you make a joke stool!
    • Anytime the Gang gets out the camcorder to make a home movie, expect to see random snippets of their last ridiculous video, since they record over the same tape every time. Some of the schemes depicted without context date back multiple seasons.
  • The first episode of It's Your Move opened with Matthew organizing an operation selling term papers. After looking at the sign advertising the service, he chews out his friend for misspelling "special" as "specal". Later, after Norman starts a relationship with his mother, Matthew tries to get rid of him by sending him a letter claiming that Newsweek is offering him a position. However, Norman turns it down and when he's alone with Matthew, he reveals that he knows Matthew wrote the letter. What tipped him off? Newsweek would never spell special "specal". (And he borrowed Matthew's mother's typewriter, so he recognized the typeface.)

    J 
  • Jeopardy!:
    • About once a month, Jeopardy! will have one category in the Jeopardy! round and a similar titled category in the Double Jeopardy round (i. e. "A Seedy Category" & "A CD Category", "Nothin' But A's" & "Anything But A's", "Story Problems" about book plots, & "Story Problems" about story problems, and so on).
    • The Halloween 2008 episode: The Jeopardy! round had ordinary categories like "Famous Counts", "Morse Code", and "Just Say No". In the Double Jeopardy! round, they used the exact same board... but with "Re-" added to each category making them completely different ("Famous Recounts", "Remorse Code", "Just Say Reno", etc.). The Final Jeopardy! category continued with this theme ("Movie Makers and Remakers").
  • The Joey Bishop Show: Episode "The Fashion Show" has a classic, hilarious long brick joke, possibly even the trope namer, starting with a joke about a precise builder ending up with an a seemingly nonsense punchline about an extra brick he throws away. Followed by a joke about a lady with a dog confronting a man with a pickle on a train. The brick returns as the punch line.

    K 
  • Keeping Up Appearances: Soon after Hyacinth has snapped "how could that hiker have the impertinence to think I was talking to a tree?" note , Richard casually sings Clint Eastwood's "I talk to the trees".
  • Throughout seasons 4 and 5 of Key & Peele, Keegan and Jordan drive through the Mojave Desert having random conversations that lead into the next sketch. In the final scene of the final episode, they stop the car and turn to each other:
    Jordan: "Is this the place?"
    Keegan: "This is the place."
    Together: (Beat) "I said biiitch."
  • One episode of The Kids in the Hall features a recurring bit set at Hotel La Rut, in which a forlorn French-Canadian woman repeatedly gives a rambling speech in which she is “thinking about Tony...” The episode ends with perky Nina from Joymakers, a party-planner helping some stiff businessmen throw a surprise birthday party for their co-workers. When the plan goes horribly awry, she looks forlorn and one of the businessmen asks her what’s wrong. She then begins the “thinking about Tony” speech.
  • An early episode of Knight Rider had Michael investigate at an army base. When he gets there, he finds that the soldiers have a food truck they get refreshments from, but the operator of the food truck complains about the truck's faulty thermostat. Later, Michael tries to rescue the Girl of the Week and comes under fire from the mastermind. At one point, he has three heat-seeking missiles fired at KITT. Michael has KITT fire off flares to ward off the missiles. The first two are redirected by the flares, but Michael gets confused when the third never arrives. Cut to the food truck and the operator complaining about the thermostat again. He then sees the missile coming in and escapes just in time.

    L 
  • Lost:
    • A literal one. At the start of Season 2, Locke meets Desmond in the hatch, who asks the code phrase "What did one snowman say to the other snowman?" Locke doesn't know the answer to this, leading to this payoff at the end of the season when Desmond returns.
      Locke: So what did one snowman say to the other snowman?
      Desmond: [chuckles] "Smells like carrots."
      Locke: Hello, Desmond.
      Desmond: "Hello" yourself, box man.
    • At one point, Ben is trying to explain the properties of the Island to Locke, and talks about a magic box that has anything you want in it. When Locke tries to figure out where this box might be, Ben rolls his eyes and says "The box is a metaphor, John." A full season later, Ben takes Locke to a small closet-sized room with unusual properties, which could reasonably be called a magic box. Locke asks "Is that the box?" Ben looks confused for a second before confirming that it isn't.

    M 
  • Paul and Jamie on Mad About You once went out to buy a new bathmat. When they stopped for lunch, both of their credit cards were declined because Paul was listed as dead. They later discovered it was another Paul Buchman who had died and went to his funeral. While there, another attendee tells them that the deceased died from a fall in the shower and laments "If only he had a bathmat."
  • The title of the Mad Men episode "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" is one of these crossed with a Stealth Pun. A character named Guy does indeed walk into the offices of Sterling Cooper, but he doesn't walk out again - one of his feet is sliced off by a riding lawnmower before he can.
  • In Malcolm in the Middle, Dewey releases the hamster in a ball full of food so he has a chance at survival and won't be taken care of by the class bully. Throughout the rest of the season, you can spot the Hamster Ball rolling in the background. By the end of the season, you can even see it roll by as Francis and Piama leave Alaska.
  • Married... with Children is known for Brick Jokes no one saw coming or even noticed.
    • In an early episode, Steve shows Al a newspaper clipping for a hair-loss clinic causing Steve to think he's going bald. Al reads the other side of the clipping, which says that tuna fish is on sale. At the end, when Steve tells Marcy, she meant side of the clipping on the tuna fish.
    • In the beginning of "How Bleen Was My Kelly", Bud has to correct Kelly when she pronounces the "c" in "science". At the end, the Fox TV announcer calls a made-for-TV movie "Madam Curie: Renowned Scientist or Syph-Ridden Whoremonger?" Guess how he pronounces "scientist".
    • In "Kelly Breaks Out", the subplot starts with Al buying episodes of The Avengers (1960s) just because of Emma Peel. Guess who ended up winning Kelly's audition at the end of the episode?
  • M*A*S*H: Near the start of the episode "It Happened One Night", Hawkeye puts a can of beans on a stove in post-op, to heat it up. At the end of the episode, after a busy night dealing with patients, and shelling, and other things, just as things are settling down, the can of beans explodes.
  • In a literal example, a first season episode of The Middle explores Brick's habit of forgetting about schoolwork until the last minute and leaving Frankie to do it for him. In the episode he runs for Class Historian, a role requiring him to document the lives of he and his schoolfriends for the next four years. The role isn't mentioned again until a season four episode where Brick, realizing his Class Historian presentation is due and he forgot to take even a single photo, goes to Frankie for help. After four years, she finally refuses and tells him to sort out his own problems.
  • Midsomer Murders:
    • During the production in "Death of a Hollow Man", Esslyn can be seen grimacing at the cakes he's supposed to be enjoying as Salieri, and later gives the production assistant hell for it. Later, it's revealed that David spread Vim on them.
    • In "Blood Will Out'', Troy at one point warns Barnaby not to think he hasn't noticed the Mars Bar stashed in the car's glove compartment (Barnaby is supposed to be on a diet). Later on, Troy is posted on a stakeout and Barnaby takes the opportunity to rifle through the glove compartment, only to cut to Troy smugly eating the Mars Bar.
  • Mock the Week has many examples, but this Milton Jones routine about history stands out:
    • "1896 - H. G. Wells publishes the book The Time Machine. 1897 - H.G. Wells writes the book 'The Time Machine'." Then, later, "3642AD - H.G. Wells is born!" Then, even later, "We are ten million years in the future! H.G. Wells has just got married."
  • In a first season episode of Modern Family, "My Funky Valentine", Mitchell (a lawyer) plans out a closing argument in one of his cases where he would dramatically point to the court seal and shout "Shame!" Unfortunately, he never is able to actually use the line in court. Fast forward three seasons later to another episode, "Goodnight Gracie", where Gloria convinces Mitchell to represent her in a court case in Florida, and Mitchell ends up representing everyone else on the court docket in their own cases. In a quick montage of the various cases, at one point Mitchell is seen pointing to the court seal and shouting "Shame!"
  • In the "Crunchy Frog" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus, the police are grilling the management of the Whizzo Chocolate Factory about their unusual, nauseating, and sometimes dangerous varieties of chocolate treats, including crunchy frog.note  A later sketch in the same episode has an unrelated character eating a chocolate and proclaiming, "Hmmm - crunchy frog".
  • Kevin on Mr. Belvedere once was on the phone agreeing to go to an ethnic festival with his girlfriend. He tells her "I'll be there with bells on. (Beat) Everyone will?" At the end of the episode, Mr. Belvedere is writing in his diary when he hears clattering. He goes out to the hallway to find Kevin returning from his date.
  • The Mr. Potato Head Show: Perhaps the writers were aiming for a Running Gag some of the time, but they had several jokes that referenced previous events, such as real weapons being used as props in a spy episode. First, poor Baloney was exploded by an exploding handkerchief, then electrocuted by an electrifying pen several scenes later in the same episode.
  • In one episode of Mr. Show, Bob and David discover a banana on the floor of the stage, and jokingly ask, "Who wants a banana?" They then tell the studio audience that they're making a "lost episode". They go through the entire show, and at the end, give the tape to a security guard to lose. The guard tosses the tape into the air, and we cut to a spaceship piloted by apes, where they are talking about the artifact they received from Earth. They pop the tape into their display, and the first thing they see is Bob asking, "Who wants a banana?" Cue ape freakout.
  • My Name Is Earl: While Randy is fishing junk out of the river that a storm drain flows into, he says, "Another doll's head, Earl! That makes four." Eight episodes later, in the next season, an orphan girl tells Earl, "I used to live in a storm drain; rain washed my doll heads away."
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000:
    • During Joel's time on the show, he and the Mads would have an "invention exchange" where they would present inventions to each other. Frequently, the closing host segment would feature Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank still doing something with their invention.
      • Dr. Forrester's invention in "Manhunt In Space" is a pair of pants with a bean bag chair built in. He and Frank show them off by sitting down and promptly fall onto their backs. When Joel checks back with them at the end of the episode, they're still lying on their backs and Dr. Forrester is ready to kill Frank.
      • Dr. Forrester's invention in "Eegah" is replacing Frank's circulatory system with the cooling system from a car. When Joel checks in at the end of the episode, Dr. Forrester has to repair the cooling system because Frank missed his scheduled maintenance.
      • Dr. Forrester's invention in "The Day The Earth Froze" is a series of kids' meals called Un-Happy Meals. They cost quite a bit of money which he borrowed from Frank, but he was unable to sell them. At episode's end, we find that Dr. Forrester still hasn't paid back Frank and is now punishing him for it.
    • At the end of the episode featuring Manos: The Hands of Fate, Torgo shows up to deliver a pizza to the Mads, who then ask where the pop that comes with it is; Torgo then goes back to the car to get it, which may be a while. Eight episodes later, Torgo shows up with Mr. Pibb, which Frank now says he can't have according to his doctor.
    • The episode featuring Santa Claus Conquers the Martians had a host segment where Joel and the Bots wrote essays about Christmas. Tom tells a story of a child experiencing Christmas while living on a space station and seeing Santa outside of his window...then Santa suffocates in the vacuum of space and burns up on reentry. When the movie itself ends, Tom comes up with new lyrics to the theme song:
      They'll die in the vacuum.
      Burn up on reentry.

    N 
  • In a Season 2 episode of Noel's House Party, the Gotcha Oscars involved footballer Garth Crooks, who believed he was doing a piece about football for a CBBC show starring Mr Blobby (this was the first appearance of Blobby, a parody kids' TV character whose central gag was that he was ridiculously impractical and cheap-looking ... before he became the star of the show). The most memorable bit of the skit was him completely failing to explain the offside rule to Mr Blobby (although for whatever reason, this was largely cut out of the Mr Blobby video release, only featuring as a small clip during a mockumentary). A few weeks later, there was a storyline in which the manager of Crinkly Bottom football team was explaining his woes to Noel. Noel pointed out he'd given the team a new coach, and the manager replied "And they love Mr Blobby. But he don't understand the offside rule." To cap it, Crooks then poked his head round the door, yelling "I've worked it out!"

    O 
  • Odd Squad:
    • In Oprah's flashback during "Totally Odd Squad", she suggests that her boss get a fish to help her relax. Her boss shoots the idea down, stating that having a fish is too much oddness for her to handle. When she promotes Oprah in her place at the end of the story, she's shown holding a fish in a bag as she walks away, stating that she has to go feed it.
    • In "The Briefcase", the fake Oprah (read: the Shapeshifter in disguise) tells Olive and Otto to take a day off simply for being adorable. The end of the episode has the real Oprah tell Olive and Otto to take a day off as thanks for retrieving her briefcase...but Olive suspects it to be a trick and hits her with a "form reveal" gadget to make sure she's not the Shapeshifter in disguise again. Luckily, it's the real deal, who immediately revokes her suggestion and tells them, "No day off!"
    • Olaf's suggestion of cutting up Oda's and Odelis's old chairs with his gigantic pair of scissors in "Best Seats in the House" is met with panic and refusals from Olive, Otto and Oren. At the end of the episode, he poses the same suggestion again, only in regard to the partner pair's desk lamps, and everyone's on board with it.
    • In "Flatastrophe", Mr. Franks, a local hot dog vendor, explains that ever since his cart was flattened, he's had to sell hot dogs out of his pockets, which naturally leads Otto to try and buy one only for Olive to stop him. After all is said and done at the end of the episode, Oprah is revealed to have bought hot dogs from Mr. Franks, which she kept in her pockets. She offers them to Olive, Otto and Oscar, who accept them.
    • During Olive's Director training in "O is Not For Over", Oscar tells her that she must pick a signature drink, and she picks what appears to be chocolate milk but is really dirt with water. Later on, when Otto goes to warn Oprah about Odd Todd's latest scheme, Oscar, who is supervising, is shown with the drink in his hand.
    • At the beginning of "Villains Always Win", Oprah explains the mission of the episode to Olympia and Otis, and at one point, she asks Olympia why the titular game show is called just that. Olympia says that it's because villains always win, which earns her a "ding-ding-ding, you are correct!" and a small shower of confetti from Oprah. A couple minutes later, Otis relays his and Oona's portion of the mission to his boss for confirmation, and she meets him with another "ding-ding-ding, you are correct!" as she goes to throw confetti at him...but has no confetti.
    • In "Odd Squad in the Shadows", Orla attempts to release her tie-breaking scorpions when she and the rest of the Mobile Unit try to determine who the leader is only for them to stop her from doing so, then later on she tries to release celebration scorpions, which Orla and Oswald are against.
  • The Office (US):
    • The Season 5 episode Prince Family Paper: Under instructions from the CFO David Wallace, Michael & Dwight travel to the small privately-owned Prince Family Paper to gather intelligence on the company. They initially revel in their "shark-like" mission but by the end of the episode, when he realises what the consequences of his actions will be, it's only reluctantly that Michael faxes Prince Family Paper's client-list and company structure to corporate. 7 episodes later in "Two Weeks", Michael, having given his two weeks' notice is looking for another job and brags to the camera that he's built up a number of contacts in his years in the business. The first number he calls is Prince Family Paper where he's greeted by a tearful recorded message regretfully informing their customers that after 40 years serving their community, they've been forced to close. Cut to Michael crossing off "Prince Paper" on his pad, leaving "Other Companies".
    • The Christmas episode in Season 2: Jim's takes his letter to Pam off her desk before she sees it and puts it in his back pocket. In the second last episode of Season 9, he finally gives it to her. The audience isn't told what it says, so it's a sort of MacGuffin of their romantic relationship.
      • From the same Christmas episode, Jim shows a golf pencil that was a part of the romantic trinkets he had included in Pam's Secret Santa gift. In a talking head, he says it would "take too long to explain." He brings the pencil back in the penultimate episode in the series, where Pam explains that she had thrown it at him during a minigolf outing and he had kept it for years.
    • Throughout the show, it's hinted that Creed has been involved in various illegal activities over the years, including an implication that he had murdered the REAL Creed Bratton and stolen his identity. This finally comes to a head in Season 9, where Creed is forced to go on the lam after the cops show up with a warrant for his arrest. He returns for the Grand Finale, where he is arrested and sent to prison.
    • In the second season, the crew discovers Michael's unfinished screenplay Threat Level Midnight, and have a joking table reading to mock it. In season 7, it is revealed that they had actually shot the movie offseason during the events of season 3, and the majority of the episode is devoted to airing the film itself.
    • In the eighth season episode Gettysburg, the gang travels to Gettysburg, PA to visit the historical site. Dwight claims that the Battle of Schrute Farms was further north than Gettysburg, contesting Oscar's claim (and common knowledge) that the Battle of Gettysburg was the northernmost battle in the Civil War. Naturally, nobody believes him. At the end of the episode, the park historian shows some historical photos that reveal the true role of Schrute Farms in the war (albeit not even close to what Dwight hoped...). One blink-and-you'll-miss-it photo shows a wedding with the bride and groom in separate trenches without explanation. Fast forward to the series finale, with the marriage of Dwight and Angela. The pastor remarks that they are married standing in their own graves, to remind them that that is the only escape from what they are doing now.
  • In a December 2012 intro to the BBC quiz show Only Connect, host Victoria Coren names four things she's not allowed within 100 yards of. The first sequence of round 2? Those four things, in order. (It was correctly guessed for 2 points.)
  • The Orville:
    • One episode has the crew deal with a subspace anomaly which, among other things, causes some plants on the ship to whither and die. Captain Mercer jokingly asks if someone's been watering them and is told that's the responsibility of one particular crew member. Mercer doesn't know the crew member by name, so he's described and the captain reveals that he normally gives a non-committal greeting to the guy. Later, we see a crew member who fits this description and the captain gives him said non-committal greeting.
    • Isaac, still trying to understand the concept of humor, amputates Gordan's leg as a practical joke and hides it. Later in the episode, during a somewhat dramatic and tense confrontation between Mercer, Kelly, Alara, and the antagonist of the episode, the leg falls out of the ceiling of the room they're in.
    • In season 3, Gordon sends a sandwich months into the future, predicting he'll be happy when it returns. True to form, it shows up out of the blue a few episodes later to his delight.

    P 
  • Parks and Recreation had an episode where Leslie and Tom find marijuana growing in a community garden and try to find out who planted it. (They don't.) Later that season, Leslie meets with the former heads of the titular department for a picnic and one admits to planting marijuana in community gardens.
  • Paul Merton: The Series: In one sketch, Merton explains that the inmates from the detention center in front of his house tunneled their way into his fridge. Then, they proceed to escape en masse. An indeterminate amount of time later, in another comedic monologue, an alien blob is telling him about the things he can show to him when it pauses to exclaim "Blimey! You've got prisoners jumping out of your fridge!"
  • Pistvakt: In the episode "Lusekoftanovan", Olle is about to go to the movies for the first time in his life. Jan-E tells him about the only time he went to the movies; it was a community center screening of Fame - dubbed into Finnish (which neither of the characters understand). When we see Olle at some movie theater later, he is also watching Fame... And his face drops as he realises that this screening is also dubbed into Finnish.
  • Pop Up Video once featured Naked Eyes' "Always Something There To Remind Me". At one point, singer Peter Byrne gets hit by a car and the show pointed out that the driver wasn't paying attention. The director then admonished the driver not to run over Pete. Later, they pointed out that some people use mnemonics to remind them of things and gave a few examples: HOMES (The Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior), Every Good Boy Does Fine (The musical scale: EGBDF), and DROP (Don't Run Over Pete).
  • Once Fred and Carrie from Portlandia finish their Battlestar Galactica binge, they decide to push Ronald Moore into writing another episode of the show. When they look him up in the phone book, they are vocally surprised that he (actually just another man with the name Ronald Moore) just happens to live fairly close by. It sounds like they're just Lampshade Hanging until the end of the episode where they hold a cold reading for the script of their new BSG episode, and one of the performers is "a local actor" who is actually being played by the REAL Ronald Moore.
  • In the Power Rangers Dino SuperCharge episode, "Wishing for a Hero", Sludge threatens Heckyl "If you fail me, Heckyl, I'm throwing you into the sun!" Being thrown into the sun is how Sludge is ultimately defeated, with Heckyl having pulled a Heel–Face Turn.
  • In one episode of Primeval: New World, the cold open shows a coed taking part in a game of capture the flag as part of a Vancouver university's rag week. She encounters the Monster of the Week during this. About half an hour later in the episode, the ARC team is searching for the monster on campus, and you see a trio of coeds running by and crying out in triumph in the background, holding a giant flag.
  • Probe's "Black Cats Don't Walk Under Ladders (Do They?)": Unimpressed by Mickey's credulity with magic, Austin "curses" her to do three things in the next 48 hours; break out in hives, cook him a trout amandine, and kiss a bald man on the head. He explains that it's because Your Mind Makes It Real. The conversation moves on from there, but by the end of the scene, Mickey is already scratching her hands. The episode ends with Mickey having kissed an old bald man and the two having a fancy fish dinner. The joke is on Austin, though, Mickey cooked mackerel, not trout.
  • Psych has a double example in "Shawn And Gus Of the Dead". As the episode (or at least the present day part) starts, Shawn is at a motel photographing a man with a woman, apparently on a case. He gets called away to investigate a crime at the museum. While there, he visits a display he and Gus had contributed to and is shocked to see that Gus' real name (Burton Guster) has been misspelled as "Bruton Gaster". After he wraps up the case, he visits Chief Vick in her office to be told she's being dismissed as interim Chief of Police and someone else is taking over permanently. She then gets a call that the other person was involved in a scandal and had to step down so she's taking the job permanently. We then see the scandal in the newspaper. The other person turns out to be the one Shawn was photographing and the picture is credited to "Bruton Gaster".

    R 
  • Reba:
    • One episode had an already funny scene of Brock complaining about Barbara Jean's stuffed animals, particularly that two of her stuffed animals can't sit together because "they have history" and lamenting that, in spite of himself, he wants to know what that history is. Other shenanigans happen and the stuffed animals are forgotten until the last scene in the episode, in which a teary-eyed Brock sticks his head in the living room to tell Reba, "Barbara Jean told me the story with Blinky and Lou-Lou and it is so sad!"
    • When Brock is skeptical about the treatments the family therapist is proposing, the therapist claims "You'll be the first to cry". When Brock says the above line, the therapist responds "Told you."
  • The Red Dwarf episode "Stoke Me A Kipper" opens with Ace Rimmer (What a guy!) bailing out of a plane with his Nazi opponent and the bad guy's pet crocodile Snappy, with only one parachute between them. Ace ends up with the 'chute, floats down, lands in a base with more Nazis, engages in a gun battle, rescues the local Damsel in Distress and finally zooms away on a flying motorbike. Two surviving Nazis watch him go:
    "He got away! I can't believe he got away!"
    "That was Ace Rimmer! We're lucky to be alive!"
    [Snappy falls out the sky and crushes both of them.]
  • During the Quest of Ki live challenge episode of Retro Game Master, Arino takes a break from the game to play Spelunker, until a fan orders him by fax to "DO KI". Arino then beat the game and replied "I did Ki. I DID IT!". This trope came in effect later on the Takeshi's Challenge live challenge, in which another fan orders Arino to DO KI. Arino loudly refuses, but praises the joke.

    S 
  • In the first season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, every time Harvey and Sabrina study biology they start to say, "Mitosis is...", but the sentence isn't completed until the last episode of the season, at the last line: "Mitosis is the process of cell division."
  • Saturday Night Live:
    • On the last episode of 36th season, Seth Meyers leaves for summer vacation with Bill Hader's Stefon character. About three episodes into season 37 (the episode hosted by Ben Stiller with musical guest Foster the People), Stefon returns and Seth mentions that the vacation they took last summer was bizarre (and when Stefon asked Meyers if his back was okay, Meyers quickly changed the subject).
    • When Kevin Hart hosted in 2013, he appeared in a sketch with Tim Robinson which is a commercial for something called Z-Shirts. Tim asks what he has. Kevin asks "Is it an A-Shirt?" then "Is it a B-Shirt?" and so on. The sketch ends around "I-Shirt". A few sketches later, we see Tim officiating at his grandmother's funeral and invites the attendees to pay their respects. Kevin comes up and asks "Is it a W-Shirt?" and finally gets to "Z".
    • An episode from the leadup to the 1996 election (hosted by Dana Carvey) opened with a sketch showing a few third-party candidates, the last of whom was the nominee of the Female Circumcision Party. Later, a sketch shows Bob Dole using a time machine to stop Bill Clinton from starting his political career. After his attempts fail, Clinton himself goes back to stop him and his presence makes his younger self change his mind about politics. Dole returns to the present, seemingly triumphant. Only then does he discover that his new opponent is even more popular than Clinton. Who is it? The nominee for the Female Circumcision Party.
    • An episode guest-starring Jim Carrey featured two ads spoofing Matthew McConaughey's advertisements for Lincoln Mercury, with Carrey as McConaughey musing nonsensically whilst driving a Lincoln and rubbing the fingers of one hand together. Later, the episode ran a spoof of an Allstate ad featuring Kenan Thompson as Dennis Haysbert touting the benefits of Allstate for good drivers... only for him to suddenly be hit by a Lincoln driven by Carrey's McConaughey, now wearing his tie as a bandanna.
  • Saved by the Bell:
    • A memorable one in the second episode of season 3. The teens are working at the Malibu Sands Beach Club, and trying to plan Zack's birthday party. Every time Jessie calls to order the cake and tries to tell them what to write on it, Zack shows up, and she needs to cover the conversation. The first time she says "wrong number" and hangs up on them. The second, Zack walks in while she's spelling his name for the decorator, so she covers up by saying "C, yes our resort is by the sea!" The cake arrives at the end of the episode with "Happy Wrong Number By the Sea" written on it.
    • Zack loses a bet to Slater and is forced to give up his ham radio. Slater says he can't wait to use it to contact a girl he knows in Germany. Just before packing up the equipment, he gives one last broadcast where he pretends to be Elvis Presley. While Screech takes down the equipment, he gets struck by lightning and develops the ability to see the future and the ability to power on electric devices by touching them. Zack uses this ability to go double or nothing on another bet with Slater. Just before this, he hands the ham radio to Screech. When he does, we hear a German accented man say "Elvis? Elvis? Vere are you?"
  • In the 1987 sitcom Second Chances (later renamed Boys Will Be Boys after 9 episodes), the premiere ends with St. Peter reading in a tabloid that a woman is suing to get her donated heart back. In the 8th episode, a teacher reads a newspaper during a midterm with the headline, "Judge Gives Organ Donor Her Heart Back".
  • Seinfeld was full of these.
    • "The Marine Biologist" has George date a girl who thinks he's a marine biologist while Kramer goes to the beach to hit golf balls into the ocean. Later, Kramer comes home angry because he hit several balls and only one of them got any distance. Meanwhile, George continues to date his girl and pretend to be a marine biologist. As they're walking along the beach, they come upon a crowd gathered around a beached whale. George is forced to attend to the whale to maintain his facade. As he walks into the water, it cuts to the next day at Monk's where George is telling the other three main characters the rest of the story.
      George: The sea was angry that day, my friends. Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about 50 feet out and suddenly, the great beast appeared before me. I tell ya, he was ten stories high if he was a foot! As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow. I said, "Easy, big fella!" And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized that something was obstructing its breathing. From where I was standing, I could see directly into the eye of the great fish.
      Jerry: Mammal.
      George: Whatever.
      Kramer: Okay, well, what did you do next?
      George: Then, from outta nowhere, a huge tidal wave lifted me, tossed me like a cork, and I found myself right on top of him, face to face with the blowhole! I-I-I could barely see from the waves crashing down upon me, but... I knew something was there. So I reached my hand in [reaches into his jacket], felt around, and pulled out the obstruction!
      [George yanks an object out from inside his jacket, concealed in his closed fist. He reveals it with a flourish. It's a golf ball. Elaine and Jerry, slack-jawed, both turn to look at Kramer]
      Kramer: [nervously] ...What is that, a Titleist?
      [George nods]
      Kramer: ...A hole in one, huh?
    • In "The Trip", Jerry and George go with the police when they go to arrest Kramer under suspicion of him being the "Smog Strangler". On the way, they pick up another man for a minor infraction and bring him with them. When they get to Kramer's location, George leaves the back door of the police car open and the other man escapes. Kramer is later exonerated when another murder occurs while he's in custody. At the end, a news report reveals that the man who escaped from the police car is the latest suspect.
    • In another episode, George walks out of Jerry's bathroom while putting on his shirt and reveals that he takes his shirt off when he goes to the bathroom. His girlfriend then invites him to a function where he gives the impression that he's a bum. (He eats an eclair out of the garbage. Later, he cleans off someone's windshield.) At the next function, he has to go to the bathroom and another attendee tells him there's a 3-D "Magic Eye" poster in there. When he comes out of the bathroom, it turns out he was so mesmerized by the poster he forgot to put his shirt back on.
    • In "The Rye," complications in a plot to replace a distinctive loaf of rye bread include an elderly woman in the bakery line in front of Jerry buying the last loaf. After she refuses all monetary offers for it, Jerry, with a limited amount of time to enact the plan, just grabs it from her and runs. It's never followed up on in the episode. Three episodes later in "The Cadillac," Jerry's father is on the verge of being impeached as president of his condo, and Jerry meets the woman who has to cast the deciding vote, who looks really familiar...
  • In the Stargate SG-1 episode "The Fifth Race", Jack spars with Teal'c in a boxing ring. Teal'c knocks Jack over with one punch. Fast forward to "Upgrades", where with the benefit of a bodily-capabilities-improving Atoniek armband, Jack KO's Teal'c.
  • Star Trek:
    • In the original series episode "The Naked Time", Kirk catches a crew member spraying graffiti on the walls while infected by the intoxicating virus and Laughing Mad. Kirk orders him to the lab. Later, Kirk contacts the lab for information on the virus. Guess who answers.
    • Near the beginning of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Q-less, Q sends Dr. Bashir off to sleep. Potentially several days, power outages, and graviton disturbances later, Bashir shows up at the end of the episode, to Dax's amusement, yawning and announcing, "I feel like I've been Asleep for Days." (Beat) "Did I miss something?"
    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's self-sealing stem-bolts are forgot often and long enough to function as the subject of a perennial Brick Joke.
    • The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Riddles" does this with an actual joke. At the beginning of the episode, Neelix asks Tuvok a riddle about how an ensign could survive being stranded for a year on an L-class planet with only a calendar—he ate the dates from said calendar, which Tuvok hardly finds amusing. At the end of the episode (which Tuvok spent as a Fun Personified pastry chef after being brain-zapped until he was restored), he refers back to the riddle and says that the ensign could've also eaten the Sundays/sundaes.
  • In a Season 5 episode of Supernatural, there was a Dagwood Sandwich that Dean Winchester must eat and remarks that he needs a bigger mouth and Sam in turn states that Dean needs a bigger mouth. Fast forward to Season 13 where they end up in Scooby-Doo, Dean Winchester makes a Dagwood Sandwich and notes that he has a bigger mouth.
  • In Superstore, it’s mentioned offhand by another character early in season 5 that Sandra wants to walk down the aisle at her wedding to “Hampster Dance”. Sure enough, in episode 14 of the season (“Sandra’s Wedding”), listen carefully: Sandra walks down the aisle to a string arrangement of that very song.

    T 
  • Early on in Ted Lasso, Trent Crimm asks Ted whether he knows what the offside rule is, to which he gives an answer to the effect of "I'll know it when I see it". He's proven wrong in the Season 1 finale; when Richmond have a player flagged for a blatant offside, Ted asks the linesman to explain the decision to him because he doesn't understand it. Coach Beard ends up having to explain the rule to him.
    • The joke comes back again in the Season 2 episode "Man City"; when Ted questions why Man City's first goal wasn't ruled out for offside, Coach Beard points out that the offside player wasn't interfering with play. Ted mutters that he still doesn't understand the rule.
  • In Teen Wolf, Scott attempts to literally sniff out the other werewolf on his lacrosse team. He crashes into his teammates, causing them to fall so that they are in one place long enough to smell them. When he falls on top of Danny, Danny says, "It's Armani," referring to his aftershave. Scott flirtatiously says, "It's nice." Viewers are left to simply see this scene as Ho Yay/Fanservice until four episodes later, when Scott is chasing down the villain using his sense of smell, and realizes he smells... Armani. It leads him to realize that the villain is seeking out Danny.
  • That '70s Show:
    • In one episode, Jackie has Kelso reading Cosmo magazine, hoping that it would give him insight into women (specifically, Jackie, and what she wants at any given moment). A bit later, Eric is griping about Donna to Kelso, and Kelso spouts off some helpful wisdom, and, when Eric is incredulous, Kelso explains that he's been reading Cosmo, and offhandedly mentions that there are some diagrams to women's internal organs that look like a map to Six Flags. This isn't mentioned for the rest of the episode, until the very end...
      Fez: Oh look! Six flags!
    • Kelso once entered a partnership with the manager of the local hangout where they would share the profits from the hangout's pinball machine. Kelso tries to explain how this works, but Fez points out a mistake in his explanation. Kelso tells him (paraphrased) "I know it's hard to understand when your country's currency is frogs and chickens." Fez admits he doesn't have a comeback for that. Later, Kelso goes to get his share of the profits and discovers that the pinball machine is losing popularity, thus the earnings aren't as much as he'd thought. Fez retorts "I would have played the game, but my frogs and chickens wouldn't fit in the coin slot."
  • The Thin Blue Line:
    • In "Kids Today", Goody punches a racist teenager, who then breaks down and sobs, saying he wants his mummy. Later, the boy's mother turns up to press charges, and ends up hitting him over the head herself when he refuses to cooperate, bringing on the same reaction as before.
    • When Patricia suspects Raymond of fancying the Mayoress in "Court in the Act":
      Patricia: (in Tranquil Fury) I'd advise you not to take off your bicycle helmet tonight.
      Later...
      Patricia: (sweetly) Take off your bicycle helmet. (Picks up rolling pin)
  • Top Gear once had a race from England to Venice between Eddie Jordan riding a luxurious train and Chris Evans, Sabine, and Matt driving vehicles they could afford for the price of the train ticket. At one point, Eddie joins in with the musical entertainment on the train by playing the spoons. After Eddie wins the race, Chris reveals that he, Sabine, and Matt got to keep their vehicles afterward and asks Eddie what he got to keep from his trip. Eddie takes out the spoons and plays along with the closing theme.
  • In Episode 2 of the ITV miniseries Tutankhamun, another archeologist who dug the same area as Howard Carter tells him that there's nothing left to be found, then jokes that he lost a pair of cufflinks there some years back and asks Carter to let him know if he happens to find them. In the next episode, after excavating the entrance to Tutankhamun's royal tomb, Carter runs into the same archeologist and hands him a box containing a pair of cufflinks.

    U 
  • The Umbrella Academy (2019): In Episode 2, Klaus poses as Five's dad so he can talk to the Meritech employee. In Episode 10, Klaus and Diego are mistaken for Five's fathers.

    W 
  • An episode of Webster saw Grandpa coming over for his birthday party. Webster gets him a scuba mask while George gets him a jogging suit. The party has to be delayed when Grandpa falls down the stairs. It's later discovered that he lost his balance because he forgot to take his medication. At his birthday party, Webster gives him a new gift: a pill box with a built-in timer to remind him to take his pills. He also confesses that he was originally going to get him a scuba mask. As George starts to present his gift, Grandpa says "Webster, I'm eighty years old. I need a scuba mask like I need a jogging suit." George promptly puts his gift away.
  • Wellington Paranormal: After multiple references to Officer Parker's very young-looking face in the "Zombie Cops" episode, he's later assigned to be bait to get the zombie cops into jail.
    Parker: So I'm jailbait?
  • The West Wing has this memorable Brick Joke:
    Donna: Oh my God, you're putting my mother's cats on the Supreme Court!
    • A subtle one appears in the series finale. The soon-to-be-ex President Bartlet is on his way to the inauguration of his successor, and his wife is needling him about the many ways in which his eight years as the most powerful human being on the planet have left him out of touch, citing the fact that he hasn't had to go to a bank, write a check or drive a car for himself in all that time. In response to the last one, Bartlet confidently declares that riding a car is "like riding a bike, except with more tonnage." In the first episode of the show, a subplot revolved around the results of the President riding a bike... and crashing it into a tree.
  • In a fall 1987 episode of Wheel of Fortune, at the top of the show Pat Sajak mentions that because he was talking to one of the show staffers right before going on air, he forgot to put a belt on. While signing off at the end of the episode, his pants fall down.
  • An epic Brick Joke on Whose Line Is It Anyway?: During a Scenes From A Hat in the Drew Carey era, the topic was "Tattoos You Don't Want To See On Your Date". Ryan says "Come out of there, you crazy rabbit." Years later, in the Aisha Tyler era, during a playing of Scenes From A Hat, and with a similar topic, Ryan, playing a tailor, reads the exact same tattoo.
    • During a game of "Two Line Vocabulary"note  one of Ryan's lines is "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." Later, during a game of "Foreign Film Dub"note  Drew says something in mock Swedish and Ryan translates it as the above line. Drew and Wayne are both on the verge of breaking down.
    • In fact, the show has a lot of brick jokes, many of which have way more than two parts. A running theme is to make fun of something that happened earlier in the show; at one point, Drew mistakenly identified Africa as a country and never heard the end of it for the rest of that episode, and another time Ryan committed a similar blunder demonstrating his ignorance of Kid Rock by saying Kid Rock was a group of people - which Ryan himself riffed on later in the same episode.
  • Wizards of Waverly Place: A Running Gag in "Beware Wolf" involves the Russos calling Justin out on dating girls based on what he knows from their Wizface accounts, mentioning one incident where he ended up taking a centaur to Wiztech prom. Later in The Stinger, Justin is seen talking to said centaur, and both admit they should have seen it coming.
  • The third episode of Watchmen (2019) has a double brick joke. Laurie Blake, the former Silk Spectre, is seen making a call to Dr. Manhattan. She starts the call with a joke about a bricklayer, who after completing a perfect structure, finds one brick left over, which his daughter throws as hard as she can into the air. Laurie appears to lose her train of thought and starts a second joke, about God judging three heroes (barely-veiled versions of Nite Owl, Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan himself) at the Pearly Gates. At the end of the that joke, one last person comes to God: the girl who threw the brick, which suddenly falls out of the sky and hits God square in the head, killing him. After this call, Laurie leaves the booth, and is nearly hit by a car falling from the sky - specifically, Angela's car that was stolen at the end of the previous episode and hadn't been mentioned since.

    X 
  • The X-Files: In "Bad Blood", Mulder and Scully are arguing about their differing memories of Sheriff Hartwell. Scully remembers him as a flawlessly gorgeous Southern Gentleman while Mulder recalls an imbecilic buck-toothed hick. When Scully calls Mulder on this, Mulder sheepishly claims that he "had a slight overbite". Later, when the audience finally meets Hartwell for real, he does in fact have a slight overbite, but does not have buckteeth. When they first see him after returning to Texas, Scully gives Mulder an immensely snide look and taps her own front teeth. Mulder pulls a grimace and mimics buckteeth.

    Y 
  • In an episode of Yes, Minister, when discussing a memo, Bernard explains that "Consignment of Geriatric Shoe Manufacturers" is Civil Service speak for "a load of old cobblers" (meaning nonsense, for those across the pond). Minister Harker then announces that he shall use his own code, and scrawls "round objects"note  on the memo. Later in the episode, the brick lands when the memo comes back with a question from Sir Humphrey: "Who is Mr. Round, and to what does he object?"
  • Young Sheldon:
    • In "Spock, Kirk, and Testicular Hernia", Sheldon distracts Missy from the TV by suggesting that Meemaw's backyard has treasure buried in it. At the end of the episode, Meemaw falls into one of the holes Missy dug.
    • In "Freshman Orientation and the Inventor of the Zipper", near the beginning of the episode, George's old motorcycle seems to serve no purpose other than to demonstrate how dull and uncool George has become. It's not seen or mentioned again until the end of the episode, when we see George taking Pastor Jeff for a ride.


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