The Road to ... movies are a series of comedy films starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, usually with Dorothy Lamour. Each of the films is a parody of a particular film genre.
Captured by Cannibals: In Road to Zanzibar, with the cannibals thinking Hope and Crosby are white gods... until, that is, the cannibals decide to test their divinity by having Hope get into a sidesplittingly hilarious wrestling match with a gorilla.
Cymbal Banging Monkey: In Road to Utopia, when Hope and Crosby enter a talent contest, their act follows a man with a cymbal-banging monkey. The monkey wins.
Demoted to Extra: Dorothy Lamour, in The Road to Hong Kong. She actually wasn't going to appear in it at all after Crosby insisted on (and got) a younger female lead in Joan Collins, but Hope intervened to at least get her a cameo appearance.
Drink Order: In Road to Utopia, Hope's character tries to fit in at tough-guy frontier bar, but then orders a lemonade. Realizing his mistake, he quickly turns to the bartender and growls, "...in a dirty glass!"
Early Installment Weirdness: Road to Singapore is a lot more subdued and conventional than the films that followed.
The Gay Nineties: Road to Utopia was set in the '90s gold rush in the Yukon.
Genre Savvy: In Road to Morocco, Hope and Crosby try the old "pat-a-cake" routine (used to great success in the series' earlier films) on the villain's henchmen, only to get clobbered:
Crosby: Yessir, Junior, that thing sure got around. Hope: Yeah, and back to us!
Greek Chorus: Humorist Robert Benchley, in Road to Utopia.
Harpo Does Something Funny: A fair amount of the pictures consisted of this, despite the fact that a script theoretically existed.
"What killed me is that from nowhere, an orchestra started. You know, violins and everything, right in the minute of a jungle. Isn't that silly?"
Large Ham / Ham-to-Ham Combat: Dorothy Lamour on making the pictures: "I felt like a wonderful sandwich, a slice of white bread between two slices of ham."
Literal Genie: In Road to Morocco, an imprisoned Jeff and Orville are given a ring which grants wishes, but are told it doesn't work for everyone. They're also given two poison tablets to use in case the ring doesn't work for either of them. When the ring doesn't work for Jeff, Orville begins to swallow a tablet, and then...
Orville:(to the sky) Set the table, Aunt Lucy, there'll be two more for dinner... Boy, I sure wish I had a drink. (a drink appears in Orville's hand) Jeff: Junior! Junior, It worked! How about that, the magic ring, it worked on you! Orville: Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! (Orville turns into a monkey)
Logo Joke: In Road to Utopia, Hope and Crosby are sledding through the Klondike countryside and enjoying the scenery, when something catches Hope's eye:
Hope: Hey, get a load of that bread and butter! (Cut to a shot of a snow-covered mountain) Crosby: Bread and butter? That's a mountain! (The "Paramount Pictures" logo suddenly appears in front of said mountain) Hope: Maybe a mountain to you, but it's bread and butter to me!
MacGuffin: In Road to Rio, there are the mysterious Papers that have no bearing on the plot besides having an interesting safe-cracking scene. Lampshaded when Hope and Crosby say that "the world must never know" their contents. At the end, when the papers have been recovered and they're about to be read, they get torn up instead, since they've served their dramatic purpose.
Medicine Show: Road to Singapore has Hope, Crosby and Lamour playing ocarinas and selling bottled soap as a miracle stain remover.
No Party Like a Donner Party: Done for laughs at the beginning of Road to Morocco, where Geoffrey (Crosby) and Oliver (Hope) are stranded at sea.
Oscar Bait: Lampshaded and spoofed in many of the movies, notably in Road to Morocco, which ends with Hope and Crosby stranded on a raft after Hope accidentally blows up the ship:
Hope: I can't go on! No food, no water! It's all my fault. We're done for! It's got me. I can't stand it! No food, nothing! No food, no water! No food! HAHAHAHAHA!! Crosby: What's the matter with you, anyway? There's New York. We'll be picked up in a few minutes. Hope: (snaps out of it) You had to open your big mouth and ruin the only good scene I got in the picture. I might've won the Academy Award!
Pardon My Klingon: In Road to Zanzibar, the natives of Darkest Africa have their lines subtitled in English, but one line produces a [CENSORED] stamp instead of a subtitle.
Sneeze of Doom: Done with a fly landing on Hope's face in Road to Morocco.
Thematic Series: Despite sharing the same actors and style of humor (to say nothing og being in the same series), the movies are technically not part of the same narrative with the actors playing different, yet similar characters in each.
We Need a Distraction: The "patty-cake" routine: When faced with a foe, Hope and Crosby start playing patty-cake, and while the bad guy watches in bemusement, they each punch him out simultaneously. Occasionally, the villain is onto them and hits them first, causing Hope to point out that "he must have seen the picture."
Family Guy episodes "Road to Rhode Island", "Road to Europe", "Road to Rupert", "Road to Germany", "Road to the Multiverse", and "Road to the North Pole".
Taz Mania episodes "Road To Tasmania", "Return Of The Road To Tasmania Strikes Back" and "Yet Another Road To Tasmania"
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