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Chico: I can't think of the end.
Groucho: That's strange, I can't think of anything else.

A gag that uses the Rule Of Three to the extreme. The concept is that something happens repeatedly, to the point of boredom. Then it keeps going, to the point where it, in theory, actually becomes funny again. Essentially, the sheer length of the gag becomes the gag.

One famous example of this trope is the "Rake Scene" from The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", where Sideshow Bob kept stepping on rakes ad nauseam until the pointlessness of the scene became the gag and it became funny again. (The production team has confessed that the gag was added because the episode ran short.) The older "Dental Plan"/"Lisa Needs Braces" sequence from "Last Exit to Springfield" also likely qualifies.

However, some feel that, once the audience recognizes the trope again, the gag permanently loses its entertainment value and the viewer is left waiting for it to end and some other humor to begin ("Oh, it's another one of these; how utterly hilarious..."). Others, though, find it a brilliant subversion of audience expectations on the lines of Andy Kaufman reading the entire text of The Great Gatsby to an audience expecting a comedy routine.

Either way, the more it's used, the more it's expected. Comedy writers take note: It's good for a laugh occasionally, but expect diminishing returns for each Overly Long Gag you employ after the first.

It's sort of like Crosses The Line Twice, only boring instead of offensive.

Compare Overly Long Name. Not to be confused with Over Used Running Gag. May invoke the Repeat Cut.

The serious version is Leave The Camera Running. An Overly Long Gag witha lot of tension built up as an actual story is a Shaggy Dog Story.

Examples:

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