History Main / RunningGagStumbles

* LetsPlay/PartyCrashers: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3uk5pZF_r0 The WORST Board in Mario Party 2...]]", Brent seems to be setting up for the RunningGag of yelling "YOU PICK WAAAAAAAARIO!!!", only to instead say "Mario!" in a pleasant voice.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Undertale}}'', there is a RunningGag about [[PungeonMaster Sans']] puns. However, if you have a certain "fun" value, he'll call you to ask if your fridge is running. Expecting a pun about running, you answer, but he actually answers normally (depending on what you said, he'll either say that this is good, or will promise to call someone to fix it).

* Straight Cougar in ''Anime/{{Scryed}}'' consistently mispronounces people's names, most notably Mimori's. In his final conversation with her, he bids her farewell, and she corrects him (again), [[WontTakeYesForAnAnswer not realizing he pronounced it properly this time]]. He promptly lampshades this.

'''Rachel:''' Oh, sorry, I forgot. [[CatchPhrase Let's do it!]]

"Banana."\\
"Banana who?"\\
"Knock-knock."\\
"Who's there?"\\

[[{{Pun}} "Orange you glad]] [[OverlyLongGag I didn't say 'banana' again?"]]

* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' (by the same author) has Christopher repeatedly complain that after whatever latest craziness he's expecting leprechauns. The others humor him, until at last they run into Niddhoggr, whose treasure has been stolen by, you guessed it, leprechauns. The others just slowly turn to him in silence, and he goes IKnewIt.

* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': There was a running gag for years in which Inspector Luger, the goofy supervisor of the 12th, kept AccidentallyMisnaming Officer Levitt, usually as "Levine". There was another running gag in which Levitt seethed about his lack of advancement in the NYPD, constantly complaining to Captain Miller and asking when he'd get moved up to plainclothes detective. In series finale "[[Recap/BarneyMillerS8E22 Landmark: Part 3]]", both running gags stumble at once. Luger calls Levitt "Levine" one last time and Levitt snaps, demanding that Luger address him correctly as "OFFICER CARL E. LEVITT!!" Luger grins and says "Correction, ''Sergeant'' Carl E. Levitt," telling Levitt that he finally got that promotion to plainclothes detective.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:Fan Works]]

[[AC:Film — Live-Action]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

** The show has a RunningGag where someone uses a turn of phrase and the audience sees an ImagineSpot from Homer where he's interpreting the words literally (such as a mayo clinic being staffed by jars of mayonnaise) or just has the wrong idea altogether (such as thinking "pistol whip" refers to whipped cream being eaten off a gun). In "E Pluribus Wiggum", he imagines a "think tank", gets it completely right, and finds the rest of his family staring in shock, acknowledging his subversion of the audience's expectations. "What, I'm not allowed to get one right?"

* A RunningGag in Creator/RobertRankin's ''Armageddon 3: The Remake'' is that all the buildings in Presley City are [[{{Bizarrchetecture}} shaped like jukeboxes]], and every time a new location is featured, the exact type of jukebox it resembles is described in detail. Until page 159, after which both this running gag and the one where characters psychoanalyse themselves and each other are never mentioned again:

* A RunningGag in Creator/RobertRankin's ''Armageddon 3: The Remake'' is that all the buildings in Presley City are [[{{Bizarchetecture shaped like jukeboxes]], and every time a new location is featured, the exact type of jukebox it resembles is described in detail. Until page 159, after which both this running gag and the one where characters psychoanalyse themselves and each other are never mentioned again:

* There are episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' where Kenny appears and survives. (The first time this happened, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Kenny noticed his survival and cheered when "The End" came on screen]]).

[[AC:Film]]

* In ''{{Film/Charade}}'', every time Creator/CaryGrant's character takes on a new name, Reggie asks him, "Is there a ''Mrs.'' So-and-So?", to which he invariably replies, "Yes, but we're divorced." At the very end of the movie, she asks him again, and he says, "Yes." "But we're divorced," she supplies, but he says, "No." She looks crestfallen for a moment, before he pulls out his wallet and shows her a picture of [[spoiler:his mother]].
* In ''Film/DoubleIndemnity'', Keys is forever wanting a light for his cigar, and it always falls to Walter to strike a match for him. At the end of the movie, gesture is reciprocated, with ''Keys'' lighting the cigarette of the mortally wounded Walter.
* Film/DonJon explains items of new technology to his family and friends, incredulous that they haven't heard of them yet. Then, half-way through the movie, the tables are turned on him when his girlfriend has to explain that his browser has a "history".
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker is fond of telling (differing stories) about how he got his scars. In his climactic fight with Batman, he asks, rhetorically, "You know how I got these scars?" Instead of waiting to hear the answer, Batman says, "No, but I know how you got ''these''." and smacks him in the face.

* In ''Film/TheHatefulEight'', the door to Minnie's Haberdashery is broken, so any time a character leaves or enters, the door has to be re-nailed shut to keep the cold from the blizzard out. What's more, every time, the character in question nails one board over the door, only to have it blown open by the wind and have to nail a second board over the first one. Eventually, John Ruth just stands in front of it and holds it closed while they wait for a pair of characters who left to return.

--> '''Marco:''' Rachel! What's keeping you?
--> '''Rachel:''' Oh, sorry, I forgot. [[CatchPhrase Let's do it!]]

[[AC:Live Action Television]]
* As TheStinger to every episode of ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'' Geraldine tells Alice a joke, and the latter doesn't get it. In the series finale, Geraldine's [[spoiler:new husband]] tells the joke instead, and Alice gets it.
* In the final episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} I'' as Edmund is dying, his father (who never gets his name right) finally calls him by the right name, only for it to be resubverted moments later
-->Edmund: Father, you called me "Edmund."\\
Richard IV: What? Oh, sorry Edgar.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' is used by now to the amazement with which his companions gasp, "It's bigger on the inside!" the first time they enter the Tardis. In "The Snowmen", Clara knocks him for a loop by going back outside, walking around the box, then sticking her head in and saying, "It's smaller on the outside!"
** River has a thing for slapping the Doctor. In "The Name of the Doctor" she tries doing it to get his attention, even though she's just a mental projection he shouldn't be able to see. To her surprise, he catches her hand mid slap.
** The Tenth Doctor's season finales always end with a really sad and heartfelt scene as he bids his companions farewell, only for a comical MoodWhiplash to completely ruin the moment (Nine's heartfelt goodbye followed by the newly regenerated Ten puzzling over his new teeth, Ten's farewell to Rose followed up by Donna in a wedding dress suddenly appearing in the TARDIS, and the ''Titanic'' crashing through the wall of the TARDIS after Martha leaves). However, after [[spoiler: Donna's memories are wiped and everyone goes back home]], the Doctor goes back into the TARDIS, staring morosely at the console... And the episode ends.

---> No one will remember that.

---> You made a lever?!?!
* In {{VideoGame/Undertale}}, there is a RunningGag about [[PungeonMaster Sans']] puns. However, if you have a certain "fun" value, he'll call you to ask if your fridge is running. Expecting a pun about running, you answer, but he actually answers normally (depending on what you said, he'll either say that this is good, or will promise to call someone to fix it).

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* There are episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' where Kenny appears and survives. (The first time this happened, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Kenny noticed his survival and cheered when "The End" came on screen]]).

** Nelson's "Ha Ha!" directed at other people's misfortune hits a block when all the students at school forget how to be rebellious thanks to the drab uniforms they're forced to wear. He tries to laugh at someone else, but remembers it as "Ha... Ho?"

** The show has a RunningGag where someone uses a turn of phrase and the audience sees an ImagineSpot from Homer where he's interpreting the words literally or just has the wrong idea altogether. In "E Pluribus Wiggum", he imagines a "think tank", gets it completely right, and [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall]] to acknowledge his subversion of the audience's expectations. "What, I'm not allowed to get one right?"