Silly Walk - Television Tropes & Idioms

The Ministry of Silly Walks

"Funny walk that kid has."

—Vince McMahon on Mr. Kennedy

When a character demonstrates a rather odd way of walking, often involving deliberate contortions.

Watch out for this after someone says Walk This Way. Also recall that one does not Silly Walk into Mordor.

Examples:

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Film

The Incredibles: Syndrome's walk was based on a person's deliberate attempt to cure a strange walk.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Captain Jack Sparrow has a rather odd gait based on that of Keith Richards. He also has a silly run, known as "The Lizard Run" because he waves his hands around while he does it.
Robin Williams in The Birdcage and other times he's playing a homosexual character does a rather exaggerated mincing walk. Compared to Nathan Lane it's downright manly though.
Torgo in "Manos" The Hands of Fate has an odd gait meant to imply that he's a satyr with goat-like legs whose knees bend the wrong way.
Pretty much anyone playing Igor in a work based on Frankenstein does this, notably Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein.
Groucho Marx had a distinctive walk, slightly too low to the ground.
At the end of the third Austin Powers movie Scott Evil had one of these.
Dr. Evil: I would like to assure you that no one else from my gene pool has a run that effeminate.
Probably one of the oldest and most iconic examples is the waddling gait of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, often accompanied by a twirl of his cane.
Life is Beautiful: Guido, the hero, often performs a comically exaggerated and slowed-down goose-step as a mockery of Mussolini's Fascists and the Nazis. Used to poignant effect when Guido says good-bye to his son as the death camp guards lead him off to be shot.
Randal's "wrangle" into the Quick Stop in Clerks. Thereafter referred to by many fans as "the Randal strut".
Mickey Blue Eyes has a scene where the eponymous protagonist and his Mafia Princess love interest are running; she collapses in laughter, telling him to "stop doing the funny run" and he's embarrassed to admit that he wasn't doing it for comic effect; that's just how he runs.
- For the record, that's how Hugh Grant actually runs.
Discussed, but not shown, in Grizzly Man when one of the interviewees mentions how Timothy Treadwell got into trouble at the restaurant he once worked at for doing one of these in front of customers.

Literature

The "Black Hats"/Wogs in Robert A. Heinlein's The Number of the Beast have an extra joint in each limb, and without sophisticated prosthetics, they have a very odd shambling gait. Even with the prosthetics, they have a slightly detectable strange way of walking.

Live Action TV

Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Trope Namer is the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.
Frank Zappa has a memorable role as a hunchback in "The Boy Who Left Home to Learn About the Shivers," an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre. His bizarre walk has to be seen to be believed.
Kryten of Red Dwarf is particularly strange, but not lampshaded till Series 7.
- Robert Llewlyn, Kryten's actor, came up with the walk during the audition... and when he learned Doug Naylor has a false leg, left the audition lamenting about how he'd blown his chance.
LazyTown's Robbie Rotten's trademark walk involves flailing his arms and swaying his hips far harder than any person should deem necessary.
One Foot in the Grave: "Oh no, here it comes, the Ministry of Silly Walks!"
The serial killer Sqweegel, from CSI, employs an extremely creepy style of walk while sneaking around his intended victims' homes, going on all fours and alternately moving one hand and the opposite foot. Together with his black leather bodysuit and lithe build, it creates the visual impression of a crawling spider.

Radio

Invoked in the I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again 25th aniversary Reunion Show, which portrayed the post-Python John Cleese as obsessed with silly walks, and constantly attempting to work them into his film roles. ("In Silverado they wouldn't even let me hop! The part of the sheriff was crying out for it, but they wouldn't even let the horse do it!") He agrees to rejoin the Prune gang on condition he is allowed to use "the comedy legs", only for this to prove terrible radio.

Video Games

Batman: Arkham Asylum: The Joker in the DLC has a very unusual default walk — Milking the Giant Cow upstairs, Saturday Night Fever pimp-strut downstairs with more than a hint of Cockney/Madchester swagger thrown in. All part of the plan, of course.
Wario in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Inspector Cabanela of Ghost Trick.
The runner in QWOP runs like he has spasms. This is because the player is controlling his leg muscles individually, and likely not very well.
Castlevania: Most of the members of the Belmont family in the series walk in a very peculiar way that has since been dubbed the "Belmont walk" or "pimp walk," depending on whom you ask.
In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Deadpool has a sliding shuffle when walking forward (he looks like he's walking backwards) and moonwalks backward.
Bonne Jenet of Mark of the Wolves walks with hands on her hips, swaying her ass. She runs more normally, except for the part where she waves. All part of being an Attention Whore.

Web Animation

The main character in Not Stanley walks sideways in a crab-like manner with no arm movement.

Web Original

Stupid Mario Brothers: Mr. Redhead in this episode.
Baman Piderman: The title characters walks like a baby taking its first steps. That said, they rarely even do anything that can be called walking.
going to the store

Western Animation

Looney Tunes: Marvin the Martian's distinctive shuffling walk.
Classic Disney Shorts: Goofy had a distinctive walk in the 1930s, with his knees bending backward and his feet swiveling nearly all the way around. It carried over into Kingdom Hearts. It's particularly noticeable in the Timeless River.
Cow and Chicken: The Red Guy often 'walks' on his buttocks when crossing large distances. When he's in a hurry, he's just rolling.
Zoidberg from Futurama. Justified in that he's basically a crab with an octopus for a face.
The Cold Open of the Sponge Bob Square Pants episode "The Sponge Who Could Fly" pulls a shameless Big Lipped Alligator Moment in which SpongeBob walks in very silly ways down a Conspicuous CGI street.

Manga

In Death Note, L Lawliet's distinctive way of walking while slouching forward with his knees slightly bent is another one of the traits that Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba incorporated to his design(along with other strange quirks like sitting in a crouched position and holding objects with only his thumb and index)in order to make him the perfect rival of Light: As brilliant as him but the total opposite of his perfect image.

Professional Wrestling

The Bushwhackers are known for their odd manner of walking: holding their arms at right angles and swinging them up and down with each step. The Iron Sheik did a similar (albeit less exaggerated) version.
When Vince McMahon makes his entrance, he likes to walk with his chest pumped out, swinging his arms back and forth. This is usually referred to as his "power" walk.
Santino Marella speed walks to the ring as a parody of the Power Walk.

Real Life

The guards at the Government Palace in Lima have a rather bizarre walk, as seen during the changing of the guards. Having them march in time to O Fortuna makes it all the more surreal.

Characterization Tropes

Simple Minded Wisdom

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Examples: