History Main / ChekhovsGag

* In one episode of Canadian teen sitcom ''Mr. Young'', Tater says he asked someone if they'd seen a Fryers chicken head, then pulls out a poultry chart and says he thought he meant a medium-sized frier chicken, as opposed to the slightly larger grosser and the slightly smaller boiler. in a later episode, Adam says his mom's "giant man eating chicken" doesn't seem very believable, since "chickens are not carnivores, and according to this poultry chart, even a grosser doesn't weigh more than 7 pounds". It turns out to actually be a ''giant man'' eating chicken.

* In part 1 of the ''{{Bonkers}}'' pilot, Bonkers slips on a banana peel, pointing out to Lucky that no Toon can resist doing that. In part 2, this is used to expose the Collector as a human.
* The episode of ''{{Futurama}}'' where Fry has his head attached to Amy's body for a while has an example of this. Near the start of the episode, there's a scene where Bender goes in for a checkup, and is warned that his ass might explode at any time. He rejects the option of getting shock absorbers for it and the matter is apparently forgotten as the episode's main plots of Amy and Fry's relationship (and aftermath) and Bender's attempt at being a paid matchmaker take over. Then at the very end of the episode Fry accidentally kicks Bender's ass, which promptly explodes.

* In ''{{Angel}}'' one episode mentions Fred laughing at something a Shrub said. Later in the last season when she becomes Illyria one of her powers is talking to plants

* In [[TouhouNekokayou Create.swf Adventures]], respecting the original joke from MS Paint Adventures, almost every character must "retrieve their arms" almost immediately after they are introduced. This may seem as if it doesn't qualify, but when you can go almost a 100 slides (which would be over several weeks and broken into small updates) without mention of arms, and then suddenly get hit by one out of the blue, it's safe to say that prior to the revival of the joke, most had forgotten about it.

* The 1979 Nelvana short ''Intergalactic
Thanksgiving'' featured one amusing gag. On the planet Laugh-A-Lot, where humor was the norm, King Gucci was attempting to perform the planet's biggest PieInTheFace gag on a waiting courtier. The ceiling opened to reveal the huge pie, but it wouldn't drop. Fast forward about halfway through the short, when his oracle basically tells him his humor (and thus his throne) was being upstaged by a family of ''boring space farmers'', he pulls the cord one more time in frustration. You start to hear the sound of something falling. The King then runs into the courtier...still standing there waiting for the punchline. Gucci looks up... Cue giant SPLAT!

* ''ArrestedDevelopment'' is pretty much the king of this.

--->Peter: See? We had a plan for that one all along!

* ''SouthPark'' has two in the "Biggest Douche in the Universe" episode. Early on, in a fit of frustration with John Edward, Stan calls him a douche and goes on to say that he nominates him for the Biggest Douche in the universe award. At the end of the episode, some aliens show up to reveal that Stan's nomination apparently got through. Not only that, John Edward ''[[TakeThat wins]]'', much to his dismay. The episode's other example are the series of spoof trailers based on movies starring RobSchneider. Another one at the very end of the episode reveals that [[spoiler: Rob Schneider accidentally got possessed by Kenny]].

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* ''Toy Story'' includes the claw-game worshiping Little Green Men, who hold "the claaaaaaaw" in high regard because it will choose and deliver them to a better place. Fast forward to Toy Story 3, near the end [[spoiler:when the entire group is holding hands as they await their inevitable death in an incinerator- only to look up as see a gigantic crane claw scoop them up]].

* The 1979 Nelvana short ''Intergalactic Thanksgiving'' featured one amusing gag. On the planet Laugh-A-Lot, where humor was the norm, King Gucci was attempting to perform the planet's biggest PieInTheFace gag on a waiting courtier. The ceiling opened to reveal the huge pie, but it wouldn't drop. Fast forward about halfway through the short, when his oracle basically tells him his humor (and thus his throne) was being upstaged by a family of ''boring space farmers'', he pulls the cord one more time in frustration. You start to hear the sound of something falling. The King then runs into the courtier...still standing there waiting for the punchline. Gucci looks up... Cue giant SPLAT!

* ''[=~It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia~=]'' had a great Chekhov's Gag in the episode "The Waitress is Getting Married." Charlie got knocked a hornets' nest down in the bar. He put it in a box so that he could kill them with smoke and get whatever hornets make (hornets make nothing at all). He drew an "H" on the box and set it aside for later. When he learned that his obsession, the waitress at a coffee shop, was getting married, he went to give him a congratulatory gift. After Charlie learned that the guy was just marrying the waitress so he could dump her and get revenge for being treated badly in high school, Charlie lets him have the gift anyway and walks off. In the shot, we can see an "H" drawn on the front of the box.

* There's sort of a cross between this and [=~Chekhov's Boomerang~=] in the first two episodes of ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'': After Aang comes out of the iceberg and collapses, Sokka pokes him in the head a few times with the hilt end of his spear. Later, when Zuko attacks the Southern Water Tribe's village, Sokka tries to fight him, but Zuko breaks the spear and pokes ''him'' in the head with its hilt. In the following episode, Sokka returns the favor with Aang's staff.

* ''{{Animaniacs}}'' could really play this trope for all it was worth. 'The Monkey Song' stands out in particular for being a four-minute-long series of Chekhov's Gags, from Squit's flute, to Mindy and Buttons flying around on balloons, Pinky and the Brain running away with the mousetrap, even Slappy vs. the Mime.

* ''SouthPark'' has two in the "Biggest Douche in the Universe" episode. Early on, in a fit of frustration with John Edwards, Stan calls him a douche and goes on to say that he nominates him for the Biggest Douche in the universe award. At the end of the episode, some aliens show up to reveal that Stan's nomination apparently got through. Not only that, John Edwards ''[[TakeThat wins]]'', much to his dismay. The episode's other example are the series of spoof trailers based on movies starring RobSchneider. Another one at the very end of the episode reveals that [[spoiler: Rob Schneider accidentally got possessed by Kenny]].

* Happens fairly often in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books, understandable considering the sheer size of its ChekhovsArmory. Three plot devices in particular are first introduced as gags; [[spoiler: the Vanishing Cabinet gets this treatment twice, first trashed by Nearly Headless Nick to get Harry out of trouble with Filch in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'', then used as a joke by Fred and George in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' when they shove Montague into it; the latter incident is mentioned directly when the Cabinet becomes a serious plot device in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]].'' Hermione signing up for every class in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber Of Secrets]]'' is also treated as a character joke, until it's revealed in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' that Hermione's had to use a Time-Turner to get to all her classes, which is then used to save Sirius and Buckbeak. Finally, The Room of Requirement is indirectly mentioned in an offhand humorous way by Dumbledore in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet Of Fire]]''; in the final three books, it becomes the most important room in all of Hogwarts.]]

* In the "Quest for Fire" episode of ''HomeImprovement'', the ColdOpen shows Tim Taylor trying to use rocket fuel to light a barbecue grill. This results in Tim [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csFmM1xsaTQ launching the grill into low orbit]], in a gag that's seemingly unrelated to the rest of the episode. Later, the Taylors are on vacation at a lake, and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZOxRRYQM7E&feature=related at the end of the episode]], right before the ending credits, Tim and Jill are walking away from the lake when the barbecue grill splashes down.

* ''RockAndRollHighSchool'' loves this trope. While the heroine skips school for three days to stand in line for [[TheRamones Ramones]] tickets, her best friend delivers fake notes to the principal to excuse her absence. The first says the heroine's father died, the second says her mother died, and third says her goldfish died. Later, the principal calls the heroine in with proof that the notes were fake; the goldfish, alive and well! Later we see the principal's two idiot assistants eat the goldfish.

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