22 Running Gags in TV Shows That Need to Have Their Legs Broken

Stop that gag before it keeps on running!
22 Running Gags in TV Shows That Need to Have Their Legs Broken
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Hey, TV writers, just because a joke gets a big laugh, doesn’t mean it needs to be beaten into the ground! Take it from us top-notch fact list writers. We make a sweet analogy about a running gag needing its legs broken and then we move on. 

Not trying to start some internet versus TV war here, but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. 

Insert Awesome Band Name

،، WOULD ве AN BAND NAME THIS Joke HAD A GOOD RUN, BUT IT neeDS TO CALL CRACKED.COM IT QUITS AND пот PLAN on A Reunion TOUR.

Sheldon’s Intimacy Issues on The Big Bang Theory

The running gag the about Sheldon's discomfort with BiG BANG physical intimacy THEORY was in terrible taste. The whole joke was Look, it's a man who is asexual. That's not really a joke, it's just a character with a less-common sexuality. The existence of minority groups as a joke hasn't ever been funny, and just shows how out-of- touch this stupid show was. GRAGKED.COM

Friends Being Mistaken for A Gay Couple

Two straight guys were just mistaken for a gay couple? Oh, the hilarity. CRACKED.COM

Susie’s Swearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your F*cking Enthusiasm F*CK! Susie Greene makes Curb almost unbearable. At first it was funny and refreshing to see a woman as crass as Susie in a TV show, but season after season of her screaming at Larry, Jeff, and any other character caught in her orbit makes her scenes obnoxious and exhausting. Unlikable characters can certainly be hilarious, but Susie goes too far into completely repulsive. Why would any sane person ever want to be around her? CRACKED.COM

The Penis Flattener on The Good Place

The constant references to The the penis flattener Good torture device really brought down Place Season Four. The Good Place was one of the most.j joke-dense shows ever. The first time the flattener joke was made was great, but every time after that, it got just a little less hilarious. By the end of the series, it was just repeated too many times and lost all comedic appeal. Fire up the old penis flattener CRACKED.COM

Hating on Kimmy Gibbler on Full House

Sitcom Neighbors Was Kimmy Gibbler really that annoying? Full House Stephanie and Gibbler's beef was cute, but Danny and the boys were annoyed by her for no reason. The running gag is that she's unwanted in her own home and in the Tanners', but she was a good friend to D.J. and didn't deserve the hate. CRACKED

Erin’s Naiveté on The Office

the office Erin Hannon's ridiculous level of naivete was the last straw for The Office as a mockumentary. In the first five seasons, the show was still grounded enough that you could see the characters existing as real people, but then she showed up. Her arrival and her constant antics - throwing scissors like ninja stars, throwing away disposable cameras, and boiling Gatorade as tea- were just too much and pushed the show into a full-on farce. CRACKED.COM WEnDY

Bender’s Catchphrases on Futurama

FUTURAMA Bender being a walking catchphrase factory was just stupid. In early seasons it was one thing - catchphrases pop up naturally from time to time on sitcoms. But by the end of the show, he was spouting I'm back, baby! and Neat! as often as straight lines, and it wore CRACKED.COM thin fast.

Marie’s Prying on Everybody Loves Raymond

Sitcom Neighbors Marie Barone Living across the street from your parent? Every married couple's nightmare. Helicopter-parenting her adult son and his wife, Marie weighed in on every aspect of their marriage, and was the biggest source of Ray and Debra's infighting. Everybody Loves Raymond CRACKED

Drama Queen Gays

HOLLYWOOD, ENOUGH WITH THE DRAMA QUEEN GAYS. modern family CRACKED.COM

Parents Trying to Be Cool

TIRED COMEDY BITS PARENTS TRYING TO BE COOL Middle-aged parents who have no idea what a Tikitty Tokitty is get a massive eye-roll from their teen daughter, who either helps them understand, or just storms off in a huff. CRACKED

Stuck Up Moms

CRACKED COM Is anyone laughing at all these moms being uptight joyless harpies?

Dean Pelton’s Creepiness on Community

Dean Pelton is never quite open about what his sexuality actually is, but he's very open about being sleazy AF. community CRACKED.COM Representation is important, but representation of an LGBT+ character as a predatory stereotype is moldy and antiquated. Community was such a smart show, it's a shame that Pelton now seems like a cheap gag.

Kramer Tripping on Seinfeld

22 Running Gags in TV Shows That Need to Have Their Legs Broken

‘We Were on A Break!’

F.R.I.E.N.D.S We were on a break! would make anyone want to stop being Friends. What started as a sad state of Ross and Rachel's relationship became Ross's manic catch phrase played to increasingly roaring laughter with every new rehashing. Ross and the other Friends say the tedious and agonizing phrase over a dozen times in seven seasons, even twisting the knife one last time as one of the final lines of the entire series. CRACKED.COM

Jake on Two and a Half Men

CRACKED WORST: JAKE GETS DUMBER AS НЕ GETS OLDER. TWO AND A HALF MEN His fart jokes were semi-cute as a kid, but as a full-grown man 11 seasons later, he wins at Craps in Vegas because of its funny name. Walden says, It's amazing how you made so much money with such stupid jokes, and they all mug to the camera.

Community’s Paintball Episodes

WORST: CRACKED THE PAINTBALL EPISODES. COMMUNITY gro There's no denying that the first few were amazing, but they comment on how played out paintball is in Season 3 before ending Season 4 with paintball (and the much worse Modern Espionage episode in Season 6).

Barney’s Job on How I Met Your Mother

CRACKED WORST: NO ONE KNOWS WHAT BARNEY STINSON DOES FOR WORK. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER About his job, Barney always responds, Please. In the end, they reveal that it really was P.L.E.A.S.E. (Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything). So a lame version of Chandler's mystery job on Friends meets the money in the banana stand reveal of Arrested Development.

The Hurt Knee Gag on Family Guy

WORST: CRACKED THE HURT KNEE GAG. FAMILY GUY Admittedly, the first one was funny. We can all relate to that never-ending knee pain, but they just kept shoehorning it in unnecessarily (which really just proved South Park's manatee theory).

Dr. Cox’s Insults on Scrubs

CRACKED WORST: COX CALLS JD GIRLS' NAMES. SCRUBS Taken from every recess across the nation, Cox calls JD every girl's name from A-Z (literally Abby to Zsa Zsa). Не used Carol quite often, and he once even called him girl's name.

The Doodle Board on Friends

CRACKED WORST: CHANDLER & JOEY'S MAGNA DOODLE BOARD. FRIENDS Joey This had the potential to be great, but they were just random, forgettable doodles or notes. It could've been up there with Bart's chalkboard or Bob's Burgers' Burger of the Day. You know... Jokes!

‘Bazinga!’

CRACKED WORST: SHELDON'S BAZINGA! THE BIG BANG THEORY This ongoing catchphrase is better suited for a kids' cartoon, but he's supposedly a genius (and Jim Parsons was actually 45 years old in that final season).

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