The amount of buzz a show generates is generally indicative of how successfully a show is catching on with audiences. Shows can cultivate this by tapping into our culture’s love for memes. Some shows have classic moments that transcend context and are immortalized in the format of a GIF or as a screenshot with white Impact font text with black outlines. Some of these shows do the hard work for everyone and propagate their own memes into the ether with the heavy use of running jokes.
Below is a list of significant examples of television that have garnered a large collection of catchphrases, oft-repeated quips, running jokes, recurring motifs, and other sort of reiterative occurrences. These shows have managed to maintain their presence in the collective consciousness for years by latching firmly onto society’s hippocampus through the use of repetition.
“That’s a shame” – “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” – Kramer bursting into Jerry’s apartment – Stories about Bob Sacamano – Seinfeld calling George “Biff” – Art Vandelay, architect – “You know, we’re living in a society!” – Jerry’s obsession with Superman – “Hello, Newman” – “Giddy up”
Perhaps this was the show that realized they had the secret ingredient. Maybe it just happened to amass such a vast repertoire of running gags and catchphrases because it persisted through 9 seasons and clocked in at 180 episodes. Seinfeld was an unexpected runaway success, and its finale was the fourth most-watched series finale still as of 2018, drawing in over 75 million viewers. After Seinfeld had run its course, the main cast stayed away TV, with the notable exception of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who achieved moderate success as the lead in CBS’s The New Adventures of Old Christine, followed by massive success with HBO’s Veep.
Try to find a memorable moment on Seinfeld that hasn’t been turned into a meme for copious use on Giphy, it’s impossible. In a show so chock-full of ridiculous personalities and over-the-top responses to the main character’s various petty schemes, viewers could always trust certain classic standbys to make their rounds. Some situations in life truly feel deserving of nothing more than an apathetic acknowledgement of “That’s a shame.” Who hasn’t empathized with George somewhat when he shouts “You know, we’re living in a society” while being (often understandably) shunned by passerby during a time of crisis. Viewers might miss the fact that Kramer’s oddball stories he frequently regaled to the gang seemed to largely involve his friend Bob Sacamano, but whether they recognized it or not an itch in their brain was being scratched. Every time George Costanza insisted on using the name “Vandelay” for one of his harebrained schemes, they were weaving a patchwork of repetitious occurrences that made viewers giddy for recognizing when they were happening again – a warm blanket of jokes to take comfort in. Elaine could always be trusted to react to big news by yelling “Get out!” and violently shoving the messenger. Kramer bursts into Seinfeld’s apartment without knocking 380 times throughout the course of the show, it’s perhaps one of the most iconic things about Seinfeld. The show survives in people’s minds because of such icons.
“I’ve made a huge mistake.” – “Her? Is she funny?” – “I’m a monster!” – J. Walter Weatherman’s lessons – “It’s not a trick, it’s an illusion!” – “Steve Holt!” – Chicken dances – Michael threatening to leave and never come back – Europe’s “The Final Countdown”
While not the first show to use the power of a running gag, it’s certainly a notable example of one that seemed to discover the effectiveness of weaponizing it. Arrested Development was cancelled by FOX after three seasons, cut down in its prime when things really seemed to be picking up steam. Despite being revived by Netflix many years later, part of the beginning of their ascent into creating original content for the service, the new episodes of the show failed to muster quite the amount of devotion from fans that its original run did, in part because of the show’s new season experimenting with the format. Still, it must have seen some amount of success, because the show was renewed by Netflix for one more, final season (chopped into two halves and released a year apart from each other), and the fourth season was even re-cut to follow the more traditional format of the rest of the show.
The running jokes in this show are the prototypical model that other shows more than likely look to when they consider what will drive fan engagement. Tobias dressed up in blue paint for a failed bid as an understudy of the Blue Man Group is funny, even without all of the humorous quips and double entendres that invariably accompany those scenes, and the humor is subtly compounded by the fact that handprints of blue paint are visible around the house for the rest of the series. GOB’s song of choice for his magic shows may be one of the most enduring legacies of the otherwise obscure yet intrinsically 80s band Europe. This show rewarded viewers for sticking with it, and even more for paying attention to it. While a lot of this shows humor hasn’t aged well since, fans felt a connection to these characters, but they also felt a connection to the writing – not just because it was outlandish and witty, but because there was always going to be one more callback, one more little nugget of humor that reminded them of where things all began. Even the show’s very last minutes hearken back to classic moments from the show.
“Womp womp.” – “Danger zone!” – “You’re not my supervisor!” – Lana’s hands – Lana shouting “Yup!” – Archer’s voicemail – Lana yelling “Yup!” and “Yay!” – Cheryl’s kink for violence – Situational awareness – “Phrasing.” – “Are we not doing ‘phrasing’ anymore?”
The jokes come so fast and furious that it’s easy to miss a few while viewers are busy processing the joke they just heard. Archer is the most successful product to come out of creators Adam Reed and Matt Thompson. Their initial studio, 70/30 Productions, created Sealab 2021, Frisky Dingo, and the extra short-lived spin-off of Frisky Dingo, The XTacles. After those shows were cancelled, 70/30 Productions split and formed Floyd County Productions. FX picked up their first show, Archer, which is currently airing its 11th season.
Archer may have very well taken its cues from Arrested Development in how to use its artisanal, hand-crafted memes to drive viewer engagement. This parallel seems all the more prevalent when one considers that Arrested Development alums Jessica Walter and Judy Greer voice two of the main characters on the show, with David Cross and Jeffrey Tambor voicing recurring characters. From the get-go, Archer immediately lays out various jokes that will go on to become benchmarks of the series, and never once lets up. Some scenes are just a mish-mash of the series’ trademark gags bouncing off each other as the cast of increasingly unstable characters try to cope with each other in, as is frequently noted by the characters, a hostile work environment. Some characters appear on-screen for the first time and make an observation about the size of Lana Kane’s hands. Somebody will always say “phrasing” when an accidental double-entendre comes up in conversation, to the point where once they eventually give up on that pursuit, they are instead asked by Sterling if they’re even still committed to that bit. The show isn’t content to just repeat the same phrases and gags over and over again, though – there’s a more evolving nature to their running jokes, like they were playing with the idea of what one can do with constant iterations of a joke.
Julian holding a rocks glass filled with a rum and coke – “Don’t worry about it” – “‘Nam saying?” – Bottle kids – Bubbles’ love of cats – Fecal-related cop analogies – That guy who always shouts expletives at the boys – Lahey polishing off an entire handle of liquor
Trailer Park Boys is one of those strange success stories where, because of the format of the show, it’s almost a miracle it ever saw the light of day, let alone becoming one of the biggest breakout hits from Canada and a staple of Netflix’s lineup. Shot in the style of a fake documentary (colloquially referred to as a “mockumentary”), the show followed Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles as they cause trouble in their home of Sunnyvale Trailer Park while attempting to follow through on various get-rich quick schemes, all while usually being inebriated beyond all comprehension. The show ended in 2007 and the creators bounced around projects for a while, including doing live shows as their characters from Trailer Park Boys. In 2014 they started producing new episodes for their own streaming service titled “Swearnet” in conjunction with Netflix. Fast-forward to present day, and the show is currently working on their 13th season, has spun-off into several different series (including an animated one), three movies, and a few specials.
There are a number of things one should expect to happen when watching this series. Every season almost invariably begins with the main characters (usually just Ricky and Julian) getting out of prison, usually mad at each other for some reason, and every season almost invariably ends with them going back to prison. Julian, upon leaving prison, will want to begin living life on the straight and narrow and run a legitimate business, which Ricky has no interest in. Events will occur, and Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles team up to pull of zany scams to make money fast, culminating in some high-concept job, usually involving selling a large quantity of weed. This scheme inevitably goes awry because Richard Lahey, the local trailer park supervisor, is madly in love with Julian and drunk out of his gourd. Less-than-reputable behavior and people will be referred to as “greasy”, usually by Bubbles. Randy, the assistant supervisor, will over-indulge on cheeseburgers while refusing to ever wear a shirt. Ricky (who will only wear one increasingly haggard shirt until he either gets a new one) will encourage his loved ones to kick back with him by inviting them to “get drunk and smoke some dope”. Corey and Trevor will be called upon to help with their schemes, will be commanded by Ricky to give him cigarettes as a form of greeting, and will be treated like garbage for their extreme efforts. When it comes to Trailer Park Boys, it’s less a question of what running jokes will occur, and rather a question of what configuration they will appear in. Clearly the formula has worked for them.
“So you’re [participating in an activity] with your pals the other day…” – “That’s a Texas-sized 10-4.” – Wayne and McMurray talking over each other – “Wheel, Snipe, Selly, boys.” “You’re spare parts, bud.” – “Ferda.” – “To be fair.” – “Pitter patter, let’s get at ‘er.”
One could be forgiven for thinking that Letterkenny seemed to invade the cultural zeitgeist, specifically in the United States, out of seemingly nowhere. Starting out as a popular video series on Youtube titled “Letterkenny Problems”, the show then went on to become a full-fledged show produced by TruTV, releasing 8 seasons in just 3 years. Hulu acquired the exclusive rights for release in the United States in 2019, adding the show to its line-up of “Hulu Originals” for seasons 7 and beyond.
Letterkenny is the latest show that seems to have found the golden gun of running jokes and the repetition of quips to engage its audience. Each new episode presents the latest salvo on viewers’ dopamine receptors. At the start of the episode viewers will more than likely hear a joke or line of some sort that will keep popping up throughout the course of the next 30 minutes, some carrying on for the rest of the show. Sometimes running jokes can be painfully forced or just not that funny, but more often than not it works like a charm, and it shows, because fans have gotten quite a lot of mileage out of the more well-known lines. Some characters are a walking, talking series of catchphrases (most of them being the players on the Letterkenny hockey teams) who have rapidly become fan-favorites. If someone were to ask a Letterkenny fan to repeat some classic “Shoresy” lines, they’re about to hear quite the filthy diatribe.
These are just some prominent examples of shows that seem to have staked their claim and subsequently thrived off of using recurring gags to embed themselves into the viewers memory. Repetition helps one memorize things, so it stands to reason that writing which reinforces certain concepts, especially humorous ones, will leave an indelible mark in the viewers mind. Our memetic culture helps to reinforce this idea, and it’s been increasingly tapped into by smart showrunners. When viewers wonder why they find themselves so obsessed with a show, they should consider if there’s a line of dialogue or joke that they can rely on making a return whenever they watch a new episode and wonder if they’ve been manipulated by a meme.
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