10 Funniest Comedy Movie Running Gags, Ranked

There are all sorts of things that can make a comedy movie effective — that is to say, funny. One of the most effective, though, is known as a running gag, which is basically a joke whose funniness comes from its being repeated throughout a movie. When used cleverly, running gags can be some of the funniest jokes in a comedy film.

Throughout the genre’s long and esteemed history, audiences have been treated to a wide variety of exceptionally hilarious running jokes. Written and executed by some of the most brilliant minds in cinematic comedy, from Mel Brooks to the Monty Python crew, they’re proof that this art of the running gag is one of the trickiest and yet most rewarding (for the audience, at least) to get right. These are the best running gags in comedy movies, ranked by how memorable, effective, and, of course, funny they are.

10

Gambit’s accent

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ (2024)

With the recent Deadpool & Wolverine, the world of mutants is officially a big part of the MCU. And with the film’s success, it seems that R-rated comedies are now on the menu for the biggest movie franchise of modern times. The movie sees the Time Variance Authority offering Deadpool a place in the MCU, but he instead recruits a variant of Wolverine to save his universe from extinction.

Through its delightful sense of humor and its surprisingly moving homage to Fox’s Marvel universe, Deadpool & Wolverine became one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024. As is the case in all three Deadpool films, there are plenty of amusing running gags to pick from, but the funniest one is probably Gambit’s Cajun accent. Even after Deadpool’s jabs at it stop, Channing Tatum still finds ways to make everything his character says hilarious and ridiculous — while never ceasing to be badass.

9

“You’ll shoot your eye out!”

‘A Christmas Story’ (1983)

There are too many Christmas movie classics to count. Of the few that are easily among the most iconic and beloved, A Christmas Story stands out as one of the best. It’s a comedy set in the 1940s when a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa Claus that a BB gun is the perfect Christmas gift for him.

There’s just one issue, and it’s that everyone thinks exactly the same thing about the BB gun: that it’s a bad idea because Ralphie will shoot his eye out with the thing. It’s A Christmas Story‘s most iconic quote, the kind of line of dialogue that can get anyone in the Christmas spirit. There’s something naturally amusing about this being the reason why no one wants Ralphie to get his BB gun, and the way it keeps being repeated to him makes it funnier still.

8

The evasive spittoon

‘Hundreds of Beavers’ (2024)

The indie silent comedy sensation Hundreds of Beavers is the kind of hysterical comedy that only comes along once in a generation. Parts Charlie Chaplin, parts Buster Keaton, parts Metroidvania, parts Looney Tunes, it’s one of the most delightfully creative movies of 2024. Hundreds of Beavers is the tale of a drunken applejack salesman from the 19th century who must become North America’s greatest fur trapper in order to gain the love of a salesman’s daughter.

One of 2024’s most flawless films, Hundreds of Beavers is filled to the brim with silly gag after silly gag, all shockingly clever and brilliantly absurdist. However, the one that’s bound to become an eternal audience favorite is the one where the salesman keeps trying and failing to spit into a spittoon. All manner of increasingly absurd things prevent him from being successful, from the wind changing the direction of his spit to him simply having a terrible aim. It’s not until the end of the movie that the applejack salesman is the one that’s able to finally land his spit into the spittoon after his beaver-hunting mission is successful.

7

Frau Blücher

‘Young Frankenstein’ (1974)

Mel Brooks was the king of movie satires and parodies, as he proved throughout his career with films as iconic as Young Frankenstein. It’s a farcical comedy where the American grandson of the infamous mad scientist struggles to prove that his grandfather wasn’t as crazy as people believe. He’s invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process of reanimating a dead body.

The film is probably one of the funniest movies ever made, anchored by Gene Wilder‘s absolutely hilarious performance, Brooks’s colorful black-and-white direction, and the script penned by him and Wilder. It’s this last one that’s the source of some of the best jokes that cinema has ever told, including the running gag where, every time the Transylvanian estate’s housekeeper Frau Blücher’s name is uttered, the horses out in front whinny in fear. As the joke keeps being repeated in situations where it makes less and less sense, it doesn’t get irritating but funnier. Oscar winner Cloris Leachman is brilliant as Blücher, and this running gag only adds to her performance.

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6

“The wrong kid died.”

‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’ (2007)

At the time that Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the genre of musical biopics like Ray and Walk the Line was starting to grow in popularity. The fact that a parody is better than the vast majority of films in the actual genre is a huge achievement. It’s the story of fictional early rock and roll star Dewey Cox, who overcomes adversity—namely, having accidentally sliced his brother in half with a machete as a child—to become a music legend.

Walk Hard has aged like fine wine. Now that the market has been saturated with music biopics, it’s even funnier and smarter than it was back in 2007. A joke that was as hysterical and iconic then as it is now is that Dewey’s father thinks that it should have been him and not his brother who died, and he’s not ashamed to tell him that. Constantly. No matter the situation or whether it makes sense for him to say it, Dewey’s dad will tell anyone who’ll listen that “the wrong kid died.”

5

“Inconceivable!”

‘The Princess Bride’ (1987)

The average person isn’t familiar with his name, but William Goldman was one of the greatest screenwriters who ever lived, author of some of the best scripts in Hollywood history. His most beloved film is perhaps The Princess Bride, about a bedridden boy’s grandfather reading him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters many obstacles, enemies, and allies in his quest to be reunited with his love.

Many things made Goldman as good as he was, and they’re all on clear display in The Princess Bride. Its characters are delightfully fun, its story has something for absolutely everyone to enjoy, and the amount of creativity behind the comedy is timeless. However, what’s perhaps most iconic about The Princess Bride is how endlessly quotable it is. One of the most quotable lines is just one word, “inconceivable,” which Vizzini likes throwing around even though he doesn’t seem to know what it actually means. Goldman finds all sorts of funny situations for Vizzini to find inconceivable, and Wallace Shawn‘s delivery is always on-point.

4

The spontaneously-combusting drummers

‘This Is Spinal Tap’ (1984)

It wasn’t the first one made, but This Is Spinal Tap was responsible for popularizing the mockumentary and is still the genre’s face to this day. It follows Spinal Tap, England’s loudest band, on what proves to be a very eventful tour. The movie is comprised of on-stage performances, behind-the-scenes look at the band, and hilarious interviews.

In one of these interviews, the band tearfully recounts the awful history that their drummers have had: they’ve all spontaneously combusted on stage. It’s a rare occurrence, but it happens, apparently. The drummer even admits that he’s not really afraid of it happening to him since it’s quite statistically unlikely. Alas, in the movie’s final song, he does end up spontaneously combusting on stage. It’s a hilariously twisted moment that’s even funnier because of how out-of-left-field it feels in the moment.

3

The police

‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ (1975)

The British comedy troupe Monty Python made three fantastic comedy movies, but the best and most popular is still their low-budget debut, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s a connected collection of sketches where King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, hilariously cheap search for the Holy Grail, encountering many silly obstacles along the way.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of the most essential comedy movies ever made, proof that a big budget isn’t needed when you have talented performers and a funny script. This script is packed with hilarious humor and running jokes (not including the literal running joke of Lancelot running toward the camera but not seeming to get any closer). Of these running gags, the funniest is easily the one where this Medieval story keeps cutting to a police investigation of the mysterious murder of a modern-day historian making a documentary about Arthurian legend. The investigation keeps progressing until the film comes to its hilariously abrupt ending, the police shattering the fourth wall to smithereens by arresting Arthur and Beldevere for the murder of the historian.

2

Stan Lee’s cameos

The Marvel Cinematic Universe

When Iron Man came out in 2008 and kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps no one could have guessed that what it entailed would become the biggest and most financially successful movie franchise in history. Of course, none of it would be possible without Marvel Comics, and the face of Marvel Comics was and forever will be the legendary Stan Lee.

To be fair, not all of the MCU’s movies are comedies, but an awful lot of them are, and even then, Stan Lee’s appearances are almost always played as refreshing bits of comedic relief. From him being a random stranger in the background to playing a more active (however brief) role in the story, his cameos were always something to look forward to in every single MCU film, no matter the project’s overall quality. One might think that a running gag that you know is coming isn’t very effective, but these cameos indicate otherwise.

1

The whole movie

‘Airplane!’ (1980)

Airplane! may seem more than a bit stupid on the surface, but anyone who’s actually seen it can attest that it’s actually not just one of the best parody movies of all time but one of the funniest movies ever made, too. In it, after the crew of a commercial airplane full of passengers becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land the aircraft.

The entire movie is composed of brilliantly silly running gag after brilliantly silly running gag. “But that’s not important right now,” Steve McCroskey’s increasingly unhealthy habits, which he can’t quit, and nobody wanting to listen to Striker’s stories are but a few of the jokes that the movie executes so flawlessly that it’s impossible not to laugh at them. It’s hard to pick a single one of Airplane!‘s running gags, which is better than the rest, so the entire film should do, Shirley.

NEXT:The Best Absurdist Comedy Movies, Ranked