Running gag

From Wacklepedia - The Free Encyclopedia

The running gag is a popular hallmark of comedy television shows and movies. A running gag is an amusing situation or line that constantly reappears through the course of a movie or television series.

Some examples of running gags

In Airplane, Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) responds to sentences containing the word "surely" with "Don't call me Shirley".
In Gilligan's Island, ...
In Match Game, a question frequently has the phrase "he was so xxxx", and the audience replies "How xxxx was he???", and the host finishes reading the question.
In Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode 15, the constant appearances of the Spanish Inquisition. ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!")
Also in Monty Python's Flying Circus, a knight in full armour often used a rubber chicken to hit people over the head; this was used as a bridge between scenes, mainly during the first season.
In The Naked Gun series ...
In Pinky and the Brain, Brain tries to take over the world in every episode, but always fails in some humorous way.
In Police Squad, ...
In Seinfeld, ...
In South Park, Kenny suffers a gruesome death in every episode.
In the You Don't Know Jack computer games, Tootie is never the right answer.
In Groo the Wanderer