Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
Home / Thats Actually Pretty Funny Tv Tropes

Thats Actually Pretty Funny Tv Tropes

Post a Comment

Instances of Actually Pretty Funny in live-action TV.

  • Whenever a left-wing pundit or comedian puts on a satirical sketch of Glenn Beck (from Jon Stewart to Keith Olbermann) Beck will promptly replay it on his show and then follow up by admitting it's funny, if it is. He spent almost a half-hour of his radio show gushing about the parody of him in the South Park episode Dances with Smurfs.
  • Olbermann did the same thing when Stewart skitted him, and absolutely loved the SNL skit where Ben Affleck parodied Olbermann.
  • On the flip side, Jon Stewart conceded during said skit that Olbermann's description of Rush Limbaugh was a good one.
  • Art Bell enjoyed Phil Hendrie's spoofs of his show. Jim Rome, not so much. Hendrie, however, was not appreciative of what he saw as theft of his material by Glenn Beck.
  • Bill O'Reilly is actually a huge fan of Stephen Colbert, whose entire show is a half-hour long parody of O'Reilly's.
  • 8 Simple Rules:
    • Kerry does an imitation of her sister. "Hi, I'm Bridget, I can't believe how much my head shakes when I talk". Paul starts chuckling against his will and tries to cover it up saying "you're really mean".
    • Paul gives Bridget advice on preparing for work, saying he picks his clothes out in advance the night before. Kerry snarks "so this is what you look like with a headstart?" and Paul can be seen Corpsing as the scene fades out.
  • When Jenna shocks Liz on 30 Rock with her willfully ridiculous diva antics, one of Jenna's entourage has this to say:

    Patrice: Oh, Melissa? Your face is on the phone. Soccer practice is over and you need to pick it up.
    Liz: All right, that's a pretty good burn, Patrice.

  • Alex Rider:
    • In Episode 2, the Special Forces team have Alex shackled to a chair, soaking wet and "singing" Jake Bugg's Seen It All. In an observation room, Wolf says he "nearly had him" in the previous scene. Snake quips, "Right before he called you an arsehole." Behind them, Eagle smirks.
    • When Alex is introduced to the class at Point Blanc, Kyra completely ignores the new arrival. When Dr Baxter tells her to "say hello to Alex," she leaves a pause just long enough to almost be rude before saying "Hello to Alex," without looking up. Alex smirks.
  • In an episode of Andromeda, Tyr Anasazi finds himself alone with (and obliged to be polite to) Charlemagne Bolivar, a fellow Nietzchean (played by James Marsters) whose pride has some history with Tyr's, all of it bad.

    Tyr: [coldly courteous] What would you like, Jaguar?
    Charlemagne: The usual: hundreds of grandchildren, utter domination of known space, and the pleasure of hearing that all my enemies have died in terrible, highly improbable accidents that cannot be connected to me. And you?
    Tyr: [laughing, despite himself] ... The usual.

  • And the Winner is Love: A salesman claims a portrait of an ugly old man is actually of Shangguan Tou. Shangguan Tou himself is amused when he sees it.
  • Ash vs. Evil Dead: In "Brujo", the eponymous shaman dislikes Ash and doesn't mind showing it, but nonetheless chuckles to Ash's quip that those who underestimate him "end up either in [his] bed or dead."
  • During a 2010 episode of The Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty and guest co-host Aron Ra got a call from "Rick" from Austin, Texas. When it turned out to be an over-the-phone Rickroll, they hung up immediately, but Aron Ra had a good chuckle about it and Dillahunty admitted "I love the fact that his name was Rick."
  • During Australian Idol's 2004 season, an auditionee was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Ian Dickson gave a glowing review of the performance - by the dog she had brought in as a prop - then turned to her and said, "You on the other hand..." The contestant laughed and took the rejection well.
  • Babylon 5: In one episode, Sheridan and Ivanova are dealing with a reporter from the now-fascist Earth Alliance who's almost certainly come to make a propaganda documentary at the rebellious station's expense.
    • There's also Lieutenant Keffer's discussion with the very non-ironically nicknamed marine "Large", who has been assigned to temporarily share his quarters.

    Large: You got a problem with that, flyboy?!

    Keffer: ...Yeah... as a matter of fact I do. I'm going to find a ladder, and then we can discuss it face-to-face.

    Large: HAHAHAHAHA! You're alright, flyboy!

  • Barbarians Rising: The German-born Arminius and General Varus get off on a poor foot due to Varus' bigotry towards him, but then they have this exchange when Varus describes the Germans selling each other into slavery to Rome "for trinkets".

    Arminius: Is that what I am, is it? A trinket of Rome?
    Varus: What else are you? You climb to the highest rank of any barbarian in the Roman army, and yet the Emperor sends you back here?
    Arminius: Who am I to question the Emperor's wisdom? After all, you crucified 2,000 Jewish rebels in the Syrian uprising, and the Emperor saw it fit to send you here. Sir.
    Varus: (glances at him and starts chuckling) Careful, Arminius, I'm beginning to like you.

  • During Team Battle Fever's confrontation with Evil Overlord Satan Egos in the final episode of Battle Fever J, Battle Kenya cracks a joke about Satan Egos dancing which causes him to let out a hearty Evil Laugh. It doesn't save the team from getting chucked into Egos's Monster-Making Machine however.
  • In The Big Bang Theory, Raj's has his speaker shirt play various accompanying sound effects in "The Excelsior Acquisition" throughout the episode, much to the annoyance or embarrassment of the others. But when Sheldon finds out about a ticket for running a red light:

    Sheldon: I'm not going to pay a fine, that would imply I'm guilty.
    Howard: You are guilty.
    [Raj plays the Law & Order sound effect on his shirt. Leonard and Howard start cracking up]
    Howard: That one I liked.

  • Big Brother US had Creator's Pet Jessie return in season 12 as a "punishment" from Pandora's Box. It's no secret that everyone hates him, but the circumstances involving his cameo in Season 10 was actually pretty funny. Pandora's Box promised Britney a chance to talk with a former Big Brother player who will give them tips. She took it, and watched the houseguests get a Luau while Jessie gave her tips on weight-lifting.
  • On Boy Meets World Mr. Feeny is usually stoic, deadpan, serious, and dry in how he carries himself. In the Season 7 episode where the students are pulling pranks on each other, he finds Cory and Shawn's prank of putting a VW Bug in Rachel's dorm room to be hysterical and makes jokes at her expense with them.
  • The Brittas Empire: In "Back with a Bang", Brittas is presented with a scale model of the leisure centre, complete with a plastic figurine of him. When he notes that the figure doesn't look like him, Tim snarks that it actually is like him in that he's waving his hands about, that nobody is noticing him, and that he's entirely made out of plastic note Brittas had just gotten back from reconstructive surgery, which involved adding a lot of plastic and metal into his body. . Brittas is shocked for a few seconds but then laughs at the joke alongside the rest of the staff.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • In "Phases", Giles is talking about how the phases of the moon exert a great deal of psychological influence, and the full moon "tends to bring out our darkest qualities." Xander quips, "Yet, ironically, also led to the invention of the moon pie." Buffy and Willow are unimpressed as always but Giles almost cracks up.
    • In "Crush", when Buffy discovers that Spike is in love with her and tells Xander, he laughs about it.

      Buffy: I'm not joking.
      Xander: Oh, I hope not. It's funnier if it's true.

    • In the Season 9 comics, Angel insists that rather than leave everyone to die during the Twilight incident, he was actually going to bring everyone over to the new world. Willow remarks that Buffy never mentioned him saying that.

      Angel: You ever try finishing a sentence when Buffy's all worked up?
      Willow: Oh, that is sexist. And funny. And so very, very true.

  • During the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, Mike Tyson mentioned that he got through a "dark" period in his life by reading The Iliad. He then looked over at roastmaster Seth MacFarlane and told him, "You're not the only one who can get by by taking ideas from Homer." Seth, who got the Multiple Reference Pun, was rolling.
  • Conan: Conan's producer, Jordan Schlansky, is a famously straight-laced and straight-faced humorless curmudgeon, which, of course, means Conan loves screwing with him. On a trip to Italy, Conan broke out a sound effect machine while the two were trapped in a tiny car, much to Jordan's annoyance. But Jordan couldn't stop himself from laughing when Conan played a well-timed fart sound, though he did say, "You are a fool. You are a fool."
  • Control Z: Sofía and Javier after the latter deliberately crashes his car through a wall to buy Luis enough time to escape from the wrath of Gerry, Darío and Ernesto. Initially concerned because the car got seriously damaged, albeit partially, they later burst out laughing awkwardly as the trio could've been run over. Even if that happened, it would've served them right for being a bunch of jerkasses.
  • Coronation Street has a moment where Sarah Platt's wedding planning is turning into a disaster. It reaches boiling point when her manipulative brother invites her ex Todd (who is the brother of the groom, and discovered he was gay while with Sarah).

    Sarah: Wedding number one didn't happen because the groom did a runner with another man! Wedding number two didn't happen because the groom did a runner out the window! And wedding number three has had so many problems, who knows if it'll even get a chance!
    Todd: Well when you put it like that...
    He starts chuckling.
    Sarah: Todd! It's not funny!
    Todd keeps laughing. Sarah cracks too.

  • Cybill: In one episode, Cybill finds out her teenage daughter Zoey lied to her about getting a job at a library—she actually hacked into her school's computer and got herself listed as a substitute teacher, and has been blowing off school for weeks to teach sixth graders. Not only that, she does such a good job, she managed to raise her class' test scores significantly, and was only caught because she had to use her social security number to collect her paycheck. The school is willing to let the whole thing go and even let her keep the money, so long as she knocks it off, as the whole thing is pretty embarrassing for them. Cybill, for her part, is visibly restraining laughter the whole time, and is downright impressed when she finds out how good Zoey is at her "new job."

    Cybill: Oh, come on. Wouldn't you be proud?

  • The Daily Show:
    • A clip of George W. Bush, during a trip to Ottawa, thanking all the Canadians who came out to wave at him "with all five fingers". Jon Stewart, a vocal critic of Bush, admitted that it was actually pretty funny.
    • He was forced to admit the same thing when Sarah Palin tried her hand at stand-up on The Tonight Show. In fact, he gave advice that he usually doesn't give to new stand-ups: "If you had a day job, I'd tell you to quit it" (a Stealth Insult on multiple levels).
    • As Jon Stewart's run was coming to an end, Arby's ran ads on the show compiling various jokes Stewart made at their expense, ending with, "Not sure why, but we'll miss you."
  • In an episode of Dead Like Me, after Roxy tries to stab Mason for stealing food from her.

    Mason: Did you see that? I mean, just because I wanted some of her hashbrowns.
    Rube: I was there.
    Mason: I've never seen such violence over such small potatoes.
    Rube: Now, that was almost clever.
    Mason: What was almost clever, Rube?
    Rube: The thing about hash browns being small potatoes.
    Mason: I don't get it. Because hash browns are small potatoes.
    Rube: Never mind.

  • Doctor Who:
    • This is a running theme with Sarah Jane as a companion (in the 1970s, anyway) — especially in contrast to her predecessor Jo and co-companions Harry and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, none of whom react to the Doctor clowning around. Most of her early stories end with her pretending to be annoyed, but being unable to resist giggling (like "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and "The Monster of Peladon"). Particularly useful, since a lot of the way the Third Doctor treats her could have come off as sexist Jerkass behaviour if her reactions hadn't made it clear it was a joke between them, rather than at her.
    • "Rise of the Cybermen": The Doctor fails to hide his amusement when he finds out that, although the Alternate Universe versions of Pete and Jackie Tyler don't have a daughter named Rose, they do have a small dog named Rose. He stops laughing when (human) Rose shoots him a Death Glare.
    • "The Runaway Bride": The Racnoss Empress finds the Doctor pretty amusing before she finds out where he's really from. "The Doctor-man amuses me!"
    • "Voyage of the Damned": Max Capricorn can't help but approve of most of the Doctor's puns.
    • "The Witch's Familiar": The Doctor has to laugh at Davros' response when he reveals that until just then he had believed Davros was faking it and wasn't really dying:
  • Dollhouse: In the episode "Belle Chose", Boyd lampshades Topher's Even Evil Has Standards moment by pointing out how strange it is for Topher to have ethical problems with anything:

    Boyd: Topher has ethical problems. Topher!
    Topher: Heh. Way to land it.

  • Euphoria: In Season Two, Lexi writes and stages a play that is very clearly about her and the other characters' lives, with the Expies being so transparent, you wonder why she even bothered. Everyone is either uncomfortable or pissed, with the sole exception of Lexi's mother Suze. Despite the play being very honest about Suze's Lady Drunk tendencies and less-than-perfect parenting, she bursts into laughter and cheers when she sees the character based on her, finding it hilarious and admitting the accuracy. Later, she even gives the actor playing her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, telling him, "You got me down to a science," and says he should win an award for his performance.
  • Everybody Loves Raymond:
    • This is a key plot point in the episode "The Skit" where Marie ropes Ray and Debra into providing entertainment for her friends Lee and Stan's forty-fifth anniversary party. The couple hits on the idea of demonstrating how happy Lee and Stan's marriage is by demonstrating a frustrating one—namely, Frank and Marie's. They do unflattering (but not cruel) imitations of the older Barones at the party; Marie and Frank, who are sitting in the front row, are not only extremely good sports about it, but laugh uproariously at the jokes.
    • In "Frank's Tribute", Ray and Robert are tasked with making a video tribute to their father after he wins "Man of the Year" at his lodge; the video goes horribly because all of the lodge brothers dislike Frank. Later, when Marie and Frank are home and he's had a chance to cool down, he asks her what she would say in her own tribute. She gives a touching answer about their long marriage, capping it with "And whatever I did to deserve him, I'll live with." Frank laughs at the quip and says he appreciates the humor.
  • One episode of Frasier has Frasier chastise his family for laughing hysterically at the unusually large noses of two guests, only for himself to crumble after a barrage of unintentional nose-related wordplay.
  • In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Geoffrey unveiled his hidden shame of leaving England because years ago he was caught taking a taxi in order to win a marathon (he thought the information might ruin Philip's political campaign, and yes, that marathon thing has happened in real life, albeit accidentally). After showing them the video, everyone sat in silence for a good ten seconds before bursting into laughter. Geoffrey was not amused. He reversed the laughter just a few seconds later when he stated he didn't have a Green Card. So, having an illegal immigrant under his service would throw a wrench in Uncle Phil's campaign.
  • Friends:
    • In "The One with Ross' New Girlfriend", Chandler goes to Joey's tailor to get new pants. When the tailor is measuring Chandler's legs, he asks him how long he would like the cuffs. Chandler replies, "at least as long as I have the pants." The tailor stops for a minute before he gets the joke.
    • In another episode, after Rachel confesses to Ross that she still loves him, he gently tells her that he can't deal with that right now, as he's just gotten married, "Even though I haven't spoken to my wife since the wedding." Rachel bursts out laughing, then quickly apologizes, saying, "I'm sorry, that's not funny."

      Ross: Actually... it kind of is.

    • In "The One At The Beach", Joey wakes up after a night of drinking to find the others buried him in a pile of sand that they shaped to make him look like a mermaid. He's annoyed until he realises they've placed his hands so he's cupping "his" breasts, which earns a nod of approval from Joey.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • In "Breaker of Chains", Daenerys' large army is outside the slaver city of Meereen, whose slaves she intends to liberate once she takes the city. The Meereeneese decide to send their champion out to taunt them then engage in Combat by Champion. During said champion's tirade of crude insults to entertain the crowd that has gathered, Daenerys suppresses a smirk at the end, as if to say "Okay, THAT one was pretty good."
    • A darker version appears when Arya learns of her Aunt Lysa's death. She's found nothing but dead ends at every single turn and she can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all at that point.
    • Tyrion is asked at sword-point how he'd like to die. He answers honestly. "In my own bed, at the age of eighty, with a belly full of wine and a girl's mouth around my cock." Everyone has a good chuckle out of that.
    • Oberyn asks Bronn how he went from being a hired killer to a knight. "Killed the right people I suppose." Oberyn laughs.
    • Even stoic Ned can't help but smile when Robert sends his squire in search of a "breastplate stretcher".
    • Jon can't help but smile at the boldness of ten-year-old Lyanna Mormont's declaration that "Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is Stark."
    • Even kindly old Maester Aemon chuckles at Sam's verbal humiliation of Janos Slynt.
    • The sight of a dwarf slave beating his captor is apparently this to the other slavers in "The Gift", since they just laugh rather than restraining him or punishing him for rebelliousness.
    • When Sansa tells Tyrion that she will pray for him at the Battle of the Blackwater just as she prays for the king, he's not even mad, he just smiles.
  • On an episode of The George Lopez Show, George decidedly tells his kids they must tell the truth or be punished. His son Max confesses that he's been shrinking his sister's clothes to make her think she's fat. George yells at him "That's horrible! You bad b-" but doesn't make it to the end of the sentence before laughing out loud.
  • The Grand Tour:
    • In "It's a Gas Gas Gas" the Conversation Corner intro features Richard vomiting a comically large stream of water from his mouth. When Jeremy remarks it's the best thing that's going to come out of his mouth for the next seven minutes, Richard laughs.
    • During the "Seamen" special Jeremy and James sneakily repainted Richard's boat, changing the name from "Razzle Dazzle" to "Jizzle Drizzle". When Richard finally notices, he bursts into delighted laughter, only laughing more as he realizes just how many people have seen him piloting a boat with that name.
  • In early episodes of Home Improvement, Brad and Randy were relentless practical jokers, but more often than not, Tim found their antics to be hilarious rather than reprehensible, much to Jill's chagrin. That's because, Like Father, Like Son, Tim was an infamous prankster. Halloween Episodes may involve this.
  • The Honeymooners: In "Young at Heart", Ralph takes Alice and the Nortons to a roller skating rink as a way to maintain their youth. However, Ralph slips on his skates and falls down hard on the floor and can't get back up again. The others try and help him up, only to all fall down as well. Ralph feels embarrassed about it and chastises them about it when they get home. But then everyone except Ralph starts laughing about it. Ralph can't understand the humor in it, but then starts howling with laughter himself. He laughs so hard, in fact, that he starts coughing and gasping for breath.

    Ralph: Boy, I went down, didn't I? Bang!
    Ed Norton: What a vibration!
    Ralph: That time you gave a tug on me and left your arms there!

  • Hot Bench: One case, involving some very serious (and absurd) allegations, fell to laughing when a defendant left the plaintiffs a voice message leveling threats against them. Including threatening the life of their pet iguana. Although the overall message showed the defendant's radical behavior, all three judges could not resist teasing the defendant and asking what the iguana did to him with anything but a straight face.
  • How I Met Your Mother:
    • Barney employs elaborate, dishonest, and emotionally-manipulative means to get Marshall to see a video of a dog pooping on a baby. (Marshall is upset but acknowledges the humor.)
    • In a later episode, Marshall and Barney get into an argument over Barney choosing a different architect for their company's building over Ted. When Barney defends the building he chose, he said, "But it breathes fire, Marshall!" the argument is briefly interrupted for the two to have a laugh at the accidental pun, 'Fire Marshall.' The argument then resumes.
    • When Robin gets engaged to Barney, she doesn't want to live in his place and initially is disgusted by his various creations revolving around one night stands. Though she is impressed by the creativity he showed in making them.
  • In The Last Kingdom, Alfred has a tendency to quite slowly break into an ironic or sly smile when someone makes a particularly good point or jab against him. (In Uhtred's case this usually means he made a particularly snarky, insolent, or glib remark.) Being first a Prince and later a King Alfred has limits and doesn't tend to let it go when he's acting in formal capacity, but in more informal settings he does it often enough it practically starts seeming like a Character Tic.
  • I Love Lucy:
    • In "Return Home From Europe", Lucy smuggles a huge block of cheese onto a plane flight by disguising it as a baby and then has to hastily hide it by chopping it up into pieces and stuffing these pieces into the instruments for Ricky's band. Ricky learns about this only when his band members try to play but can't because the cheese melted in their instruments and he approaches Lucy, looking ready to give her a piece of her mind, but he ends up laughing instead and says fondly that being married to her is never a dull experience.
    • In "The Celebrity Next Door", Lucy completely derails the play she's acting in to pull revenge pranks on Tallulah Bankhead that include locking her in her powder room before opening time, feeding her strawberry jam that causes her to spend the rest of the play frantically scratching herself due to an allergy, and dressing up as a knight and accidentally collapsing a table in the process. Ricky and the other actors are furious at her for ruining the play, but it turns out that the audience and Tallulah loved the comedy and Tallulah even has several suggestions for making the play even funnier.
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live! features a recurring segment titled "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets" which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The tweets in question can occasionally lead to this reaction, such as the members of Mumford & Sons laughing at this:

    "I love how music takes you away to another place. Like Mumford & Sons is playing at this restaurant, so now I'm going to another restaurant."

    • Jimmy Kimmel's Signing Off Catchphrase "Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time!" was ad-libbed, but Damon found it incredibly funny that this helped start the long-running "feud" between them, with Matt playing Jimmy's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis.
  • The Kicks episode "The Best Defense Is A Good Offense" features an Escalating War of pranks between The Kicks and their Opposing Sports Team, culminating in The Kicks getting caught trying to steal a prized soccer jersey. When their coach chastises them about the pranks getting out of control, he admits that he was impressed by the one where they filled the rival's front lawn with flamingo statues.
  • In Kim's Convenience, Mr. Kim is unimpressed when Kimchee starts laughing at the word "ballcock" (they were fixing the toilet) and sprays him. He then mutters the word to himself and laughs.
  • During his tenure on The Late Show, David Letterman loved to make jokes about New Jersey governor Chris Christie, especially regarding his large size. When Christie appeared on the show in 2013, the governor admitted that he actually liked "about forty percent" of the barbs, reading a few favorites out loud and saying "if the joke is funny, I laugh." Christie even managed to turn the tables on Letterman: when Dave started asking about Christie's opinions on the jokes, the governor reached into his pocket and pulled out a doughnut to eat, commenting, "I didn't know this was gonna be this long." Letterman laughed hysterically.
  • A long-running and time-honored tradition of Paul Rudd when he goes on Late Night with Conan O'Brien is to claim he has a clip from his show or new film, only to show the exact same clip from Mac and Me and talk about it as if it's the real clip. He's seriously done this about 30 times throughout his career. When it came time to talk about Ant-Man Conan actually called him out on this and pressured him to show the real clip, with Paul agreeing that it would probably piss off the fans to bait and switch them with a new Marvel movie. Naturally he showed a clip of Ant Man that was edited together with the clip from Mac and Me, much to Conan's chagrin. However when Paul showed the "real" clip immediately after, which of course was the exact same Mac and Me clip, getting Conan twice in a row, Conan could only smirk and throw up a gesture that basically said "Paul Rudd, ladies and gentleman."
  • In an episode of Law & Order, D.A McCoy is forced to pit Detectives Briscoe and Curtis against each other on the stand in an ethically-questionable legal proceeding to try and convict a cop-killer. While Briscoe's all in, Curtis has objections to doing so, which causes no small amount of tension between himself and McCoy. While on the stand, the defence attorney asks Curtis whether McCoy should have taken an obvious (and case-destroying) interpretation of something that Curtis had earlier said to him about the case. Curtis responds that he has no control over how McCoy might have interpreted anything, since in his experience prosecutors aren't necessarily very bright. A cut to McCoy in the prosecutor's chair shows him to be clearly very amused at Curtis's veiled way of managing to call him an idiot while testifying. The fact that it saved his case probably didn't hurt.
  • The Legends of the Superheroes special "The Roast" has a roast being held for the Justice League where they are heckled and taunted by their enemies, their relatives and other heroes, with the League shown to laugh at some of the burns directed towards them. One noticeable instant is Green Lantern laughing at Ghetto Man's remark about Green Lantern's membership in the Justice League not counting as the superhero team allowing people of color.
  • Love and Destiny:
    • Right after he tells her to get out, Ling Xi reminds Jiu Chen that he hasn't thanked her yet for saving him when he was ill. Jiu Chen stares at her for a minute before starting to laugh.
    • Jiu Chen also cracks up when Ling Xi details what retribution she requires from Yuan Tong for pushing her into a magical pool.
  • In Lucifer, although Lucifer and Menadiel can't stand each other, they enjoy some banter at the expense of St. Paul.
  • Occasionally in Married... with Children, Jefferson will laugh at Al's cracks at Marcy when she's not looking. Jefferson pretty much always thinks Al's funny, he just knows better than to let Marcy see him laugh.
  • A very famous example from The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Chuckles the Clown, the host of a children's show, is killed at a circus parade after being attacked by an elephant while dressed as a peanut (the elephant apparently "tried to shell him"). The entire episode is full of characters making jokes and laughing about the absurd circumstances, while Mary continually reprimands them and insists that it isn't funny. The episode concludes at Chuckles' funeral, where everyone is now being somber and serious as the minister delivers a eulogy—everyone except Mary, who is suddenly struck by the humor of the situation. She desperately tries to keep in her giggles, but fails miserably. The minister notices and tells Mary that Chuckles lived to make people happy, and that her laughter is the best possible tribute to his memory... which prompts Mary to start sobbing.
  • M*A*S*H:
    • When Charles suggests a humility transplant for Hawkeye, Hawkeye fires back, "Unfortunately, you'll never be a donor." Charles laughed at that one.
    • Discussed in the series finale as Col. Potter is saying goodbye to Hawkeye and B.J.

      Col. Potter: Never forget the time you dropped Winchester's drawers in the O.R. 'Course I had to pretend I was mad at ya, but inside (chokes up) I was laughing to beat all hell.

    • Similarly, when Margret and Hawkeye are lost behind enemy lines, she confesses that many times in OR she would be grinning from ear to ear behind her mask when he got a good one off on Frank. Publicly she always chastised and more than once wanted him court-martialed for his behavior towards Frank. (Although she's Not Herself at this point in time, so it's hard to say if this is true or if she's misremembering or just flat-out lying in an effort to stroke Hawkeye's ego.)
  • On Merlin (2008) a goblin possessing Gaius has given Arthur donkey ears and voice. Despite getting condemned to death by said goblin, Merlin can't help but laugh. And Guinevere agrees
  • Sam Peckinpah loved the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch parodying his cinematic oeuvre, "Sam Peckinpah's Salad Days," and would show it to houseguests.
  • On The Muppet Show, when Milton Berle reacts to Statler and Waldorf by saying he has a good mind to punch him in the nose. Waldorf says, "Please, not while I'm holding it." When Berle admits, "That's pretty funny," Waldorf says he can use it. Which is funny too because part of Milton Berle's stage persona was he stole all his material (similar to Jack Benny's persona of being a miser).
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000:
    • The season 9 episode featuring Werewolf, had Tom, right out of the gate, quip, "I dunno, you had 'em last!" Crow complains that Tom can't say that and that he's gonna tell Mike. When Mike shows up and Crow tattles, Mike actually thinks that it was funny, forcing Crow to backtrack to save face.
    • In the Time Chasers episode's credits, Brain Guy uses his omnipotent powers to pull a parody of Credits Pushback, but stops after Pearl chews him out, which leads to him apologizing for the bad joke. After the scene is restored, Mike and the Bots say that they actually enjoyed the gag and Brain Guy is being way too hard on himself.
  • My Name Is Earl: A flashback shows Earl and Randy being bailed out of jail for some offscreen crime; Earl is disguised as a priest, but Randy is dressed as a nun, apparently because he thought it would be funny. Earl tries to berate Randy for ruining their scheme, but finds that he can't look at him without giggling.
  • NCIS:
    • The episode "Smoked" begins with a group of laborers working on upgrading a building. The foreman tells them to step up the pace, saying he "could lift 400 pounds back in the day." One of the workers cracks that the 400 pounds must have been the foreman's girlfriend. The foreman rolls with it, saying, "But she was a helluva woman!" and laughs along with the workers.
    • In "Lost in Translation" McGee reveals a cardboard cutout of himself as he has been selected as the new "face of NCIS". Over the episode a jealous Tony defaces the cutout only to feel guilty and agrees to pay Jimmy two hundred dollars to restore it. After money changes hands McGee reveals the entire thing was a late April Fool's prank as he and Jimmy leave to spend their bounty. Tony starts off yelling threats of revenge only to quietly grin and declare he taught them well.
    • One of Gibbs' copious Right Behind Me moments has him pulling this on a random character who has just asked Bishop what it's like to work for such a hardass. Gibbs grins at hearing this rather than giving the guy a Dope Slap or Death Glare, indicating that he's invoking this trope.
    • In one of the first episodes, Gibbs makes a rather suggestive comment to Kate that has her laughing rather than slapping him.
  • At the end of the complaint cards scene from NewsRadio, Dave takes out a card that reads, "Help I'm being held prisoner inside a complaint box" and then says, "Which is actually pretty funny."
  • The Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation episode "Truce or Consequences" has Donatello build a lie detector and test it on Leonardo. Donatello finds it amusing when the detector goes off the instant Leonardo claims to have never lied in his life, which results in the two Turtles getting into a squabble. Their sensei Splinter finds out about what's going on and is as amused as Donatello was when he sees the lie detector indicate that Leonardo's statement of having never lied before is itself a lie.
  • Nuremberg: While being questioned on the stand, Herman Goering is asked who came up with the idea to make Hitler both head of government and head of state. Goering claims that the Nazis modelled it after the similar dual roles of the U.S. President. The American prosecutors are visibly annoyed by this, but the chief British prosecutor can't resist a chuckle at his allies' expense.
  • On The Odd Couple, Felix is perturbed by Oscar's house guest Wild Willie Boggs (played by Roy Clark) who is prone to making crude practical jokes. He finally confronts him about it. Willie says "Felix, you don't like them because you've never tried them", adding, "do you want to play a trick on Oscar?". Felix delivers the "about-face" line, says "No. What?". Willie gives Felix a rubber hot dog to give to Oscar. With insane glee, Felix sets the trap and calls Oscar in for a snack- which of course Oscar just eats as if it were normal, saying, "The bun's a little stale."
  • On the show Once and Again, Karen with her ex, Rick, and their kids, Eli and Jessie, at a restaurant, and they are all highly amused when they find out she has a new friend named Lloyd Lloyd. Karen tries to get them to shush (especially since Lloyd is at the same restaurant), but even she gives up and starts laughing.

    Karen: (desperately trying to hold it together) The name so nice, they used it twice! (dissolves into laughter)

  • The Orville: Gordon tries to teach The Comically Serious Isaac about humor and practical jokes, and, after playing a joke on Isaac (gluing Mr. Potato Head parts to his head while he's recharging) asks him to reciprocate with one of his own, specifying that it has to be original and done when he least expects it. Isaac then amputates Gordon's right leg while he's sleeping, and Gordon is predictably upset. However, later on he admits that it was a pretty damn good joke. (It helps that they have the technology to regrow limbs.)
  • The Outpost: The Mistress's reaction to the discovery of the Surprise Incest between Janzo and Naya is to laugh uproariously.
  • Parks and Recreation gives us this little gem when Tom gets arrested by the police:

    Police Officer: Ma'am, as I've said before this is a police matter—

    Leslie: WELL IT DOESN'T SEEM TO MATTER TO THE POLICE!

    Police Officer: Okay, nice job with that.

  • In this clip from an episode of Paula's Best Dishes, a Paula Deen cooking show, Deen tells the audience that comedian Melanie Hutsell has something to show them...prompting Hutsell to pop out from behind the counter to do an impersonation of Deen. As Hutsell parodies all of Deen's catchphrases ("Hey y'all!"), manner of speaking, and love of cooking with butter, Deen herself stands in the background and laughs hysterically, proving herself a good sport about the impression.
  • In Psych, Father Westley is amused by Shawn's suggestions for a jingle (bum bum bum... muffins/wafers/Holy Ghost)
  • In an episode of Raising Dad, Sarah considers getting a nose job after her father and sister hurl all sorts of big nose-related puns at her. When her father approaches her to talk her out of the surgery...

    Sarah: Oh, here's one you forgot - Sarah-no de Bergerac note Cyrano de Bergerac, a fictional French character with a massive nose
    Stuart: (beat) Okay that would have been a good one.

  • Rescue 911:
    • In one episode, a dog gets his head stuck in a dryer vent. The kids who are taking care of the dog are actually quite amused but call 911 regardless.
    • Same thing with the tangled dog who accidentally dialed 911 in "911-Dialing Dog". The responding officers aren't angry and all have a good laugh, though most of their laughter comes from relief that the situation is far more benign then they originally thought.
    • The couple in "Chimney Trapped Crook" are initially pretty frightened by the burglar stuck in their chimney, but once they calm down and see the police officers and firemen laughing about it, they very quickly find the humor in the situation.
  • Happens twice on Roseanne. In Season 2, Becky farts in front of the student council and is mortified. After Darlene tells Dan and Roseanne, they're trying to sort out how to talk to Becky about it. Dan cracks up, hard, and Roseanne is also trying hard not to laugh, while berating Dan. The second incident happens in Season 5's "Crime and Punishment." Dan has been called to DJ's school to discuss some "obscene reading material" DJ brought. It's a comic Darlene wrote. When Dan shows Roseanne, he's appalled. Roseanne laughs unexpectedly and says "That was a funny part."
  • Sabrina the Teenage Witch has this as a plot point in an episode. The only way to remove embarrassment is for the subject to be able to laugh at oneself. After Valerie burps in front of a guy she likes, Sabrina casts a spell to help her - by making her slip on a banana peel and then laughing at her own clumsiness.
  • Saturday Night Live is well-known for this; it's relatively common for the celebrities the show lampoons to show up and make a few jokes of their own. Just a few examples are listed below.
    • Fred Rogers thought Eddie Murphy's "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood" was hilarious and praised him for it.
    • One of Dan Aykroyd's most famous early sketches was an imitation of Julia Child in a bit that ended him with cutting off his own finger and bleeding to death on the set, all while speaking in the chef's famous cadence. Child herself loved the impersonation so much that she recorded it and showed the tape at parties.
    • Will Ferrell was known for his impersonation of Attorney General Janet Reno. On the last episode where he performed the character, Reno herself dropped by and joined in the sketch.
    • One early New Tens sketch, "The Beygency," parodied Beyoncé by depicting her fanbase as a rabid group that could "disappear" anyone who didn't praise her every move. On the Sunday after the sketch aired, the "Queen Bey" tweeted a link to the video with a few laughing emojis.
    • During Donald Trump's presidency, anchor Michael Che was of course very vocally critical of Trump, but, at the same time, was the first to admit when something he said or did was funny, like when he called a reporter from CNN fake news.

      "I know I'm not supposed to like that guy, but damn that was funny! The President elect just called CNN fake news live on CNN! And the only thing CNN could do back is say, "Sir? Sir!""

    • Similarly, when Dave Chappelle hosted for the second time, directly after the 2020 election, he makes reference to Trump referring to Covid-19 as "The Kung Flu". Dave's response is, "You racist...hilarious bastard."
  • Saved by the Bell has Lisa terrified at what her father will do when he finds out she charged too much money on his credit card. When she confesses - and says that she got a job as a waitress to pay the money back - he finds it hysterical.

    "My daughter? Waiting on tables?"

  • Scrubs:
    • An early episode had Sean Hayes (best known for playing Jack on Will & Grace) as JD's rival, and he cracked a joke at one point. JD tried to hold his laughter in, but giggled slightly, and admonished himself for it.
    • Another episode has Kelso get mad about someone changing the Sacred Heart sign to "Sacred Fart." He does quietly chuckle and admit to Turk that he does find it a little funny.
    • While initially annoyed by the huge public display of his return to the hospital, Dr. Cox later admitted that he loved JD's Welcome Back Coxer T-shirts.
    • In the second season Carla ribs Dr. Cox about hooking up with his ex-wife Jordan multiple times.

      Dr. Cox: Will you get off my ex-wife?
      Carla: I will if you will.
      Dr. Cox: Dammit, now I'm too proud of ya to be mad.

    • When a patient is brought in by having an unexpected reaction to Viagra (read: his penis won't go down) everyone finds it hilarious but Elliott insists on remaining professional. When she hears the full story - it happened at breakfast with his girlfriend's family and the erection tore her grandmother's breathing apparatus - Elliott collapses in laughter. She then relates a story to the patient about how when she was in high school, she ended up with her ass in full display at a roller skating rink - and then invoked the trope by showing up to school the next day wearing roller skates.
  • In Selfie, Eliza is seen laughing loudly at her casual sex partner/co-worker's Freddy jokes (which Henry observes and says can't be that funny), and she then tells Henry guys like it when you laugh at their jokes, implying she doesn't find them that funny. She also purposefully doesn't laugh at a joke Henry makes to prove her point. At the end of the episode, Freddy makes another joke (about coming to the hospital Eliza is in, in case he had to "identify the booty"). Eliza laughs, Henry shoots her a look, and she claims that one was legitimately funny.
  • Sherlock: At the end of the first episode Sherlock jokes about a serial killer while John unsuccessfully tries to keep a straight face.

    John: [laughs] Stop. [holding back laughter] We can't giggle—it's a crime scene, stop it.
    Sherlock: You're the one who shot him, don't mind me.
    John: Keep your voice down! [giggles]

  • In Smallville, Bizarro laughed reluctantly when Brainiac compared him to a mollusk.
  • Smile, You're Under Arrest! was a short-lived reality series in which wanted fugitives were lured for arrest with the fake promise of stuff like a spa treatment or appearing as an extra in a movie. The twist was that they were actually arrested during these events. Of the over 400 fugitives that were captured as part of the sting, it was reported that not a single one refused to sign the waiver for a possible television appearance, and something along the lines of "You get me good" was the reaction of many of the fugitives.
  • In Supernatural, Sam and Dean try to kill the Trickster, but actually find his punishments, particularly the alien and the frat boy, rather funny at times. Until he goes after them.
  • That '70s Show:
    • In one episode Eric Forman's paternal grandmother dies immediately after he tells her "You know, it wouldn't kill you to be nice.". Eric spends much of the episode worrying about telling his father Red this, but in the end, when he finally does, Red actually finds it somewhat amusing and, in a rather heartwarming manner for him, tells Eric that "Something like that could only happen to you, son!"
    • Another one during the "Prank Day" episode, after Hyde sits on a whoopee cushion left by Kelso.

      Hyde: A whoopee cushion? What are you, two? [squeezes the cushion and smiles at the sound] Heh, these things are great.

    • Kelso will readily admit when someone gets a good burn in on him. A good example is when he grows a moustache and, getting annoyed with him and his new attitude after growing it, Hyde and Fez secretly shave it into a Hitler moustache; he admits it was a good prank after his boss yells at him over it.
  • Spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in political satire The Thick of It is unremittingly awful in the wittiest way possible: for example, on one occasion Hugh Abbot complains that the massive windows of his new office make him feel like a "whore in a window." At that point, Terri Coverly knocks on the window for Abbot's attention, whereupon Malcolm remarks "How much, love?" And despite living in daily fear of Malcolm's visits, in that moment, Hugh is clearly seen trying not to laugh.
  • When impressionist Harry Enfield appeared on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson played a clip of the "Clarkson Island" sketch from Harry and Paul that lampooned him, and was visibly amused by it. He did, however, give Enfield advice on how to make the impression even funnier: by taking Clarkson's signature Dramatic Pauses and stretching them out.

    Clarkson: "This is the fastest car..." [Clarkson pauses for a good fifteen seconds, prompting mass laughter from the audience] "...in the world."

  • Turner and Hooch (2021): Hooch knocks over the wedding cake at the wedding of Xavier and Olivia in "Bite Club" and then Scott Turner Jr. ends up slipping around on it and covered in it. Everyone is shocked and then Olivia bursts out laughing. A wedding moment to remember.
  • The Untamed: When Wei Wuxian trolls Wen Chao by reciting the Lan Clan's rules rather than the Wen Clan's as he was supposed to do, Jin Zixuan is seen trying not to smile.
  • Veronica Mars: Although they hate each other, Weevil can't help but laugh when Logan makes a joke at the expense of their English teacher. Truer to form, he blames Logan when he gets in trouble for it.
  • Inverted in the The West Wing episode "Celestial Navigation", where a subplot involves the White House staff getting caught up in a public relations fiasco that starts when an African-American cabinet member implicitly calls a Congressman a racist on the floor of Congress. Specifically, the Congressman challenges her by asking her if she thinks he's a racist, and the cabinet member snidely responds, "Well, if the shoe fits!". When President Bartlet catches wind of the gaffe, his only complaint is that she couldn't think of something more clever to say than "Well, if the shoe fits!".
    • When Toby's filling in as temporary press secretary, he's predictably terrible, to the extent that the press just stops showing up for his briefings. During one particularly poorly attended briefing, Toby snarks, "Is this some kind of national press holiday? HL Mencken's birthday or something?" Annabeth, who had been brought in to help Toby get better at the job, later tells him that it was actually a pretty funny joke, and it might have won him some laughs and good will from the press if he hadn't articulated it as a biting jab intended to mock the reporters.
  • As compiled here, while hosting Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Drew Carey had two expressions when the performers were giving him grief: either a glare that implied he was plotting some kind of revenge, or laughing along with the audience.

    Drew: Aw, man. Oh well. "What Drew whispers in his date's ear."
    Chip Esten: What's your name again?
    Drew: (laughs)
    Ryan Stiles: Keep the change.
    Drew: (almost dies laughing)

    • This was a common staple for Colin Mochrie as well, considering he was the butt of many bald jokes. He would usually either respond by implying he was excellent in bed or he would simply sit back and smile. After one particular joke that occurred after a season gap, he even said "I can't believe I missed bald jokes".
    • In one specific Scenes From A Hat, Robin Williams was asked what he was thinking and immediately responded "I have a career, what the hell am I doing?" The cast laughed as much as the audience did.
  • In Wings, Roy's mother was going to marry a con man, but the con man had a heart attack. He was leading a game of Simon Says when he had the attack. He said, "Call an ambulance." No one moved, because he didn't say "Simon Says". When Roy told everyone about that, he was laughing. Everyone called him cruel for that, but they started laughing too.
  • The Wire does this a lot.
    • Season 1 features a huge conflict between the commander of the Homicide Unit, Bill Rawls (who believes in doing anything to makes his unit look good statistically speaking, even if it comes at the expense of actual criminal investigations) and Jimmy McNulty, whose personal motto is "fuck the brass". After all the headaches McNulty causes him, Rawls responds by transferring McNulty to what McNulty himself said would be the worst possible police duty for him: riding a boat in the harbor unit. In season 2 though, McNulty strikes back when he proves that a floating body found in the harbor, (and a totally unsolvable murder) falls under the territorial jurisdiction of the Homicide Unit rather than the Coast Guard or the County Police, a process that Jimmy admits took hours of calculating the tides to see where the body would have first hit the water. When Rawls gets the news he's enraged but also slightly amused despite himself.

      Rawls: Fucking Jimmy. Fucking with us just for the fun of it. I gotta give the son of a bitch some credit for wit on this one. [chuckles] Cocksucker.

    • Rawls is also amused at the news that McNulty has called the First Deputy of the FBI "an empty suit" to the Deputy's face during a bit of Jurisdiction Friction between the special unit of the Baltimore PD McNulty was working with at the time and the FBI.
    • During the third season, the Major Crimes Unit comes up with a plan to try to bring down Proposition Joe by busting one of Joe's lieutenants in the hopes that the lieutenant's incompetent underling (who happens to be Prop Joe's nephew) will be promoted to take over the position, and thus will speak too much on the wiretap the unit has going on this syndicate. When Cedric presents the plan to Commissioner Burrell, Burrell asks why Daniels thinks the wrong man will be promoted. Daniels quips "Well, we do it all the time." After a brief pause, Burrell laughs rather heartily at the joke.
    • Jimmy McNulty frequently chuckles or smirks at the various What the Hell, Hero? speeches he gets when the other person makes a particularly good point, most notably when Lester Freamon (one of the few detectives on the force McNulty genuinely respects) gives him a speech that amounts to saying "you need to get a life".
    • In the second season, Bunk and Lester have a frustrating time trying to interview the crew of an international freighter, all of whom are claiming to not speak any English. Eventually the two snap and start trying to get one of the crew to react while they say things like "Yabba dabba doo". Bunk can be seen cracking up just before Lester resorts to shouting "English, motherfucker!" in one guy's face.
  • Yes, Prime Minister:
    • "The Bishop's Gambit" has an exchange between Humphrey and another bureaucrat that one candidate had been waiting quite a while to be made a bishop. Humphrey cracks, "So 'Long time, no See.'" The guy he was talking to scolds him for the pun, then spends the next minute or so trying not to burst out laughing.
    • Another episode sees Hacker go on a rant about the various types of newspaper readers. Sir Humphrey not only cracks a rare smile but asks about The Sun readers.
  • While some expressed concern as to whether the sketch was ridiculing Christianity or religious communities in general, controversial Filipino televangelist Eliseo Soriano of Ang Dating Daan fame admitted that he found Isko Salvador's Parody Religion segment in Bubble Gang entitled Ang Dating Doon quite funny, stating that the parody helped popularise the original religious programme it was based on. Conversely, Salvador, who went by the screen name "Brod Pete" as a play on actor Brad Pitt, also praised Soriano for helping him better understand the Bible.
  • On Pawn Stars, pawn shop owner Rick Harrison was a guest speaker at a university business administration class. When he gets back to the pawn shop, Chumlee asks Rick if any of the students called him "Professor Dick". Rick bursts out laughing at that.

padronnaing1952.blogspot.com

Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ActuallyPrettyFunny/LiveActionTV

Post a Comment for "Thats Actually Pretty Funny Tv Tropes"