Live Action TV/Funny/Other Live Action Shows

Why so many different shows? The main page was getting way too cluttered, and made browsing/editing rather hard. This page is only a temporary home for the shows which don't have their own pages yet, so please make separate pages instead of adding even more examples here. Thanks.

Also, please make sure the entry you're about to add doesn't already have a page of its own by checking the index. You might also want to double check the entry for the show itself; a few Funny bits have slipped through and not been indexed yet. If you would like to help us fix this, we would love you so much.

"(Team are shown a picture of a house being blown up, with an ice cream van outside)
 * The appearances on TV Heaven Telly Hell by Would I Lie to You? team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell, discussing The Indoor League and Adam Hart-Davies respectively.
 * Also Mitchell's dressing down of Judge John Deed, and how he felt it presented a disconcerting and unfair representation of British justices: "They shouldn't be glamourized by an ex-Professional."
 * Argumental pulled one off in the very first episode: "anyone who says that America and Britain should be more similar is as outdated as a mammoth!... I realize that if it was a mammoth, there wouldn't necessarily be a photo of it."
 * Jimmy Carr inadvertently called the entire British Military gay. He then continued in the same fashion, calling all ice cream vendors and the British Prime Minister, gay.

Marcus Brigstocke: Is this an argument against calling the entire British Military gay?

Jimmy Carr: What, the British Army turned up at my house in an ice cream van? Well I'm sorry, but that is a bit gay!"

"Orlando Bloom: On the set of Pirates of the Caribbean, the birds would just walk past him -- "Get out of the bloody way, whoever you are, we wanna get to Orlando". Around me like flies on shit.
 * Tommy Cooper, a British comedian/magician, is known for having an entire career full of crowning funny moments. His look and his manner made it possible for him to say just about any joke he wanted and, based entirely on his delivery, make people laugh. Jokes and gags that would elicit groans or even boos if they were told by any other comedian suddenly became hilarious when they were coming from Cooper's mouth. Probably the most surprising is an anecdote told by Bob Monkhouse where he saw Cooper playing with a metal tap/faucet attached to a piece of elastic. After Monkhouse asked what he was doing, he explained that he was going to walk out on stage, bounce it around for a while and then say "Tap dance!" Monkhouse claimed it was one of the worst jokes he had ever heard and advised him not to bother with it; Cooper subsequently went out on stage, performed the gag and brought the house down.
 * When Robin Williams was a guest on Inside the Actor's Studio, a member of the live audience got a herniated disk from laughing too hard, and had to be taken away in an ambulance.
 * The Tom Green Show's Crowning Moment was definitely when he went to his parents' house and presented them with a functioning fountain statue of them having sex. Doggystyle.
 * From the comedy show Hollow Men: Everyone's a Lawyer.
 * The first episode of The Peter Serafinowicz Show was one of these in its entirety. It's just a shame that the other episodes were nowhere near as good.
 * The Two Ronnies: Fork Handles.
 * This was even referenced at Barker's funeral by having a man walk in front of his coffin with a lit candelabra... containing four candles.
 * Extras: The Daniel Radcliffe episode, specifically the moment when a condom ends up on Diana Rigg's head and she makes him ask for it back politely.
 * Then there's Orlando Bloom's raging ego.

Maggie: They ignored Johnny Depp?

Orlando Bloom: Yeah. They're going, "Oh, Orlando, who's that freak over there that we didn't notice?". I'm going, "It's Johnny Depp". They're going, "Who cares? You were Legolas in Lord of the Rings!"."

"BANG
 * Scare Tactics has a lot of really good pranks, but one of their best moments was the "rat monster" prank, in which a very sweet PETA activist is dragged into a fake animal testing facility. "Do you need help, little man?" (Unfortunately youtube doesn't have an unedited clip, but this gives the general idea.)
 * From Knightmare: "Simon, sidestep to your left."
 * In one of the Penelope sketches on The Amanda Show, Penelope's little brother Preston is accompanying her on her latest Zany Scheme and asks her in the funniest but most serious little voice, "Does Mom know you missed your psychiatrist's appointment?"
 * In Allo Allo, when Control Freak Herr Flick asks Helga to change clothes, he watches her from behind a screen with only his head showing. She disrobes, revealing that she's wearing a scarlet corset, stockings, and a jeweled choker, and asks him if he approves of her attire. He looks approvingly at her and says that they're very popular in Berlin-- and then steps out from behind the screen, revealing that he is wearing the exact same thing.
 * "Unnecessary Censorship" from Jimmy Kimmel Live has always been funny, but the Sesame Street edition takes the cake, with the Mr Rogers one coming in second.
 * Sarah Silverman's fucking Matt Damon! She's fucking Matt Damon!
 * Also, a nod to "We Are the World" with celebrities singing the reply to the above meme with this.
 * The less you think about Jimmy and Sarah's recent break-up, the better.
 * George Takei loves sweaty basketball players!
 * The scene from Stephen Fry In America where he gets to shoot a .44 Magnum, aka the Dirty Harry Hand Cannon. His reaction is priceless:

Mummy!

BANG

Holy MACKEREL!!"

"Kyle: Oh no. I tried that once and I did not like it!"
 * The cult classic Get a Life has the much-loved "Zoo Animals on Wheels" episode, which is perhaps the definitive parody of Cats. The highlight comes when Chris, playing the lead, leads his other roller-skating community theater actors in the one thing that cheers up all sad zoo animals: "A light show!" "Yeah, with disco music!"
 * I'm a giraffe! I'm a giraffe! I'm a giraffe! I'm a giraffe!
 * Surgical Spirit, an old British TV program, was a medical comedy. It wasn't House in that House is basically the surgeons trying to find out what's wrong. Surgical Spirit was about a group of surgeons who had to try to live with each other while doing their jobs, which was surgery. It had a myriad of Crowning Moments of Funny, but among the best happens in the episode after Sheila and Jonathan break up and they have an argument over respect, with Jonathan ending it by shouting at Sheila, "No! I am not a sex object! I deserve some respect!"
 * This coming from an anesthetist in his forties to what has to be the bitchiest surgeon who ever existed. She shouts back, "Jonathan Haslem, if you want to earn my respect you will turn up in my theatre on Monday morning at nine o'clock!" And when he begins to protest she cuts him off by shouting, "And stop behaving like a bimbo on steroids!"
 * Kyle XY: Drunk. Kyle. The antics he gets up to while intoxicated are pretty hilarious, but there was also the line just before he takes his first drink, which is funny due to the tone of voice he says it in:

"Decoy: Well, hang on, you gotta be patient for that!
 * Fond memories of the Adam & Joe Show from Channel 4 (they're on BBC 6 Music nowadays). Specifically the "Small Independent Dance Music" shop: "Birdy Song, Nancy Kneecaps Remix!"... "can I buy it?"... "nah mate, doesn't come out for ten years".
 * Who could forget The Odd Couple on Password? The password is Bird. Felix's clue? "Aristophones!"
 * An episode of the short-lived 1997 series Over The Top featured Tim Curry and the late John Ritter as Large Ham actors trying to out-do one another for a role. The whole thing accumulates into a hilarious scene that features both of them in drag.
 * This is especially funny when you realize that Tim Curry's most famous role is that of a cross-dressing alien (IE: Frank).
 * Bill Bailey playing Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" -  but doing cockney winks and nods with a large grin plastered upon his face. See it here (starts at around 2:00).
 * The Munsters: Herman and Grandpa's fight finally drives them to paint a white line across every room in the house and declare, "This Is My Side!" One day, Marilyn comes into the living room and notices Grandpa wearing a monocle, which she's never seen him wear before. Of course, it's not a monocle; it's the result of what Herman did to Grandpa's reading glasses when they were sitting on the middle of the white line. Herman then holds up his bedroom slippers, which Grandpa also cut in half.
 * "Genius" when Dave Gorman gets into bed with Johnny Vegas to test someone's idea.
 * Six Feet Under: Claire. Gabe's locker. Revenge. FOOT. That is all.
 * Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator has some unexpectedly hilarious moments. The standard was set by the guy in the first episode who showed up completely naked just in time to be ambushed by Chris Hansen.
 * Episode 7 brings us this scene when a potential predator walks over to the patio and opens his arms for a hug, as the "decoy" skips behind a divider (supposedly to change into a swimsuit).

Cheema: Just a hug...

Chris Hansen walks out, arms extended.

Chris Hansen: (slightly put out) ...no hug for me?"

"Ephram: Isn't there some kind of law against dumping sperm in a natural forest?"
 * Dave Perry (no, not that one; the Games Master one) on the verge of tears after his Super Mario 64 attempt.
 * Brothers and Sisters has had a few:
 * The opening to the third season finale, in the style of a Western scene. Nora walks slowly into a Mexican bar and whips out...
 * The dumb-show conversation from the same episode.
 * Despite being a 90% Tear Jerker drama, Everwood has a particularly amusing scene where Ephram and Andy go out to the woods to dispose of a dead man's sperm.

"Deadpan female voice: Hello, you've reached the police department's main switchboard. Please listen carefully to the following options. To be connected to a supervisor because one of our jackbooted thugs mistreated you, and you want his goddamn badge, press one. If you've committed a crime you think you can bullshit your way out of, press two. If you're shirtless and threatening your girlfriend with a knife, but don't want one of our officers interfering with true love, press three. To report an incident of racial profiling, put down your crack pipe and press four. If you can't locate one of your seven, unsupervised fatherless children, press five..."
 * Sir Ian McKellen on changing a flat tire. Magnificent.
 * Alias: Will being rescued by Sydney, and simultaneously learning that she is a spy. And later, in the car with Syd and her father Jack (who is also a spy), who are having a very detailed conversation about spy-type things, asking "Who are you people?"
 * More or less the entire fourteenth episode of Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. But especially Noeline Brown's sound-effect based breakdown near the middle of the episode.
 * And the very end of the final episode of the first series. After a snowman-making contest to decide the winning team, host Shaun Micallef begins his closing monologue. Cue all contestants pelting him with snowballs until he can no longer read the autocue. Oh, and Micallef is dressed (and made up) as Robert Smith of the Cure for the duration.
 * All 15 episodes of The Ghost Busters are hilarious, but the all-time-funniest moment occurs when Spenser and Tracy [the big ape] set up shop in the office as music teachers. Tracy demonstrates to Kong how to play a trumpet by picking it up and blowing into it. Tracy then pulls out a guitar and demonstrates how to play it...by picking it up and blowing into it, just as he did the trumpet.
 * Shooting Stars A song about Ulrika and football
 * The Shield: "Riceburner" begins with a hilarious phony switchboard recording, which even Claudette finds hilarious:

"Rachel: I've never been a lesbian before.
 * Of course, then we have a raid where the bad guy shoots two kids.
 * Another ESPN example. A few years ago, there was a college basketball show hosted on the network by primary commentator Steve Lavin. One panelist was longtime Utah men's hoops coach Rick Majerus, who had breifly stepped down for health reasons. They had gotten to where they were discussing then-University of Connecticut star Rudy Gay when Majerus piped in with the quote, "I'm not a big Gay guy". Steve Lavin and the other panelists are struggling to hold their composure. But Majerus isn't done, however as he manages to dig a deeper hole with comments about him having too many peaks and valleys and having a "jet body" like those "I-talian {even mispronouncing Italian} sports cars".
 * The new version of Let's Make a Deal with Wayne Brady: Contestant forgets to wear a bra and excitedly jumps up and down? Mildly amusing. The cast and crew's reaction? Turns it into pure comedy gold.
 * Moving Wallpaper has two in episode 2, season 1. Producer and main character Jonathan is given a giant panda toy from one of his actors. He asks one of the staff what he's meant to do with it, and she tells him something like "You can cuddle it at night- it's so soft and fluffy." He responds, "A 39 year old straight man in bed with a giant panda? Not on my watch." The second one is slightly later, when he is given the payroll, and the woman who gives it to him was under the mistaken belief that everybody on the staff should get a copy... and she already gave them copies, so everybody knows how much everybody else makes. Jonathan flips out and seems to calm down, before the camera changes to an outside shot of his office, with the toy bear bouncing off the walls.
 * Spicks and Specks Christmas Special 2009: Molly Meldrum dressed as a Christmas tree with his voice disguised. Enough said.
 * Also the end of the episode in which Richard O'Brien was a guest, in which the whole cast re-enacted the 'Time Warp'...including Adam Hills stripping on-camera at the end of it all, absolutely deadpan, to reveal Frank'N'Furter's corset, frilly knickers, fishnets and heels. This was then one-upped in the next year's Deleted Scenes and Rude Bits special by Myf Warhurst blandly revealing the extent of Adam Hills' costume's, erm, deficiencies...
 * Conan O'Brien "Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Bolton has threatened to kill me."
 * Conan suckers Andy Richter into taking off his clothes on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, then goes over to the set of Today show.
 * Could also be a Crowning Moment of Awesome: upon confirmation that he was fired from NBC, Conan took advantage of the fact that NBC was still paying for the budget of the show, so he bought the most expensive car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron, and dressed it as a mouse to use as a "character" on the show with its theme tune as the so-very-expensive-to-get-the-rights-to "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones.
 * From Late Night: Conan meets Buffalo.
 * The normally doom-and-gloom-laden police procedural Without a Trace had one in the pleasantly lighthearted episode where Joan Holloway (dis)appeared as an agoraphobic lesbian. Jack finds the missing woman in one piece and in the middle of an existential crisis:

Jack: (reassuringly) I haven't either. (Beat) Well, I did have this dream once..."

"Tom Bergeron: "This looks like a job for..."
 * In one episode of Time Team, Tony Robinson was required to explain how a sword might hang from the wearer's belt -- which meant, for the first and only time on the show, he had to use the word "Baldric".
 * Perfect Strangers' is in "Hunks Like Us" when the guys try to impress two women at a exercise club. Afterward, they wake up from a nap and they find that they are so sore that every move they make is agony. Now, they have a date within minutes and they try to act normal despite their movements are bizarre as the Ho Yay misperceptions abound.
 * Courtesy of the short-lived The Dana Carvey Show... Waiters Who Are Nauseated By Food.
 * One of the best from America's Funniest Home Videos: For whatever reason, a stationary camera is filming as an earthquake hits a house.

(a naked man, clearly caught by surprise, rushes out with a stylized "N" logo digitally hiding his privates)

Tom: "...NAKED-MAN!!""

"Joel: In the art world, that's what they call a Monet Shot."
 * 60 Minutes, of all things, on occasion.
 * During a story on Robin Williams, they got the idea of taking him to visit his inspiration, Jonathan Winters. The last third of the feature involved watching the interviewer trying not to wet himself laughing.
 * In a story about a retired Mohammed Ali, the interviewer was conned into thinking Ali occasionally drifted off into delirium. Sure enough Ali drifts off, then acted like he was back in the ring... right before throwing a couple of well-positioned punches just short of Mike Wallace's face and laughing.
 * The Soup has a lot of funny moments every week, but it'll be very hard to beat Jeffrey Osborne pitching his "Wings Of Love" chicken wing restaurant chain. "And free bleu cheese comes with... the wings of love."
 * A small but noticeable example, after showing a clip featuring a drawing composed of mangled penises formatted into the shape of Mickey Mouse's head complete with a stream of actual semen protruding from the bottom of the iconic mouse's head:

"Big Brother: "Nikki has been in the Diary Room for over 20 minutes. And has only been silent for 6 minutes.""
 * Reno911has such classic moments as a KKK member ending up being set on fire, and the attempt to remove a statue with a helicopter... only for the skids end up being completly ripped off.
 * USA Network's promotional ads that cross over its shows are pretty funny. See Shawn Spencer and Johnny Smith boggle at Adrian Monk, Neal Caffrey discuss wine tasting with professional wrestler The Big Show and accidentally break a table, Fiona Glenanne blatantly lying to Peter Burke that she has a gun and grenade in her purse, or Neal stealing Gus' wallet.
 * The "state of Susie" task in Big Brother 2006. Every time a fanfare was played, everyone had to run to the main room and pledge alliegance to the State of Susie. Naturally, They sound it every time they get a chance and Nikki gets so annoyed.
 * Nikki in general could be. "I'M SO, COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDDD!!!!"
 * And let's not forget the time she was told she had to sit in the Diary Room in silence until Big Brother told her she could go...and she kept throwing a tantrum.

"Dad: It's good to finally moot you, Bark. Now take those rubber boobs off and have a seat.
 * When everyone was woken up by a recording of Nikki screaming. The look on their faces.
 * Three words...Automated Big Brother.
 * Pete has too much fun playing with Automated Big Brother.
 * And another time, it broke. (Hopefully Pete didn't break it)
 * The Kids in The Hall - The Written in Haste sketch:

Gary: Of course, Mr Mite. I wouldn't want to get any dilt on your floop."

"Barney Fife: "Here at "the Rock", we have two basic rules. Memorize them so you can say them in your sleep. Rule One: Obey all rules! Second, do not write on the walls... as it takes a lot of work... to erase writing... off of walls.""
 * Brass Eye: It's hard to pick just one sketch, but the Cow Harrassment story from the Animal Rights episode is 100% hilarious. From the introduction "The twisted brain wrong of a one off man-mental", to Mark Heap whispering insults to a cow through a microphone; "You don't even know what electricity is do you? Little planets in the wire isn't it" and Chris Morris (as Ted Maul) saying "Arsecandle".
 * The Andy Griffith Show:

"Mr. Humphries: From now on, I shall always think of Mrs. Slocombe as "Dear Uh-Uh"."
 * The Closer: Skybox tickets??!?!?!??
 * Are You Being Served: In the episode "Fifty Years On", the entire rehearsal for "Happy Birthday", especially Mr. Rumbold’s temporary solution for not knowing Mrs. Slocombe's first name.

"Tony (who had been searching for Joey as the episode started): Blossom, have you seen...Do I smell pancakes? (Blossom grins) Oh, my God. You're not Blossom. You can't fool me, you pod person; you Stepford thing. What have you done with my sister?
 * Blossom: This exchange from the episode "Thanks for the Memorex".

Blossom: Anthony, it's me!

Tony: Prove it! (Blossom burps) It is you, hi."

"Monroe: "If the turkey's so smart, maybe we don't have to kill it. Maybe we can talk it into suicide.""
 * Too Close for Comfort had the show's piece de resistance of Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard in the episode "Rafkin's Bum", when Monroe buys a turkey for Thanksgiving and brings it the Rush house to cook for dinner, the only problem is the turkey is still alive:

"Henry: "I, Henry Rush, being of sound mind and body, refuse to die!""
 * A scene from the episode "The Remaking of Monroe" has a co-worker say he is surprised that Henry is 52 years old (he thought he was two years older). Henry then asks Monroe (who just arrived at Henry and Muriel's apartment a couple of minutes before ) how old he looked. Muriel (who is standing behind Monroe) ends up miming to him a response by holding up four fingers on her left hand and five on her right. You would think the response he would go with based on Muriel's hand signals would be "45", but instead Monroe goes with the response, "nine". This leads to a a head palm by Muriel.
 * In the episode "Where There's a Will", after a nightmare where Henry imagines his family is destitute after his death because he didn't make out a will, Henry takes Monroe's suggestion to do a videotaped will. His wife Muriel, daughters Jackie and Sara, and niece April arrive just as he is about to tape it and watch the reading live. Henry ultimately starts to regret making a will when during the reading Jackie, Sara and April continually interrupt him, either balking at his statements in the will or discussing how to spend their inheritance should Henry die; Hilarity Ensues when their actions lead him to snap at them for their greediness.

"Chad: What say you, good woman, were these apples freshly grown this fine morn?
 * After that though, he suffers chest pains and is sent to the hospital.
 * Much of the banter between Steve McGarrett and Danny "Danno" Williams on the new Hawaii Five-O is amusing but one of the best is when New Jersey native Williams becomes outraged at the idea of pineapple on a pizza.
 * Matt Lucas and David Walliams' second sketch show Come Fly With Me is pretty funny all around, but for me two moments in episode 3 stand out, the build up of one of the airport's workers having a (probably crap) film script that requires a young British actor for his villain. He finds Rupert Grint...to tell him to hand it to his Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe. The second was the cut back towards the customers workers, who were earlier seen smoking cocaine, but as we cut back we see them dancing to rave music, and telling the man they were questioning to leave while spouting pseudo-philosophical hippy-speak about...Contemplating Our Navels, maaaan.
 * Sonny With a Chance had this classic. When told to act natural, Chad turned to the cafeteria woman and shouted:

Sonny: I said act natural, not Amish."

"Ale: (making a cross with his arms) COME OUT OF THAT MORON!!"
 * In the italian program "Buona la Prima!", the actors received instructions through earphones, and they had to improvise everything. Basically, every time you saw the other actors have a "WTF?" reaction to someone's actions, that's a CMOF. Example in the 6th episode: the two main characters, Ale and Franz, were eating breakfast. Franz received the order to "clean the fridge in 15 seconds". Ale's reaction? Freak out.

"Alton: And you, sir... you've been a very bad dungeon master-
 * If Good Eats were any other cooking show, it would be bizarre to list it here, but it definitely has its moments-- mostly when Alton is being a Large Ham. There are plenty of instances, but a few that stick out are "Shepherd's pie-- made with real shepherd!" from the chicken pot pie episode, any time Flaky and Tender show up out of nowhere (particularly the opening to the pie crust one-- "Put them together and you get a biscuit that goes snap!") and a dialogue with the Dungeon Master that ends with:

Dungeon Master: Yes.

Alton: --and as punishment I want you... to go... skim the moat!

Dungeon Master: Oh hoo hoo! (reaches offscreen) Lucky straw! Hehehehe!

Alton: (Face Palm)"


 * A rescue show featured a couple of rather humorous moments in a rescue. A guy is walking his dog, and he notices that a couple of girls are shouting for help from a frozen lake. So he calls 911 and then runs out to try getting them out...and then he falls in. Another passerby sees this, so he comes out...and then falls in. Another dog walker approaches...and the dog falls in. By now the rescue crew is in here, with five people stuck in the lake. They then try to come out...and two of them fell in, so a total of seven people had to be saved from the lake.
 * Charlie Brooker's Newswipe was filled with Brooker's usual mordant wit, but for one troper the funniest moment came at the end of one episode where the credits rolled over Brooker calmly arranging his notes while the window behind him showed London getting nuked.
 * On the otherwise forgettable and short-lived teen comedy Opposite Sex, the premise is that three teenage boys inadvertently attending an all-girls school. One night, they decide to hijack the school's annual talent show by lip-syncing "I Will Survive" in drag. Combine with Retroactive Recognition when you realize two of the teenagers are Johnny Storm and Peter Petrelli.