Best Callbacks

[MuteBanana]

I only have one example to offer but it is brilliant and I'm obsessed with it.

Episode of King of the Hill, Dale brings an electric keyboard into the alley and gives everyone a theme tune. Nobody is impressed by this, except Bill of course. They all think Dale is being an idiot.

Later on in the episode Hank and Peggy are arguing about something. Hank is feeling stressed when suddenly some music starts to play. Hank hears the music and says "Oh good, Boomhauer's home." and goes out.

I just love how something he hated turned out to be a welcome sign later on. He needed a reason to get out of the house and it was thanks to Dale's stupid theme tunes. An excellent callback.

[magval]

There's an episode of American Dad where Roger's been taking drugs and he's paranoid that he's going to float off. Typical paranoid comedy stoner shit.

Later in the episode he carrying a big heavy bag to tether him to the ground and some cops make him put his hands up. As he does so, he drops the bag, and does indeed float off straight out of frame, completely silently. It's perfect.

[MuteBanana]

There's an episode of American Dad where Roger's been taking drugs and he's paranoid that he's going to float off. Typical paranoid comedy stoner shit.

Later in the episode he carrying a big heavy bag to tether him to the ground and some cops make him put his hands up. As he does so, he drops the bag, and does indeed float off straight out of frame, completely silently. It's perfect.

Haha thats so dumb and hilarious.

[Bobloblawslawbomb]

Big fan of the pay off to the 'England' routine on SLCV. When I saw it live in Edinburgh, the '......unfortunately the police got involved.....turns out, you say you're English these days...' absolutely lifted the roof off.

[Sean Ymphs]

Of course Arrested Development is full of these, but one that always gets me is the 'fishing rod' bit in episode one of season three. There's always one more than I remember.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Too many Stewart Lee ones to choose from.

[MuteBanana]

Bit different but a missed callback was in The IT Crowd when Roy pretended to be disabled after being caught using the disabled toilet at a theatre. During this time Moss ended up working behind the bar. Later when Roy was being put onto the minibus with the party of disabled people, the staff came out to wave them goodbye. Moss should've been there waving along, but he wasn't.

[hummingofevil]

Tom Parry's Yellow T-Shirt show from a few years back. Had a rehearsed standing ovation about 1/3 of way in with audience prompts and everything. The rest of the show was a half-hour proof that fancy dress can make you live forever and finished with the predicted, orchestrated, but thoroughly deserved standing ovation. Was brilliant fun.

[non capisco]

Too many Stewart Lee ones to choose from.

Got to be Joe Pasquale right at the end of 'Stand Up Comedian' for me. My jaw hit the floor the first time I heard that. Still his greatest stand up show, even if he doesn't agree.

[Lordofthefiles]

This scene in 3rd Rock from The Sun always gives me a warm buzz.
It's like it was "meant to be".

https://youtu.be/_OF2uOy5r5k


"The same thing happened to me!"

[Cuellar]

In series 7 episode 8 of IASIP, when they get shushed in a bar, Dennis says it's a dangerous thing to do because he "could be a guy with a bunch of duct tape and zip ties in my car!"

A few episodes later at the high school reunion he runs out to his car to get his 'tools'; duct tape and zip ties. Fetish shit.

[Captain Z]

Not the best, but a small one that comes to mind is in the animated Ricky Gervais shows. The 'old cold belly badness' story had already been done in a previous episode/series, but Karl is talking about how he'd eaten lots of fruit (plums?) which had given him a belly ache. It's never referred to in the audio but in the animation Suzanne walks past Karl lying on the sofa and pops an ashtray on his stomach.

Bit different but a missed callback was in The IT Crowd when Roy pretended to be disabled after being caught using the disabled toilet at a theatre. During this time Moss ended up working behind the bar. Later when Roy was being put onto the minibus with the party of disabled people, the staff came out to wave them goodbye. Moss should've been there waving along, but he wasn't.

Oh yeah, that really bugged me because that episode is almost perfection in the way the characters' storylines intertwine. You've already had Jen's confusion at Roy in the wheelchair immediately followed by Moss behind the bar, surely it would have been obvious to complete the set with Roy and Moss sharing an unspoken moment of confusion at each other's situation right at the end.

[Shit Good Nose]

Bit different but a missed callback was in The IT Crowd when Roy pretended to be disabled after being caught using the disabled toilet at a theatre. During this time Moss ended up working behind the bar. Later when Roy was being put onto the minibus with the party of disabled people, the staff came out to wave them goodbye. Moss should've been there waving along, but he wasn't.

Hahaaaa - that's exactly what I was expecting when I watched it, and was disappointed when it didn't happen.


My nom goes to the episode of Mr Don and Mr George where Donald is bought from an antiques shop by a nazi couple.  The end of the episode reels off callbacks and punchlines you didn't even realise were being set up.

[Shit Good Nose]

immediately followed by Moss behind the bar

I seriously lost my shit at "good evening madam" and then the destruction of drinking glasses.  I must have watched that bit twenty times.

[BritishHobo]

My favourite ever is in The Middle. A season one episode has Brick run for class historian, a position where the elected student documents the entire middle school experience of his class, spending all four years photographing his friends and their experiences, and then puts it all in a slideshow presentation at the end of the four years for them all to enjoy the memories before graduating. It's a really big responsibility.

The main focus of the episode is on how Brick always forgets to do class assignments and his mum, Frankie, ends up having to do them in full for him the night before. He tells her he needs a whole campaign sorted for the class historian election, and she decides enough is enough he has to learn to take responsibility. Brick comes through with a little speech and wins the election, but Frankie also decides she likes being needed. It's a nice bit of growth for him and for their relationship.

The show carries on for years and it's not mentioned again. Then right at the end of season four, Brick comes home from school right before graduation and tells Frankie he forgot to take even a single picture for four years and that he needs her to do the class historian presentation for him. At which point she finally tells him he's on his own.

Sitting on that payoff for so long is just fuckin brilliant.

[RenegadeScrew]

Got to be Joe Pasquale right at the end of 'Stand Up Comedian' for me. My jaw hit the floor the first time I heard that. Still his greatest stand up show, even if he doesn't agree.

For me it is "so my mum said, why can't you do the cruise ships like Tom O'Connor" from 41st best (my favourite of his).  Which if I remember rightly follows another mini-callback "not someone who works as a cunt".