Big heart-swelling comedy scenes - YOUR FAVES

[The Mollusk]

I'm absolutely crap at regulating my emotions so I often find myself getting misty-eyed with joy at certain songs or comedy scenes (since music and comedy are my top two favourite art forms). We're all friends here, we're all fuckin nerds for the chuckles, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that sometimes there are emotionally charged scenes in comedy which make my heart swell up like a balloon and my head buzzes like crazy with endorphins no matter how many times I see them.

One of the absolute best for me has to be when Dennis and Charlie come up with the "Dayman" song on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I mean god the whole episode is brilliant but that scene is pitch perfect, particularly in how effectively they portray two people coming up with a song on the spot in an ecstatic epiphany. The baffled king composing "Hallelujah" indeed. I can't even think about it without grinning like a loon.

What's great about comedy is that even through absurdity there can be moments of true beauty. The Simpsons in its heyday had an exceptional knack for throwing in a really touching and heartfelt scene that wraps up an episode in a minute or less. "Lisa the Vegetarian" does exactly this (and playing "Maybe I'm Amazed" over the credits is a miraculous touch that turns that scene's resolution from sweet and warm to frankly superb) but one that really hits me in the gut from left field is at the end of "Selma's Choice" - a cartoon woman with a horrendous raspy voice singing "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman" to a disinterested looking iguana, and it fucking makes me cry every time.

Third and final mention for this OP will be for the still criminally underrated Nirvanna The Band The Show, which is chock full to the gills with bloody wonderful displays of adoring friendship between Matt and Jay whilst also being one of the most creatively hilarious shows I've ever seen. For those who know it, you'll already have deduced that I'm talking about "The Buffet" which is honestly just beyond magical. So smartly written, so exceptionally performed, and the climactic scene will never fail to have me blubbing like a helpless fool. The first time I saw this episode I was in New York with my best friend, we were both sobbing and we couldn't believe that an episode of anything could be that good, so we watched it again immediately after and it had the exact same effect. If you've never seen NTBTS before, seek it out. I can help if you're stuck. It's phenomenal.

[Ferris]

There's a bit of "The Buffet" where Matt

Spoiler alert

drifts, dreamlike past a buffet of mediocre Chinese food with a look of wondrous amazement

[close]

that absolutely slays me every time. I'm laughing thinking about it now.

[dead-ced-dead]

Sticking with Charlie Day for a bit, the way he and Hermann in Pacific Rim reconcile their differences is so adorable, my heart can't take it. It's not strictly a comedy, but they're the comic relief, so it counts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzAR32X1-ZY

[The Mollusk]

There's a bit of "The Buffet" where Matt

Spoiler alert

drifts, dreamlike past a buffet of mediocre Chinese food with a look of wondrous amazement

[close]

that absolutely slays me every time. I'm laughing thinking about it now.

The show is rammed with cultural references but I never clocked what this one was specifically calling back to. It seems way too realised in terms of how the shot is lit and soundtracked to just be a regular scene. It is bloody wonderful though, Jay is such a cute guy and I love his face.

[Pink Gregory]

Any episode of Bob's Burgers when there's a tender scene between Bob and Louise; seeing this mad, blase character have little cracks in her defences which remind you that she's still a kid and not a cynical, sociopathic cartoon kid.  Gene and Tina don't get those moments as much, maybe because they're more open about their vulnerabilities?

[The Mollusk]

Any episode of Bob's Burgers when there's a tender scene between Bob and Louise; seeing this mad, blase character have little cracks in her defences which remind you that she's still a kid and not a cynical, sociopathic cartoon kid.  Gene and Tina don't get those moments as much, maybe because they're more open about their vulnerabilities?

Ah man yeah totally. The "Boyz 4 Now" episode where she astounds herself by becoming besotted with a boy band and ... I think? ... the one where they get trapped in the museum together? where it ends with Louise hugging Bob and maybe even admitting she loves him (or words to that effect) really got me. The former is especially fantastic since she reverts to her insane ways at the climax by fulfilling her wish of slapping Boo Boo in the face.

[madhair60]

It's the cut to the outside of the house that gets me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzkAgit8U3s

The Simpsons' second season is remarkable. Genuinely remarkable

[An tSaoi]

Lots of early episodes of Still Game have heartwarming moments when the two main characters reminisce about their late wives. Comparatively serious acting, then a joke at the end to puncture the tension. They phased those moments out as the show went on.

[Pink Gregory]

Ah man yeah totally. The "Boyz 4 Now" episode where she astounds herself by becoming besotted with a boy band and ... I think? ... the one where they get trapped in the museum together? where it ends with Louise hugging Bob and maybe even admitting she loves him (or words to that effect) really got me. The former is especially fantastic since she reverts to her insane ways at the climax by fulfilling her wish of slapping Boo Boo in the face.

Exactly the one I was thinking of.  The fact that it's about Louise trying to overcome her fear of pooing in a public bathroom makes an emotional moment like that more striking in the middle of a very silly context.

[Petey Pate]

I remember being upset by the Only Fools and Horses episode where Uncle Albert gets 'mugged' and goes missing after Del Boy yells at him - though I've not seen it in years. Do wonder now if John Sullivan heard Paul McCartney's Uncle Albert and decided to write an episode where he could use the song appropriately.

More recently, I also found the Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room episode of Inside No 9 pretty touching.

[The Mollusk]

It's the cut to the outside of the house that gets me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzkAgit8U3s

The Simpsons' second season is remarkable. Genuinely remarkable

Wow yeah nicely observed. I don't know why that heightens the scene but it does. Maybe by widening the perspective and removing the characters from the screen it adds to the contained humility of it. It's just a simple suburban household but there's magic and familial bonding blossoming within.

[The Mollusk]

The hopeless reprobate sense of community that keeps everyone pooled together in Trailer Park Boys has several wonderful little moments. Bubbles setting Steve French the mountain lion back into the wild and walking back to the car and Ricky and Julian are both crying right before the credits roll is the crowning glory of a fantastic episode.

Also when Ricky kisses Lahey's bare ass cheek to sacrifice his trailer deposit in order to buy a set of encyclopaedias for Trinity is fucking great, specifically again in the closing scene after Bubbles tells him that makes him "a fucking good dad" (when he really, really isn't) and then Lucy comes to thank him, and finally the episode ends with Ricky just sat in the battered car where he sleeps, watching The Littlest Hobo on a shitty telly resting on the bonnet. Bloody marvellous that is.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

It's the cut to the outside of the house that gets me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzkAgit8U3s

The Simpsons' second season is remarkable. Genuinely remarkable

There's several candidates in 'Bart Gets and F' and 'Simpson and Delilah', but maybe Homer meaning the other Dimoxinil guy in the square at dawn

[Pink Gregory]

Old Money is the one that gets to me.  Suprising considering what Abe Simpson turns into, not that I wouldn't have wanted 'So I tied an onion to my belt...which was the style at the time"

[Utter Shit]

I remember being upset by the Only Fools and Horses episode where Uncle Albert gets 'mugged' and goes missing after Del Boy yells at him - though I've not seen it in years.

Yeah that's done very well, a classic example of Sullivan's ability to put in a beautiful bit of pathos (Albert down by the docks reminiscing about his past) only to undercut it with a great joke (the reveal that

Spoiler alert

Albert wasn't actually mugged at all

[close]

).

Sullivan really was the master of that for me, there are so many examples just in Only Fools and Horses. The vicar's hat bit in Grandad's funeral is especially brilliant when you consider that the scene featured everyone involved mourning the loss of Lennard Pierce. I'm not sure if it was 'brave' as such - acknowledging Pierce's death in the show at all was the brave part - but the willingness to undercut real-world emotions with a gag showed supreme confidence.

[Bobloblawslawbomb]

Bojack horseman final episode of season 4.

Spoiler alert

Bojack is on the phone to Hollyhock after discovering he is her brother rather than her dad. After the truly traumatic storyline that his dementia addled mother had been drugging her whilst in his care, he apologises and hollyhock says that she is excited to be part of his life as a sibling.

A tentative smile broadens on bojacks face for what seems like the first time ever, all while the intro to Wake Up by Jenny Owens Youngs swells in the background. Before cutting to credits as it kicks into the verse.

[close]

It's just perfect and it makes me emotional every time I think about it.

[The Mollusk]

Bojack horseman final episode of season 4.

I think this one in particular might benefit from some spoiler tags, it's very revealing for those who've not seen the show.

[Bobloblawslawbomb]

I think this one in particular might benefit from some spoiler tags, it's very revealing for those who've not seen the show.

Done

[Wezzo]

The genuine joy (and tears) in the eyes of Mark Watson and Nish Kumar after their song for Rosalind in Taskmaster receives a rapturous reception.

[Jerzy Bondov]

You know what I already posted about this in the Documental thread but

Spoiler alert

Saito

[close]

in season 2 has such a perfect arc.

Spoiler alert

He spends the entire season getting shat on by the others. They criticise everything he does, tell him he's not funny, chastise him for puncturing the others' moments. But he keeps his cool and somehow gets down to the final two. And then he goes fucking mental. He spits and screams, breaks an egg on his cock and balls, shags a teddy bear, kisses his opponent on the mouth. And he comes so, so close to breaking Kotoge, who seems like the more obvious winner. But time runs out, and Kotoge wins on points. Saito is clearly heartbroken, but then Matsumoto comes in and tells him the one thing he's spent 6 hours waiting to hear - 'you're funny'.

[close]

Real emotional beauty in the middle of the unbridled carnage. Amazing.

[Chollis]

Club scene in Spaced

[madhair60]

Wow yeah nicely observed. I don't know why that heightens the scene but it does. Maybe by widening the perspective and removing the characters from the screen it adds to the contained humility of it. It's just a simple suburban household but there's magic and familial bonding blossoming within.

The cut to the outside makes it "real". Homer's not putting on a show, he's not humouring Lisa, he's just giving himself to the joy of the music. The cut to outside shows that this is still happening even when we're not watching. It's a real moment.

I'm not very good at analysis, but it's always moved me.

[The Mollusk]

I can dig it dude, you're on the money.

[wrec]

Lots of early episodes of Still Game have heartwarming moments when the two main characters reminisce about their late wives. Comparatively serious acting, then a joke at the end to puncture the tension. They phased those moments out as the show went on.

There's a a great example of this in the South Africa (caravan) episode in the 8th series - I know a lot of people consider the show past its prime at that point but I'd only gotten into it not long before, so was probably the first instance of this I'd seen. Everyone's reminiscing about past sexual conquests and Jack gets into a very affecting and believable monologue about getting together with a woman for the first time since being widowed, before being violently interrupted by an oblivious Winston. Love that they represent the sadness, loss and fear of the elderly characters but have their cake and eat it by generally using it as a springboard to a big laugh that doesn't negate the pathos.

[dead-ced-dead]

Club scene in Spaced

I love that scene. When Tim and Daisy reconcile after their fight and have a moment.

[The Crumb]

The genuine joy (and tears) in the eyes of Mark Watson and Nish Kumar after their song for Rosalind in Taskmaster receives a rapturous reception.

Generally a very heart wearming series this. Sally Phillips having the time of her life, Aisling treating Bob like a beloved uncle, everyone having a big hug at the end.

Futurama had a few of these. The ending of the 7 leaf clover episode springs to mind. Also the poor dog, but that's very bittersweet.

[madhair60]

I love that scene. When Tim and Daisy reconcile after their fight and have a moment.

Wonderful episode in general.

[Povidone]

Joe Pera Talks With You had this effect on me. I wasn't expecting how sitcom-y it would be with all these recurring characters and engaging storylines, the hopefulness and reverence for the simple pleasures of life coupled with excellent filmography and sound design make for something achingly, unrelentingly beautiful. There's nothing like it.

[madhair60]

Oh, yes - the Baba O'Riley episode!

[Povidone]

A thing of wonder, gives you a whole new appreciation for that song. It's usually the episode that I end up showing people to get them into it.