Editing Running gag (section)

{{short description|Literary device in the form of a repeated joke or reference}}
[[File:Jack Benny and vault.JPG|thumb|A running gag in ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'' radio show was that Benny owned a high-security vault in his basement, which would produce dramatic sound effects when broken into.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunning |first1=John |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=7 May 1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=357 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC |language=en}}</ref>]]
A '''running gag''', or '''running joke''', is a [[literary device]] that takes the form of an amusing [[joke]] or a [[comedy|comical]] reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of [[literature]] or other form of [[storytelling]]. Though they are similar, [[catchphrase]]s are not considered to be running gags.<ref name="byron" /><ref name="beaver" />

Running gags can begin with an instance of unintentional humor that is repeated in variations as the joke grows familiar and [[audience]]s anticipate reappearances of the gag. The humor in a running gag may derive entirely from how often it is repeated, but the underlying statement or situation will always be some form of joke. A trivial statement will not become a running gag simply by being repeated. A running gag may also derive its humor from the (in)appropriateness of the situation in which it occurs, or by setting up the audience to expect another occurrence of the joke and then substituting something else (''bait and switch''). Running gags are found in everyday life, live theater, live comedy, [[television shows]], [[video game]]s, [[film]]s, [[book]]s, [[comic strip]]s, and potentially any other situation in which humor is possible and there is enough time for the repetitions to happen.

A running gag can be verbal or visual and may "convey social values by echoing belligerent speakers with a barrage of caricatured threats".<ref name="Brunvand719">{{cite book|last=Brunvand|first=Jan Harold|author-link=Jan Harold Brunvand|title=American Folklore: An Encyclopedia Garland Reference Library of the Humanities; Vol. 1551|year=1998|publisher=New York: Garland |isbn=978-0815333500 |pages= 719, 812}}</ref> For example, a character may present others with a proposition that is so ridiculous or outrageous it is likely to be self-mocking to the point where the original request has little or no chance of actually being carried out and results in a humorous effect.<ref name="Brunvand719"/>