> Great build for character's who the public can take to their hearts, or a chance for lazy writers to re-use the same fucking joke all the time?

A combination of the two, plus a third factor: the production budget. Sketch shows tend to be incredibly expensive, but you can save cash by shooting a bunch of sketches which all use the same character in the same location.

The downside is that you have to watch a one-dimensional character spouting a tired variation on the same line six hundred times. The upside is that the money saved can be spent elsewhere -- on a shiny chariot for a shit Gladiator spoof, for instance.

Such is life.

Some running gags work because they develop a simple idea and after a while, you no longer need exposition.

All my running gags have always got good laughs but i use them selectively.

Running gags aren't 'currently popular'. There traditional, and can work extremely well if utilised correctly.

>Running gags aren't 'currently popular'. They're traditional, and can work extremely well if utilised correctly.

Damn right. Just look at Python.. The Spanish Inquisition and Chapman's Colonel to name just The Spanish Inquisition and Chapman's Colonel.

The Spanish Inquisition is a great example, and in fact it is a proper running joke, in that the whole episode was structured around it. Also, the joke escalated through the show, building up perfectly to the "Oh, bugger!" punchline.

What is much more common, however, is the reccurring character sketches that pad out almost all sketch shows, not just The Fast Show and Harry Enfield. These are just excuses for reusing the same punchlines over and over, across many episodes, just by putting a one-joke character in different situations (Unlucky Alf being a perfect example). The jokes aren't running; they're standing still.

Occasionally they do get it right - Monkfish from The Fast Show was very good, for instance.

It is right to say, though, that this is nothing new. Eh? Where's me washboard?

>Damn right. Just look at Python.. The Spanish Inquisition and Chapman's Colonel to name just The Spanish Inquisition and Chapman's Colonel.

There was no overkill there though. For instance, I only recall about two back-refs to 'Spanish Inquisition' in the whole of Flying Circus.

"Hey Little Hen" Harry Hill. Please let's hope this show never comes back.

>"Hey Little Hen" Harry Hill. Please let's hope this show never comes back.

It won't.

Running gags are often a way of holding the audience's hand when doing something left-field and off-the-wall (TV speak).
If a character behaves unexpectedly, inexplicably, bizarrely, it often just alienates most of the audience (while making one or two of the more discerning ones wet their pants). Repeat that character every week, and people know what they're supposed to be laughing at, then, hands held, they can laugh along.
Look at what Reeves & Mortimer did with Swiss Toni compared to what the Fast Show did.
One a one-off appearance, bizarre and beautiful, the other a weekly visit, single-minded and repetitive. And which one was more successful?

Spike Milligan was the master of the running gag in the Q series with his corn plasters,elderly actor always reading from his script and the best way to finish a sketch with"What are we gonna do now?"repeated over and over again in a monotone voice.