Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
Original Radio & TV Series
- At the end of "The Big Actor" (both the radio and TV versions), after the robbery suspect they have tracked to a local soundstage breaks down and confesses under questioning, Romero leads him off ... and the director of the movie being filmed there comes up and says to Friday: "That was a fine reading. I'm directing this picture; you the boy's agent?"
- In the 1954 theatrical film, there's this, when a thug stands to threaten a female officer they had planted in the suspect's bar:Friday: Unless you're growing, sit down!note
Revival
- The constant ribbing they take in the Ginger episode-other guys keep sending dog food and chew bones to Friday and Gannon. And Friday's exchange with the officer who hasn't entered into evidence the pot in his pocket yet and Ginger grabs it.
- The end of the purse-snatching dog ep and the policewoman saying she has to break the dog from grabbing her purse.
- Whenever Gannon goes into an extended soliloquy espousing his love for various odd foods, Friday's reactions are a mix of the character's amusement towards his friend and Jack Webb's amusement towards Harry Morgan's delivery.
- In one episode, a murder has been committed in an apartment whose manager is an old man with a phenomenal knowledge of criminology gained from years as a police detective. He notes so much about the case, that when it comes time to do a fingerprint check on him, Gannon wryly notes an extra place they ought to telefax the fingerprints to:
- In the episode Robbery: The Mister Gannon himself gets to flash his own badge for one of the few times as he gives a sarcastic introduction to Mister Daniel LoomisGannon: Are you Loomis?
Loomis: That's MISTER Daniel Loomis. And you would be?
Gannon (flashing his badge): I'm MISTER Officer Gannon, this is MISTER Sargent Friday.\\
Film
- Friday and Streebek find a lion's mane was butchered to the point the lion literally has a mohawk.Friday: Somebody must have wanted that lion's mane pretty bad to pull a twisted stunt like this.
Streebek: Although, as mohawks go, it's not that bad. It'll grow back.
Friday: Yeah? And how do you explain this to all these kids who have never seen a lion before, and now probably will never want to see one again?
Streebek: Kids? It'll grow back.
Kids: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! - Streebek trying to talk Friday out of eating his chili dogs.Streebek: You know the kinds of things that can fall into an industrial sausage press, not excluding rodent hairs and bug excrement?Friday: (beat) I hate you, Streebek.
- Friday reading off the list of traffic offenses Streebek has committed while in hot pursuit of Muzz's limo.Friday: Reckless endangerment of human life... willful destruction of private property... failure to signal for a safe lane change...Streebek: Yeah, he's really racking up the violations.Friday: Not him. You! This is your one-way ticket back to civilian life, Mr. I-Like-To-Throw-The-Book-Out-The-Window! [shakes the notepad at Pep]Streebek: That's a good idea. [grabs the notepad and does just that]
- Friday and Streebeck visiting Jerry Caesar's house the first time. Friday buzzes the intercom at the gate.Lady on the intercom: Oh thank God, vibrator repair?
Friday: [beat] No, ma'am, Los Angeles Police Department. Sorry. - Confronted by a gorgeous model in a tennis skirt, Friday and Streebeck identify themselves as police officers. Friday pulls out his badge. Streebeck pulls out his handcuffs.
- The amazing Brick Joke about Sylvia Wiss. During the opening, the narrator informs us Sylvia Wiss is in fact a man, his name and appearance having been changed "to protect the innocent". So when Sylvia bares her chest at Friday...Wiss: Would you say these look like the breasts of a 43-year-old woman?
Friday: No, no they don't, Miss Wiss. They're quite impressive... bordering on spectacular. - Friday chewing Pep out at one point.Friday: There are two things which clearly differentiate the human species from animals: One, we use cutlery! Two, we are capable of controlling our sexual urges! Now you might be an exception, but don't drag me down into your private hell!
- Enid Borden's filthy, filthy mouth.
- There's also the meta humor of The Penguin cussing out Elwood.
- Streebeck and Friday meet Emil Muzz.Friday: Let's check Enid Borden's description.
Streebeck: Well, [flips open his notepad] "big, bad, stupid-looking."
Friday: An exact match. - The interrogation. Put simply, it's between Pep Streebeck, Emil Muzz, Emil Muzz's balls... and repeated slamming of a desk drawer.
- The P.A.G.A.N. dance. Helped, of course, by the goat leggings. And during their attempt to explain this to the chief, Pep and Friday recreate it.
- Streebek takes Friday to his favorite place to get coffee...a strip club. And Friday has to admit that it's excellent coffee.
- Friday's encounter with the street thugs:Friday: Are you threatening me, son?
Thugs: oooOOOoooOOO!- And on a school night, too.
- Friday lecturing Streebek after they accidentally bust an ordinary, law-abiding business...which was right next to the decoy business for a P.A.G.A.N. establishment.Friday: Just like the sign said on the building before you obliterated it! Fresh, wholesome milk!
Streebek: You probably love this stuff, don't you?
Friday: Vitamin D, calcium, essential for good, strong bones and healthy teeth...but I'll bet that's all Greek to you, Mr. Gingivitis! - When the duo get assigned a Yugo as their official car, which Friday describes as the only car the department was willing to release to them after losing their two previous vehicles to theft and explosion and "reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology."
- Later, when trying to deduce Friday and The Virgin Connie Swail's whereabouts, Streebek briefly considers the idea of them having sex in said Yugo, before eventually declaring it to be impossible, complete with using hand motions to try and work out the logistics.
- The fact that Friday introduces his date to his grandmother as "The Virgin Connie Swail" with a completely straight face.
- Friday and the Big Bad face off.Friday: Sure, but just like every other foaming, rabid psycho in this city with a foolproof plan, you've forgotten you're facing the single finest fighting force ever assembled!
Whirley: [beat] The Israelis?
Friday: Try the good, hard-working men and women of Los Angeles!
Whirley: [giggles] Forgotten? Why, Sergeant... [laughs harder] I'm absolutely counting on them! - Pep singing holiday carols in utter panic when told to "think of Christmas" while Joe Drives Like Crazy to rescue Connie.Streebek: "Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of Stephen/When the snow lay round about..."
Friday: "Deep and crisp and ee-ven!"
Streebek: "Brightly shone the Moon that night, though the frost was cru-el/When an old man came in sight, gather—"
Friday: Try a chorus of 'Silent Night'. - Whirley has seemingly made his getaway in a private jet, with The Virgin Connie Swail. When suddenly he looks out the window and sees Joe Friday in a Northrop T-38 Talon, signaling for him to pull over.
- The jet itself has a lot of funny details. In addition to the LAPD logo and the "To Protect and Serve" slogan, it has a little "Emergency 911" sign on it, and of course a flashing police light in the cockpit.
- The Wham Line at the very end, which was being built up over half the film. Da-da-DUN-dun!
- The narration mentions that Whirley was found guilty on a long list of crimes, including two counts of attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, obstruction of justice, and tampering with public utilities.Narrator: He is currently in the men's correctional facility at Chino, serving forty-three consecutive ninety-nine year sentences, which makes him eligible for parole in seven years.
- The introduction of the film has Dan Aykroyd as Detective Friday giving a charmingly straight-faced soliloquy about life and crime in the City of Angels. As he enters the front doors of the LAPD headquarters, the traditional Dragnet music suddenly and jarringly shifts into Art of Noise's very 80's remix. It can be as funny as it is awesome.
