Funny / Robin Hood: Men in Tights

• The fact that this film makes several references to people, events and inventions that obviously didn't exist in medieval Europe, included but not limited to:
  • A Braille Playboy magazine
  • "The Clapper" (clap on, clap off. . .)
  • Mark Twain
  • Abe Lincoln
  • Air Jordans
  • Pablo Picasso
  • The all-black Merry Men rap group.
  • "We're from Georgia." "What part of Georgia you from? South-Central?"
  • Don Giovanni came all the way from Jersey. It's quite a drive, whether from the future US state or the English territory off the coast of France.
  • The Hollywood Sign-style "England" sign.
  • Achoo's backwards cap, complete with a ballcap-style adjustable band.
• Robin's journey home across the English Channel scored to an epic orchestral version of "Row Row Row Your Boat."
• The characters in this film break the fourth wall many times.
  • The king of these is the archery sequence, wherein characters pull out their scripts from under their chairs to double-check a plot development:
    Robin: "Wait a minute! I get another shot!"
    *villains check their own scripts*
    Prince John & The Sheriff: *both rolling their eyes* "Yes, he does, he does..."
• The fight between Robin and Little John....over the right to cross a bridge that covers a stream of water that's tiny enough to step over. It's the Principle of the Thing.
  Li'l John: "Well, I'm sorry, but a toll is a toll, and a roll is a roll, and if we don't get no tolls then we don't eat no rolls!" (smiles proudly) "...I made that up."
  • "Help! I can't swim!"
  • The fight itself has Robin and Little John fighting with two sticks that end up breaking in half. They continue fighting only for it to happen again. Eventually, they are left with a stick barely the width of their palm and use it to hit each other on the knuckles.
• Will proving his awesome reflexes and knife skills by shredding Robin's arrow. He blows smoke off of his knives, twirles them around and sticks them back into their sheaths... only to end up cutting his belt, causing his pants to drop.
  "Well, I haven't quite figured that part out yet."
• "It's good to be the king."
  • And Patrick Stewart hamming it up as King Richard in the first place.
  "Throw him in the Tower of London! ...make him part of the tour!"
  • It's because of Prince John that toilets have that nickname. And he gives out a horrified Big "NO!" at the idea.
• The purposefully miscast Richard Lewis as Prince John, playing neurotic Jewish-ness up to eleven.
  • When the armored guards storm into the dining hall to fight Robin and his men, with their heavy armor clanking the entire time.
    Prince John: [Swaying from a splitting headache] I hope it's worth all the nooooise!
  • The way he says "treif" after Robin dumps the pig on the dinner table. ^note  Treif is Yiddish term that means "Unkosher".
  • And his look of exasperation when trumpets on either side of him blow directly into his ears during the archery tournament.
• "I have a mole?"
  • Not to mention the fact that the mole moves across his face constantly. By the end, it's in the middle of his forehead. Doubles as a Call-Back to Igor's magical moving hump in Young Frankenstein.
• Robin knocking over the knights, domino style. Doubles as a Moment of Awesome, as it was one of the most complicated shots in the whole film.
• The Sheriff challenging Robin to a duel by slapping him with a glove. Robin picks up a metal gauntlet that just happens to be on the table and slaps him back to accept.
• "We're men! We're men in tights!/We roam around the forest looking for fights!/We're men! We're men in tiiiights!/We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that's right!"
  • The fact that the tune is recycled from a different Mel Brooks song, "Jews In Space" from History of the World Part I, is funny in and of itself.
    • The can-can part. Yes, really.
  • "Yesssss!"
  • "We're men in tight, tight tights!"
  • "We're butch!"
  • Blinkin continually getting his steps wrong and punching the people standing next to him.
    • Little John doing the choreography and making sure Blinkin does the choreography correctly at the same time.
• "I CAN SEE!" * wham* ".....nope. I guess I was wrong."
  • In that same scene:
  Robin: Blinkin, what are you doing?
  Blinkin: Guessing? I.. guess no one's coming?
  Robin: Get down from there! Twit.
  Blinkin: I... guess there's a ladder around here somewhere... (feels around and falls out of treehouse)
  • The fact that Blinkin, the blind guy, was chosen to be the lookout.
• At a banquet, a mime attempts to entertain Prince John and the sheriff. When he fails to do so:
  Sheriff: (fed up) Kill him!
  (guards take hold of him)
  Prince John: You know... a mime is a terrible thing to waste.
  Sheriff: ... Let him go.
• Another Blinkin moment:
  [After saving Robin by catching the assassin's arrow:]
  Blinkin: I heard that coming a mile away.
  Robin: Thank you, Blinkin, well done.
  Blinkin: Pardon? Who's talking?
• A third Blinkin moment:
  Ahchoo: Hey, Blinkin...
  Blinkin: Did you say 'Abe Lincoln'?
  Ahchoo: No, I didn't say 'Abe Lincoln'! I said 'Hey Blinkin'!
• In his first scene, Blinkin is using the bathroom when Loxley's castle is towed away. When Robin tells him he's back, he runs into a statue of the Venus de Milo, and starts feeling around it, thinking that was Robin.
  Blinkin: Master Robin! (feels the missing arms of the statue) OHHHH!! YOU LOST YOUR ARMS IN BATTLE! Oh, how terrible! (his hands move to the statue's chest) ...but you grew some nice boobs!
  • A mere minute or two before that, he's interrupted on the toilet. While reading a braille Playboy.
    • The "This never would have happened if your father were still alive." conversation. Especially the face at the end
      Robin: My goldfish, Goldy?
      Blinkin: Eaten by the cat.
      Robin: ...my cat?
      Blinkin: Choked on the goldfish.
      (Robin looks a second away from bawling)
      Blinkin: Oh, it's good to be home, ain't it, Master Robin?
• Blinkin vs. a wooden pillar. Blinkin wins.
• While the New Latin / Pig Latin gag isn't particularly hilarious by itself, what makes it awesome is how genuinely reverent Rottingham seems when reciting the ridiculous "A-men-ay" line.
• (After Robin suggests Ahchoo as the new sheriff)
  Townsfolk: A black sheriff??
  Blinkin: He's black?!?
  Ahchoo: And why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles!
  • Complete with Dave Chappelle doing a spot-on impression of Cleavon Little.
  • Adding to all that, if you listen close it sounds like Blinkin drops his British accent.
• The opening sequence in Le Dungeon is full-out funny. Especially the Affably Evil hotel-service-esque prison guard,
  Prison Guard: And if there is anything you require, please don't hesitate to scream. [off-camera scream] Com-ing! We're so busy!
  • Let's not forget when we see the hands of the wailing prisoners sticking out of the floor grate only to recoil when the guard whips them back down... and subsequently for the prisoners' hands to flip the bird behind the guard's back!
• Dom De Luise as "Don Giovanni".
  • "Excuse me, Don Giovanni, but your lizard seems a bit limp." "Well, when you're my age... Oh, my lizard. He's just asleep."
  • "You put it so succinctly." "Suck what?" Lucca and Ezio reach for their weapons.
  • Filthy Luca gets three major lines in the whole scene. Thanks to his delivery and everyone else's reactions, he makes them all count.
    "I will take these cotton balls from you with my hand, and put them in my pocket."
• The Trope Namer for Bad News in a Good Way.
• The guard in the prison discovers the jailbreak. "I've just told everyone the great news! And... and... and... I'm in deep shit."
• The villager training montage. It's one Epic Fail after another.
  • The villagers practice jousting against some training dummies. The dummies win.
    Ahchoo: ... hey, Rob, maybe we should take the dummies into battle.
    Robin: Ha! (pauses, frowns, and starts pondering seriously)
  • The villagers try their hands at archery. They range from releasing the bow instead of the string, breaking their bows when they draw, and shooting an arrow backwards into someone behind them.
• The Running Gag of the Sheriff of Rottingham's Spoonerisms.
  "Over that boy hand!"
  "He DEERED to kill a king's DARE!....Dared...to kill a king's deer."
  "I'LL PAY FOR THIS!....YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Made even better by Ahchoo nodding and grinning after the first line.
  "My liege! Struckey has loxxed again!"''
  • The last one, where he's so angry that he gets literally every word out of order.
  "ENOUGH! KING ILLEGAL FOREST! TO PIG WILD! KILL IN IT A IS!"
  Robin & Marian: (thoroughly confused) "What?"
  • (Note the Funny Background Event of the guards looking just as bewildered)
• The catapult scene.
  Sheriff of Rottingham: This is a stealth catapult, we've been working on it secretly for months. It can hurl one of these heavy boulders undetected, over a hundred yards, completely destroying anything in its path.
  Prince John: Wow! How's it work?
  Sheriff of Rottingham: It's rather simple. You get one of these heavy boulders, put it here where I'm sitting, and then pull on that lever.
  Prince John: Like this? [Pulls the lever, sending the Sheriff flying]
  Latrine: [Praying by her bed] Oh dear Lord, if you see fit to send me my one true love... [The Sheriff crashes through the roof onto her bed. Latrine looks up and says] Thank you!
  [Latrine leaps onto her bed and starts trying to get cozy with the Sheriff who, after some business, freaks out and bolts]
  Latrine: Aw buggah! [To the audience] I was this close. I touched it.
• "SHUT UP, YOU BLOODY FOOLS!"
  • Da daaaaaaaaaaaaah, dadadadadadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, dadadadadada-da-da, dada-da-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
  • "Now you've really pissed me off!" "Pissed off? If I were that close to a horses wiener I'd be worried about getting pissed on!"
  • "Mind the big rocks!"
    • You haven't seen the last of us! [six arrows at once pin him to a tree] You've seen the last of us.
• From the opening:
  Villager: There must be another way of doing the credits!
  Fireman: That's right! Every time they do a Robin Hood movie they burn our village down!
  [flaming arrows hit a rooftop, and flaming text appears showing who is directing the movie]
  Villagers: LEAVE US ALONE, MEL BROOKS!
• Rabbi Tuckman hawking circumcision to an ignorant Merry Men, stating "the ladies love it". Bonus points to Little John who responds, "I'll take two!" Once he finds out what it is, he quickly blurts "...I change me mind." Achoo suddenly remembers he already got one.
  Blinkin: Question. (Ahchoo stops him immediately)
  • "Faygeles?"
  • "No no no no, we're straight. Just... merry!"
  • Tuckman's matter-of-fact response to the above line: "Azoi."^note Yiddish for "Eh, whatever."
  • Tuckman tipping his hat, revealing his curly peyot are attached to it.
  • Rabbi Tuckman noting that Marian is of "the House of Baygel," then going on to say that Robin and Marian were made for each other. "Locksley and Baygel, can't miss."
• Wrong rope.
  • Later, just before using a rope for a dramatic swing, Robin glances upward, then nods and says, "Ahh, right rope".
    • Even better is that as he climbs up on the banister to use the second rope, there's a green, lit-up "EXIT" sign right behind him.
• Robin and Marian meet under a table, and are about to kiss when a guard shows up. Robin smacks him on the foot with his sword and tells Marian they'll have to continue later.
  • Later, Robin blows Marian a kiss as he's leaving the now-trashed feast. Broomhilde catches it.
• HEYYYYYYYYY AAAABBOTT!!!!
  "I hate that guy!"
• The reaction to the Sheriff's first name, Mervyn. The name itself isn't funny but the acting and timing are perfect. Mostly Prince John's laughter throughout.
  • "Okay. [Beat] Mervyn." *gigglesnort*
    • The German version translated it into Miffy.
• "Blinkin, fix your boobs. You look like a bleeding Picasso!"
• When they're repossessing Robin's castle, check out the bottom of the scroll:
  Royal Campaign Election Fund (see page 17)
  Do you want 1/2 pence to go to this fund?
  If joint filing, does your spouse want 1/2 pence to go to this fund?
• When Broomhilde goes to jump out the window onto the horse, the horse looks at her and the subtitles read "You have got to be kidding!"
• At the end, they're about to unlock her chastity belt and the key can't turn. "Call the locksmith!!"
  • Rottingham's earlier attempts to remove said chastity belt culminate with Robin running into the room as he's taking a jackhammer to it.
  Marian: RrRrOoObBiiNN!!
• The entire banquet scene, but especially:
  Prince John: And why should the people listen to you?
  Robin Hood: Because, unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent.
  • Particularly amusing is that during the entire conversation, Prince John and the Sheriff have been tolerating all of Robin's insults and mockery and threats, but that pushes them over the line to kill him.
  • And a bit of Hilarious in Hindsight, as Cary Elwes has become a bit infamous himself for his shaky American accent.
• Latrine's family changed their name to Latrine.
  "It used to be 'Shithouse!'"
  • It's a good change. A good change.
  • When Prince John asks if she's certain about how much of a threat Robin is:
  Latrine: Certain? You want certain, hire yourself a witch. I'm just your cook. Here. Eat this. [spoons some unholy mix of raven's egg, hen's blood, eyeballs of a crocodile, and testicles of a newt onto his plate]
  Prince John: It all looks so good. Like a seder at Vincent Price's house. [samples some] [spits an eyeball across the table as Latrine's back is turned]
• At one point during the banquet brawl, Prince John and the Sheriff can be seen in the background holding up the wild pig as a shield.
• The entire sequence of Robin serenading Marian from start to finish. All of it.
  • Beginning with Robin startling Marian when he suddenly belts it in a loud baritone without warning.
  • They proceed to set up a mock movie theatre. Complete with 12th century popcorn and a screen through which they can watch Robin and Marian in shadow.
  • It then climaxes (no pun intended) in a Funny Moment with Robin's scabbard rising in a manner that makes him appear like he's er... "really in love" with Marian. The reactions of the men (and Marian behind the screen) just sell it- especially Marian's.
• Robin and Rottingham have a gentleman's duel.
  [Rottingham roars an lunges at Robin, stopping just as sword's length from him and standing en guard]
  Rottingham: (politely) En guard.
  Robin: (also politely) Thanks for the warning!
• "12th century fox." Complete with a medieval version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare.
• The trailer's alternate version of the sentient arrow gag: rather than being part of an archery contest, it flies through the forrest, swerves around trees, brakes at a fork while deciding which way to go and then flies directly into the tree just above where the target is... splitting the tree in half. Cut to Robin, looking on with a really awkward smile as he turns, facepalms and walks away.
  • Bonus points; the narration is that of a Vigilante Man flick, complete with a dismantled weapon (an arrow) in a Zero Haliburton briefcase.
• "On the count of jump. Wait for it..."
• "Come. There is much to do, and less time to do it in."
• "Maybe if we got him drunk. Very drunk."
• Little John and Will Scarlett O'Hara checking each other's outfits.
  John: How are my seams?
  Will: Perfect.
  John: Every time!

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