Basic Trope: When a Running Gag is getting too old, it's ended for good.
- Straight: A Running Gag on Mary and Spencer is that whenever Spencer shows up to Mary's house, he jokingly asks to borrow a hundred dollars. Mary denies and asks what he's really there for, and then he explains. In one episode, Mary finally loans Spencer a hundred dollars, stopping him from asking for that first.
- Exaggerated: Spencer always shows up and asks to borrow a ridiculously specific object from Mary. These jokes build up over a season until the final episode, where Mary gives him all of them, and says that he can't ask her for anything again.
- Downplayed: The main cause of the joke was Early-Installment Weirdness. As the show developed and Spencer become less prone to making stupid demands, the joke was dropped because it didn't fit with his character and not because it was overused.
- Justified: Both Spencer and Mary were getting sick of this routine and just want to cut to the chase.
- Inverted: When fans complain about an Overused Running Gag, the trolling writers make it more frequent to annoy them.
- Subverted: Turns out that Mary's money was counterfeit. Spencer keeps badgering her for real money in later episodes.
- Double Subverted: But when Mary gives him legit money, he stops asking for good.
- Parodied: A cliffhanger in the previous episode teases a bunch of joke plot threads to come. One of these is an image of Mary handing Spencer money, captioned "THE END OF A BELOVED RUNNING GAG!?"
- Zig-Zagged: Although the joke seems to be ended for real in this episode, it still pops up from time to time.
- Averted: A Running Gag doesn't stop, no matter how much it's overused.
- Enforced:
- Fans complained that the joke was getting stale. To save the show's ratings, the writers had to stop the Running Gag.
- The writers couldn't think of any more variations on the joke, so they decided to find a way to end it.
- Lampshaded: "Spencer, we've been through this routine too many times to keep going."
- Invoked: Spencer learns to be more honest as part of his Character Development. This is communicated by having him not ask Mary for money he doesn't actually need.
- Exploited: Mary is getting sick of Spencer's requests. This makes it clear that she's being serious when she says she wants him to stop.
- Defied: Spencer thinks that the joke is still funny, and so he keeps doing it.
- Discussed: After Mary gives Spencer the money he wants:Mary: Does this mean you'll finally stop asking me for money?
Spencer: Yeah, but it became such a habit that I kind of miss it now... - Conversed: "Finally! They stopped doing that annoying Running Gag!"
- Played For Drama: Spencer no longer asks to borrow money followed by Mary asking what he really wants due to him passing away.question
Back to Running Gagged. And no, you won't be seeing any more fun variations on this sentence.
