Running Gag / Puppet Shows

• One of TV writer Jerry Juhl's maxims was "Any joke that is too bad to do once may be bad enough to do several times." There are several examples of this on The Muppet Show ("Gonzo Fiddles While George Burns...").
  • Once time Kermit hung a Lampshade when Fozzie kept getting phone calls from various places... here. It ended with Kermit yelling "Is there no end to this running gag?!" At which point Animal grabbed the phone, ripped it off the wall, and ran off with it.^note There is some speculation that the last call may have been from "animal" control...
  • "Have we said that this show is for the birds?" "Yes, and we're going to KEEP saying it until it gets a laugh!"
  • The Muppet Movie has repeated references to Hare Krishna:
    Bernie: You, you with the banjo, can you help me? I have lost my sense of direction.
    Kermit: Have you tried Hare Krishna?
    (later)
    Kermit: (after seeing Fozzie's act bombing at the El Sleazo) Geez, that guy's lost.
    Audience Member: Maybe he should try Hare Krishna!
    Kermit: Good grief, it's a running gag.
    Finally, the sign at the church where Kermit and Fozzie meet Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem^note As well as Scooter. reads "Lost? Have you tried Rev. Harry Krishna?"
  • "It's a myth! A myth!" "Yeth?" (Made even better by the fact that it's Carol Kane as the "myth" in question.)
  • Sesame Street had at least three very early "Ernie and Bert" segments where Bert loses his nose.
• German comedy series Harald und Eddi: Each episode starts with Harald Juhnke Breaking the Fourth Wall as an old-fashioned TV announcer:
  Harald: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to announce a new episode of our sketch show, Harald & Eddi —" (cut to Eddi, who's preoccupied with something, like food or handicraft, with the TV running in the background, with Harald on screen)
  Harald: (louder) "A new episode of our sketch show, Harald & Eddi!"
  Harald: (even louder) "Harald & Eddi!!"
  Harald: "Eddi!" (breaks the fourth wall and takes away whatever Eddi is occupied with, leaving Eddi flabbergasted)
• If you ever go to a Jeff Dunham show, don't dare laugh at one of Achmed the Dead Terrorist's jokes.
  Achmed: "SILENCE!" (beat) "I kill you."
• The Mr. Potato Head Show: Most jokes that involve referencing previous events in the episode don't happen often enough to qualify as Running Gags and are instead brick jokes, but there's one that recurs often enough: Mr. Potato Head saying, "Please don't say X. It makes me uncomfortable." Words like "bosom" and "evacuate" fill in the X.
• Bear in the Big Blue House:
  • Tutter tells Bear that he can't do something because "You're too big, Bear! Too big!" and then chuckles.
  • Bear hears the doorbell of the Big Blue House ring and goes to answer it, only to say that there's nobody there, and it turn out to be Grandma Flutter, but he didn't see her.