Top 10 Funniest That '70s Show Running Gags
#10: “A Car That Runs on Water, Man!”
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If you’re a fan of conspiracy theories, then this one’s for you. Hyde initially brings this up during one of the gang’s first Circles, telling his friends – with much conviction – that the government is hiding the fact that they’ve got a car that runs on H20. Why, you ask? So that people won’t buy up all the water and drink beer instead, of course! Like a recurring gag is wont to do, it comes up more than once, but Hyde keeps things interesting by adding elements like a fiber glass air cooled engine and the idea that there isn’t actually a gas shortage to the mix – whether the guys believe him is another story, however!
#9: “I’m Breaking Up with Jackie”
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One of the biggest running gags of nearly half the show is Jackie Burkhart and Michael Kelso’s on-again, off-again relationship. In the first season especially, Kelso repeatedly claims that he plans to break up with Jackie, but these assertions rarely come to fruition, due to Jackie’s complete domination of him. The couple breaks up and reunites several times throughout the series and their tumultuous relationship is a great source of comedy, for both the audience and their friends. It’s totally relatable because everyone knows a couple like this.
#8: “Ow, My Eye!”
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Kelso is quite the lovable lummox, but he gets on his friends’ nerves a lot- particularly Hyde’s. When Kelso goes too far, Hyde will often punch, beat, or in some other way injure him as a way to pay him back. During the more brutal of these smack downs, Kelso will exclaim that his eye has been injured, although more often than not he uses it as a way to back out of the scuffle. Whether real or feigned, Kelso’s ocular exclamations are a very amusing repeated joke.
#7: Fez’s Real Name & Origin
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The show makes a long running gag of not explicitly stating where exactly Fez is from... or even what his real name is. The moniker “Fez” which stands for Foreign Exchange Student…uh…with a “z”…is given to him by his friends after they find his real name unpronounceable. As far as his country of origin goes, several hints are dropped throughout the series, including that it’s an island and that Fez knows how to speak Dutch. However, it’s kept intentionally vague, allowing Fez to act as a prototypical fish out of water in 1970s America.
#6: Falling Off the Water Tower
The Point Place water tower is a recurring hangout for the gang. Whether they’re up there proposing marriage or painting a pot leaf on the side of it though, they almost always get down the same way – by falling. Most of them have fallen off at some point, either due to clumsiness or by choice. Out of all of them, Kelso seems to have fallen off of it the most though, having apparently acquired a taste for the falling sensation after his first time. While the falls are generally played for slapstick, on one occasion a recurring character’s fall leads to a dark punchline.
#5: The Stupid Helmet
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The group frequently engages in activities that are idiotic or reckless in nature. When one of these ventures into the monumentally stupid range, the rest of the group forces the person attempting it to wear a well-worn Green Bay Packers football helmet; ostensibly to protect what few brain cells they have remaining. Some of the incidents that have warranted the use of the so-called stupid helmet include Eric’s wanting to propose to Donna, and Kelso’s numerous inadvisable stunts. It is rumored that Ashton Kutcher, who played Kelso, took the helmet with him as a souvenir after the show ended.
#4: “I Said Good Day!”
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Everybody likes to have the last word and few characters like it more than Fez. He is fond of departing his friends or dismissing them from his presence with a flourish and the words: “good day.” However, they often try to reason with him before he leaves, saying “But Fez-“ before he cuts them off by reiterating his previous statement with more intensity, “I said good day!” While Fez does vary up the exact wording several times, including replying in his native language (whatever that is), the basic formula remains consistent throughout the show.
#3: Burns
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“That ‘70s Show” is a regular five alarm fire with the amount of burns it delivers. The whole gang takes great relish in delivering cutting insults or pranks, otherwise known as “burns,” to each other and to those around them, with Kelso in particular voicing his appreciation loudly by shouting the word whenever one occurs. Burns are further defined in the show as being humiliating and unexpected, which makes them that much more funny for both the characters and the audience. Some of the most legendarily hilarious moments of the show are definitely burn-related.
#2: The Circle
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You can’t talk about “That ‘70s Show” without mentioning “the circle.” These 360 degree rotating shots are a mainstay of the show and are most often used to imply that the kids are smoking pot; with the joint being passed along with the camera’s rotation. Thanks to the altered state of their minds, their discourse is usually abstract or disconnected from what the rest are saying, to the point where they’re almost interwoven monologues; leading to conversations that are among the funniest and most memorable in the entire series. Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: Action Figures, Not Dolls “Star Wars”
#1: “I’ll Put My Foot in Your Ass”
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Saying the Forman family patriarch, Red, is a bit of a hard ass, is like saying Kelso is a bit of an idiot. Red has little tolerance for his son and his friends’ antics, or anyone else’s for that matter, and frequently insults them by calling them dumbasses. However, it’s his fondness for threats to kick and/or insert his foot in other people’s butts that has earned our top spot. Red’s threats are many and often very creative and witty. We wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of them, but watching him dole them out is enormously entertaining.
