Jokes you don't/didn't get

[bloodteller]

i know there’s the thing of “the joke isn’t funny if you explain it” but were there ever gags in Red Dwarf you didn’t get? and if so, what?

i never quite got what Cat’s “stan and ollie” line in White Hole was about, for example. nor did i get what “see you in ten minutes?” (repeat x10) from Pete was all about, and also Rimmer’s “steers and queers, which are you boy?” joke from Meltdown

Topic

[Warbodog]

I could see the thickness being because he plans on being a particularly exuberant lover, sort of the safe sex version of the black and decker gag, because he’s still The Cat in there somewhere even if he’s a dork now, or the low self confidence tiny nob gag, but I think it’s just continuing the ridiculously overprepared gag from his list of items personally (and it just sounds funny, in a “two pound black ribbed nobbler” way)

I think it’s because he expects to get over-excited and wants to dull and prolong the sensation. This could even be some of Cat’s own insecurity slipping through.

As a kid, I just thought “condom” + any specific descriptive adjective = funny.

[Unrumble]

I think I assumed it was to dull sensitivity, to stop him ‘finishing’ too soon…

EDIT: hadn’t seen the thread had gone onto a new page, didn’t see Warbodog had said basically the same.

[Ben Saunders]

Before you answer, bear in mind that his penis is still presumably barbed…
This is an interesting question. Duane Dibbley is a human in the hallucinatory world of Back To Reality, but when Cat turns into him in Emohawk, he’s not Duane physically, just mentally – he’s still in the Cat’s body.
So where do those teeth come from?

Where do Rimmer’s luscious locks come from? Who’s eating this chicken?

[cwickham]

How does the Polymorph remove emotions from a computer program?

[Warbodog]

How does the Polymorph remove emotions from a computer program?

They address this in the BTL novel by having it… hack the mainframe or something. In the episodes, maybe it vacuums up Rimmer’s light bee to connect with the tip of its sucker.

Then it removes emotions, somehow.

[Warbodog]

It changes into the form of Something That Can Remove Emotions From a Hologram, then does.

[Ben Saunders]

I always assumed it made contact with his light bee.

It changes into the form of Something That Can Remove Emotions From a Hologram, then does.

Simplest answer really.

[clem]

In the novel they think they’ve gotten rid of the Polymorph by trapping it in Blue Midget and sending it off into space, but it gets back onto Red Dwarf by turning into a ray of light, which I suppose at least explains how it touches Rimmer in the episode – by becoming a hologram itself – even though it doesn’t do that in the novel.

[clem]

Where do Rimmer’s luscious locks come from?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Given what we know later, is AstroCuts a wig maker?

[International Debris]

How does Ace know the numbers of the dimensions? Who’s counting?

[Ben Saunders]

Well he is, surely.

[Technopeasant]

I think this could be one of those MST3K mantra moments, sir.

Well, how does he eat and breathe then smart guy?

[Rudolph]

So where do those teeth come from?

[Stephen Abootman]

Anyone ever hear that phrase used in everyday conversation? Or has it, well, gone for a Burton?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Nope. 

Wiki suggests it’s an old RAF phrase. So presumably appeared in old WW2 movies and Doug & Rob seem to have been raised on those old films. Probably a lot of cold wet Sunday afternoons in front of the TV

[Dave]

I think I’ve read it more than I’ve heard it, it was definitely pretty dated even then.

[Stephen Abootman]

Out of curiosity, did a search on quodb.com and based on that, British TV shows have at least tried to keep it going every few years:

“That’s gone for a Burton now. So, we’ll just have to busk it.” Tonight at Twelve (1929)

“The starboard engine had gone for a burton” The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)

“#Prince Ludwig thought he’d won But now the Kraut’s gone for a burton” L’éventreur de Notre-Dame (1975)

“Well, I think I can safely say that my invitation to the hunt ball has gone for a Burton!” Only Fools and Horses….: A Touch of Glass (1982)

“lt means this program’s gone for a total burton.” Inspector Morse: Masonic Mysteries (1990)

“That’s Nicki’s tape. Ten episodes of ”Changing Rooms” gone for a burton.” Ideal: The Seduction (2005)

“Three years man and boy – all gone for a Burton.” Stella: Episode #2.3 (2013)

[Ian Symes]

In my head it’s a lot more common than these posts suggest, but it’s probably just that every single syllable of Series 1-VI has osmosed into my soul.

It’s used in the closing theme tune for Chains, the last episode of Blackadder II. I was going to say that it’s also in the Grant Naylor penned Spitting Image song Santa Claus Is On The Dole, but having looked it up to check, I was misremembering – the line there is “the suit’s gone back to Burtons”. 

[Ben Saunders]

Absolutely no memory of that “gone for a Burton” line whatsoever. Incidentally, when I started my last rewatch I started jotting down all the references I never got, but I gave up after a couple of episodes. They were:

“we are over 60 billion miles away from the nearest Berni Inn” (never heard of them)

“it’s like giving Blind Pew contact lenses” (Treasure Island character with no eyes apparently)

Film Fun magazine (discontinued by 1962)

Brooke Shields’ buttocks (I assumed she was that tennis lady)

[Dave]

When that kind of thing comes up, just mentally replace the reference with Joe Klumpp, it makes it 100% funnier.

[Ian Symes]

You’ve never heard of Berni Inn?  He’s the most famous steakhouse proprietor in the world.

[Flap Jack]

Wild to think that because of Berni Inn, the Red Dwarf timeline definitively diverged from the real one as early as 1995. Possibly earlier, if anyone can think of an explicit reference which aged in a similar way but even faster?

Caveat that of course in theory it’s possible Berni Inn could make a comeback in the late 21st/22nd/23rd century. Also, assuming that Cliff Richard doesn’t live long enough to get shot during Lister’s lifetime, Peter Beardsley doesn’t star in a remake of Casablanca with someone called Myra Binglebat before he passes, and Kevin Keegan doesn’t write a book called Football: It’s a Funny Old Game before he passes, those references could actually be to future people who just happen to have the same names.

[Ian Symes]

I think 1995 is the record. The Norweb brand lasted until 2001, and Lewis’s went bust in 2010.

[Dave]

You’ve never heard of Berni Inn?  He’s the most famous steakhouse proprietor in the world.

It all went wrong for him when he invested in Pete & Berni’s Philosophical Steakhouse.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I think 1995 is the record. The Norweb brand lasted until 2001, and Lewis’s went bust in 2010.

If 1995 is the divergent point then how is eBay explained or the FIFA references etc in Dave era?

or am I misunderstanding this 

[Warbodog]

Lewis’s went bust in 2010.

I’ve just learned that Lewis’s was the name of a shop, and Lister didn’t mean “John Lewis” like when my Nan would say “Marks’s.”

I was surprised at Blind Pew not being common knowledge, but my familiarity is probably entirely down to Muppet Treasure Island.

[Ben Saunders]

I’m definitely aware of Treasure Island, but not familiar enough with it to know who Blind Pew is. Long John Silver and his parrot I do get the reference to.

[Dave]

If 1995 is the divergent point then how is eBay explained or the FIFA references etc in Dave era?

or am I misunderstanding this 

1995 is the earliest point that our reality breaks from the show’s reality in terms of defunct real-life brands that somehow persisted in the Red Dwarf universe. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

If 1995 is the divergent point then how is eBay explained or the FIFA references etc in Dave era?
or am I misunderstanding this 
1995 is the earliest point that our reality breaks from the show’s reality in terms of defunct real-life brands that somehow persisted in the Red Dwarf universe. 

If Berni Inn persisted, who’s to say eBay would even exist 

but no I get the point now :)

[clem]

What even is eBay in Red Dwarf though, given that the internet doesn’t exist?

[Ben Saunders]

What even is eBay in Red Dwarf though, given that the internet doesn’t exist?

It kind of starts to exist in Series X with the JMC database/net/whatever

[Unrumble]

Absolutely no memory of that “gone for a Burton” line whatsoever.

Same. I just looked up the scene in Bodyswap, and it’s perfectly audible and clearly spoken. Guess my brain just glossed over it as an unfamiliar combination of words, as the line is thrown away somewhat.

[Stephen Abootman]

Guess my brain just glossed over it as an unfamiliar combination of words, as the line is thrown away somewhat.

Similar here too, was only when I was watching with subtitles on that I thought ‘eh?’
Think I must have previously  subconsciously written it off as ‘must be a Scouse thing’.

[Moonlight]

Surely Lister is taking the piss when he says it was supposed to be roast beef.

[Ben Saunders]

He used the same book as Rachel in that episode of Friends where a page was torn out so she ended up following half a recipe for trifle and half a recipe for Shepherd’s Pie.

That cake always looked shit to me anyway. Is it real or is it a TV cake where the “whipped cream” is mashed potatoes or something?

[Moonlight]

I don’t know about you, but I always use dull grey frosting on my birthday cake to remind myself of the grim specter of death.

[Warbodog]

[Unrumble]

[Nick R]

[Technopeasant]

When I was younger I didn’t understand Rimmer’s bottoms down remark. It seemed to me like he was very eager for it to induce vomiting.

[Nick R]

When I was younger I didn’t understand Rimmer’s bottoms down remark. It seemed to me like he was very eager for it to induce vomiting.

then

and hopefully

again!

[Jenuall]

[Dave]

I can’t remember which is the current thread for Sonic memes, but I guess they belong anywhere at this point.

[Unrumble]

[Flap Jack]

I can’t remember which is the current thread for Sonic memes,

This one:

https://www.ganymede.tv/forums/topic/sonic-mania/

[Jenuall]

[Dave]

[Jenuall]

Can’t believe I left that typo in my gif up there. Shame overload

[Frank Smeghammer]

This either belongs in here if it’s a deliberate secondary gag or in the mundane observation thread

But having obviously seen this episode more than my own family it only dawned on me on today’s viewing…

What the hell do you mean your will Rimmer? Brother, you are already dead

[Author]

Replies