What's the most you've laughed at Red Dwarf?

[Warbodog]

A feel-good thread for the sake of it. Has Red Dwarf ever made you laugh uncontrollably for minutes on end, preferably to the point of pain or letting a bit of wee out? (The only time TV’s achieved the latter was when watching Reeves & Mortimer as a sleep-deprived teenager).

The classic years are full of great character comedy and ace jokes (“and then they did a jigsaw”), but I probably spoiled the big reveal gags for myself (Nova 5 crew, Cat Camille, Duane Dibbley et al) by reading about them in the novels or dry programme guide synopses before seeing most of them on screen. So my fond memories of being surprised by jokes tend to be more tangential and easily forgotten things that slip through. Such as:

– The low-effort punchline to the luck virus bit in Quarantine, where Kryten flatly states the long name of the resistor he needs and Lister unceremoniously hands it to him from out of frame without bothering to speak, because we’re all up to speed now and don’t need to trip over props any more. Really tickles me.

– Watching the series II DVD round a friend’s house, Lister’s “Smegorama!” surprisingly got the biggest laugh. Something about the way it sounds unnatural and forced, and the unclear etymology (panorama?) that makes it seem as random as an Alan Partridge exclamation.

– The animal heads in Out of Time when I was eight, probably.

– The clearly fake Kryten head exploding in Beyond a Joke when I was eleven. I thought the obviousness might have been an intentional gag back then, but now I realise that would be too fourth-wall-breaking for this programme. It’s just inept and… beyond a joke.

– “Stone” *knocks on plywood set* is a smeg-up anyone can enjoy for a knowing chuckle.

[Moonlight]

When I was watching Skipper for the first time with my family, we fucking lost it at Mr. Rat.

[Dave]

For the older series, it’s really hard to remember my original reaction now because the jokes seem so familiar that it’s hard to imagine a time that I didn’t know them.

In the newer series, probably Snacky has been the thing that has tickled me the most, just for the absursity of the character. The longer it went on, the more I was laughing.

[tombow]

I think the most laugh was when I was listening to the audio book of the 2 novels and God was revealed to have a northern Ricky Tomlinson type voice. I knew God was coming (as I’d read it before) and I was curious as to how CB would portray him, expecting a stereotypical booming Shakespearean voice.

[tombow]

as for the show, I think Kryten/RL’s performance is the one thing that has me actually laughing loud. I mean, I softly chuckle if Lister and Rimmer are fighting or something wacky happens, but Kryten is the one character/actor who can make me crack up just by his performance/mannerisms. I did LOL at Sparky being made in MK, because I live in MK.

[tombow]

Sparky – i meant Snacky, I was mixed up with the Babylon 5 AI which is called Sparky

[Unrumble]

Another one from Quarantine, I love it when Kryten struggles with the psi-scan, and the inane stuff he says about it while he’s waiting for it to work. “passes 8 out of 10 bench tests…” (might not be verbatim).

The ‘LOL’ moment for me is the punchline, they way he pauses “and we are going to…. live”. Masterful timing and delivery.

[Warbodog]

Oh yeah, Chris Barrie’s voice choice on the audiobook made me and my brother laugh too. Especially the Z-shift tobacco chewer whose voice sounded absurdly deep and raspy in my memory, but when I listened again recently he was just gruff.

I’ve only watched X onwards by myself, apart from a completely failed experiment to get the wife on board with Twentica, so no big group laughs for those, but still lots of little laughs.

[Toxteth O-Grady]

Robert is consistently hilarious throughout V and VI, but Rimmer has do be the source of my most LOLs over the years:

– ‘Out of Time’ when looking through the CCTV monitor at Lister’s brain in a jar. “Ohhhhhh dear!”
– ‘Demons & Angels’ after conspiring with (or rather, at) Kryten about how they don’t need oxygen. The look he gives when he turns back round and smiles at Lister and Cat.
– ‘Back to Reality’ “Well how were we supposed to know that, you brummy git?”
– ‘Parallel Universe’ “A further thought occurs.. that we haven’t budged a smegging inch.”

Basically, smug or sarcastic Rimmer is my favourite type of Rimmer.

I really wish Doug would still write the character like this, and that Chris could still play him that way.

[clem]

Watching Meltdown with the commentary on, I lost it at the climax of Elvis’ “Arnie Rimmer’s death machine” chant, and the cast’s reaction to it. IIRC it’s Danny absolutely howling with laughter and you can hear Hattie really giggling as well. I guess I just found it very infectious.

[International Debris]

Classic era memories: the ‘stone’ smeg-up definitely. Kryten’s head exploding in Beyond a Joke first time. I would guess the phrase ‘dinosaur bowel movement frequency tables’, simply because just writing that phrase now still makes me laugh out loud. ‘Ah, so you’re a waffle man’ and the whole ‘so, what is it?’ scenes in White Hole.

Dave era: Cat walking into the bunk room in Trojan. The bio-printer jam in Officer Rimmer. ‘Margh’. The entire wrong decisions section of Skipper. Mr Rat. The montage in Skipper that includes Blue Dwarf, the elephant trumpeting, and the classic era model. Probably lots more, but those are the ones that come to mind.

[Dave]

Cat walking past the door later on in Trojan was a huge laugh for me.

[Ben Saunders]

Since I watched them all so young, either I didn’t laugh at homes because I didn’t understand them, or I just can’t remember my initial reactions from so long ago. Mr. Rat and the realisation in Mechocracy that Kryten tricked Rimmer are two things I remember laughing a lot at. And I have to say the biggest single reaction I remember Red Dwarf soliciting from me was Cat’s infamous droopy line in Timewave, which was not only laughter but also visceral shock, and I also distinctly remember feeling anger during the end credits.

I also remember getting emotional at the endings to Holoship, Tikka to Ride and Stoke, and even the dream sequence with “but you spell Kryten with a K” got me a few years ago

[Ben Saunders]

I didn’t laugh at homes, yes. I meant jokes, obviously

[Unrumble]

Yeah, re: the commentaries. There’s something giddily pleasurable about hearing their genuine laughter, especially Robert.

[Dave]

the realisation in Mechocracy that Kryten tricked Rimmer

Oh yes, this.

The silent opening with Kryten pulling oddly serene faces got a big chuckle from me too.

[International Debris]

Yeah, that Mechocracy moment was one for me. Part of it might have been joy that the clunky bunk room scene had a point and wasn’t just a shit obvious joke for the sake of it.

[genericnerdyusername]

Read Toxteth O-Grady’s comment again but imagine my username next to it. That’s my post.

[unclerubbish]

From Quarantine.

“It was just a test, a test to see if you’ve gone crazy…… HEEEUUUUURGGGGGHHHH!” Always has me howling.

This next one is a real guilty pleasure and probably an unpopular opinion. ” because he likes instant custard why do you think” from Pete inexplicably makes me piss myself laughing.

[Hamish]

When we first got the Series II DVDs ten years back I remember Lister reading to Rimmer the letter about his father’s death got a great response, especially “Your father is dad” and “Passed away peacefully in his jeep”. To then have it be topped by “I’d prefer chicken!” just a few scenes later was glorious.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

Can’t remember my reactions to the classic series, but oddly enough the joke to get the biggest laugh from me was the size doesn’t matter gag from Can of Worms.

[International Debris]

This next one is a real guilty pleasure and probably an unpopular opinion. ” because he likes instant custard why do you think” from Pete inexplicably makes me piss myself laughing.

Nah, that’s a brilliant line, delivered with perfect scathing from Chris Barrie.

[Pete Part Three]

I’ve been trooping through a rewatch for the best part of a year. I’m sure I used to giggle at I-VI, but I can’t really remember what made me laugh originally. I can remember my parents laughing at stuff when I originally watched them, simply because it was validation that the show I was watching was actually good. For example, my Mum laughed at Lister being served champagne in a pint glass in Better Than Life about 24 years ago. (How random a memory is that to retain?).

I think I laughed at the opening of Tikka, when it first aired (yes, the bit where the camcorder explodes). But that was probably because I was just glad that Red Dwarf was finally back on the telly, and assumed there was more hilarity of that calibre coming my way. Hmm.

More recently, the bit with Cat waking past the doorway in Trojan (which Dave has already mentioned) made me laugh at least the first few times, and still makes me smile.

The way Chris pronounces “Lady”, while attempting to gain entry to the club in Twentica makes me laugh, simply because of how silly it is.

Rimmer pouring his heart out to Snacky in Give & Take is amazingly broad, yet I like it. The ridiculous design of Snacky works so well.

The bit with the 3 sets of Rimmer, Lister and Kryten in Can of Worms made me laugh on the first couple of watches, and I’m stll impressed by it.

The scene with Kryten testing what Lister can and can’t see in M-Corp is the sort of thing that only Red Dwarf can do, so I probably clapped.

The Cat and Lister stuff at the beginning of Skipper. I’d have been up for a whole episode exploring that idea, franky.

So, in conclusion, the silly stuff tends to make me laugh. But if the show goes too silly I get awfully upset. It’s a fine line.

[Warbodog]

my Mum laughed at Lister being served champagne in a pint glass in Better Than Life about 24 years ago. (How random a memory is that to retain?).

My mum laughed at Hollister spraying air freshener to cover up the smell of his poo in Back in the Red and nothing else. She didn’t come back. My first memory of Red Dwarf is my dad laughing at lager killing a vindaloo and having to explain it to me.

[MANI506]

The Vindaloovians in Gunmen and Mr Rat are probably my two biggest laughs.

[Toxteth O-Grady]

>I think I laughed at the opening of Tikka, when it first aired (yes, the bit where the camcorder explodes). But that was probably because I was just glad that Red Dwarf was finally back on the telly, and assumed there was more hilarity of that calibre coming my way. Hmm.

The moment when Lister’s distress call comes back on and he says “Oh by the way, we’re in space”, is one of the funniest moments the show’s ever done for me.
The follow-up of him describing a moon/planet with his thumb and finger sort of ruins it though (as does the rest of that episode, series, and well, I could on..)

[Unrumble]

Can’t remember which episode, but this commentary intro, specifically Chris:

Chris: Hello, I’m Chris Barrett, the star of Red Pilot.
Craig: I’m Craig David.
Danny: I’m Daniella Westbrook.
Bobby: And I’m Roberta Lou-Ellen. I was in Dallas. ”

[Dave]

“Or we could just use the teleporter” is pretty perfect as Dwarf gags go, and the tension-release of the laugh benefits from all the build-up of the elaborate plan before it.

[Warbodog]

Oh yeah, that was another that caught me by surprise after not having seen Rimmerworld for years. Especially as I’d already been set off by the wording and delivery of “weaved from strands of this hessian.” That scene saves Rimmerworld so much.

[Dax101]

A joke that went over my head as a kid but i laughed at as an adult once it hit me what i missed.

RIMMER: No, look. I’m you from the future. I’ve come to warn you, in three million years you’ll be dead.

PAST RIMMER: *gasp* Will I really?

RIMMER: Yes. unless you do something about it now.

PAST RIMMER: Well, what do you suggest, give up white bread? More roughage!?

[John Hoare]

“I need it to turn the lights on and off” in Legion had me rolling around the floor in absolute hysterics.

[Dave]

I agree. I like it much more than the red alert bulb gag earlier in the episode (not that the bulb is a bad gag, the switch is just funnier to me – a lot is in the delivery on that one).

[Hamish]

The light switch is probably the finest gag that show ever produced.

[unclerubbish]

I was going to mention the teleporter gag, one of the best.

A couple from series 2

– Nova 5 crew reveal
– Holly reveal at the end of Queeg

[Unrumble]

I wouldn’t want to change Bobby as Kryten for all the fun-sized Crunchie bars in the world, but this exchange makes me feel that we’d have been in safe hands if David Ross had continued in the role:

(Copied from IMDb as I couldn’t be arsed typing it all out)

Kryten: Is anything the matter?

Rimmer: Anything the matter? They’re dead.

Kryten: Who is dead?

Rimmer: *They*

[indicating the “surviving” officers of Kryten’s ship]

Rimmer: are dead. They’re all dead.

Kryten: My God! I was only away two minutes!

Rimmer: They’ve been dead for centuries!

Kryten: No.

Rimmer: Yes!

Kryten: You a doctor?

[International Debris]

“Or we could just use the teleporter” is pretty perfect as Dwarf gags go, and the tension-release of the laugh benefits from all the build-up of the elaborate plan before it.

Ah, how’d I forget that one? I saw Rimmerworld on broadcast, but my off-airs of VI were from the repeat run where they showed Dimension Jump instead, so I didn’t see it again until the DVD. Having a ‘new’ Red Dwarf gag of that calibre in the mid ’00s made me feel blessed.

In a similar way, I’d not seen any Red Dwarf USA footage until the DVD documentary, and my God ‘I’ve been reading that fire exit sign over there’ made me laugh a lot.

A couple of poo-based Bobby smeg-ups too: “Do I have permission to… poo myself, sir?” and “I’ve just cacked me pants” really set me off.

[genericnerdyusername]

Oh God, that light switch gag, it’s perfect. I also love “I’ve come to regard you as people…I…met.” It’s a funny line in itself but the fact that it’s Chris Barrie as Rimmer delivering it makes it one of the most hilarious.

[Taiwan Tony]

For me it might be that bit from the episode that dare not speak its name. With Johnny Vegas.
The first of Cat’s lines, before the nadir of the droopy ass titties or whatever it was.

But yes I get most pleasure from Chris being a bastard. But let’s get out there and twat it, and the whole Give Quiche A Chance character were very, very good.

[genericnerdyusername]

The episode that dare not speak it’s name? But it’s the Ideal episode.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

I remember this one deleted scene that made me laugh more than anything in the show now that I remember it. Its the deleted scene in Holoship right after Rimmer is told he’ll have to face-off against e member of the ship for a position, is the funniest thing ever.

The thing that sells it is the Captain’s dramatic walk towards Rimmer, how Rimmer is so confident, Chris Barrie flinging his fucking legs in the air, way funnier than that Ministry of Funny Walks or whatever stupid bullshit from Monty Python. Amazing, never laughed harder.

Also Timewave was a good episode, fight me.

[clem]

Yeah, little wonder Legion finished second in the World Cup of Guest Characters. Excellent performance.
The Surfboarding Killer Bikini Vampire Girls stuff always gets me, starting with Lister’s description of the plan as ‘truly award-winning’. Then there’s the shot of the back of the sculpture they’ve dressed up as Lister, then Rimmer lying to Legion unconvincingly, then you see the front of the sculpture with the face drawn on, and finally Legion’s brilliantly delivered ‘schlock plan’ line coupled with Lister behind him in his long johns struggling with the other sculpture. It really builds beautifully.

I hadn’t seen the VIII smeg ups til the DVD and remember laughing a lot at them, especially the one where Craig’s doing his ‘You’re gorrrrrrgeous, I want to run naked through your underwear’ nonsense, and Chris plays along but then gives a ‘wtf?’ look to the camera, and Craig catches him doing it.

[Pete Part Three]

Legion is the funniest episode.

[Warbodog]

Ministry of Funny Walks or whatever stupid bullshit from Monty Python

I like to imagine I witnessed a generation gap when year 7s failed to be entertained by my mate’s Monty Python best-of video on a school coach trip to Germany we were supervising as year 12s. It got through New Cooker, Silly Walks and half of Dinsdale before they demanded it was switched off and replaced with some stupid bullshit film or something.

Alternatively, it might have just been the comedy nerds vs. the general public.

[tombow]

I always find with much loved old comedy that the pressure of “you have to like this because it’s so loved” kind of ruins the humor for me. Like if Fawlty Towers or Morcambe and Wise comes on, I feel like I’ll be an un-British arsehole if I don’t laugh. And that kind of distracts me. Whereas with new comedy I can just enjoy it for what it is.

[Pete Part Three]

Just watching Cured. Not a classic, but Ryan Gage has made me laugh out loud a couple times on the 4th (?) time of watching the episode, particularly his delivery of “You are scheißering me!”.

[Dave]

“It’s because I’m Hitler, isn’t it” has worked multiple times for me.

[RealBigOleDummy]

The scene in “Legion” where they’re trying to knock out Rimmer. When he’s pounding his head into the wall while Kryten’s bopping him on the head has me laughing even as I write this.

The scene in “The End” with Captain Hollister “what’s in it for the cat?”.

[Hamish]

Thinking on things from XI/XII, while it is a little bulky in it’s delivery, I still love this Lister/Cat super-seey cat’s eyes exchange from Samsara.

Also “I’m just a snack dispenser, I just dispense snacks”.

And while the Morgan Freeman God is a bit on the nose, I do laugh at how Daniel Barker delivers the line “Wait, you mean I’M GOING TO DIE!?”

[Hamish]

I also now find the line “There’s an ANDY Hitler!” hilarious simply because I was playing around with a SNES emulator and the name just fits the dude in the censored Hitler portraits in the Wolfenstein 3D port perfectly.

[International Debris]

Although I don’t really like Cured, the three Hitler lines mentioned in this thread all made me laugh a lot, making me want to revisit the episode.

[Author]

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