NCgags

This is a list of Running Gags used by The Nostalgia Critic in various episodes.

One-Use gags
The Nostalgia Critic tends to use running gags throughout his reviews. However, most are often self-contained to the one video. These include (but are not limited to)...
 * The "Ambiguously Gay Duo" theme used to describe homo-erotic themes and making escape and suicide attempts throughout the entire review in Batman & Robin.
 * The ruler hitting him over the head in Captain Planet every time he says "ruler" as a response to Wheeler saying "fire" to make fire appear.
 * Repetitive use of the lines "Ba-Bomb" and "Monkey" from Super Mario Bros. in his review of the said movie.
 * The repeated use of the word of 'Genius!' to describe cheesy scenes and dialogue in Surf Ninjas.
 * Constant references to the line "That's a lot of fish" in Godzilla (1998) as well as continually mispronouncing Nick Tatopoulos' last name only to have a clip of him saying his actual last name.
 * "Duck-Tits Woo Hoo!" in his Howard The Duck review, a callback to "Duck-Tales Woo Hoo!" which was first featured in Top 11 Catchiest Theme Songs.
 * Comparing Wendy Crewson's performance in The Good Son to family-friendly commercials and having The Other Guy promote random products to accompany her scenes.
 * Making many imitations of Number 5/Johnny 5 in his Short Circuit review, which are mostly done by jerkily moving his arms and saying synonyms of his opinion on a scene.
 * Displaying pictures of Chuck Norris against an American flag and firework background and Mako with an angelic glow in the Sidekicks review.

Or do they?!
This running gag was first introduced in the Super Mario Bros. review. Whenever the Nostalgia Critic explains that the film's heroes "live happily ever after, or do they?!", it then cuts to the film ending on a cliffhanger, Since then, this gag has since been used in Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (twice), Godzilla (1998) and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. In the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation review, the Nostalgia Critic uses the gag at the end of the film, but states that they actually do live happily ever after.

"KAAAAAHHHHN!"
This running gag consists of a quick clip of Captain Kirk shouting "KHAN!" in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, played after the mention of the word "Khan" or variant of it. It was first introduced in the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation video. Every mention of main villain Shao Khan is quickly followed up by the Star Trek clip, which starts to annoy the Nostalgia Critic after a while. In the Top 11 Disney Villains video, the clip is played after the first mention of Jungle Book character Shere Khan, which instantly annoys the Critic. It is played again when the Critic mentions Kaa (another character from The Jungle Book), but the Critic stops the clip mid-cry.

"Y'know, for kids!"
This running gag is based off of NC's reaction to movies that are supposedly for kids, but they tend to have a more adult theme in mind. This gag first appeared in the review of Pokemon: The First Movie, after Mewtwo destroys a laboratory and kills several scientists. It has also been used in the reviews ofHoward the Duck, when Howard relaxes with alcohol and an issue of Playduck, Titanic: The Animated Musical, as the ship is sinking, and North, after Bruce Willis' character warns North that the heat of Miami will cause his balls to stick to his legs. Another variant is "You know, a kids movie!" While reviewing Miracle on 34th Street for the Top 12 Christmas Specials video, the Critic comments, "'Cause that's what every kid wants to see, right? A court case!"

The 9mm pistol
This centers on the Critic producing a pistol and either threatening something (or someone) annoying him, or in preparation for a suicide attempt, as in Howard the Duck. This gun has been used to kill Santa in Jingle All The Way, attack several villains in The Top 11 Disney Villains, kill and be-head annoying characters in Tom and Jerry: The Movie, kill an annoying dancing Christmas tree in The Top 12 Greatest Christmas Specials, shoot the Doug Theme in Nicktoons, wipe out the entire Sonic cast in The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and appeared many more times. Its earliest appearance is in the Nostalgia Critic's second review, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, where the Nostalgia Critic kills himself during a song by all the animated characters about the "million wonderful ways to say 'no'".

"Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!"
Used as a sarcastic exclamation to something obvious which is supposed to be surprising. This was first seen in The Wizard when the child catcher expresses surprise at the sight of an elevator, which the Critic then mockingly imitates. It has since been used occasionally, such as in Batman and Robin, The Secret Behind Nostalgic Sports Movies, Jingle All The Way, and Sidekicks. The Nostalgia Chick used a variation in her Pocahontas review.

"Adventure HO!"
This running gag started in January 2009's "Nickelodeon Month" and featured the The Nostalgia Critic posing in front of an action scene as if an adventure was starting. Before making the pose, he usually points out the show he will discuss has a very simple premise, such as focusing on babies or depicting a kid living in the Bronx. The Critic's enthusiasm in the delivery and pose are proportional to the level of excitement he felt while watching the show. During the Nicktoons review, he used the phrase while describing Rugrats (Adventure Ho ! ), Doug (Adventure Ho ? ), and Hey Arnold! (Adventure Ho . ) He also used it in the Nickcoms review while discussing Clarissa Explains it All (Adventure Ho e! ).

"Bad Touch!"
Started in the Kazaam review, this remark returned when the Nostalgia Critic reviewed Good Burger. In both movies, an adult touched a child in what he believed to be an inappropriate way. When such an event occurs, the critic would shout "Bad Touch!" or call the police on his cell phone. A similiar joke was used in The Pagemaster, with the librarian coming across as creepy, resulting in a "Sonic Says" about not having people touch you where you don't want to be touched.

"ELEPHANT!"
This word seems to be the Nostalgia Critic's "safe word" that would bring him back to reality when he sees something totally bizarre. This first appeared during the Critic's month long tribute to Nickelodeon, during his look at the Nickcoms, where he noted that the "Burger King" was creepy. It re-appeared in the Good Burger review later that month, where the Critic shouts the word 'elephant', causing the image of "The Burger King" to appear and bring himself back to sanity. This happens again at the end of The Top 11 Nostalgic Mindfucks, where the Critic is forced to use it to escape from the warped world. He then points out that it didn't appear when he talked about the pink elephants from Dumbo, and then proceeds to say "elephant-s" with a brief pause before the 's'. He does this repeatedly until the Burger King logo falls and hits him on the head. It's used again in the Twister review, but this time, the Burger King is actually frightened by the movie so much that he hides underneath the bed in fear. At the end of the review, the Critic tries to comfort the sulking king, but is hit by him off-screen when he offers the Burger King a trip to McDonalds. There has been a thread at the TGWTG.com forum requesting the gag appear less often, which the Critic appears to have obeyed.

"I'm Acting!"
This joke happens whenever a character in the film is a bad actor in the eyes of the Critic. This first appeared in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, in which Shao Khan is discussing the take over of Earth with his father and says "Earth is under attack and it is glorious", followed by the Nostalgia Critic imitating him and saying, "I am acting!". In Godzilla (1998), when Niko Tautopolis is discussing the species that attacked the Japanese, he says "It could be some sort of mutated apparation", to which the Critic says "Just like my career.... I'm acting". In Jingle All the Way, when Jamie is telling his father that he should keep promises, the Nostalgia Critic reacts by yelling in a high voice "Yay! I'm acting!". In A Kid in King Arthur's Court, the Critic mocks King Arthur's overdramatic acting by imitating him with a frail "I'm... acting..." whilst holding his back. In Garbage Pail Kids, the Critic sobs "I'm...ACTING" in an exaggerated fashion much like Dodger, demanding to know where the Garbage Pail kids are. A variation of the joke appeared in the Rock-a-doodle review, in which the Critic mocked the child voice actor portraying Edmond by imitating his baby talk-like speaking style and instructing him on how to act. In the Red Sonja review, the Critic used the gag to mock Brigitte Nielsen. While reviewing Sidekicks, the Critic tried to ridicule an extra's unconvincing reaction to potentially being set on fire by acting out his likely reaction to being shot. Later in the review, he used the traditional phrase to mock Joe Piscopo sending minions to fight Chuck Norris.

Good actor forced into bad movie
The Critic first complained about a good actor being in a lame movie when he cursed Raúl Juliá's children for asking him to do Street Fighter (although he quickly apologized, assuming that Raúl Juliá's family kicks as much ass as he does). Later complaints involved showing a clip of one of said actor's movies where said actor is coerced into making the bad movie (using the Critic's best impersonations of the actors in the scene). This version of the joke first appeared in Good Burger (where the Critic shows footage from The Godfather featuring Abe Vigoda) and later returned in Rock-A-Doodle (where the Critic shows footage from The Sound of Music featuring Christopher Plummer).

The Arnold Schwarzenegger Impression
Originally started in the Jingle All the Way review, this running gag appeared again when The Nostalgia Critic reviewed A Kid In King Arthur's Court. Here he imitates Arnold's voice claiming he'll eat children. It could be said that the first instances of this voice were used when Street Fighter and Batman and Robin were reviewed, but not in its current form. The joke appears again in the Red Sonja review (which starred Schwarzenegger) as "Arnold" threatens to have "Chinese for dinner tonight", referring to child Prince Tarn.