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)...

• Repetitive use of the lines "Bob-omb" and "Monkey" from Super Mario Bros. in his review of the said movie.
• Various parodies of Nintendo's "Now you're playing with power" slogan in response to questionable behavior (including "incest", "vehicular manslaughter", and "pedophilia") in The Wizard.
• 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.
• The repeated use of the word '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.
• Playing the Imperial Theme and screaming "Jonas!" every time Jonas and his crew drive past in the Twister review, also promoting random products to reflect Jonas selling out.
• 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.
• Shooting Mother Brain from Captain N, Saying "I'm awesome." and having the screen flash 'End of Series' while the Captain N anouncer says the intro.

Or do they?!

Whenever the Nostalgia Critic explains that the film's heroes "live happily ever after, or do they?!"

• Super Mario Bros. (debut)
• Mortal Kombat
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation - (twice) The Nostalgia Critic uses the gag at the end of the film, but states that they actually do live happily ever after.
• Godzilla (1998)
• The Good Son-The Critic then presents an alternate ending he made up in which Macaulay Culkin becomes the Terminator.
• The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog-While discussing the cliffhanger ending to Sonic SATAM.

"KHAAAN!"

This running gag consists of the well-known clip of Captain Kirk screaming "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.

Batman theme

First appearing in The Wizard to criticize the bad driving, the gag returns in Batman and Robin to illustrate how campy the ice fight at the start of the film is (complete with animated sound effects zooming in). The earlier version of the gag also appears during a bad driving sequence in Good Burger, also with animated sound effects zooming in.

"Y'know, for kids!"

"Y'know, for kids" or something similar stated below often describes something violent, disturbing or suggestive found in a children's film.

• Pokemon: The First Movie
• Howard the Duck - "You know, a kids movie!"
• Top 11 Disney Villains - also as "You know, a kids movie!" while discussing Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Top 12 Christmas Specials - as "'Cause that's what every kid wants to see, right? A court case!" while reviewing Miracle on 34th Street
• Jingle All The Way - as "Oh hey, a gay joke in a children's film. Merry Christmas."
• Garbage Pail Kids - "Is this movie for kids or what!?"
• Titanic: The Animated Musical
• North

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 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.

• Rugrats (Nicktoons review) - Adventure Ho!
• Doug (Nicktoons review) - Adventure Ho?
• Hey Arnold! (Nicktoons review) - Adventure Ho.
• Clarissa Explains it All (Nickcoms review) - Adventure Hoe!

"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. The Critic shouts the word 'elephant', causing the image of "The Burger King" to appear and bring himself back to sanity.

• Nickcoms (debut)
• Good Burger
• The Top 11 Nostalgic Mindfucks - He 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.
• Twister - 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.
• Last Action Hero - Arnold distracting people by saying, "Look Elephant!" Due to the request mentioned below, the Critic is annoyed instantly and shouts, "Cut it out!"

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.

• The Wizard (Luke Edwards) - Months before the gag began, the Critic taunted Jimmy's delivery of "California".
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (Brian Thompson) - Prompted by Shao Kahn's "and it is GLORIOUS!" line to which Critic replies, "and I am ACT... ting..." while weakly raising his hands in the air.
• Godzilla (1998) (Matthew Broderick) - The Critic says "Just like my career.... I'm acting"
• Top 12 Greatest Christmas Specials (Mara Wilson) - While discussing the Miracle on 34th Street remake, the Critic called the lead girl "a walking pudding commercial" and exclaimed, "Aren't I just pwecious?"
• Jingle All the Way(Jake Lloyd) - The Nostalgia Critic yells in a high voice "Yay! I'm acting!"
• SNICK (Sean Ryan) - While reviewing Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the Critic points out that Ryan does not give a satisfactory delivery of the line, "Eww! Cool!" The Critic then exclaims, "Yay! I'm doing two expressions at once! Too bad I can't get either of them right!" and theorizes that he had the same acting coach as Jake Lloyd from The Phantom Menace.
• Good Burger (Kenan Thompson) - In a variation, after Dexter said in a bored tone, "I give up, I'm going home." the Critic responses with, "And I ain't acting, I'm really going home! Fuck this movie!"
• A Kid in King Arthur's Court (Joss Ackland) - The Critic mocks King Arthur's overdramatic acting by imitating him with a frail "I'm... acting..." whilst holding his back.
• Garbage Pail Kids (Mackenzie Astin) - The Critic sobs "I'm...ACTING" in an exaggerated fashion much like Dodger, demanding to know where the Garbage Pail kids are.
• Rock-a-Doodle (Toby Scott Ganger) - The Critic mocks Edmund's voice actor by imitating his baby talk-like speaking style and instructing him on how to act.
• Red Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen) - Delivered after Sonja unconvincingly yells out, "Gedron? ...Queen Gedron?". Critic responds with "I'm... acting?" complete with jerky head and hand movements.
• Sidekicks (Joe Piscopo, David Born) - The Critic mocks Born's unconvincing reaction to being set on fire by Mr. Lee by acting out his likely reaction to being shot, then later uses the traditional phrase to mock Piscopo.
• Alone In The Dark - Delivered as one of the cast slams a table to the floor while cursing loudly. Since the Critic is rendered speechless during the review, he asks Spoony to type in the phrase in his laptop while he poses the 'acting'.

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). He also begged Bill Murray to drop out of Space Jam in a later video. 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). In the Steel review, he cried out when Richard Roundtree aka Shaft appeared, and sang a parody of "Shaft" about how Roundtree's career has declined.

The Critic also found it weird that plenty of Captain Planet villains were voiced by celebrities and asks if Meg Ryan owed Ted Turner back taxes.

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.

"Put That Cookie Down!"

Also originally from Jingle All the Way, this is a sub gag of the above that is used when Arnold is first introduced in movies. So far, it has appeared in Red Sonja and Last Action Hero. The latter's review also ended with the Critic saying he would rather watch a mashup involving the phrase.

Boner Finger

Sometimes, when the Nostalgia Critic gets aroused, he points his left index finger in a manner that suggests he is getting an erection.

• Red Sonja
• Full House
• Barb Wire

Zuul, Motherfucker, ZUUL!

Said during the Gargoyles and Pagemaster reviews. The gag refers to The Gatekeeper Zuul, a Terror Dog from the Ghostbusters movie franchise. Each time a demonic monster showed up, Doug would say the line, echoing the monster from the movie. It appears again in the Alone In The Dark review, whereas the normal gag appear, but the Critic inserts "AUGH! OW!" in the middle of the sentences several times when the gag is said when the creature is being shot down.

Acting Like Commercials

If the Critic points out an actor who acts more like he or she is in a commercial than a movie, he will superimpose various logos over clips of the actor. He did this for Shaquille O'Neal in reviews for Kazaam and Steel and for Wendy Crewson in the Good Son review. In the Good Son review, he even had The Other Guy act as an announcer for the various products.

Pee-Wee Herman's Anti-Crack PSA

Pee-Wee Herman teaching children about crack ranked #1 in the Critic's Top 11 Nostalgic Drug PSAs video because he found it absurd to hire an actor who hosted a crazy show, played a drug peddler in a movie, and masturbated in public to promote avoiding drugs, especially to teach it in character. Later, in the Top 11 Underrated Nostalgic Classics video, the Critic said it would have been unusual for Paul Reubens to use his Pee-Wee voice in Flight of the Navigator, and demonstrated by showing a clip of Max saying, "This is crack." He also played a clip of the PSA in Top 11 Nostalgic Mindfucks after pointing out that Pee-Wee Herman shows up in plenty of his countdowns. During the Top 11 Cereal Mascots video, the Critic does an advisory about the addictiveness of Cocoa Puffs, and includes a clip of Pee-Wee reminding children that crack "isn't glamorous or cool."

Sonic Says

This joke uses the viral PSA from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog about being touched inappropriately. The Critic will often suggest showing it after viewing a scene where an adult character acts impulsively creepy towards a child character. This has been used in the Pagemaster Review and the Last Action Hero review, but in the Last Action Hero review, he voices over for Sonic.

60's Batman

This joke uses various camp elements from the 60's Batman TV Series to make fun of certain parts of the movie. This example is seen at:

• The Wizard: On the scene where Nick and his father is driving a car so wild to chase Mr. Putnam, The Critic exclaims "To the Shitmobile!" in reference of "To the Batmobile!", followed with the 60's Batman theme song playing.
• Batman & Robin: During the fight scene between Batman and Robin against Mr. Freeze's minions, The Critic plays the Batman theme and word bubbles containing the words "POW!" "WHAM!" "LAME!" is included.
• Good Burger: As Ed and Dexter rides the burger-themed company car, in the same vein of The Wizard gag, the Critic refers it as the 'Burgermobile' and as Ed drives wildly, the Batman theme also plays.
• Captain America: When Red Skull straps Captain America in a rocket headed to the White House, the Critic mimicks the 'next episode' narration of the Batman episodes on how Captain America will escape his perils, which ends with "Tune in next time... which is... right now!?"

"Chuck Norris!"

Sometimes, after someone in a movie attempts something seemingly impossible, the Critic will proclaim that only Chuck Norris can pull it off.  Usually, this is followed by the appearance of a photograph of Chuck Norris against a firework background and someone exclaiming his name in a high-pitched voice.

• Sidekicks-Used several times
• Captain America-"Who could fight in a costume like that and appear the least bit dignified?"
• Alone in the Dark-Pulling off a spinning kick in the air right after laying on the ground