Top 10 Funniest Avatar: The Last Airbender Running Gags

MsMojo

Even Avatars need a laugh! Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the funniest recurring jokes in “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.

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00:00 Welcome to MissMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the funniest recurring

00:06 jokes in Avatar The Last Airbender.

00:13 10.

00:14 Zuko's Ship

00:15 The Fire Nation ship that Zuko spends the majority of the first season travelling around

00:29 on runs into some pretty bad luck.

00:31 At the end of the second episode of Book 1, we see an avalanche trap a good chunk of the

00:36 ship, but that's just the beginning.

00:42 It ends up being set on fire, struck by lightning, and having its deck ripped out, before finally

00:47 being destroyed entirely.

00:49 It's kind of a miracle it even made it that far given all the damage.

00:52 Although this one is pretty subtle, it's kind of comical seeing just how many setbacks

00:56 Zuko faces.

00:57 Meanwhile, the "gang" gets by with nowhere near as many physical blows.

01:04 9.

01:08 The Cough

01:18 We see subtlety yet again with this one.

01:20 Once you notice it though, there's no going back.

01:23 Kettler employs this fun little gag pretty early on in the series, when Bumi tells a

01:28 joke that falls flat.

01:40 A dry cough is heard off-screen to punctuate just how bad the joke is, and ironically,

01:45 it makes the whole moment funnier.

01:48 The creators must have felt that way too, because from then on, that same cough can

01:52 be heard whenever a bad joke is told.

02:01 It's usually accompanied by some blank stares bordering on dirty looks, which never

02:07 fails to be funny.

02:09 8.

02:10 Momo Always Doing Too Much

02:13 Animal Companions are some of the highlights of any series, and this series has some of

02:17 the greatest.

02:18 Momo and Appa, especially when they're interacting, give us some of the show's most hilarious

02:24 moments.

02:30 It's hard to deny, however, that Momo in particular is responsible for some of the goofiest shenanigans.

02:37 For being such a little guy, he really knows how to get into trouble.

02:46 Who could forget the time he accidentally got himself involved in the Ba Sing Se entertainment

02:51 industry?

02:54 Then again, most of the trouble he runs into is really just a result of following his stomach.

03:03 So can we really blame him?

03:06 7.

03:07 Zuko's Anger

03:08 Admittedly, this gag didn't really become recurring until towards the end of the series.

03:15 In the fandom, Zuko's anger had always been a bit of a punchline, along with his quest

03:19 to regain his honour.

03:24 And he wasn't the only character to be the butt of jokes.

03:27 Katara spoke frequently enough about the traumatic experience of losing her mum, and the importance

03:32 of having hope, so frequently a fact that other characters began to call it out.

03:41 All of these character traits are made fun of in The Ember Island Players, so while the

03:51 show didn't necessarily play these traits for laughs, it's safe to say it was self-aware

03:56 by the end.

03:59 6.

04:01 Sokka's Art Capabilities

04:10 We hope you were keeping track of how often Sokka made art throughout the series, because

04:13 the writers obviously were, and some great bits came from it.

04:17 His artwork in Sokka's Master, you know, the one where he added a rainbow, comes to

04:22 mind as a standout.

04:32 But we've also seen his abilities in episodes like The Library and Day of the Black Sun.

04:37 The latter is a particularly hysterical instance, given that Sokka manages to design working

04:42 submarines with mere stick-like figure drawings.

04:45 We're once again reminded of his talents in the finale, which brings a nice close to

04:50 this running joke.

04:55 At least Toph thinks they're nice.

04:58 5.

04:59 Sokka and Food

05:00 What is Sokka without food?

05:05 In a bad mood, usually.

05:06 As is common with many comedic reliefs, Sokka's love for food is a recurring bit of humour.

05:12 He's always the first to complain that he's hungry, and the first to think of food any

05:15 time the gang finds themselves in a sticky situation.

05:21 This is yet another character quirk that gets brought up in The Ember Island Players, and

05:26 to an extreme degree.

05:29 We're pretty sure every line the fake Sokka utters has to do with food, and any sort of

05:36 meat always gets a special mention.

05:42 4.

05:44 Hybrid Animals

05:45 One of the most defining characteristics of the Avatar universe - aside from bending,

05:50 of course - are the animals.

05:52 Pretty much every animal is a hybrid of some sort, which is a rather cute quirk of the

05:57 cartoon world.

05:58 One of the very first of these hybrid animals we see are the otter penguins Aang and Katara

06:03 go sledding on.

06:10 From then on, we see all different sorts of combinations, like ostrich horses and an impressively

06:16 wide variety of pigs.

06:30 This gag would eventually be flipped on its head in the episode "City of Walls and Secrets",

06:35 when it was revealed the Earth King managed to keep a pet bear.

06:39 Just a regular old bear.

06:51 3.

06:57 Uncle Iroh's penchant for tea

07:10 Uncle Iroh's love of tea might just be the most endearing of the running gags in the

07:14 show.

07:15 And really, we think he knew what he was talking about.

07:18 There's nothing like a warm cup of tea brewed just right to bring some peace back into the

07:23 soul.

07:24 In all the action, the quieter moments of Iroh making, pouring or enjoying some tea

07:29 are always very sweet, especially when he's sharing with some welcome company.

07:33 When he opens his tea shop in Book 2, it really is such a wonderful haven, and for that brief

07:39 time he and Zuko look genuinely happy.

07:47 2.

07:54 Toph's blindness

07:55 Kudos to ATLA for managing to make tasteful jokes, even when it concerned sensitive topics

08:02 like disability.

08:03 From physical comedy to funny one-liners made by both Toph herself and others, lots of humour

08:09 stems from people forgetting Toph is blind.

08:15 She has to keep reminding everyone, especially when it comes to things like reading or writing,

08:19 that the audience might also momentarily forget Toph can't do.

08:28 Sometimes if the gang is pointing to something, Toph can be seen looking the wrong way, which

08:32 is another subtle but hilariously effective bit of comedy.

08:36 The jokes run rampant, and yet somehow they never get old.

09:06 1.

09:07 My cabbages!

09:08 Okay, you knew this one would be here.

09:12 The Cabbage Man has been terrorised for too long not to have earned a spot on this list.

09:17 We're not sure we can ever remember anyone in the series eating cabbage, and that might

09:21 just be because the one vendor is constantly having his cart destroyed.

09:28 This poor guy has such a devotion to his cabbages, and every time they end up as collateral damage.

09:35 Lesser known is Foamy, the Foaming Mouth Guy, and purportedly the Avatar's biggest fan,

09:46 who only makes an appearance in two episodes, but who deserves a special mention all the

09:50 same.

10:00 Which Atla running gag do you think is the funniest?

10:02 Let us know in the comments.

10:04 Do you agree with our picks?

10:09 Check out this other recent clip from MsMojo, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell

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10:15 Thanks for watching!

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