10 Hilarious TV Running Gags That Lasted An Insanely Long Time
7. Paul Rudd Shows A Clip - Conan
You wouldn't expect late night talk show interviews to have running gags, but that's the brilliance of Paul Rudd. Every single time the actor goes on Conan, instead of showing a clip of his latest project, he shows a clip from the 1988 movie Mac and Me instead.
Part of the bit is that after a while, Rudd always tries to convince Conan that he isn't going to show it this time, and then he just shows it anyway. While promoting Our Idiot Brother, after cutting to the Mac and Me clip, he actually shows a real Our Idiot Brother scene...only for it to be interrupted by the Mac and Me clip again. Yeah, he gets Conan twice in a row.
When on to talk about Ant-Man, Paul Rudd and Conan spend a full minute explaining in a very serious tone that he can't show it this time because Marvel won't let him. A scene from Ant-Man rolls for quite some time, and it appears that he's really not doing it anymore. Then, low and behold, the Ant-Man clip freaking transforms into the Mac and Me one, with Ant-Man appearing on the hill from Mac and Me.
The above montage doesn't include the very first instance, but by Conan's own estimate, the joke has lasted roughly 15 years. Hopefully, it'll keep going until the day Paul Rudd dies.