"I'm OK!" yelled after slapstick violence

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode "Burns' Heir", where Homer yells "BOO!" really loud in an attempt to frighten Mr. Burns into a heart attack, and they pan over to show Grampa groaning and clutching his chest, then falling down out of frame, followed by him muttering an off-screen "I'm okay".
 
I've seen it used a lot either in cases where someone falls down from a certain height, or gets beat up by someone (usually a stock muscleman or bully).

In both cases, saying "I'm OK" is horribly unfunny. Unless, of course, the character is seen to be obviously in terrible condition afterwards. Or, someone in the same scene comments that he or she wished the injured character was NOT okay after all. THEN it is funny. Other than that case, I never get why they throw the line in for humour purposes. It has to run counter to something to be funny.
 
David Mirkin mentioned in the commentary that they did that so they wouldn't have to "deal with it" in the story. Personally, I thought it was funny because they basically got out of a character having a heart attack simply by using two words.

But I do agree that it's way overused nowadays.
 
My favorite example comes from an episode of Johnny Bravo where he gained superpowers, and accidentally caused an airplane to crash.
After the plane smashed into a mountain in a fiery ball of death, you quickly hear the people on board say "We're OK."
 
Lol. The "I'm OK" is so grand and funny that it's an absolute staple in cartoons (especially in slapstick). Everyone has mentioned the shows I was going to mention so... yeah.



Not really. The reason it's so funny is because we know that suffering from something so bad is not OK.
 
I don't really mind the "I'M OK!" thing.

What has become really annoying, however, is the screeching cat after something falls or is thrown off-screen. It's really overused.
 
^ I agree and sometimes I think it's unnessesary. I mean one time(I can't remember the show), somebody threw a object out the window and 3 seconds later the screeching cat came in.

Anyways, in The Simpsons Movie I remember a big chunk of glass fell on this guy. Of course seconds later he said he was okay.
 
If you are talking about Dr. Nick, which I'm positive you are, he did not say he was okay, he said "Bye everybody!", which is a variation of his usual catchphrase "Hello everybody!", and it's assumed he dies. However, just as the writers promised, Dr. Nick has been seen in episodes since then.
 
It never occurred to me that it was a sort of censorship. I definitely think writers should be allowed to use it only at their discretion, since it's funny in some instances and not in others.


What's worse, though, is when a dramatic cartoon has to comment that "everyone survived" some sort of accident. Like in one of the Clock King episodes of BTAS (I forget which), there's a train crash, and moments later the mayor yells out "thank GOD everyone survived!" (or something to that effect). It stood out (in a bad way) because it didn't seem like the mayor could have possibly known, so soon after the crash, whether or not anyone was killed.
 
And, naturally, we always have to see characters who fall from a great height land safely in treetops or swimming pools. :shrug:

I'm also reminded of a discussion about the "keep-alive groan" on one of the DVD commentaries for Batman Beyond, wherein they can have Batman deliver a savage beating to a room full of bad guys, yet they have to have said bad guys emit an audible groan just to prove to the kiddies that they're still alive.
 
Best variation ever of this joke is in Freakazoid, where after stupidly activating a time bomb, Freakazoid causes the entire town to be blown to pieces.

Then, the woman from BS&P appears to tell the audience nobody was hurt, only to be later crushed by an anvil.
 
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