The many shades of verbal humor that aren’t punchlines in Gilmore Girls

The following feature article focuses on creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s American television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) and looks into semantic humour, puns, or vagueness in the dialogues spread throughout various episodes and seasons of the television programme. The picks made here are entirely the author's opinion and might differ from the reader's perspective.

“Because my brain is a wild jungle of scary gibberish…Bicycle. Unicycle. Unitard. Hockey puck. Rattlesnake. Monkey, monkey, underpants.” - Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls.

Gilmore Girls is a television series that follows the daily lives of Lorelai Gilmore and Rory Gilmore. Rory was born to Lorelai when she was just 16 years old, and has been raised alone.

Lorelai relocates to Stars Hollow, Connecticut, a tiny town where almost everyone recognizes one another, not long after Rory was born, leaving her mother (Emily Gilmore) and father (Richard Gilmore) behind.

The series journeys through their daily activities as Lorelai develops her hotel management career and Rory, now 16, copes with the demands of her high school.

Even though Lorelai Gilmore is unquestionably the most technically gifted user of humour on the show, other key characters such as the residents of Stars Hollow, Lorelai’s parents, and other side characters utilise humour most consistently, making their humour almost eclectic.

Hence, Gilmore Girls to this very date is renowned for its quick-witted conversation.

The premise of Lorelai and Rory leading independent lives while being the confident young women they are, fairly resides at the heart of the majority of the humour in Gilmore Girls.

Humour such as verbal irony, banter, puns, pop-cultural references, etc, are the frequent types of humour employed to create and maintain relationships and even serve specific objectives throughout the show.

Given that Gilmore Girls is acknowledged for its lightning-fast, witty discourse, a closer examination of the show's humour's underlying principles is needed.

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1] REFERENCES TO POP-CULTURE IN GILMORE GIRLS IN THE 2000s:

The Gilmore girls are not only known as fast talkers but also quite well known for making numerous pop cultural allusions, be it classic movies, books, musical artists, tv shows, etc, in their day-to-day conversation, not only amongst themselves but other people.

Quite a few indications to pop culture have been made throughout the show's journey. A few instances in the show that would mention references to popular culture could be;

(S2, Ep. 18. Back in the Saddle Again. 0:13-0:29)

LORELAI. “Godot was just here, said ‘I ain’t waiting for Richard!’, grabbed a roll and left”

The above conversation between Lorelai and Sookie St. James nods to Samuel Beckett’s absurd play ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Another occurrence of a popular culture reference that nods to the classic 1968 horror film ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ could easily be spotted in the pilot episode, the first time Dean meets Rory in the school halls in: (S1, Ep. 01. Pilot. 23:00-23:17)

RORY. “God! You’re like Ruth Gordon standing there with a tannis root. Make a noise.”

Recognizing every other clever pop-cultural reference is essential to appreciating the show's greatness. However, one cannot possibly fathom every popular nod, not at least if you’re a first-time watcher of the show, and this is why the Gilmore Girls fandom is alive and thriving with countless re-runs of the show even today.

2] VAGUE AND AMBIGUOUS HUMOUR

Vague or ambiguous humour also plays a central role in humour related to Gilmore Girls. The show often uses ambiguous dialogue, crafting humor with multiple likely meanings.

For instance, a fan favourite moment in (S5, Ep. 15.);

Lorelai Gilmore; the caffeine addictive mother, bags one of the most ambiguous and iconic lines on the show.

While ordering just ‘one’ cup of coffee at her not so regular coffee shop, Lorelai has one of her most ambiguous, shiniest and comical moments. According to the employee at Westin's bakery;

EMPLOYEE. “Here we go. Three coffees.”

LORELAI. “Oh, I’m no… I’m sorry. I only ordered one.”

EMPLOYEE. “You said, ‘Coffee, coffee, coffee.’”

LORELAI. “Ah no, see, I said… (speaks faster) coffee-coffee-coffee. As in, I really need coffee-coffee-coffee.” (Speaks faster again)

LORELAI. “Coffee-coffee-coffee is a saying, like an exaggeration. It’s a funny, desperate cry for caffeine.”

According to the conversation above, it is clearly understood that “coffee-coffee coffee” could be understood with certainly more than one meaning. In Lorelai’s sense of understating, she meant she’d appreciate getting just one cup of coffee.

However, the understanding and interpretation of the employee at Westin was different than Lorelai’s, considering the employee thought Lorelai asked for three separate cups of coffees instead of just one, which caused humour.

3] WORDLPLAY

Wordplay is another way of sort of creating verbal humour within the show and amongst the characters and the kind of witty language spoken by each of them.

In S2, Ep. 04;

LORELAI. “Uhh, there’s just a lot…”

RORY. “A lot of flowers.”

LORELAI. “Yeah, like a ton of flowers.”

RORY. “A plethora of flowers.”

LORELAI. “A load of flowers.”

Throughout this specific instance taken from season two, Lorelai and Rory have found a bed and breakfast hotel that doesn't live up to what they expect. The business owner is thrilled by their coming and confident of her excessively adorned workspace.

She reveals to the girls their room, which would also be decorated entirely with floral designs. The both of them are surprised and weirded out by the excessive floral arrangement. They attempt to express and convey their feelings and emotions in fairly polite terms.

Highlighting their surprise and producing a comedic impact are the usage of synonyms, the repeating of one thought, and the remark regarding the employment of floral patterns inside the space.

4] OFFBEAT HUMOUR

Offbeat humour is humour that is usually out of place and is something that Gilmore Girls aces. For instance, in S1 Ep 1;

LORELAI. "Is something burning?"

SOOKIE. “My bangs, earlier. Go on, go on, go on.”

It is the pilot episode of the television show, with Lorelai and Sookie being in the kitchen of the Independence Inn; a place that they both work at. This scene in particular creates this visible sense of offbeat humour.

When Lorelai asks Sookie if something is “burning”, she expects an answer related to food, since they are obviously in a kitchen.

However, the answer that Sookie provides is “my bangs” which randomly for an instance shifts the attention to her hair instead of a food item that was burning.

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From wordplay to offbeat silliness, Gilmore Girls mixes humour with fast-paced dialogue and pop culture references. The show is a crafty mix of various types of humour that keep the viewers glued to their screen, confirming that creating humour isn’t just about punchlines—it’s about correct timing, clear context, and the unanticipated twists that make Stars Hollow’s charm so impressive.