sight gag
noun
: a comic bit or episode whose effect is produced by pantomime or camera shot rather than by words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Never exactly a racehorse in terms of pacing, the extra-long finale continued to pursue the show's slow-and-steady strategy, which this season included an entire episode seemingly devoted to one drop-dead-funny sight gag inside a department store. 
Brian Lowry, CNN, 16 Aug. 2022 And, at its most elemental, South Park is founded on a sight gag with legs. Chris Norris, SPIN, 13 Aug. 2022 There's one great sight gag with a whole alien civilization living in a locker at Grand Central Station. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 7 July 2022 The series brings up a string of aging complaints (hip surgery, gray hair, colonoscopy), but the M-word only comes up briefly and is later used as a sight gag. Tara Ellison, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2022 The synthetic heave is a wan sight gag, a self-reflexive expression of one’s own artificiality. Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2022 The film’s maze of mistaken identities, misunderstood intentions and narrative cul-de-sacs might be bewildering, but Bogdanovich’s clean, exacting visual style assures that each sight gag lands as intended. Peter Tonguette, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022 One reminiscent of a Virgil Abloh sight gag ($34.95), from PAMM in Miami, that deconstructs the shirt itself as an object of desire. Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2021 Their junior-high burlesque is a sight gag as well as the heart of the series; more literally than most teen pariahs, Maya and Anna have trouble fitting in. Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 29 Nov. 2021 See More
Brian Lowry, CNN, 16 Aug. 2022 And, at its most elemental, South Park is founded on a sight gag with legs. Chris Norris, SPIN, 13 Aug. 2022 There's one great sight gag with a whole alien civilization living in a locker at Grand Central Station. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 7 July 2022 The series brings up a string of aging complaints (hip surgery, gray hair, colonoscopy), but the M-word only comes up briefly and is later used as a sight gag. Tara Ellison, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2022 The synthetic heave is a wan sight gag, a self-reflexive expression of one’s own artificiality. Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2022 The film’s maze of mistaken identities, misunderstood intentions and narrative cul-de-sacs might be bewildering, but Bogdanovich’s clean, exacting visual style assures that each sight gag lands as intended. Peter Tonguette, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022 One reminiscent of a Virgil Abloh sight gag ($34.95), from PAMM in Miami, that deconstructs the shirt itself as an object of desire. Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2021 Their junior-high burlesque is a sight gag as well as the heart of the series; more literally than most teen pariahs, Maya and Anna have trouble fitting in. Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 29 Nov. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1949, in the meaning defined above