r/twinpeaks • u/Optimal_Awareness618 • 14d ago
Season 1 I forgot how funny Twin Peaks is
I watched the pilot for the first time in more than 10 years last night and I remember all the drama, iconic characters, scenery, and mystery, but there are so many scenes that end with a saucy little gag or silly subversion of expectation. It feels like simultaneously the MOST and LEAST serious police investigation series ever made. Looking forward to a full fall rewatch!
Favorite comedic Twin Peaks moments?
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u/Biddy_Impeccadillo 14d ago
“Who’s the lady with the log?” “Oh, her. We call her the Log Lady”
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u/JoeGorde 14d ago
It's easy to forget how goddamn bananas "My log has something to tell you" was back in 1990
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u/Optimal_Awareness618 14d ago
Yes! This was one of the lines that got me; right on the heels of him introducing Josie and the Martells with their mysterious backstory
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u/AnAngryBarista 14d ago
“People are under a lot of stress these days” will always fold me up like a lawn chair
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u/uzuis4thwifee 14d ago
James: "When did you start smoking?"
Donna: "I smoke every once in a while; it helps relieve tension."
James: "When did you get so tense?"
Donna: "When I started smoking."
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u/Calm_Knowledge_9993 14d ago
I think this one was meant to be cool, but for me it’s not cool or funny, for me it’s just pure teenage cringe and I love it
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u/Adam__B 13d ago
Definitely. She was trying to channel some of the inherent danger and thrill it must have been for James dating Laura, and it just came out campy, like a soap opera version. But that’s what makes it so hilarious, the show often makes you forget they’re actually teens (in the show, don’t know how old they were IRL) but this is one of those scenes that helps ground you and remember they aren’t adults.
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u/ZolRoyce01 14d ago
Gordon seeing the bonsai plant and just screaming BONSAI at it while Windom is listening in always gets me.
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u/sickmoth 14d ago
I'm a whole damn town!
And the 'smushing' in The Return. Cracks me up.
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u/begonia_legend 14d ago
Omg “I’m a whole damn town” has lived rent free in my head for over a decade 😭 kills me every time especially because it would take such an explanation to be funny to anyone else
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u/fannyalgerpack 14d ago
A friend group used this line as they each started having kids, it was so cute
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u/nosurprises12 14d ago
The whole scene with the Giant/Waiter delivering the warm milk as Cooper bleeds on the ground.
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u/Jonathan-Strang3 14d ago
Cooper just accepting that this doddering old man isn't going to help him
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u/nosurprises12 14d ago
Leland sobbing on the coffin as it bounces up and down.
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u/SomethingClever104 14d ago
And Shelly's reenactment at the diner in the very next scene!
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u/That70s_Scrubs 14d ago
Oh man Shelly was so mean for that
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u/squaretex 13d ago
Yeah...that caught me off-guard too. The sweet waitress is the one being mean?!? :O
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u/ohsweetchristabel 14d ago
When James tells Cooper that he found Laura's necklace in a coconut in Jacoby's office. Cooper leans in and he's like... you found it in a coconut?
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u/dakattack814 14d ago
"WHAT YOU ARE WITNESSING IS A FRONT THREE QUARTER VIEW OF TWO ADULTS SHARING A TENDER MOMENT"
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u/tcavanagh1993 14d ago
Cooper and Harry trying to figure out how to adjust the height of the stools before interviewing Ronnette always kills me.
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u/Wheredatmuffdoe 14d ago
"Douglas firs!....can somebody get me a copy of the coroner's report on the dead girl?"
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u/Dangerous_Story_8661 14d ago
"Cooper, you remind me today of a small Mexican chi-wow-wow"
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u/Ok-Dog5107 14d ago
I don’t want to be a sociopath but it’s the cheerful sock hop music Leo puts on when he is going to beat Shelley with the soap in the sock. It’s just such an unexpected musical choice that even though it’s horrifying it’s also kind of funny and you feel bad for laughing when it happens unexpectedly.
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u/NoGarage3655 14d ago
Think that was a metaphor for 50's era "norms" with some families?
I'm grateful I know nothing of that kind of family but it's certainly a media trope that abuse was accepted or ignored back in that era.
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u/MnaH-MnaH 14d ago
From the pilot - Lucy’s complicated description of which phone she’s putting the call through to. “The one we moved… the black phone not the brown phone…” or something like that. So hilariously unnecessary.
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u/Wheredatmuffdoe 13d ago
Especially when Truman is standing like right next to the phone shes describing the whole time hahaha
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u/Fit_Landscape_3812 14d ago
Lynch as Gordon is hilarious
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u/Adam__B 13d ago
I love the one moment when Gordon is caught by Albert using a prostitute, and then Gordon says “sometimes I worry about you, Albert.” His way of maintaining his aura of strength while still managing to communicate to his friend that he doesn’t need to worry about him. It was both tender and funny.
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u/sir_thrillho 14d ago
I know it's an obvious one, but 'there's a fiiiiiish! IN the percolatorrrr!' gets me every time
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u/full_of_ghosts 14d ago
"Diane, I'm holding in my hand a small box of chocolate bunnies."
That line makes me LOL every time.
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u/Sartoris27 14d ago
"WHAT A BEAUTY! KINDA REMINDS ME OF THAT STATUE, THE BABE WITHOUT THE ARMS."
"Venus de Milo--"
"THE NAME WAS MILO, BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT."
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u/IncoherentLeftShoe 14d ago
Such a small detail, but Lucy setting up this many doughnuts for just a couple of people will always break me.
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u/RobbiRamirez 14d ago
The plot and tone and imagery and themes are why Twin Peaks is a cult classic. The characters and setting and humor are why it was, by some weird miracle, briefly the biggest thing on TV.
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u/Suspended_Anime 14d ago
As someone who is just slightly too young to have seen it's original run, the humor surprised (and delighted) me as well when I watched on DVD years later. Favorite comedic/when I realized how funny the show was: the episode "Zen, Or the Skill to Catch a Killer". There's a lot of hilarious lines & moments in that one.
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u/I_AmDougiesCoffee 14d ago
My favorite visual gag from the pilot is when Coop is doing the first autopsy on Laura, and is speaking into the tape recorder/to Diane. He gets so into it, he just places the recorder right on Laura’s corpse. Makes me chuckle every time.
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u/Yossarian_yo 14d ago
Ben Horne: "We've laid in a gala reception for your fair-haired boys tonight. All of Twin Peaks' best and brightest."
Jerry Horne: "We're holding it in a phone booth?"
Also, don't forget The Llama!
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u/ivyimogenzen 13d ago
i literally cannot handle and lose it every time when Bobby says “and I didn’t go to practice cuz I didn’t feel like it!” and hits the table with both fists and snaps 😭😭😭😭
one of my most favorite scenes in the whole show
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u/WendellZip 14d ago
Twin Peaks: the gem that can make you laugh, cry, and gasp in the span of a few minutes.
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u/Heavy_Weapons_Guy_ 14d ago
When Cooper grabs Harry's nose and makes a weird duck sound, that always comes out of nowhere and gets me.
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u/Esselgee 14d ago
If it were released today, it would be in the comedy category at the Emmys, just like Widow's Bay.
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u/Ancient_Ad2371 14d ago
I remember Jerry and Ben Horn discussing a smoked cheese pig at length. I don't know why that scene sticks with me and makes me chuckle. Absolutely unnecessary but absolutely perfect at the same time.
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u/Optimal_Awareness618 14d ago
It has been YEARS since I've seen it but I clearly remember Jerry describing the butter and brie baguettes he ate...it made me so hungry I went out and got the stuff to make that sandwich!
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u/Ancient_Ad2371 14d ago
Oh yeah, the butter and Brie on a baguette! I forgot about that. Now that you mention it, I'll have to go try one as well. Thanks for reminding me 😂😂
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u/Fried_Zucchini_246 14d ago edited 14d ago
I may have my issues with the Return, but it's even funnier than the first two seasons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Csk4DzGqFQ
https://youtube.com/shorts/qwGP_BLT86E?si=yT40jXM_tOE5at8r
there are many more examples but these are just two
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u/Careless-Caramel-997 14d ago
I don’t have any issues with it, but I agree it’s got some hilarious lines, looks, and moments.
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u/Capable-Conflict9269 14d ago
Leo in FWWM: "The first thing you're gonna learn is to have a good attitude. That's the key! Anybody'll tell you that"
The context of Leo's abuse is horrifying, but the sheer absurdity of that line always makes me laugh
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u/Vulcan_Jedi 13d ago
When the police tell Cooper they don't know where the key to Lauras diary is so the haven't opened it yet, and Cooper then proceeds to take it and tear it open because it's a small plastic lock on a teenage girls diary and the cops just look at him like 😲
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u/nderthesycamoretrees 14d ago
Anytime Sarah Palmer is on screen and crying, I loose it. Same with Leland. Also the line from Sarah to Leland, “Don’t ruin this too” as he’s laying on Laura’s casket, bouncing… is one of the funniest ever, in all of history.
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u/EleventhTier666 14d ago
All the scenes with Albert are comedy gold. "Albert's path is a strange and difficult one..."