sight gag

American  

noun

1. a comic effect produced by visual means rather than by spoken lines, as in a play or motion picture.

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Etymology

Origin of sight gag

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Unfortunately, the way she’s deployed as a sight gag makes it hard to take her seriously when it counts.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2025

Not to be forgotten: associate music director and pianist Riley Brule, who transcends the role of accompanist with a few choice interjections and a sight gag involving a pair of moose antlers.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 5, 2023

Pablo Larraín’s black-and-white horror spoof “El Conde” is founded on a ferocious sight gag: the former dictator Augusto Pinochet soaring into the night on a quest for human blood.

From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2023

It’s a sight gag, a provocation, an invitation to see something differently.

From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022

Another terrific sidebar, later in the film, has Hae-joon distracted and chasing after stolen soft-shell turtles, which generates an amusing sight gag.

From Salon • Oct. 14, 2022