The legacy ofGilmore Girlsis immense and far-reaching. There was the fast-talking, the large amounts of fast food and coffee consumed, and the adorable and funny small town of Stars Hollow. Additionally, there was the core central mother-daughter relationship and friendship between Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel). The combination of these elements led to many great moments and episodes in the show, some that were more serious and emotional, and some that were laugh-out-loud funny.
InGilmore Girls' seven seasons, there were many tearjerker moments and heartbreaks.There were also the hilarious running gags. Some of the show’s best episodes came with a good cry, and the show really knew how to deliver when it came to drama and sad moments. However, the show could also display a comedic heart as well, as the funniest episodes ofGilmore Girlsperfectly illustrate.
Gilmore Girls
10"A Tale of Poes and Fire"
Season 3, Episode 17
Season 3, Episode 17, “A Tale of Poes and Fire” did whatGilmore Girlsalways did well, which was balance out quirky Stars Hollow happenings with more serious plot points. In this episode, Rory had to choose between Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, while Lorelai dealt with a fire at the Independence Inn. Additionally, Lane Kim (Keiko Agena) realized that Young Chiu was in love with her even thoughLane was dating Dave Rygalski, and Rory helped Paris cope with losing Harvard.Luke also attended Jess’s Employee of the Month ceremony and learned that Jess was not going to school.
What made this episode so funny were the jokes in between the plot points. Luke hilariously teases Jess about his award. There were multiple Edgar Allan Poe impersonators walking around and fighting with each other. Lorelai had to deal with too many pushy house guests. Luke and Sookie fought over Luke’s kitchen and subsequently gained a begrudging respect for each other in the kitchen. Kirk made T-shirts of things happening in the town and tried to sell them. It was all very funny and clever.
9"We’ve Got Magic to Do"
Season 6, Episode 5
The first half ofGilmore Girlsseason 6 was especially difficult and heavy, due to Lorelai and Rory’s big fight. Season 6, Episode 5, “We’ve Got Magic to Do” was one of the show’s sadder episodes for the most part. Rory hosted a big event for the DAR that turned out to be a huge success and led to a heartbreaking moment of Richard watching her in the end and realizing what he had done. Lorelai pushed Luke into going camping on his own instead of watching Miss Patty’s dance recital, because she was afraid that he was giving up his interests for hers.
The reason that this episode makes the list, though, is for what is genuinely one of the funniest sequences in the entire show.At Miss Patty’s recital,the hilarious Kirk Gleason (Sean Gunn)performed a dance, “The Journey of Man,” that was equal parts hilarious and disturbing. It was a dance that Kirk had first created and performed twenty years before, then recreated. Throughout the dance, Kirk started as a sperm, then grew into a person and eventually became a parent. Kirk then had a very strange onstage death. All the while, Lorelai and Sookie watched on in horror, occasionally punctuating the scene with the occasional “Ew.”
8"Double Date"
Season 1, Episode 12
“Four menus, one coffee, and an anvil, please.“Season 1, Episode 12, “Double Date” followed two disastrous and hilarious double dates.Sookie and Jackson had their first date, but his cousin was in town, so Lorelai got roped into a double date with the two of them. Meanwhile, Lane asks Rory to set her up with Dean’s friend, Todd, so they all go out on a double date. While Sookie and Jackson’s date was successful, Lorelai and Lane both had bad dates.
The funniest part of the episode is Lorelai’s date with Jackson’s truly awful cousin, Rune.Rune was a hilarious character. He was rude and mean, and he kept insulting Lorelai’s physical features. This led to some really hilarious moments, and some great banter between Lorelai and Luke about the awful date. Additionally, Lane’s date with Todd turned out to be a mess, as they had nothing in common. Todd did not care about music, wanted to major in gym, and loved the movieBeethoven.
7"But Not As Cute as Pushkin”
Season 5, Episode 10
ln Season 5, Episode 10, “But Not As Cute As Pushkin,” Rory hosted a Chilton student, Anna, at Yale. Rory was really excited to show off the academic side of Yale, but Anna was more interested in other things. Meanwhile, Lorelai tries to get more information about Luke’s dark day. There was also Paris’ speed dating that started off her goofy relationship with Doyle, as well as Paris' life coach, Terrence, being extra nosy in this episode.
This episode was one ofLogan Huntzberger’s (Matt Czuchry) funnier episodes. He teased Rory for sniffing a book, and then he played a huge prank on her at the end of the episode. During one of Rory’s classes, Colin (Alan Loayza) comes in to confess his love to Rory and pretend to call her out for leaving him. Then, Logan stormed in to fight with Colin over Rory, and they had an actual staged physical fight. Following this, Finn (Tanc Sade) comes in dressed like an old-timey police officer to break up the fight and shame Rory.The best and funniest part, though, was when Rory got back at Logan by teaming up with Richard for a prank, where Richard came to Logan and pretended like he was planning Logan and Rory’s wedding.
6"There’s the Rub"
Season 2, Episode 16
Season 2, Episode 16, “There’s the Rub,” set up the perfect comedy scenario: Lorelai gets trapped with her mother, Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop) at a spa for the weekend. Meanwhile, Rory tries to spend her time alone at the house, but she gets unexpected visits from Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) and Paris Geller (Liza Weil). The banter and irritation between Lorelai and Emily was very funny, and there at the spa, they were at their sharpest as a comedy duo. This episode was hilarious, due primarily to the character dynamics.Pairing together Rory reluctantly with Jess and Paris, and Lorelai reluctantly with Emily, made for some very funny scenes.
The most hilarious dynamic in the episodewas Jess and Paris. Although they did not end up interacting much in the show overall, they were very funny together, after Rory invited Paris to stay as a buffer for Jess and herself. Jess and Paris fought over The Beats, and Jess introduced Paris to salt and pepper dip and hot sauce. The renovations on the diner were also great, with Luke being frustrated that they took so long, and Jess smugly holding an umbrella over Rory’s head. Lorelai even convinced Emily to steal a bathrobe at the end.
5"The Bracebridge Dinner"
Season 2, Episode 10
In Season 2, Episode 10, “The Bracebridge Dinner,” Lorelai and Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy) prepares a special dinner for The Bracebridge Group at The Independence Inn. The Bracebridge Group had to cancel at the last minute due to the snow, so then Lorelai and Sookie ended up hosting the dinner for the whole town. Jackson’s cousin and Lorelai’s former awful date, Rune, returned in this episode to help, and he was hilarious and annoying as ever.Sookie got so overwhelmed while cooking that she forgot the word for salt.
Additionally, Richard Gilmore (Edward Hermann) was giddy after quitting his job, which was both funny and endearing. Jess continued his funny courtship of Rory and his hostility towards Dean. Rory and Jess hilariously agree about Chuck Presby being a jerk.The side characters all gatherunder one roof for the event, with Bootsy hilariously trying to start strange conversations with Luke, much to Luke’s annoyance. Jackson was Lord Bracebridge, and Kirk, Jackson, and Rune had to stay in character throughout the entire dinner. Additionally, Jess and Luke were funny and in sync about the food, with both of them agreeing to pick off “the green stuff” before they ate.
4"A-Tisket, A-Tasket"
Season 2, Episode 13
A strange Stars Hollow tradition combined with some good old-fashioned character tension always made for a funny episode ofGilmore Girls. In Season 2, Episode 13, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” Stars Hollow celebrated its annual fundraiser, where women made baskets of food, and men bid on them. There were so many funny things in this episode, such as Miss Patty carrying a picture of Lorelai around in her wallet to find a man for her, and Jess antagonizing Dean.
Lorelai panicked about Miss Patty’s dates for her after all of them showed up to bid on her basket, and it was very funny.Some ofGilmore Girls' best moments came from Stars Hollow traditions, because all the unusual and residents of the town really shone in moments like these.In this case, the basket fundraiser was very strange and elaborate. Miss Patty’s pushy but well-meaning involvementin Lorelai’s love lifewas hilarious, as was Jess’s pushing Dean’s buttons, and Kirk describing his situation with his 12 siblings to Jackson’s horrified reaction.
3"They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?"
Season 3, Episode 7
Season 3, Episode 7,“They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?“is most remembered for Dean and Rory’s breakup, but the dance marathon was hysterical. Everyone just took it way too seriously. Taylor Doosey (Michael Winters) was very intense about running the contest:“Please remember that if you feel yourself getting lightheaded, or having shooting pains or any other stroke-like symptoms, please move off to the side so that your collapse will not get in the way of the other dancers.“Additionally, by the end of the epiosde, many of the characters were acting drunk with sleep deprivation.
Lorelai and Kirk’s dance rivalry was hilarious. There was also Andrew’s yearly fight with his dance partner, as well as The Run-Around, where the contestants all had to race around the dance floor to stay. Taylor and Miss Patty were a great comedic duo as she tried to rein in his intensity about the competition. The best part of the episode, though, was Kirk running around the dance floor in victory with his trophy, while Rory cried to Lorelai about the breakup in the center.
2"Friday Night’s Alright For Fighting”
Season 6, Episode 13
Gilmore Girls' sixth season was more dramatic than the previous seasons, and Season 6, Episode 13,“Friday Night’s Alright For Fighting"is no exception. Most of the episode is more in favor of advancing the story along, and thus more dramatic. Lorelai sadly had to cancel a lot of the arrangements for her postponed wedding with Luke, while dealing with her sadness over him not introducing her to April yet. Rory was willing to give Logan another chance. Additionally, Paris ran the Yale Daily News into the ground, so Rory had to save it at the last minute, aided by Logan.
The real comedy of the episode came from the last ten minutes.Lorelai convinced Rory to go over to the Gilmores' house for dinner, when Rory had not been speaking to them for months after moving out of their house. The result was a Gilmore family dinner that was hilariously odd and uncomfortable, and that ended up being a truly wild airing of grievances. Initially, Emily chose to stay outside and paint a moonscape, while Richard was very picky about the ice. Then, they all started to get very honest with each other when Lorelai made them work out their issues over dinner. The directing of that scene was hilarious, cutting between each person as they brought up a strange combination of subjects. They addressed topics such as the tension around Rory moving out, Emily trying to timeshare a plane after, Theresa’s homemade passion fruit sorbet, and once again, Lorelai’s pregnancy.
1"Nick & Nora / Sid & Nancy”
Season 2, Episode 5
The introduction of Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) toGilmore Girlsbrought a lot of things to the show, and a significant one was comedy. Jess was an exceptionally funny character, who had many great one-liners, and who brought on the comedy in the other characters around him. There is an abundance of funny moments in this episode. There was Jess looking around Stars Hollow for the first time as “This Is Hell” by Elvis Costello played. There was also Jess' teenage rebellion of stealing lawn gnomes.And, of course, there was that fantastic and iconic final scene ofLuke pushing Jess into the lakewhen he was fed up with him.
Although it has some tough competition, “Nick & Nora / Sid & Nancy” is the absolute funniest episode ofGilmore Girls. Other highlights included Paris trying to make Rory so miserable that she might leave the paper, and Rory responding by getting under her skin. Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) and Lorelai get into a hilariously childish fight about parenting styles. While they were fighting, Luke would not let Rory buy more than one danish or cup of coffee, because he did not want Lorelai to have it when he was angry with her. This led to Rory’s hilarious delivery of"You’re really just gonna just stand there and watch me eat a danish?“Lorelai was so desperate for coffee, that she actually tried to make a child buy her a cup of coffee from Luke’s.
