These "Fargo" moments are hilarious! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the best scenes of comic relief in this bold, genre-bending anthology.
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00:00 "Oh, I hardly stuck 'em at all."
00:01 "I am hurt real bad."
00:02 "Shut up!"
00:03 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the best scenes of comic relief
00:07 in the bold, genre-bending anthology Fargo.
00:10 These entries may contain spoilers.
00:13 "There's no call for that kind of language."
00:15 Number 10. Mike Milligan's promotion.
00:19 Nearly every scene with Kansas City gangster Mike Milligan is harrowing.
00:24 His last scene, however, is deliciously tragic for one of Fargo's most enthralling heavies.
00:29 "The real oversight of the new Northern Territories,
00:32 well, that happens right here in this building, which is where you want me."
00:38 "Assuming you don't want to be a grunt your entire life."
00:41 "No. Of course not."
00:43 After helping to expand his organization's territory,
00:46 Milligan earns the promotion he'd been longing for.
00:49 Alas, it turns out to be a cushy office job in the syndicate's accounting department.
00:54 It may be the worst fate for such an adventurous killer.
00:57 "And this whole, uh, Western thing, that's gotta go.
01:01 Get something gray or pinstripe with a white shirt, a real tie, and cut your hair, okay?
01:08 The 70s are over, for Christ's sake."
01:10 It's also a brilliant satire of the empty and dull gestures in moving up the corporate ladder.
01:16 Even organized crime loses its excitement if you go high enough.
01:20 With Milligan's reward bringing nothing but regret,
01:23 the mighty have fallen in a relatably droll way.
01:26 [Siren]
01:33 Number 9. Home Security System
01:35 After surviving a school council riot and a kidnapping,
01:39 the paranoid Dot Lyon sets up her own home security system ahead of Halloween.
01:44 "What kind of craft project?"
01:45 "We're gonna have to go downstairs if we know."
01:48 She may as well use the opportunity to include some mommy-daughter time.
01:52 Dot and Scotty's craft project involves electrifying window sills,
01:56 coating a door handle with glass, and rigging a sledgehammer over the front door.
02:00 The very home alone montage plays into season 5's running tribute to morbid holiday entertainment.
02:06 "Can we do my room next?"
02:07 "Oh yeah, let's go."
02:11 The contrast between wholesome family cheer and gruesome traps is wickedly absurd on its own.
02:18 Dot perfectly punctuates the gag when she casually tells concerned husband Wayne,
02:22 "Why is there a sledgehammer over the front door?"
02:24 "Well, we talked about an alarm system."
02:27 It's not so amusing when Wayne later tries to open a window.
02:31 Number 8. Lester Visits Mrs. Hess
02:34 Lester Nygaard is already nervous when he visits Gina Hess to discuss her husband's life insurance,
02:40 since he was complicit in widowing her.
02:42 The Hess family proves to be nerve-wracking themselves.
02:45 "God damn it, get off the guy and quit shooting up the lawn sign."
02:51 Gina immediately starts flirting with Lester by showing off her awkward gift of gab and
02:55 equally awkward dance.
02:57 That is, when her mojo isn't disrupted by her idiot son's playing with a crossbow in the yard.
03:02 "Not again."
03:03 When Mickey is himself distracted by his mother's antics,
03:07 he shoots his brother Moe in the backside.
03:10 It's hard to be a quintessential noir seductress with all that going on.
03:15 As fun as the physical comedy is to watch,
03:18 an insurance man with nothing to hide would struggle through this meeting.
03:21 Number 7. Don Fada's Health Scares
03:24 The Fada family is generally a sly spoof of gangster drama tropes.
03:29 There's just no missing the joke with Don Donatello's less-than-epic demise.
03:33 "Hup."
03:34 His son Josto panics as the boss begins experiencing chest pains in the backseat of his car.
03:39 Turns out, it's just gas.
03:41 [FARTING]
03:47 "Ugh."
03:47 A huge fart joke may seem beneath Fargo,
03:51 but this one perfectly digs at clichéd overdramatic movie scenes of a mob boss being taken out.
03:56 If the parody is a bit under your nose,
03:59 the real punchline is when Josto rolls down the window,
04:02 allowing a child's BB gun pellet to nick Donatello's jugular.
04:06 [YELLING]
04:08 His men then rush to the hospital,
04:10 where he will be murdered by Orietta Mayflower.
04:13 Leave it to Fargo to find poetry even in potty humor.
04:17 Number 6. Psy's Parking Lot Rampage
04:20 Ray Stussie has long mooched off his brother Emmet's success.
04:24 "That's you paying me back for Ray."
04:26 "The thing is, Ray, even if we wanted to, we're what Psy says we are."
04:34 "You're what Psy's saying is it's not the best time."
04:38 The only thing to his own name is his prized 1977 Corvette C3.
04:44 So, when Emmet's business partner Psy Feltz informs Ray that he's cut off,
04:49 he knows how to drive the point home.
04:51 After the restaurant meeting,
04:52 Ray watches in horror as Psy gets in his Hummer in the parking lot,
04:56 then repeatedly backs into the Corvette.
04:58 [CRASH]
05:00 "Whoa! What the shit?"
05:02 There aren't many more outrageous power plays than that.
05:05 Psy even clips another patron's car in the chaos.
05:09 Coen Brothers enthusiasts may cite this scene
05:11 as an homage to John Goodman's iconic car smash in The Big Lebowski.
05:15 "This is what happens, Larry. You see what happens, Larry?"
05:18 But Psy's rampage stands out as a riotous escalation in the Stussie family feud.
05:23 Number 5. Carl Weathers at the Police Station
05:26 Nick Offerman was perfectly cast as philosophical shyster Carl Weathers.
05:31 "Steely in my resolve, prepared to battle unto my dying breath for the rights-"
05:36 "Lawyer's here."
05:37 "Hey, Denise. For the rights of free men!"
05:40 Carl himself wasn't exactly the perfect legal representation
05:44 for Ed Blomquist after his arrest.
05:46 The situation escalates when Gerhardt enforcers arrive at the police station
05:49 to acquire a colleague in custody.
05:51 No matter how suspenseful the standoff gets,
05:54 the inebriated and incontinent Carl keeps things surprisingly light.
05:58 "Hey, hope they didn't wake you."
05:59 "Out of my way, tool of the state, for I am come to comfort and counsel my client,
06:04 even as you seek to prison him."
06:06 The Korean war vet even shows some integrity
06:08 with a dramatic confrontation at the episode's climax.
06:11 But Offerman steals the whole show mostly with his flowery delivery
06:15 of the most absurd lines.
06:17 "Instead, I shall simply ask G or NG, and you, my client,
06:24 will shake your head in the affirmative for the letter or letters
06:29 that best describes your status."
06:31 Rhinoceros may confirm the always hilarious Carl
06:35 as one of Fargo's most eccentric characters.
06:38 He was certainly the heart of the tense episode's much-needed comic relief.
06:42 "Whatever your status, I shall defend you till your last breath.
06:46 I mean my last breath.
06:48 Excuse the obvious death penalty snafu.
06:54 I'm slightly inebriated."
06:55 Number 4.
06:56 Simenko makes a threat.
06:58 After all these years, there still aren't many characters
07:02 on Fargo more intimidating than Lorne Malvo.
07:05 "Because some roads you shouldn't go down.
07:06 Because maps used to say there'd be dragons here.
07:12 Now they don't.
07:12 But that don't mean the dragons aren't there."
07:20 He even proves that in a wonderfully cringey encounter with Wally Simenko,
07:24 head of security for one of the hitman's clients.
07:27 Simenko barges into Malvo's motel room to assert his authority
07:31 as their mutual employer's fixer.
07:33 "You're gonna pack up your shit and blow.
07:34 I'll tell Stavros you couldn't find the guy.
07:37 And in return, I will bust your head."
07:40 Without ever changing his disturbing expression,
07:43 Malvo simply wanders into the bathroom to sit on the toilet and read.
07:48 The only sound he makes is an awkward splash.
07:51 Simenko is right about this response being disgusting.
07:54 "Okay, slick.
07:56 I got your number.
07:58 I'm onto you."
07:59 It still certainly puts him in his place
08:02 by showing that Malvo himself cannot be intimidated.
08:05 In a series full of awkward laughs, this literal potty joke still dominates.
08:10 Number 3.
08:11 Ronald Reagan.
08:13 One casting choice for Fargo's star-studded second season really stood out for fans.
08:18 Bruce Campbell's Ronald Reagan was worth the wait.
08:21 "My friends, I believe that you and I together can keep this rendezvous with destiny.
08:27 Thank you."
08:29 The actor-turned-politician stops by a rally in La Verne during his 1979 presidential campaign.
08:35 Lou Salverson is working security when he encounters the man of the hour in the bathroom,
08:39 hoping for reassurance of America's future.
08:42 Luckily, Reagan is ready for a sweeping speech even at the urinal.
08:46 "Every generation has their time."
08:48 This caricature barely embellishes the future president's romanticized image.
08:52 It even puts into perspective the surrealism of a Hollywood idol entering the White House.
08:57 The whole time, Campbell perfectly balances Reagan's mannerisms with his own natural charm.
09:03 As much a biting satire of political grandstanding,
09:06 it's just an all-around brilliant cameo.
09:09 "Yeah.
09:11 But how?"
09:12 Dot Lyons' mother-in-law Lorraine is introduced with a family get-together for Christmas.
09:28 The thing is, it's late October.
09:31 "I'm here ruining the entrance."
09:33 "What?"
09:34 The head of a powerful debt collection firm,
09:36 Lorraine has to set up her public image for the holidays early.
09:39 The niche for that image in 2019 is established by a Christmas card photo shoot,
09:44 in which the Lyons must brandish automatic rifles.
09:47 "What the heck?"
09:48 "It's about strength.
09:51 Rejection of our values as a family."
09:54 This spoof of Kentucky politician Thomas Massey merely sets up a spectacularly
09:59 awkward family dinner.
10:00 "What were you doing there in the first place?"
10:03 "I mean, it was a school board meeting.
10:06 I'm on the committee for the new library."
10:10 It's not exactly a subtle satire of right-wing corporate branding.
10:14 Lorraine Lyons still makes quite the impression with her cynical elitist
10:17 clash with her meek son and daughter-in-law.
10:19 As complex as this character becomes,
10:22 her introduction is one of Fargo's most hilariously blunt.
10:25 Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
10:30 Budge and Pepper get demoted.
10:32 The FBI agents can't talk themselves out of a file room after encountering Lorne Malveaux.
10:37 "Listen, sir, this is where you work now.
10:41 We are highly effective, highly trained."
10:43 "I have a commendation."
10:44 Like Charlie Chaplin,
10:46 Gaetano Fata's massive ego takes the most damage from a slip on the ice.
10:50 "It's right. It's funny. Yeah? Like Charlie Chaplin."
10:55 Malveaux at the motel.
10:58 Lorne Malveaux causes chaos by convincing someone to urinate in a motel owner's car.
11:03 "Guy insulted me once. I pissed in his gas tank. Car never drove straight again."
11:11 Sheriff Tillman and the feds.
11:13 A maverick lawman stands off with the FBI in so-called "moist repose."
11:18 "Seriously? Do you want a towel or?"
11:23 "Does my discussing matters of state in moist repose bother you?"
11:26 This is not your office.
11:28 W.M. Varga asserts power over Seyfeldt with bewildering metaphors
11:33 and an unfortunate beverage.
11:34 "Have a drink, you'll feel better."
11:36 "Are you out of your mind?"
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11:55 Number 1. Teaching Dodd some manners
12:00 Hothead Dodd is essentially the punching bag of the Gerhart crime family.
12:04 Even Peggy Blomquist is able to overpower and bind him at her cabin hideout.
12:08 "Hey, Ed will be back any minute, so don't get any ideas."
12:12 Dodd still requires a painful lesson in not underestimating her.
12:17 As her captive continuously runs his mouth, Peggy casually stabs him with a kitchen knife.
12:22 This at least makes him polite in refusing some beans.
12:25 "You want some beans?"
12:27 "No." "No what?"
12:32 "No thank you." "That's better."
12:40 Ed then arrives, barely able to bring his wife down from her pokey power trip.
12:44 This jarring, completely insane gag not only makes the most of these characters,
12:49 it encapsulates Fargo's unique brand of dark comedy as a whole.
12:53 "What happened to him?" "Oh well, no, we don't need to talk about that, do we?
12:58 Water under the bridge."
13:00 Even when someone as Minnesota nice as Peggy Blomquist reaches a breaking point,
13:05 the violence can be wickedly charming.
13:07 "I lost." "Yes."
13:09 "No." "Yes."
13:10 "I mean I had to teach him some manners is all, if we're gonna be spending time together."
13:14 What are your favorite moments from the Fargo TV series, humorous or otherwise?
13:18 Do some cooperation in the comments.
13:20 "Give me a chocolate please, and uh…" "In old fashion."
13:26 "In old, in old fashion."
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13:37 [Music]