The Sopranos - The Top 5 Funniest Moments

It's been over 6 years since THE BEST prime-time drama ever came to a close. Since then, those of us completely obsessed with the series have been reliving every single moment on DVD and on Pay TV. The series had absolutely everything going for it; the mob world setting, clever writing, intelligent story lines, excellent character development and, last but not least, some of the best quotes I've personally ever heard from a television show.

One of the most underrated elements from The Sopranos was the way in which humour was subtly placed in amongst the violence and underworld tension that you'd be familiar with from films such as The Godfather and Casino. Yet, this program is more like Goodfellas in it's use of humour juxtaposed with the normal conventions of a mob film.

That being said, there are many extremely funny moments as well when the humour is a lot more obvious to the casual viewer, such as the moment when Pauly Walnuts makes a joke about another character, Silvio, giving his first blow job to a man. This was funny enough, but then he proceeds to repeat the exact same joke to other members at the table in case they didn't hear him the first time. Classic stuff.

Deserving of an Emmy and a Nobel Peace Prize IMHO

As someone who has watched this entire series so many times that I've lost count, I've decided to compile what I believe to be the funniest scenes from all 6 seasons. Once you'd had a read of this articled, I urge you to also share your favourite moments in the comments section. Enjoy!

5- The Scene Above

The set up was perfect - Pauly has exposed himself on numerous occasions to be misogynistic, old-school and of a fairly filthy mind. This scene is absolutely no exception. From the annoying way in which he urges Tony to describe and divulge information about his therapist performing fellatio on him (which in no way happened) to the frank and open discussion about remembering every blow job he ever got, Pauly would be a nightmare at a feminist convention.

The perfect timing of his delivery was what made the scene great. The writing is itself brilliant, but Tony Sirico is a comedic genius - and this is someone who had mob connections in real life, so you know that these kinds of discussions are genuine in that world.

Silvio's (Steven van Standt) reaction is equally as good as Sirico's performance, offering the scene a sense of genuineness that we simply don't see on television anymore, particularly in dramas.

4 - "Oh, rimshot!"

Quoted beyond a joke, this scene from season 5 is just one of those times when you're simply not expecting any humour at all, and then out of the blue, 'BAM!' it hits you.

Deserving of an Oscar, Nobel Peace Prize and a free Cornetto

The video above only shows the peak of that scene, when Tony (James Gandolfini) utters the punchline. To fully appreciate it, I'll give you some background. 

At this point in the series, Tony and his wife Carmella are going through a messy separation. They're arguing about Tony's lack of discipline with his son, his sleeping around behind Carmella's back and also the potential affair she could have had with one of Tony's soldiers. Towards the end of the argument, Carmella hits back with a snappy comment to which Tony retorts with this witty line "Ooh rimshot!". 

The delivery of the quote is brilliant, just another example of how this series was able to capture record breaking audiences for so long.

3 - "Sun Tizzu"

Again, Pauly makes the list, but this time not for one of his jokes. Apart from being old school, misogynistic and filthy, Pauly is also pretty dumb when it comes to history, general knowledge and finding dangerous Russians. Taking on Tony's advice from an earlier season, Pauly starts reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War. He begins to pass on his newfound knowledge to his associates in the way of advice, however he still comes off an idiot, particularly when Silvio points out that it's not Sun Tizzu, who was the author. Pauly obviously has a hard time distinguishing between Italian and Chinese pronunciation and spelling of names.

As an added bonus to this episode, a brilliant scene is when Pauly, listening to an audio version of The Art of War in his car (because he doesn't seem like much of a reader) listens to the part where it says "He will win, when he knows when to fight, and when not to fight". While smugly nodding his head as if he truly understands it, he also glances out of the window and sees a couple of gardeners that he needs to rough up. It's as if he subconsciously took the advice... or rather it was just Pauly being Pauly.

2 - "Free Alterations"

Those of you who are fairly familiar with Season 1 will remember Mikey Palmice, the right hand man of Soprano Family boss and co-creator of Seinfeld, Junior Soprano.

Can you really spot the difference?

The reason that Mikey P only lasts the one season is because of the type of person he is - arrogant and smug - this doesn't bode well with anyone who hasn't sided with Junior Soprano.

Early on in the series, Mikey assassinates one of Tony's workers, drug dealer and overall douche bag, Brendan Filone. Filone gets the Moe Green special, right through his eye, proving that Mikey isn't just an asshole, he's the type of asshole who'll shoot you in the bath tub, but I digress.

After Tony hears this he decides to make his way to see his uncle, Junior. Without so much as starting a war, Tony bumps into Mikey P out the front of Junior's hangout... well anyway, here's the entire scene so you can see for yourself.

At the beginning of the scene, right before the beating, we see the camera zooming in on a staple gun that Tony spots. I think you can see where the rest of the scene is heading after that point.

There's really nothing funny at all about Tony laying the smack down on Mikey, except for the one comment he makes in between staples, "What are you screaming about? Free alterations". 

I don't know about you, but if there's anyone as witty and pithy as that while beating someone else up, I sure as hell don't want to meet them.

Bonus: The double meanings after Tony exclaims at the end, "This is long overdue", when throwing the parking ticket at Mikey.

1 - "Universal Remote"

I think that most fans of this show can all agree on one thing - Pine Barrens is a seriously funny episode. Not only for the situation in which Pauly and Christopher Moltisanti find themselves in, but more for how they get into that situation and then subsequently try to deal with it. It's as if the show merged with The Marx Brothers for 45 minutes. It's pure slapstick, vaudevillian brilliance. From losing shoes in the snow, to having to eat packets of mayonnaise to survive, to awful phone reception, to mistaking Chechnyans for Czechoslovakians and then even more.

Chris and Pauly are sent to do the simplest task ever - collect money for Silvio from a Russian man. Easy enough. All goes well for the first minute. The Russian hands over the money, and then all they have to do is bid him good day and exit the door. Easy. Or so you'd think.

Pauly, doing what he does best, completely cocks up the situation by being an asshole. 

This whole scene is full of funny dialogue right from the very beginning. Chris and Pauly's exchange about the Cuban missile crisis is priceless as is the way Pauly greets the Russian after knocking on the door.

From this point on - Put universal remote back on docking station is unnaturally funnier than that sentence could ever be, even in a monotonous, Russian accent.

Honourable Mentions:

Junior falling in the shower (and his subsequent reaction)

Tony smashing a phone over a mans head (numerous times)

Tony smashing a phone in his own house

Bobby Bacala shooting a gangster rapper in the butt

Don't forget to add your own moments in the comments section as well.

You can read more #SopranosQuotes by following @SiCar on Twitter