"That's strange. There's only supposed to be one in each pack".
Is Graham Linehan getting royalties? That joke was executed far more effectively in 'Father Ted' 20 years ago. It beggars belief that not ONE person on that show caught that 'homage' and cut it.
Remember Ted? Obscure comedy show, only watched by 2 or 3 dozen people.
I just hope that was sarcasm!!!
shareI've just seen it and thought exactly the same thing- it's the episode where Craggy Island has that 'fun fair', if I remember correctly!
Still enjoyed it, though: Paul Kaye gets madder by the year...
I personally know it better from Curse of Monkey Island,
but it's quite a common gag in books.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TarotTroubles
From the link I'd hazard a guess that Terry Pratchett came up with the multiple death cards in Mort, and Linehan undoubtedly read Mort. Which is not to say two people can't "invent" the same joke years apart, but Pratchett seems like something that'd be on Linehan's reading list. I mean it's not like Linehan is afraid to re-use classic jokes. The whole "Have you tried turning it off and on again" running gag in the IT Crowd being a perfect example.
shareI love the Terry Pratchet books
(still have to order and watch Troll Bridge: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3482798/)
Just as a sidenote Mort by Terry Pratchet 12 november 1987.
It's actually quite hard to find the original source of that gag,
even tvtropes you have to do quite a bit of research in genres such as literature, fanfic and theater.