Small Council: What was the funniest moment of Game of Thrones Season 6?

Game of Thrones Season 6 is over, but the process of analyzing Game of Thrones Season 6 has just begun. This week, we look back on those moments that made us chuckle, guffaw, laugh, or involuntarily squirt out our beverage of choice through our nostrils. In short, we discuss the funniest moments of the year. Tell us what you think, and vote in our poll!

DAN: Season 6 had a lighter tone than Season 5. Much of this had little to do with jokes. Season 5 ended in despair, with Cersei publicly humiliated, Stannis defeated, and Jon Snow murdered. There was plenty of death and destruction at the end of Season 6, but there were also notes of hope, with Jon being made the new King in the North and Daenerys finally setting sail for home. Moments like that popped up throughout the year (there may not be a happier scene on Game of Thrones than when Jon and Sansa reunited in “Book of the Stranger”), and that made the audience more receptive to the goofier moments.

There were a lot of moments to choose from, but if I’m being honest, I may have guffawed loudest when, during his fight with a Dothraki warrior in “Book of the Stranger,” Jorah tried to blind his opponent by throwing a handful of sand in his eye…and missed. The Dothraki spared one half-second to look at Jorah like he was the saddest man in the world (and he’s definitely a contender) before getting right back to the task of killing him. That move has been used successfully in many an action movie, and it was nice to see the show put a little twist on it.

I’m going mainly by instinct here. So far as jokes go, Jorah’s sand attack fail didn’t have the instant combustibility of the Tormund/Brienne flirtation or the ambition of the scenes with the Braavosi players, but it did make me snort, loudly and involuntarily. That’s worth something.

COREY: I hate to go with the obvious answer here, but Tormund taking every chance possible to give Brienne heart-eye emojis was the funniest thing about Season 6 for me. When it comes to laughs, I’m not sure what other moment from Season 6 could top the notion of Tormund clearly and desperately wanting after the Maid of Tarth, coupled with Brienne’s obvious disdain for that “wildling fellow with the beard.” I can’t remember a more awkwardly hilarious romance.

I suppose Grey Worm’s attempt at humor after being verbally bludgeoned by Tyrion for what felt like half the season wast amusing, but it came only after we were subjected to some of the worst attempts at humor we’ve had to endure on the show. I didn’t find this season to be terribly funny, probably because Tyrion seemed to be so off his game. Generally speaking, it seems like Tyrion supplies most of the humor, and coupled with Bronn’s absence for most of the season, you really aren’t going to have much comedy. If you don’t fire your big guns, it’s hard to hit the big targets.

KATIE: The perhaps doomed romance of Brienne and Tormund may go down as one of the most laugh-out-loud funny scenes in television history, but it’s a close call for my favorite moment of the season.

As Corey mentioned above, Bronn’s extended absence left some humor wanting, but my personal favorite scene nevertheless included him. Bronn and Podrick’s reunion was one I’d been waiting for almost as wistfully as I’d been waiting for Jon and Sansa’s (although for different reasons). The Tyrion/Bronn/Pod dynamic was an entirely enjoyable one throughout their seasons together, and their separation prior to Tyrion’s trial was heartbreaking—there was genuine friendship beneath a steward’s duty and a sellsword’s going rate, and we got to see that friendship rekindled in Bronn and Pod’s reunion at the siege of Riverrun.

It was lighthearted and familiar, and it was almost as though no time had passed since their last meeting in the way they could simply pick up where they’d left off. Bronn’s quick, honest wit coupled with Pod’s naivete (not to mention the fact that it seemed Daniel Portman was hard-pressed not to laugh throughout) gave the audience a much-needed break from the seriousness of the situation. Bonus: generally speaking, the unexpected face slap is never not funny, and this one certainly didn’t let me down.

ANI: For me, the funniest moments in Season 6 were, hands down, the “Game of Thrones players” and the entire “play of the show within the show” sequences. Not that there weren’t other parts I didn’t bark laugh at, like Olenna’s fan-service bitchslap of the Sand Snakes. But the “Game of Thrones players” was one of the very few sequences we knew was coming in The Winds of Winter, with the funhouse mirror retelling of recent Westerosi history, which was so biased one might have thought Cersei personally approved the script. But what I didn’t expect was how thorough it would be, or how great a cast it would sport.

To recap:

• Richard E. Grant as Robert Baratheon/Tywin Lannister
• Essie Davis as Cersei Lannister
• Kevin Eldon as Ned Stark
• Leigh Gill as Tyrion Lannister
• Eline Powell as Sansa Stark
• Rob Callender as Joffrey Baratheon

This is already a powerhouse lineup of actors. The director then literally took them through an improved version of this funhouse mirror version of Westerosi history, having them reenact many of the key scenes from the first four seasons, the best of which wound up on the screen. Reportedly, there’ll be deleted scenes from the play on the Season 6 home video boxset. I could laugh over that all day.

RAZOR: How can you talk about the funniest moments in Game of Thrones Season 6 without mentioning Grand Maester Pycelle’s nervous gas at the sight of The Mountain, or the wit and wisdom of Tyrion Lannister? While Pycelle may have been murdered by a bunch of creepy children this season, his awkward shuffling past Cersei in “Book of the Stranger” was hilarious. And then, of course, there was the aforementioned audible gaseous expulsion.

While Pycelle’s whiffle-fart made my inner 12-year-old self giggle uncontrollably, Tyrion had the funniest lines in Season 6.

• Varys: “You walk like a rich person.” Tyrion: “It’s a good thing you’re not a boy anymore…because you have no cock.”
• Tyrion: “I drink and I know things.”
• Tyrion after unchaining Viserion and Rhaegal: “Next time I have an idea like that, punch me in the face.”
• Tyrion making Missandei and Grey Worm drink wine and tell jokes.

Peter Dinklage is a treasure on Game of Thrones, and his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister is quite possibly the brightest spot in a show full of bright spots. And now that Tyrion is returning to Westeros for Season 7, I can only dream of the interactions he’s bound to have with Bronn, Jaime, and even Pod.