rake bit
n.— «“The Rake Bit”: Something that’s funny, goes on too long so it’s not funny, then goes on so long that it becomes INCREDIBLY funny. Goes under a couple different names, but of writers my age, this seems to be the most prevalent. Based on The Simpsons ep that was a Cape Fear riff. Sideshow Bob climbs out from under a car and steps on a rake. It smacks him. He mutters. He then steps three feet away …onto another rake. He mutters. ad-near-infinitum.» —“Writing: Jargon Preservation” by John Rogers Kung Fu Monkey Apr. 15, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection (Bookshop|Amazon) is a powerful and fascinating look at the history of the disease and how its persistence continues to shape global health. The author, John Green...
When a teenager went a week without talking as part of a school project, he noticed a surprising side effect: Instead of rehearsing a response to what other people were saying to him, he was focused on listening — and feeling smarter as a result...