Subtle things.

[Comicfan]

Most cartoons are composed of fast moving jokes and gags, but occasionally something will show up in the background or there will be a small throwaway moment that is just as funny as any of the larger gags in the short.

For example, I crack up whenever I think of the moment in "Canary Row" when Granny calls down to the hotel manager for someone to fetch her bags. The look of utter homicidal fury on the hotel manager's face as he wrestles with the phone, and his instant seuge into a polite "Yeeesss?" gets me every time.

Another instance is the bit in the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon "The Bodyguard" where Tom accidentally runs straight into Spike's mouth. It's not the action that amuses me so much as the gulping/smacking sound effect that accompanies it...
So what are your favorite "throwaway bits" in classic cartoons?

[Patrick McCart]

The spilled water gag in Daffy Duck Slept Here. It's an obvious bit (I'm surprised it went through the censors), but the reaction on Porky's face is hilarious.

The Awful Orphan has a really funny gag when you think of it... when Charlie Dog reveals that "delicate condition" and Porky starts asking nice. Then he asks the name and it's "Max". Kind of funny to see a subtle gag on canine pregnancy.

[Duck Dodgers]

The spilled water gag in Daffy Duck Slept Here. It's an obvious bit (I'm surprised it went through the censors), but the reaction on Porky's face is hilarious.

The Awful Orphan has a really funny gag when you think of it... when Charlie Dog reveals that "delicate condition" and Porky starts asking nice. Then he asks the name and it's "Max". Kind of funny to see a subtle gag on canine pregnancy.

Uhmm.. I remember the gag differently . It was in " Little Orphan Airedale " and the dog reveals his name to be Charlie .
What kills me is the verbal gag that folows the sequence you described : when angry Porky trows Charlie out of his home , the dog opens the door only to say : " Well , there actually was such a case in Venezuela ! " .