Universal Translator

A disembodied voice-box that pops up whenever the crew needs alien or garbled speech rendered into English, the Universal Translator announces itself with portentous solemnity before delivering a line that is usually far sillier or ruder than intended. It exists purely to serve a joke, and it never once undersells that job.

Maurice LaMarche gives the gadget the gravity of a network newsman, which is exactly what makes the mistranslations land — the bigger the pompous windup, the funnier the absurd or crude payoff. It's a one-note bit, but the note is pitched perfectly every single time it recurs.