Well, this movie was primarily a musical-comedy, so the screenwriters had plenty of occasions in which they not only could but more or less had to create funny situations. Actually, it's hard work.
Personally I don't find the so-called "running gags" you mention particularly funny -- they're okay but hardly original or hilarious. Just throw-away stuff, as you say, the kind of thing heard in many films.
But I do like the patter between Cohan and Eddie Foy, since that mirrors real life. The two men were good friends and pretend rivals, and their longtime fake "feud" was well known and lent itself to a lot of fun. My favorite line actually belongs to Foy, reading the poster outside the theater, in which the name "George M. Cohan" is repeated over and over in one capacity after another. When he finally gets to the single credit "Produced by Sam Harris", Foy mutters, "Must be Cohan's alias!'
This "feud" is briefly resurrected in the 1955 Bob Hope film, The Seven Little Foys, in which Cagney does a cameo as Cohan. The two engage in a great bit of one-upsmanship in insults, before doing a soft-shoe routine. It was the only really good part of that movie.
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