History Main / BaitandSwitch

* In the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', the Delightful Children from Down the Lane say at the end that the birthday girl they chose to get rid of the Kids Next Door was a horrible choice that they never should have used. The girl makes this face and gets angered, not because of what the Delightful Children said, but because the her birthday cake was coconut flavor, which she hated.

* On ''HaveIGotNewsForYou'' the chairman's scripted jokes often include things along the lines of:

* Issue 154 of ''ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian'' had a treatise of ''Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars'' by Jim Owsley (the assistant editor of the comic)... who soon denounces the book and instead reviews ''[[Film/Jaws3D Jaws III]]''. [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CkZaytejQXM/Td7HxIhD3MI/AAAAAAAAAKg/G9DFi664ghk/s1600/Conan%2Bpage%2B1.jpg Read it here.]]

* Also done in ''TheSimpsons'' when Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner are doing the sketch for a talent show.
--> '''Chalmers:''' Well, Seymour, it seems we've put together a baseball team, and I was wondering; who's on first?\\
'''Skinner:''' Yes, not the pronoun, but rather a player with the unlikely name of 'Who', is on first!\\
'''Chalmers:''' Well, that's just great, Seymour. We've been out here six seconds and you've already [[DontExplainTheJoke managed to blow the routine]]!

** Also in that same episode, Bart griefs because he can't find the lemon tree. Until he sees a clue: a lemon, behind a lemon-shaped yellow rock.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' has a ''double'' BaitAndSwitch: after suffering through one mishap after another that prevents him from getting into the tournament theater [[{{Otaku}} to see his favorite kung fu fighters in action]], Po throws all caution to the winds, ties himself to a chair with hundreds of fireworks bound onto it, and prepares to light the fuse. His (adoptive) father shows up, incredulously demanding what he's doing. Admitting that he does not dream of making noodles, he lights the fuse and lets out a proud, reveling crow that he loves kung fu... only to have the fireworks do nothing, apparently duds. His dreams crushed, he sadly takes his apron to go back to work--only to have the fireworks go off after all. Comedy gold.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rap71FdtzjQ&list=FLj4Qy3YzaXFABji55jEiwkQ The trailer]] for ''Film/LeatherfaceTheTexasChainsawMassacreIII'' uses a similiar structure, but adds [[KingArthur an Arthurian]] twist on it.

** Also done in ''TheSimpsons'' when Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner are doing the sketch for a talent show.

* One of the many {{Catch Phrase}}s on ''Series/GetSmart'' was the "Would you believe [improbable statement]?" routine, which almost invariably ended with Max being [[VerbalBackspace beaten down]] to something far more plausible than his opening line. At one point, he claims that "One of our agents was lost in the Pentagon for five days, would you believe it? Five days!" After the obligatory I-find-that-very-hard-to-believe... he begins attempting to remember on which day he entered the Pentagon. Of course, Max is a GeniusDitz of the first order, so...

** same with a lot of the deaths on ''Series/SixFeetUnder''.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' the gang find a tape of Robin which initially plays out as though it were porn. It's far worse -- she was a ''teen pop star.''
** Though the line gets blurred a bit when they locate her later work, which has the visuals of a kids' educational show but a script that [[DoubleEntendre doesn't quite match]].

* In an episode of ''{{Series/Community}}'', two students look at a problem on a chalkboard and say that it's unsolvable. After they leave, Troy looks at the problem and picks up a piece of chalk... then puts the chalk in his pocket and walks away.

* ''DoctorWho''; in "A Good Man Goes To War", Amy, held hostage by Madame Kovarian, consoles her newborn daughter Melody by promising her, "There's a man who's never going to let us down. And not even an army can get in the way." Her speech sounds like she's talking about the Doctor, until she tells Melody, "That man is your father. He has a name, but the people of our world know him better... as the Last Centurion." At which point the audience realizes that she was talking about Rory.
** ''Doctor Who'''s episode titles sometimes do this. "The Next Doctor", "The Doctor's Daughter" and "The Doctor's Wife", for instance.

** Another method involves starting a topic with a double meaning, with one interpretation (usually the more obvious one) being highly shocking or offensive, but the actual post being about the more mundane interpretation. For example, starting a topic with the title "I HATE FAGGOTS", only for the post to actually be about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_%28food%29 the poster's distaste for the food item]].

* ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' had a recurring segment in which the panellists announced arrivals with {{Punny Name}}s at a themed Charity Ball. (e.g. at the Christmas Ball: "Mr. and Mrs. Amanger, and their son Wayne.") One episode had a Cheesemakers' Ball, and one of the announcements was "Mr. and Mrs. Zola and their son... Emile."
** Or at the Menswear Ball, "From Scotland, Mr. and Mrs. Strap and their son...Dougal."

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer pours an entire bottle of lighter fluid onto his barbecue. Then another bottle. Then he goes to light it... and it lights as normal, and he proceeds to cook.
** Of course, in a different episode with a similar scene, the lit barbecue ignites into a mushroom cloud that can be [[DistantReactionShot seen from across the city]].

-->Zap Brannigan: You'll be negotiating with the aliens' mysterious leaders, the Brain Balls. They've got a lot of brains and a lot of... [[BilingualBonus chutzpah]].
** In the same episode, Bender has been rigged to a bomb which is set to go off on his most frequently used word. As it goes through the list, it starts to get to his catchphrase, "Number 5:Bite... Number 4: My... Number 3: Shiny... Number 2: Daffodil..."

* Happens sometimes on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', a show full of {{Running Gag}}s. For example: In "Voyage to the Bottom of Buford", Candace uses a disposable camera to document the boys' adventures; meanwhile, Doofenshmirtz has invented the Media-Erase-Inator. That seems to fit perfectly, but the ray actually ends up erasing a stop sign, causing a traffic accident which knocks over a water tower, and the resulting wave of water destroys the camera.

* In TheLooneyTunesShow, Daffy tries his hand at inventing. His speech indicates he's invented a time machine... but he's invented a suitcase.

*** In the same episode, only a moment later, we see the two women inside, and Marge is approached by a burly man who asks if she feels like "gettin' lucky." Marge replies that she is lucky, having a husband and three wonderful children, and thanks him for the compliment. He adopts a more threatening tone, saying he ALWAYS gets what he wants. Marge clarifies that she said "No." He is suddenly apologetic, says he misunderstood her, and backs off politely.
*** A similar gag is used in a later episode where Marge and Homer attempt to place a banner on a female judge's house, and the first two letters can be seen as "BI-", implying that it's "Bitch." They reveal the full banner and it turns out to read "Big Meanie."

*** Almost the exact same joke is done in "The Otto Show," only this time with a pizza in the back of a car.

*** The same season, a similar gag is used in "Lemon of Troy" when Bart is being chased by a guard dog. Homer attempts to distract it by throwing a steak its way, but instead the dog swallows it whole while still chasing after Bart, leading Homer to exclaim, "Run boy! He has a taste for meat now!"
*** Also in that same episode, Bart griefs because he can't find the lemon tree. Until he sees a clue: a lemon, behind a lemon-shaped yellow rock.

** Another episode has Homer lose track of Lisa. He seems to have an idea to find her and then goes to a vendor selling balloons, seemingly leading up to a joke that Homer is dumb enough to think [[{{Balloonacy}} he could float using a handful of balloons]].... Then, he offers the balloons to a cherry pick driver in exchange for using his machine. It works.

* A series of commercials from 1999 and 2000 are ads for TheDisneyChannel but are set up at first to make the viewer think they're about something else like a teen running home to go to the bathroom, or a group of teens running in horror like they're trying to escape something. They always ended with someone breaking the fourth wall and saying, "What'd you expect?"

* In the early episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", Kenny (who dies horribly in almost every episode) is continually subjected to a series of extremely hazardous situations. But nothing ever happens and he survives to the end of the episode for the first time.

* In an early ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", Kenny (who dies horribly in almost every episode) is continually subjected to a series of extremely hazardous situations. But nothing ever happens and he survives to the end of the episode for the first time.

* In a CutawayGag, Peter thinks back to when he was potty trained. The flashback starts by showing Peter as a kid, but the camera zooms out revealing it was only a picture showing a full-grown Peter running up to Lois saying, "Lois, I did it!"
* In the episode where the Griffins have a reality show set up in their house, Peter speaks to the executive producer and says, "This is what I think of your contract!" As he says this, he holds the contract as if he's going to tear it in half, but he doesn't. He just sets it down and says that he thinks the contract is stupid.

** Also in the movie, when Peter launches himself with a catapult. We get a scene of a man in a room, going over a list of all the precious, easily breakable things that are in that room (including a hemophiliac baby). Of course, Peter lands... right outside the window to the room, and proclaims "Those are all nice things!"

** There is also a classic LooneyTunes short that ends with this. BugsBunny has to deal with some hillbilly hawks. The short ends with a series of gags that end with one of the hawks shooting the other every time he hears the word "four" (or any honynym of that word). At the very end, it shows Bugs dressed like a golfer about to yell out "Fore!" but then he stops himself by saying, "Nah. Why should I get in on the act?" ** Subverted: Bugs starts to sing the first couple of lines of [[spoiler:"I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover"]]. On repeat.

** There is also a classic LooneyTunes short that ends with this. BugsBunny has to deal with some hillbilly hawks. The short ends with a series of gags that end with one of the hawks shooting the other every time he hears the word "four" (or any honynym of that word). At the very end, it shows Bugs dressed like a golfer about to yell out "Fore!" but then he stops himself by saying, "Nah. Why should I get in on the act?"

* GlobalAgenda's rather [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxFKDzW0qdg hilarious ad]] starts out about an elf, then has a laser point on his face, followed by a [[BoomHeadshot bullet]] all shot by a [[FragileSpeedester Recon agent]] who is the actual playable character shown here.

* In ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', Aladdin has Abu reach down and snag a watermelon, but the merchant catches this. We then find out that this was actually meant to be a diversion to the merchant as Aladdin snatched another melon from the cart.

** In "Skinner's Sense of Snow" the Simpsons go to an {{Expy}} of CirqueDuSoleil. While watching some contortionists, Marge whispers to Homer that their poses are giving her ideas. She then imagines herself in those poses... cleaning the bathroom.

** Homer is looking for a new drinking hole and wanders into the 'She She Longue' full of butch women:

--->'''Todd''': Now, all critics have their favorite whipping boys, and from the beginning, one of mine was Chris Brown. I love beating on Chris Brown just as much as Chris Brown likes beating... (Picture of Brown's head photo-edited onto a waitress at a breakfast restaurant) eggs for his famous homestyle breakfasts.

* The dreaded trap videos on Website/YouTube, which set up a misleading thumbnail, title, and description to lure in audiences looking for those key words, then [[TheGadfly troll]] them by showing SomethingCompletelyDifferent. The RickRoll was the most common variant in its heyday, although there are plenty of videos that [[SensoryAbuse go beyond this]] in terms of obnoxiousness.

* In another CutawayGag where a Japanese man in Japan gets a parking ticket and then gets splashed by a car with mud, wondering [[TemptingFate how his day could get any worse]]. The man looks up and sees something falling on him from the sky and he utters "[[OhCrap Oh... my... God!]]" The gag is dated on the same year [[WorldWarTwo that the United States bombed Japan]] but instead of a bomb falling on the man, it's just a rabid baboon.