History Main / BathroomBreakOut

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

** When Homer is taking Bart to a behavior correction camp, Bart escapes by climbing out the window of the restroom at a highway diner.

* In the ending of the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story "And the Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels", Stiletto ([[TalkingYourWayOut who has excellent persuasion abilities]]) escapes death row this way, by asking for a bathroom break some time before execution.

* President Uno does this during the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation W.H.I.T.E.H.O.U.S.E.".

[[caption-width-right:300:"Wait, why is there a [[BedsheetLadder bedsheet]] in the bathroom?!"]]

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?", the suspect asks for a bathroom break. After taking longer than he should, they bust down the stall door, thinking he escaped, but instead, he committed suicide by suffocating himself with a plastic bag.

* In the adaptation of ''[[Literature/TommyAndTuppence The Secret Advesary]]'' on ''Series/PartnersInCrime'', Jane Finn escapes from Brown by locking herself in the train bathroom, smashing a window and climbing out.

* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' Sven sneaks out through the [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=680 bathroom window]] to avoid having to deal with his ex who's looking for him. Faye guesses this and waits outside for him. Further subverted when the ex-girlfriend reveals that she knew all along that he was doing this, she just wanted to make him squirm for revenge.

* When Winston Churchill was a prisoner of the Boers he got out of the POW camp by crawling through a latrine window that overlooked a deep gully. He hid in the gully until full dark, then traveled overland to neutral territory.

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/FutureDiary http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capture_4.PNG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:But in this case, she really ''did'' [[PottyEmergency have to go that badly.]]]]

-->-- [[Creator/RogerEbert Ebert]]'s Bigger Little Movie Glossary

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* In an ''ArchieComics'' story where a bad guy had taken over the school with a teacher robot, Jughead got out and was able to save the real teachers by asking to use the bathroom.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'', Emp talks about how she thought about doing this but decided against it, because it might dissuade crooks from allowing captured heroines to use the bathroom in the future.

* Bob from ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' does it to escape from Nitro's game when sitting for Weird Pete in "A Man Out Standing In His Field".
* In the ending of the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story "And the Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels", Stiletto ([[TalkingYourWayOut who has excellent persuasion abilities]]) escapes death row this way, by asking for a bathroom break some time before execution.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''Fanfic/{{Zenith}}'': To escape from the guards keeping an eye on him, Spike pleads that he needs to do his business to a bathroom. The guards eventually realize that Spike's trying to escape and barge in, but by then he's left several misdirecting clues to make them think he's trying an AirVentEscape and rush out to stop him, while he's safely hiding inside an unassuming-looking throw pillow.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/SisterAct'', Dolores slips away from her police escort this way - only to find herself against the mafiosi who are chasing her.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheHobbit'', which includes a scene in which Bilbo and the dwarves sneak ''into'' a house in Laketown [[{{Squick}} via the toilet]] (which is built directly over the water of the lake).

* An elaborate example is seen in ''Literature/DaVinciCode''. During the bathroom break, the escaping characters fake an escape through the bathroom window, managing to mislead pursuers.

* In Dorothy L. Sayer's ''[[Literature/LordPeterWimsey Unnatural Death]]'', Bunter shadows the (female) suspect all the way to a major London railway station, where he sees her enter the ladies' room. He waits at the door. . .and waits. . . and waits. The suspect, thinking she might be trailed, had earlier that day checked a suitcase containing a black cloth coat and a black felt hat; she put these on, re-packing the case with her fur coat and red straw hat. (Remember, women's hats in those days frequently concealed most of the face.) Hence, Bunter was looking for an empty handed woman in a fur coat and a red straw hat; he never noticed the woman in the black cloth coat and chat carrying a suitcase.

* In "Target: Domino Lady" in ''Literature/DominoLady: Sex as a Weapon'', Ellen fakes emotional distress as an excuse to go to the bathroom where she changes to her alter ego and sneaks out the bathroom window.

* ''Series/HappyDays'': The 1980 episode "Hot Stuff," where Fonzie, Potsie and Ralph use the bathroom window to escape from a burning Arnold's. (The fire – the BigBad in this case – had nearly engulfed the restaurant, but even so, the three have to rely on some outside help to escape.)

* Kate in ''Series/{{Lost}}'' escaped her police escort at the airport this way.

* Happens to Provenza and Flynn in ''Series/TheCloser'' episode "Layover", when they allow two stewardesses they are arresting to use the bathroom before taking them down to the station. To add insult to injury, the stewardesses then steal Provenza's car.
** Also happened in "Next of Kin", with the suspect breaking out of the bathroom of the RV they're transporting him across the country in.

* Van Helsing does it in the ''YoungDracula'' episode "Halloscream"; leaving behind a tape of himself whistling to convince Jono that he is still in there.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''WebComics/{{Freefall}}'' Florence attempts this but is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02434.htm the bathroom lacks windows or vents large enough to climb through]]. She later uses the fact that it's a women's restroom to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02438.htm distract her male captor]] enough to destroy her remote and escape.
* In ''WebComics/QuestionableContent'' Sven sneaks out through the [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=680 bathroom window]] to avoid having to deal with his ex who's looking for him. Faye guesses this and waits outside for him. Further subverted when the ex-girlfriend reveals that she knew all along that he was doing this, she just wanted to make him squirm for revenge.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when Homer was taking Bart to a behavior correction camp Bart escaped by climbing out the window of the restroom at a highway diner.
** Another time was when Krusty the Clown owed lots of gambling money to Fat Tony and instead of paying escaped through the bathroom. (You can actually hear a car take off, and then a ''plane''. Then Legs tells Fat Tony, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint "When he's done in there, I gotta go."]])
* Probably as an homage to this trope (among other EscapeTropes), in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' Woody initially breaks out of the day care centre through a bathroom window.

* An elaborate example is seen in ''DaVinciCode''. During the bathroom break, the escaping characters fake an escape through the bathroom window, managing to mislead pursuers.

* Kit Kittredge manages this in one of the AmericanGirl books, ''Kit Saves the Day''. She is only ten years old, so it makes a little more sense that she can fit through the bathroom window.
* Somewhat more brute-force version in one of the StephaniePlum books. Steph is being held captive in a bathroom and managed to talk her captors into leaving the building for items they're going to need for planned nastiness inflicted on her. When she discovers a soggy piece of wallboard, she kicks her way through the wall, then leaves via a window in the next room.

* In Dorothy L. Sayer's ''[[LordPeterWimsey Unnatural Death]]'', Bunter shadows the (female) suspect all the way to a major London railway station, where he sees her enter the ladies' room. He waits at the door. . .and waits. . . and waits. The suspect, thinking she might be trailed, had earlier that day checked a suitcase containing a black cloth coat and a black felt hat; she put these on, re-packing the case with her fur coat and red straw hat. (Remember, women's hats in those days frequently concealed most of the face.) Hence, Bunter was looking for an empty handed woman in a fur coat and a red straw hat; he never noticed the woman in the black cloth coat and chat carrying a suitcase.

* In the book ''ThingsNotSeen,'' the main character, who has turned invisible, uses a bathroom to change from winter clothing that lets no invisibility show through, to being naked.

* In ''Film/ThePinkPanther Strikes Again'', Dreyfuss orchestrates the escape of a prisoner being transported by train. He goes to the bathroom, then climbs out through the ventilator on to the roof of the train and into a waiting helicopter.

* Double subverted in ''Manga/FairyTail''. Lucy is captured by Jose, and says she needs to go to the bathroom. [[GenreSavvy He hands her a bucket.]] It looks like she's going to use it, but instead she [[GroinAttack kicks him in the groin from behind]] and escapes.

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the villains are genre-savvy enough to only let [[spoiler: Jerin]] use a chamber pot. [[spoiler: He still manages to make use of the short moment of privacy this gives him.]]

* In ''Literature/MythAdventures'', Skeeve tried to escape from the bar on Perv through the backdoor in the bathroom. Unfortunately Pervish thugs turned out to be GenreSavvy enough to wait him outside.

* In ''[[FarFetchedFiction The Witches of Chiswick]]'' by Robert Rankin, one character, while being questioned, asks to go to the bathroom. His interrogator points out that the window in the bathroom is too small to climb out of.

* In the adaptation of ''[[Literature/TommyAndTuppence The Secret Advesary]]'' on ''Series/PartnersInCrime'', Jane Finn escapes from BRown by locking herself in the train bathroom, smashing a window and climbing out.