History Main / BottomOfTheBarrelJoke

* ''{{QI}}'' often puts the punchlines to these as forfeits, such as "Piers Morgan" for the question "Name a poisonous snake", "Janet Street-Porter" for "What has large teeth and only one facial expression?", and "Have you been talking with my husband?" to Stephen Fry's request "Tell me about the Great Disappointment."
* [[ConanOBrien Conan O'Brien]]'s monologues use this kind of humor in spades, every single episode. In fact, most of the actual humor in the monologues comes not from the jokes, but from Conan's funny apologies for the jokes.

* When [[TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] does it, he reminds the viewers that he won a Peabody.

* ''{{QI}}'' often puts the punchlines as forfeits, such as the above answer, "Piers Morgan" for the question "Name a poisonous snake" and "Janet Street-Porter" for "What has large teeth and only one facial expression?"

->'''Stephen Fry''': Now, tell me about the Great Disappointment.
->'''Jo Brand''': Have you been talking to my husband?
->[''[[MostWonderfulSound klaxon]]''][[hottip:*:On QI, the klaxon goes off for answers which are both obvious and incorrect (i.e. the answer anyone would give) and means a forfeit of ten points for the panelist who hits it. The 'forfeit' answers have to be set up in advance, which means someone was ''expecting'' that answer to this question.]]
-->--''{{QI}}''

** Another one shows ducks standing around, when one yells "Chicken!" and they all ''duck'' as a chicken whizzes by. The caption says: "'And so,' the interviewer asked 'do you ever had trouble coming up with ideas?' 'Well, sometimes,' the cartoonist replied."

->'''Stephen Fry''': What was the Great Disappointment?
->'''Jo Brand''': Have you been speaking to my husband?

* [[ConanObrien Conan O'Brien]]'s monologues use this kind of humor in spades, every single episode. In fact, most of the actual humor in the monologues comes not from the jokes, but from Conan's funny apologies for the jokes.

* Bill Watterson, in the CalvinAndHobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, discusses how he would sometimes "go for broke on the illustration" when time could not allow for good writing (the example provided was of Calvin popping an especially huge bubblegum bubble, winding up with bubblegum all over his face, and then saying "I think I blew my head inside out!").
** He even made a comic about going to the bottom of the barrel. Calvin's Mom finds garbage under his bed that the threw down there to "keep the monsters quiet". In the aforementioned collection, this was a comment on the comics he drew just to fill his quota even when he had no inspiration.

Doesn't count in DeadBabyComedy; that's just a whole barrel full of splinters, backwash and detritus. [[spoiler: And dead babies.]]

* [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1467 Jeph Jacques stoops to]] ToiletHumour. There's also this from TheRant:

--> The developers of ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', [[PennyArcade going back to the penis well.]]

* ''{{QI}}'' often puts the punchlines as forfeits, such as the above answer, "Piers Morgan" for the question "Name a venomous snake" and "Janet Street-Porter" for "What has large teeth and only one facial expression?"

--> The developers of DantesInferno, [[PennyArcade going back to the penis well.]]

* This can be a tactic of stand-up comedians who are floundering on stage and find themselves desperate to re-win the audience. Sometimes it works, like when Gilbert Gottfried saved himself from a TooSoon 9/11 joke by randomly telling The Aristocrats. Other times it doesn't, like when Michael Richards' infamously used the N-word at a group of black hecklers (he was reportedly trying to [[CrossesTheLineTwice Cross The Line Twice]] and failed spectacularly).

** Dave Chapelle perhaps faced the worst of this with his show. He fought to maintain the quality of his comedy while [[ExecutiveMeddling executives tried to push for lower-brow comedy]]. As his audiences began to show they preferred what he saw as a BottomOfTheBarrelJoke, Chapelle quit.

* DominicDeegan has used this a few times in interesting ways, often twisting it to dramatic effect instead of comedic.

->[''[[MostWonderfulSound klaxon]]'']

--> The developers of DantesInferno, going back to the penis well

-"You say, 'We'll do a level on Lust! That'll be easy!' But then you really struggle to push the boundaries. Then you get kind of silly about it. You know, 'Let's just hang a huge penis out there and call it a day.'"

Doesn't count in DeadBabyComedy; that's just a whole barrel full of splinters, backwash and detritus.

* This is likely one of the reasons stand-up comedians face difficulties if transitioning to Live Action [=TV=] series. Rather than standard routines with the occasional special performance, they must develop an entire script. Unlike other comedy shows that have some form of story to hold them together, stand-up comedians on [=TV=] have to rely on their comedy to carry the show.

-->'''Stephen Fry''': What was the Great Disappointment?
-->'''Jo Brand''': Have you been speaking to my husband?
-->[''[[MostWonderfulSound klaxon]]'']

** Is that meant to reassure the audience of Colbert's skill, or to call the Peabody itself into question (even if slightly)?
*** Stephen (and Jon Stewart) likes to say that he's "just a comedian," and that what he does isn't "real" journalism. The Peabody is an award for excellence in journalism. When he makes crass, immature jokes, he likes to gleefully point out that ''this'' is the usual fare to be found on the show.

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** Is that meant to reassure the audience of Colbert's skill, or to call the Peabody itself into question?

* Bill Watterson, in the CalvinAndHobbes Tenth Aniversary Book, discusses how he would sometimes "go for broke on the illustration" when time could not allow for good writing (the example provided was of Calvin popping an especially huge bubblegum bubble, winding up with bubblegum all over his face, and then saying "I think I blew my head inside out!").