History Main / ClosetSublet

* Referenced [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] in the 2001 film ''Film/HeadOverHeels'': when Amanda moves in with a group of fashion models, she compares the room she's subletting to a closet, so they show her that their climate-controlled walk-in shoe closet is actually ''much'' nicer.

* Referenced [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] in the 2001 film ''Head over Heels'': when Amanda moves in with a group of fashion models, she compares the room she's subletting to a closet, so they show her that their climate-controlled walk-in shoe closet is actually ''much'' nicer.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers,'' Louise is happy to sleep in a converted walk-in closet rather than share a room with Tina because for some reason she ''hates'' the idea of anyone else going in her personal space. (She once gave her mom the SilentTreatment for two weeks simply because she went in to vacuum.)

* In ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', Cody decides to live in their suite's front closet when he gets fed up with Zack refusing to clean his side of their room. He moves back once Zack decides to clean it up ([[RealityEnsues and because the fire department told him it was illegal for him to live there]]).

* Although the floorplan for Misato's apartment [[NotDrawnToScale shifts constantly from episode to episode]], in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Asuka forces this arrangement on Shinji. The supplementary books have floor plans, and according to them, Shinji got dumped into the study/sewing room.

* Literature/HarryPotter lived in the closet under the staircase in the Dursleys' home prior to getting a bunch of Hogwarts letters specifically addressed to it in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]''. He didn't like it much, as his cousin Dudley loved to bang down the staircase just to annoy him, and it was often full of spiders. As punishment, the Dursleys would sometimes lock him inside it.

* For several seasons of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', an apparently evil monkey lived in Chris's closet.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Fry wanted to live with [[RobotBuddy Bender]], but Bender lives in a robot apartment -- which is the size of a closet since robots apparently don't use their homes for anything except "sleeping" standing up. They eventually find a great new apartment with lots of amenities, which Bender doesn't like until he steps into a small closet that he describes as "homey" and claims as his bedroom. The plot of the rest of the episode results in them getting kicked out and moving back to Bender's old place, with Fry resigning himself to the tiny space. Then Bender shows him the "closet," which has several larger rooms and a window.

'''Bender:''' In a closet? Oh, humans!

* A variation from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill''; during the family's trip to Tokyo, they spend the entire time in what they believe is a cramped hotel room -- only to discover, as they were about to check out, that it was merely the foyer... and one door led to a full-size, Western-style hotel suite.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', Lincoln Loud's room is actually a converted walk-in linen closet--and while he has sometimes complained about having a smaller bedroom compared to his sisters and their parents, Lincoln's at least happy that he's able to have his own room. It also appears to be a fairly large closet, because in most episodes, it's shown to be able to not only fit Lincoln, all of his stuff and at least one other person (usually his BlackAndNerdy [[BlackBestFriend best friend]], Clyde [=McBride=]), but it's also been able to fit all eleven of the Loud-kids (and still with room to spare).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', Lincoln Loud's room is actually a converted linen walk-in closet. While he has complained about it at times, he's happy that, unlike his [[MassiveNumberedSiblings ten]] [[OutnumberedSibling sisters]], he's at least able to have his ''own'' room. Also, it appears to be a fairly large closet, since it's been shown in numerous episodes to not only be able to fit Lincoln, all of his stuff and at least one other person (usually his friend, [[BlackAndNerdy Clyde McBride]]), but it's also been able to fit all eleven of the Loud-kids (and still with room to spare).

* Anime/{{Doraemon}} sleeps in Nobita's closet.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has Elaine pretending that a janitor's closet in a building across the street from hers is her apartment so that she can order Chinese food from a restaurant that won't deliver as far as her side of the street. While it's {{Downplayed}} in that she doesn't actually live there, it doesn't stop her from having Jerry over for dinner or George and Kramer from promptly doing their typical DropInCharacter thing, mightily confusing the super, who's been interacting with Elaine under the assumption that she's the janitor. ("Janitor's meeting.")

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has Elaine pretending that a janitor's closet in a random building is her apartment so that she can order Chinese food from a restaurant that won't deliver as far as her street. While it's {{Downplayed}} in that she doesn't actually live there, it doesn't stop her from having Jerry over for dinner or George and Kramer from promptly doing their typical DropInCharacter thing, mightily confusing the super, who's been interacting with Elaine under the assumption that she's the janitor. ("Janitor's meeting.")

* In ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'', Jemaine's ex Sally considers getting back together with him but insists that he'll have to move out of the apartment he shares with Bret, her previous ex-boyfriend. He enlists Bret and Murray to help him move a mattress to his new place, which turns out not to be big enough to fit it unless it's propped against the wall. (He later hosts a somewhat awkward party inside.)

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has Elaine pretending that a janitor's closet in a random building is her apartment so that she can order Chinese food from a restaurant that won't deliver as far as her street. While it's {{Downplayed}} in that she doesn't actually live there, it doesn't stop her from inviting Jerry to have dinner with her or George and Kramer from promptly doing their typical DropInCharacter thing, mightily confusing the super, who's been interacting with Elaine under the assumption that she's the janitor. ("Janitor's meeting.")

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has Elaine pretending that a janitor's closet in a random building is her apartment so that she can order Chinese food from a restaurant that won't deliver as far as her street. While it's {{Downplayed}} in that she doesn't actually live there, it doesn't stop her from inviting Jerry to have dinner with her or George and Kramer from doing their typical DropInCharacter thing, mightily confusing the super, who's been interacting with Elaine under the assumption that she's the janitor. ("Janitor's meeting.")

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has Elaine pretending that a janitor's closet in a random building is her apartment so that she can order Chinese food from a restaurant that won't deliver as far as her street. While it's {{Downplayed}} in that she doesn't actually live there, it doesn't stop all three of her friends from doing their typical DropInCharacter thing, mightily confusing the super, who's been interacting with Elaine under the assumption that she's the janitor. ("Janitor's meeting.")

* A variation from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill''; during the family's trip to Tokyo, they spend the entire time in what they believe is a cramped hotel room -- only to discover, as they were about to check out, that it was merely the foyer...and one door led to a full-size, Western-style hotel suite.

* TruthInTelevision: there was a case in Japan where a homeless woman secretly lived in a man's closet. The man noticed only when he realised that the amount of food he bought and ate didn't match up, and set cameras around the house.

A character who, for one reason or another, is living in another character's wardrobe/closet. For some reason the "tenant" is usually a child of some sort. Happens a lot in anime, apparently because in Japan some people do indeed spend time in their closets during certain types of weather. That's half the reason why even smaller houses have big closets. Of course, apartments and capsules in Japan don't have closets at all.

This can be a more extreme form of BadBedroomBadLife, if the character's in the closet by force.

** Washuu winds up taking residence in an extra-dimensional space created using the Masaki broom closet ''under the stairs''.

* In Charlie Kaufman's movie ''Film/SynecdocheNewYork'' the main character Caden Cotard moves into his ex wife Adele's closet after taking the place of her maid, presumably without Adele's knowledge, living out the rest of his days there.
* ''Film/HeDiedWithAFelafelInHisHand''. The residents sharing an overcrowded Brisbane home are not happy when a Japanese student called Satomi wants to stay also, until she produces a large wad of cash. So she's offered a narrow storage closet in the enclosed verandah.

* Literature/HarryPotter lived in the closet under the staircase in the Dursleys' home prior to getting a bunch of Hogwarts letters specifically addressed to it in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]''. He didn't like it much, as his cousin Dudley loved to bang down the staircase just to annoy him, and it was often full of spiders. As punishment the Dursleys would sometimes lock him inside it.

* In ''Series/PigSty'', due to events leading to to many people living in the apartment, Cal was forced to sleep in the living room closet.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Fry wanted to live with [[RobotBuddy Bender]], but Bender lives in a robot apartment--which is the size of a closet, since robots apparently don't use their homes for anything except "sleeping" standing up. They eventually find a great new apartment with lots of amenities, which Bender doesn't like until he steps into a small closet that he describes as "homey" and claims as his bedroom. The plot of the rest of the episode results in them getting kicked out and moving back to Bender's old place, with Fry resigning himself to the tiny space. Then Bender shows him the "closet," which has several larger rooms and a window.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers,'' Louise is happy to sleep in a converted walk-in closet rather than share a room with Tina, because for some reason she ''hates'' the idea of anyone else going in her personal space. (She once gave her mom the SilentTreatment for two weeks simply because she went in to vacuum.)

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' lived in the closet under the staircase in the Dursleys' home prior to getting a bunch of Hogwarts letters specifically addressed to it in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]''. He didn't like it much, as his cousin Dudley loved to bang down the staircase just to annoy him, and it was often full of spiders. As punishment the Dursleys would sometimes lock him inside it.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Fry wanted to live with [[RobotBuddy Bender]], but Bender lives in a robot apartment--which is the size of a closet, since robots apparently don't use their homes for anything except "sleeping" standing up. The whole episode is spent trying to find a new apartment before they move back in, with Fry resigning himself to the tiny space. Then Bender shows him the "closet," which has several larger rooms and a window.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', Lincoln Loud's room is actually a converted linen closet. While he has complained about it at times, he's happy that, unlike his [[MassiveNumberedSiblings ten]] [[OutnumberedSibling sisters]], he's at least able to have his ''own'' room. Also, it appears to be a fairly large closet, since it's been shown in numerous episodes to not only be able to fit Lincoln, all of his stuff and at least one other person (usually his friend, [[BlackAndNerdy Clyde McBride]]), but it's also been able to fit all eleven of the Loud-kids (and still with room to spare).
* In ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers,'' Louise is happy to sleep in a closet rather than share a room, because for some reason she ''hates'' the idea of anyone else going in her personal space. (She once gave her mom the SilentTreatment for two weeks simply because she went in to vacuum.)