History Main / ComicallyMIssingThePoint

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* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF7Mm5E4MTo Beauty is nothing without brains]]; then again [[DumbBlonde she's blonde anyway.]]

Compare AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering, BaitAndSwitchComment, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, FailedASpotCheck, NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion, ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne, TheDitz, MistakenForProfound, NeedAHandOrAHandjob.

->''"I started to walk down the street when I heard a voice saying: 'Good evening, Mr. Dowd.' I turned, and there was [[NotSoImaginaryFriend this big white rabbit]] leaning against a lamp-post. Well, I thought nothing of that, because when you've lived in a town as long as I've lived in this one, you get used to the fact that everybody knows your name."''
-->-- '''Elwood P. Dowd''', ''Theatre/{{Harvey}}''

* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Anime And Manga}}

* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Comic Books}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Fan Fiction}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Animated Films}}

* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Newspaper Comics}}

* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Video Games}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Visual Novels}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Web Comics}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Web Original}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint/{{Western Animation}}

* ''WarhammerFantasy'' has a Chaos God of, among other things, Atheism. ''He has followers''. When dealing with Chaos Cultists, do not expect an overabundance of anything resembling sanity or logic. [[LogicBomb A god of Atheism is made weaker through worship]].

Compare AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering, BaitAndSwitchComment, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, FailedASpotCheck, NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion, ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne, TheDitz, MistakenForProfound.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1321168358031840200
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:244:[[Webcomic/ChuckAndBeans http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chuckandbeans_5821.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:244:[-GodwinsLaw trips over RuleOfFunny.-] ]]

->''"I started to walk down the street when I heard a voice saying: 'Good evening, Mr. Dowd.' I turned, and there was [[NotSoImaginaryFriend this big white rabbit]] leaning against a lamp-post. Well, I thought nothing of that, because when you've lived in a town as long as I've lived in this one, you get used to the fact that everybody knows your name."''
-->-- '''Elwood P. Dowd''', ''Theatre/{{Harvey}}''

%% That's enough quotes. If you have an example that happens to be a quote, put it in the examples or add it to the QuotesWiki.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF7Mm5E4MTo Beauty is nothing without brains]]; then again [[DumbBlonde she's blonde anyway.]]
* A 1985 spot for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQJNObwOxl4 GMAC financing]] shows a couple at a car dealer requesting financing for a Pontiac Fiero. This sparks a swarm of miscues as the head of financing (and the Christmas Club; which he covers with a financing sign as the couple enters) thinks they are asking about an Italian car. The would-be customers then clarify it was a Pontiac; then reference the other brands General Motors produced at the time -- only for a second guy to mention that those were "not Italian cars". [[RuleOfThree After all this (and the announcer spiel)]]; the first guy now thinks the couple is buying a large number of cars and adds that they need to know what they were intending to do with all those cars.

* An Israeli commercial for a sale offered to the holders of a local credit card in a hotel chain featured a family preparing to move in permanently to a hotel room. In the commercial [[TheStinger Stinger]], the father is shown nailing a sign to the door; a hotel employee stops and looks in astonishment at what he’s doing, and the father asks, ‘Is it crooked?’
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* In the musical and Showtime movie of ''Film/ReeferMadness'' the main characters sing about how much they are like Romeo and Juliet. They even state that they haven't read the ending, but they're 'sure it turns out real swell.'

* Yellow is prone to moments like this in the [[Advertising/MAndMs M&M's]] advertisements. In one instance, he, Red, and several people are held up at a convenience store and their captor threatens to eat one of his hostages. Yellow automatically assumes he's intending to eat one of the humans. There's also the following exchange.

* A State Farm commercial has two friends walking home from the grocery store while trying to lug several sacks of groceries a piece (and obviously having some difficulty). They discuss the price of groceries, and one explains that he can afford it with all the money he saved by switching his car insurance to State Farm. The other asks, incredulously, "You have a CAR?"
** Which actually is a good point, because the groceries should be in that car.

** Which actually is a good point, because the groceries should be in that car.

!!InUniverseExamplesOnly:

[[folder:Jokes]]
* A guy shows up late for work. The boss yells "You should have been here at 8:30!" he replies: "Why? What happened at 8:30?"
* A guy tells his psychiatrist: "It was terrible. I was away on business, and I emailed my wife that I’d be back a day early. I rushed home from the airport and found her in bed with my best friend. I don’t get it. How could she do this to me?" "Well," says the psychiatrist. "Maybe she didn’t see the email."
[[/folder]]

* In Christopher Durang's ''Beyond Therapy'' when Bruce makes a reference to horses in the play "Equus" and his blind date (through the personals) Prudence says he should be a vet, Bruce rebukes her for missing the metaphor and says he could never respect anyone who missed a metaphor.
** For those not in the know: The play ''Equus'' concerns a young man whose religious/sexual obsession with horses drives him to ''blind six of them by driving a metal spike into their eyes.''

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* OlderThanFeudalism, from ''Literature/TheBible'':
** It is a common theme for a prophet to accuse religious leaders of doing this because they were more interested in being {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s than in being {{Good Shepherd}}s.
--> '''Micah 6:7-8:''' ''Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ''
** Samuel does this in a big way when Saul spares some of the Amalekites and their livestock (which God had previously ordered completely destroyed for their crimes against the Hebrews during the Exodus). Saul says, more or less "[[CartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse I offered the usual sacrifices]]," and then Samuel more or less flies at him:
--->'''1 Samuel 15:22'''-Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in hearkening to the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice!
::: Samuel then went to the Amalekite king Agag and "hewed him in pieces," saying (implicitly), "''this'' is the point, you idiot! Just ''why'' did I ever make you king?"
** Jesus said it very well when speaking of the Pharisees who forgot the meaning of the law was to show mercy and faith in Matthew 23:24 'Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.'
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* Warhammer 40K has the Holy Emperor of All Mankind, who wound up being worshiped as the God-Emperor even though he specifically told all of his followers ''not'' to treat him as a deity.

* Warhammer 40K has the Holy God Emperor of All Mankind....who specifically told people to NOT worship him as a god, wound up being worshiped as a god.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Sagara Sōsuke from ''FullMetalPanic'' does this. A ''lot''. With anything that ''isn’t'' military-involved. This causes [[EvenTheGuysWantHim many of his admirers]] [[ObliviousToLove great amounts]] of [[AllLoveIsUnrequited frustration and anguish]].
* Two BreastExpansion fetish mangas explore this concept with hilarious or saddening results:
** In one a loli girl insecure about not developing, and thinking her boyfriend wants big-breasted girls (he actually only wants her ''because'' she's a flat-chested loli) gets basketball sized breast implants...her boyfriend hates it and throws her out. The girl suspects it's because she's still ''too small'' and at the end she gets even bigger ones to try and please him. The second pair is bigger than her entire torso. At the end she struts arrogantly out of the clinic, boasting about her new size, only to fall over under the weight and find that she can't lift them, and ends up looking ridiculous.
** In another a flat chested girl gets rejected by breast obsessed boys, [[BiggerIsBetter who only care about busty anime girls]], one time too many and gets huge breast implants to try and meet their standards...but when they see it "in the flesh" they're so comically huge that they get {{squick}}ed and reject her again. So she goes off and gets ''bigger'' ones, and they still reject her. At the end she once again thinks she's "too small" and has gotten even bigger implants, this time almost too big to move, hoping this will do the trick...
* Parodied in the first [[FourthWallMailSlot Megami]] [[AudioAdaptation Sound]] [[AllThereInTheManual Stage]] of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', which featured a part where characters submitted messages to be read aloud, typically their thoughts on the present situation or other characters. The somewhat ditzy Amy's message tells Nanoha and Fate to come straight home for snacks, and asks them to pick up juice and coffee freshener for her; she apparently thought the message to the audience was actually for Nanoha and Fate.
* Possibly a minor example from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' in this exchange between Roark and his father, Byron, after they enter the room where Team Rocket has stolen Byron's fossils, but all Byron notices is that there's one well-dug hole in the center of the room. Roark points out the room, but Byron only sees that there's a second, less-well-dug hole.
-->'''Roark:''' Hey, Dad, you'd better look over there.\\
'''Byron:''' Closer examination reveals this hole was dug by a machine.\\
'''Roark:''' ''CAN'T YOU SEE ALL OF YOUR FOSSILS HAVE BEEN STOLEN''?!?!
** Another repeating example is the Team Rocket trio not thinking about how ''rare'' a Pokémon is, but what Giovanni can use it for. He may not want to use it for that purpose, but they (mostly Meowth) are too single-minded to realize that.
** In the first season, Ash finds a man who has the same picture that Sabrina had in her room. Ash concludes that he must be a photographer. When he later says that he knew Sabrina since she was a little girl, Ash figures he took her baby pictures as well.
** More recently in the Best Wishes season. The ''Nakama'' meet the character of the day which has a double identity, which is VERY obvious. Iris, Cilan, Pikachu and ''Axew'' spot it right away, yet Ash misses it, not until he was told about it that he realized.
* One ''FullmetalAlchemist'' omake ends with the [[GreekChorus narration box]] commenting, "that isn't what's wrong here" when Edward complains that [[AnimatedArmor Alphonse]] [[ImpossibleTask lost too much weight]].
* ''{{Inuyasha}}'': A demonic witch kidnaps Kagome so she could use her to transfer her spiritual power into a copy of Kikyo (Inu Yasha's late love interest) made from dirt and her buried ashes. When a part of her soul is transferred back into Kagome's body, she wakes up visibly shaken - not because she just had her soul temporarily torn out of her body, but because she had a bad dream that involved failing her math test. Cue looks of disbelief from Inu Yasha.
* Minor example in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Simon...took a couple of tries to understand Kamina's lessons about Manly Combining.
** Also, slightly better case, in ''GurrenLagannTheSatire'': After [[spoiler:Kamina's death]], Simon had trouble dealing with it, leading Kittan to attempt to encourage Simon by saying "He avenged himself! How many people can say they did that?" to which Simon replies "Not [[spoiler:Bro, 'cause he's dead]]", after which Kittan outright says "YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!"
* In ''SasamiMagicalGirlsClub'', a TV reporter concludes his report on a boy with [[PsychicPowers the power to levitate]] with "What will become of the next Olympics?!"
* An exchange in the twelfth ''[[{{Dragonball}} Dragon Ball Z]]'' movie is an example of this:
-->'''Vegeta''': [[FusionDance Fuse with you?]] I'd rather die!\\
'''Goku''': Vegeta, you're ''already'' dead.
* Welkin in ''Anime/ValkyriaChronicles'' is famous for these moments. In one instance, he tells Faldio to put a shirt on, not because Alicia told him so, but because he doesn't want him to catch a cold, and another instance when he asks when "the best time is to run away" before the Imperials sack their town. These bring out a lot of Alicia's {{Tsundere}} traits really easily...
* In the horror manga ''Manga/{{Emerging}}'', the protagonist starts celebrating when the lab results confirm that the [[ThePlague deadly disease]] rampaging through Tokyo is [[spoiler: ''not'' Ebola]]... until his partner informs him that the news means [[spoiler: they're dealing with a completely unknown new viral pathogen.]]
* During the ''Waking The Dragons'' story arc in ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Yami loses a duel against Raphael, one of Dartz's henchmen. When the cast calls Kaiba and informs him of this, also telling him that Yugi's soul was taken, Kaiba freaks. Not because of Yugi's soul being stolen, but because ''Yami lost to someone other than him.''
** This one does make sense sort of, since Kaiba remained a FlatEarthAtheist in not believing in any of the supernatural aspects of this particular children's card game, even though by this point in the series it's been pretty obvious that it does exist.
*** Yugi's the King of Games. When he loses, you know shit hits the fan, lost soul or not, because the whole show makes card games SeriousBusiness.
* In ''{{Kuragehime}}'', WholesomeCrossdresser Kuranosuke falls over with a pain in his chest. The girls of Amamizukan, who think "Kurako" is a girl, pull down "her" shirt and are shocked to see fake boobs. Mayaya later tells Tsukimi about Kurako's treachery: she's really a flat-chested girl who pads her bra to look more attractive.
* The ''SonicX'' pilot has a good one; the city's special forces, policemen driving racecars, are chasing Sonic when he gets on top of one of their cars.
-->'''Driver''': Hey, you! This is dangerous! It's irresponsible! What happens if kids start trying this?
-->'''Sonic''': ''([[BreakingTheFourthWall turns to camera]])'' [[DontTryThisAtHome Kids, don't use Formula 1 racecars to chase hedgehogs]].
* In ''TigerAndBunny'', [[CampGay Fire Emblem]] declares that he, Blue Rose, and Dragon Kid are about to demonstrate some serious Girl Power. Blue Rose points out that one of these is not like the others.
-->'''Dragon Kid:''' It's because I'm a [[{{bokukko}} tomboy]], isn't it?
** Keith Goodman regularly visits a HostClub - [[VirginityMakesYouStupid Because he thinks it's a regular cafe]].
--->'''Keith''': Why, you ask? It's because this place has the most delicious lemonade in the city!
** Once again, Keith is the source. Agnes calls the Heroes and tells them she's worried since Barnaby missed a meeting with her about hosting a dinner show. Keith shares her concern: can Barnaby really host a dinner show?
* [[IdiotHero Natsu]] from ''Manga/FairyTail'' is liable to do this. For example, at one point all of the denizens of a cursed village uncovered their arms and legs, which were developing into talons. Natsu was more impressed by the headman's large sideburns.
** Juvia constantly to the point any female (except Erza) interacts with her will immediately be entered into her imaginary LoveChart
* [[IdiotHero America]] and [[TheDitz Italy]] p:from ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'':
-->'''America''': Somebody told me that my elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor, but I don't even have an elevator!
-->'''Italy''': ''[Excited]'' I heard that too, we should go buy one!
* In ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' there is this exchange with the Mad Sarge.
-->'''Kenshiro:''' I can kill you in an instant. To me the Red Berets are nothing but babies.
-->'''Mad Sarge:''' You... you'd kill bab...(the muscles in his body lock up)
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' gets these often enough
** When Merry shows Kaya Luffy's new wanted poster and instead of noting that Luffy is now a wanted man she is excited to notice the back of Usopp's head in the corner.
** [[IdiotHero Luffy]] does this all the time. Like his reaction whenever he learns that a bounty has been placed on him. On the other hand, most pirates ''do'' see their bounties as a sign of achievement.
** The longarm tribe capture Brook and put him on exhibit. It turns out he's a really interesting sight...because he has one joint in his arm. Possibly a subversion because the entire tribe had two joints in their arms, but they still find that more interesting than him being a living skeleton.
** Luffy tells his crewmates that he picked a fight with [[spoiler:Big Mom (one of the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Four Emperors]])]]. Understandably, [[WildTake most of them are shocked]] (except for Robin, who just smiles). [[spoiler:Princess Shirahoshi]] is in awe of Luffy's "bravery" and says:
---> '''[[spoiler:Shirahoshi]]:''' Oh my! You're so strong, Luffy-sama!
---> '''Usopp:''' That isn't the problem here!!
* In the final chapter of OuranHighSchoolHostClub[[spoiler:, not only does Haruhi reveal the fact that she is a girl to the club customers, but they also find out that she and Tamaki [[RelationshipUpgrade are now officially a couple]]. However, it isn't until an outburst by Haruhi's enraged father that they fully grasp what was going on. Until that moment, they had simply assumed that Haruhi was a male (and very feminine) crossdresser...and that "he" and Tamaki were gay.]]
* ''[[Anime/TheIdolmaster THE iDOLM@STER]]''- When girls just received news that they need to retake their promo photos, Haruka gets nervous and the following happens.
-->'''Chihaya:''' Haruka, what's wrong?
-->'''Haruka:''' My heart will leap out of my chest at this rate.
-->'''Takane:''' That's terrible. *gets up from her seat* We need to call an ambulance right away.
* When Mii is separated from her sisters in episode 3 of ''Anime/{{Popotan}}'', Mai wonders in horror what kind of men she might meet all alone in the street.
-->'''Ai:''' A long-lost brother?\\
'''Mai:''' We don't ''have'' one!\\
'''Ai:''' Oh... ''(SillyMeGesture)''
* In the last few chapters of FruitsBasket when [[spoiler: Akito reveals herself as a woman to the gathered zodiac members [[AndZoidberg and Kyo]], Ritsu states in total shock "Akito-san! [[WholesomeCrossdresser You share my hobby!"]]]]
* In the ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' episode "Sex and the Daten City", during a swanky premiere for a film she and Stocking are in, Panty screens her "debut film" that she considers to be her award-worthy magnum opus. It turns out to be a [[HomePornMovie pornographic flick]], which threatens to flush her celebrity lifestyle down the tubes.
-->'''Mick:''' Your debut film is ''porn!'' You made a sex tape!\\
'''Panty:''' [[BigWhat WHAT?!]] Serious?! So it was just {{direct-to-video}}?! Well that explains why it hadn't won an Oscar yet!
* In the BeachEpisode for ''Manga/GakuenBabysitters'', Kamitani-sensei attempts to get the boys to compliment Inomata when she returns in her new swimsuit, implying that they should say something to her. Kamitani fails to grasp her intentions and responds with his usual bluntness ("Oh, it's a swimsuit."). While Ryuuichi initially appears to avert this by saying that the swimsuit is cute, it becomes apparent that he's literally complimenting the swimsuit, rather than her, when he makes an addendum commenting on the matching pattern with Kirin's floatie.

[[folder:Comedy]]
* On his first album, ''Shame Based Man'', [[KidsInTheHall Bruce McCulloch]] had a recurring bit with a radio call-in show. The last of these is some happy idiot calling to say all the lonely people should "pair up". The host then gives her a list of reasons this is a dumb idea, all of which are [[TheDitz lost on her]].
* Comedian Mike Williams bases a comedy routine around [=McDonalds=] drive-throughs having a sign saying that they have Braille menus (for people who can't see) and picture menus (for people who can't read). To repeat, this is in the DRIVE-THRU. He claims to go up to the window in dark shades to ask for a Braille menu, to be told, "Sorry, we're out of Braille menus; would you like a picture menu?"
* A skit goes with a person walking into a restaurant and ordering a drink and a sweet roll. The waiter informs them that they are out of sweet rolls. The person thinks that apparently ordering different combinations of "sweetroll + drink" will eventually get them one, and they continue to order a sweet roll despite the waiter's increasingly angry responses that they don't have any. Eventually, the waiter gives up and walks off. The person then says "I wonder how long it'll take my sweet roll to get here."
* On the soundtrack album to ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', JohnCleese plays a logician commenting on the 'witch burning' segment, citing the same logical lapses that his wife commits:
--> Given the premise "All fish live underwater", and "All mackerel are fish", she will conclude not that all mackerel live underwater, but that if she buys kippers it will not rain, or that trout live in trees, or even that I do not love her anymore.
* JimmyCarr, after his delayed reaction to the audience after this joke:
-->"People like to smoke a cigarette after sex, but you can't buy cigarettes until you're sixteen, so I have to buy them for ''both'' of us. [To audience] You think it's wrong I'm buying a 15 year old cigarettes? [Realizing] You think it's wrong I'm ''fucking her?''"
** In many countries the age of consent for sex is 15 to 18, but the minimum age required to buy alcohol or tobacco is 18 to 21 ([[SarcasmMode this including a certain large country we all know about...]]) - so it's 100 percent legal to have sex with a 15 year old, but illegal and punished by fines to give her cigarettes or a glass of beer.
** Possibly a combination of TheyChangedItNowItSucks and ValuesDissonance: The age of consent for heterosexual sex in the United Kingdom has been 16 since 1885 but smoking by 16 year olds was legal until 2007, when it was upped to 18. (Alcohol consumption has been 18 for a lot longer.) So, sex with a 15 year old would land you on the sex offenders register and possibly sewing mail bags but, until fairly recently, teenagers smoking wasn't considered a big deal.
* JeffFoxworthy describes how, growing up, the mailbox outside his family's house had the letters "male" painted on the side of it. By the time he was in the eleventh grade Jeff realized "That ain't right. That M's supposed to be capitalized, innit?"
* German comedian Otto Waalkes once made this joke: "In the 16th century, Nostradamus predicted: 'And in the year of 1985, a red-haired young man from Leimen named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Becker Boris]] will win the final in Wimbledon' - which is complete nonsense: First, my name is Erwin[[hottip:*:Otto's persona]], not Boris; second, I'm blond, not red-haired; third, I'm not from Leimen, but from Emden; and fourth, if I had won the 1985 Wimbledon, I'd definitely remember that."
* The basis of one of DaveChappelle's jokes, from ''Killing Them Softly,'' detailing a restaurant waiter telling him "blacks and chickens are quite fond of one another." Dave comments on the incident:
-->''"All these years I thought I liked chicken 'cause it was delicious. It turns out I'm genetically predisposed to liking chicken!"''

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* This exchange from ''Comicbook/{{Starman}}'':
-->'''Jack''': This one isn't about collectibles but it's the same kind of thing. I'm in a book store ... for new books. I've gone a little bit crazy and I'm about to spend a couple of hundred bucks. I murmur under my breath "money's too tight to mention". Now the guy behind the register, he hears this. He looks at me, nodding his head knowingly like we're in some "club of cool" together. He says, "Yeah, Simply Red" like it's a password, and now we do the secret handshake. And I'm thinking "Simply Red"? Lame English band. More soul at a polka convention. And the book store guy thinks he's on some kind of inside loop with that.
-->'''Sadie''': That's the smuggest thing I ever heard. A guy tries to be nice and you stand there hating him just because he hasn't heard of the Valentine Brothers. You're like my ex-boyfriend. He was that way about authors. He'd deliberately drop obscure quotes and references. He'd take over conversations at parties. But none of what he read was for the love of it. His knowledge was like a weapon. Don't tell me you're like that. I don't want another jerk. I've had... Hey, why are you smiling?\\
'''Jack''': Because you've heard of the Valentine Brothers.
* GastonLagaffe once invented an improved form of seat belt. These seat belts were designed to stretch, so someone wearing them can leave their car for a short distance without taking them off to, for example, drop off a letter.
** In the same vein he also designed a highly efficient solar-powered flashlight that had just one minor flaw: it only worked in full daylight.
* In ''ScottPilgrim'', the Vegan Police rush in to remove Todd Ingram's vegan superpowers for eating gelato. Someone notes that Todd also ate chicken parmesan, but the police aren't sure whether parmesan is an animal or not, so they don't punish him for that one.
* [[http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3672/yonofui027pf4.jpg This strip]] by {{Quino}}, slightly {{NSFW}}.
* In ''Comicbook/EmpireState'', Sara tries to illustrate to Jimmy the danger of looking for dates on Craigslist by describing a blind date she met who ended up being grossly overweight. Jimmy identifies with the overweight guy, and concludes that he, too, can meet attractive girls if he words his personal ads on Craigslist just right.
* In ''{{Runaways}}'', when Alex pulls a SleepingDummy trick to conspire with his friends about taking down the AncientConspiracy their parents are part of, his mother's first reaction is to wonder what her son is doing with a male mannequin head in his room.
* Sis from ''ComicBook/KatyKeene'' would do this sometimes.
** Once she borrowed one of Katy's [[PrettyInMink mink stoles]] to keep her snowman warm.
* In ''[[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Astonishing X-Men]]'', Kitty Pryde intentionally missed the point in order to play DeadpanSnarker to Emma Frost:
-->'''Emma''': Three students were missing from my ethics class. Seventeen overall. Logan had to break up two fistfights and a mystical swordfight. And that dreadful Guatemalan crab-boy is at Benetech telling reporters this is every mutant's only chance to avoid burning in everlasting hellfire. This is eating us from the inside out.\\
'''Kitty''': Oh my God ... [[NonSequiturDistraction you teach]] ''[[NonSequiturDistraction ethics?]]''
* Hilariously used in [[ComicBook/LesLegendaires Les Légendaires]], where protagonist [[MagicalGirl Jadina]] become the target of a [[LoveTriangle rivalry]] between her teammate [[TheHero Danael]] and her former fiancé [[HopelessSuitor Prince Halan]]. When questionning her other teammates about the dangers the two of them go through lastly,[[TheLancer Gryf]] explains her they are doing it "for a girl's beautiful eyes"... and she deduces Danael and Halan have a crush on her elven comrade [[{{Tomboy}} Shimy]], to everyone's dismay.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* The ''FanFic/BagEnders'' episode ''Strider: Scoutmaster'' features this exchange:
-->"Let me get this right. You have become a Scoutmaster in order to try and become respectable? Were there no openings for gigolos?"\\
"What do you mean? It's a well respected youth organisation."\\
"I've met Baden Powell," said Legolas very darkly.\\
"Wow! Could you come and give a talk?"
* In ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'', after Kyon is greeted by a pillow in his face, thrown by Haruhi:
-->'''Kyon:''' Haruhi? Was that you?\\
'''Haruhi:''' Wah! Seriously? You can tell it's me because of how the pillow hit you?\\
'''Kyon:''' I can tell it's you because you hit me with a pillow at all.
* "Harry Potter and the Copyright Fiasco" was a parody skit performed at a charity fund raiser for Free the Children at Zionsville High School in April 2011. Cho, trying to get Harry to take her back:
-->'''Cho:''' I know you're more famous and admired now than ever before... but that's not why I'm here. I just like you for you! You know what, I don't even remember why we broke up.\\
'''Harry:''' Um, ''we'' didn't break up. I broke up with you because you kept crying over your last boyfriend, because you kept accusing me of cheating on you with Hermione... and because you stood by your friend when she betrayed every single person in Dumbledore's Army.\\
'''Cho:''' No no no, it's all right dear, you've forgotten. I forgave you for breaking up with me a long time ago.\\
'''Harry:''' Uh, you're kind of missing the point Cho.
* "Here and Now" From a ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' Fanfic. Russia is having horrible nightmares and America asks England to help him get into his dreams to stop them. He gets attacked while in the 'corridor' where the nightmares shouldn't get to him.
-->“I was in the corridor damn it! I thought you said the dreams were supposed to be sequestered behind those doors? They’re not!”\\
America looked up from his hands that he had laced together in his lap and tilted his head at England’s odd look. The suit he was wearing felt tight and he shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to get more comfortable. “What?” he finally asked.\\
"You used sequestered correctly.”
* The ''KimPossible'' fanfic [[Fanfic/UnacceptableSitchSeries "No Living in the Past"]] has Kim's OverprotectiveDad respond thusly when she [[ComingOutStory comes out to her parents]]:
-->"Well," Dr. Possible finally said as his eyes settled once again on Kim. Her eyes didn't even blink in response. "You're dating Shego here."\\
"Yes."\\
"A girl. Not a boy."\\
She nodded.\\
"And you don't plan on dating any boys in the near future."\\
"Mm-hm."\\
Dr. Possible glanced at his wife, who still appeared a little stunned. "Well, if this means I don't have to worry about you chasing any boys, that's good enough for me."
* ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'': After Calvin spends all episode pining for a [=VideoNow=], Hobbes tells him that there's more to life than handheld TV's. Calvin realizes that he's right - there are ''bathtub'' TV's now!
** When told to put some words in order by the school psychologist, Calvin puts them in the shape of a velociraptor.
* ''FanFic/EarthAndSky'': When Big Macintosh notices that Applejack and Apple Bloom are developing crushes on Soarin' and Pipsqueak (respectfully), he takes the latter two aside to subtley let them know what will happen if [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer they ever do anything to his sisters]]. Soarin' gets the point, but it goes completely over Pip's head -- WordOfGod is that he's such a gentlecolt that the concept of intentionally hurting a mare is beyond his comprehension.
* In Fanfic/TwilightSparklesAwesomeAdventure, ADMIRAL Awesome's response to learning that he failed to save the world was to be horrified... that he wasn't getting any money or medals.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'': Mr. Tweedy is being attacked by chickens.
-->'''Mr. Tweedy:''' Mrs. Tweedy! THE CHICKENS ARE REVOLTING!
-->'''Mrs. Tweedy:''' ''(not looking up)'' Finally, something we agree on.
* In ''{{Hoodwinked}}'', right after the BigBad's VillainSong, the Wolf and Granny are secretly watching behind rocks:
--> '''Granny Puckett''': Sweet tea and cookies! We got to do something.
--> '''Wolf W. Wolf''': I know. The song was catchy, but the choreography was terrible.
* In ''Film/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', Jack tries to explain Christmas by way of talking about gifts and stockings. The other citizens of Halloween don't quite get it. In fact, Nightmare's ''entire plot'' hinges on the fact that the HalloweenTown's citizens don't quite get the point of Christmas.
-->'''Jack:''' We pick up an oversized sock, and hang it like this on the wall.\\
'''Various Hydes:''' Oh, yes! Does it still have a foot. Let me see! Let me look! Is it rotted and covered with gook?!
* ''OneTwoThree'':
--> Peripetchikoff: "We have emergency meeting with Swiss Trade Delegation. They send us twenty car-loads of cheese. Totally unacceptable... full of holes."
* In ''{{Rango}}'', one of the volunteers for the posse, Sgt. Turley, has ''an arrow through his eye'', and Rango sheepishly points out "You've, uh, got a little something in your eye there." Turley seems to think Rango is talking about his conjunctivitis.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* One of the few things played straight in ''JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'', and verging on parody. Jay's monkey is kidnapped and driven away in a van with a poster on the back that clearly shows its destination. After about 3 minutes of stupidity, "Silent" Bob is forced to set his friend straight.
-->'''SilentBob:''' The ''sign''! On the ''back'' of the ''car''! Said ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Critters! Of HOLLYWOOD!]]'' You ''[[PrecisionFStrike dumb fuck!]]''
** Additionally, after Bob's tirade Jay is bothered more by getting spittle on him than the significance of Bob ''speaking for once''.
*** That may have been just an attempt at saving face.
** Which still doesn't answer Jay's question of why "Silent" Bob can bust out that whole long stupid Chasing Amy monologue at the slightest invitation but can't take two seconds to just SAY "Hey, I noticed a sign that indicated they might be going to Hollywood" instead of doing a big silly pantomime which could never have worked if Jay had happened to miss reading the sign before the car pulled away, so maybe it's Bob who missed the point.
** Jay does this again in ''Film/{{Dogma}}''. When Rufus explains that Bethany is a descendant of Jesus due to the logical explanation that Joseph and Mary probably WOULD HAVE had more children and, thus, be related to him by blood in some way, all Jay got out of it was "So you mean Bethany's... part-black?"
* Cannon Films had a major case of the trope when they wrote a ''Spider-Man'' film script, which would have been very InNameOnly. Said script centered around Peter Parker getting kidnapped by a Mad Scientist and being mutated into a large spider beast which craved death. Understandably, Stan Lee was not pleased with this treatment and ordered a rewrite - just the start of a long DevelopmentHell for the wall crawler.
* In the movie ''HalfBaked'', Thurgood is telling his friends not to spend any money, as they have to save it. Then:
-->'''Scarface:''' You said you gave Mary Jane a pearl necklace!\\
'''Thurgood Jenkins:''' Obviously you [[DoubleEntendre missed the whole point of that story]].
* ''{{Zoolander}}''. The eponymous [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} character,]] observing a model of the school building he plans to open: "What ''is'' this? A center for '''''ants?!'''''"
** Also the scene where the lead, a male model, reads a magazine with his picture on the front. The title reads, 'A Model Idiot.' Not getting the insult, the main character reads it as 'A Model, Idiot.'
** Later in the story, Zoolander strikes a pose that saves a vital character from dying. When he is cheered on for his actions, he thinks it is because they noticed he turned left to do the pose. (Zoolander admitted that he was incapable of making left turns, and has to make a full right turn instead.)
* In ''{{Kingpin}}'', this happens twice. Once, he holds out his rubber hand to Ish, to show him is bowling championship ring and Ish comments on his hand. Later in Reno, he holds out his hand to demonstrate its fakeness and the guys he's showing think he's going on about the ring.
** Three times, when he's signing up at the end and tries to put his ring up for collateral on his dues, the response is 'what am I supposed to do with a rubber hand'
* When Brian writes treasonous graffiti in ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', all the Centurion notices is that [[YouMakeMeSic the Latin is wrong]]... [[CrowningMomentOfFunny and then makes him correct it and write it out 100 times.]]
** Also, when Brian tells his [[UnwantedFalseFaith unwanted followers]] "You are all individuals!" they all (but one) mindlessly repeat the statement in lockstep unison.
* A similar situation occurs in ''CanadianBacon''. Sherriff Boomer, Kabral, and Roy Boy steal a truck and paint anti-Canadian graffiti on it. They later get pulled over by a Canadian highway patrolman because of it. However, it's not because the graffiti is anti-Canadian. It's because it's [[YouMakeMeSic only in English and not also in French]].
** He then helpfully provides translations ''and the spray-can to do them with''. Aren't Canadians just the nicest people?
** And, the cop is [[Film/{{Ghostbusters}} Dan]] [[TheBluesBrothers Aykroyd]] (who is Canadian IRL).
** Not only that, but the cop's expression as they drive away is priceless. He looks filled with national pride.
* Dr. Evil of the ''AustinPowers'' films misses the point when Frau Farbissina tries telling him that she's pregnant.
--> '''Frau Farbissina''': [[GratuitousGerman Herr Doktor]], I'm late.\\
'''Dr. Evil''': No, you got here right on time.\\
'''Frau Farbissina''': No, I mean, ''I'm late''.
** The first film {{Lampshades}} this trope with a memorable exchange:
--->'''Vanessa Kensington:''' Mr. Powers...let me be perfectly clear with you, perhaps to the point of being insulting. I will never have sex with you, ever. If you were the last man on Earth and I was the last woman on Earth, and the future of the human race depended on our having sex simply for procreation, I ''still'' would not have sex with you.\\
''[Beat]''\\
'''Austin Powers:''' What's your point, Vanessa?
** And later, in the same film:
--->'''Vanessa:''' You know, I sometimes forget you’ve missed out on the last thirty years: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first female British prime minister, the end of apartheid...\\
'''Austin:''' Yeah, and I can't believe Liberace was ''gay.'' I mean, women ''loved'' him! I didn’t see that one coming!
* In ''YearOne'', JackBlack's character doesn't understand what lesbian means and gets into an awkward situation when he tries to sleep with one. She even tells him she likes to have sex with women and he stills doesn't get it. Admittedly he's just that stupid.
* In ''[[{{Tremors}} Tremors 2]]'' Earl throws a timebomb into the bed of a large army truck loaded with explosives, hoping it will kill the Shriekers trapped in the building in which the truck is parked. When he gets back outside and tells the truck's owner, Burt, what he has done:
-->'''Burt:''' That's two and half tons of high explosives, Earl!\\
'''Earl:''' You mean that's not enough? Oh Burt, don't tell me it's not enough!\\
'''Burt:''' ''Not enou...'' Never mind, just run! ''Run!''
** They're dealing with creatures that asexually reproduce exponentially when they eat too much, inside a warehouse full of snackfood and [=MREs=] in Burt's truck. Earl's worry is justified, as Burt is the only expert on explosives present in the movie.
** More accurately, in the parts where Earl has to remind Grady to stay off the ground. And when the Graboid eats the radio.
--->'''Earl:''' You left the radio ''on the ground''?!\\
'''Grady:''' Sorry, I forgot...
* In ''SomeLikeItHot'', when Joe learns that Osgood proposed to Jerry (as Daphne):
-->'''Joe:''' What are you talking about? You can't marry Osgood.\\
'''Jerry:''' Why, you think he's too old for me?
* In ''DumbAndDumber'', Lloyd is with Mary, who he's infatuated with, and asks:
-->'''Lloyd:''' What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me [sic]... ending up together?\\
'''Mary:''' Well, Lloyd, that's difficult to say. I mean, we don't really...\\
'''Lloyd:''' Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?\\
'''Mary:''' Not good.\\
'''Lloyd:''' You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?\\
'''Mary:''' I'd say more like... one out of a million.\\
'''Lloyd:''' So you're telling me there's a chance? YEAH!
** As Lloyd and Harry are on the road out of Colorado on foot, a bus pulls up filled with hot bikini girls and... Look, just read the exchange:
--->'''Bikini girl:''' Hey, guys. We're going on a national bikini tour and we're looking for two oil boys who can grease us up before each competition.\\
'''Harry:''' You're in luck... There's a town about three miles that way. I'm sure you'll find a couple guys there.\\
'''Bikini girl:''' ''(weirded out)'' Okay... Thanks.\\
''(the bus starts leaving)''\\
'''Lloyd:''' ''(upset at Harry)'' Do you realize what you've done?! ''(starts running after the bus)'' Hey! Wait!\\
''(the bus stops as they get to the door)''\\
'''Lloyd:''' Y-you'll have to excuse my friend. He's a little slow... [[TooDumbToLive The town is ]]''[[TooDumbToLive back that way!]] (points at the opposite direction Harry pointed to earlier on)''
* Happens several times in ''TheHangover'', invariably by Allen.
** "I didn't know they gave out rings at the Holocaust!"
** Again when they return to the hotel room
--->'''Alan''': Guys. What about the tiger? What if he got out?
--->'''Phil''': Oh, fuck! I keep forgetting about the goddamn tiger! How the fuck did he get in there?
--->'''Stu''': I don't know, because I don't remember. (Referring to Alan who slipped them roofies)
--->'''Alan''': One of the side effects of roofies is memory loss.
--->'''Stu''': You are literally too stupid to insult.
--->'''Alan''': Thank you
* In ''Bertie and Elizabeth'' [[RoyalBrat Edward the Eighth]] complains about the annoyances of "tradition". Whereupon his father growls "Monarchy ''is'' tradition". Well, duh!
* In ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'', the principal is chewing over the fact that the title character is absent from school yet again, and he mutters, "I don't trust that kid any further than I can throw him." This prompts the cheerful secretary to respond, "Well, with your bad knee, Ed, you shouldn't throw anybody." He's somewhat less than calmed by her concern.
* Near the opening of the 1983 ''ToBeOrNotToBe'', authorities rush into the theater, stopping the performance of "Naughty Nazis." The complaint was that it could be construed as an insult to Chancellor Hitler.
-->Construed! It was meant to be an insult!
* Used in ''TheKingsSpeech'' where Edward accuses his brother Albert of trying to take his place as king when what Albert was trying to do was telling him to get his act together specifically because Albert ''didn't'' want to be king.
* This exchange in ''TheresSomethingAboutMary'' where Pat Healy is pretending to have the same interests as Mary:
-->'''Pat Healy''': Really, [architecture is] only a side thing for my true passion.\\
'''Mary''': And what's that?\\
'''Pat Healy''': I work with retards.\\
'''Mary''': Isn't that a little politically incorrect?\\
'''Pat Healy''': Yeah, maybe, but hell, no one's gonna tell me who I can and can't work with.
* Charlie in ''MysteryTeam'', mainly because he's TooDumbToLive
* In one of the endings of ''Film/{{Clue}}'', after [[spoiler: Mrs. Peacock]] is arrested as the murderer:
-->'''Wadsworth:''' You see, like the Mounties, we always get our man!
-->'''Mr. Green:''' [[spoiler: Mrs. Peacock]] was a man?! (''[[DopeSlap gets slapped repeatedly by the others]]'')
* In ''Shaun Of The Dead'', Shaun invokes this trope upon finding a zombie in their garden softly moaning.
-->'''Shaun''': Oh my god...\\
''(Shaun and Ed stand there mouths hanging open as the zombie slowly turns around.)''\\
'''Shaun''': ...She's so drunk!\\
''(They look at each other and laugh)''
* ''Grease 2'' features the very 'patriotic' musical number "Lets Do it For Our Country" Where Louis is trying to trick Frenchette into doing it...to bad she's singing about him joining the army.
* ''AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy'' has this little gem:
-->'''Veronica''': I'm good at three things: fighting, screwing, and reading the news. I've already done one of those today, so what's the other one gonna be? Huh?
-->'''Ed (hopefully)''': Uh...screwing?
** Brick: "I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party."
* In ''BringingUpBaby,'' David tells Susan she has to leave her apartment after he finds out there's a leopard in it. She says she can't, because she has a lease.
* DraculaDeadAndLovingIt dips into this early, when the [[IAmVeryBritish rather obviously British]] Renfield stops in a small village outside the Count's castle, in a hurry for directions, as not to be late. Most of the villagers are horrified at his new boss, but...
--> '''Renfield''': I'm scheduled to meet Count Dracula.
--> '''Villager 1''': Dracula!?
--> '''Villager 2''': Dracula!?
--> '''Villager 3''': Dracula!?
--> '''Villager 4''': ...[[ItsPronouncedTroPAY shed-yool?]]
* This frequently occurs in BurnAfterReading; especially notable is this exchange:
-->
--> '''Osbourne''': If you ever carried out your proposed threat you would experience such a shitstorm of consequences my friend your empty little head would be spinning faster than the wheels of your Schwinn bicycle back there.
--> '''Chad''': (''laughing'') You think that's a Schwinn?
* From ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', after Shady Tree gets James Bond out of the retort for questioning concerning the phony diamonds:
-->'''James Bond''': Now don't tell me... you're St. Peter?
* In ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'', the eponymous friends explore the cabin they bought and see the a board filled with several newspaper-clippings of the brutal murders the previous owner committed in the area. The only clipping they actually pay any attention to is the discount-coupon for a local hotdog stand.
* In ''Film/{{MASH}}'', as Frank "Ferret Face" Burns is loaded into an MP Jeep in a straitjacket following an act of violence against Hawkeye, Duke poses this question to Colonel Blake:
-->'''Duke Forrest''': If I nail Hot Lips and hit Hawkeye, can I go home too?
* Roger de Bris (the camp director in ''TheProducers'') insists on giving the play (about AdolfHitler and WorldWarTwo) a happy ending, because the protagonists losing would be a downer.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/GreatExpectations,'' Herbert tells Pip about his fiance's elderly father. When Pip asks, "What does he live on?" Herbert replies, "The first floor." [[DontExplainTheJoke Pip was actually inquiring after the source of his income.]]
* A short poem by ShelSilverstein is about a boy coming to school and saying, "Durn, I growed another head." The teacher corrects his poor grammar.
** Moreover, the teacher corrects his grammar by saying, "Chester, I think it's time you [[HypocriticalHumor knowed]], / the word is 'grew' instead of 'growed'."
* Kitty and Lydia from ''PrideAndPrejudice'' go mad over "the officers, the officers" when the militia arrives at Meryton. This despite the fact that the Napoleonic Wars are in full swing; any even halfway competent officer, even one in the militia, would be in Europe. The officers left in England were the dregs of the corps, suitable only for training raw recruits.
** Not necessarily -- there were plenty of rich young men who wanted the prestige of a military connection without the danger of getting shot at and hence purchased commissions in the militia which legally could not be posted overseas. Lydia's just a moron for not snapping up one of the rich ones.
** Lydia and Mrs. Bennet are both thrilled with Lydia's ShotgunWedding to Mr. Wickham, in spite of the fact that Wickham ran off with Lydia for two weeks with no intention of marrying her and left a pile of debts behind him, making it clear that he's horrible husband material by any standard of the time. Mrs. Bennet at least is upset about the situation until the marriage is confirmed, and has good reason to be relieved that her daughter (and by extension the prospects of all her other daughters) is not DefiledForever, but it never even occurs to Lydia for a moment that she's done anything to be embarrassed about, and she first smugly congratulates herself for the great joke she's playing on everyone by running off with the man, then later badgers her sisters to congratulate and praise her for her marriage.
* Upton Sinclair's ''TheJungle''. He intended the book as a stark critique on Laissez Faire Capitalism, but people took it as a realist depiction on food adulteration and fraud in meat packing industry. The book led in strict supervisory laws in food industry. Sinclair later stated: ''I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach''.
* ''Angela and Diabola'': When Diabola first enters school at the age of six, she draws a number of extremely disturbing pictures involving people dying horrible deaths. Her principal praises the pictures and labels Diabola an artistic genius, while completely failing to grasp her obvious violent and sociopathic tendencies.
* ''{{Neverwhere}}'': [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Croup and Vandemar]] are hiding out in an AbandonedHospital, and Mr. Croup performs a miniature knife-throwing act with his hand and five razor blades, demonstrating perfect aim. Mr. Vandemar is not impressed, as "you didn't even hit ''one'' finger." He then proceeds to throw his own knife [[{{Squick}} directly through the back of his hand]], which neatly shows the supernatural nature of the pair as he does not bleed and the wound closes up instantly. ("Oh, Mr. Vandemar, [[Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice if you cut us do we not bleed?]]" "... [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder No.]]")
** Croup seems to be disappointed about not hitting any fingers, implying that he ''couldn't even tell the difference.''
* ''FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'': "How about some ether?"
* A conversation in ''AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' between Huck and Jim: they are discussing historical kings, and when Huck brings up King Solomon, Jim goes on a rant about how foolish it is to [[JudgmentOfSolomon split a child in half]] to settle a custody dispute. Nevermind that it was an obvious bluff, and the real mother would give up the child to save its life. Huck calls him out on this, saying "You missed the point by a thousand mile".
** Given how Huck explains the judgement and given how he seems unable to give an explanation beyond "You just don't understand!", one almost gets the implication that Huck himself doesn't quite grasp the point.
* In Creator/JamesThurber's short story "Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife," Mr. Preble is planning to murder his wife so he can run off with his secretary. She is suspicious when he asks her to go down to the cellar with him, and he blurts out the truth almost immediately -- and ends up in an argument about the selfish and inconsiderate way he's chosen to go about it (she's in the middle of a book and doesn't ''feel'' like going down to the cellar to be murdered just now; it's cold down there, and he's picked out a lousy murder weapon and makes her wait while he goes to find another one... and so on).
* The TomHolt novel ''Earth, Air, Fire and Custard'' featured the best way to describe this in history.
-->''Missing the point with all the futile diligence of a blind machine-gunner."
* ''New York'' magazine used to have various humorous reader competitions. One of them was to write literature and theater reviews as if by a critic who Completely Missed The Point. (E.g., one entry panned ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' for revealing the murderer's identity at the beginning, thus spoiling the mystery. Another reviewed a ''DickAndJane'' book, saying that the author seems to be aiming for a Hemingway-like style, "but the effect is mechanical rather than taut.")
** This may have been inspired by a genuine review of ''Lady Chatterly's Lover'' published in a country sports magazine, which complained that all the interesting parts about the life of a gamekeeper were broken up by a tedious romantic subplot.
* The novel ''The Golem's Eye'' by Jonathan Stroud has this exchange, after Nathaniel/John Mandrake has summoned Bartimaeus:
-->'''Bartimaeus:''' Two measly human years to get over the trauma of meeting you. Sure, I knew some idiot with a pointy hat would one day call me up again, but I hardly thought it would be the same idiot as last time!
-->'''Nathaniel:''' I ''don't have'' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne a pointy hat!]]
* Subverted by the antique-shop owner in the Maggody mystery novels, whose sign ("Antiques: New and Used") ''seems'' like this trope, but is actually ObfuscatingStupidity employed to lure in gullible tourists.
* ''Divine Diva'' by Daniel Gagnon. The famous singer Iolanda is dying; the President, corrupt head of a corrupt and crumbling government, repeatedly calls her, pleading with her to return to the stage and revive both of their glory days, and making a thousand excuses as to why the political situation isn’t his fault. Iolanda tells him she’s rejected her earlier life of hedonism and extravagance and at last found love, in the person of Francesca, the humble young woman who cares for her. Francesca bluntly tells the President his faults. The President, denied Iolanda by death, tries to instead win over Francesca, but without ever admitting wrongdoing: having completely missed the point of what Iolanda values in her, he tells her that he’ll gladly listen to her talk of corruption and starvation if she’ll only have dinner with him at a fancy restaurant. He gets the only possible response when Francesca hangs up on him.
* In the Tiffany Aching subset of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, Tiffany's father takes great care to keep the clock on the mantelpiece set properly. He does this by looking at the clock tower in town each time he visits the market, remembering how it looked all through the slow, miles-long trek home, and then adjusting the Achings's clock to match what he'd seen. (It's mentioned that, since he gets up at dawn and works until it's dark, it doesn't really matter what time it is, but then, why try to set it at all?)
** A running gag in ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' is that some of the more thoughtful rats think you shouldn't eat other rats. The more practical rats think this is sound advice: obviously you shouldn't eat a dead rat ''until you know what it died of'', and you ''certainly'' shouldn't eat the green wobbly bit.
** Here's an exchange between Vetinari and Colon in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', the latter obviously having never heard of a firing squad:
--->'I should imagine they'd give you a cigarette.'
--->'A cigarette?' said Fred.
--->''Yes, sergeant. And a nice sunny wall to stand in front of.'
--->Sergeant Colon examined this for any downside. 'A nice roll-up and a wall to lean against?' he said.
--->'I think they prefer you to stand up straight, sergeant.'
--->'Fair enough. No need to be sloppy just because you're a prisoner.'
** In ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' Moist, when inquiring about the location of the Post Office's two missing chandeliers, is told by a wizard they are currently in the Assassins' Guild and the Opera House.
---> '''Moist:''' Yes, I think I shall put that off for a day or two, dangerous people to tangle with.
---> '''Wizard:''' Indeed. I understand some of those sopranos can kick like a mule.
* In ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'', RichardFeynman describes his experiences with physics education in Brazil. For example, students knew cold that "Brewster's Angle is the angle at which light reflected from a medium with an index of refraction is completely polarized." They knew that the light is polarized perpendicular to the plane of reflection. They even knew that the angle's tangent equaled the index of refraction. But when Feynman told them to look out over the water -- nothing. When they looked through polaroid, they gushed "Ooo, it's polarized!"
* A RunningGag in the ''AdrianMole'' books is self-proclaimed intellectual Adrian completely missing the point of whatever book he's reading. For instance, after finishing ''AnimalFarm'' he declares "From now on I'm treating pigs with the contempt they deserve. I am boycotting pork of all kinds."
* The Sci Fi novel ''{{Malevil}}'' has an amusing example: Fulbert of La Roque and Emmanuel of Malevil are having a pissing contest over who has authority in the region after WorldWarIII. Religion is their primarily weapon, Fulbert appoints himself priest of La Roque and so Emmanuel is elected as priest of Malevil. When Fulbert announces he is appointed as ''Bishop'', Emmanuel decides to respond with sarcasm and his own ridiculous claim. He digs out ''600 year old documents'' from the HundredYearsWar claiming that the Lord of Malevil is FeudalOverlord over La Roque and that he inherits the title and power by virtue of owning the property before the war. His friends unfortunately rally under the idea that they now have the "legal" right to overthrow the evil priest.
* In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' Hermione says "I'm going to bed before either of you can come up with another plan to get us killed or worse, expelled!"
--> '''Ron:''' [[LampshadeHanging She needs to sort out her priorities]].
** This said, being expelled from school probably ''is'' a FateWorseThanDeath to Hermione. And if Harry and Ron thought about it, it would be for them too.
* In ''HighFidelity'', Rob tries to figure out what his ex meant when she said she hadn't had sex with her new boyfriend ''yet'', and asks a friend for help figuring it out with a different example. It doesn't go well.
-->'''Rob:''' What would it mean to you? That sentence? "I haven't seen ''ReservoirDogs'' yet?"\\
'''Barry:''' To me, it would mean you're a liar. Either that or you've gone potty. You saw it twice. [snip]\\
'''Rob:''' Yeah, yeah, I know. But say I handn't seen it and I said to you, "I haven't seen ''ReservoirDogs'' yet," what would you think?\\
'''Barry:''' I'd think you're a sick man. And I'd feel sorry for you.\\
'''Rob:''' No, but would you think, from that one sentence, that I was going to see it?\\
'''Barry:''' I'd hope you were, yeah, otherwise I would have to say that you're not a friend of mine.
* Elizabeth Bathory in ''Literature/CountAndCountess'' thinks she's being generous when she offers to let her closest servants have a nice, relaxing dip in her BloodBath. She doesn't understand why they hastily decline.
* In ''Literature/BrideOfTheRatGod'', Christine hears her PrimaDonnaDirector call people Philistines for trying to ruin his vision, she thinks he means Philistines in the film, where there were only supposed to be Persians.
* In ChantersOfTremaris, [[TheHeroine Calwyn]] [[MagicMusic sings a spell]] in battle. Trout, [[JustifiedTrope unaware of her powers]], responds with an incredulous "This is no time to start ''singing''!"
* In ''TheScrewtapeLetters'', the eponymous demon explains to his nephew that, since there is of course no such thing as real love, G-d cannot possibly really love humanity, and therefore [[EvilCannotComprehendGood His professed love must be some kind of elaborate deception]] in order to preserve His power, and that if only the forces of Hell could figure out the scheme behind this deception, they could succeed in winning their war with Heaven:
-->'''Screwtape:''' Since then, we have begun to see why our Oppressor was so secretive. His throne depends on the secret. Members of His faction have frequently admitted that if ever we came to understand what He means by Love, the war would be over and we should re-enter Heaven. And there lies the great task. We know that He cannot really love: nobody can: it doesn't make sense. If we could only find out what He is really up to!
* When Shamisen the calico cat suddenly speaks (with with the voice of an old philosopher) in ''[[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', Itsuki is first surprised that it's a male calico. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Kyon.
** Fewer than half a percent of calico cats are male, so it makes sense to be surprised - until you remember [[RealityWarper who picked the cat out in the first place]], given that she was looking for a 'special' cat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Community}}'', the entire group (except Jeff and Abed) have various adventures that teach them about themselves, and at the end of the episode proclaim what they don't like about themselves and start crying and group hugging, and then Pierce cries out "Let's never let Jeff divide us again!". ''whoosh''
** This trope frequently happens throughout the show. Especially with Pierce, who often misinterprets or is oblivious to quotes or references made by other characters, due to the age differences between him and the rest of the crew.
** At the end of the Halloween episode, after [[spoiler: everybody has had 0their minds erased of the incident]], Troy listens to a voicemail that not only reveals that Shirley and Senor Chang had sex, but that the school was infested with zombies. His reaction? "Why did they call me?"
* ''BrassEye'' lives off this trope. "CAKE is a made-up drug. It's not made from plants, it's made from chemicals... by sick bastards..." It's made from some of each, with animal secretions thrown in to boot. Wheat flour, sugar and cocoa are all plant products; add animal-derived milk and eggs, plus chemical baking powd-oh, wait...
-->"This is a scientific fact. There's no evidence for it, but it's still a fact."
* In ''Series/TheDailyShow'', a clip from ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' asks "Do you think that there was a reason that the killer sodomized your husband with a banana?" to which John responded: "Because the store was out of Papayas?"
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''
** Carla, who is from the Dominican Republic, has a dream that involves her friends conspiring to kill her. What disturbs her? That the dream isn't in Spanish.
** Another example in Season 5 when Carla loses a patient and has the Janitor help her look. He mentions that he didn't find his head, then goes on about how he once found a head and, since it was a weekend, left it in his locker and decided to take care of it later. On the next work day, he's forgotten about it and discovers a dismembered head in his locker now filled with rats. He punts the head off the roof, but sees that it'll land directly on Dr. Kelso. He then claims that a hawk swooped by and snatched the head in midair and carried it off. When he tries to explain why he thinks a hawk is near a hospital, Carla goes "...I can't believe you get a locker and I don't."
*** This could be because the Janitor is known to be [[UnreliableNarrator a pathological liar]] and the fact he has a locker maybe is the only sensible part in the whole story.
*** The Janitor plays with this trope in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fZ9MYyfvm0 his own absurd tale]]. After telling this absolutely preposterous story, he says, "I know what you're thinking. We're in the middle of a city, what's a hawk doing there?" Assuredly, no one was thinking this.
** When JD is at a low point in season five Elliot tells him a story intended to illustrate that everyone struggles sometimes:
-->"In high school I had this amazing teacher, Mr Higgins, and he was funny and inspiring; I mean, he was like a second father to me. And then one day I found out that he was sleeping with his students, and I was crushed. I mean—why not me? ''(Growing teary)'' You know, and it wasn't my lazy eye because that was fixed by prom!"
* Woody Harrelson's [[TheDanza eponymous]] character on ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' is the personification of this trope. This sets up a classic subversion:
-->'''Woody:''' I don't get ''TheFarSide''.\\
'''Cliff:''' Well, you see, Woody, that's showing how cows act when humans are not around.\\
'''Woody:''' I mean my hometown newspaper doesn't carry ''The Far Side''! But thanks for making me feel like a one-year-old!
** Kelly was equally so, setting up another:
-->'''Kelly:''' Don't make excuses, Woody. Now I see what's going on. You're busy every night and you won't tell me why, I walk in here and find the two of you kissing in the backroom of a bar. It all adds up! You're in a play and you didn't even tell me!
* This was the whole schtick of Gilda Radner's classic ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' character Emily Litella... Oh, you mean it wasn't? It was based on {{Mondegreen}}s instead? um... never mind.
* In one episode of ''Series/HappyDays'', Chachi starts earning money from giving dancing lessons, but is too embarrassed to tell anyone and instead claims that he has written and sold a song. When asked to sing the song, he claims that for copyright reasons, he can't sing the whole song, but can only sing bits of it out of order. He then begins to sing random drivel. After he leaves:
-->'''Fonz:''' He's lying badly.\\
'''Marion:''' You mean, he didn't write that?
* In an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', where Penny dates Leonard's colleague, David Underhill, and he is jealous:
-->'''Leonard:''' You said that you didn't want to go out with me because I was too smart for you! Well, news flash, lady, David Underhill is ten times smarter than me!\\
'''Penny:''' Dave is not smarter than you. He's an idiot.\\
'''Leonard:''' Really? Why would you say that?\\
'''Penny:''' Because a smart guy takes the nude photos of his wife off his cell phone before he tries to take nude photos of his girlfriend.\\
'''Leonard:''' You let him take nude photos of you?\\
'''Penny:''' That's what you took from that?!
** From Penny's POV Leonard is missing her point, but since Leonard is jealous, he's got plenty of reason to focus on Penny's willingness to be photographed naked once he hears about it, rather than on David's stupidity.
*** One of Sheldon's ongoing gag is that despite his genius I.Q., he is completely clueless and being social, leading to many missed points.
-->'''Leonard:''' You convinced me. Maybe tonight we should sneak in and shampoo her carpet.
-->'''Sheldon:''' You don't think that crosses the line?
-->'''Leonard:''' Yes... For God's sake, Sheldon, do I have to hold up a sarcasm sign every time I open my mouth?
-->'''Sheldon:''' You have a sarcasm sign?
** On his first date with Emily, a deaf acquaintance of Penny's, Raj is trying to think of things to say, and Howard is translating for him.
-->'''Raj''': I love music. Do you love music?
-->'''Howard''': You really wanna ask her that?
-->'''Raj''': Oh, you're right. Everyone loves music.
* A ''ThirdRockFromTheSun'' episode had Dick catch one of his students drawing a doodle of him with antlers and a tail. Dick thought it was brilliant and praised the student for effectively picking up "the essence of my rugged good looks".
*** "If they think that women are just going to line up to exploit themselves --" "Yeah, I hate waiting in line..."
** Really, it's the premise for that show...
* James May, on ''TopGear'', about rally driver Kenny Block: "The man is completely useless, he can't drive in a straight line."
** Earlier, Jeremy Clarkson was being teased by the other presenters about his...rather enthusiastic interview with Will Young, culminating in Hammond singing "Jeremy's in looooove" and all he got out of it was "Are you suggesting Will Young is ''gay''?"
** From a Series 9 episode:
---> '''Jeremy:''' I have ''passion'' for the Ferrari, and I ''respect'' [the Porsche 911] ...it's like David Attenborough. I respect David Attenborough, just infinite respect, in the same way as I respect that car, but I have no passion for it, I don't want to make love to it.\\
'''Richard:''' Yeah, but I have respect ''and'' passion for the 911.\\
'''Jeremy:''' There you are. You've just admitted on television you want to make love to David Attenborough.\\
'''Richard:''' Your logic, sometimes, mate, is the most warped thing...
* Michael Scott, from the US version of ''Series/{{The Office|US}}''.
* DC Christopher Skelton from ''LifeOnMars'' and its spinoff ''AshesToAshes''. He borders on TheDitz sometimes. Case in point as he and Jim Keats (from Discipline & Complaints) are looking at old police files:
-->'''Jim Keats''': Oh, strewth! Take a look at that signature.\\
'''Chris''': Surprise, surprise. It's [=CillaBlack=].\\
'''Jim Keats''': Unbelievable.\\
'''Chris''': Yeah. I mean, why would she get involved in a blag? She's wadded. Mind you, she is a Scouser.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', London and her book club review ''PrideAndPrejudice'', and identify with Caroline Bingley and lambaste Mr. Bingley for "marrying beneath him."
* In an episode of ''Series/That70sShow'' Hyde shows Fez a shirt with "Funland University" on one side and "F.U." on the other. The joke is lost on Fez (who thinks it has to do with it saying Fu).
** In another episode, shortly after Jackie starts dating with Hyde, she sees her previous boyfriend Kelso kissing with his new girlfriend, and - in the presence of Hyde - screams: "GET OFF MY BOYFRIEND!" Fez, who had his hand on Hyde's shoulder, says: "I don't know why she's so upset. I was barely touching you." A multiple-edged example here, as it could be argued either that Jackie, Fez, or anyone trying to make a case either way lost the plot on this one.
** Kitty Foreman practically lives this trope. Nearly every line she has is comically missing the point in some way or another.
* Barney from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' makes hot, sweaty monkey love to this trope.
** In the Pilot episode:
---> '''Ted:''' So ''these'' guys think I chickened out. What do you think?\\
'''Barney:''' I...can't believe you're ''still'' not wearing a ''suit''!
** Episode 2x03 "Brunch": When Barney shows a picture he took of Ted's dad having an affair with Wendy the Waitress, Ted is naturally mortified. Barney assumes this {{Angst}} is because Ted's dad violated his duties, not as a husband, but as Barney's wingman. He called dibs on Wendy first, dammit!
** Episode 4x13 "Three Days of Snow": Barney explains how he plays a game called "Party School Bingo" where he takes a list of the Top 25 party schools in the country, arranges them on a bingo card, and fills in a space every time he sleeps with a girl from that school.
--->'''Ted:''' So how many people are in on this Party School Bingo thing?\\
'''Barney:''' Oh, it's just me.\\
'''Ted:''' Then what's the point, then?\\
'''Barney:''' The point is to get five in a row.\\
'''Ted:''' And what do you get when you get five in a row?\\
'''Barney:''' I get Bingo.
** Episode 4x15 "The Stinsons": When Barney watches movies, [[MisaimedFandom well ...]]
--->'''Barney:''' Hey, ''TheKarateKid's'' a great movie. It's the story of a hopeful, young karate enthusiast whose dreams and moxie take him all the way to the All Valley Karate Championship. Of course, sadly, he loses in the final round to that nerd kid. But he learns an important lesson about gracefully accepting defeat.\\
'''Lily:''' Wait, when you watch ''The Karate Kid'' you actually root for that mean blonde boy?\\
'''Barney:''' [[SarcasmMode No, I root for the scrawny loser from New Jersey who barely even knows karate.]] When I watch ''TheKarateKid I'' root for the ''karate kid'', [[DracoInLeatherPants Johnny Lawrence from the Cobra Kai dojo]]. Get your head out of your ass Lily.
*** The same episode has him revealing that he roots for Hans Gruber in ''Film/DieHard'' (believing him to be the title character), Principal Vernon in ''TheBreakfastClub'' (the only one who wears a suit) and ''TheTerminator'' (and proceeds to start crying over his death scene, saying "And she doesn't even help him!")
*** That explains the life-size Imperial Stormtrooper armor in his living room.
** Episode 3x11 "The Platinum Rule": Barney becomes convinced that an ex-girlfriend is trying to kill him.
--->'''Barney:''' I dump her, and she says, "no hard feelings." She's a psycho, what other explanation is there?!
* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', when Rachel realizes that she still loves Ross, and the rest of the group knew that, she asks Phoebe, why didn't they tell her:
-->'''Phoebe:''' Well, because we thought you knew!! It's so obvious! God, that would be like telling Monica, "Hey, you like things clean", or telling Joey, "Hey, you're gay."\\
'''Rachel:''' What?!\\
'''Phoebe:''' Oh, please! She's always got a broom in her hand!
** Phoebe's actually fairly common for this trope. There's an episode when she has to change all her shopping habits to avoid a stalker, leading to this conversation:
--->'''Phoebe:''' I also have to find a new video store, a new bank, new adult book store, a new grocery store.\\
'''Monica:''' What?!\\
'''Phoebe:''' ''(slowly)'' A new g-r-o-c-e-r-y store.
* ''Series/TheClass'': Yonk Allen. A lot. For example, on their first anniversary, Nicole gets him a newspaper from the day of the '75 Sugar Bowl, at which point he exclaims, as though to inform Nicole, "Why, I played in that!"
* ''TheNanny'': Maxwell wonders why Fran dating another guy bothers him so much as he bites into an apple. [[ServileSnarker Niles]] suddenly says that he wants the apple. "It was right in front of me the whole time, but I never knew I wanted it until someone bit their teeth into it and now I'm left with this aching hunger." Maxwell tells him to try a pear instead before leaving. Then Fran comes in, Niles tries the same metaphor, to which she replies "You snooze, you lose."
** Niles should know better. When it comes to that subject, those two are morons. He's lived there for years and he makes this same mistake over and over. He's not as smart as he seems, obviously.
* In the Season 29/Series 3 ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Smith and Jones": the Doctor has just absorbed a lethal-to-humans dose of radiation and is trying to expel it via his foot into his shoe.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Ow, ow, itchy, itchy, itchy... ''(shakes foot wildly, hopping around on one foot, before pulling his shoe off and binning it triumphantly)''\\
'''Martha Jones:''' You're completely mad.\\
'''The Doctor:''' You're right. I look daft with one shoe. ''(pulls other shoe off)'' Barefoot on the moon!
** And a few episodes later, we get this exchange in "Blink".
---> '''Sally Sparrow (on realizing the Doctor was speaking to her through the [=DVDs=]):''' The 17 [=DVDs=], they're all the [=DVDs=] I own. The Easter egg was for me.\\
'''Larry Nightingale:''' ...You've only got 17 [=DVDs=]?
** Later, while consoling Amy's fiance in "Vampires in Venice":
--->'''The Doctor:''' She was frightened, I was frightened... But we survived, and the relief of it and... so, she kissed me.\\
'''Rory:''' And you kissed her back?\\
'''The Doctor:''' No. I kissed her mouth.
** Later that same season, in "The Pandorica Opens", Rory [[spoiler:who had been erased from time, but came back as a Nestine copy with all Rory's memories]] notices that The Doctor FailedASpotCheck.
--->'''The Doctor:''' I'm missing something Rory. Something that is right in front of me.\\
'''[[spoiler:Nestine]] Rory:''' Yeah, I get the feeling.\\
'''The Doctor:''' Don't worry. I'll figure it out in a minute. (Which he promptly does)
* In episode 10 of ''Series/{{Glee}}'', when Mr Schuester performs a mashup of "Young Girl" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me" to get the point across to Rachel that it's not appropriate for her to have a crush on him and for her to back off. All Rachel has to say at the end when he asks her if she got the message is "Yes. It means I'm very young and it's hard for you to stand close to me." Emma was also there and ''knew'' the point, but still missed it because she was so smitten with Will.
** Kurt complained that Blaine was hogging the spotlight with him getting all the warblers solos. Blaine conceded to this and offered rependance by changing one of his solos to a duet between Kurt... and him!
* Alisha from ''{{Misfits}}'' gives us this gem:
-->"Maybe he's on crystal meth - that stuff makes you crazy! My friend Chloe did it one time and she nearly [[BrotherSisterIncest shagged her brother]]! And he's ''really'' ugly."
** And later on, when Kelly is upset about accidentally having sex with a monkey, Nathan genuinely seems to believe he's being helpful by reminding her that technically, it was a gorilla.
* Many games on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' which involve someone trying to guess someone else's identity. A lot of times the guess will be ''nowhere'' close.
** Subverted in one game, where the panelist guesses that the other person's just a complete and utter git, which the host readily agrees is correct. The other person is, naturally, pretending to be the first panelist.
** A RunningGag in the game "Greatest Hits". Ryan would sometimes try to [[HintDropping drop a hint]] about the next style of music. Often, Colin would take the hint and run with it... in the wrong direction.
-->'''Ryan''': What comes to mind when I say "Ricky Ricardo" and "great cigars"?\\
'''Colin''': Oh, tapioca.\\
''[beat]''\\
'''Ryan''': Really. Why is that?\\
'''Colin''': Wasn't that his big hit? "TAPIOOOOOOCA! TAPIOOOCA!"\\
'''Ryan''': ''[trying not to laugh]''. Oh, no no. I'm talking about Cu-- ''[[[{{Corpsing}} bursts out laughing]]]'' I'm talking about Cuba, Col-- ''[loses it again]''
* Dimwitted Kandi on ''TwoAndAHalfMen'' is a living, breathing example of this trope.
** In episode 3.16, she pays Alan a surprise visit while he's eating dinner with his family:
--->'''Alan:''' K-Kandi? What are ''you'' doing here?\\
'''Kandi:''' ''(in loud voice)'' I thought I'd surprise you with a BOOTY CALL!\\
'''Alan:''' Shhh! Lower your voice!\\
'''Kandi:''' ''(deeper voice)'' BOOOTY CAAAALLL!
*** After overhearing the exchange, Alan's son Jake wants to know what a "booty call" means. Alan responds by concocting an elaborate, G-rated etiological story. The ruse appears to have worked, until....
---->'''Kandi:''' Wow. Alan, you really make history fun.\\
'''Alan:''' Well, thank you.\\
'''Kandi:''' So when did it start meaning 'casual sex'?
** On another occasion, Kandi greets Alan's ex-wife at the door dressed in a string bikini. Alan's ex asks her to put on more clothes, explaining that her outfit "isn't appropriate for Jake". Kandi replies, "I agree--he would look ''ridiculous'' in this!"
* An ''Series/{{ER}}'' moment when Doctor Greene reminisced about his first job to his teen-aged daughter. He was probably doing it on purpose.
--> '''Greene:''' I got $1.25 per hour.\\
'''Rachel:''' That's slave wages.\\
'''Greene:''' [[FormerTeenRebel It was enough to keep me in new records and good weed.]]\\
'''Rachel:''' [Shocked look.]\\
'''Greene:''' What? You know, records. [=LPs=]? Vinyls? Those funny big black things that your hip-hop heroes likes to rip off for their songs.
* In the ''{{Chuck}}'' episode "Chuck Vs. the Mask", Morgan and Ellie are talking about Chuck's secretive behavior:
--> '''Morgan:''' I had an epiphany last night.\\
'''Ellie:''' What’s that?\\
'''Morgan:''' A sudden intuitive realization...\\
'''Ellie:''' I know what an epiphany is, Morgan! I'm asking what epiphany you had.
* In the first episode of ''MyFamily'', Ben's assistant Brigitte criticises him for not making the time to treat his own wife and children, comparing him to the story of "The [[TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes cobbler's children who had no food]]." Ben corrects her, and she replies that "That makes no sense, their dad was a cobbler."
* Vila of ''Series/BlakesSeven'', frequently.
* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', a psychiatrist has been found dead with lots of ranted gibberish scrawled over her.
-->'''Lanie''': Looks like a patient lost their patience.\\
'''Castle''': Also [[GrammarNazi his command of grammar]]. 'Your' should be 'you-apostrophe-r-e' as in 'you are', and that's not even a tough one; not like when to use 'who' or 'whom'.\\
'''Beckett''': Do you really think ''that's'' the take-away here, Castle?\\
'''Castle''': I'm just saying, whoever killed her also murdered the English language.
** He's still banging on about it later in the episode. He also points out to the victim's patient the correct use of irony.
* Anya from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Oh god, Anya.
** Also this wonderful exchange:
--->'''Buffy:''' Chasing a bus naked - that's a dream. An army of vicious vampires - that's a vision.\\
'''Principal Wood:''' A bus to where?
** In "The Wish", when Cordelia first sees Xander and Willow in the Wishverse after being told they were dead, and is given quite a few hints that the two of them are now vampires, gives us:
--->'''Cordelia:''' I wish us into bizarro world and you guys are ''still'' together? I cannot win!
** ''The Gift.'' The PTC believe Buffy is the worst show on TV because Buffy killed herself to save the world. She was, perhaps, supposed to let the world be destroyed?
*** Considering the Christian nature of the PTC, it's also hilariously ironic.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'': The Leadership Breakfast. Following a series of snafus, the President is being asked to speak to a reporter. He wants to know why, and focuses on the most politically esoteric of the bunch.
--> '''Bartlet:''' Donna wants me to call Karen Cahill and make it clear she wasn't hitting on her when she gave her her underwear.\\
'''Leo:''' Yeah, that's because I made fun of her shoes and Sam said there were nuclear weapons in Kyrgyzstan and Donna went to clear up the mix up and accidentally left her underwear.\\
'''Bartlet:''' There can't possibly be nuclear weapons in Kyrgyzstan.\\
'''Leo:''' Mr. President, please don't wade hip deep into this story.
* An episode of ''ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' featured David Mitchell complaining about the TearJerker ending of ''{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'' saying that he didn't get the joke of just a few people running over a field and getting shot; judging from the audience reaction, it obviously fell flat in the studio.
* In the ''{{Deadwood}}'' episode "Reconnoitering the Rim", Brom Garrett goes to Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter for help negotiating with Al Swearengen, who he believes has swindled him. Bill and Charlie refuse to get involved. When Brom persists, Charlie tries to point out that Al is not above murdering those who make trouble for him.
--> '''Charlie Utter:''' [of his immediate predecessor in his hotel room] Fresh stain on the floor when I moved in. He may have checked out short a useful amount of blood.\\
'''Brom Garret:''' Wouldn't surprise me in the least.\\
'''Charlie Utter:''' That would make these accomplices you're talkin' about... dangerous people to deal with.\\
'''Brom Garret:''' Yes, I quite take your point. No honor among thieves. [pause] Well. Thanks for your time: I'll pursue my remedies in some other fashion. [leaves]\\
'''Wild Bill Hickok:''' I don't think he took your point... quite.\\
'''Charlie Utter:''' I think he quite missed it.
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': [[InsufferableGenius Rodney McKay]] gets an excellent opportunity to show off his people skills when he tries to convince his [[WomenAreWiser equally brilliant but actually human]] sister to leave her husband and daughter for a month in order to help him with a experiment:
-->'''Jeannie:''' [explaining why she can't go] "Madison's ballet recital is next week."\\
'''Dr. Rodney [=McKay=]:''' "She's four! How good could she possibly be?"
* In episode 2x10 [[Series/ArrestedDevelopment Michael Bluth]] finally tells his brother in-law that he probably should tape-record himself to notice his 'uncommon speech pattern' aka the [[InnocentInnuendo gay innuendos he unwittingly utters all day]]. When Tobias listens to the tape he realises [[spoiler: "Oh Tobias, you blowhard!"]].
* The season five opener of ''Series/LittleMosqueOnThePrairie'' had a local woman chide Reverend Thorne for angrily calling Mercy, Saskatchewan a one-horse town filled with morons and imbeciles; she'd pointed out that there were seven horses and one of them was due to foal soon.
* In a scene from ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2, Bulk finds a note in his locker, the sender asking to meet as "I [the sender] have what you're looking for". Bulk gives the note to Skull, asking (rhetorically) "Do you know what this means?" Skull responds, "Yeah: Someone knows the combination to your locker." Bulk is ''not'' impressed. To be fair to Skull, though, he does ''have'' a point: Assuming a mundane explanation for how the note got into Bulk's locker. (It's still the ''wrong'' point...)
* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Hurley's parents throw a surprise tropical island-themed birthday party for him... after he's spent 100 days stranded on a tropical island.
-->'''Sayid''': Interesting choice of theme.\\
'''Hurley''': Yeah, Mom really doesn't get it, dude.
* In the ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk and the End, Part I", Monk has been poisoned:
-->'''Dr. Shuler:''' You're gonna feel normal for a while. And then there's gonna be some vomiting, followed by death.\\
'''[[SuperOCD Monk]]:''' ...Vomiting?
** Made even better when Monk asks if death can come before the vomiting.
* Some good examples from ''{{Becker}}'':
** When Bob is trying to figure out which woman in his apartment building is a hooker:
--->'''Bob''': Wait a minute. The answer's been sitting right in front of me the whole time. Anita. You're around the building a lot. Do you know who the hooker is?\\
'''Anita''': Bob, think about it. I sleep all day, I'm out all night and it's not unusual for me to have two or three dates an evening.\\
'''Bob''': Okay, okay, I get it. You're too busy to help me, I'll do it alone.
** When Becker tries to get Reggie and Linda to realise they're both dating the same man. After they've gone through several details their boyfriends have in common - appearance, Wall Street Job, drives a BMW - Becker innocently asks Reggie what her boyfriend's name. She answers, "Craig." Neither of them get it, and Linda even suggests that "we should all have dinner together." At this point Becker snaps and breaks it to them.
* In an episode of ''BlueHeelers'', Kelly is suspicious of a teenager's report of an armed robbery, noting the incredibly detailed description of the robber's outfit.
-->'''Kelly''': Most armed hold-up victims are so freaked out that all they see is the gun. But George has got these guys down to their "blue on white high-cut joggers."\\
'''Joss''': Who wears high-cut joggers these days?\\
'''Mark''': Funnily enough, Joss, that wasn't the point Kelly was making.
* ''SexAndTheCity'': [[ReallyGetsAround Samantha]] [[MyGirlIsASlut Jones]], a character who had exclusively been with men up until that point, announces that she's dating an artist named Maria. Carrie's shocked response: "You're in a relationship?!"
* In ''Series/YoungBlades'', when [[CloudCuckoolander King Louis XIV]] is told that his Italian advisor Cardinal Mazarin may be a traitor:
-->'''Jacqueline:''' You do realize what this means, don’t you?\\
'''Louis:''' I’m afraid I do. ({{beat}}) No more Thursday ravioli nights!
* In the ''Series/MysteriousWays'' episode "Listen":
-->'''Declan:''' (on a student who failed a pop quiz) One of the questions was, "Name the 20th century Canadian communications theorist who stated that media will create the global village." His answer? "[[StarWars Yoda]]."\\
'''Miranda:''' Yoda's Canadian?
** Probably on purpose, given Miranda's slight smirk after her deadpan delivery.
* Invoked regularly in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
* ''Series/{{Campion}}'': A visitor is astonished to learn that Albert Campion never locks his door.
-->"Is that wise?"\\
"If I lock my door, people can't get in."
** As well as using ObfuscatingStupidity, Campion lives next door to a police station.
* This gem of a conversation between Cat and Lister in ''Series/RedDwarf'':
--> '''Lister:''' This is crazy. Why are we talking about going to bed with Wilma Flintstone?
--> '''Cat:''' You're right, we're nuts. This is an ''insane'' conversation.
--> '''Lister:''' She'll never leave Fred and we know it.
** And in "Tikka to Ride", when the crew accidentally knocks [[WhoShotJFK Lee Harvey Oswald]] out the window of the book depository.
--->'''Lister:''' All those people are gathered around that giant pizza.
--->'''Kryten:''' [[{{Squick}} That's...not a giant pizza, sir]].
--->'''Lister:''' Not a giant pizza? It's got to be eight foot across.
** In "Queeg", Lister tells a long tale about a pair of artificially intelligent shoes under the pretense of explaining his philosophy on AI, but really to just get to a punchline that Rimmer completely misses:
--->'''Lister:''' You see, it turns out shoes have soles.
--->'''Rimmer:''' Ah, what a sad story. [[SubvertedTrope Wait a minute.]]
--->*beat*
--->'''Rimmer:''' [[DoubleSubversion How did they open the car door?]]
* In the ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' episode "The Games Bunkers Play," Mike asks Gloria who she would save if he and her mother were drowning and she could only save one. Then the following exchange occurs:
--> '''Gloria:''' That is not a fair question!
--> '''Mike:''' Why not?
--> '''Gloria:''' Because I can't swim!
* In the ChristmasEpisode of ''Series/MyNameIsEarl,'' Earl remembers how he never bought any good Christmas gifts for his ex-wife. He flashes back to the Christmases they had when they were married, and one in particular involved ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping. He had bought her some condoms, to which she angrily responded, "How are these for ''me?!'' " His response?
--> [[WhatAnIdiot "They're flavored!"]]
* At the end of the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds," Mal seems to be on the verge of figuring out that Inara kissed him when she found him unconscious, thus causing her to fall prey to [[FemmeFatale Saffron's]] drugged lipstick, which had knocked out Mal. Inara starts getting very defensive about him [[WillTheyOrWontThey realizing that she showed feelings for him]] until Mal calls her out...on letting ''Saffron'' kiss her.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' loves this trope.
** "The Camel", in which the Parks Department is trying to create a mural design. Initially, every worker (plus Ann) makes their own design, but after everyone votes for their own design, leading to a tie, Leslie suggests merging all of the ideas. [[spoiler: The end result is predictably awful.]]
-->'''Leslie''': It's like if you got Michelangelo and Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock and Jim Davis from Garfield to do one painting. ''Imagine how good that painting would be!''
** ''Hunting Trip'' has another from Leslie. When Ron gets [[spoiler: shot in the back of the head]], we get this exchange.
-->'''Tom''': Maybe Ron [[spoiler: shot himself.]]\\
'''Leslie''': He has seemed really depressed lately.\\
'''Mark''': He was [[spoiler: shot in the ''back'' of the head.]]\\
'''Leslie''': You're right. Ron loves [[spoiler: the back of his head,]] he'd never [[spoiler: shoot himself there.]]
** In the episode ''Sweetums'', April tells Tom she'd rather watch a sex tape of her grandparents than help him move. Andy says that he thinks it's really sweet that her grandparents still make love.
* On an episode of ''MySoCalledLife'', Rayanne and Sharon are in the bathroom discussing whether or not Angela is afraid to have sex. Two other girls in the bathroom start talking about how they'd like it even though they've obviously never done it, and Rayanne, deciding to have fun with them, brags about someone running an ice cube down her body, and that Mickey Rourke did it (in 9 1/2 Weeks, though she doesn't mention that part). As Rayanne and Sharon leave the bathroom, continuing to talk about Angela, one of the two girls asks if Mickey Rourke goes to the school.
* Occurs in ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' when they suspect their dad of having an affair.
-->'''Josh:''' Well, I caught him sneaking in. He was wearing a suit and when I asked him where he'd been, he says, "I was out buying milk, but I drank it all on the way home".
-->'''Drake:''' Oh, that's bad.
-->'''Josh:''' I know.
-->'''Drake:''' We really needed some milk.
* This is a stock-in-trade trope of ''Wilbur'', a children's series about a group of [[FunnyAnimal anthropomorphic]] barnyard friends who learn lessons from books. The character in question will sometimes miss the point of the story in question, often in a comical manner that at times could almost qualify as a SpoofAesop. This will force another reading of the story. In the event that the character doesn't miss the point, there'll be some other reason for the story being re-read, such as another character needing to learn the lesson.
* From ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' after she accidentally costs the Quizmaster his job at a party:
-->'''Zelda:''' Hi honey, how was your tea?
-->'''Sabrina:''' Oh, pretty average, you know. There was music, little sandwiches, tea, of course, oh and I got my Quizmaster fired!
-->'''Salem:''' What kind of sandwiches?
* In ''TheHoneymooners'', when Trixie complains to Ed that when she went to the butcher and asked the butcher's son, who works there, how much chopped meat is, he had replied...
-->'''Trixie:''' "Fifty-eight cents a pound... sweetie pie."
-->'''Ed:''' Boy, I don't blame you for being mad. You're never going in that butcher shop again. What a nerve, 58 cents a pound for chopped meat.
-->'''Trixie:''' Ed, I was referring to him calling me "sweetie pie"!
-->'''Ed:''' Well, what do you want him to call you, "lover lips"? He hardly knows you!
* ''Series/{{Blossom}}'' did this once:
-->'''Joey:''' Dad, [[YouFailSexEdForever have you ever gotten a girl pregnant]]?
-->'''Nick:''' Joey, I'm your father.
-->'''Joey:''' Oh. So you can't tell me.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'s'' Castiel is made of this trope, at least whenever dealing with the quote-happy smartass Dean.
-->'''Castiel''': I don't understand that reference.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'' has Lisbon missing the point of her own comment when Van Pelt tells her that Jane, Rigsby, and Cho signed out for not feeling well, having a hot date, and having tickets Kings tickets, respectively. Lisbon realizes the guys lied to Van Pelt and this exchange occurs:
-->'''Lisbon:''' Jane doesn't get sick, Rigsby's not on a date because he's in love with you, and the Kings aren't playing tonight.
-->'''Van Pelt:''' You know about that?
-->'''Lisbon:''' Yeah, they're on the East Coast road trip. They're playing the Knicks tomorrow night.
* In the season 7 premiere of ''{{Leverage}}'', the team has to move to a new location: the back of a microbrewery/gastropub; Hardison says he purchased the whole building, as a front. Elliot says it's the dumbest idea he's ever heard... as a [[ChefOfIron chef]]: pairing food with beer is hard. Sophie lampshades it: "''That's'' what you're upset about?"
* The BBC series ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' does this quite often, particularly with Merlin himself.
-->'''Arthur:''' You can't leave him here [on the floor]! We have to get him onto the bed.
-->'''Merlin:''' Why? He's asleep. He's not going to know.
-->'''Arthur:''' Merlin!
-->'''Merlin:''' Alright, I'll get him a pillow.
-->'''Arthur:''' He's ''the king!''
-->'''Merlin:''' You're right....''two pillows!''
* On ''TheColbertReport'', there was a report about how a bear made its way into a Sears store, causing customers to panic and run out.
-->'''Colbert:''' That is unbelievable. People still shop at Sears.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Music]]
* Jim Steinman's monologue "Love and Death and an American Guitar", released on the MeatLoaf album ''Back Into Hell'' as "Wasted Youth", catalogues the adventures of a boy who murders people with his guitar. Finally, he attacks his parents:
-->"... and just as I was about to bring the guitar crashing down upon the centre of the bed, my father woke up screaming 'Stop! Wait a minute! Stop it, boy! ''That's no way to treat an expensive musical instrument!"''
* Jaron and the Long Road to Love gives us this gem in "Pray for You":
--> Haven't been to church since I don't remember when\\
Things were goin great, til they fell apart again\\
I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do\\
He said you can't go hating other who have done wrong to you\\
Sometimes we get angry but we must not condemn\\
Let the good Lord do his job and you just pray for them\\
(beat)\\
I pray your brakes go out running down a hill...
* TheVelvetUnderground's song "Sister Ray". The narrator's entire reaction to somebody getting shot is "You shouldn't do that/Don't you know you'll stain the carpet."
* The radio-play censors appear to have succumbed to this, in airplay versions of Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun": in a song about ParentalIncest, the one line they feel obliged to alter is "put a bullet in his brain". Right, ''that's'' the one thing about the song that makes its subject matter mature...
* Comes up at the end of The Lonely Island's "I Threw It On the Ground"; The singer is an over-the-top JerkAss who keeps throwing things people give him on the ground because of his HairTriggerTemper leading him to proclaim he's "not part of your system!" When his behavior pisses off a pair of actors who proceed to taze him for it, he concludes "the moral of this story is...''you can't trust the system, man!''"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Zero in ''BeetleBailey'' lives this trope. Usually.
* A ''CalvinAndHobbes'' strip involves Calvin looking for a movie to watch. He finds one that contains "adult situations", to which he asks Hobbes what that means. Hobbes replies "You know, paying the bills, going to work, that sort of thing." Calvin wonders how they make money.
** Also the CrosswordPuzzle:
--->'''Calvin''': Bird... I've got it! Yellow Bellied Sapsucker.\\
'''Hobbes''': But there are only 5 boxes.\\
'''Calvin''': I know. These idiots make you write real small.
** In one comic, Calvin's mom lets him smoke a cigarette, intending that [[OfCourseISmoke the nasty taste will turn him off smoking]] (rather than simply forbidding it, [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing which was bound to backfire]]). Calvin nearly coughs up a lung after a single smoke, at which point Mom asks if he's learned a lesson:
--->'''Calvin:''' Yeah. Trusting mom can be hazardous to your health.
** Occasionally, Calvin will understand the point but deliberately reject it anyway. "Live and don't learn, that's us!"
* ''{{Candorville}}'' gives us [[http://candorville.com/2007/06/19/kevorkian/ this]] little gem.
* ''{{Doonesbury}}'''s Zipper gave a college tour that focused on Walden's slacker-friendliness. This didn't impress Leo, a wounded Iraq vet from a working-class family who actually wanted an education.
* A running gag with [[BigNate Uncle Ted]] is that every attempt at his parents' hinting at moving out goes right over his head.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* In ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'', this is Thomas's usual reaction to Scumspawn's attempts to make him a better person. For instance, when it turns out Thomas once sold a baby to a rag-and-bone man.
-->'''Scumspawm''':But you wouldn't do that now, would you?\\
'''Thomas''': Of course not! You don't get rag-and-bone men any more.
* Frequently by Hamish in ''The Doings Of Radio/HamishAndDougal'', for instance when Mrs Naughtie goes missing.
-->'''Dougal''': There's only one place she could be. Hamish, tonight we camp out on the moors!\\
'''Hamish''': Seems a bit callous when we could be searching for Mrs Naughtie, but whatever you say, old friend.
** Another one, where evidence is piling up that the Laird is a vampire:
--->'''Dougal''': Hamish, does that coffin-shaped wardrobe remind you of anything?\\
'''Hamish''': Of course! A coffin-shaped sideboard!\\
'''Dougal''' Precisely!
** And another, when the lads are trying to trace a letter.
-->'''Mrs. Mc Allister:''' There's no postage stamp on the envelopes!
-->'''Hamish:''' No postage stamp? That means the letters were delivered by... ...magic!
-->'''Dougal:''' [[DeadpanSnarker ...Yes.]] ...Or by hand.
* In ''The Gobetweenies'', Joe gives a speech about how he was a drug-addicted artist in New York, who was selling "destroyed art", because he'd set fire to his paintings while high.
-->'''Joe''': And not long after that, I went to see a movie. All about a dad who was also a fish, with the sea between himself and his lost boy. And then I had my epiphany thought; my own manifesto. Which was that nothing would come good if I didn't wake up in the city where my children sleep. So then I came home.\\
'''Lucy''': Wow, I didn't know that about him.\\
'''Tom''': Me neither. I thought his favourite film was ''InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'', but it turns out it was ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* OlderThanFeudalism, from ''Literature/TheBible'':
** It is a common theme for a prophet to accuse religious leaders of doing this because they were more interested in being {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s than in being {{Good Shepherd}}s.
--> '''Micah 6:7-8:''' ''Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ''
** Samuel does this in a big way when Saul spares some of the Amalekites and their livestock (which God had previously ordered completely destroyed for their crimes against the Hebrews during the Exodus). Saul says, more or less "[[CartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse I offered the usual sacrifices]]," and then Samuel more or less flies at him:
--->'''1 Samuel 15:22'''-Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in hearkening to the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice!
::: Samuel then went to the Amalekite king Agag and "hewed him in pieces," saying (implicitly), "''this'' is the point, you idiot! Just ''why'' did I ever make you king?"
** Jesus said it very well when speaking of the Pharisees who forgot the meaning of the law was to show mercy and faith in Matthew 23:24 'Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.'
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''WarhammerFantasy'' has a Chaos God of, among other things, Atheism. ''He has followers''. When dealing with Chaos Cultists, do not expect an overabundance of anything resembling sanity or logic. [[LogicBomb A god of Atheism is made weaker through worship]].
** There is a reason he tries to keep any and all material regarding him hidden from mortal eyes as much as possible.
* Warhammer 40K has the Holy God Emperor of All Mankind....who specifically told people to NOT worship him as a god, wound up being worshiped as a god.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In Christopher Durang's ''Beyond Therapy'' when Bruce makes a reference to horses in the play "Equus" and his blind date (through the personals) Prudence says he should be a vet, Bruce rebukes her for missing the metaphor and says he could never respect anyone who missed a metaphor.
** For those not in the know: The play ''Equus'' concerns a young man whose religious/sexual obsession with horses drives him to ''blind six of them by driving a metal spike into their eyes.''
* In the musical and Showtime movie of ''Film/ReeferMadness'' the main characters sing about how much they are like Romeo and Juliet. They even state that they haven't read the ending, but they're 'sure it turns out real swell.'
* ''CyranoDeBergerac'': InUniverse: Cyrano (a BrokenAce [[TheGrotesque with an enormous nose]]) [[ShoutOut invokes two famous historical romances (Cesar and Cleopatra, Tito and Berenice)]] and compares himself to the Cesar and Tito to justify why he cannot win the beautiful Roxane’s love. The point is that Cesar and Tito were loved not because they were fair, but they were highly charismatic leaders (like Cyrano himself, as his best friend Le Bret lampshades). Given that Cyrano is a BrokenAce and certainly this point would be obvious to him, this shows us how talking about love he will always deceive himself.
--> '''CYRANO''' ''(shaking his head):'' Look I a Caesar to woo Cleopatra?\\
A Tito to aspire to Berenice?\\
'''Le Bret:''' Your courage and your wit!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]]
* In MetalGearSolid2 This is where the humour in the Otacon save calls during the Tanker chapter comes from. Otacon is trying to emulate Mei-Ling (from the first game) by giving Snake uplifting Chinese proverbs but he doesn't understand their meaning, so in trying to define their meaning he often totally misses the point. It gets to the point where Mei-Ling interrupts Otacon to tell Snake the real meaning of a proverb.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Phantasmagoria of Flower View]]'', quite a few characters miss the point of what Sikieiki's trying to tell them, even when Siki's being direct. Even Reimu and Marisa are guilty of this.
** In the manga ''[[AllThereInTheManual Wild and Horned Hermit]]'', Kasen Ibara puts up a sign saying "Only those who '''[[BoldInflation want to die]]''' should come here!" in an area filled with poisonous gases and infested with evil spirits. Reimu and Marisa take this literally, reasoning that ''everyone'' dies sooner or later, and cheerfully mine the area for [[GoldFever gold]] (which turns out to be made from the evil spirits's greed).
** Earlier in the same chapter has Kasen visiting Reimu's shrine, only to find it infested with vengeful spirits and Reimu missing. Then she notices a small gold nugget the spirits were swarming around...and immediately forgets everything about that, instead wondering how [[PerpetualPoverty Reimu]] got a hold of it.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', Lloyd is relating stories of extrinsic motivation to [[CloudCuckoolander Colette]] and Regal. Despite the fact that Regal CLEARLY tells Colette that Lloyd was referring to the temptation of the food that boosted his memories, Colette seems convinced that it was Dirk's cooking itself, and not the incentive of it, that taught Lloyd how to memorize the Dwarven Vows.
** Mithos has this down to an art form. Case in point: [[spoiler:He completely misinterprets Martel's last wish to create the world without discrimination; later on, when the revived Martel calls Mithos out on his actions, he thinks she wants to leave the world with him, causing the rest of the world to die.]]
** Likewise, in the sequel, Tenebrae complains about the others thinking of him as a stick-in-the-mud. Colette tells Tenebrae that he has no mud on him, and that he shouldn't feel bad. After Emil tells her that, "there was never any real mud to begin with," Colette asks if it was more like a muck or a slime instead.
*** In another scene from the sequel everyone is guessing what the guardian of the tree looks like. Zelos guesses a hot woman (as is his nature), Presea and Regal hope that it has paw pads, Raine thinks it's a being like a centurion, and Marta just thinks it'll be old. Here's what Colette says:
----> '''Colette:''' So to sum up, the guardian is a wise old lady with a killer body and paw pads.
* Philippine national hero Jose Rizal is an unlockable character in the multiplayer of one of the ''MedalOfHonor'' games, complete with rocket launcher. The game deliberately misses the point in the name of RuleOfFunny since in RealLife Rizal was a pacifist.
* In ''[[SlyCooper Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves]]'':
--> '''Don O:''' I know you're nothing without this little guy's brain. So I figure I'll scoop him out real slow and use him to fertlize my tomato plants.\\
'''Bentley:''' Oh no! I'm allergic to tomatoes!
* In ''JollyRover'', James wonders why Melvin is smoking -- next to a large barrel of gunpowder:
--> '''Melvin''': Capt'n Howell hates it too, says smokin's bad to ya health.
* The match commentators in ''MadWorld'' are only focused on the match about half the time. The rest leads to situations like this:
--> '''Kreese''': (Spends a minute recounting his fight with [[MsFanservice Elise]], the boss Jack is currently facing)\\
'''Howard''': [[GagBoobs AWESOME RACK ON HER THOUGH!]]\\
'''Kreese''': [[MaleGaze Aww, true dat!]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'': A running gag with Aperture Science, especially [[VideoGame/{{Portal 2}} the second game]]. For instance, as you're about to burn to death, [=GLaDOS=] cheerfully reminds you that your gun is designed not to malfunction at high temperatures.
** The Investment Opportunity video for the Long Fall Boots reveals that they were invented to prevent ''the equipment'' from being damaged. This is demonstrated by showing the little cartoon scientists bearing a broken Portal Gun off on a stretcher while mechanical arms sweep the broken test subject into an incinerator.
** Also forms the entire basic premise. Aperture Science invented a working portal device in the 1950s... but never bothered to market it or even announce it to the public, because it was a failure as a shower curtain.
* From the ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' offical FAQ:
-->'''''Q: [[SelectiveGravity APPLES DO NOT FALL UP]]'''''\\
''A: [[VoodooShark They're more like giant cherries...]]''
* DotDotDot is a dramatic reading of a review for ''SuperPressSpaceToWinActionRPG2009'', written by someone who overlooked the fact that it's a DeconstructionGame.
* Guybrush Threepwood of MonkeyIsland is prone to this [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on the player]]. In the first game, for instance, Sherrif Fester Shinetop lures him into an alley and warns him that the area could be dangerous. One dialogue option has Guybrush ask if Fester heard something back there, too.
* Grobnar Gnomehands, resident SpoonyBard and {{Cloudcuckoolander}} of ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', is the ''king'' of this trope. One memorable incident has him meet [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights the previous game's]] bard, the kobold Deekin Scalesinger. It's fairly well known in the D&D mythos that [[FantasticRacism kobolds hate gnomes]]. Deekin sings a piece of doggerel about butchering gnomes, and ''Grobnar turns into a music critic''. [[Funny/NeverwinterNights2 The exchange has to be read to be believed.]]
* Repeatedly in ''GhostTrick'', but the best example would be when [[PlayerCharacter Sissel]] goes to save someone from being executed. He arrives too late, and [[DeathIsCheap has to go back in time to prevent the man's death]]. Sissel, [[LaserGuidedAmnesia having no idea what an execution is]], offers up this utterly serious observation while watching events unfold:
-->'''Sissel:''' So this is an execution, huh? It seems to me there's gotta be a safer way to do it...
** Amusingly, he is also completely correct. The man's death happened when dust and faulty wiring on the electric chair caused it to ''explode'', destroying the entire room. It's just that Sissel, having no idea what any of this is, thinks this is the normal way of going about an execution.
* In a "Choose your own Nightmare" game called "The Evil Pen Pal", one ending has player character uses his new-found psychic powers to scare and lift said Evil Pen Pal up...and he's [[GoryDiscretionShot sucked into a jet-engine off-screen]]. The player character ''calmly says'', "Billy flew into the Jet Engine." to his brother when he asks what happened. His brother responds with, "Wow...cool...wanna go home?"
** This is heavily lampshaded in a LetsPlay.
--> "You can't ''DO'' that! You can't commit ''murder''!"
* ''ShadowHeartsCovenant'' has a hilarious example. Garan attempts to kill the party, however they're a bit more concerned about his appearance, at fist. The final time he is encountered outside of a sidequest, he tries to scare the party by telling them that he sent them to hell. However, they all huddle and think that it's the pillow he's floating on. When he asks for their last words, Yuri says, "Yeah - that pillow. Where can I get one?"
* In ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' when the principal learns that the local nun girl is actually the thief that dresses up like a stripper, her only comment is that her garb violates the school dress code.
* In ''TheKingOfFighters XIII'', due to her extreme youth and PingPongNaivete, Kula Diamond often misunderstands what other people tell her in the pre-fight talks. HilarityEnsues every time this happens.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* The Judge from the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' games falls into this trope many, ''many'' times. From case 5 of this first game, this is his response to being told that a witness was using another character as his "puppet"...
--> '''Judge''': Wait, you mean [[ManipulativeBastard the witness]], a man of his stature... [[LiteralMinded plays with puppets]]?
** Though he sometimes manages to correct himself:
--->Oh you mean someone who uses someone else, nevermind.
** Maya Fey also falls into this quite often. One particularly glaring example is her defense of [[spoiler: Godot]] in the final case of the third game which amounts to this: [[spoiler: If Godot had been wounded, his clothes should be torn and bloody. The courtroom is silent, and then Phoenix points out that Godot has almost certainly changed his clothes since the night of the murder.]]

* Shirou in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' has this problem when any of the DeusSexMachina problems come up, as well as at the end of UBW good ending. To be fair, it really ''is'' [[{{Asspull}} kind of a stretch]] to link "not enough mana" to "have sex with Saber/Tohsaka". In their defense, there is actually an Oriental belief that while masturbation results in you 'releasing' energy, sex involves exchanging energy so either you lose nothing or gain something if your partner has more energy than you due to something about balancing energies. Incidentally, there are a number of martial arts schools that say you shouldn't wank before training but it's ok to have sex.
* Masayuki occasionally in ''VisualNovel/AProfile'', though it's not always played for laughs. But one that ''is'' goes like this:
--> Masayuki: So, you have multiple personalities, huh? Awesome, I can have a threesome this summer!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Miko Miyazaki from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' immediately assumes that because her own conclusions led her to [[spoiler:kill her lord]], the eponymous band somehow made her do it. She then takes it as far as assuming everyone in the room is working against her, and she can do no wrong because she is the strongest member of the Sapphire Guard.
-->'''Roy Greenhilt:''' It's like she has that Monk ability that lets you jump as far as you want, only for her, it applies to conclusions.
** Miko is also responsible for the quote: "The term is 'smite evil', not 'bump uglies'."
** Also, Vaarsuvius.
---> '''Vaarsuvius''': As the size of the explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.\\
'''Blackwing:''' [[UnsoundEffect Whisper whisper whisper whisper whisper.]]\\
'''Vaarsuvius:''' AndThatWouldBeWrong.
** In another example, when Haley and her rival were forced to go on thieves's guild missions, Haley would remove the pickles from her sandwiches. Her rival assumed that she was PHYSICALLY WEAK to them, and later attacks Haley by pelting her with pickles. It helps that said rival is a complete and total idiot.
** [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0817.html This dialogue between Elan and Tarquin]] after the latter just gave him a flying carpet
---> '''Tarquin:''' At any rate, I'm happy to put at your disposal any or all resources of this kingdom.\\
'''Elan:''' ''(looking at carpet)'' How do you control it?\\
'''Tarquin:''' Fear and intimidation, mostly, though a little torture here and there helps.\\
'''Elan:''' [[BeatPanel (Horrified look)]]\\
'''Tarquin:''' Or did you mean the carpet? Just pull on one of the tassels.
* Ben Winchester from ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'' meets and befriends a girl who's much like his old (platonic) friend Jodie -- a bisexual girl hot for AnythingThatMoves. The conclusion he makes... see for yourself [[http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/303 here]] and [[http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/318 here]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Pokemon-X}}'' does this when Brendan describes May to Professor Birch, saying that she's 5'4", 100 lbs, brown hair, and then mumbles "nice... firm... breasts..." while drooling ([[NakedFirstImpression it's a long story, okay?]]). Professor Birch looks shocked. After Brendan leaves, Birch gets excited... because he thinks May is cooking chicken breasts for dinner.
* [[http://explosm.net/comics/1583/ This]] ''CyanideAndHappiness'' comic. ''CyanideAndHappiness'' '''loves''' this joke.
* The "Cuckolded Husband" storyline in ''SexyLosers'' sees a man repeatedly walk in on his wife having sex with his best friend. He immediately believes their implausible excuse and innocently runs with it until they regret saying anything.
* ''BoyMeetsBoy'': Mikhael decides to use humour to lighten the situation when coming out to his new poker group, by putting down his cards and saying "Y'know, it's funny that I got a straight, because I'm not." Long awkward silence ensues, and Mik figures they're squicked and leaves. We cut back to the group, still sitting in amazement:
-->"I can't believe he got a straight that early on!"\\
"The man's luck is incredible!"\\
"Guys ... shut up."
* [[http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2008/3/3/how-to-explain-something-to-someone-who-doesnt-get-it.html This]] ''BasicInstructions'' strip. For added fun, it seems that both of them are missing the point in different ways.
* Taisei from ''Webcomic/{{Sakana}}'' does this [[http://sakana.smackjeeves.com/comics/1113764/091/ rather]] [[http://sakana.smackjeeves.com/comics/1220903/107/ often.]]
* The ScienceFair arc of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' features two layers of this. Kat's peers (and most of her teachers) focus on the anti-gravity chamber that she invented, completely ignoring the protein crystal growth experiment that was Kat's entire reason for inventing said gravity chamber. And Kat fails to understand why anyone would be more interested in anti-gravity than protein crystals.
* ''BlurTheLines'' features a stip where Rick Rick is kicked out of a ''DungeonsAndDragons'' round because he keeps trying "bluff" has way into the pants of his fellow players; [[http://www.blur-the-lines.com/?p=216 he thinks they kicked him out just because he's gay]].
* ''SuicideForHire'': [[http://suicideforhire.comicgenesis.com/d/20051102.html Mitch confronts Autumn]].
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'':
** When [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01786.htm the robots explain why they joined the mayor's police force]].
--->'''Police Robot:''' We are being trained as a police force to help solve conflicts among the planet's non-human population.\\
'''Mayor's Assistant:''' Our non-human population consists of one person. Sam. Do we really need an entire police force for one alien squid?\\
'''Police Robot:''' Sir, I believe if you look past the obvious answer, you'll see one that's even more obvious.
** Sad thing is, interpretations ''can'' go either way.
** Blunt believes that if car companies truly cared about their customers, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01926.htm they would not sell cars that could be driven.]]
* In [[http://xkcd.com/776/ this]] comic of ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'', the AltText has the character reject the squirrel's advice. Not because the squirrel is obviously a hallucination, but because "What do squirrels know about mental health?"
** XKCD also provides [[http://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet/ another example]], that, coincidentally, also focuses on squirrels.
** Another XKCD example:
-->''[[http://xkcd.com/1014/ "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?"]]''
-->''The white balance, for one.''
-->''Focus is a bit too close.''
-->''The chromatic aberration suggests you bought your camera because it had "the most megapixels"''
-->'''THE CAR IS ON FIRE!'''
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Baron Wulfenbach orders to take Agatha to Castle Wulfenbach and send her back in case she turns out to be useless. His son indicates that "her parents might not like that". Baron replies: "They'll take her back anyway".
** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110615 Also...]]
--->'''Tarvek:''' If we threw in every minion we have, we might take out ''one'' of them.\\
'''Gil:''' That's a ''terrible plan!''\\
'''Minion:''' Thank you, sir!\\
'''Gil:''' There's another twenty of them! We don't have enough minions!\\
'''Minion:''' Er...
** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060320 Also...]] when the Baron finds out that the body he just finished regrowing ''isn't'' the girl he'd sent Dupree to capture/kill:
--->'''Dupree:''' I saw--she's dead!\\
'''Baron:''' You saw what you were supposed to see. You were tricked. She's alive.\\
'''Dupree:''' '''''Really?!'''''\\
'''Baron:''' Yes.\\
'''Dupree:''' But--are you sure?\\
'''Baron:''' Yes.\\
'''Dupree:''' Wow. She sure ''looked'' dead.
* [[http://schworld.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2s3aqz This]] Schworld History comic has a disturbing example.
* In ''NipAndTuck'', when Nip misses the point, he [[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00063.html seriously misses the point.]]
* ''ThePerryBibleFellowship'': [[http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF071-Weeaboo.gif "Did someone just say 'Weeaboo?'"]]
* ''BittersweetCandyBowl'', Functionally, most of the older students to Tess. Especially Jessica and Rachel, since the lot of them bullying her is a bit hypocritical at best.
* ''SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' does this about ONCE EVERY FOUR STRIPS.
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Tedd misses it [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-08-17 here]].
* In ''DorkTower'' we have [[http://www.dorktower.com/2006/06/09/comics-archive-793/ missing the point entirely.]]
* ''SomethingPositive'': Bian at her new job.
--> "It's Pantsless Tuesday in the boss's office."\\
"That's insane! It's Monday."
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/19990527]]:
--> '''Parody villain:''' You better hurry. There's a vampire there with orders to drop your friends into a vat of boiling oil at midnight exactly!\\
'''Sam:''' My God! They'll drown!
* In ''VoodooWalrus'' Grymm is pretty bad about this. But it could just be him being difficult on purpose.
--> '''Creepnight:''' And remember, this time we run a background check. We don't want another basketcase in our lives.\\
'''Grymm:''' "I like picnics."
* In [[http://www.shoeboxblog.com/?p=11549 this]] strip of ''Webcomic/ChuckAndBeans'', a discussion about Hitler goes south fast.
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4121 Baby Blue hauls Crimney off the coach, threatens him, declares she is only sparing him because of Fuschia, and threatens destruction if he hurts her]]. Squidley's reaction: he shouldn't jump off [[SkySurfing a moving vehicle.]]
* [[EthicalSlut Joe]] from DumbingOfAge stats rating Danny's ex-girlfriend who had just broken up with him. [[http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/seven/ He misconstrues Danny's distraught face completely.]]
* ''Webcomic/VirtualShackles'': Upon being told of the horrific things done by a ''DungeonsAndDragons'' player, [[http://www.virtualshackles.com/141 Jack's response]] is shock - at the fact that people still play it.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Greg}}'', Ted misses the point of Greg's biting sarcasm, leaving Greg [[http://gregcomic.com/2011/11/14/storyline-teds-place-part-7/ speechless in frustration]].
* Black from Webcomic/GreyIs does this from time to time, mainly because he has trouble understanding metaphors ands takes everything literally.
** For example when White says that he's pondering the strength of the human heart Black assumes he's talking about peoples actual hearts and tells him that mending a few cuts doesn't make him a doctor.
* ''UnwindersTallComics'': Director Nathan Blaine makes a sequel to ''Film/CitizenKane'', named ''[[http://tallcomics.com/?id=56 K2: The Death of Kane]]''. There's enough references to the original film's plot and dialogue to prove that Blaine's a big fan of the original ''Kane''... yet somehow he still manages to turn his sequel into a generic action movie with a lot of explosions.
-->'''[[TheRant Eli Parker]]:''' Anyhow, one of the funny results of this is that Nathan Blaine has clearly, CLEARLY seen ''Citizen Kane'', and he is clearly trying to get everything right, and throw in a lot of references to ''Kane 1'', but he's still completely missing the point.\\
He's a pretty crazy director.
* One ''Webcomic/MountainTime'' comic has two guys being held captive on an island. Their cunning escape plan involves [[http://mountaincomics.com/2012/03/06/mountain-time-338/ using their boat to kill their captor so they can float home on his corpse]].
* There's a good one in ''Webcomic/{{Pacificators}}''. The platoon needed to come up with a way to lure [[PsychoElectro Rendo]] away from his comrades.
-->'''Cinna:''' (when discussing who would be the best candidate for being TheBait) Hey, what about Ex-Boss [Qamra]?\\
'''Qamra:''' Like he’d interested in some [[HandicappedBadass one-eyed woman.]]\\
'''Cinna:''' That’s right, you’re too old.
* ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'': When Sandy is railing against "upgrades" done to her car by Doc (which include offensive weaponry) in the September 19, 2012 strip, he insists on pointing out the difference between rockets and missiles (unguided versus guided), a launcher for the latter being what mounted on her car.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''LoadingReadyRun'' video [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/325/Son-of-a-Bitch Son of a Bitch]] features this.
* [[TheDitz 2D's]] [[http://gorillaz.com/profile/2d attempts at Sudoku]] on the ''Music/{{Gorillaz}}'' website. Also, according to ''Rise of the Ogre'', the band once attempted to write a script for a movie. After much nagging from Murdoc, Russel suggested one in which "a bullying egomaniac bass-player" gets what's coming to him. The other band members elaborated on the idea, and Murdoc never noticed that they were talking about him.
* In [[http://www.ghastlycomic.com/d/20050911.html one]] of the least NSFW (but not least disturbing) pages of ''Webcomic/GhastlysGhastlyComic'', Freddy misses the point of ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' and decides to help the Chick Boy...
--> [[FangirlJapanese Baka Ecchi Mizu-Boy's Manga Is Too Angry]]. Freddy Fix It [[GenkiGirl Genki]] Style!
* There's a subset of the FauxtivationalPoster that combines this with IgnoreTheFanservice.
* The ''{{Website/Cracked}}'' article on [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17278_6-incredible-real-world-supervillain-lairs.html Incredible Real-World Supervillain Lairs]] has a deliberate Comically Missing The Point under Number 2:
-->Well, a Ledher associate describes how he would be picked up at the airstrip in a Land Rover driven by naked women--which is so awesome because Land Rovers are quality vehicles.
* In ''WebVideo/TheFantasticFavioBros'' episode "The Horrors of Ecstasy", [[EvilTwin MaCavio]] picks up the recently defeated [[TheLancer Tony's]] phone and sees the screen say "message sent" after Tony had threatened to text details of the secret plan to TheHero. [=MaCavio=] does not realize what this means, instead thinking it's something to do with massages.
* After seeing {{Phelous}} hanging himself from the horror of ''Caligula'', WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob is shocked that the camera turned itself off!
** WebVideo/EightiesDan is prone to this, like his verdict on Mrs. Crabtree's Halloween outfit.
-->I'm [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined STARBUCK!]], goddammit!\\
That is the worst [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic Dirk Benedict]] costume I've ever seen.
** Then he mistakes Dolly's SailorMoon outfit for a [[SexyWhateverOutfit sexy Donald Duck outfit]].
* [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8VBxSmHMS1w/ThkdL7mRwbI/AAAAAAAAPXE/Oumc5W6d-H0/s1600/redact.jpg There's a Post Secret about someone whose mother bought them a Post Secret book, but blacked out all the "inappropriate" parts.]]
* In roleplay Roleplay/TouhouAGlimmerOfAnOutsideWorld Reimu is telling a ghost story, but ghosts are the ''least'' scary part. The most scary part is [[ItMakesSenseInContext asbestos.]]
* TheOnion uses this trope in probably over half their work, especially their [[http://www.youtube.com/show/intheknow "In The Know"]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/show/todaynow "Today Now!"]] segments.
** The columns by Jean Teasdale are '''made''' of this trope. A sterling example comes from ''Ad Nauseum Vol. 14'', where one column has her discuss how a local magazine called her the worst columnist ever; she reprints the magazine's slams against her, and then ''immediately afterwards'' says that she doesn't know why they hate her. [[HypocriticalHumor And then proves the magazine completely correct.]]
* WebVideo/EpicMealTime has of late featured one fellow who digs into their crazy preparations politely with a knife and fork. MusclesGlasses has a tendency to give him reproachful looks.
** The ''comments'' on some videos fall into this. The gang's "recipies" range from [[BigEater comically huge but otherwise mundane portions]] to [[LethalChef abominations against culinary science]]. When intentionally awful looking/sounding/smelling/tasting things are made, and people respond along the lines of "Who would ever eat that?" it's this trope to everyone else.
* [=YouTube=] is full of "Confederate Pride" white supremacist videos calling for the extermination of foreigners, minorities, and liberals, all set to a song performed by Gary Lee and Showdown called "The Rodeo Song" - a song written by a French-Canadian from Ontario about the small-town Alberta winter rodeo circuit. It takes a special talent for missing the point to hear the stirring lyrics "It's forty below and I don't give a fuck" and think of Mississippi.
* Nella is battling her dark side and, in great pain, tells WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick to run away. The Chick, who has witnessed all this, has the important question to ask: does Nella really consider her a nerd?
* ''WebAnimation/PonyDotMov'': SHED.mov has this moment when [[spoiler:Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie enter Fluttershy's shed.]]
-->'''Spike''': Oh my god. Look at all this porn!
* WebAnimation/HomestarRunner: Happens in Strong Bad Email #124, [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail124.html Secret Recipes]]:
-->'''[[TheDitz Homestar]]:''' (to Marzipan) Hey, girlfriend, have you tried any of this free ice cream Strong Bad made?
-->'''Marzipan:''' Homestar, didn't anyone tell you? That's, like, cottage cheese and The Cheat hair.
-->'''Homestar:''' [[IAteWhat WHAT?!]] (does a SpitTake) Strong Bad told me it was ''sour cream'' and The Cheat hair!
* [[http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/02/18/film-independent-spirit-awards-joel-mchale-video/ This]] web-promo for the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards has [[Series/{{Community}} Joel]] [[TheSoup McHale]] (the host for that year's ceremony) be forced to sit down and watch all the pictures nominated for Best Feature... and completely fail to respond in the intended or appropriate way to ''any'' of them.
-->"I dunno about "[[WintersBone Winter's]]", but it's tickling my ''funny'' bone!"
* Website/{{4chan}}'s [[TabletopGames Traditional Games]] board had a thread whose original post was [[DistressedDamsel a hot naked woman chained to a rock with a dragon approaching]], with no text. The following posts were all about what type of rock it was, whether they could determine the area from the flowers nearby, whether the dragon could fly with its displayed wingspan, and so on, while largely ignoring the naked woman. Largel
-->'''[[http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9434393/#9434575 9434575]]''': Her vagina is leaking. I think she might have a medical condition.
** There's also a [[http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16934717/ recurring]] [[http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/17962929/ series]] of threads where someone post an image of someone famous, usually challenging /tg/ to figure out who they are, and they proceed to make dozens of incorrect guesses, often while berating others for getting it wrong. Often enough, the person's real name is actually ''in the file name'' in the first post.
* In Episode 75 of WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd:
-->'''Kyle:''' C'mon, get 'em! He's the one that broke the couch!
-->'''James:''' Well technically, it was a futon...
* DragonBallAbridged ''The World's Strongest'':
--> ''Piccolo, BrainwashedAndCrazy, is about to attack Goku. Not realizing, Gohan runs up to him.''
--> '''Gohan:''' Mr. Piccolo, what is he talking about- ''gets pimpslapped away''
--> '''Piccolo:''' Shut up, Gohan! Mommy and Daddy are killing each other.
--> '''Gohan:''' ''But Daddy isn't drinking!''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In a ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode, Lois is shown several drawings that Stewie has done. All of them have Lois dying in a particularly gruesome fashion. Lois realizes that this can mean only one thing: "His father's not in any of these pictures; they should spend more time together." The teacher concurs with her.
** Peter misses the point every other minute.
*** One instance of this:
----> '''Meg''': If I can't drive, I'll never have any boyfriends, I'll never get married and then I'll have to adopt a kid like Rosie O'Donnell!\\
'''Peter''': "Meg, are you implying that Rosie O'Donnell can't drive?"
** In "Back to the Woods" James Woods steals Peter's identity and kicks him out of the house. Brian points out that identity theft works both ways and Peter can be Woods. Peter figures if he was a famous movie star, he wouldn't even want his family.
** A review of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'':
--->'''Mrs. Lockhart''': Basically what [[Creator/GeorgeOrwell Orwell]] was saying was it's not perfect, but I'll take it.
** In another episode, Stewie walks in on Chris and his friends watching a porno:
-->'''Doctor 1:''' Your test results came back, I'm afraid you've got an acute case of nymphomania.\\
'''Woman:''' Oh no, what should I do?\\
'''Doctor 2:''' Take two of ''these'' and call us in the morning!\\
''(zip!)''\\
'''Stewie:''' Well that's not going to help her nymphomania! If anything, it'll just exacerbate it!
** When Peter becomes a bully and starts bullying his friends, Lois reminds him that Peter is being no better than the bully that used to torment him in school. Rather than realize what he did was wrong and apologize to his friends, Peter takes the lesson as "I have to confront the guy that used to bully me and kick his ass!" The kicker? The bully from Peter's childhood has Multiple Sclerosis and Peter still tries to beat him up until Chris intervenes. Plus, Peter thinks "M.S." means "Monkey's Scrotum"
** In "Seahorse Seashell Party", Peter takes all of Meg's critisisms of him in stride until she calls him a "waste of a man".
** In "Love Thy Trophy", Meg lies about being a single mother of a crack addicted Stewie in order to get big tips ends up getting Stewie taken away by child services.
-->'''Lois:''' How did you make $1100 as a waitress in a week?
-->'''Meg:''' ''(nervously)'' It's easy... when you're the unwed teenage mother of a crack-addicted baby. ''(nervous laugh)''
-->'''Peter:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa, Meg. When did you become a teenager?
-->'''Lois:''' Peter, she's sixteen.
-->'''Peter:''' You knew about this?
** In "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q." when [[BastardBoyfriend Jeff]] announces that Brenda is pregnant.
-->'''Peter:''' Have you thought about names yet? Like "Slappy" or "Bruisy" or "Keep-it-down-in-thersy"?
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''
** In one episode, a new student at Mrs. Puff's driving school draws himself punching the title character on the chalkboard and repeatedly threatens to kick his butt. This naturally horrifies [=SpongeBob=], while Mrs. Puff just thinks he's a talented artist.[[hottip:*:It's up for interpretation, though. Mrs. Puff ''really'' hates [=SpongeBob=].]]
** In the episode "Dying for Pie", Squidward accidentally buys an exploding pie for Spongebob. Mr. Krabs, "inspecting" it, pinches off a tiny piece of crust to eat. When he drops the piece on the ground, it explodes and leaves a huge, gaping hole in Mr. Krabs's office, blasting Mr. Crabs and Squidward outside. Then Spongebob comes in: "Mr. Krabs, are you okay? I heard a... WOW!! (completely ignores the hole and points at the pie) A pie!"
*** Happens again a second later when Squidward explains he paid $25 for the pie, not realising it was a bomb. Guess which detail [[TheScrooge Mr. Krabs]] [[SkewedPriorities remembered first]].
** Also in an episode where Spongebob has to stall kids for Mr. Krabs by hurting himself, Spongebob comes to him all battered up and pleads to him to make 'Krabby the Clown' appear already. Mr. Krabs asks him where his arms and legs are, and Spongebob tells him the kids are using them as boomerangs (with one leg even flying around among them). [[NoSympathy Mr. Krabs then gets worried that it might break his windows.]]
*** {{Justified|Trope}} as Spongebob can regenerate.
*** But Mr.Krabs, as the Jerkass he is, doesn't seem to notice, or care, that Spongebob is visible injured. Only caring about taking the money from the children.
** Mr. Krabs is fond of this. In ''Born Again Krabs'' when Squidward called out Krabs for selling Spongebob's soul:
---> '''Squidward''': Mr. Krabs, I can't believe I'm saying this, but ''how'' could you sell Spongebob for '''62 cents?'''\\
'''Mr. Krabs''': You think I could have gotten more?
** [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Spongebob]] seems rather fond of this trope, actually...
---> '''Mr. Krabs''': Neptune preserve her!\\
'''Squidward''': How long can she stay like that?\\
'''Spongebob''': I dunno!\\
'''Patrick''': [[SamusIsAGirl Sandy's a girl!?]]
** On yet another driving test rampage, SpongeBob flies by two cops and goes straight through a building.
---> '''Cop 1''': Barnacles! Did you see that?!\\
'''Cop 2''': Yeah! That guy had no front license plate! LET'S GET 'IM!
** Similar to the above ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' example. In "Squid's Day Off" Mr.Krabs goes to the hospital and leaves Squidward in charge of the Krusty Krab. Squidward takes advantage of this by telling Spongebob he has some errands to do so that he can stay at home and skip work. But whenever he reaches his house Squidward ends up becoming paranoid, first that Spongebob will mess everything up, then later that Spongebob suspects Squidward's just goofing off and will tell Mr.Krabs about it. In one of those times he ends up going back to the Krusty Krab, Spongebob innocently asks Squid about his errands. Squidward interprets it as an accusatory question.
---> '''Squidward''': What's that supposed mean? I'm very busy.\\
'''[=SpongeBob=]''': I'm sure you are.\\
'''Squidward''': I don't like your tone!\\
'''[=SpongeBob=]''': I'm sure you aaaaare. (singing it in a higher octave)
* Dale in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' manages to do a single-person version of this by relating to Hank about how 9 months before the birth of his son, he was watching aliens while his wife was with some other guy. Hank says, "Your wife loves you," but then Dale comes to the conclusion that his son is an alien, and asks Hank if there's any better explanation. Obviously there is, but Hank decides to refrain from pointing out the obvious.
** Even better, in the episode where Dale's wife ends the affair, Dale notices that every time she gets a headache, she calls in John Redcorn to give her a massage, and comes to the obvious conclusion: her headaches are a cry for attention, and he's been selfishly pawning her off on someone else instead of taking care of herself.
*** When Redcorn sneaks into their bedroom later to try and patch things up, Dale mistakes him for a burgler and knocks him out with a lamp. Dale is the one who feels guilty for this and in order to make good he helps Redcorn recover his peoples' lands, which ironically helps end the affair because Redcorn feel guilty about betraying Dale's honest friendship and kindness.
* The reason that the {{Muggles}} of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' are such [[DyingLikeAnimals bats]]. Despite admitting many, many times that he is an alien intent on conquering Earth, Zim is dismissed as talking about something completely different.
** But he's so bad at it.
** This is TruthInTelevision for anyone who actually thinks aliens [[TheyLookLikeUsNow walk among us]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has many examples, but none so much as Homer who rarely if ever gets the point no matter how blatantly obvious it is, until it's carefully spelled out for him. Sometimes not even then.
** In a flashback episode when the entire town knows that Marge is pregnant, Homer keeps thinking the townspeople are congratulating him for landing his dream job, including Moe's "Way to get Marge pregnant!" Only after someone actually ''does'' congratulate him for the job, he realizes Marge is pregnant.
** Similarly, in "Homer's Night Out", while coming home from work people keep greeting him and doing hula dances. He isn't aware that the picture of him dancing with a woman has circulated (despite there being a copy of the picture right behind Apu), and just figures that they're on drugs.
** In the episode where Marge stars in a musical version of ''AStreetcarNamedDesire'', after she delivers the last line ("I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.") the cast breaks into a musical number about how "You can always depend on the kindness of strangers..."
** During the gay parade, Marge hears Patty and Smithers, hidden each in their [[{{Irony}} own closets]], proclaiming that they're gay and proud of it. Marge then asks, "Wouldn't it be nice if that man and that woman got together [romantically]?"
** "Goodbye Adil! I'll send you those Civil Defence plans you wanted!" - Homer to foreign exchange student Adil in "Crepes Of Wrath", who is not just clearly a spy, but in the process of ''being deported from the country under espionage charges''.
** One RunningGag is Homer missing the point of a joke and laughing at the wrong part.
** "I loved YoungFrankenstein. Scared the hell out of me!" - Homer to Creator/MelBrooks in "Homer vs. Patty & Selma".
** In "Last Exit To Springfield", Homer mistook Mr. Burns offer of a bribe as Burns hitting on him. It helped that Mr. Burns was being pretty flamboyant.
---> '''Marge:''' Homer, the plant called and said if you don't come in tomorrow, don't bother coming in Monday.\\
'''Homer:''' Woohoo, four day weekend!
** Similarly, when Marge asks Homer why he hasn't left for work:
-->'''Homer:''' They said that if I come in late one more time I'm fired. I can't take that chance!
** In "Hurricane Neddy", when Ned Flanders [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech viciously lashes out at the Springfielders who did a really lousy job rebuilding his house]], he finishes with Homer:
--> '''Flanders:''' (''quietly'') Homer... you are the worst human being I have '''''ever''''' met. (''walks away'')\\
'''Homer:''' Hey, I got off easy...
** And then when a flood hit Springfield Ned builds an ark and takes on two of every animal...but only males because he doesn't want any hanky-panky going on. INeedADrink.
** In one scene, Chief Wiggum gives some rather obvious hints that Homer could get off the hook by bribing him, going as far as to ask for "A Mr Bribe". Homer does [[ComicallyMissingThePoint what he does best.]] Bart is also there and tries to point out the obvious, but Homer tells him to be quiet.
** It happens again in the episode mentioned above when Chief Wiggum makes it clear that he won't help him for not bribing him but sarcastically tells him to wait for "Officer Like-I-give-a-damn". Guess what Homer does?
** Another Homer example - searching for his half-brother Herbert, Homer asks the Orphanage where he might be. The director tells him that such data is confidential but says that Detroit is a good place to look for him. Homer keeps asking and missing the obvious hints, even bribing the director. The director has to say "He's in Detroit" point-blankly for Homer to get it.
** In ''Homer's Phobia'' Homer is blissfully unaware that John is gay. Marge attempts to point out this fact when Homer suggests John and his wife come over for dinner, with Homer ComicallyMissingThePoint until she tells him point blank:
--> '''Marge:''' Homer, didn't John seem a little "festive" to you?\\
'''Homer:''' Couldn't agree more, happy as a clam.\\
'''Marge:''' He prefers the company of men!\\
'''Homer:''' Who doesn't?\\
'''Marge:''' Homer, listen carefully. John is a Ho - mo...\\
'''Homer:''' Right.\\
'''Marge:''' ...Sexual!\\
'''Homer:''' AAAAHHH!
** Also the clerk in the episode "Bart Star" is a subversion: at the end, it's revealed that he only wanted to play a crude joke on Marge:
--> '''Marge:''' He's going to need, uh… you know, protection.\\
'''Guy:''' Sure… one helmet coming up.\\
'''Marge:''' I was thinking more of… protection… down there.\\
'''Guy:''' Oh, why didn't you say so? Knee pads. You got it.\\
'''Marge:'''(''laughs very nervously'') I'm talking about his (''quietly'') personal area.\\
'''Guy:''' Ah ha. Say no more. I read you loud and clear. The old shoulder pads.\\
'''Marge:''' (''annoyed'') Look, I want a cup\\
'''Guy:''' Cup, could you spell that?\\
'''Marge:''' C - U - P I wanna C - U [[FunWithAcronyms …oh my god!]]
** In the episode 'Grade School Confidential'
--> '''Lisa:''' I was in the library at the time, but Janey told me Principal Skinner and...what's her name? Bart's teacher?\\
'''Marge:''' Mrs. Krabappel?\\
'''Lisa:''' Yeah, Krabappel. They were naked in the closet together!\\
'''Marge:''' GASP! Oh my goodness!\\
'''Homer:''' Wait a minute...Bart's teacher is named Krabappel? I've been calling her Crandall! Why didn't someone tell me? Oh, I've been making an idiot out of myself!
*** Kinda counts as a double example seeing as how he not only misses the point (teachers making out) but also misses the more obvious mispronunciation of Krabappel.
** Mr. Burns got a good one when he was trying to get a biopic of himself made:
--> '''Burns:''' All right, Spielbergo, I want you to do for me what Spielberg did for Schindler.\\
'''Spielbergo:''' But, Schindler es bueno! Burns es diablo!\\
'''Burns:''' Oh, pish tosh! Oskar Schindler and I are like two peas in a pod! We're both factory owners, we both made [artillery] shells for the Nazis - ''but mine worked, dammit!''
** Played with in an early episode, "Fear of Flying". After Homer enters what is clearly a lesbian bar (it's is even called "She-She Lounge" and is filled with stereotypical lesbians):
-->'''Homer''': Wait a minute... there's something bothering me about this place... I know! '''''This lesbian bar doesn't have a fire exit!''''' Enjoy your death trap, ladies.
** In "Much Apu About Nothing" a bear roams the streets. It is caught and Homer immediately demands more protection against bears, even though it was the first time the town ever encountered this problem. After a special "bear patrol" is installed Homer tells Lisa he fails much safer now.
-->'''Homer''': Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.
-->'''Lisa''': That's specious reasoning, Dad.
-->'''Homer''': Thank you, dear.
-->'''Lisa''': By [[InsaneTrollLogic your logic]] I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
-->'''Homer''': Oh, how does it work?
-->'''Lisa''': It doesn't work.
-->'''Homer''': Uh-huh.
-->'''Lisa''': It's just a stupid rock.
-->'''Homer''': Uh-huh.
-->'''Lisa''': But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
-->[Homer thinks of this, then pulls out some money]
-->'''Homer''': Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
-->[Lisa refuses at first, then takes the exchange]
** In ''Mayored to the Mob'', Homer is convinced that he's killed Mayor Quimby after sending him flying out off a window. When he hears the mayor crying for help and sees him dangling from a window ledge, he exclaims, 'His corpse is climbing the building!'
** And then, of course, there's Homer thinking the ''PoliceAcademy'' movies aren't comedies ("The Springfield Connection" and "Marge Be Not Proud"). Though in this case [[DumbassHasAPoint a lot of people might agree]]...
* Captain Hero of ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' is notorious for missing the point, as illustrated by the following example.
-->'''Unusually Flexible Girl:''' I missed you more than a retard misses the point!\\
'''Captain Hero:''' What do you mean?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Cartman perfectly modeled this trope once when he was caught in class mimicking certain Nazi gestures and phrases, and was made to watch an anti-Nazi film, which [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing only fueled his fascination with the subject]]. Considering that the film only showed Nazis marching and never mentioned any bad things that Hitler did, only that he "was a very naughty person", and considering that Cartman's anti-semitic and a sociopath... yeah.
** In addition to this, we had the "Major Boobage" episode with the sub-plot of Cartman rescuing the cats from being put into the pound (eventually taking in around 100) - even going so far as to suggest that Mr. Kitty "Write a journal.", as well as replying "They're innocent victims in this! They have to hide or they'll be put to death. Something you just can't understand." when asked why the cats are in his attic. By the end, we have this exchange between Cartman and Kyle
---> '''Cartman''': But ya know, we've all learned something, you guys. We can never persecute living beings and force them into hiding. It's wrong.\\
'''Kyle''': And you don't see any parallel between that and anything else in history?\\
'''Cartman''': Hmmm, nope. I have no idea what you're talking about Kyle.
*** To some extend TruthInTelevision as the Nazis had decent animal welfare policies - so considering hunting animals as cruel does not imply considering hunting humans as cruel (however many people who consider hunting animals as cruel definitely consider hunting humans as cruel).
** Though given that it IS Cartman, this could just be Eric being a JerkAss.
** One more! In the episode where Wendy fights Cartman, Cartman is terrified that Wendy might actually be able to beat him, which would be terribly uncool. He manages to get her into enough trouble so that she'll be severely punished if she goes near him, effectively defusing the situation... at which point [[WhatAnIdiot he starts taunting her again]], which makes her even more determined to fight him. ''[[TooDumbToLive Repeat about three times]]''. When they finally fight [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown she beats the crap out of him]] (even declaring [[ThereWillBeBlood "I'm finished!"]]). When Cartman gets back onto his feet he tells the boys that since he's been beaten by a girl he'll be uncool. The boys tell him ''they never thought he was cool to begin with''. Cartman decides that since this is obviously impossible, the boys are lying to spare his feelings because they think he's so cool.
** An example of ComicallyMissingThePoint that's [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Heartwarming]]: Chef finds the flag of South Park (depicting four white guys lynching a black guy) offensive [[SarcasmMode for some reason]]. In an epic buck-passing motion, the Mayor decides to delay the vote until the kids have a debate on it. When Stan and Kyle say they're in favour of keeping the flag as is, Chef is naturally dismayed. The debate arrives, and the main point of Stan and Kyle's argument: Killing is natural, so changing a flag that has a guy being killed is pointless. Chef explains that this isn't why he finds the flag offensive, and explains the real reason, to which Stan responds "[[ArmorPiercingQuestion But...why does the colour of his skin matter?]]"
** One Halloween:
--->'''Chef''': Don't you children see? Kenny's turned into a zombie, along with everyone else in town!\\
'''Stan''': Oh my God! That means..\\
'''Kyle''':...if everyone has been turned into Zombies...\\
'''Cartman''':...[[SeriousBusiness then there won't be anyone to give US CANDY!!!!!!!!!]]
** When KFC is outlawed in Colorado at the same time that medicinal marijuana is legalized, a bunch of men deliberately dose themselves with radiation to get testicular cancer so they'll be able to legally obtain medicinal marijuana. Meanwhile, a cartel responsible for smuggling and selling black-market KFC (which is depicted as highly addictive) has brought a huge amount of crime with it. However, the crime influx is mistakenly blamed on marijuana being made available, and the town doctor decides that since cancer rates shot up when South Park's KFC was replaced with a medicinal marijuana dispensary, the KFC must have been protecting everyone from cancer somehow. Thus, against all logic, the town successfully solves its problems by once again criminalizing marijuana and legalizing KFC (renamed Medicinal Fried Chicken).
** Cartman is revealed to be Scott Tenorman's half-brother in ''201.'' Cartman gets upset not because he killed his own father (and turned him into chili), but because this means that he's half-ginger.
** In the episode where Cartman wants to become a Nascar driver, he thinks he can't because he isn't "poor and stupid enough," and after he crashes a car and kills 11 people, he thinks it's because he's not poor enough.
*** In this episode, it had multiple people insulting him (Kyle telling him he's a broke, ignorant retard, the doctor saying that it was the most idiotic thing he had ever seen anyone do) and Cartman replying with "Thanks for trying to make me feel better, it's not going to work."
*** Even in the end, when he loses, he just simply realizes that he will never be poor or stupid enough.
*** Kenny tries to sneak a sniper rifle into the track to shoot Cartman for making Nascar drivers look like poor dumbasses, and the security guy simply says "You're the type of person that makes us Nascar fans look like idiots."
** In "Cartman's Incredible Gift", the police believe Cartman is psychic and can help find a serial killer. After arresting the person Cartman has fingered, another person is murdered in an identical fashion. The police conclude that a copycat killer is on the loose and need Cartman's help. This continues...
--->'''Sgt. Lou''': They just found another body! That means a fifth copycat killer is on the loose! Where's my psychic?!
** In "Fishsticks" Jimmy comes up with a joke while Cartman sits on the couch. Cartman then believes he came up with the joke and when he sees Carlos Mencia claim to be the originator, he angrily tells Jimmy that some fat turd is taking credit for something he didn't do. When he asks Kyle for advice because he thinks Jimmy is taking credit away from him, Kyle explains that people like Cartman have such big egos that it makes them think they are awesome when they are not. Cartman simply thinks that Kyle was trying to warn him about Jimmy.
*** Kanye West has such an inflated ego that he thinks the fishsticks joke is specifically about him. Kanye misses the point of Cartman's epiphany at the end of the episode and still thinks the fishsticks thing is about him, now believing he was really a gay fish in denial, and "returns" to the sea to have sex with male fish. A deleted scene on the DVD shows he drowned.
** Most of the world seems to have this problem in "Dead Celebrities" when it comes to food either from the Chipotle restaurant or made with chipotle peppers (they're just vague enough to get away with the accusations). Apparently, people (in the ''South Park'' universe, anyway) tend to suffer anal bleeding from eating such foods. However, the only product offered to deal with this is a substance that cleans bloodstains out of underwear. Kyle is the only one who thinks that the problems of anal bleeding might go beyond blood-stained underwear.
** In "Coon vs Coon and Friends", despite teaming up with '''Cthulhu''' and leaving a bloody wake across the country, Cartman still continues to see himself as TheHero and Kyle and the others are villains for trying to stop him from "saving" the world. When the others point out that all he's doing is making the world better for ''himself'', he states his belief that's what superheroes ''do?!''
* There are many, ''many'' instances of this in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead''.
** In Beavis and Butthead Do America, Butthead is woken from his dream by Beavis with the alarming news that their TV has just disappeared and he can't work out why. After looking at the broken in door, the muddy footprints leading to the door, and the two people talking about how they're going to sell a TV for about a minute, Butthead finally says "Hey Beavis, I've figured something out... this sucks!"
** Also, at the [=McCarran=] Airport, they see a guy holding out a sign with their names written on it. Beavis attempts to read it: "B...U...T--'Boot?!' There's a guy named 'Boot?!'" Butthead corrects him, sort of. "It says Butthead. Beavis, you idiot; these guys have the same names as us!"
** In a regular episode, when some girls at a shopping mall tell the two to come back in ten years, instead of interpreting this as "I don't want to see you for a really long time", they think the girls literally mean to come back to them in ten years. Butthead tells Beavis to hurry up and get rid of their "beards" so that they can actually meet them again in ten years. (They're gonna forget by then anyway.)
** In one episode the two spend the day at Stuart's house while he and his family are out. Two "moving men" break in and they help them steal most of their things. Stuart's dad isn't happy when they tell him the movers took everything. Butt-Head assumes he's angry because his new house was a ripoff.
-->'''Stuart's Dad:''' Movers? You idiots! We've been robbed!\\
'''Butt-Head:''' Robbed? We were here all day, we didn't see any robbers.
* Ron Stoppable of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', master of the missed point. For example, fixating on a restaurant manager's decision to take his favourite meal off the menu, instead of said manager's SecretIdentity as a superhero, or worrying that the SelfDestructMechanism in Drakken's lair will destroy a mind-switching device they need to use, missing the detail that since he and Kim are tied up there, the explosion will get them too.
** Alternatively, he’s [[WeirdnessMagnet met enough super villains that meeting a super hero just doesn't faze him any more]], and he's just GenreSavvy enough to know that [[ContractualImmortality he won't die]], but it's entirely possible that he could have to spend an extended amount of time [[FreakyFridayFlip in Kim's body]].
* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' occasionally has an episode where Lilo gives an experiment an appropriate nickname, but not for the right reason.
** First instance: Experiment 113, who affects the luck of whoever is nearby. Whether it is bad luck or good luck depends on which way the horseshoe-shaped horn on his head is pointing...though in the first part of the episode, even Jumba thought it only created bad luck. After driving away the customer they had for Jumba and Pleakley's "Bed, not Breakfast", Lilo says they need to name him...
-->'''Pleakley''': A name, oh, how about, uh, I don't know, Unlucky? Or Mr. Unlucky? Or Unluckifier?\\
'''Lilo''': How about Shoe?\\
'''Pleakley''': Because of that horseshoe shape on his head?\\
'''Lilo''': Because he needs shoes. He doesn't have any.
*** Lilo doesn't seem to realize that almost none of the other experiments, if any, do wear shoes, or any clothing for that matter.
** Next instance: Experiment 251, who [[ChainedHeat binds together uncooperative people]] with an indestructible putty (though they find out later that Earth wasn't one of the planets taken into account when calling it indestructible; it dissolves in mud). When Lilo and Myrtle capture it...
-->'''Lilo''': I think I'm gonna name him...Link.\\
'''Myrtle''': Because he links people together?\\
'''Lilo''': No, silly. It's short for Linkenstein, the zombie president.
** And there's another one that may or may not count: Experiment 177, which was designed to eat Uburnium, the most powerful and economical fuel source in the universe, and drive prices through the roof. Unfortunately for Jumba, in the language he was using the word used for "Uburnium" was the same word used for "hair". When Lilo and Stitch catch it after it wreaks havoc at a local spa, this exchange follows:
-->'''Lilo''': Hmm...you look like a hairy hairball. And you seem to like to eat hair, and you're made of hair, so I'm gonna call you...\\
'''Stitch''': Hairy!\\
'''Lilo''': NO...Clip!
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy's dad hears [[TheVillainSucksSong "Icky Vicky"]], singing about how evil Vicky is. He comes to the conclusion that it's about pumpkins.
** Timmy's parents (as well as the rest of the world besides Crocker, and even he has his moments) may as well be anthropomorphic personifications of completely missing or ignoring the glaring and obvious magical phenomenon that surrounds Timmy and his fairy godparents. In the episode "Meet The Oddparents", Timmy's parents finally begin to seriously suspect the weird things that keep happening to them, such as when they found a gorilla and a monster playing ping pong in Timmy's bedroom. Of course, Timmy's Dad being Timmy's Dad, the only bizarre thing he finds about that situation is that they have a ping pong table.
*** That is actually a case of fridge brilliance, a monster and a gorilla getting into the house is understandable, even if they don't know about fairies noone can miss all the weird things that happen in town, But he would remember getting a ping pong table as he would have to have been the one to pay for it and move it into the house.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode The Million Dollar Ghost has the following exchange:
-->'''Newscaster:''' ...the need for competent, non-Jack Fenton, ghost hunters in Amity Park has never been more obvious.\\
'''Jack:''' Hey! They said my name!
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
--> '''Sokka''': Whoever took Aang and Toph left this.\\
'''Katara''' ''(reading the note)'': "If you wanna see your daughter again, bring five hundred gold pieces to the arena..." It's signed Xin Fu and The Boulder.\\
'''Sokka''': I can't believe it... ''(grabs the paper from Katara)'' I HAVE THE BOULDER'S AUTOGRAPH!"
** Also, when Zuko tries to join the group:
--->'''Zuko''': ...and I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try to stop--\\
'''Sokka''': Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us!?\\
'''Zuko''': Well, that's not his name...
** When Sokka and Suki share a quiet moment in "The Serpent's Pass."
--->'''Suki:''' I lost someone I care about. He didn't die, he just went away. I only had a few days to get to know him, but he was smart, and brave, and funny...\\
'''Sokka:''' (offended) Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?\\
'''Suki:''' No, he's about your height.\\
'''Sokka:''' Is he better looking?"
** The Gaang, minus Aang and Momo who have vanished completely at a moment when the world really needs the avatar, seek out The Order of the White Lotus. Bumi notices something odd about the group.
---> '''Bumi''': Wait! Someone's missing from your group! Someone very important! Where's Momo?!\\
'''Sokka''': He's gone. And so is Aang.\\
'''Bumi''': Oh, well. So long as they have each other, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about.
** In the episode "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSozinsCometPart1ThePhoenixKing Sozin's Comet, Part 1 - The Phoenix King]]", after Zuko attacks Aang to get him to train, Sokka gives us this:
--->'''Katara''': What happened?\\
'''Sokka''': Zuko's gone crazy! I made a sand sculpture of Suki and he ''destroyed it!'' [beat] Oh, and he's attacking Aang.
* On the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Arthur Goes Crosswire," Arthur gets paired with his class's shallow RichBitch, Muffy Crosswire to work on a project, and he quickly begins to act like her. At the episode's climax, all of Arthur's friends start acting like Muffy to show him how obnoxious he's being. Muffy thinks they're trying to flatter her:
-->'''Muffy''': I didn't mind when Arthur started acting like me, but I'm sorry, there's only one me, and that's enough.
** In "Sick As A Dog", when Pal has to stay overnight at the vet, Arthur has an overblown anxiety-induced dream about Pal calling Arthur and being kidnapped by the other dogs, who leave a ransom note ''written in pawprints'' and are pursued by a police helicopter. When Arthur wakes up, he says, "Wow, what a ridiculous dream. Pal doesn't even know our phone number."
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''
** In "Greece Lightning," Dr. Doofenshmirtz, the nemesis of superspy Perry [[EverythingsBetterWithPlatypus the Platypus]], watches an old educational film and finds out that [[HumansAreBastards due to the effects of encroaching development]], "the enemy of the platypus is Man!" So . . . he builds a giant robot man, complete with business suit, to defeat Perry the Platypus with.
** In "The Doof Side of the Moon," Doofenshmirtz plans to rotate the moon so that [[ArtisticLicenseAstronomy the "dark side" always faces the Earth]]. At the end of the episode, he realizes his mistake (moonlight is reflected sunlight), and chastises himself, "[[GratuitousGerman Dummkopf!]] I should have rotated the ''sun''!"
** Doofenschmirtz can't tell that Perry is the same platypus with his hat off. Perry once escaped a trap by removing his hat and Doofenschmirtz released the "regular platypus" and wondered what happened to Perry. This was brought to its height in "Across the Second Dimension", where his doppelganger tried to explain it to him and he still couldn't grasp the concept.
** When Perry shows up in the middle of an all-out battle with Doofenshmirtz, all Candace can say is, "Perry has a ''hat?''" Luckily, [[spoiler: it was AllJustADream.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar''. After accidently being zapped by the penguins's enhancement ray, Mort (a tiny mouse lemur) quadrupled in size and strength, capable of bringing down animals larger than himself and many times taller than his bossy, but absent-minded ring-tailed lemur leader, King Julian. Julian's advisor, Maurice, takes note of this transformation immediately.
-->'''Maurice:''' Do you, uh, notice anything different about Mort?\\
'''Julien:''' Well yes, he's obviously doing something different with his hair! It's nice actually.
** In another episode, Maurice takes over as king while Julien is sick, becomes mad with power after eating rotten lychee nuts, and threatens to take over the entire zoo. After hearing about this, Julien's reaction is, "I cannot believe what I am hearing. Maurice ''ate my lychee nuts!''"
*** Which, if they are all rotten, explains a lot
** Julien, when mocking the rats who are playing against the penguins at hockey, sneers "[[GretzkyHasTheBall You probably can't even get the ball into the hoopy-thingy]]!" Kowalski tells him it's called a "puck", to which Julien responds "Oh, thanks ... You probably can't even get the ball into the puck thingy!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In the future, Mandy has mutated into a giant slug creature to obtain immortality and ruled the Earth with an iron fist, keeping a collection of artificially grown Billy clones to keep her company. Demonstrating the same cluelessness as his predecessor, Billy clone 2188, upon activation, asks if Mandy got a new haircut.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' episode "Miserable":
--> '''Jay's # 1 Fan''': Whenever I get into a relationship with a man, they tend to get dominating and overcritical.\\
'''Jay''': I can see your point. Although, I wouldn't have used overcritical, and I think your delivery was wooden and unconvincing!
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Jimmy and Heloise are strapped into a roller coaster designed to kill them. One section involves passing through several giant meat cleavers...which only results in a CloseCallHaircut. She angrily yells "Your henchmen do shoddy work!"
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland Total Drama World Tour]]'', a challenge requires the contestants to use riddles as clues to help capture "Jack the Ripper". When Noah and Owen run into the final clue, [[TheSmartGuy Noah]] is in stunned disbelief when [[TheDitz Owen]] figures out the clue on his first try with no help, [[DeadpanSnarker remarking]], "So there ''is'' a brain in there. You've been holding out on me." Owen responds that he was not holding out on Noah, because he told him about the sausages he smuggled.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Boast Busters," a unicorn named Trixie comes to town [[MilesGloriosus claiming to be incredibly powerful]] and capable of vanquishing the dreaded [[EverythingsWorseWithBears Ursa Major]]. Most of the ponies don't buy it, but two young boys fall for her story and proudly defend her. Spike tells them that unless they actually see her pulling off the feats she claims, they shouldn't believe her. They take this as a cue to find an Ursa Major and bring it to town so Trixie can defeat it in front of everyone. Bad idea.
** In "Stare Master" Fluttershy [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter (finally)]] gets the Cutie Mark Crusaders into bed and starts singing them a lullaby. Sweetie Belle notes that she knows the song and, when [[SchmuckBait when asked to join Fluttershy]], [[CuteButCacophonic proceeds to raise the roof]].
** In "The Show Stoppers," The Cutie Mark Crusaders enter the school talent show hoping to get their cutie marks, but each tackles something they're not suited for (and that another one of them is perfect for). They do actually win an award, but don't get their cutie marks. They realize they failed to get their marks because they neglected their true talents, but decide that their actual calling in life must be comedy, since they won [[SoBadItsGood Best Comedy Act]].
** Done once again by Scootaloo in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles":
--->'''Scootaloo:''' Argh! These namby-pamby stories aren't getting us any closer to our cutie marks! They're all about 'finding out who you are' and boring stuff like that!
** In "Party of One" Pinkie Pie throws a birthday party for her toothless pet alligator Gummy, and her friends have a delightful time. though she's a little overeager during the party. The next day, she invites them to an after-birthday-party party that afternoon. All five of her friends decline the invitation. The viewer is led to assume they turn her down because two parties in two days is a too much partying, [[spoiler:but they're actually planning a surprise party for her own birthday, which she forgot due to being wrapped up in her own plans for the second party.]] Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash collaboratively lie, hilariously building the worst excuse of the bunch.
--->'''Pinkie Pie:''' Something strange is definitely going on around here, Gummy. Sure Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had to house-sit for that vacationing bear, but what are the chances all my other friends would have plans this afternoon too? Rarity ''(the fashionista)'' has to wash her hair? Applejack ''(the farmer)'' has to pick apples? Twilight ''(the student)'' is behind on her studies, and has to hit the books? The more I think about it, the more those are starting to sound like… (gasps) excuses!
** Even before that, in the second episode...
-->'''Fluttershy''': Why Rarity, it's so lovely!
-->'''Rarity''': I know! ''(whips her [[ItMakesSenseInContext restored tail]])'' I'll never part with it again!
-->'''Fluttershy''': No, your necklace.
* In an episode of the 2010 ''PoundPuppies'', [=McLeish=] attempts to keep his mother from finding out he's a dog catcher, but when his ruse fails, his mother threatens to cut him out of her will, remove him from the family scrapbook, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and disinvite him from Thanksgiving]]. [=McLeish=]'s comment: "But the turkey!"
** In the same episode, he resolves to tell his mother that he's actually a CIA agent working undercover, "If I told you more, Mother, I'd have to make you disappear." Olaf, whom he was testing this out on, asks, "Disappear? So are you a spy or a magician?" Annoyed, [=McLeish=] storms out, leaving Olaf to mumble, "Being a magician's nothing to be ashamed of."
* A ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode involved a hotel bellboy giving Quinn fantastic room service and upgrades using the excuse of his "uncle" who supposedly owned the hotel. Later Quinn along with her parents was informed by police that the bellboy was in fact billing the family for these, then deleting them from the system and was effectively a stalker. Quinn's reaction:
-->'''Quinn''': You mean I almost went out with...\\
'''Police''': That's right.\\
'''Quinn''': A COMPUTER GEEK?!
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Professor Farnsworth says the crew is about to be attacked by an albino humping worm.
-->'''Fry:''' Why do they call it an albino humping worm?\\
[{{beat}} as the worm starts humping the ship]\\
'''Professor Farnsworth:''' Because it lacks pigment.
** The Robot Mafia is prone to this.
--->'''Joey Mousepad:''' This guy's an ox! He's got oxen-like strength. Hey, he needs a nickname, right? Let's call him Clamps!
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOblongs'', Pickles tries to teach Milo that she's cool because she married a great guy and had great kids. Milo reaches the conclusion that he must marry his father.
-->'''Bob''': You just ruined what could have been a very poignant family moment, son.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'', the Ranting Swede's rants tend to come from him misunderstanding a simple american custom, metaphor or item; such as refrigerators ('I came here to get AWAY from the cold!'), coffee tables ('Is every beverage going to want their own table?') juggling his job, house and family ('It's hard enough trying to have those things, let alone juggle them!') or answering machines. ('I ask it "Will I ever find true love?", and it just SITS there!')
* In a meta example, there was an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' called "Meet the Beat-Alls", which was an 11-minute {{Homage}} to Music/TheBeatles, with heaps upon heaps of references to their songs and their history. It ends with Blossom trying to quote one of their songs, messing it up, and saying "Aw who cares? It's just a song by some dumb old band anyway!" Shortly after it aired, a blogger posted an angry rant about how terrible the show was was for insulting such legendary musicians.
** After Mojo Jojo reveals his backstory:
--->'''Blossom''': What?\\
'''Buttercup''': What?\\
'''Bubbles''': I don’t believe it! We had our very own pet monkey?
* When WesternAnimation/TheTick was interviewed on TV, and questioned about what his powers were:
-->'''Interviewer:''' Can you destroy the Earth?\\
'''Tick:''' E-GAD!! I hope not! That's where I keep all my stuff!
* People on the [[WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine Isle of Sodor]] tend to have rather blase reactions to train crashes. Rather famously, Thomas crashed right into the Stationmaster's house one morning... and his wife was worried more about the pancakes.
** A barber meanwhile has a train crash into his shop when he's shaving a customer, and he decides to get payback by ''covering half of Duck's face up with shaving cream''.
* In the ''StrawberryShortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures'' episode ''Too Cool For Rules'', Plum Pudding, tired of having to follow rules that she considers "silly", implements some ridiculous rules for anyone who wants to use her dance studio, such as guessing a password and wearing a yellow hat. Too retaliate, Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffin, and Mr. Longface Caterpillar make up rules of their own for her to follow when she visits them. Strawberry Shortcake rounds those three up and tells them that they aren't helping the situation, and that it isn't fair to have silly rules just for Plum. Their reaction: make ''everyone'' follow their new rules.
* From the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Phantom of the Telethon":
-->'''Terrorist:''' When you are forbidden to drink, dance or touch yourself, your afternoons are pretty much free.
-->'''Roger:''' You can't touch yourself? How do you masturbate?
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Daffy Duck Slept Here", Daffy tricks a drowsy Porky into falling several stories to the ground by making him think he was boarding a train. However, when it shows that Porky is '''''[[MindScrew on a train outside the window,]]''''' Daffy makes this statement.
-->'''Daffy:''' That funny. I should have given him some magazines to read on the trip. Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', Jimmy goes into Carl's dream and tries to convince him that he's dreaming. He points out that Libby had to row her desk to school with a plastic leg, and Carl responds with "Her paddle broke!".
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SquirrelBoy'' when Andy is worried that his and Rodney's attempts to get money from recycling cans is too slow he has an ImagineSpot of them 20 years later and no closer to reaching their goal:
-->'''Grown-Up Rodney:''' See, Grown-Up Andy? One man's garbage is another man's garbage that can be traded for miniscule amounts of cash.
-->'''Grown-Up Andy:''' But Grown-Up Rodney, we're no closer to owning a rollercastle ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a castle on wheels that moves along a rollercoaster track]]) now than we were 20 years ago.
-->'''Grown-Up Rodney:''' Sure we are! We have a dollar.
[[/folder]]

* In a meta example, there was an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' called "Meet the Beat-Alls", which was an 11-minute {{Homage}} to the {{Beatles}}, with heaps upon heaps of references to their songs and their history. It ends with Blossom trying to quote one of their songs, messing it up, and saying "Aw who cares? It's just a song by some dumb old band anyway!" Shortly after it aired, a blogger posted an angry rant about how terrible the show was was for insulting such legendary musicians.

-->'''Arthur:''' You're right....''two pillows!''