History Main / ContrivedClumsiness

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' episode "The Fowl Friend", Dodgers is insanely jealous of how efficient his own RobotBuddy is, and plots his death. When Roboto makes a HeroicSacrifice, Dodgers seems to have learned his lesson, until IQ High says WeCanRebuildHim, and Dodgers blatantly throws Roboto's brain on the ground and ''jumps'' on it, while saying "Oops! Clumsy me!"
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Phineas and Ferb-Busters", Norm purposely spills hot coffee on a giant robot that is trying to kill Dr. Doofenshmirtz.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In one episode, Stumpy trips Kaeloo by sticking out his leg during a game of musical chairs so he can reach the chair first.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "Rock-Solid Friendship", Pinkie Pie "accidentally" sets off some explosives in order to trap herself, her sister Maud, and Starlight Glimmer in a cave, all in a largely unnecessary effort to get Maud and Starlight to bond.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Topsy", Louise tries to enter her old baking-soda volcano in the school science fair, but the substitute (who has an unhealthy obsession with Thomas Edison) puts a ban on model volcanoes and, to drive the point home, "accidentally" stomps Louise's to bits.
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In "A Case of Ed", Ed and Eddy lock themselves in the latter's house to avoid a vengeful Kevin, but Edd, looking to get back at them for tricking him into thinking he was terminally ill, produces Eddy's spare house key in front of Kevin and "carelessly" drops it.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In "Irrational Treasure", Stan gets put in a pillory to publicly humiliate him for going against Pioneer Day. Lil' Gideon comes along carrying a basket of tomatoes and taunts him before "accidentally dropping" his tomatoes (i.e. [[ProducePelting throwing his tomatoes at Stan]]).

* In ''Manga/KitchenPrincess'', the heroine has made friends with a rich girl who also happens to be a rich model. Her name is Akane, and she seems nice, but she's actually a BitchInSheepsClothing. While eating lunch together, she purposely knocks the heroine's lunch onto her dress, then [[WoundedGazelleGambit gets upset and causes her friends to turn on the girl]].
* In the second season of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', one scene shows the depraved Genma having his partner Mina conduct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxibustion moxibustion]] on him, which is the "payment" for using his powers. He makes a perverted comment, and Mina, who DoesNotLikeMen, accidentally-on-purpose burns him.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Shen weaponizes this sort of behavior, seemingly accidentally dodging everybody's attacks while inflicting damage through perceived incredible clumsiness, attributing his outcomes to amazing luck. He makes it to the last rounds of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai and defeats Yamcha but is then taken out in the semifinals by Piccolo, after breaking his façade by using a DangerousForbiddenTechnique--he entered the competition specifically to stop Piccolo because he knew Piccolo was a threat. Shen is actually God possessing an ordinary businessman as a disguise and is strong enough to not have to take any of his opponents seriously until Piccolo.
* ''Manga/SoulEater'': As Death the Kid holds a practice battle against Black Star and Soul, the latter two injure each other and make up with a [[MundaneMadeAwesome ridiculously drawn-out]] ManHug. Annoyed, Kid shoots them both, then sarcastically excuses himself with "My finger slipped".
* ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'': While Lata claims he has managed to avoid balls and parties for so long he's forgotten how to dance he hasn't, nor has he forgotten how to make a girl step on his foot while making it look like ''she'' misstepped during the dance so that he can excuse himself from the event and escape to treat his "injury". He mentions deadpan that most noblewomen in the kingdom hate him for this.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': Clark Kent does this all the time. Usually, it's to save someone without compromising his secret identity.
* Aaron Stack in ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}'':
-->'''Aaron Stack:''' I am a clumsy robot, and [[ItMakesSenseInContext the longer I hold this dress]] [[ShameIfSomethingHappened the greater the chance something will damage it.]] Oops. My blowtorch unit seems to have accidentally lit.
* In an old Disney comic (by Carl Barks), in which Scrooge and Donald Duck go to Saudi Arabia, a bad guy bumps into a sheik (who, not surprisingly, looks like a duck), slipping a listening-bug onto his robe. (The bad guy apologizes, and the sheik says, "You're a clumsy oaf!")
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}:'' In his civilian identity, Bruce Wayne has been known to do this. For example, in ''Robin: Year One'', he intentionally spills his drink on an important control panel.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'': Honest John gets Pinocchio's attention by tripping him up with his cane.

* ''Film/TheGoonies'': Chunk is the clumsy, chubby boy of the group and known for making a mess of things. But each time he knocks something over, it leads to a new discovery that progresses the plot.
* In the '80s movie ''Film/JustOneOfTheGuys'', the JerkJock dumps an entire tray of food onto the lap of the male protagonist, the main course of which was spaghetti, and gives him a sarcastic apology. The victim, in this case, was wearing a brand new outfit.

* In ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'', a kidnapping target is spilled on, to force him into the bathroom. He is then abducted through the vents.

* Cliff Secord does in ''Film/TheRocketeer'' when he's at the South Seas Club, where his girlfriend Jenny is with Neville Sinclair, who's looking for the rocketpack. He "accidentally" spills some champagne on Jenny just before she tells Neville about him and how he's got the rocketpack.
* ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'' plays with this classic "teen movie" trope. Janey is in a dress, already wet from jumping the pool, and the AlphaBitch, Priscilla, sarcastically feigning clumsiness, spills a bottle of ''water'' on her. Janey reacts with humiliated tears, and other characters react similarly:
-->'''Random Party-goer:''' That's gonna stain!

* In the movie ''Film/{{UHF}}'', one of the {{jerkass}}es from the competing television station trips the cameraman for the title station, and sarcastically chimes "Oopsie!" after. Later, the victim of this action enacts his revenge by doing the same thing to the {{jerkass}}, except this time, the trip ends in a mud puddle.
* The first ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' has an example of the "accidental" trip; Marty [=McFly=] trips Biff Tannen when they're in the diner in 1955 Hill Valley, UsefulNotes/{{California}}.
* Used in ''Film/RomanHoliday'', with not even an attempt to disguise it, along the lines of "Oh, look what you just did to yourself."
* In ''Film/GosfordPark'', after a man posing as a servant reveals himself to be an actor and moves from "below stairs" to "above stairs". To punish him for his deception, one of the maids spills tea in his lap. Her fellow servants quickly hide their smiles, his fellow nobs shrug and keep on keeping on.
* A variation is seen in ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' when Otto, angry with Wanda, picks up a framed photo of her and smashes it with his fist. He then hands it to the owner, and flatly says "Oh, sorry".
* A human deliberately steps on Rumbo's tail in ''Fluke''. Fluke bites his leg as payback.

* In ''Film/AChristmasStory'', when Mother dusts the living room with no-one else around, she winds up breaking The Old Man's "major award" (an electric lamp shaped like a sexy woman's leg in a fishnet stocking). The audience doesn't see the act, but it's strongly implied it was no accident -- considering the sneaky look she gives as she begins dusting, and the fact that she'd hated that lamp from the beginning.

* In ''Film/DickTracyMeetsGruesome'', Dr. Learned feigns clumsiness and drops the flask containing Prof. Tomic's formula so it smashes to cover up that she had stolen the formula and substituted water in its place.

* In the first few pages of ''Webcomic/{{Ratfist}}'', Ricky throws his wine all over Gina so she won't notice that he's turning into a rat.

* In {{Webcomic/Homestuck}}, Kanaya threatens Vriska with such an unfortunate accident of spilling a load gaper (their filthy commoner speak for "toilet") over Vriska's head if she doesn't make ramps for Tavros to travel around his house.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Endtown}}'', two waitresses do various stunts with insincere apologies in order to torment their new co-worker.
* Terebithia of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' puts up the pretense of accidentally breaking the Queen of Dawn's "delicate" blaster after disarming her, but she's not really trying to get anyone to believe she did it on accident and instead is using it as a subtle threat.
* Belkar of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' "accidentally" [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0814.html scatters to the winds]] information that would jeopardize Ian's release.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "There's No Disgrace Like Home", the family is supposed to solve their problems with electroshock therapy. At the beginning of the exercise, Bart accidentally-on-purpose shocks Lisa, claiming his finger slipped. Lisa shocks him back saying, "So did mine."
** Bart also uses the "My finger slipped" excuse in a "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" episode, where Lisa's science experiment turns into a miniature civilization.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' had a villain named Arms Akimbo who ran an "[[ProtectionRacket Oops insurance]]" scheme, "accidentally" knocking things over with his elbows until the owners give in. The damage gets more and more ridiculous with each scene until we see StockFootage of a building blowing up, followed by Akimbo saying "Oops!"

* ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV'': In "City Hall", Jacob Brickstud gets annoyed by constantly winding back up the city hall welcoming robot, Nosty, so he "accidentally" spills his coffee on him to get out of doing it.

* ''Series/ShadowAndBone''.

See also: The BeQuietNudge, in which a character punches or kicks someone and pretends it was an accident, in order to get the other character to stop talking. Compare InterrogationByVandalism.

* This was done twice in one issue of ''ComicBook/TopTen'', both times by [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ferro-American]] DeadpanSnarker Joe Pi:
--> '''Joe Pi''': with typical machine clumsiness, I seem to have disabled my inbuilt audio taping system. This means that if, for instance, a fellow officer should suggest something illegal, I won't have a record of it.

--> '''Joe Pi:''' We have to get back to the station. I have to report my poor performance as a siege negotiator.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

-->'''Random Party-goer''': That's gonna stain!
* In the ''Film/TheKarateKid2010'', Cheng knocks over Dre's lunch tray and then says "Sorry!"

* In ''Film/AChristmasStory'', when Mother dusts the living room with no one else around, she winds up breaking The Old Man's "major award" (an electric lamp shaped like a sexy woman's leg in a fishnet stocking). The audience doesn't see the act, but it's strongly implied it was no accident--considering the sneaky look she gives as she begins dusting, and the fact that she'd hated that lamp from the beginning.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]]: Jackie Tyler uses the drink-spill variant rather overtly to try and get Elton to stay over for the night.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]]: [[spoiler:The Doctor]] uses it against the titular Family, [[spoiler:pretending to still be human while covertly setting their ship to self-destruct.]] The Family falls for it because they see all humans as idiots.

* ''Series/{{Zorro}}'': Whenever Don Diego de la Vega is given a sword, he generally makes a big show of how inept a fencer he is, to better contrast with the ImplausibleFencingPowers of his masked alter ego.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' had a villain named Arms Akimbo who ran an [[ProtectionRacket "Oops insurance"]] scheme, "accidentally" knocking things over with his elbows until the owners give in. The damage gets more and more ridiculous with each scene until we see StockFootage of a building blowing up, followed by Akimbo saying "Oops!"
* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', after seeing Jillian's boyfriend accidentally trip a waiter and immediately spring into action to prevent him and his drinks from spilling over, Brian tries to do the same in order to impress his former girlfriend, by deliberately tripping the next waiter to walk by. The waiter falls, his drinks crash, and he questions why Brian would do something like that. Adding insult to injury, the waiter had just recovered from recent hand surgery and was told he should not have come into work that day, but Jillian's boyfriend massages his hand and makes it better.

--> Meg: I heard a noise! Is something wrong? Are we being robbed? What's going on?
-->(''Peter stares at Meg for a good 3 seconds, then hits her with his baseball bat'')
--> Meg: AHH!! WHAT THE HELL?!
--> Peter: Oh, Meg, you startled me!
** Or where the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Tin Man]] [[FantasySequence finds out he's gay]]
-->Tin Man sways unsteadily from side to side before landing on top of the Scarecrow
-->Tin Man: Oh, look what happened by accident!

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Phineas and Ferb}}'' episode "Phineas and Ferb-Busters", Norm purposely spills hot coffee on a giant robot that is trying to kill Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "Rock-Solid Friendship", Pinkie Pie "accidentally" sets off some explosives in order to trap herself, her sister Maud, and Starlight Glimmer in a cave, all in a largely-unnecessary effort to get Maud and Starlight to bond.

* ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'': While Lata claims he has managed to avoid balls and parties for so long he's forgotten how to dance he hasn't, nor has he forgotten how to make a girl step on his foot while making it look like ''she'' misstepped during the dance so that he can excuse himself from the event and escape to treat his "injury". He mentions deadpan that most noblewomen in the kingdom hate him for this.

* On ''Series/TheSopranos'' Paulie Walnuts drops Valery's universal remote and gives a sarcastic oops after Valery tells him sternly (in his thick Russian accent) that "remote goes on docking station".

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Diana "accidentally" trips on a chain while pretending to be under Hypnota's mind control in order to drop the sword Hypnota intends to force Diana to use to kill captives right in front of Etta Candy, whom Diana had just secretly unbound.

* ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': As Kuzco and Pacha try to get the potion that will turn Kuzco human, Yzma knocks over the other potions so they can't tell which is which, saying "Oops, clumsy me!" as she does.
* ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'': When Jenny discovers that Oliver is missing, Georgette takes Oliver's dish and drops it in the garbage with a sarcastic "Whoops!"

* ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'': Honest John gets Pinocchio's attention by tripping him up with his cane.

See also: The BeQuietNudge, in which a character punches or kicks someone and pretends it was an accident, in order to get the other character to stop talking.

Whether or not the character engaging in this behavior chooses to cover it with a sincere apology may depend on whether or not the character believes his or her audience will sympathize with the action. For example, if Alice is a particularly vicious and foul character who is not well liked, Charlene might choose to issue a sarcastic apology after dropping a plate of tartar sauce on her cleavage; her audience will smile because they all know that Alice had it coming, and they are pleased with Charlene's courage, knowing full well it wasn't really an accident. On the other hand, if Bob is a major JerkAss who is not especially well liked, he may attempt a sincere apology after "accidentally" tripping the much kinder and sympathetic Charlie; he knows that those watching don't like him, and the apology works as a pre-emptive defense. Of course, if Bob is very powerful, he might decide not to put any effort into making the apology sound sincere, since he really doesn't care what everybody thinks since there's nothing anybody can do about it.

Usually this action is more of an irritant than anything that's likely to cause serious injury or death, but not always.

* A non-comedic example of this is in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' wherein the {{Child Soldier|s}} Nena bombs a wedding party, killing almost everyone there. When questioned about it, she [[CuteAndPsycho giggles]] and says she accidentally pressed the wrong button. The reason she bombed the party was because [[MoralEventHorizon they were having more fun than her]].

* In a second season of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', one scene shows the depraved Genma having his partner Mina conduct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxibustion moxibustion]] on him, which is the "payment" for using his powers. He makes a perverted comment, and Mina, who DoesNotLikeMen, accidentally-on-purpose burns him.

* The drink spill variant was done in ''ComicBook/{{Thorgal}}'' by some random viking, to humiliate the protagonist, who is a beggar at that time (due to AngstComa after he thinks his wife and child have died) and can't defend himself.

--> '''Joe Pi''': with typical machine clumsiness, I seem to have disabled my inbuilt audio taping system. This mean that if, for instance, a fellow officer should suggest something illegal, I won't have a record of it.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': Clark Kent does this all the time. Usually it's to save someone without compromising his secret identity.

** One strip had Dilbert at a cocktail party and two women holding an impromptu "spill stuff on him" party. The final panel shows Dilbert back at home wearing the rags of his shirt, after they'd hit him with lighter fluid.

* Cliff Secord does in ''Film/TheRocketeer'', when he's at the South Seas Club, where his girlfriend Jenny is with Neville Sinclair, who's looking for the rocketpack. He "accidentally" spills some champagne on Jenny just before she tells Neville about him and how he's got the rocketpack.

* In the movie ''Film/{{UHF}}'', one of the {{jerkass}}es from the competing television station trips the camera man for the title station, and sarcastically chimes "Oopsie!" after. Later, the victim of this action enacts his revenge by doing the same thing to the {{jerkass}}, except this time, the trip ends in a mud puddle.

* In ''Literature/{{Millennium}}'', Louise tries this for two reasons, by spilling coffee onto a tape recorder: she wants to divert attention from the tape being played and is hoping to do enough damage that information she wants hidden can't be retrieved. It doesn't work, for either.

* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', this happens a lot. Usually it's done to create a distraction or plant a bug.
* Used [[RunningGag all the time]] by ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'', who claims "all of my moves are throughly thought!" whenever he gets hurt ([[SlapStick Which is often]]).

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]]: [[spoiler:The Doctor]] uses it against the titular Family, [[spoiler:pretending to still be human while covertly setting their ship to self-destruct.]] The Family fall for it because they see all humans as idiots.

** Arya drops a coin to catch an enemy off his guard when he stoops to get it in "Mhysa".

* In an early episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', the title character decided to make a point about how he's treated as a handicapped person by jamming his cane into a woman's foot as he passed her. He apologized in a sincere fashion, and watched as the woman apologized back for snapping at him.

** In TheStinger of an episode where Hawkeye, BJ and Charles were on a promotion committee, they evaluated prospective promotees and gave their recommendations. Private Igor, who works in the mess tent chow line and was not promoted, tosses a scoopful of mashed potatoes on BJ. "Oh, I'm sorry. But what do you expect from a dumb private?"

** A more malicious example happens later, after Kimiko unwittingly gives herself a serious popularity boost in the otaku community after defending fanboys on a radio interview. She goes to work to find the place mobbed with fans, and Piro disguises himself as a busboy to help her out. As the night goes on, he realizes that the fanboys are using carefully-hidden cameras to catch upskirt pictures of Kimiko. He proceeds to "accidentally" kick the cameras out of the way while waiting on the tables, leading to the fans realizing that he too is a "fanboy" (since otherwise he wouldn't realize what they were up to) and believe that he's "selfish" in keeping them from [[EntitledToHaveYou them all having access to Kimiko, as they believe they're entitled]]. To get back at him, one of the fanboys trips Piro so that he lands under Kimiko's skirt and then self-righteously accuses him [[{{Hypocrite}} of trying to be a pervert towards her]]. Since Kimiko finds one of the hidden cameras immediately after, she's not fooled.

* Terebithia of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' puts up pretense of accidentally breaking the Queen of Dawn's "delicate" blaster after disarming her, but she's not really trying to get anyone to believe she did it on accident and instead is using it as a subtle threat.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' had a villain named Arms Akimbo who ran an [[ProtectionRacket "Oops insurance"]] scheme, "accidentally" knocking things over with his elbows until the owners give in. The damage gets more and more ridiculous with each scene, until we see StockFootage of a building blowing up, followed by Akimbo saying "Oops!"
* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', after seeing Jillian's boyfriend accidentally trip a waiter and immediately spring into action to prevent him and his drinks from spilling over, Brian tries to do the same in order to impress his former girlfriend, by deliberately tripping the next waiter to walk by. The waiter falls, his drinks crash, and he questions why Brian would do something like that. Adding insult to injury, the waiter had just recovered from recent hand surgery, and was told he should not have come into work that day, but Jillian's boyfriend massages his hand and makes it better.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Topsy", Louise tries to enter her old baking-soda volcano in the school science fair, but the substitute (who has a unhealthy obsession with Thomas Edison) puts a ban on model volcanoes and, to drive the point home, "accidentally" stomps Louise's to bits.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In "Irrational Treasure", Stan gets put ina pillory to publicly humiliate him for going against Pioneer Day. Lil' Gideon comes along carrying a basket of tomatoes and taunts him before "accidentally dropping" his tomatoes (i.e. [[ProducePelting throwing his tomatoes at Stan]]).

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Chandler "accidentally" pokes Janice in the eye while breaking up with her.

* A non-comedic example of this is in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' wherein the ChildSoldier Nena bombs a wedding party, killing almost everyone there. When questioned about it, she [[CuteAndPsycho giggles]] and says she accidentally pressed the wrong button. The reason she bombed the party was because [[MoralEventHorizon they were having more fun than her]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Topsy", Louise's science teacher thoroughly wrecks her project for it not having to do with Thomas Edison, whom he has a unhealthy obsession with.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Stan gets put on a pillory to publicly humiliate him for going against Pioneer Day. Lil' Gideon comes along carrying a basket of tomatoes and taunts him before "accidentally dropping" his tomatoes (i.e. [[ProducePelting throwing his tomatoes at Stan]]).

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]]: Jackie Tyler used the drink-spill variant rather overtly to try and get Elton to stay over for the night.

* In ''Literature/SorceryAndCecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot'', Cecelia disposes of [[spoiler: the titular chocolate pot by pretending to "accidentally" spill it]]. It helps that she already had a reputation for clumsiness.
* In Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Chalice}}'', one of the primary antagonists uses a very malicious form of fake clumsiness to set the demesne's Master up for a MortonsFork: he "trips" within the Master's reach, forcing the Master - a former priest of elemental fire - to choose between catching and involuntarily burning him (an insult) or letting him fall (also an insult).

* In ''Literature/{{Millennium}}'', Louise tries this for two reasons, by spilling coffee onto a tape recorder: she wants to divert attention from the tape being played and is hoping to do enough damage that information she wants hidden can't be retrieved. It doesn't work, for either.

* ''Series/{{Good Luck Charlie}}'': In an attempt to destroy an {{Irrevocable Message}} he and Emmett accidentally sent to a bully, [=PJ=] "trips" and drops the bully's phone in a chemistry beaker. He even follows with a shrugged "I guess I'm the boron now!".

* In an episode of ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'', Alex exposes T.J Taylor as a wizard by knocking off his books and sarcastically says "Sorry I'm a clutz" as she does so.

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]