History Main / HeliumSpeech

* In ''WesternAnimation/IceAge3DawnOfTheDinosaurs'', "deadly gas" turns out to be helium which, as mentioned before, can become deadly after extended periods. The characters' discovery leads to an Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks impersonation and HilarityEnsues. Until Buck points out the dinosaur skeletons that died laughing.

InstantSoprano is a more-painful way to induce higher-than-normal vocal pitches in fiction.

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* The Martians in ''Film/MarsAttacks'' [[spoiler:get the same effect from huffing a nuclear explosion. It even makes sense if it was a fusion bomb since they work by fusing hydrogen to, well, helium]].

* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "The Case of the K-9 Caper!" involved Team Rocket using the rather smart plan to disrupt the voices of an Officer Jenny and the other Trainers using helium, so their Pokémon wouldn't recognize their commands. Then they used voice changers to imitate the Trainers' usual voices. It fails because the Pokémon are able to tell who their real Trainers are in the end.

Because helium is lighter than air, when you inhale it and try to talk, the sound waves travel faster through the lower-density gas, resulting in reedy, duck-like voices that can be used to great comic effect. This can be tried in real life, although it should be noted that helium displaces oxygen in your lungs, so breathing it too long can be harmful.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. An oxygen-helium atmosphere is used on board ''Voyager'' to reduce the risk of fire. When Tom Paris enters a space station using an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, he thinks it should make chatting up dames easier since he won't sound like Daffy Duck.

* ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max Save the World]]'': In "Situation: Comedy", Helium is an important element of several puzzles, since it lets Sam sing high notes. [[DreadfulMusician Not perfectly]], but well enough to [[GlassShatteringSound break glass]] and impress one of the judges on ''Embarrassing Idol''.

* Helium is an important element of several puzzles in one of the ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max]]'' games since it lets Sam sing high notes. Badly.

* {{Inver|tedTrope}}sion: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XbjFn3aqE sulfur hexafluoride]].

** Played with a bit in the [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail38.html appropriately named SBEmail]]. Strong Mad tries to do this, but it has no effect on him:

** However, we later find that sucking up ''bandwidth'' has this effect on Strong Mad. Don't ask.

--->'''Judge Doom:''' When I killed your brother, I talked... ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis JUST...]] [[ExaggeratedTrope LIKE...]] [[UpToEleven THIIIIIIIS]]''

* A 2003 ad for Toys R Us has Geoffrey the Giraffe making an announcement from a hot-air balloon, and he gets this because his head is too close to the helium.
* Used in a State Farm ad in which a helium truck is involved in an accident. Two grown men have fun saying "fender bender" in [[Film/TheWizardOfOz munchkin]] voices.

* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "The Case of the K-9 Caper!" involved Team Rocket using the rather smart plan to disrupt the voices of an Officer Jenny and the other Trainers using helium, so their Pokémon wouldn't recognize their commands. Then they used voice changers to imitate the Trainers' usual voices. It fails because the Pokémon are able to tell who their real Trainers are in the end.

* In episode three of ''Anime/WandabaStyle'', TheProfessor's latest experiment involves [[GirlGroup the girls of MixJuice]] and [[RobotGirl Satellite Girl]] Kiku#8 taking a blimp filled with experimental helium into the stratosphere. On the way up, they end up losing most of their air supply, and Kiku replaces it with "extra" air. Unbeknownst to any of them, the air was actually some of the helium, which they find out when [[ItMakesSenseInContext they're giving a concert]].

* In the Creator/RobinWilliams stand-up routine ''Weapons of Self Destruction'', he states that this is the reason why we need to invent cars that run on helium. Because there would be nothing funnier than two angry guys getting out of the car after a wreck and having them going "I'm gonna kick your ass... Crap, I think one of us has a gas leak."

* On ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'', some big dogs take turns inhaling helium balloons and barking like small dogs.

* [[http://mrmenoc.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Miss_Light_(MrMenCentral) Little Miss Light]], a Literature/MrMen fan character. Bonus points for her being shaped like a balloon.

* During the party in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'', Judge Peckinpah inhaled helium from a balloon (while [[InflatingBodyGag floating]]) and says a funny joke.
* In WesternAnimation/PussInBoots when Puss, Kitty Softpaws, and Humpty Dumpty make it to the clouds after riding the beanstalk, they talk in high pitched voices because of the thin air.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': The villain does this at the end to unnerve Eddie.
-->'''Judge Doom:''' When I killed your brother, I talked... ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis JUST...]] [[ExaggeratedTrope LIKE...]] [[UpToEleven THIIIIIIIS]]''

* Rayman uses this practically in the opening of ''Rayman VideoGame/RavingRabbids 2''. You'll see.
* Guybrush in ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', shown through giving his dialogue lines a tiny font (the remake of the game has voice acting, so you get to hear it). Also used in ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', which had voice acting as well.
* Helium is an important element of several puzzles in one of the ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max]]'' games since it lets Sam sing high notes. Badly.
* The Science Vessel in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has this as one of their StopPokingMe sounds:
-->I think we may have ''(shift)'' gas leak.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame'' one of Homer's powers is inflating himself in which he'll say random dialogue in helium speech. "I'm slightly lighter than air".

* In ''VideoGame/Crysis2'', [[GeneralRipper Commander Lockhart's]] [[LargeHam hammy]] exhortations to his men to kill you can be made even more comical via an [[EasterEgg easter egg]] that you can trigger to release helium into his room.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', an optional conversation in the Toy Box can be triggered by striking the valve of a helium tank or popping balloons, which causes everyone's voice to become high pitched. They all have some fun talking in their new helium-induced voices... Except Donald, who isn't affected at all.

* Used in the prologue of ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}''. Before visitors can enter the underwater theme park of [=LeMU=], they must go through a compression chamber and adjust to the change in air pressure via helium. Earphones are given to each visitor to make everyone's voices sound normal, but when Takeshi removes them and talks to an already high-pitched Coco...

* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': This is emulated with Balloon's voice.
* Daniel Floyd of ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' constantly narrates his videos with a voice that sounds like it's been computer-shifted into this.

* Happened unintentionally to WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim in the animated series, with Peter Puppy being unable to stop laughing.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021'' in which a Franchise/{{Predator}} was running around the place killing people, Dr. Quinn had the bright idea to mess around with the station's atmosphere in an attempt to hinder the alien aggressor. This ended up pumping a lot of helium into the air vents, which resulted in the crew laughing uproariously over how one of them sounded like [[Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks a Chipmunk]]... who is then killed by the Predator, [[BlackComedy the crew laughing at his high-pitched screams of agony]].
* A ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' cutaway shows Stewie doing helium at a birthday party:
-->'''Stewie:''' I'm a female! I have a high voice! I have reproductive organs inside of me, and I buy groceries!

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' has one episode at a party where Tina and Louise inhale helium. Bob then asks Tina for some and sucks some in.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'''s Sideshow Bob, while broadcasting his plan to destroy Springfield from inside the Duff blimp in "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"; Lisa figured out where he was from the squeaky voice, and she and Bart head out for the Duff blimp. After Bob finishes his speech in his chipmunk voice, he says "Pesky helium! Shoo! Shoo!" and waves his hands, and his voice goes back to normal.
* This happens to Krumm in ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'' where he swallows a helium tank that not only causes his voice to be high-pitched, it even causes him to float in the air, being supported by a string to keep from floating away.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' episode "It Was Supposed to Be Funny," Brendon and Jason take balloons and candy over to Melissa's house, and after she says, "It'll take more than balloons and flowers for me to forgive you, Brendon Small," and upon her departure, her dad says to the boys, "Could I have some of that candy?" the three male characters suck in helium on Melissa's dad's couch -- the moment highlights that they're all very stuck in boyhood.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': Batman teams up with the Metal Men, a team of periodic element-themed robots, to fight the Gas Gang, a team of slightly-less periodic element-themed animated gas clouds (one of them's named Chloroform) in the episode "Clash of the Metal Men". Helium's [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway only power is to give people]] Helium Speech. Luckily for him, he's the kind of guy who thinks [[AngstWhatAngst that gag never gets old]]. Truthfully though, when used on Batman, it's [[TheComicallySerious hilarious]].
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' depicts Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks as having fairly deep voices until Dave floods the recording studio with helium in an attempt to asphyxiate them, but [[BlackComedy kills them in the process]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's evil plans involved filling the entire tri-state area with "Doofelium" making his high squeaky voice lower in comparison because making his own voice lower would be too much of a hassle. Ended up affecting himself and yelling out his {{catchphrase}} [[OncePerEpisode ("Curse you Perry the Platypus!")]] in helium speech.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** Noah gets one of these in ''Total Drama World Tour'' after a serious GroinAttack with a golden statue head.
** Harold gets one in the finale after Courtney {{Groin Attack}}s him, hilariously, he does a literal ''speech'' while in Helium Speech mode.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'', Sam accidentally spreads the "Fiji Flu" to his friends, where one of the side effects is having a very high-pitched voice.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClassOf3000'', helium is released into the cooling vents as a practical joke. Those affected included [[CoolTeacher Sunny Bridges]], [[ButtMonkey Kam]], [[BookDumb Li'l D]], and Principal Luna. Notably, it didn't affect [[GeniusDitz Philly Phil]], who thought his voice would sound weird.
* Falsetto Jones, the villain of the week on ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', has an extremely high-pitched voice due to a freak accident involving helium (hence his name).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Alan [[AnimateInanimateObject the balloon]], and all his family members, all have pitched up voices.
* An early ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' episode had the duo steal balloons from a vendor in order to get high from the helium after they inhale it and comment how funny they sound they exclaim "Oh no, we're neutered!"
* WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck: TropeCodifier and he could be the {{Trope Namer|s}}. The [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} Other Wiki]] even has him as the Trope Namer!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': Daffy starts speaking like this in "Mr. Wiener" after he inhales a tank of helium to stretch his stomach to win a hot dog eating contest.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The Planet Express crew have to rescue "helium miners" from ''inside the Sun''. Bender convinces them to sing Camptown Races.
-->'''Leela:''' Attention, helium miners! Can you hear me?\\
'''Miners:''' For God's sake, help us! We're in agonizing pain!\\
''[Fry, Leela and Bender giggle]''
* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "The Magic Egg", where Clumsy gets a deeper voice when he is turned into a giant.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', there's the dwarf Dr. David Nelson in the Season 11 premiere "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson". Trey Parker inhaled helium to do his voice.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'', this briefly happened to Jonny and Hadji because helium is sometimes used in deep-sea diving equipment to reduce the risk of the Bends. Hadji commented it makes them sound like cartoon characters.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'' had Oscar and Felix trying to remove a mouse from the Proud house, culminating in them deciding to fumigate the place and then accidentally filling the tent with helium, [[RuleOfFunny causing the house to be uprooted and fly off]] with Suga Mama still inside. When they get the house back down offscreen, Suga Mama lambastes Oscar in a high-pitched voice.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. An oxy-helium atmosphere is used on board ''Voyager'' to reduce the risk of fire. When Tom Paris enters a space station using an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, he thinks that at least he won't sound like Daffy Duck when trying to chat up dames.

* The Martians in ''Film/MarsAttacks'' [[spoiler:get the same effect from huffing a nuclear explosion. It even makes sense if it was a fusion bomb, since they work by fusing hydrogen to, well, helium]].

* In one ''Literature/{{Remnants}}'' book, the cast find themselves inside the body of a colossal LivingGasbag. The gases the creature runs off turn out to be helium and nitrous oxide, meaning that they not only develop helium voices but also think it's hysterically funny. They have to get out of the creature before they suffocate, but only the most humorless among them are able to take it seriously.

* ''Series/MythBusters'' not only does this during experiments where helium is involved, but they've also used Sulphur Hexafluoride, a gas six times denser than air, to get the opposite effect, with a "Don't try this at home!" warning from Adam right before he starts inhaling the stuff ("And my voice gets really low, although somehow I'm still funny. It's scientific! [[EvilLaugh HAHAHAHAHA!]]") Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XbjFn3aqE here]].

* Helium is an important element of several puzzles in one of the ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max]]'' games, since it lets Sam sing high notes. Badly.

* In ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Guilty Gear Xrd]]'', one of items Faust can throw at random is a bottle of helium that serves no purpose other then giving the one who touches it a comically high pitched voice for a lengthy period of time.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' has one episode at a party where Tina and Louise inhale helium. Bob then asks Tina for some, and sucks some in.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' episode "It Was Supposed to Be Funny," Brendon and Jason take balloons and candy over to Melissa's house, and after she says, "It'll take more than balloons and flowers for me to forgive you, Brendon Small," and upon her departure her dad says to the boys, "Could I have some of that candy?" the three male characters suck in helium on Melissa's dad's couch -- the moment highlights that they're all very stuck in boyhood.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's evil plans involved filling the entire tri-state area with "Doofelium" making his high squeaky voice lower in comparison, because making his own voice lower would be too much of a hassle. Ended up affecting himself and yelling out his {{catchphrase}} [[OncePerEpisode ("Curse you Perry the Platypus!")]] in helium speech.
* Happens once in ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' when Boog's [[BubbleBoy plastic bubble]] gets filled with helium, right as he's about to punch the titular characters. He notes that it's VERY hard to sound threating with his voice like that.

* An early ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' episode had the duo steal balloons from a vendor in order to get high from the helium, after they inhale it and comment how funny they sound they exclaim "Oh no, we're neutered!"

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'', this briefly happened to Jonny and Hadji because helium is sometimes used in deep sea diving equipment to reduce the risk of the Bends. Hadji commented it makes them sound like cartoon characters.

* This trope often shows up in works set deep underwater, like the book ''Literature/{{Sphere}}''. This is TruthInTelevision to some extent; the nitrogen in normal air becomes toxic at very high pressure, so deep divers breathe a gas mixture which has had some or all of the nitrogen replaced with helium. However, films in such settings often purposely ignore the effect when it should be present. Having live actors breathe helium for every line would be distracting to the audience, not to mention being somewhat dangerous and ridiculously expensive.

-->-- '''The Doctor''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E5TheRobotsOfDeath "The Robots of Death"]]

'''Man:''' ....then I found myself hangin' around supermarket openings, and kids' birthday parties, y'know, anywhere there was balloons.\\

* ''WesternAnimation/MuneGuardianOfTheMoon'': When the protagonist are about to dive in the waters of the Big Blue Hole, Mune picks up some glowing fungus that he describes as rich in oxygen, and that will allow them to breathe underwater. However, as a prank the first batch he shows to Sohone are actually rich in helium, and when the big guy promptly eats one, his voice gets all squeaky.

* During the party in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'', Judge Peckinpah inhaled helium from a balloon (while [[InflatingBodyGag floating]] ) and says a funny joke.

* In the ''WebVideo/BadCallTV'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVasBa2jgXs You Got the Flight Stuff, Baby,]]" one man winds up with this voice after consuming enough Pepsi to gain the ''Seven Million Pepsi Points'' required for a Harrier Jump Jet that was (jokingly) mentioned in the commercial. Sadly, this is only [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_v._Pepsico,_Inc partly fictional]]. No, one man didn't actually drink ''that much'' Pepsi, but he did manage to convince enough people to give him their Pepsi Points to try for the plane.

* Daniel Floyd of ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' constantly narrates his videos with a voice that sounds like it's been computer-shifted into this.
* In the MusicalEpisode of ''Series/FlandersCompany'', Armand Trueman breathes in a helium balloon so he can sing with a high-pitched voice.

'''Creator/VicMignogna:''' [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Don't call me small]] -- ''(barely avoids headslamming the table)'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRq9Y4sMUMI I'll break off your feet and stick 'em on your head!]]"

* During the party in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'', Judge Peckinpah inhaled helium from a balloon (while {{floating InflatingBodyGag}}) and says some stuff.

* [[InvertedTrope Turned on its head]] in the first ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' movie: there's a scene where Alvin inhales helium, but since his voice is already high-pitched, it becomes low-pitched instead. A definitive ArtisticLicensePhysics moment, even if it ''is'' funny.

** In the episode "The Launch Acceleration", Leonard shows Penny how the sulfur hexafluoride he uses in his experiments causes deep voices.

* ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'': Chris Sanders when providing the voice for Stitch.

* An episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' involved Team Rocket using the rather smart plan to disrupt the voices of an Officer Jenny and the other Trainers using helium, so their Pokémon wouldn't recognize their commands. Then they used voice changers to imitate the Trainers' usual voices. It fails because the Pokémon are able to tell who their real Trainers are in the end.

* In ''Film/{{Flubber}}'', Robin Williams' character's flubber experiment causes a helium gas tank to leak open and you know what happens after that.

* ’’WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers’’ has one episode at a party where Tina and Louise inhale helium. Bob then asks Tina for some, and sucks some in.

* Miis in ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' have become (in)famous for this.