History Main / HilariousInHindSight

HarsherInHindsight is when a tragic event, either in RealLife or in-universe, makes something more disturbing, upsetting, or at the very least ''really'' more uncomfortable, than it originally was.

** In the late 60's, Nintendo made a line of blocks known as the N&B Blocks, but in 2019 Nintendo licenses a Lego line based on their stellar franchise.

HarsherInHindsight is when a tragic and serious event, either external or within a series, makes something more disturbing, upsetting, or at the very least ''really'' more uncomfortable, than it originally was.

FunnyAneurysmMoment is when events, either external or within a series, turn a joke into something disturbing, upsetting, or at the very least ''really'' uncomfortable. HarsherInHindsight is when a tragic and serious event is ''even worse'' later.

Contrast FunnyAneurysmMoment (when something that was once amusing or awesome is now tinged with tragedy thanks to a RealLife or in-story tragedy), DudeNotFunny (when something is considered in bad taste to mock or even mention, no matter what the circumstance), HilariousInFlashback (where a glimpse of the characters' past contrasts amusingly with their established personalities and situation), HarsherInHindsight (when something dramatic or depressing is now worse due to a RealLife or in-story tragedy), UnintentionalPeriodPiece (in the cases where a work that was current when made almost only makes jokes that no current reader can understand), TwoDecadesBehind (when the writer thought it was current but wasn't), SeinfeldIsUnfunny (where something that was funny at the time has since become cliche) and IfItWasFunnyTheFirstTime (in cases where a RunningGag is overused or a joke is only funny once). A "dated reference" is when a single joke (or only a handful) in a series is no longer funny because nobody alive remembers why it was funny, but is Administrivia/NotATrope as it is mostly covered by UnintentionalPeriodPiece and TwoDecadesBehind.

* Toys/{{Furby}}: [[https://youtu.be/FGzi1eqnT0o This video]] released in 2013 parodies many movie scenes using 2012 Furbies. The video ends with a Furby customized as [[Franchise/StarWars Chewbacca]]. Two years later, Creator/{{Hasbro}} would release an official ''Furbacca''.

* HilariousInHindsight/{{Webcomics}}

** Not long after ''Film/ANewHope's'' original release, Creator/MarkHamill made an in-character appearance in a sketch. At the end of the sketch, Mark Hamill and all the Muppets sing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWVHMqhaq1o "When You Wish Upon a Star"]], which has become so much more hilarious because both ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' are now under the Creator/Disney banner.

%% ** A previous episode guest-starring Creator/SpikeMilligan had him and various Muppets sing "It's a Small World After All".
%% ** Not long after ''Film/ANewHope's'' original release, Creator/MarkHamill made an in-character appearance on ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. Miss Piggy took one look at "Luke Skywalker", got the hots for him, and spent the next few scenes hitting on him... dressed as Princess Leia. Is there a trope yet for [[{{Squick}} retroactive squick?]]
** At the end of the sketch, Creator/MarkHamill and all the Muppets sing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWVHMqhaq1o "When You Wish Upon a Star"]], which has become so much more hilarious because both ''Franchise/StarWars'' and Franchise/TheMuppets are now under the Disney banner.

** In their ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'' episode, the gang imagines that old sitcoms will be brought back to life in the post-disaster world. One of those shows mentioned to be revived is ''Series/Roseanne'', which ''was'' revived in 2018.

* The poem ''For Heidi with Blue Hair'' by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur_Adcock Fleur Adcock]] seems uncomfortable now considering it mentions "twittering", which to today's audiences, has different connotations than it did at the time of publishing...

* In the short and little-known Creator/ShelSilverstein poem [[http://poemsbyshelsilverstein.blogspot.com/2009/01/poem-by-shel-silverstein-pg-78.html "Description"]], one character insist that God is black, another that God is female. It becomes this after [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/03/i-met-god-shes-black_n_6406928.html "I Met God, She's Black]] became a popular slogan for T-shirts.

** A previous episode guest-starring Creator/SpikeMilligan had him and various Muppets sing "It's a Small World After All".
** Not long after ''Film/ANewHope's'' original release, Creator/MarkHamill made an in-character appearance on ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. Miss Piggy took one look at "Luke Skywalker", got the hots for him, and spent the next few scenes hitting on him... dressed as Princess Leia. Is there a trope yet for [[{{Squick}} retroactive squick?]]

* An episode of ''Saturday Night Fry'' (1988) included a sketch where Creator/StephenFry went on a night out in London. At one point he goes to the theatre: "I spent a thoroughly enjoyable time watching Simon Gray's ''The Common Pursuit''. Half way through the interval, I realised I was supposed to be performing in it." This was eight years before he abandoned the West End production of Simon Gray's ''Cell Mates'', something he's made jokes about since.
** In the same radio show, he also said the word "iPhone". That's right. Stephen Fry claimed the iPhone.. in 1998. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZL2_eKn8zs here]].
* Early on in [[http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080530 this podcast of a 4e D&D game]], one of the players goes off on a tangent about a "Rat King", an urban legend about a monster rat that is formed when the population of rats is so dense that they fuse together. Guess what they run into later on in that session...
* In the early 2000's, BBC Radio DJ's Mark Radcliffe and Marc 'Lard' Riley used to broadcast sketches featuring two naff club singers with the names Skel Nonch and Erk Dre who specialised in 'Cumbrian Tight-throated Singing'. One of the items of clothing the duo sported, a symbol of their terminal out-of-touch naffness, were trilby hats...
* In August 2001, an episode of ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'' featured Satan showing Professor the truth behind his image of England. This included a cricket match which turned out to be fixed by the bookies. It was rebroadcast in September 2010, while [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11124962 this scandal about fixed cricket matches]] was still in the news.

* The fact that Martin Crieff of ''Radio/CabinPressure'' [[SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining skipped reading the majority of literature]] in favor of ''Principles of Climatology for Pilots'' is much funnier now that his actor Creator/BenedictCumberbatch is playing Series/{{Sherlock}} Holmes.
* Paul Hayes used to present mid-mornings on 96.6 TFM around mid-2003, and the station [[{{Slogans}} slogan]] was "The Best Variety of Hits". He presented 10am - 1pm weekdays and the occasional weekend show. Now that it's been announced he's [[http://radiotoday.co.uk/2013/06/paul-hayes-takes-afternoons-on-radio-aire/ joining Radio Aire]], this is a lot funnier considering a decade later he'd be presenting on their sister station in Leeds with the exact same slogan. However, it's not the ''first'' time he's worked at Radio Aire; he covered Late 'n' Live Sunday - Thursday 10am - 1pm for a few weeks, but that's [[FanonDiscontinuity ignored by radio "geeks" and airbrushed from his CV by them]].
* In Liverpool, Merseyside there is Beacon Lane, Severn Street, Wye Street -- which were around well ''before'' Beacon Radio was established in 1976, Severn Sound in 1980 and Wyvern FM in 1982. Coincidentally, all three stations could be heard in the same area in the West Midlands -- and they were exactly Beacon, Severn and [[PortmanteauCoupleName Wyvern]] (named from Wye and Severn rivers). So it looks like street-planners predicted commercial radio brand names...

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* ''Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars'':
** Cyber Amy gave out gifts to [[@/DaionusThe23rd Dai's]] characters. Meant to be tunics for the guys, and dresses for the girls. Too bad it was mistyped. What's so funny, though? Daisuke might as well be The Chick of the group, and is the only male member at the time.
** [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh Osaka]] told [[@/HilarityEnsues Hilarity]] that he needed to become a god (you can guess the circumstances). Much, much later, Hilarity is the God of Order.
* Shiningknight accidentally predicted 3 of the plots Marvel and DC did with the plots he [=GMed=] in ''Roleplay/WeAreOurAdventuringAvatars''.
** The ''Avengers'' movie which ended similarly to his first ever marvel plot which ended just a bit before that movie came out.
** The marvel plot with the evil Earth 3 waoaa characters attempted conquering of Earth (with that infamous exploding lupo ending) came just before DC's Forever Evil event where the crime syndicate faced similar hardship
** Now Marvel's Secret Wars where all the various realities of the marvel universe were mashed together into one battle world which is vaguely similar to what he did to Marvel and DC.
* The PlayByPost MassivelyMultiplayerCrossover {{Play By Post Game|s}} ''Roleplay/CampusLife'' had an arc where at the stories climax, the mane cast from ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship Is Magic]]'' used the Elements of Harmony to purify the negative energy in the [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Chaos Emeralds]], and then they, along with several others, use them to go into {{Super Mode}}s to fight the current BigBad with. All this takes place before the season finale of season four, which would give the mane cast ''canon'' {{Super Mode}}s to fight the current big bad with.
[[/folder]]

* Paleontology:
** In 1989 palaeontologists chose the name ''Revueltosaurus'' for a new species of dinosaur discovered in Revuelto Creek, New Mexico. Years later, it was determined that the partial skeleton used to describe this species was actually a mix of bones from different animals and that the most of them probably belonged to a basal crocodilian, not a dinosaur. It just happens that "revuelto" is Spanish for "messed up".
** ''Apatosaurus''' name means "deceptive lizard", which turned out to be very fitting, as its fossils have deceived their very discoverer as well as the general public. Paleontologist O. C. Marsh famously named the second ''Apatosaurus'' specimen he discovered ''Brontosaurus'', and outfitted it with a fossil skull that in reality belonged to a different dinosaur. It continued to deceive people for near a century, and the two names (or rather three, the third being the little-known ''Elosaurus'') and skulls in fact still do confuse many people who grew up knowing it as ''Brontosaurus''.
** ''Allosaurus'', whose name can be translated as "other lizard", was the top-dog predatory dinosaur in media before being dethroned by -- who else? -- ''TyrannosaurusRex'', leading it to be seen as basically "that other lizard".
** [[https://whendinosaursruledthemind.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/when-dinosaurs-ruled-the-mind-8-dinosaurs-over-the-years-spinosaurus/ this blog]] points out that the [[https://whendinosaursruledthemind.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/tumblr_mg02l99a3x1s2o2t1o1_1280.jpg first depiction]] of the Spinosaurus is actually one of its [[https://whendinosaursruledthemind.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/spinosaurus-walrusb1.jpg?w=556&h=313 most accurate]]
** In the beginning of the 20th century, when paleontologists were firm in their belief that dinosaurs and birds could not possibly be related, they tried to explain bird evolution by coming up with a purely hypothetical, four-winged gliding reptile-bird transition, named "''Tetrapteryx''" or "''Proavis''". In 2000, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor Microraptor]]'' is discovered, which was a ''real'' four-winged gliding reptile. But unlike what those early scientists expected, it was a dinosaur, which reaffirmed the modern belief that birds descended from dinosaurs.
** Likewise, cheap plastic figures of ''Pteranodon'' (the famous crested pterosaur) [[PteroSoarer often erroneously gave the animal teeth]], much to the annoyance of paleontologists. In 2003, a newly discovered crested pterosaur is published, and this one really did have teeth -- this trope is even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in its name: ''Ludodactylus'', meaning roughly "toy finger".
** ''Franchise/JurassicPark'''s ''Chaos Effect'' toyline featured a mutant hybrid between ''Velociraptor'' and ''Archaeopteryx'' called "''Velociraptoryx''", and was essentially a raptor with bird feathers (and the wing finger of a pterosaur, somehow). Raptors with feathers, what a crazy idea! Except that today we know that ''all'' raptor dinosaurs were covered head-to-tail in a feathery plumage, and ''Archaeopteryx'' has also been reclassified as a raptor in recent years.

* "Wisdom teeth" were originally [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_teeth#Etymology named]] because they appeared later in life e.g. when someone is "wiser." Modern science suggests that we have wisdom teeth because over the course of our evolution, our growing brains caused our jaws to shrink. We have wisdom teeth because of our species' growing "wisdom."
* In a quote condemning Nicholas Copernicus, Martin Luther [[http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.html described heliocentrism]] as being akin to "somebody moving in a carriage or ship [claiming] that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved". Not only is heliocentrism the dominant astronomical theory today, but a few centuries after the quote was made, Einstein published the Special Theory of Relativity that explained motion as being relative to the observer, meaning, yes, someone in a vehicle can indeed describe themselves as being still while the worlds around them move with justification.
* Similarly, the 16th century comedy ''Morosophus'' by Dutch playwright Wilhelm Gnapheus stars a KnowNothingKnowItAll {{Astrologer}} who is rumoured to have a large book sitting around in his house collecting dust. It was intended on an attack on Gnapheus' contemporary Nicholas Copernicus,[[note]]This was because Copernicus remained a staunch Catholic while virtually everyone else around him (including Gnepheus) became Protestants during the Reformation, not because of his scientific beliefs[[/note]] who indeed had a large book in his house sitting around in his house. Shortly before Copernicus' death, that book was published under the title [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_revolutionibus_orbium_coelestium On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres]], the first great work on Heliocentrism. Today, Copernicus is remembered as a genius and one of the fathers of modern astronomy because of that work.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Mekton}}: Operation Rimfire'', one of the characters had a girlfriend called Maria who was brainwashed and given an alternate identity. Especially given that it's a mecha game, the similarities to a plotline in [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 a certain anime series]] are amusing.
* There is a certain ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' scenario called "Final Flight", in which the characters are on a plane with a disguised serpent person. To make it obvious: There is a motherfucking serpent man on the motherfucking plane.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** The TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} box had ''Lorebook of the Void'' advising to remember it's a big Universe and vary creatures as you go on, even if it's just a change in appearance - for example... "Change in color (blue elves)". Which was just a throwaway line until ''Film/{{Avatar}}''.
** In the 4th edition Player's Handbook, a section on why you'd want both melee and ranged weapons says: "When the flying monster makes its getaway, you don't want to be hurling insults at it." The Player's Handbook 2 released the Bard...which can kill enemies by insulting them.
** The Races of the Dragon sourcebook introduced a template for making anthropomorphic dragons called Dragonborn.[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim No, they do not get a shout attack.]]
* An old ''Magazine/DragonMagazine'' article discussed ways to avert the AerithAndBob trope in a campaign, advising [=DMs=] about how to establish consistent cultural motifs for character and place names. The article's title? "What Do You Mean, [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack 'Jack the Samurai']]?"
* From the ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}'' Trading Card Game we have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Rainbow_(viral_video) Double Rainbow]] [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Double_Rainbow_Energy_(TCG) Energy]].
* In the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' TCG, there is a pseudo-God Card named "Thor, Lord of the Aesir", who is listed as a Beast-Warrior-Type. UsefulNotes/{{Furr|yFandom}}ies will get a kick out of this, due to an infamous parody picture that had floated around years back of Anubis, lamenting [[SadlyMythtaken his change from God of the Dead to furry sex symbol]], with Odin (Thor's father) comforting him by telling him Thor "wasn't spared, either", a reference to [[http://www.zoofur.com/thor.html near-life sized horse dildo]] created during the time. To clinch the hilarity, Thor is a Synchro monster, which requires a Tuner monster called "Guldifaxe of the Nordic Beasts" to bring out. Guldifaxe, in case you're wondering, ''is a horse''.
** Speaking of ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' and furry internet memes, one popular meme is that [[VideoGame/StarFox Krystal]] can't have her sandwich. In the card game, there's a Fusion monster called Sanwitch who, at present, is very hard to get out - its Fusion Materials and most of the alternative ways of bringing it out are either banned or limited to one per deck. So Krystal can't have her Sandwich.

** Nekroz of Trishula can be seen as a personification of Trishula. Unfortunately for the Pixiv fanartists, Nekroz of Trishula is a guy. Tenpester even mocked it by having the Trishula gijinka's clothes be stolen by Archamage of the Nekroz.
** Remember the time when players did the Tour Guide From The Underworld + Sangan combo? That's what Burning Abyss players do now.
* Our page for the player archetype of {{Munchkin}} has the quote "Munchkin: one who, when informed the campaign is about politics and intrigue in 17th-century Italy, asks to play as a ninja." Years later, ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' was released... On the Munchkin page the quote was soon potholed to the game's page, up until wiki policy changed to forbid that.
* The [[TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}} Munchkin Ctulhu]] standalone game features the Fez of Fazooli, represented by a guy wearing a fez, a jacket and a bowtie (bottom left in [[http://cdn02.dayviews.com/66/_u1/_u3/_u7/_u4/_u1/u137419/47509_1251067396.jpg this image]]). Several years later, [[Series/DoctorWho guess who wore an almost identical outfit?]]
* [[https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/03/this-1994-star-wars-style-guide-proves-hindsight-is-a-wonderful-thing/ A writing guide]] written in 1994 would have various decrees that would be heavily violated by future works. Stuff like "No writing about the history of the Jedi", "No writing about the rise of the Empire", "No extra-galactic invasions". Of course, this document was a guideline for freelancers, so if anyone was going to do anything setting-breaking, they'd probably want to do it in-house rather than hand it off to some random person writing an RPG module.

'''''Note:''''' ''Examples can only be added once the event that makes it hilarious has ended. In particular, anything related to a widespread disease, hoarding of any kind, or something similar to social distancing doesn't inherently mean that there's a connection to the {{UsefulNotes/Coronavirus}} pandemic. Please don't add examples of this nature.''

[[folder:Technology]]
* [[http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/At-First-Glance-Vista-Looks-Like-a-Winner/ This article about an early beta of Vista]].
* At the advent of computers it was declared by Thomas J. Watson that there would never be a market for more than five computers in the entire world.
* Conversely, Danny Hillis talks about the first computer conference he went to, where he proclaimed that the market for microprocessors would be in the millions. One wag asked, "What, will there be a computer in every doorknob?" Flash forward to Danny Hillis returning to the same hotel, where the room keys had been replaced by keycards. There was a computer in every doorknob.
* [[http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/mhz_myth_320f.mov This video of one of Steve Jobs's keynote speeches]]. Him explaining the "Megahertz Myth" is so much funnier when Apple switched to Intel in 2005. On the subject of the myth, he practically predicted the future when the Pentium 4 decided to completely milk the "clock speeds are everything" concept for all it was worth, until the massive performance and overheating problems killed the worth the Pentium name once had.
** The {{Take That}}s at Intel in Apple's old "Snail" and "Toasted Bunnies" ads as well.
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iPAD.png This]] [=iPod=] parody. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/iPad Two years later...]]
* [[http://www.airliners.net/uf/view.file?id=106415&filename=phpNy94kE.jpeg This 1972 photo]] of a "Super Airbus."
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTKIgdfoHxM This video]] on all the exciting possibilities offered by TheInternet in... 1996. Just ''try'' to watch the guy earnestly enthusing about "multimedia files" and "special interest groups" without thinking of TheInternetIsForPorn.
* Apple and Samsung are bitter rivals. However, [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a588860/apple-employee-with-name-sam-sung-sells-business-cards-on-ebay.html#~oMhHrWOdkNt6bV Sam Sung was once an Apple employee]].
* [[http://www.infoworld.com/article/2613504/microsoft-windows/microsoft-skips--too-good--windows-9--jumps-to-windows-10.html This]] AprilFoolsDay article from 2013 by Infoworld mocks the early failures of Windows 8, by saying that Windows 9 is "too good" and Microsoft is skipping straight to Windows 10. Just a little over a year later, ''the exact same thing happened in real life.'' (Well, minus the "too good" part, but still.)
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd -sign-'' was famous for a visual style that many felt was impossible for the Unreal Engine. That was before Unreal Engine 4, famous for it's versatility in both visual aesthetics possibilities and platform useability (showcased by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KOZJLOx0bo Epic Games releasing a mobile app in the form of a Flappy Bird clone]]), was released to the public.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m4KZHDVWRE This]] student PSA from 1995 accurately predicts all the possibilities that the internet will offer by the time the students are in college.
* The USAF revealed in January 2010 through Jane's that they are modding Sidewinders for air-to-ground usage. Funny how all those arcadey flight-action titles like ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', ''Afterburner'' etc. had us using [[AKA47 ersatz Sidewinders]] for multirole purposes well before this, eh?
[[/folder]]

** One of the 4th edition races is a race of anthropomorphic dragons known as the Dragonborn. [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim No, they do not get a shout attack.]]

* [[http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2010/transformable_tomas There is a bootleg]] CombiningMecha ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' toy, which was released in 2009-10. This becomes funnier with ''Series/ResshaSentaiTokkyuger'' being released a few years later, which also features trains as CombiningMecha.

* [[http://www.scary-crayon.com/misc/ffbenoit/ This Chris Benoit action figure]], which changes his expression from nice guy to screaming angry bastard, is [[BlackComedy funny for the wrong reasons]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_8JyluqsRY This]] Rosie O'Donnell doll made by Mattel from the 1990s (around the time of her talk show and massive popularity), which depicts her as Barbie's best friend. In 2002, Rosie would come out as a lesbian, adding a whole new level to their "partnership".

* During UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was a fervent supporter of Revolutionary ideas, to the point that he supposedly had "Death to the kings !" tattooed on his chest. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_XIV_John_of_Sweden Guess what he became...]]
* There is a banquet hall in Woodbridge, New Jersey called "Ariana's Grand." This becomes really funny thanks to the rise of [[Music/ArianaGrande a certain Nickelodeon pop starlet]].
* UsefulNotes/LosAngelesMetroRail has the Pico (Boulevard) station, which is where one exits to get to Anime Expo, located at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is also on Pico. There is an infamous ero {{OVA}} series known as ''Boku no '''Pico'''''. [[http://hikouki-gumo.tumblr.com/post/54511447423/finally-bought-my-ax-ticket This did not go unnoticed.]]
* [[http://claudeelkhal.blogspot.fr/2015/03/jacques-chirac-lookalike-is-eighteen_3.html A French museum harbours an 18th century Japanese mask which looks uncannily like former French president Jacques Chirac]] (or rather like his puppet in ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo'')... it's actually the mask of a powerful evil demon called Ôbeshimi. For more hilarity, Jacques Chirac is well known for having fondness for Japanese culture and art.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb2OCVAiDgY A local Ohio news station's coverage of]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_8888_incident the 2001 CSX 8888 incident]][[labelnote:*]]A CSX locomotive ran uncontrolled through Ohio for 66 miles and two hours while hauling 47 cars, some holding hazardous chemicals, before being stopped by another locomotive by coupling to the back of the runaway and slowing it down so that it could be stopped manually. [[/labelnote]] described it as "like something you'd see in a Hollywood action movie". Cut to 9 years later, the incident actually did [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory inspire]] a Hollywood action movie, namely ''Film/{{Unstoppable}}''.
* In the early [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]], when it became known that the Internet could be used for mass piracy of copyrighted works, entertainment regulation bodies ran anti-piracy messages at the beginnings of home-use videos, with one of the slogans being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Wouldn%27t_Steal_a_Car "You Wouldn't Download A Car"]]. With the advent of 3D printing, people have started distrbuting and downloading 3D automobile designs for use with 3D printers, i.e. ''downloading cars''.

* [[http://claudeelkhal.blogspot.fr/2015/03/jacques-chirac-lookalike-is-eighteen_3.html A French museum harbours a 18th century Japanese mask which looks uncannily like former French president Jacques Chirac]] (or rather like his puppet in ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo'')... it's actually the mask of a powerful evil demon called Ôbeshimi. For more hilarity, Jacques Chirac is well known for having fondness for Japanese culture and art.

* In the early [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]], when it became known that the Internet could be used for mass piracy of copyrighted works, entertainment regulation bodies ran anti-piracy messages at the beginnings of films, with one of the slogans being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Wouldn%27t_Steal_a_Car "You Wouldn't Download A Car"]]. With the advent of 3D printing, people have started distrbuting and downloading 3D automobile designs for use with 3D printers, i.e. ''downloading cars''.

Contrast FunnyAneurysmMoment (when something that was once amusing or awesome is now tinged with tragedy thanks to a RealLife or in-story tragedy), DudeNotFunny (when something is considered in bad taste to mock or even mention, no matter what the circumstance), HilariousInFlashback (where a glimpse of the characters' past contrasts amusingly with their established personalities and situation), HarsherInHindsight (when something dramatic or depressing is now worse due to a RealLife or in-story tragedy), UnintentionalPeriodPiece (in the cases where a work that was current when made almost only makes jokes that no current reader can understand) and TwoDecadesBehind (when the writer thought it was current but wasn't), SeinfeldIsUnfunny (where something that was funny at the time has since become cliche), and finally IfItWasFunnyTheFirstTime (in cases where a RunningGag is overused or a joke is only funny once). A "dated reference" is when a single joke (or only a handful) in a series is no longer funny because nobody alive remembers why it was funny, but is Administrivia/NotATrope as it is mostly covered by UnintentionalPeriodPiece and TwoDecadesBehind.