History Main / SevenMinuteLull

* In one play of Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy ''Theatre/TheNormanConquests'', ''Living Together'', KavorkaMan Norman is having a drunken phone conversation with his wife, Ruth, while Ruth's brother, Reg, is trying to explain the overcomplicated rules of his board game idea to his wife Sarah, his sister Annie, and her would-be boyfriend Tom. The conversation lulls happen just as Norman forgets to keep his voice down, leading to such outbursts as, "I SAID YOU ARE A SELFISH BITCH!", and "LOVE!? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LOVE?!"

* Music/{{Creed}} has one of these in the middle of "Signs", with the implication being that when they claim "This is not about sex!", all people hear is the word "sex".

* In ''[[VideoGame/NelsonTethersPuzzleAgent Puzzle Agent 2]]'', Nelson Tethers tries to tell his boss, Director Jennings, about the strange goings-on in Scoggins, while [[CassandraTruth a skeptical Jennings is noisily drinking a milkshake in an attempt to ignore Tethers]]. This leads to Tethers shouting "THE ASTRONAUTS IN THE FOREST ARE MURDERING PEOPLE!" just as Jennings stops, which [[NotHelpingYourCase really doesn't help in convincing his boss he's not crazy]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "The Farnsworth Parabox": While massive rumbling occurs in the background, Leela tries to turn Fry down for a date: "I can't go out tonight because..." (rumbling stops) "I have sweaty boot rash!"

* The idiot hero ''[[ComicBook/RatMan1989 Rat-Man]]'' is trying to tell to his best friend that he masturbates a lot. Their conversation is drowned by a near TV, until someone switches to a less loud channel, while Rat-Man says "I masturbate like a Cossack greyhound!". Later, his best friends refuse to shake his hand...

* In ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'', a bird in the newly-created Narnia does this, to the great amusement of the other talking animals. Rather than scold his creations for laughing, Aslan, equally amused, informs the bird that he has become the first joke.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': In "The One Where Rachel's Sister Baby-sits", Mike Hannigan takes Phoebe to a hockey game for their one-year anniversary. Straining to get her voice heard by Mike over the roar of the crowd, Phoebe yells out "You're so smart, and generous, and you're [[SexGod AMAZING in bed!]]" Guess at what point the crowd died down.

* Website/CollegeHumor's "Awkward Rap" references this.

* Happens in an episode of the ''WebAnimation/{{Waterman}}'' animated series - There's flash back to a party at an art gallery and the lull comes just as Waterman says, "Rectum? Damn near herpes!" Everyone stays dead silent. Thinking their silence is an indication they didn't hear the punchline, Waterman repeats himself, and as he does so the view pulls out to reveal that he and the pair he's talking to are standing next to a piece consisting of a microphone and a number of stadium bullhorns, which have been broadcasting his every word to the entire gallery anyway. Then he realizes he botched the punchline.

** "The Ticket Master": Twilight's friends all start arguing at once over who gets the extra ticket to the Gala, and eventually Twilight [[BigShutUp yells at them to be quiet.]] They all shut up except for Pinkie Pie, who blurts out "...AndThenISaid 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!'" before realizing what's going on.

* Leonard Bernstein told an anecdote in which he conducted ''The Rite of Spring''. At a certain point in the score, very loud music suddenly breaks off and at that moment in the concert he could hear an elderly woman in the audience telling another: "...but ''I'' prefer lard."

* In the 2005 film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', during the flashback to the party where Arthur and Trillian met, Arthur is criticizing the other party-goers for not recognizing her costume (Charles Darwin), and ends up blurting out "All these people are idiots!" during a Seven Minute Lull when the [[RecordNeedleScratch record player gets bumped]].

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* In the 1985 action-comedy ''Gotcha!'', the protagonist is griping to his best friend how he's still a virgin during a college lecture, saying "I can't seem to get laid!" right on the lull. The teacher smirks and informs him that "every dog has his day."

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* In the long-running Mexican SitCom ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' this is a RunningGag, with everybody arguing until Profesor Jirafales or some authority figure makes everybody shut up[[note]] "Silencio. ¡Silencio! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis ¡¡¡SI-LEN-CIO!!!]]"[[/note]], and only the naive Chavo still talks, ''always'' saying something insulting towards the authority person (such as referring to Profesor Jirafales as "Maestro Longaniza", as Don Ramón aften does).

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Ted is on a blind date at an unbearably loud dance club. After realizing that his date is just nodding along politely and can't really hear a thing he's saying, he starts saying random silly things for the fun of it -- then the music cuts out just in time for him to yell "I'm wetting my pants!" in her face.

* The idiot hero ''ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}}'' is trying to tell to his best friend that he masturbates a lot. Their conversation is drowned by a near TV, until someone switches to a less loud channel, while Rat-Man says "I masturbate like a Cossack greyhound!". Later, his best friends refuse to shake his hand...

* ''[[Film/TheAssignment1997 The Assignment]]'' (1997). CIA agent Jack Shaw tries to goad naval officer Annibal Ramirez into dropping a PrecisionFStrike when the band stops playing, but he doesn't rise to the bait.

* ''Harry's Game'' by Gerald Seymour. Two intelligence officers in a Belfast restaurant are discussing the undercover operation involving the protagonist, when a lull occurs in the band music. They quickly stop talking, but not before a waiter hears some of their conversation. He tips off the IRA causing them to start investigating everyone who's nearly arrived in the area.

* In the spy novel ''Harry's Game'', two intelligence officers in a Belfast restaurant are discussing the undercover operation involving the protagonist, when a lull occurs in the band music. They quickly stop talking, but not before an IRA sympathizer hears some of their conversation.

** "The Ticket Master": Twilight's friends all start arguing at once over who gets the extra ticket to the Gala, and eventually Twilight [[BigShutUp yells at them to be quiet.]] They all shut up except for Pinkie Pie, who blurts out "...and then I said 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!'" before realizing what's going on.

* Played with on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' during a game of Scenes From a Hat where the scene was "Things you don't want to be shouting at a party when the loud music suddenly stops."
-->'''Wayne Brady:''' I HAD A SEX CHANGE!

* Likewise, in an episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace'', the conversation lulls at a gallery opening on cue every time someone says "I'm out," prompting applause from the audience at the unintentional DoubleEntendre.
** In another ''Will and Grace'' episode, Grace is talking to Karen at the opera. Grace is speaking loudly to be heard over the soprano; the music fades to silence in time for Grace's last word, "homos!" to echo several times through the silent theater.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Ted is on a blind date at an unbearably loud dance club. After realising that his date is just nodding along politely and can't really hear a thing he's saying, he starts saying random silly things for the fun of it -- then the music cuts out just in time for him to yell "I'm wetting my pants!" in her face.
** Later during the same episode, the club plays a different song with enough space during each beat that Barney and Marshall can talk during each lull.
* In the long running Mexican SitCom ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' this happens very often, with everybody arguing until Profesor Jirafales or some authority figure makes everybody shut up[[note]] "Silencio. ¡Silencio! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis ¡¡¡SI-LEN-CIO!!!]]"[[/note]], and only the naive Chavo still talks, ''always'' saying something insulting towards the authority person (such as referring to Profesor Jirafales as "Maestro Longaniza", as Don Ramón aften does).
-->"Se me chispoteo."
** Subverted in at least one episode, when after a similar situation happens, it ends with El Chavo saying "And now I'm not sayin' anything".

* In a late episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Mike Hannigan takes Phoebe to a hockey game for their one-year anniversary. Straining to get her voice heard by Mike over the roar of the crowd, Phoebe yells out "You're so smart, and generous, and you're AMAZING in bed!" Guess at what point the crowd died down.

* ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'':
** George approaching his time of the month and wanting to "Bang the granny" out of any woman he can find.
** Used again as a [[ItMakesSenseInContext malfunctioning rape alarm]] is shut off just in time for Tom to yell 'WE'RE BOTH WEREWOLVES!' for the entire street to hear. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded by Hal's response]]
--->'''Hal''' How depressingly predictable.

* In an episode of ''Series/MorkAndMindy'', the lull happens just as Mork tells Mindy "...and you look great naked."
* One of PennJillette's trick is a double magic trick with another magician, the two of them simultaneously asking separate audience members to draw a card and not show it. They both talk [[MotorMouth really fast]] over each other's lines and when the other one stops, he leaves Penn to deliver the perfectly audible line "... while traveling through vinegar", bereft of any context.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}''
** In one episode where everyone thinks that Trapper is going back to the States due to an ulcer, the camp is throwing him a "farewell" party. At one point Hawkeye gives a heartfelt speech about how they'll all miss him as a friend and colleague, and in the ensuing silence, a drunken Colonel Blake is overheard trying to pick up a nurse in a corner of the room.
** Inverted in another episode. Hawkeye is telling a joke to two women as they leave the officer's club and comes to the punchline right when a jet passes by overhead and blanks out what he was saying.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'': Frustrated with an impending lawsuit, his nagging boss, and worsening PTSD following a vicious attack, Mark Greene is trying to talk to a deaf, elderly woman about her husband's condition and growing even more frustrated because she can't understand him. He finally gets fed up and screams at her that her husband is terminally ill, just as everyone else in the waiting area and the nurse's station shuts up, leaving him thoroughly humiliated by his behavior.
* In one episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', while the neighbors Steve and Marcy are over at the Bundy's, Kelly is playing loud music and Peggy goes to put a stop to it. Speaking over the music, Marcy mentions lending Peggy and Al a parenting book, with Steve (loudly) responding "I don't think Al and Peggy read much" just as the music stops