History Main / SurroundedBySmartPeople

The cop of the CopAndScientist is often this trope. See also OnlySaneEmployee, which frequently overlaps with this trope. For when an already genius-level character ends up in this setting with characters who are as equally smart as they are, see NormalFishInATinyPond.

While the OnlySaneMan is usually SurroundedByIdiots, this guy is an {{Everyman}} who finds himself in a group or place filled with people smarter and/or more skilled than he is. The Only Sane Man usually has to deal with the fallout of all that smartness in one place, often being the voice of reason in the group. This person may have a military or police-based background, serving as the badass among the smart folk.

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon is the only non-superpowered member of the S.O.S. Brigade, and many of the events they get caught up in, tend to be over his head. As such, he often has to rely on Yuki's {{Technobabble}} explanations, or Koizumi whenever he can't understand Yuki, to get a handle on things. Mikuru also chips in, as much as regulation will allow since most of what she knows is "classified".
* Zenkichi from ''Manga/MedakaBox''. While the people around him are certainly quirky, their abilities can't really be denied. Akune and Kikaijima are both scholarship students and specials, Medaka herself is talented at everything as an abnormal. Not to mention the Class 13, who are all incredibly talented in one area (though at a price). He is able to keep up with them with his abnormal amount of determination.

* In Literature/RamaII all the astronauts are 1 in 100 re intelligence or more, and Nicole, the viewpoint character, is around 1 in 1000. However, Wakefield's score of +5.58 on an intelligence test indicates he is one in 10^5.58, that is, in a group smaller than one in 100,000 of the population, which puts him near the top, and fellow cosmonaut Sabatini is 1 in 10,000, and so is Officer Brown, leaving Nicole in the middle of the pack, though she puts little stock in the tests per se. This series follows the trend where three of the brightest are the most irascible, while Nicole is a heart, and a foil for the most antagonistic of the lot, though the crew is mostly agreeable people. The cosmonaut team is well educated, highly trained for these particular jobs - see pilot, engineer, historian of the spacecraft, and this impresses Nicole and gives the sense of a competency filled place, notwithstanding the mild personal troubles. As life science officer, Nicole herself is skilled in the use of robots to monitor the cosmonauts' condition and shares the education gained from graduating from the cosmonaut academy with this cohort.

** Even Shepard falls into this role. While by no means lacking in intelligence, they will often take the everyman seat and just let [[AdventurerArchaeologist Liara]], [[HotScientist Miranda]], [[RobotGirl EDI]], [[MadScientist Mordin]], [[WrenchWench Tali]], [[RobotBuddy Legion]] and [[SmartPeoplePlayChess Traynor]] do their thing as the [[TheSmartGuy resident smart person]] in the room.

** Also Howard, to a lesser extent. Sure, he has an [=MSc=] in Engineering, but that's still poor compared to Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, Amy, and Bernadette (ie. the entire remaining main cast) who all have [=PhD's=] in their fields.

** Played with in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', where this role is filled by Hinata. As the designated "???" Ultimate, he doesn't know what his talent is while everyone else is certain of theirs. [[spoiler: He's also the only kid in the group that was a Reserve student, i.e. from the part of the school where Average Joes are admitted if they have enough cash. This is also inverted with his Kamukura personality, who was modified into the most talented person in Hope's Peak-- but thanks to his lack of emotion, he considers himself SurroundedByIdiots.]]

* In Literature/RamaII all the astronauts are 1 in 100 re intelligence or more, and Nicole, the viewpoint character, is around 1 in 1000. However, Wakefield's score of +5.58 on an intelligence test indicates he is one in 10^5.58, that is, in a group smaller than on in 100,000 of the population, which puts him near the top, and fellow cosmonaut Sabatini is 1 in 10,000, and so is Officer Brown, leaving Nicole in the middle of the pack, though she puts little stock in the tests per se. This series follows the trend where three of the brightest are the most irascible, while Nicole is a heart, and a foil for the most antagonistic of the lot, though the crew is mostly agreeable people. The cosmonaut team is well educated, highly trained for these particular jobs - see pilot, engineer, historian of the spacecraft, and this impresses Nicole and gives the sense of a competency filled place, notwithstanding the mild personal troubles. As life science officer, Nicole herself is skilled in the use of robots to monitor the cosmonauts' condition and shares the education gained from graduating from the cosmonaut academy with this cohort.

* In Literature/RamaII all the astronauts are 1 in 100 re intelligence or more, and Nicole, the viewpoint character, is around 1 in 1000. However, Wakefield's score of +5.58 on an intelligence test indicates he is one in 10^5.58, that is, in a group smaller than on in 100,000 of the population, which puts him near the top, and fellow cosmonaut
Sabatini is 1 in 10,000, and so is Officer Brown, leaving Nicole in the middle of the pack, though she puts little stock in the tests per se. This series follows the trend where three of the brightest are the most irascible, while Nicole is a heart, and a foil for the most antagonistic of the lot, though the crew is mostly agreeable people. The cosmonaut team is well educated, highly trained for these particular jobs - see pilot, engineer, historian of the spacecraft, and this impresses Nicole and gives the sense of a competency filled place, notwithstanding the mild personal troubles. As life science officer, Nicole herself is skilled in the use of robots to monitor the cosmonauts' condition and shares the education gained from graduating from the cosmonaut academy with this cohort.

** Played with in ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2'', where this role is filled by Hinata. As the designated "???" Ultimate, he doesn't know what his talent is while everyone else is certain of theirs. [[spoiler: He's also the only kid in the group that was a Reserve student, i.e. from the part of the school where Average Joes are admitted if they have enough cash. This is also inverted with his Kamukura personality, who was modified into the most talented person in Hope's Peak-- but thanks to his lack of emotion, he considers himself SurroundedByIdiots.]]

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon is the only non-superpowered member of the S.O.S. Brigade and many of the events they get caught up in tend to be over his head. As such, he often has to rely on Yuki's {{Technobabble}} explanations, or Koizumi whenever he can't understand Yuki, to get a handle on things. Mikuru also chips in, as much as regulation will allow since most of what she knows is "classified".

* In Literature/RamaII all the astronauts are 1 in 100 re intelligence, or more, and Nicole, the viewpoint character, is around 1 in 1000. However, Wakefield's score of +5.58 on an intelligence test indicates he is one in 10^5.58, that is, in a group smaller than on in 100,000 of the population, which puts him near the top, and fellow cosmonaut

** Justified, because Sparks are {{Mad Scientist}}s with emphasis on the "mad". Moloch is Surrounded By Smart People, but he's also ''literally'' the OnlySaneMan. It's also theorized in-universe that he's an instinctive HypercompetentSidekick.

* ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged'': Aki's father, sister, and best friend are all robotics experts. Even his crush excels as school, whereas he struggles to the point that his family has even hired tutors for him several times. Given that he's a robot, one has to wonder why it would have been a good idea to program him like that, other than to make him [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot seem more human.]]

* Attending graduate school, at least in the sciences.

The cop of the CopAndScientist is often this trope. See also OnlySaneEmployee, which frequently overlaps with this trope. For when an already genius level character ends up in this setting with characters who are as equally smart as they are, see NormalFishInATinyPond.

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon is the only non-superpowered member of the S.O.S. Brigade and many of the events they get caught up in tend to be over his head. As such, he often has to rely on Yuki's Techno Babble explanations, or Koizumi whenever he can't understand Yuki, to get a handle on things. Mikuru also chips in, as much as regulation will allow, since most of what she knows is "classified".

* In Literature/RamaII all the astronauts are 1 in 100 re inteligence, or more, and Nicole, the viewpoint character, is around 1 in 1000. However Wakefield's score of +5.58 on an intelligence test indicates he is one in 10^5.58, that is, in a group smaller than on in 100,000 of the population, which puts him near the top, and fellow cosmonaut
Sabatini is 1 in 10,000, and so is Officer Brown, leaving Nicole in the middle of the pack, tough she puts little stock in the tests per se. This series follows the trend where three of the brightest are the most irrascible, while Nicole is a heart, and a foil for the most antagonistic of the lot, though the crew is mostly agreeable people. The cosmonaut team is well educated, highly trained for these particular jobs - see pilot, engineer, historian of the spacecraft, and this impresses Nicole and gives the sense of a competency filled place, notwithstanding the mild personal troubles. As life science officer, Nicole herself is skilled in the use of robots to monitor the cosmonauts' condition, and shares the education gained from graduating from the cosmonaut academy with this cohort.

* In the Creator/{{Syfy}} show ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', Sheriff Carter often has to deal with the weirdness caused by the geniuses living in the town. The sheriff himself is a former U.S marshal.
* In ''Series/KnightRider'', Michael Knight is friends with an educated British man, a WrenchWench and an artificially intelligent car.
** This also occurs in the 2008 ''Knight Rider series'', where the main character is surrounded by an AI expert, a woman who can speak six languages, a computer whiz and a DeadpanSnarker Ford Mustang.

** Justified, because Sparks are {{Mad Scientist}}s with emphasis on the "mad". Moloch is SurroundedBySmartPeople, but he's also ''literally'' the OnlySaneMan. It's also theorized in-universe that he's an instinctive HypercompetentSidekick.

* Wakefield's score of +5.58 on an intelligence test in Literature/RamaII indicates he is one in 10^5.58, that is, in a group smaller than on in 100,000 of the population. Sabatini is 1 in 10,000, and so is Brown. All the astronauts are 1 in 100 or more, and Nicole, the viewpoint character, is around 1 in 1000. This series follows the rule where three of the brightest are the most irrascible, while Nicole is the heart for at least one of them and foil for the most antagonistic of the lot, though the crew is otherwise filled with agreeable people. The cosmonaut team is generally well educated, highly trained for these particular jobs - see pilot, engineer, historian of the spacecraft, and this impresses Nicole and gives the sense of a competency filled place to be, notwithstanding the mostly mild personal troubles which emerge. As life science officer, Nicole herself is skilled in the use of robots to monitor the cosmonauts' condition, and shares the education gained from graduating from the cosmonaut academy with this cohort.

* ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'':
** Makoto Naegi of ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa''. An average Joe by his own admission, sheer luck gets him into Hope's Peak, where everybody else is the "Ultimate" in their chosen field.

* Makoto Naegi of ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa''. An average Joe by his own admission, sheer luck gets him into Hope's Peak, where everybody else is the "Ultimate" in their chosen field.

The cop of the CopAndScientist is often this trope. See also OnlySaneEmployee, which frequently overlaps with this trope. For when an already genius level character ends up in this setting with characters who are as equally smart as they are, see BigFishInALittlePond.

The cop of the CopAndScientist is often this trope. See also OnlySaneEmployee, which frequently overlaps with this trope.

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* In the Creator/{{Syfy}} show ''{{Series/Eureka}}'', Sheriff Carter often has to deal with the weirdness caused by the geniuses living in the town. The sheriff himself is a former U.S marshal.

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