History Main / TheCatCameBack

* In the 2D ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games, Tails will respawn and follow you eternally. Trying to shake him off has become something of a sport among Sonic players.

* If Franchise/{{Batman}} gets on someone's case, there is ''no'' shaking him. Well, there was that one guy, but he had to go through three clubs and two subways. And when he came back home Batman was waiting for him there.
* The ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' graphic novel ''[=PSmIth=]'' has fun with this one. A man shows up at the bar with a gun, ready to shoot the bartender. He is defeated, and thrown into the "sleep room". Then it happens again. And again. After thirteen times, the robot that's been taking the man to the sleep room complains that he can't do it again [[spoiler:because the room is full. Further investigation shows that thirteen identical clones with a HiveMind have all tried to kill the bartender]].
%%* The squid in ''ComicBook/DeCapeEtDeCrocs''.
* "You will not find ComicStrip/ThePhantom; he will find you." -- Old Jungle Saying
* In the ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comics, Captain Haddock can never escape opera singer Bianca Castafiore. If she doesn't show up in person to plague his life, a Tibetan porter or a Middle Eastern trader will be listening to her singing the Jewel Song on the radio at ear-splitting volume. Cue cursing from Haddock.

* Igor in ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' is able to confront the title character a number of times when he's fleeing from the Henchmen's Guild, only to be fast-talked into going back empty-handed.
* The ''Thimble Theater'' storyline that would lead to ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'s introduction was that Castor Oyl's uncle Lubry Kent had an exotic pet bird -- a Whiffle Hen named Bernice. Whiffle Hens are famous for their ability not to be contained or killed, and Lubry bet a million dollars that Castor can't kill Bernice. And he doesn't, though not for lack of trying. After a month's worth of strips featuring Castor trying to off Bernice in increasingly outlandish ways, Lubry leaves, taking Bernice with him. Initially relieved, Castor is stunned to find Bernice following him! As Lubry explains, this is because Bernice has taken a liking to Castor:

* The ''ComicStrip/TomTheDancingBug'' strip for [[http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2003/01/04 January 4, 2003]] had Lucky Ducky trick Hollingsworth Hound. Lucky Ducky has died, but the wealthy dog found him alive in more than one place, consuming too many government services. It turned out that Lucky Ducky is a group of identical ducks.

** ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': Decidedly [[PlayedForHorror non-comedic example]] in the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E16TheHitchHiker The Hitch-Hiker]]", in which a young woman is taking a road trip by herself across a couple state lines. Her first day out, she sees a hitchhiker standing by the side of the road, thumb out, and after she passes him ''she keeps seeing him'', state after state and night after night, until finally she panics, goes to a phone booth and calls her mother. Who thinks that she is [[spoiler: a prank caller, because her daughter died in a car crash two weeks ago]]. When the woman gets back in the car, [[spoiler:[[TheGrimReaper the hitchhiker is in the back seat, staring at her in the rearview mirror]]]].

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1300142884023960100
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* [[MeaningfulName Schrödinger]] from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has this as his in-story power: As long as he is able to observe his own existence he cannot die/cease to exist; and as long as he is able to observe his own existence, he can exist whenever and wherever he wants to exist. [[spoiler: This was actually the key to defeating Alucard: by letting himself get absorbed by Alucard, he no longer is able to observe his own existence, being only one among ''millions'' of souls Alucard absorbed, and it causes Alucard to disappear. It takes ''three decades'' for Alucard to kill all the other souls he absorbed so Schrödinger could be aware of himself again. This also has the effect of Alucard basically gaining Schrödinger's powers.]]

* "You will not find ComicStrip/ThePhantom; he will find you." -- Old Jungle Saying

* In the ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comics, Captain Haddock can never escape opera singer Bianca Castafiore. If she doesn't show up in person to plague his life, a Tibetan porter or a Middle Eastern trader will be listening to her singing the Jewel Song on the radio at ear-splitting volume. Cue cursing from Haddock.

-->'''Tenn''': Why not just get rid of him, then? I've literally seen you blow up more for less of a reason.\\
'''Zim''': I've tried! I've ripped his eyes out, blown him up, vaporized him, even tossed him into a tree shredder one time, and nothing works, he just comes back! I think he's not even really human, but some kind of force of pure annoyance that wills itself into existence just to make my life miserable!

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* One scene in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' shows DJ Drake throwing WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck out of his car, only for Daffy to inexplicably pop out of the glove box seconds later, and the ensuing conversation reveals that this has been going on for quite some time.
-->'''DJ:''' You know, I'm getting pretty tired of throwing you out of the car.\\
'''Daffy:''' That's my plan in a nutshell!
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', after Carl tries to get rid of Dug and Kevin, they each show up exactly where he and Russell were running to. Of course, they are an old man and a kid with a house tied to their backs versus a hyperactive dog and a very fast bird.
* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': After Mr. Potato Head saves three Squeeze Toy Aliens, they begin following him around saying, "You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful!" Eventually, Mr. Potato Head snaps and shouts at them, "WILL YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
* Young Buddy Pine does this for a little while to Mr. Incredible at the start of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1''. A desperate attempt to be named sidekick and an interesting likeness to this trope. [[spoiler:He also sort of does it in appearing to him later as the older, improved supervillain known as Syndrome, having been driven to villainy due to Mr. Incredible rejecting him]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' has a rather ''depressing'' example. Before [[ThePollyanna Perrito]] ended up in the cat shelter and met Puss, he [[spoiler:once belonged to some owners. The problem is, that his owners didn’t want him, so they tried to get rid of him every way that they could, but every single time, Perrito would come back, as loyal to his owners as he ever was. One day, they were fed up with him, so they wrapped him in a sock, tied it to a rock, and [[DrowningUnwantedPets tried to drown him]]. Thankfully, Perrito survived, but he isn’t mad at his owners in the slightest. He even kept the sock, which he wears as his [[IconicOutfit signature sweater]]]].

* ''Film/MerlinsShopOfMysticalWonders''. The demonic CymbalBangingMonkey, though it's shown ''how'' it keeps coming back.
* No teleportation, but in ''Film/WhatAboutBob'' Richard Dreyfuss' character cannot escape Bill Murray's character.
* Played for laughs masquerading as horror with the doll in ''Film/DoomHouse''.
* The film ''Film/{{Malicious}}'' is an example of the "horror" variation of this trope.
* The film ''Film/ItFollows'' is another example of the horror variation - no matter how far one runs, or even passes the curse, it can always, eventually, come back.
* In ''Film/{{Redemption}}'', a Perestroika-era Georgian film, the body of the local Party official keeps getting dug up and left exposed no matter how often people put it back in its grave.

* While they don't even bother with some of the houseguests in ''Film/Madhouse1990'', they do try to get rid of Claudia and her son. Both eventually return. Also, on a more literal note, Scruffy the cat keeps coming BackFromTheDead to destroy more of the household (until the finale, when he's much more pleasant towards the actual house owners).

* ''Film/DrTerrorsHouseOfHorrors'': In the "Disembodied Hand" segment, Franklyn Marsh makes multiple attempts to dispose of the hand; including throwing it into a fire, and sealing it in a box and tossing the box into a river. No matter what he does, the hand returns and tries to kill him.
* In ''Film/Strays2023'', Reggie's abusive owner tries to abandon him only for him to keep coming back. Reggie just thinks he's playing a game.

* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''Literature/TheBlackCat'': One night in a drunken rage the narrator strangles his black cat Pluto, sometime later he comes upon another black cat that looks uncannily identical to Pluto, save for a white patch on his chest that the narrator [[SanitySlippage becomes convinced]] is in [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane the shape of a noose...]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** The first book features the Dursleys being dogged by magical postal owls in this fashion. Taken to its logical conclusion in TheFilmOfTheBook, where Harry looks out the window, while Uncle Vernon is happily spouting about how "there's no post on Sunday." Their lawn, car, and roof are covered in owls, as are the neighbors' lawns, cars, and roofs, and ''their'' neighbors' lawns, cars, and roofs, and so on. The entire subdivision is besieged with owls, all to get Harry his acceptance letter. All while Hedwig's Theme plays quietly and cheekily in the background.
** Harry tends to have this problem with various admirers who mean well but make him very uncomfortable with their hero-worship. In ''Chamber of Secrets'', Harry finds himself constantly followed by Colin Creevey, which leads to the poor kid getting petrified when he tried to visit Harry in the Hospital Wing at night. Ron, meanwhile, has this problem with Lavender Brown in the sixth book and there's a brief period of time when Harry has to also dodge Lavender, along with Cormac.
** Let us not forget Romilda Vane, she of the love potion which, by sequence of events, very nearly [[spoiler:gets Ron killed.]]

%%* Wednesday at the beginning of ''Literature/AmericanGods''.

* Literature/{{Psmith}} takes deliberate advantage of this trope to drive his employer up the wall in ''Psmith in the City''.
* No matter how hard Literature/GarrettPI tries to give away, drive off, or "accidentally" permit the escape of the Goddamn Parrot, the FoulMouthedParrot keeps returning.
* A very non-funny case occurs in the ''[[Literature/TheSaddleClub Pine Hollow]]'' book series, as Callie Forester finds that a fellow rider, a boy she finds annoying, constantly seems to be wherever she is in the stable or at the school they both go to. When this begins happening even in places where he has ''no'' reason to be, she finally realizes [[StalkerWithACrush he's doing it on purpose]].
* Gerald Kersh's "Want To Buy a Cat?" features a liver-colored cat which doesn't eat, breathe, move or make noise and is cold to the touch. The man who sells it to the narrator tried putting it outside, giving it to the ASPCA, having it put to sleep and dropping it over the side of the Staten Island ferry, only for it to reappear in his living room every single time.

* PlayedForHorror in the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "[[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS3E1LovedToDeath Loved to Death]]". In the episode, the main character gives a love potion to a beautiful woman who won't give him the time of day. It works far too well. Eventually [[spoiler:he kills himself to escape (albeit accidentally while trying to kill her), and on the escalator to Heaven, finds her right behind him, now hideously mangled because she killed herself by jumping out of a window]].
* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'':
** Two episodes have Ned facing this from his [[MadLove mad]] ClingyJealousGirl Missy.
** Also, there's one other episode where Missy's cheating off of Moze, and when the other girl moves her paper so Missy can't see it, Missy's instantly on the other side of her and continues to copy the answers.

* An episode of ''Radio/HancocksHalfHour'' has Hancock trying to entertain a group of fellow passengers on a train, and predictably alienating them instead. To avoid meeting them on the return journey he takes the (slower) bus, only to find that they've all had the same idea.
* A ''Series/MrShow'' sketch has two old friends/acquaintances say their heartfelt goodbyes after meeting each other for a goodbye drink... only to keep bumping into each other as they stop off to perform various errands on their way home, to their increasing irritation. [[spoiler: Things get really surreal when one of them expects the other to show up, is surprised when he doesn't, panics and begins to check the sites of their previous accidental encounters in increasing hysteria, only to learn the other one has died at some point during the night.]]

* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': This was used by Creator/StephenColbert in a fake audition tape shown at the Correspondent's Dinner, featuring Helen Thomas in a Droopy-like role, pursuing Colbert after asking an ArmorPiercingQuestion.

* ''Series/TheGoodies'': Bill's attempts to dispose of the eponymous robot in "Robot". At one point he seals the robot in a box, which he places inside a larger crate suspended from a crane, only to turn around and find the robot is now driving the crane.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 50th anniversary special "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]", the War Doctor shoves the raggedy blonde girl ([[spoiler:the avatar of the Moment as Rose "Bad Wolf" Tyler]]) through the door for daring to sit on the Moment. Once he turns his head, she's back in the exact same spot. In a later scene he walks away from the girl... in order to sit down next to her.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Elaine grows frustrated over the barking of her neighbor's dog keeping her awake all night, and when her neighbor refuses to do anything about it, she enlists the help of Kramer and Newman to kidnap the dog and dump it off beyond the state border. In one of the most extreme examples the dog somehow manages to find its way all the way back to its home. Even worse, thanks to a piece of Kramer's shirt it had ripped off while being abandoned, the police were able to implicate him, Elaine, and Newman for dognapping.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Unintentionally (on the part of the "cat") in the episode "The Seal Who Came To Dinner". No matter what Frasier and Niles do to get rid of it, the body of a dead seal keeps washing up on the beach outside the house where they're throwing a big party.
* ''Series/FawltyTowers'': In "The Psychiatrist", the titular psychiatrist Dr Abbott keeps appearing every single time Basil is up to something awkward: when he listens at Mr Johnson's door, when he sneaks into Raylene's room, when he tries to peer through Mr Johnson's window (and accidentally looks into the Abbotts' room instead), when he drops Mr Johnson's champagne bottle, when he shakes Manuel upside down in the corridor, when he tries to accost Mr Johnson's illicit guest by brandishing a broom.

* The country music song "What'll You Do About Me" (which has been recorded by Music/RandyTravis, Steve Earle, Doug Supernaw and others) features the narrator having a Cowboy And The Lady-esque one-night stand and becoming a stalker afterwards. Sample lyrics: "You can change your number, you can change your name, you can ride like hell on a midnight train. That's all right, mama, that's okay, but what'll you do about me?"

* Music/AlexanderRybak's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sfh2u8cgU "OAH"]] has Alexander stalking a girl everywhere, while singing "I love you o-aah". The fact that everyone else than the girl gleefully sings and dances along doesn't help her at all.
* The title quote from Music/{{Marillion}} is ostensibly about an annoying person who keeps following the song's protagonist...although the annoying guest is almost certainly a metaphor for the AIDS virus.
* "Bernd das Brot", the famous depressive German, wasn't able to get rid of the annoying Cha Cha Cha. ("Ich hab ein kleines Cha Cha Cha")
* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTSkWnKs9rM Creepy Doll]]" by Music/JonathanCoulton has the eponymous CreepyDoll act like this, gradually [[SanitySlippage driving the protagonist insane]].
-->When you come home late the doll is waiting up for you\\
And when you fix a snack the doll says it would like one too\\
The doll is in your house and in your room and in your bed\\
The doll is in your eyes and in your arms and in your head\\
And you go crazy!
* Directly parodied in Music/TheoryOfADeadman's "The Bitch Came Back", right down to the chorus. The song's plot is about a girl whose attention the singer can't seem to shake.
* In Bert Ralton and his Havana Band's "I Never See Maggie Alone" the singer can never get away from Maggie's interfering relatives. When he takes her out for a drive, the car stops and when he opens the hood, there they all are. Same thing when he takes her out in a canoe and pulls up what he thinks is a fish.

* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'', after you've picked up a certain Macguffin, [[spoiler: The Wizard of Yendor]] will respawn or teleport near you at regular intervals. Even ''killing'' him won't stop him for long. The only way to stop him from respawning and attacking you is to [[spoiler: reach the Astral Plane, the final level of the game. He will stop harassing you, but there you'll have an even ''bigger'' problem to deal with...]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Cloud attempts to sneak out of Aerith's house during the night because her mother told him to leave before she goes with him on a dangerous trek through the slums. He sneaks past her bedroom as she's sleeping, sprints across the Sector... only to find her waiting for him at the entrance to the next area, earning a well-deserved gesture of shock from Cloud. But how... you were... and I ran...

* In the ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games, Layton [[spoiler: adopts the orphaned Flora after the events of the first game. In all the subsequent games, he attempts to leave her at home rather than bring her along on dangerous investigations -- not that he doesn't want her around, but because he worries about her so much, as is made clear in his journal entries. She sneaks along anyway.]] It's {{justified|Trope}} by an intense case of separation anxiety and [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes monophobia]].

* In the Sherlock Holmes game ''Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13YlEPwOfmk Watson acts like this.]] The game doesn't animate him walking anywhere — he just always appears behind you, wherever you go. Silently. Watching.
* In ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor'', a Nemesis with the Unkillable title will keep coming BackFromTheDead and popping up to torment you unless you [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain decapitate him]]. In the sequel ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar'' even that might not stop them, as they might come back as a zombie, or as a FrankensteinsMonster with their head stitched back on.

* At the start of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QjtzLdHAAo "After the Fact: Studying Starlight,"]] Starlight Glimmer tries to get away from WebAnimation/SilverQuill by teleporting to random places, only to have the hippogriff uses "cartoon logic" to always be a step ahead of her.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', the ever-creepy [[DemonicDummy Cal]] is a reoccurring puppet, that keeps coming back no matter how many times it appears it has been dealt with.
%%* The page picture is [[http://girlyyy.com/go/558 from a strip]] of ''Webcomic/{{Girly}}''.
* You can't get rid of [[http://nedroid.com/2009/05/party-cat-full-series/ Party Cat,]] even when you get rid of Party Cat.

* Igor in ''Webcomic/{{Nodwick}}'' is able to confront the title character a number of times when he's fleeing from the Henchmen's Guild, only to be fast-talked into going back empty-handed.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* The short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwRI39BID4E Perv: The Cat,]]'' featuring a cat that consistently gets in the way of a couple about to make love, is essentially this trope.
* A Creator/DougWalker [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/sketches/32175-kyle-hebert-is-an-ahole skit]] features him making the mistake of asking Creator/KyleHebert to demonstrate his narrating technique. The result is Hebert following Doug around for the rest of the day, refusing to ever shut up, and eventually he even climbs into bed with him, at which point Doug smothers him with a pillow. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3lvdMR4NDY Not even death could stop Kyle Hebert.]]
* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' Throughout the 2019 commercial special, Critic tries to escape the boring man who lectures Doug about the history of the Flintstones Gummies jingle, even sending him off a cliff and to outer space. Somehow, he keeps coming back to the house. Then after Critic finally successfully gets him out of his house for good, he realizes [[spoiler:the guy was Michael Salvatori, a widely-acclaimed composer for video games who actually ''is'' cool]].

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'':
** In most episodes, Shaggy and Scooby will find themselves in such a situation with the villain of the day. This also happens in both movies.
** We got a serious one in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': In "The Legend of Alice May", Mr. E uses Alice May in a ghost girl plot to give the gang a old Crystral Cove yearbook. In "Pawns of Shadows", the gang unmask the Oliberatax as Alice May.
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** In the short ''Yankee Doodle Daffy'', WesternAnimation/PorkyPig is a talent agent trying to go on vacation, who first has to get away from WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck, who is trying to convince Porky that his young client "Sleepy [=LaGoon=]" has star quality, mainly by demonstrating his apparent talents himself.
** A similarly-themed cartoon (''Draftee Daffy'') has Daffy trying to evade "The Little Man from the Draft Board", who even follows him into Hell.
** Subverted in the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny short ''Tortoise Beats Hare''. It ''wasn't'' the original tortoise that kept inexplicably escaping Bugs' methods of leaving him behind. It was a series of identical tortoises which the first one bribed to [[MindScrew screw with him]].
** WesternAnimation/PepeLePew. No matter where ThatPoorCat goes, Pepé is [[StalkerWithACrush there to hold her in his arms]].
** That red hairy monster, [[FluffyTheTerrible Gossamer]], is also quite persistent in following Bugs in that one cartoon.
** This also happened to Ralph Wolf, when he proved unable to evade Sam Sheepdog. Like the ''Tortoise Beats Hare'' example listed above, it turned out that there were multiple Sams.
* WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons: WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}} is an undisputed ''master'' of this trope. Of course, there often ''is'' more than one of him.
** The short "WesternAnimation/NorthwestHoundedPolice" is pretty much nothing but this trope.
** The Creator/CartoonNetwork short [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WJh8bEwt40 "Thanks a Latte"]] has Droopy doing this trope in a present-day setting, with the Wolf as a cheapskate businessman who refuses to tip barista Droopy.
--->'''Wolf:''' Here's a tip, get a ''real'' job!
** There was also Billy, the always hungry goat in ''WesternAnimation/BillyBoy''. The Southern-accented Wolf sends him on some railroad tracks, then he comes back with stamps all over him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' has Jerry doing this to Tom in "Million Dollar Cat". After learning that Tom might be eligible for a million dollars as long as he avoids inflicting any physical pain on any other animal, including mice, Jerry takes advantage of this by showing up everywhere Tom is in and deliberately annoys him every chance he gets. It gets to a point where Tom finally loses his temper and starts attacking Jerry, feeling that a million dollars isn't worth getting harassed by a mouse.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Bart and Lisa escape from Mr. Burns through a laundry chute, only to find him waiting for them when they hit the ground. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Bart incredulously points out that it's physically impossible for Burns to have arrived first.
** Mr. Burns gets another example when he uses the trapdoor in his office and the victims fall out of the ceiling in the same office, despite this being physically impossible. Burns simply responds exasperatedly "[[OhNoNotAgain Oh, it's doing that]] ''[[OhNoNotAgain thing]]'' [[OhNoNotAgain again]]..."
** In a "Treehouse of Horror" episode, with Homer threatened by a psychotic Krusty doll; Homer drops the doll into a BottomlessPit, but it comes back by [[UndersideRide riding back home under the car]].
** In "Homer Loves Flanders", Homer finally starts to like Flanders... to the points that their roles end up getting reversed and Flanders tries as hard as he can to get Homer off his back. It doesn't work.
** In the episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" Moe tosses Barney out of his bar only for Barney to immediately appear behind Moe in the bar. This scene has since become [[MemeticMutation meme shorthand]] for reoccurring problems.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In the episode "[=SpongeBob=] meets the Strangler", [=SpongeBob=] actually so annoys his attempted murderer, the Tattletale Strangler, that he locks himself in prison to get away from [=SpongeBob=]... only to find [[TheDitz Patrick]] (who he had had tricked into thinking that ''he'' was the strangler) in the same cell as him.
--->'''Strangler:''' At least I'm safe from that yellow idiot!\\
'''Patrick:''' Hey, Mack! [[WhatAreYouInFor What're you in for?]]\\
''[close episode]''
** In "Jolly Lodgers", Squidward goes to Hotel Halibut for some alone time away from [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick while his house is being de-contaminated. However, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick happen to be staying at the hotel as well, and Squidward is right between their rooms, because the hotel is hosting a jellyfishing convention which they want Squidward to come to. Not wanting to be bothered, Squidward tries to get away from them, but sadly wherever he goes, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick show up in the hotel activity of his choice, prompting him to flee the scene. It is to the point the two start appearing in the hallways one after the other and cornering him until he enters the convention like they planned, and it never stops until Squidward tells pest control to evacuate the hotel in the end.
* A RunningGag in ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', where Garfield will often send the annoyingly-cute Nermal off to Abu Dhabi, but he will find his way back into Garfield's house just seconds later. Also in the newspaper comics as well.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Perry Lays an Egg", Perry the Platypus discovers Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest scheme is simply to ridicule [[InterspeciesRomance the whale who stole one of his old girlfriends]], and [[{{ScrewThisImOuttaHere}} promptly turns around with an annoyed look on his face]]. Doof has to chase Perry down in this manner and demand Perry thwart his [[PokeThePoodle "evil scheme"]]. "I just insulted the macaroni and cheese recipe of a whale! How is that not evil?"
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', where Shake, Frylock and Meatwad attempt to rid themselves of a murderous ventriloquist's dummy, only for it to reappear every time they look away. Their final attempt to get rid of it involves Shake burning it with a flamethrower while Frylock and Meatwad watch several surveillance monitors looking in every direction. The dummy then appears from above in a parachute.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'':
** Bing the chameleon is very persistent once he decides you're his friend.
** There was also an episode with a large barbarian who was trying to hunt down Norbert and Dagget. Every time the brothers think they got rid of him, one of them says [[TemptingFate "That's the last we're ever see of him,"]] to which he immediately reappears and says, [[RunningGag "Helllooo!"]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' has Heloise, who just wanted to read her book, being pestered by Jimmy and Beezy, who were having a contest to see who could make the most annoying sound.
* Pinkie Pie in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' does this so often it's practically a superpower:
** Happens to Rainbow Dash at the start of the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff Griffon the Brush-Off]]", where Rainbow tries to avoid Pinkie Pie, only for Pinkie to follow her all across Ponyville. Hilariously, Dash is fleeing by air at near-supersonic speed while Pinkie is simply bouncing along at a casual pace.
** Pinkie does it to Dash again in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]]", while trying to find out why her friends are skipping one of her parties and why they're keeping it a secret -- although this time Pinkie follows Dash at full gallop. Exaggerated (like most everything Pinkie Pie does) when Rainbow Dash hides inside the bell of the town bell tower. As she's clinging to the dark inside of the bell, [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes the bell's "clapper" opens its eyes...]]
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E18AFriendInDeed A Friend in Deed]]", Pinkie gives Cranky Doodle Donkey this treatment when she chases him around Ponyville trying to get him to accept her apology for damaging his scrapbook. This includes the likes of putting on a beaver costume and actually chewing down a tree, and replacing a statue of Princess Celestia. Doodle actually wins the second chase by boarding up his house, although Pinkie ''still'' tries to squeeze in through his keyhole.
* The Aracuan Bird (originally from ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'') in many of his appearances, especially if WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck is trying to get away from him.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' has this with Irma, who is constantly hounded by a boy, Marvin, who has a massive crush on her (which she pretends not to appreciate as time wears on).
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': This seems to be Roger's thing; if you have something he wants, or if you've slighted him, ''there is no escaping him''.
** Happens when Hayley and Jeff are trying to flee from Roger, attempting to take the bag of money Stan gave to Jeff. Their attempts fail when Roger is right there where they're hiding. The escape ends in the Great Wall of China with Roger finally getting the money. That is, what was left of it: they spent most of it trying to get away from him.
** Also happens in the episode the family has a roast of Roger and he tries to kill them. Even going into space doesn't stop him from following them.
** Taken to a hilarious extreme in "The Worst Stan": Stan tries to kill a man by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill shooting him several times, throwing his body off a cliff, repeatedly running over the body in his car, feeding the remains to an alligator, shooting the alligator and having the skin made into boots, a belt and a handbag,]] and somehow he's absolutely fine in the next scene with no explanation aside from ThePowerOfLove.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** "The Entity" focuses on this trope with Kyle getting rid of his cousin who's also named Kyle. In the end, Cousin Kyle leaves because of how much of a douchbag Kyle and his friends have been.
** In "The Succubus", Chef's parents spend much of the episode reminiscing on their encounter with the Loch Ness Monster, who kept hounding them to loan him "about tree fiddy".
* When WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} has to deal with Fanboy trying to become his sidekick, this trope is in effect. Nothing Freak' tries gets Fanboy off his back... up until he pawns the nerd off on to Creator/MarkHamill.
* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker has this problem in the classic short "A Fine Feathered Frenzy". An anthropomorphic bird who was a gigantic geriatric named Gorgeous Gal fell in love with him instantly. In her mansion, she rode an escalator down towards him so she could greet the woodpecker with a big smooch. Woody liked her sexy voice but was turned off by her appearance. So he turned the escalator on full blast in reverse knocking her out of a window. He thinks he's rid of her but when he goes to sit down he winds up right on her lap. Woody tries to run away but Gorgeous appears behind every door he opens and every corner he turns ready for some flirting and kissing. Woody runs clear across the country and swims to a small island but Gorgeous Gal grabs him, marries him and presumably ravishes him in a golden submarine on their honeymoon.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Blackfly}}'': No matter where the main character goes, the black flies find him, even when he goes to the ''moon''.

* A literal variant happens in the ''WesternAnimation/{{TOTS}}'' episode "You Gotta Be Kitten Me!". Pip and Freddy deliver a kitten, but her parents are not home. The kitten thinks that Pip and Freddy are her parents, and keeps following them back.
* Similar to Droopy, an early ''[[WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow Huckleberry Hound]]'' cartoon had Huck flummoxing a western outlaw by persistently escaping his death traps. Huck lets on to the outlaw that he used his six lookalike cousins in the act.
* ''WesternAnimation/PearCiderAndCigarettes'': As Techno waits for his liver transplant in China, a cat keeps appearing in his hospital room. Robert keeps taking the cat out of the hospital room and depositing it in the courtyard in the back, only for the cat to reappear in the hospital room. Once he sees a hand poking through the door and returning the cat.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Hunting Palismen", Luz sneaks on board the Golden Guard's airship and sticks a fire glyph to his back, which launches him off the ship and across the horizon. While Luz is mumbling to herself trying to figure out how to land the airship, the Golden Guard tells her from off-screen to pull a cord above her head, before the camera cuts to him laying across the console with his hand on his cheek. Justified, as the Golden Guard actually has established teleportation powers.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' episode "Buffalo Convention", when Doozy, the talking [[DoofyDodo Dodo bird]] that Fred had gotten for Wilma, [[NotInFrontOfTheParrot overhears Fred and Barney talking about their lodge's secret convention in Frantic City]], they are forced to ditch him by dumping him off a hundred miles away from town (with Fred tossing him into a cave and barricading it for good measure). Unfortunately for them, Doozy ends up walking all night back to the Flintstones, and soon begins talking to Wilma and Betty.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{DC Super Hero Girls|2019}}'': In "[[Recap/DCSuperHeroGirls2019S1E15CrushingIt #CrushingIt]]", on Saturday, the girls try to get Diana to think about something else than her crush by going to the mall, the library, the video store, the fair... except ''everywhere'' they go, they inevitably stumble upon Steve (oblivious as ever).

-->'''Angelica''': Hey, babies! Guess what? When my daddy and me were coming over here, I found the neatest, greatest, bestest toy in the whole world. Look! (''pulls out the original Mr. Friend doll that the babies sent away through the fence earlier'')\\
'''Tommy, Chuckie, Phil & Lil''': AAAAAAAAAAH! (''they flee in terror, leaving Angelica utterly confused'')\\
'''Mr. Friend Doll''': Let's all think of happy things; and laugh, and skip, and dance, and sing!\\
'''Angelica''': Well, I thought he was neat.\\
(''The letters [[TheEndOrIsIt "The End" followed by a "?" appear at the Mr. Friend's head]] as the episode fades to black'')

* One scene in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' shows DJ Drake throwing Daffy Duck out of his car, only for Daffy to inexplicably pop out of the glove box seconds later, and the ensuing conversation reveals that this has been going on for quite some time.
-->'''DJ''': You know, I'm getting pretty tired of throwing you out of the car.
-->'''Daffy''': That's my plan in a nutshell!

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' has a rather ''depressing'' example. Before [[ThePollyanna Perrito]] ended up in the cat shelter and met Puss, he [[spoiler: once belonged to some owners. The problem is, that his owners didn’t want him, so they tried to get rid of him every way that they could, but every single time, Perrito would come back, as loyal to his owners as he ever was. One day, they were fed up with him, so they wrapped him in a sock, tied it to a rock, and [[DrowningUnwantedPets tried to drown him]]. Thankfully, Perrito survived, but he isn’t mad at his owners in the slightest. He even kept the sock, which he wears as his [[IconicOutfit signature sweater]]]].

** In the short ''Yankee Doodle Daffy'', Porky Pig is a talent agent trying to go on vacation, who first has to get away from Daffy Duck, who is trying to convince Porky that his young client "Sleepy [=LaGoon=]" has star quality, mainly by demonstrating his apparent talents himself.

** Pepe [=LePew=]. No matter where ThatPoorCat goes, Pepe is [[StalkerWithACrush there to hold her in his arms]].

** This also happened to Ralph Wolf, when he proved unable to evade Sam the Sheepdog. Like the ''Tortoise Beats Hare'' example listed above, it turned out that there were multiple Sams.

* The TropeNamer, the 1893 Harry S. Miller song "The Cat Came Back", sees Old Mr. Johnson stuck with a yellow cat who keeps coming back despite endless attempts to get rid of him, which usually end badly for the other people involved. Mr. Johnson gives the cat to a man going up in a balloon; the balloon comes down many miles away, with no sign of the man. He gives the cat to a man going west by train; the train jumps a rail, and everyone aboard is killed. He gives the cat to a man going across the sea; the boat sinks in a storm, taking everyone aboard down with it. He gives the cat to a boy going up the river who ties a weight around the cat's neck; the authorities end up dragging the river in search of the boy's body. A neighbor loads up his shotgun "with nails and dynamite" to blast the cat to kingdom come; "ninety-seven pieces" of the man are all that remains. And every time, the cat comes back "the very next day". Newer verses depict the cat as the sole survivor of nuclear holocaust.

** The early book ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' has an extremely elderly wizard preparing an elaborate method of escaping [[TheGrimReaper Death]]. The last step is climbing into a tiny ''airtight'' box and locking it from the inside. Just as he settles down, he hears a voice in his ear: "Dark in here, isn't it?"

* The TropeNamer, the 1893 Harry S. Miller song "The Cat Came Back", sees Old Mr. Johnson stuck with a yellow cat who keeps coming back despite endless attempts to get rid of him, which usually end badly for the other people involved. Mr. Johnson gives the cat to a man going up in a balloon; the balloon comes down many miles away, with no sign of the man. He gives the cat to a man going west by train; the train jumps a rail, and everyone aboard is killed. He gives the cat to a man going across the sea; the boat sinks in a storm, taking everyone aboard down with it. He gives the cat to a boy going up the river who ties a weight around the cat's neck; the authorities end up dragging the river in search of the boy's body. A neighbor loads up his shotgun "with nails and dynamite" to blast the cat to kingdom come; "ninety-seven pieces" of the man are all that remains. And every time, the cat comes back "the very next day".

* Gerald Kersh's "Want to Buy a Cat?" features a liver-colored cat which doesn't eat, breathe, move or make noise and is cold to the touch. The man who sells it to the narrator tried putting it outside, giving it to the ASPCA, having it put to sleep and dropping it over the side of the Staten Island ferry, only for it to reappear in his living room every single time.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Elaine grows frustrated over the barking of her neighbor's dog keeping her awake all night, and when her neighbor refuses to do anything about it, she enlists the help of Kramer and Newman to kidnap the dog and dump it off beyond the state border. In one of the most extreme example of the dog somehow manages to find its way all the way back to its home. Even worse, thanks to a piece of Kramer's shirt it had ripped off while being abandoned, the police were able to implicate him, Elaine, and Newman for dognapping.

* Gerald Kersh's "Want To Buy a Cat?" features a liver-colored cat which doesn't eat, breathe, move or make noise and is cold to the touch. The man who sells it to the narrator tried putting it outside, giving it to the ASPCA, having it put to sleep and dropping it over the side of the Staten Island ferry, only for it to reappear in his living room every single time.

* Gerald Kersch's "Want To Buy a Cat?" features a liver-colored cat which doesn't eat, breathe, move or make noise and is cold to the touch. The man who sells it to the narrator tried putting it outside, giving it to the ASPCA, having it put to sleep and dropping it over the side of the Staten Island ferry, only for it to reappear in his living room.

* A major plotline in ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats''. After greedy butler Edgar abandons the titular cats in the French countryside, he assumes they're lost for good, unaware that they had met friendly animals that helped them find their way back home. Upon arriving back at the house in the climax, Edgar is in disbelief they returned, and decided to mail them to Timbuktu to ensure they wouldn't come back again.

** Harry tends to have this problem with various admirers who mean well but make him very uncomfortable with their hero-worship. In ''Chamber of Secrets'', Harry finds himself constantly followed by Colin Creevey, which leads to the poor kid getting Petrified when he tried to visit Harry in the Hospital Wing at night. Ron, meanwhile, has this problem with Lavender Brown in the sixth book and there's a brief period of time when Harry has to also dodge Lavender, along with Cormac.

* Self-referential in "The Chicken Song" from ''Series/SpittingImage'' -- you can't escape this song even if you holidayed on Mars.

* In one chapter of the shareware game ''Spandex Force'', there's this creepy bearded guy in a Robin-type getup who keeps following the PC around, claiming that he's called "Wonder Boy" and that he wants to be his/her sidekick.

* Young Buddy Pine does this for a little while to Mr. Incredible at the start of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''. A desperate attempt to be named sidekick and an interesting likeness to this trope. [[spoiler:He also sort of does it in appearing to him later as the older, improved supervillain known as Syndrome, having been driven to villainy due to Mr. Incredible rejecting him.]]

* "You'll never get rid of the *boom-boom-boom* no matter what you do!" This song is "The Thing", by Phil Harris (the singer/comedian who voiced Baloo and Little John in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'' and ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'').

** The early book ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' has an extremely elderly wizard preparing an elaborate method of escaping [[TheGrimReaper Death]]. The last step is climbing into a tiny '''airtight''' box and locking it from the inside. Just as he settles down, he hears a voice in his ear: [[AC:Dark in here, isn't it?]]

* PlayedForHorror in the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Loved to Death". In the episode, the main character gives a love potion to a beautiful woman who won't give him the time of day. It works far too well. Eventually [[spoiler:he kills himself to escape (albeit accidentally while trying to kill her), and on the escalator to Heaven, finds her right behind him, now hideously mangled because she killed herself by jumping out of a window]].

** ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': Decidedly [[PlayedForHorror non-comedic example]] in episode "The Hitchhiker", in which a young woman is taking a road trip by herself across a couple state lines. Her first day out, she sees a hitchhiker standing by the side of the road, thumb out, and after she passes him ''she keeps seeing him'', state after state and night after night, until finally she panics, goes to a phone booth and calls her mother. Who thinks that she is [[spoiler: a prank caller, because her daughter died in a car crash two weeks ago]]. When the woman gets back in the car, [[spoiler:[[TheGrimReaper the hitchhiker is in the back seat, staring at her in the rearview mirror]]]].

* Played for horror in the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Loved to Death". In the episode, the main character gives a love potion to a beautiful woman who won't give him the time of day. It works far too well. Eventually [[spoiler:he kills himself to escape (albeit accidentally while trying to kill her), and on the escalator to Heaven, finds her right behind him, now hideously mangled because she killed herself by jumping out of a window]].

** ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': Decidedly non-comedic example in episode "The Hitchhiker", in which a young woman is taking a road trip by herself across a couple state lines. Her first day out, she sees a hitchhiker standing by the side of the road, thumb out, and after she passes him ''she keeps seeing him'', state after state and night after night, until finally she panics, goes to a phone booth and calls her mother. Who thinks that she is [[spoiler: a prank caller, because her daughter died in a car crash two weeks ago]]. When the woman gets back in the car, [[spoiler:[[TheGrimReaper the hitchhiker is in the back seat, staring at her in the rearview mirror]]]].

* The TropeNamer, the 1893 Harry S. Miller song "The Cat Came Back", sees Old Mr. Johnson stuck with a yellow cat who keeps coming back despite endless attempts to get rid of him, which usually end badly for the other people involved. Mr. Johnson gives the cat to a man going up in a balloon; the balloon comes down many miles away, with no sign of the man. He gives the cat to a man going west by train; the train jumps a rail, and everyone aboard is killed. He gives the cat to a man going across the sea; the boat sinks in a storm, taking everyone aboard down with it. He gives the cat to a boy going up the river who ties a weight around the cat's neck; the authorities end up dragging the river in search of the boy's body. A neighbour loads up his shotgun "with nails and dynamite" to blast the cat to kingdom come; "ninety-seven pieces" of the man are all that remains. And every time, the cat comes back "the very next day".

** In "Jolly Lodgers", Squidward goes to Hotel Halibut for some alone time away from [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick while is house is being de-contaminated. However, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick happen to be staying at the hotel as well, and Squidward is right between their rooms, because the hotel is hosting a jellyfishing convention which they want Squidward to come to. Not wanting to be bothered, Squidward tries to get away from them, but sadly wherever he goes, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick show up in the hotel activity of his choice, prompting him to flee the scene. It is to the point the two start appearing in the hallways one after the other and cornering him until he enters the convention like they planned, and it never stops until Squidward tells pest control to evacuate the hotel in the end.