History Main / TheNotSoHarmlessPunishment

** [[FridgeBrilliance The assassin was probably thinking of a certain]] [[MontyPython other Inquisition.]]

** [[FridgeBrilliance The assassin was most likely thinking of a certain]] [[MontyPython other Inquisition.]]

** Zim shot walnuts into the wormhole, which were eaten by the moose. The joke was that Dib isn't that smart.

* In ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', when Gozer demands that the Earth choose the shape of its destroyer, Ray immediately thinks of The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, being the one thing that he believes could not possibly ever hurt us. Unfortunately, that's not quite so.

*** I always thought that Zim sent them to the room because there would be no escape from the moose that would eventually gore them. Why use the walnuts then, and why are they so scary? Well, even moose need to eat sometimes, don't want your torture animal to die of starvation,and that mose ate them VIOLENTLY... okay, I got nothing.

* A ''QuackPack'' episode has aliens threaten Donald with twenty lashes with a wet noodle. He laughs it off and tells them to make it fifty. Turns out the "noodle" is a giant, living, carnivorous worm.

* In ''ExterminatusNow'', a [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20070202.html captured assassin]] is sent to the Inquisition's "Truth Chamber". He's under the impression that the protagonists are going to inflict some CoolAndUnusualPunishment like "watching ''BattlefieldEarth'' on DVD" or "going over the Inquisition's tax return". Naturally, he's dead wrong:

* In ''ExterminatusNow'', a captured assassin is sent to the Inquisition's "Truth Chamber". He's under the impression that the protagonists are going to inflict some CoolAndUnusualPunishment like "watching ''BattlefieldEarth'' on DVD" or "going over the Inquisition's tax return". Naturally, he's dead wrong:

*** Um... No. Zim "proved" how scary the moose was by sending walnuts to it, which the moose ate. The shells on the ground show that the moose is, in fact, smaller than the average moose. This isn't a case of the punishment turning out effective, it's a case of the punishment being as stupid as it seems, but the characters being scared of it anyway.

!! Examples

* In ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', when Gozer demands that the Earth choose the shape of its destroyer, Ray immediately thinks of The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man as the one thing that could not possibly ever hurt us. Unfortunately, that's not quite so.

* WoodyAllen's film ''Take The Money And Run'' has a pretty nasty punishment that's made even more harmful. As the narrator states, "Food on a chain gang is scare and not very nourishing. The men get one hot meal a day... a bowl of steam."

-->'''Virus''' No. I don't think we do.

** Which is then shortly followed by an [[InvertedTrope inverse]] of the trope, a man who didn't give a good day's work is hauled into another room, and the warden takes Virgil over to show him "what he's got to look forward to." We see the the shadow of what appears to be the man tied to the ceiling being whipped by another guard (and sounds of whipping and the prisoner wincing seem to confirm this), but after Virgil and the warden walk through the door, we find out that the guard is whipping the prisoner's ''shadow'', instead.
* In ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', when Gozer demands that the Earth choose the shape of its destroyer, Ray immediately thinks of The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man as the one thing that could not possibly ever hurt us. Unfortunately, that's not quite so.

* The Spanish-language webcomic ''A Friki's life" does this in a strip when a man sent to Hell is forced to choose between being tortured, or having sex with a chicken for all eternity. After he choses the chicken, it's revealed that it's a 2-meter tall chicken with a passion for {{BDSM}},

* In ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', when Gozer demands that the Earth choose the shape of its destroyer, Ray immediately thinks of The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man as the one thing that could not possibly ever hurt us. Unfortunately, that's not quite so.

** Which is then shortly followed by an [[InvertedTrope inverse]] of the trope, a man who didn't give a good day's work is hauled into another room, and the warden takes Virgil over to show him "what he's got to look forward to." We see the the shadow of what appears to be the man tied to the ceiling being whipped by another guard (and sounds of whipping and the prisoner wincing seem to confirm this), but after Virgil and the warden walk through the door, we find out that the guard is whipping the prisoner's ''shadow'', instead.

See also: CoolAndUnusualPunishment, which is occasionally what these punishments turn out to be, as well as HappyFunBall and SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom. TheReveal and HopeSpot are usually the most vital components that model the gag.

See also: CoolAndUnusualPunishment, which is occasionally what these punishments turn out to be. TheReveal and HopeSpot are usually the most vital components that model the gag.

** Which is then shortly followed by an [[InvertedTrope inverse]] of the trope, a man who didn't give a good day's work is hauled into another room, and the warden takes Virgil over to show him "what he's got to look forward to. We see the the shadow of what appears to be the man tied to the ceiling being whipped by another guard (and sounds of whipping and wincing seem to confirm this), but after Virgil and the warden walk through the door, we find out that the guard is whipping the prisoner's ''shadow'', instead.