History Main / TrailerJokeDecay

** The movie's out now. And with all the exposure they put us through, the Circus Afro dance is now officially the most annoying song ever since Music/RebeccaBlack's "Music/{{Friday}}".
*** [[MundaneMadeAwesome ...says you.]]

** The movie's out now. And with all the exposure they put us through, the Circus Afro dance is now officially the most annoying song ever since Music/RebeccaBlack's [[Music/Friday "Friday]].

* Alright, we get it, Creator/DreamWorksAnimation! Marty's circus afro dance is funny. There's no need to put in every frickin' trailer and TV spot for ''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted''!
** Especially since [[MemeticMutation it's becoming popular over the internet]], leading us to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzXjaIWbh0 watching the dance for an ''hour.'']]
** A dumb person's reaction to the dance.
--->'''Random Person:''' How is it annoying?
--->'''Person Next to Random Person:''' Because it goes like this. [[EarWorm Da-da-dadada-da-da-circus, da-da-dadada-da-da-afro, circus afro, circus afro, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot, afro!]]

** The movie's out now. And with all the exposure they put us through, the Circus Afro dance is now officially the most annoying song ever since Music/RebeccaBlack's "Friday".
*** [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome ...Says you.]]

* Alright, we get it, DreamWorksAnimation! Marty's circus afro dance is funny. There's no need to put in every frickin' trailer and TV spot for ''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted''!

* CartoonNetwork's terrible with this. The trailer for the new ''RegularShow'' episode overuses Mordecai's imitation of a dance music beat. You know, "uhn tiss uhn tiss uhn tiss uhn tiss uhn tiss".

* Every trailer for ''TheSimpsonsMovie'' made ''absolutely sure'' to include the "Spider-pig" scene. In every commercial break, the entire joke played over and over and OVER again, until by the time the actual movie came out it was more of an annoying meme than a joke.

** The movie's out now. And with all the exposure they put us through, the Circus Afro dance is now officially the most annoying song ever since RebeccaBlack's "Friday".

* ''ICarly'': This happens pretty much OnceAnEpisode now, especially since they started calling them all 'specials' and airing one episode every 2 months. If the audience is lucky it's just the funniest joke, and not the entire episode, like happened in ''iGot A Hot Room''.

* Spider-Man's confrontation with a Car Thief in "Film/TheAmazingSpider-Man" and his humorous response to the Thief pulling out a Knife (and arguably one of the funniest things in the movie) was used in the third trailer for the film, the one shown in cinemas multiple times in the run up to release and was used in TV Spots (The whole scene was included on a promotional DVD!). Luckily the film had plenty more hilarious gags to surprise the audience with.

-->'''Spider-Man:'''(falls to his knees as if begging for mercy) [[sarcasmmode Oh no, you found my weakness! It's small knives!]]

* Spider-Man's confrontation with a Car Thief in ({{The Amazing Spider-Man}}) and his humorous response to the Thief pulling out a Knife (and arguably one of the funniest things in the movie) was used in the third trailer for the film, the one shown in cinemas multiple times in the run up to release and was used in TV Spots (The whole scene was included on a promotional DVD!). Luckily the film had plenty more hilarious gags to surprise the audience with.

-->'''Spider-Man:'''(falls to his knees as if begging for mercy) [[sarcasmmode Oh no, you found my weakness! It's small knives!

* Spider-Man's confrontation with a Car Thief in "Film/The Amazing Spider-Man" and his humorous response to the Thief pulling out a Knife (and arguably one of the funniest things in the movie) was used in the third trailer for the film, the one shown in cinemas multiple times in the run up to release and was used in TV Spots (The whole scene was included on a promotional DVD!). Luckily the film had plenty more hilarious gags to surprise the audience with.
-->Car Thief"" pulls out knife

-->'''Spider-Man:'''(falls to his knees as if begging for mercy) Oh no, you found my weakness! It's small knives!

* Spider-Man's confrontation with a Car Thief in "The Amazing Spider-Man" and his humorous response to the Thief pulling out a Knife (and arguably one of the funniest things in the movie) was used in the third trailer for the film, the one shown in cinemas multiple times in the run up to release and was used in TV Spots (The whole scene was included on a promotional DVD!). Luckily the film had plenty more hilarious gags to surprise the audience with.
-->(""Car Thief"" pulls out knife)
-->""Spider-Man:"" Is that a Knife?
-->""Car Thief:"" Yes it's a knife!
-->""Spider-Man:""(falls to his knees as if begging for mercy) Oh no, you found my weakness! It's small knives!

** Actually, the film prints had already been printed and ready to ship out before the delay (the date change happened just one week for it was set to open). The scene in question may have been an alternate take.

** You could also say it's largely a subversion as well, as Scrat is basically a walking BigLippedAlligatorMoment who rarely even remotely touches the plot.
** The Continental Drift trailers did this with jokes related to Scrat ''and'' the other characters.

*** You could also say it's largely a subversion as well, as Scrat is basically a walking BigLippedAlligatorMoment who rarely even remotely touches the plot.

We all know trailers are intended to promote their production. To do this, they will invariably use notable scenes depending on the type of movie. In the case of a comedy, CrowningMomentOfFunny scenes may be selected. When first shown, they probably elicit the desired reaction: The audience will "laugh out loud", as it were. All fine and good, but this trailer is constantly airing and/or streaming, so you're inevitably going to see it more than once, meaning you're going to be seeing that same amusing scene over and over.

When it comes to finally seeing the movie/TV show and that rib-tickling scene plays out, you notice that the gag isn't doing it for you. In fact, you may find yourself thinking that it's kinda lame -- this, ladies and gentlemen, is Trailer Joke Decay. Additionally, it maybe due to the unfortunate exposure to a MemeticMutation of the gag, or it can be a case of both NeverTrustATrailer and TrailersAlwaysSpoil, oddly enough.

As noted, related to NeverTrustATrailer and TrailersAlwaysSpoil (or possibly a subtrope, no consensus yet).

* ''IceAge'' suffers from this. Many of the Scrat-related jokes were already run in the trailers, seriously diminishing their humor value when finally seen on the big screen.

* This is thankfully averted with Pixar's movies by using extraneous footage not used in the final product. e.g. ''TheIncredibles'' trailer has a now-too-small belt buckle ricocheting everywhere and taking out the lights - this did not stay in their movie. The ''MonstersInc'' trailer involved an unused scene of Mike joking around with Sully in a kid's room (which is perhaps non-canon because Mike's job does not involve him entering the houses).
** Though there have been exceptions particularly during the movie's completion as seen with the final trailers for ''{{Up}}'' and the "squirrel" gag.

* Every trailer for ''TheSimpsonsMovie'' made ''absolutely sure'' to include the "Spider-pig" scene. In every commercial break, the entire joke played over and over and OVER again, until by the time the actual movie came out it was more of an annoying meme than a joke.

* ''DespicableMe'' clearly had a monstrous advertising budget, with trailers and ads ''everywhere.'' And these ads used several of the best jokes in the movie, particularly the [[MemeticMutation memetic]] "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!"

* The trailer for ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding'' highlighted the scene where Nia Vardalos' character slams onto the ground due to her still holding onto the phone. Come screening time, not so funny.

* While not a comedy film, ''every'' ad ''ever'' for the sixth ''Film/HarryPotter'' film included this humorous exchange:
-->'''Hermione:''' Hey, she's only interested in you because she thinks you're the Chosen One!
-->'''Harry:''' But I ''am'' the Chosen One!
-->''[SMACK]''

** Though averted as the much-played scene of Jason saying "The whole thing was just a misunderstanding" with the last part muffled by Sarek's hand over his mouth didn't end up in the film.
* ''Film/{{Spider-Man}}'''s "You're not Superman, you know."

* ''Film/MenInBlack II'' had an ad lib from WillSmith concerning the autopilot driver for their vehicles. Even the director was upset because he felt it ruined the joke by showcasing it ahead of time.
-->'''Kay:''' Does that come standard?
-->'''Jay:''' Actually, it came with a black dude, but he kept getting pulled over.

* The ''YearOne'' trailer overexposed '''every''' funny moment.

** Probably the biggest offender was the whale scene. In the teaser, every actual trailer and a Best Buy advertisement that got a ton of airtime in the US.

* The trailers for the ''Yours Mine and Ours'' remake left absolutely NO gag unrevealed.
* The trailers for ''[[Film/TheInformant The Informant!]]'' always included the line "They call me 0014, cuz I'm twice as smart as 007."

* ''{{iCarly}}'': This happens pretty much OnceAnEpisode now, especially since they started calling them all 'specials' and airing one episode every 2 months. If the audience is lucky it's just the funniest joke, and not the entire episode, like happened in ''iGot A Hot Room''.

Expect that almost every comedy movie will fall victim to this, though, of course, YourMileageMayVary. It's possible to get around it by using the joke [[NeverTrustATrailer out of context in the trailer]] so that it's funny on another level when you see it ''in'' context, but trailers rarely seem to have that much thought put into them.

* The trailers for ''[[Film/TheInformant The Informant!]]'' always included the line "They call me 0014, cuz I'm twice as smart as 007." [[YourMileageMayVary Probably the only funny joke in the movie.]]

* The trailers for the ''Yours Mine and Ours'' remake left absoultely NO gag unrevealed.

* The "[[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder We are actors, not astronauts!]]" line from ''GalaxyQuest''.

-->"Scott:" Knock Knock
-->"Morgan:" No. No. NnNn. NnNn. No. No. No, No, No. NO! HELL NO! NO! NO! I refu- NO! No.
-->"Willis:" (Deadpan) Who's there?
Needless to say, that scene was not in the movie, turning it into a colossal downer for those of us who watched it in the theater.

** Especially since [[MemeticMutation it's becoming popular over the internet]], leading us to[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzXjaIWbh0 watching an hour long video of the dance.]]
--->''[[EarWorm Da-da-dadada-da-da-circus, da-da-dadada-da-da-afro, circus afro, circus afro, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot, afro!]]''