History Main / WidgetSeries

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->''"Japan put so many things inside my head that I can't get out."''
-->-- '''Bao Nguyen''', in the comment section of the ''Film/RoboGeisha'' [[https://youtu.be/Wo-gGes6qig&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWo-gGes6qig&has_verified=1 trailer]]

A Widget (WJT) is marketed as a ''Weird Japanese Thing'', relatively offbeat and is compared to what is considered mainstream or popular (at least, for North American/Western European audiences). This has become more inclusive as anime and manga have developed a more mainstream presence, but usually exploits culture differences. The Widget Series often consists of SurrealHumor or a GagSeries, or in darker cases, SurrealHorror.

Sometimes they have small, short releases to test the audience, although they may have a guaranteed viewing among ''{{otaku}}''.

Japanese cultural differences are the reason audiences get this impression ''and'' the reason they don't. Japanese storytelling conventions embrace a number of elements that are much less commonly found in media produced by most other societies – some common examples include extreme absurdist humor (with a particular penchant for untranslatable puns) and a fondness for ambiguity and open-ended conclusions. Simply put, Japanese culture can be refreshing to an outsider, but too much may cause a feeling of overload.

Until around the introduction of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''Manga/DragonBall'' to American pop culture in the [[TheNineties mid-1990s]], most anime was out of the American mainstream, with only (very) few exceptions, principally ones that were and are considered to be of extraordinary quality in storytelling or artistry (such as ''Manga/{{Akira}}'') – and ''every'' anime could be considered a Widget Series. [[AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles Or something worse.]] Incidentally, even now many Japanese series are never ported over precisely because the original creators ''know'' it's weird and don't think there's a large market for it.

A weird series doesn't have to be Japanese to qualify as a Widget: some European, North American or Australasian series, like the ones from the examples below, are weird enough to compare with their Japanese brethren. [[FunWithAcronyms Terms]] you'll likely see in this page include:

* WTF (A '''W'''eird '''T'''hing from '''F'''rance)
* W(H)AT (A '''W'''eird ('''H'''umorous) '''A'''merican '''T'''hing)
* Wabbit ('''W'''eird '''B'''ritish '''T'''hing)
* Wicket ('''W'''eird '''C'''anadian '''T'''hing)
* WAST ('''W'''eirdly '''A'''wesome '''S'''oviet '''T'''hing)
* STANZA ('''S'''trange '''T'''hing from '''A'''ustralia/'''N'''ew '''Z'''ealand/'''A'''ustralasia)
* EIEIO ('''E'''xcessively '''I'''rish '''E'''xample of '''I'''ntentional '''O'''ddity)
* WST ('''W'''eird '''S'''candinavian '''T'''hing) and WIT ('''W'''eird '''I'''celandic '''T'''hing).
* PEGS ('''P'''eculiar & '''E'''ccentric '''G'''erman '''S'''ubject)
* WOK ('''W'''eird '''O'''ccurrence from '''K'''orea)

If it doesn't make sense in ''its own'' culture, it's most likely a case of WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs. This trope may sometimes (but not always) overlap with ClicheStorm. Not to be confused with the 1990s animated series ''WesternAnimation/WidgetTheWorldWatcher'', which despite the name isn't ''quite'' weird enough to be a Widget Series. See also ValuesDissonance and HumorDissonance.

'''Note:''' Keep in mind that this trope is cultural, and is subject to the aforementioned ValuesDissonance; what may seem normal or only marginally strange to one culture may come off as mind-blowingly weird to another, and vice versa. If an example here strikes you as not as unusual as the entry makes it out to be, you may want to take it to the discussion page instead of instigating an Administrivia/EditWar.
----
!!Examples with their own pages:
* WidgetSeries/AnimeAndManga
* WidgetSeries/{{Music}}
* WidgetSeries/VideoGames
* WidgetSeries/WesternAnimation

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
[[AC:WJT (Weird Thing from Japan)]]
* Sakeru Gummy's ''Advertising/LongLongMan'' series of commercials is unique in that it employs a narrative that could easily qualify it as a SoapOpera - it's about a woman who's torn between the affections of her boyfriend, who loves to share his Sakeru Gummy candies with her, and the "Long Long Man", who [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything prefers a longer version of said candy]]. Since the commercials originally aired, they've gathered some attention from Western viewers as another example of Japanese weirdness.
* ''Advertising/UFOKamenYakisoban'' is an AffectionateParody of tokusatsu series such as ''Franchise/KamenRider'', starring Yakisoban, a superhero with the power of noodles and sauce who hailed from the Yakisoba Planet. The ads were so popular he even got a tie-in video game, a direct-to-VHS movie, and many pieces of merchandise.
* [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=ax7Ob_MQd50 This ad]] for Chara Paki Choco has a giant hand with a face watching over some girls as they play with the chocolate advertised. Then, it turns out the hand with a face is actually one of the girl's hands, reminding them that the heart is strawberry flavored.

[[AC:Other]]
* Latvian Railways' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG__-RN8lLA railway crossing safety ads]] are a Strange Thing from Latvia (STFL).
* A WST case is Danish candy company [=BonBon=], [[https://imgur.com/a/7NTK9 which had weird and\or disguting names]] such as Dog Farts, Pee Diapers, Rotten Fish and Ant Piss - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35-rPHI1ky8 just look at these commercials!]]. Some were dropped, but not all, given an attempt of the parent company to drop all the naughty names led to fan outcry and their restoration. They're even known internationally for theme park [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BonBon-Land BonBon-Land]], which has statues of the mascots and attractions based on them (for instance, the Dog-Fart Roller Coaster, which includes speakers with fart noises and a feces in the scenery).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* WHAT - ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''. A couple of gun-toting {{Funny Animal}}s fight crime ([[DesignatedHero sometimes on purpose]]), and go on mildly psychedelic adventures through {{Eagleland}} childhood nostalgia and American pop cultural references. To non-Americans it ranges from mildly incomprehensible to completely incomprehensible, [[SurrealHumour which may be why the largest fansite for them is British]].
* ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'', the sucessor to the old World's Finest teamup comics, is so heavily reliant on continuity that [[ContinuityLockout it can result in this to the uninitiated]]. For example, the Maximums arc (A SpiritualCrossover with ComicBook/TheUltimates... or at least it starts that way) begins by showing Superman and Batman committing {{Superdickery}} on unsuspecting {{Captain Ersatz}}es of Marvel characters, leading them to vow revenge and invade their earth, while two deformed and psychotic doubles of Superman and Batman (Bizarro and Batzarro) try to save the originals by going to multiple alternate earths (including one where Superman [[ComicBook/SupermanRedSon is a communist]]). In the end it turns out the Maximums were creations of the Joker and Mr. Myxpltk who were playing a game of chance with one another in exchange for cosmic power, who proceed to forcibly FusionDance the Maximums into a being called the Maximum Maximum and then do the same to the various version of Superman and Batman and make them fight. Having the knowledge of who these characters are and what all these plot points are {{Mythology Gag}}s of only makes it make ''somewhat'' more sense.
* ''Comicbook/{{Archie}}’s Madhouse'' is a series of weird and fantastical stories based on the Riverdale gang, fitting it snugly in the WHAT category. ''Madhouse'' was also a springboard for the equally bizarre ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''.
* ''Comicbook/{{Madman}}''. It's hard to place it in one particular genre or the other. Usually, it's every genre all at the same time.
* ''ComicBook/SavageDragon'' is too violent and sexual to be a typical superhero book but way too fun to be a serious adult comic. Some of the villains this series has seen include a man who fires human waste with enough force to decapitate, a deadly FlyingBrick with a chicken head, and a cute 3-foot-tall warlord that takes over entire galaxies (and was friends with the hero's adopted daughter for a time). Then we have strange twists on {{exp|y}}ies of Doctor Doom or [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]. Then we have the other end of the spectrum with characters like Darklord and the Fiend who are very disturbing and deadly.
* Never before has Canada's largest city been so quirky. ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' includes but is not limited to lesbian half-ninjas, psychic super vegans, [[ArtificialLimbs bionic arms]], Sexy Demon Hipster Chicks, abilities to manipulate pure sound using sheer determination, [[PapaWolf angry Chinese fathers with katanas protecting their]] obsessive daughters, and gay men as far as the eye can see (though the book focuses on a heterosexual couple).
* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': '''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck''' has a SecretIdentity as Paperinik, known in English-speaking countries as Superduck or the Duck Avenger; he finds an ArtificialIntelligence in a skyscraper.
* ''Comicbook/HermanHedning''[[note]]lit. "Herman the Heathen" but called Marwin Meathead in English editions.[[/note]], a weird ReferenceOverdosed Swedish comic with the sickest sence of humor you are likely to encounter. You have to wonder what the hell is going on inside Jonas Darnell's head.
* ''ComicBook/NovasAventurasDeMegaman'', thanks in no small part to having a GenreShift almost every issue, being DarkerAndEdgier, BloodierAndGorier and HotterAndSexier than most versions of the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' franchise.
* The genre of superhero comics is WAT to many people around the world. After all, people can understand a masked vigilante fighting crime, a wizard dealing with demonic incursions, or a mad scientist threatening the world from his faraway lair. Perhaps even a flying man wearing a cape and helping people. But to see all of them at once, teaming up to fight off an alien invasion? Only in America.
* A Dutch cartoon series called ''Boes'' (the inspiration for ''Anime/OxTales''), about a Dutch farmer and his misadventures around the farm, including a lot of humour involving various farm and exotic animals, with lots of surreal BodyHorror scenarios.
* ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' and its characters (Minnie the Minx, Dennis and Gnasher, etc.) count as a WBT, having very British humor and not being exported elsewhere to countries not familiar with said humor or the characters.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/KabouterWesley'' from Belgium, has talking animals and talking objects like food and a house. The protagonist has an illegal chicory plantation and a neogotic chapel in his home. Oh, and that aforementioned house has spores, which form traintracks[[note]] it’s a pun in Dutch[[/note]], on which comes a train that runs over the protagonist. Who also dies multiple times in the series, always being alive the next episode. Once even within the same episode, for no reason.
* ''The Knight Life'', a LifeEmbellished webcomic with a tendency towards parody, is very much a WHAT. Such characters as a housewife who puts on an armless costume and fights crime as "The Masked Maggot," or a lowlife who works as a human rug and can identify shoes by how they press into his back, make sense if and only if one's familiar with the parts of American culture they're mocking.
* ''ComicStrip/FootrotFlats'', a STANZA, is probably one of the most New Zealandy pieces of media ever made. Being set on a rural farm, there's a fair bit of exploration of the countryside and wildlife, as well as elements of both Maori culture and language, as well as white New Zealander common culture (such as their obsessions with football and cricket).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
[[AC:'''WAST''' (Weirdly Awesome Soviet Thing)]]
* ''The Adventures of Captain Vrungel'': A Soviet [[OffModel inconsistently animated]] mini-series about an [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits old seadog, a handsome young sailor and a dishonoured tramp]] participating in a regatta around the globe while getting chased by two [[GratuitousItalian hilariously gratuitous]] [[TheMafia Mafiosi]] and a Franchise/JamesBond CaptainErsatz looking for a priceless MacGuffin in a [[SenselessViolins cello case]]. [[HilarityEnsues Squirrels, robo-dogs, exploding volcano island saunas, house domino and lots of champagne ensue]]. This is an adaptation of a much earlier children's novel of the same name. Most of the weirdness and hilariousness was preserved (and even added, in case of the James Bond character).
* ''Animation/LastYearsSnowWasFalling'': A {{Claymation}} short about a narrator desperately trying to find a story to tell, before settling on a nameless small-town idiot and {{A|ttentionDeficitOhShiny}}DD-plagued {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who is ordered by his wife into the woods to find a christmas tree. He comes across Literature/BabaYaga's house instead. What [[MindScrew comes next]] [[NoFourthWall challenges even the narrator's endurance]].

[[AC:'''WHIT''' (Weird Hungarian Thing)]]
* ''Animation/{{Gustavus}}'': Continuity-free adult comedy about a hapless, balding bastard dealing with the absurdities of '60s-'70s urban Socialist life. Each episode starts with a pretty standard setup with a genuine satirical message that gets excessively weirder and veers strongly into ridiculous cartoon logic territory, often mixing it with BlackComedy. Characters and the world itself become pliable, metaphors become literal, and Gustav himself gets crazier as each story progresses -- and some shorts barely have a story beyond a series of sight gags.

[[AC:Other]]
* ''Animation/{{Fantadroms}}'', a Latvian cartoon about a shapeshifting cat robot that goes around his homeworld stopping various disputes between other characters. This trope actually prevented this show from getting an American release - Streamline Pictures had plans to release an American localization of the show, but they scrapped it partially due to them considering it too bizarre for American audiences.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
[[AC:'''WJT''' (Weird Japanese Thing)]]
* The ''WebAnimation/TouhouM1GrandPrix'' features a MonsterMash of characters, including many from Myth/JapaneseMythology, from a {{shmup}} [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} video-game]] doing [[BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine stand-up comedy]].
* Creator/AAPessimal uses the canonical country of Agatea as the launch-pad for all those things Japanese which Western observers find to be culturally strange or impenetrable. There is a fashion in Ankh-Morpork, for instance, for imported Agatean illustrated novels of the sort popularly known as {{Man|ga}}-Gi comics. The canonical character of Miss Pretty Butterfly (Koukouchou-sama), now Principal Tutor in Agatean Studies at the Assassins' Guild School, who is used as a walking illustration of stereotyped "Japanese" culture and society. Depending on her mood, her hair can go through all the classic Japanese styles, such as HimeCut, OjouRinglets, OdangoHair, and many others, from day to day.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* '''EIEIO''' (Excessively Irish Example of Intentional Oddity)
-->A Note: The Irish film industry is very small, even the large scale local films are only comparable to most US Indies. As a result, most domestic films don't bother toning it down for foreigners, and just make movies for ourselves. Expect profuse swearing, GreyAndGrayMorality, a propensity for offbeat characters and very, very dark humour.
** ''Film/WakingNedDevine'': The eponymous Ned dies of a massive heart attack after winning the lottery. The local town bands together to cover up his death in order to claim his winnings. Hilarity ensues. Also, a very old man rides a motorcycle while very, very naked.
** ''Film/TheButchersBoy'': A young lad in rural 1960's Ireland loves nothing more than playing with his best friend. Then his mother commits suicide and he slowly starts going mad. As a result he's sent away to a borstal, where he has visions of a foul mouthed Virgin Mary, played by Sinead O'Connor, before being molested by a priest. Eventually he escapes, and returns home to his abusive alcoholic father, before finally losing it completely and going on a murder spree, having hallucinated the world being destroyed by nukes and being repopulated by humanoid flies. ''This is a comedy''.
** ''Film/TheGuard'': An over the top homage to 70's Dirty Harry-esque, mismatched partner Cop Movies ... set in small town Ireland. The eponymous Guard (Irish Cop) takes acid, molest corpses, hires prostitutes, insults his American counterparts, buys his dying mother cocaine and contracts an STD. By comparison, the drug dealers he's taking down discuss existentialism and morality, and there's an off kilter scene about gay IRA operatives.
** ''Film/AFilmWithMeInIt'': a film about a guy who really wants to be in a film but has been generally unlucky in his life, who keeps ending up with people being killed in incredibly incriminating accidents around his flat while he and his best friend keep proposing film scenarios in order to figure out how to get out of their predicaments.
** ''Film/{{Grabbers}}'', a monster film about a group of giant squid-like bloodsucking aliens that attack a seaside town. High-alcohol blood is poison to them, so when they rampage one evening there's only one way to survive the night: get everyone to the pub and keep them sloshed all night long.
** ''Adam and Paul'', a more-or-less plotless dark comedy about two heroin addicts (modeled on [[Theatre/WaitingForGodot Didi and Gogo]] and Creator/LaurelAndHardy) who spend a day wandering around Dublin trying to scrape money together to buy a fix. There are AmusingInjuries, an encounter with a patriotic Bulgarian, lots of dialogue that goes absolutely nowhere, and a generally weird and tragicomic tone.
** ''The Young Offenders'', a pair of {{Lower Class Lout}}s go on a road trip on stolen bicycles in order to salvage cocaine bales from the sea in order to get rich and are pursued by [[InspectorJavert a cop with an unhealthy obsession with arresting bike thieves]] and an EvilCripple with a [[NailEm nail gun]].
* '''PEGS''' (Peculiar & Eccentric German Subject)
** The weird German movie ''Sei zärtlich, Pinguin'' (Be gentle, penguin)
** Film/DerSchuhDesManitu and its semi-prequel/sequel Traumschiff Surprise
* '''Wabbit''' (Weird British Thing)
** ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'', translating Music/TheBeatles' psychedelic phase with perfection.
** ''Film/{{Zardoz}}'', where the weirdness is enhanced by Creator/SeanConnery [[WTHCostumingDepartment in an orange nappy.]]
** ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife''. Even if you've seen their popular works, nothing will prepare you for this 2 hours worth of strangeness.
** ''Film/TheCookTheThiefHisWifeAndHerLover'', a crime drama/dark comedy/art film set almost entirely in a surreal, high-class French restaurant where the characters' costumes change colour depending on the room they're in. It mixes passionate sex scenes with horrifying spousal abuse, a truck full of rotten meat, and a man forced to roll around in dog poo, and has one of the most unappetizing, horrifying final movie meals in history. Some say it's supposed to be a commentary on British politics in the 1980s.
** ''Film/SpiceWorld'', which could be Music/TheSpiceGirls' own ''Film/AHardDaysNight'', but aims more for ''Film/{{Head}}'' with its parade of nonsensical sequences.
* '''Wicket''' (Weird Canadian Thing)
** ''Film/BonCopBadCop''. The entire setup, most of the humor, and even the title are all hinged upon Canadian bilingualism.
** ''Film/TheTwentiethCentury'' A surrealist, aggressively historically incorrect retelling of the story of Mackenzie King, Canada’s longest-serving prime minister. Though almost every substantial fact about King’s political career, and indeed, Canada itself is portrayed laughably wrong (prime ministers are not selected by winning a seal-clubbing contest, for example, and King did not have a crippling boot-sniffing fetish) there’s ''just enough'' truth snuck in, in terms of events, characters, and places, to make it function as a work of social commentary on the habits of the late Victorian-era Canadian ruling class (which, incidentally, wasn’t even King’s era). The director has described it as “a nightmare King might have had,” in the sense it’s full of things King would have been aware of, but warped beyond all recognition.
** Anything by Creator/DavidCronenberg: ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'', ''Film/{{Rabid}}'', etc.
** ''Film/GingerSnaps'' - Werewolves as a literal metaphor for puberty. Shooting up drugs (well, wolfsbane) is the only way to temporarily slow the transformation. Its two sequels ramp up the weirdness even more.
** Anything by Creator/GuyMaddin, but especially his 2015 film ''The Forbidden Room'', which was full of stories inside of stories inside of stories inside of stories, including (but not limited to) such topics as Filipino banana vampires, evil skeleton-leotard-wearing insurance defrauders, an educational film on how to take a bath, a man bidding against his own doppelganger on a cursed bust of the god Janus, and a musical number where Udo Kier had to have a lobotomy to stop him from thinking about butts.
* '''Widget''' (Weird Japanese Thing)
** Takashi Miike films, particularly his most extreme films such as ''Film/{{Gozu}}'' and ''Film/IchiTheKiller'', tend to represent the most bizarre, violent and fetishistic Japanese strain of films to people outside of the nation.
** ''Funky Forest: First Encounter'' is a surrealist collection of vignettes, some of which interact with one another and none of which make much sense at face value. For a taste of the madness, head [[https://youtu.be/q5SZzFaAZyY here.]]
** ''Film/RoboGeisha''. We dare you to [[https://youtu.be/Wo-gGes6qig watch the trailer]] without bursting out laughing or dropping your jaw in sheer WTF. Or both.
** ''Film/SukiyakiWesternDjango''. A SpaghettiWestern, in English, with an almost totally Asian cast.
** ''Film/{{Tampopo}}'' is a western in '80s Japan about ramen, complete with John Wayne-alike, varmits, and dramatic string music, interspersed with other unrelated sketches about food.
** ''Film/TokyoGorePolice'': A film which takes {{Gorn}} to new heights.
** ''Film/TheCalamariWrestler'', and Minoru Kawasaki's follow-up film, ''Film/ExecutiveKoala'' are Widgets, being respectively about a wrestler who becomes a giant squid and a giant Koala who may have murdered his wife.
** ''Film/SurviveStyle5Plus''. An entirely Japanese movie... starring Vinnie Jones.
** ''Film/WildZero''. Japanese punk rockers, bikers and a trans woman fight zombies, aliens [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and evil managers wearing short shorts.]] And it is GLORIOUS.
** ''Film/{{Onechanbara}}'', known in the US as ''Bikini Samurai Squad''. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. They fight zombies.
** ''Film/{{Hausu}}''. There is a killer piano in this movie. It ''isn't'' the only killer inanimate object, either. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, people.
** ''Film/BigTitsZombie''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The title says it all]].
** ''Film/FishStory'': The long and complicated tale of how, thanks to a series of coincidences, an obscure punk song from a failed 1970s punk band saves the world in 2012.
** ''Film/TetsuoTheIronMan'': A DeliberatelyMonochrome BodyHorror movie about a salaryman cursed to slowly transform into a walking pile of scrap metal.
* '''WHAT''' (Weird Humorous American Thing)
** ''Film/BubbaHoTep'': The description defies any rational reality and should be read in full on its page, but the short version is Music/ElvisPresley (who swapped places with an impersonator) wakes from a coma after twenty years and teams up with UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy (who had his death faked, was dyed to look like a black man and finally had the missing half of his brain replaced with a bag of sand) team up to take on a redneck mummy who's offing various residents of the retirement home they live in. Yeah.
** ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEighthDimension'': A sci-fi comedy satire about a ParodySue who saves the world from a MadScientist.
** ''Attack of the Killer Refrigerator''. Title is all you need to know.
** Creator/DavidLynch. ''Series/TwinPeaks'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff was absurdly popular in Japan]] when it first aired. It still maintains a much larger and more fanatical following there than among fans from anywhere else, to the point that many Japanese fans were surprised to discover that it was created by an American, as it was considered to be "very Japanese" in style and tone.
** ''Film/DonnieDarko'', as well as director Richard Kelly's [[Film/SouthlandTales other]] [[Film/TheBox movies]] are examples of a WAT in action.
** ''Film/FasterPussycatKillKill'': Russ Meyers's best-remember film, a hallmark of sexy, violent, American exploitation films.
** ''Film/TheGiantClaw'': A 50s BMovie best known for [[SpecialEffectFailure the design of the titular monster]].
** ''Film/GlenOrGlenda'': An unintentionally surreal film by Creator/EdWood who hijacked a true story about a transvestite.
** ''Grim Prairie Tales'': Two travellers in TheWildWest played by Creator/BradDourif and Creator/JamesEarlJones try to top one another with increasingly outrageous stories in this anthology movie.
** ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'': The midnight movie to end all midnight movies.
** ''Film/RepoMan'': A sci-fi punk rock movie with a RandomEventsPlot.
** ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'': A metal RockOpera set AfterTheEnd featuring musical contributions by Music/{{Yoshiki|Hayashi}}.
** ''Film/TotalRecall1990'': Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger stars in a MindScrew-y parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, based off a short story by Creator/PhilipKDick and directed by Creator/PaulVerhoeven.
** ''Film/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes'': a parody of cheesy monster films, a hallmark of American cinema.
** TheWestern is a Weird American ''Genre'' (WAG). It's so deeply rooted in how other countries perceive America that we even have [[AmericansAreCowboys a trope about it]]. Ironically, many of the most beloved Westerns are {{Spaghetti Western}}s, made by Italians for both the American and Italian markets.
** ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'': Being the first feature length film by Creator/TimBurton as well as having Pee-Wee Herman go on a road trip in order to find his CoolBike, it was almost guaranteed a spot on this page.
** ''Film/CasaDeMiPadre'': A parody of Mexican telenovelas starring the very [=WASPy=] Creator/WillFerrell as a Mexican who must defend the family home.
** ''Film/HotRod'': A film about an UsefulNotes/EvelKnievel wannabe wanting to raise $50,000 in order to get a heart transplant for his {{Jerkass}} stepfather, solely so he can mercilessly beat him, all set in a warped AffectionateParody of 80s Creator/{{S|tevenSpielberg}}pielbergian Suburbia.
** The duo DANIELS had already proven to be weird with ''Film/SwissArmyMan'', which revolves around a man using a versatile corpse to get out of a deserted island. But ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'' takes it on a whole new level being a multiversal madness where it's borderline impossible to guess what will happen in the next scene, with new events like ''Westernanimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' with a talking raccoon, sentient rocks, hot dogs for fingers, a bagel that threatens the multiverse, awards shaped like butt plugs, etc.
** The films of writer Creator/CharlieKaufman, who started with ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'' (the [[Creator/JohnMalkovich actor in the title]] reacted to receiving said script with IsThisAJoke) and didn't dial down anywhere down the line. That movie's director, Creator/SpikeJonze, indulged in WHAT before with his music videos (putting the Music/BeastieBoys in a cop show and Music/{{Weezer}} on ''Series/HappyDays'', making Creator/ChristopherWalken dance madly - and eventually ''fly'' - to Music/FatboySlim), and his movies took one step further - after ''Malkovich'', there was ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'' (another Kaufman script), ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'', and ''Film/{{her|2013}}''.
** The films of Creator/TylerPerry are an example within a country. Having started his career on the African-American urban theater circuit, he makes his films primarily for a religious black audience, with CriticalDissonance being in full effect whenever (mostly white) professional critics examine his films. His most famous character, Madea (played by [[WholesomeCrossdresser Perry himself]]), is a [[NeverMessWithGranny tough-talking]], JerkWithAHeartOfGold older woman with a propensity to use violence (especially [[WouldHurtAChild against bratty children]]) in order to get her way.

* '''WTF''' (Weird Thing from France)
** ''Film/{{Rubber}}''. A movie about a sentient murderous tire. [[NoFourthWall And the people who watch the film]].
** ''Film/CelineAndJulieGoBoating'' is pretty out there.
** The films of Creator/JeanPierreJeunet.
*** ''Film/{{Delicatessen}}'' is about a butcher in post-apocalyptic France murdering the janitors he employs in his apartment building and serving them in his shop, and when his daughter falls in love with one of the janitors, she enlists the help of a team of militant vegetarians to save him.
*** ''Film/TheCityOfLostChildren'' is about a mad scientist who lives on an oil rig offshore from an unspecified {{Steampunk}} city abducting children so he can steal their dreams; and when he abducts the little brother of a circus strongman, the strongman and a little girl from an orphanage go on a quest to get him back. And it involves a brain in a tank.
*** ''Film/{{Amelie}}'' is about a woman attempting to make her neighbors' lives better by taking a garden gnome from one of them and taking pictures of it vacationing around the world, tricking an abusive greengrocer into thinking he's insane, and escorting a blind man to a train station giving him vivid descriptions of the surroundings.
*** ''Film/{{Micmacs}}'' is about a video store clerk falling in with a clan of weirdos who live in a junkyard after he gets shot in the head, and then him and the clan taking revenge on the two biggest weapons manufacturers in France (one of whom created the landmine that killed his father, the other one which made the bullet that he got shot with) via a procession of HomeAloneAntics.
** ''Film/LastYearAtMarienbad'' is a French film that lacks a traditional plot, backstory, named characters, etc. It's a pretty good representation of some of the more difficult-to-access aspects of French cinma.
** All the 60's films of Creator/JeanLucGodard, which pretty much sum up the craziness that was the French New Wave, and French art film in general.
** ''Film/HolyMotors'', is about a man being driven around Paris in a limousine -- every time it stops, he exits in costume as a different character, and the entire style of the movie seems to change along with him. The movie goes out of its way to basically frustrate any and every expectation or definition as to what it's about or how to describe it, as it jumps from bizarre monster movie to serious family drama to violent crime thriller to sudden, inexplicable musical number. It also begins with a different man finding a movie theater hidden behind his bedroom wall, has an insanely awesome accordion-based intermission, and concludes with an extremely melancholy but still WTF-worthy barrage of conceptual non-sequiturs.
** Music/DaftPunk's ''[[Film/DaftPunksElectroma Electroma]]''. Who ever imagined a town populated by people wearing Daft Punk helmets?
** ''WesternAnimation/ATownCalledPanic''. A film based on a show animated entirely with toy figurines about a horse, cowboy, and indian toy being roommates. Horse is the main character.
** Practically the entire resume of music video and film director Creator/MichelGondry.
** Director Creator/JuliaDucournau already showed she was unconventional with ''Film/{{Raw}}''. But ''Film/{{Titane}}'' takes it to unbelievable levels. It's about a showgirl who spends her off time being a SerialKiller... and in the first twenty minutes she has sex with a car. And gets pregnant! It only gets weirder and more horrifying from there.
* '''STANZA''' (Strange Thing from Australia/New Zealand/Australasia)
** ''Film/BlackSheep2007'' is a black comedy STANZA about [[KillerRabbit Killer Sheep]].
** ''Film/MeetTheFeebles'' is practically ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' on a cocktail of acid and weed.
** The entire [[ExploitationFilm Ozsploitation]] genre, as chronicled in the documentary ''Not Quite Hollywood'', after [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications the R-18 rating]] was approved in 1971.
** Yahoo Serious and ''Film/YoungEinstein''.
** Any film by Taika Waititi applies. Even his first major studio project, ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', [[CreatorCameo where he appears]] as the rock alien Korg, modelled after what he calls a "cuzzie from the East Cape of New Zealand".
* '''WOK''' ('''W'''eird '''O'''ccurrence from '''K'''orea)
** ''Film/AttackTheGasStation'', a South Korean comedy film that runs on RuleOfCool and RuleOfFunny.
** ''Film/SaveTheGreenPlanet'', a film by South Korean director Jang Joon-Hwan about a man who kidnaps and tortures to death people who he thinks are alien invaders. [[VillainProtagonist And he's the hero!]] It is, naturally, [[BlackComedy primarily a comedy]]
** ''Animation/AachiAndSsipak'' is a strange UsefulNotes/{{South Korea}}n animated socio-political action comedy about a dark futuristic world that is powered by fecal matter. Needless to say, there is a lot of ToiletHumor.
* '''Other/Unknown'''
** ''Film/SweetMovie'' and ''Film/WRMysteriesOfTheOrganism'' are Weird Serbian Stuff. Just the intros to our articles have serious problems summing up the movies.
** The "mo lei tau" genre of Hong Kong films, the most well-known purveyor being Stephen Chow. "Mo lei tau" roughly translates to "nonsense talk" and consists of madcap, slapstick and over-the-top humor.
** The strange Spanish movie ''Amanece, que no es poco'' (At least it's dawning). The title itself refers to the last scene, where [[spoiler:the sun rises.... from the WEST. Cue TitleDrop from the no-longer-caring main characters.]]
** SantaClaus lives in outer space with tone-deaf singing [[FiveTokenBand children from all over the world]]? His sleigh is pulled by laughing reindeerbots? He teams up with his pal Merlin to battle an effeminate [[PokeThePoodle poodle-poking]] [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] in red tights? You can see all of this and more in the SoBadItsGood CultClassic ''Film/SantaClaus1959'', a Weird Mexican Thing.
** All the movies starring the Mexican luchador Wrestling/ElSanto also definitely qualify as a Mexican Example Of Weirdness (MEOW). Any and all movies featuring him (or any ''luchador'', for that matter: ''El Blue Demon'' had a few films of his own) can be best described as "the [[Series/Batman1966 sixties Batman tv series]] but sillier, and Mexican". They have [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a cult following in Japan]], presumably because of this.
** ''Film/TheHolyMountain'': If there's one film that Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky has created that definitely falls under this trope, it's this.
** ''Mystics In Bali''. Oh lord, ''Mystics in Bali''! It's basically a WINDOT, a.k.a. Weird Indonesian Thing. Even weirder is that a lot of it is actually based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyak Indonesian mythology!]]
** ''Film/ValerieAndHerWeekOfWonders'' is a surreal, allegorical 1970 Czech movie set perhaps in the 1800s about a 13-year-old girl's sexual awakening. Seemingly, every character who interacts with her is infatuated with her and/or a vampire. Or secretly her parents. Cut to cheery GainaxEnding.
** ''Taxidermia'' is a WHUT ('''W'''eird '''Hu'''ngarian '''T'''hing) possibly-generational epic featuring three extremely different but equally gross segments that go, in full GenreBusting mode, from weird historical sex comedy to puke-filled inspiration sports film parody, finally arriving at ultra-gory horror film territory.
** ''Film/TheLure'' is a WHIPPET ('''W'''eird '''P'''olish '''T'''hing) about two mermaids winding up in [=1980s=] Warsaw, Poland and joining a band that plays at a dance club. One falls in love with a musician, and the other one's a cannibal. It took Sundance Festival by storm... and the Polish critics are confused why. CompletelyDifferentTitle must have helped, though.
** Judging by the trailers of movies like ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZo59DeZY9g Obonsam Besu]]'' [[note]]''Devil May Cry'', may or may not be a ripoff of the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry game]][[/note]], ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO9ctKn_Mdc 2016]]'', and ''[[https://youtu.be/GRi9qHi1VIs&feature=channel&list=UL The Godfather]]''[[note]]It seems that Don Corleone is a zombie now.[[/note]], the entire movie industry of Ghana seems to run on this trope. It's a '''SWAG''' ('''S'''urreal and '''W'''eird '''A'''rriving from '''G'''hana). And special mention to ''[[http://youtu.be/wfdSx1YX_3w Nkrato]]'' for this comment:
--->"I was expecting the silly karate, CGI monsters, and lots and lots of talking. Like any good Ghana Film. But nothing, absolutely nothing could prepare me for the [[spoiler:cat mouth missile]] at 0:44"
** Also from Africa, seemingly Uganda is full of those, most proeminently ''Film/WhoKilledCaptainAlex''. Helps the movies are downright released with [[{{MST}} humourous comments by "Video Jokers"]].
** ''Film/ValhallaRising'': a Danish/UK film about a mute one-eyed Norseman and a young boy, both slaves, who kill their pagan masters and join a bunch of Crusaders trying to get to Jerusalem. However, the crew gets lost and end up in America, where they all go crazy and get killed by mostly-unseen natives or each other. The film has very little dialogue, with long stretches of almost complete silence.
** A few Turkish films from the 1970's were pretty (in)famous for their [[SerialNumbersFiledOff blatant plagiarism of characters and effects,]] [[SpecialEffectsFailure practically no budget for the effects they didn't steal]] and [[RandomEventsPlot some really bizarre plots]]. This resulted in such films as ''Film/ThreeBigMen'' (where ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and Wrestling/ElSanto fight Franchise/SpiderMan, who has become a murderous thief), ''Rampage'' (A.K.A: ''Turkish Rambo'') and ''Film/TheManWhoSavesTheWorld'' (better known as ''Turkish Star Wars'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Although books of humorous stories and "laws" about how things go horribly wrong are a somewhat common genre, ''ThePeterPrinciple'', with its punny names and fantastically banal "case studies", is not only the most famous but the most uniquely wickety of all of them. (It was, however, inspired by Literature/ParkinsonsLaw, a hilariously turgid Wabbit.)
* The ''Literature/CompleteWorldKnowledge'' trilogy, which consists of books with {{Long Title}}s, filled to the brim with "100% false" facts, though the appendices in the paperback versions acknowledge the fact that occasionally a truth manages to end up in one of them by accident. In addition, the page numbering does not restart in later books in the series, instead picking up where the previous one left off. [[Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire The second book]] also serves as a page-a-day calendar, which among other things reveals an EscalatingWar of bizarre precipitation between Richmond, Virginia, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the late 1970s. This would be classified as a WHAT.
* Since ''Total Recall'' is already under Film, Creator/PhilipKDick.
* ''[[Literature/WickedPaulJennings Wicked!]]'' and ''Deadly!'' by Morris Gleitzman and Creator/PaulJennings are two children's series revolving around the bizarre, including a killer superadvanced sheep army, and immortality-conferring tea. Anything by Creator/PaulJennings generally counts.
* BizarroFiction, as a genre, is comprised hugely of [=WATs=], wabbits, wickets, and [=STANZAs=] as of this writing. However, multi-language examples are slowly rising.
* ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' and ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'' are 19th-century Wabbits. Many of the odder things in these {{Dream Land}}s are takeoffs of aspects of UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain.
* ''Literature/MaxHavelaar'' is considered to be by lots of Dutch literature critics to be one of the weirdest works in Dutch literature to be ever written. The main reason why is because the book is one of the first to change of writer and writing style dependent on the one character who at the moment of writing is writing the story (which is nowadays common thanks to postmodernism, but the book was written in 1840, which was long before the very first postmodern writers were born).
* ''At Swim—Two Birds'', a bizarre comic novel by Flann O'Brien, in which the protagonist, also an author, wanders Dublin and doesn't do very much of anything, comes across some strange quasi-fictional phenomena and eventually has to deal with his characters breaking the fourth wall and rising up against him.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' is a pure Wabbit. Most of the setting and plot elements are completely bonkers and can generate WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs reactions from first-time readers.
* ''Literature/TheMoomins'' is often difficult to describe to people who've never heard of it before. It's a slice-of-life series about a family of [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]] who look like anthropomorphic hippos and occasionally go on adventures. The author of the books, Tove Jansson, was an UsefulNotes/{{anarchis|m}}t and it often shows. What's really unusual is how much of a classic the series is considered in its native Finland, being nowadays an institution of national identity with TheMerch of it being about as omnipresent as ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh''. Again, it's about anarchist hippo trolls. It's also [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff big in Japan]], which is unsurprising.
* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' is a weird British thing, especially during the scenes when they use the [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum Infinite Improbability Drive]]. Creator/DouglasAdams himself alluded to how much UsefulNotes/{{cricket|Rules}} is a Weird British Game in ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'' with the commentators of ''Test Match Special'' not at all fazed by Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and a sofa appearing from nowhere on the pitch at Lord's. And only the British would be so insensitive to use the hallowed 'Wicket Gate' as part of a game.
* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' is another literary [=WABBIT=]. It's about mice and other animals living in what is called an abbey but is more of a church crossed with an apartment complex, a gated community, a daycare, and an assisted living facility, and they constantly have to fight off vermin such as rats and foxes who plan to take over the "Abbey" ForTheEvulz. Then there are the stranger characters such as a owl who speaks in rhyme (Sir Harry the Muse), Somerset-accented moles, World War II fighter pilot hares (Basil Stag Hare, among others), and tribal squirrels obsessed with fighting (the Gawtrybe).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
[[AC:'''WHAT''' (Weird Humorous American Thing)]]
* While ''Series/ICarly'' itself isn't a WHAT, the ShowWithinAShow webcast certainly qualifies as such.
* The works of Creator/SidAndMartyKrofftProductions are [=WHATs=] that can match the weirdest of Widget Series weird for weird in being weird.
* ''Series/TheWhitestKidsUKnow'' is, in many ways, a WHAT version of ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'', clearly taking its inspiration from that show but possessing its own bizarre sense of humor based around snark, RefugeInAudacity, and enough LampshadeHanging to run an electrician supply house.
* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', much like the comic it’s based on, has a lot of bizarre moments. And it’s not just the spells. Its [[WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries animated counterpart]] would follow suit.
* ''Series/ISurvivedAJapaneseGameShow'' is a WHAT version of a Widget. The American contestants participate in a Japanese game show, and are eliminated one at a time.
* ''Series/PushingDaisies''. It involves an explosive scratch-and-sniff card, Paul Reubens, an author of adult pop-up books (all in the same episode), a red-and-white striped ''morgue'', and a very American '50s RetroUniverse. Oh, and it's about a baker who can bring the dead back to life with a touch, and can't ever touch his thus-revived girlfriend or she'll die permanently. Should probably mention that.
* ''Series/TheAndyMilonakisShow'' is like a Nickelodeon sketch show on mushrooms. It must be seen to be believed.
* ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob''. WHAT indeed. (Is [[FlatWhat you'll be saying]]...unless you're an American stoner)
** Same with SpinOff ''Series/CheckItOutWithDrSteveBrule''.
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' puts an ungodly amount of classified government information into the brain of a Best Buy-{{Expy}} retail slave and then sticks him with a StatuesqueStunner FemmeFatale and Creator/AdamBaldwin to keep him safe and his family unaware. Gets even funnier in the seasons that work Subway sandwiches or references to same into EVERY episode.
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', and Franchise/TheMuppets' early appearances on ''Series/TheEdSullivanShow'', probably qualify as [=WHATs=]. Their movies, however, [[LighterAndSofter do not]].
* ''Series/TwinPeaks'' features an FBI agent with a sweet tooth as the main protagonist, a quirky soundtrack, an [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} eccentric]] {{eyepatch|OfPower}}-wearing woman with SuperStrength, and [[spoiler:a dimension populated by strange beings who have the ability to [[BodySnatcher control other peoples' bodies]]]].
* David Lynch and Mark Frost followed up TP with ''Series/OnTheAir'', a short-lived sitcom about the production of a 1950s variety show that included among other things a possibly magical duck, a definitely magical talking dog, a studio technician with a medical condition that caused him to see 25.62 times more than anyone else (everything from childrens' toys to dancing Santas) along with the Hurry Up Twins who do nothing but rush around the studio saying "Hurry up! Hurry up!"
* ''Series/TheMonkees'' is filled with enough randomness and absurdity to qualify, especially during the second season, where they were either stoned out of their minds or didn't care any more and ad-libbed. [[EverybodyMustGetStoned ”Frodis,” anyone?]] The [[TheFilmOfTheSeries subsequent film]] ''Head'' cranked it up a few notches.
* ''Series/BeakmansWorld''. A zany-haired scientist in a neon green lab coat, his perky female assistant, a man in a rat suit, two penguins who watch the show from their home in the South Pole, famous dead guys, and a kooky and fun atmosphere to learn about science.
* Any of Creator/ConanOBrien's late night shows would count as a WHAT. Yes, even his tenure on ''Series/TheTonightShow''.
* ''Series/WonderShowzen''. This is all that needs to be said about it (besides VulgarHumor, that is).
* ''Series/{{Bibleman}}'' comes across as this to anyone who isn't American. Or at least an American Evangelical Christian.
* ''Series/TheAquabatsSuperShow'' is often ''incredibly'' ridiculous, and indeed seems to revel in it. Laser guitars, cartoons randomly popping up, and odd plotlines often involving a rather strange MonsterOfTheWeek are only the start.
* ''Series/TheSpoilsOfBabylon'' and its SpinOff ''The Spoils Before Dying''. {{Affectionate Parod|y}}ies of bloated, pretentious miniseries from the 70s and 80s that were based off {{Doorstopper}} novels, acted out by an AllStarCast playing actors playing characters.
* ''Series/{{Oobi}}'' is a show aimed at preschoolers where all the characters are played by live-action, talking hands with eyes on them.
* ''Series/DuckDynasty'' and ''Series/HereComesHoneyBooBoo'', two of the main drivers of the "rednecksploitation" boom in American RealityTV in the early '10s. Specifically, they're Weird Images of the South (WITS), even for many Americans.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'' makes it obvious right from the title. Rooted in nostalgia for TheEighties, it is a WHAT homage to the [=WHATs=] of the past, particularly Creator/StephenKing's Americana-based horror novels and the family adventure films of Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/AmblinEntertainment, combined with dollops of Creator/HPLovecraft, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', and ''Franchise/SilentHill''.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'', from the moment it premiered, was joked about (especially by non-Americans) as a show whose plot, about a schoolteacher who turns to selling crystal meth in order to pay his medical bills, could ''only'' have taken place in the United States due to its expensive private healthcare system. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCHi6B6D1as This parody video]] jokes that, had the show been set in Canada, it would've been over the minute Walter White first arrived at his doctor's office.[[note]]Ultimately, when it was remade in another country (as ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metástasis Metástasis]]''), they had to set it in Colombia for the story to work at all.[[/note]] Combine that with Mexican drug cartels, neo-Nazi gangsters, and a New Mexico setting presented in full NewOldWest mode, and you've got the makings of an epic Widget crime drama.
* ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt''. The show starts with the titular character getting saved from a ApocalypseCult but then goes into MoodWhiplash when the more... bizarre things appear, such as animated ImagineSpot sequences and ''a talking backpack''. Mix it in with bizarre character names straight out of a Creator/RikMayall Britcom (Titus Andromedon, anyone?) and you get one of the most weird things Creator/TinaFey has ever done.
* Public-access television was a gold mine for these sorts of shows in the '80s and '90s. They were non-commercial stations where anybody could create a TV show to be locally broadcast, and many of these shows were made to the... ''unique'' tastes of the kinds of people who would create a TV show with NoBudget and no training just for the hell of it, ranging from mundane programs devoted to education and the arts to fringe political and religious activists to stuff that went out of its way to figure out just how far one could go on television. While much of its role has since been absorbed by the internet, there are still numerous public-access stations that produce shows like this. [[https://www.cracked.com/article_15300_the-7-most-insane-moments-from-cable-access-tv.html This article]] by Ross Wolinsky for ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' goes into detail on some of the weirder things to come out of public access.
* ''Series/TheWorldAccordingToJeffGoldblum'' downplays this. In order to fully enjoy this {{Edutainment}} documentary series, the viewer has to not only find the '''very''' SeriousBusiness behind ice cream, denim, tattoos, etc. (especially as experienced by Americans) as interesting and even inspiring rather than odd and/or pathetic, but be a fan of the {{CloudCuckoolander}} [[Creator/JeffGoldblum character actor/jazz musician]] who is exploring them in his cheerfully idiosyncratic way. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7aN9OkNl7U two]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2UYw1ixRA trailers]] for the show are upfront about its eccentricity, especially the first one -- Goldblum notes "Be forewarned, I am in the show ''a lot''" and goes on to say "So if any of this tempts you, or wearies you, you can make a decision right here." But it ended up one of the most-hyped charter productions of Creator/DisneyPlus, with National Geographic dubbing it into a double-digit number of foreign languages, and was only the third of the streaming service's many original productions to get the go-ahead for a second season.
* ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' is a [=WHAT=] that comes across as this to anybody who is not American ([[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff or from Southeast Asia]]), a young child, a member of its PeripheryDemographic (!), or a member of its hatedom. It's about a group of children who gather in their schoolyard (and later a park) to play and end up causing a plush dinosaur doll named Barney to magically turn into a [[PeopleInRubberSuits man in a dinosaur costume]] who teaches them and the audience moral lessons through song and dance, while also helping the kids "use their imagination" to engage in various activities. Barney is also assisted by three other dinosaurs in helping out the kids. And then there's the even stranger elements such as a storytelling black woman who uses a knockoff [[Manga/{{Doraemon}} Anywhere Door]] as her method of transport, a rainbow bearded-pirate literally named "Rainbow Beard", and a puppet bookworm librarian.
* ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'' is a WHAT adapted from a WOK, and involves celebrities performing in extravagant costumes that hide their identities, leaving a panel of judges to try and figure out who they are. The weirdness escalates once certain celebrities are unmasked, with possibly the most insane being [[spoiler:UsefulNotes/SarahPalin in season 3 and [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit the Frog]] (!) in season 5]]. In fact, a Reddit comment on [[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMaskedSinger/comments/n0s7oe/a_group_performance_from_the_unmasked_singers_and/ this clip]] from the season 5 sing-along special says it all:
-->'''[=MrKitchenSink=]:''' After watching this show for a while, you kind of forget how weird it is. But every so often, you get a moment like this one where a dude in a rooster costume leads [[spoiler:Kermit the Frog, Logan Paul, Caitlyn Jenner, Danny Trejo, and Nick Cannon]] in a performance of [[JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} "Never Gonna Give You Up"]], and you're just struck by the realization that this show really is a total fever dream.
* Creator/{{TLC}}, which once stood for The Learning Channel, has [[http://spawkward.tumblr.com/post/116623945030/aphshit-just-for-grins-tlc-is-a-very-strange degraded into an entire WHAT channel]] thanks to NetworkDecay.
* ''Series/MyMotherTheCar'', which was about a man whose deceased mother possesses his car, and can speak to him through the radio.

[[AC:'''Widget''' (Weird Japanese Thing)]]
* In-universe, ''Series/ThirtyRock'' shows a nonsensical musical soundbyte featuring Jenna smiling, winking, and laughing at the camera. She then says (out of the commercial) that she has no idea how it advertised Tokyo University.
* Combine a GameShow and CookingShow format in ''Series/IronChef''. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Chef_America Iron Chef America]]'' is a more "normal" but more fast-paced version of the original.
** Some have said that the problem with ''Iron Chef USA'' (the first American adaptation, featuring Creator/WilliamShatner) was that the creators assumed the original was only popular for laughing at wacky foreigners, so they didn't take it seriously. ''[=ICA=]'' occasionally pokes fun at the {{Kayfabe}} of the show (according to Alton, there are several Kitchen Stadiums, at least one of which is in space), but otherwise takes it seriously as a competition between culinary masters.
* ''Series/DotchCookingShow'' was an even more intense cooking game show that pitted two amazing-looking dishes against each other and a panel of seven choosing which dish to eat at the end of the episode. Each dish had its own crazy-awesome special ingredient. At the end, the people who voted for the winning dish got to eat it and the chef who made the losing dish had to (oh, darn the luck) eat it alone. Oh and the losers are forced to watch the winners eat as they get nothing at all. This show was ''amazing''.
* ''Series/TakeshisCastle''. ''[[Series/MostExtremeEliminationChallenge MXC]]'' is a WHAT (Weird Hilarious American Thing) made from it.
* ''SASUKE'' and ''Kinniku Banzuke'', which air in the US and Australia as ''Series/NinjaWarrior'' and ''Series/UnbeatableBanzuke'', respectively. G4 heavily plaued up their status as wacky Japanese shows. Not only did they throw "ninja" into the first show's name, but the on-camera host who appears before and after segments on ''Unbeatable Banzuke'', who only speaks Japanese and needs to be subtitled? He was the host ''hired by G4 solely for the American version.''
* ''Brain Wall'', known to many American Website/{{YouTube}}rs as simply "Human Tetris". It lost much of its widgety charm when adapted for Fox as ''Hole In The Wall''.
* The six-episode variety show ''Vermilion Pleasure Night'', which Website/TheOtherWiki compares to a Japanese version of ''Series/{{SCTV}}''. Recurring skits included a drama about a family of mannequins, a spaceship boarding house with a tortured alien, and a bunch of actresses being Barbie dolls. These are then interspersed with one off stories about cannibal cuisine, bondage nurses, and things that just take a sharp left turn halfway through a given sketch. This show hits you with weird repeatedly and never lets you up.
* One Japanese show called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susunu!_Denpa_Shōnen Susunu! Denpa Shonen]]'' [[note]]''Don't Go For It, Electric Boy!''[[/note]] took an unsuspecting volunteer (who they told was going on an "important show-business related job", but that was it), then had him live in a small apartment, naked, with no supplies other than a pen and magazines. Then he had to live off of prizes won by magazine sweepstakes until he had the value of a specific amount of money. All this time, the guy was on TV and didn't know it, since he had been told it would be broadcasted ''after'' he was done. It seems almost pointless to mention that this is something that could only exist in Japan; in many countries the makers of the show would probably face criminal or civil penalties, and in the US (and maybe elsewhere, but ''especially the US''), they'd be sued six ways from Sunday.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai''. This is the reason an American adaptation, that would eventually become ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', got stuck in DevelopmentHell. {{Executive|Meddling}}s thought it was too much of a Widget Series to succeed on American TV.
** Within ''Sentai'' itself, there's ''Series/BattleFeverJ'', which has bizarre costumes and a lot of dancing. However, it introduced the first robot in ''Sentai'', and was thus the first ''Super'' Sentai. Toei eventually added Goranger and JAKQ into the ranks of ''Super Sentai'', possibly to ensure that ''Battle Fever J'' wasn't the first one on the list.
** ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' can only be described as what happens when you take Japanese beliefs and folktales (mainly of ninjas and {{Youkai}}; the latter of which are known for being very weird in their won right), adapt them as PeopleInRubberSuits fighting each other, add a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakugo Rakugo]] narrator to commentate on them, and then filter all that through the {{Camp}} sensibilities of the ''Series/Batman1966'' TV show - complete with the {{Hit Flash}}es.
** ''Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger'', which was essentially an extremely silly SelfParody of ''Super Sentai''. This resulted in some problems when adapting to ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' as the seriousness of the American show did not go well with the DenserAndWackier Japanese footage. Seriously, there was an episode where the MonsterOfTheWeek bakes the heroes into a giant pizza! ''Go-Onger'' below was its SpiritualSuccessor.
** ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' went to Widget territory more than once, especially in its early episodes, as can be seen in the ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' episode [[BizarroEpisode "Lost and Found in Translation"]]. Amazingly, it managed to do that while still being overall DarkerAndEdgier than its ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' [[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder counterpart]].
** ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' is a LOT LighterAndSofter than the rest of the franchise and is considered a comedy. In direct contrast, ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' was a PragmaticAdaptation which, as the top of the RPM page describes it, is to ''Power Rangers'' what ''The Dark Knight'' was to Batman, making this one real jarring to those who watched both versions.
** ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' in the vein of the above, features Samba transformations and two villains who represent the emotions Joy and Happiness, with many of their antics qualifying as killing with kindness. Also the Red Ranger appears to be The KidAppealCharacter.
** And then there's their unofficial series, ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'', where the characters fight monsters [[AllJustADream in their heads]] using the power of delusions. There's a reason why their name means [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Unofficial Task Force Akibaranger"]]. They're struggling to become an official team of Super Sentai.
** Season 2: The Akibarangers take on a cosplaying sentai villain fanboy, meet alternate versions of rangers, including Ryuuranger whose been reduced to a Chinese food mascot named China Red. They also get a second robot that is the size of a remote controlled car, not that it's any less effective than their full-size car.
* ''Series/UltramanTaro'', a SelfParody of the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' that draws inspiration from Japanese fairy tales. It's got incredibly silly {{kaiju}} like the opera-singing Orphy, the volleyball-playing Garaking, and Mochiron, a tiki monster from the Moon that loves to eat mochi rice cakes. It's got wacky plotlines that involve such things as an alien boy band having to play pop music to calm down a drunken kaiju, an android replica of a woman killed in a car accident bringing back the ghost of her pet parrot as a giant monster to kill all motorists in Japan, and an {{Oni}}-like alien shrinking the characters and putting them inside a bean to be eaten by one of their friends. And that's just the tip of the insanity iceberg.
** ''Series/UltramanAce'' too, especially in its later ''cours''. Episodes treated with utmost seriousness have dealt with things like an alien stealing pandas to make them a CashCowFranchise on his homeworld, a kid whose bedwetting problems bring a monster recurring in his dreams to life, a man being turned into a cow by the BigBad using a cursed nasal ring, a man-eating hot-air balloon literally draining the fun out of children, and a {{Kappa}} kaiju who disguises itself as a swimming pool and turns kids into kappas by eating their navels with the help of an android couple. The series is also infamous among fans for featuring some of the wackiest kaiju ever, including a ''violin kaiju''.
* ''Series/TheFuccons'' (''Oh! Mikey'' in Japan) is a parody show featuring a StandardFiftiesFather, HouseWife, and [[TheAllAmericanBoy their son]]... With all the characters being played by mannequins whose faces never change. And [[EverybodyLaughsEnding raucous laughter]]. [[https://youtu.be/BHsWokO35jA Yeah]].

[[AC:'''WIT''' (Weird Icelandic Thing)]]
* ''Series/LazyTown''. The ''least'' bizarre thing is the pink hair on the central character. When the Canadian kids network YTV had the rights to the show, they put out a promo deriding the show for its weirdness, and theorized that the show must be made in Iceland by a giant gorilla - followed by a clip where the villain, dressed as a gorilla, climbs a giant antenna.
-->"Oh, it is made in Iceland? By a giant gorilla? Oh, well that explains it."

[[AC:'''WST''' (Weird Scandinavian Thing)]]
* Norwegian TV-series Brødrene Dal and KLM. Made by the comedy trio, Trond Kirkvaag, Knut Lystad, and Lars Mjøen.
** KLM being for more for adults (though still being rated 'for all ages'). Heavily inspired by Creator/MontyPython causing the actors to be dressed in drags, jokes about christianity and especiallly about [[https://youtu.be/ydtiVefwWmQ priests]], dirty jokes, news parodies and the gods know what more.
** Brødrene Dal is more aimed at children. Here the really different men play brothers, or [[UnreliableCanon maybe]] SameSexTriplets, or just InNameOnly. [[ThemeNaming Named]] after 3 famous Norwegian valleys, although they might have a 4th brother in the narrator simply called [[https://translate.google.com/#no/en/Fortelleren Fortelleren]], and in the 4th season maybe even a 5th which not even the brothers remember. The actors for the brothers themselves also act as many different characters.
*** The 1st season, og Profesor Drøvels Hemmelighet (and Prosfessor Drøvel(Uvula's) Secret) is for them to search for a friend who has something important to tell them. It has a ton of references to different Norwegian culture, pop-culture and some European fiction.
*** The 2nd season, og spektralsteinene (And the spectral stones) can be best described as a Norwegian Series/DoctorWho, having TimeTravel between many famous fictional works like Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves, Myth/RobinHood, Literature/RobinsonCrusoe, and more, but also real-life happenings like UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with them meeting their father and helping him in LaResistance, aka. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milorg Milorg]], and in the end being named after themsleves. Ends with them traveling through space meeting aliens, driving the Doctor Who refference home.
*** The 3rd and meant to be the FinaleSeason, og Legenden om [[{{Pun}} Atlant-is]](and the Legend of Atlant-ice), TheNarrator finally [[BreakingTheFourthWall appears on camera]], being more {{unreliable|Narrator}} than ever. The brothers are [[ButThouMust forced]] to find a sacred sami vase. In this season is it a WorldOfPun, and refferences to popular TV-shows at the time with stuff like ATeamFiring, and a tent that's BiggerOnTheInside, etc. Near the end the Narrator takes a [[BusmansHoliday vacation]] to Mallorca and refuses to narrate anymore. In the end the brothers submit their adventures to have books written about them. On the way out they meet the Narrator who has [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie written himself as the hero as the story]].
*** The 4th season and the FinaleSeason, og mysteriet om Karl [=XII=]s gamasjer(And the mystery of Charles XII's gaiters), was made on request from the King of Norway himself. Made as a tribute to it being 100 years since the Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. It's about TimeTravel yet again. This time they have to find Charles XII's gaiters or else Sweden will force Norway into union with them again at the day of the 100 years anniversary. This season makes a SeriesContinuityError, with the brothers living together again, and Brummund having a [[SecretOtherFamily Secret Wife]] who lives in his room, who regulary comes down and steals the other brothers' breakfast, she also is a giant ParentalBonus by {{smoking|IsCool}} a lot, her often being ReadyForLovemaking, and even being implied to be a [[ReallyGetsAround whore]]. And why does even Brummund keep her as a secret, and often locked up in his room? It was even made in 2005! To make this season even weirder does their [[TwoGuysAndAGirl 2 nephews and niece]] come. The brothers doesn't remember the brother who's aparently is the father at all (might be the Narrator's or even Brummund's kids, or not). The three of them do not serve any real purpose to the story, and who their parents are is never told either.
*** The 5th installment, a movie, og Vikingsverdets forbannelse(And the Viking Sword's Curse) is the real final adventure of the brothers. Made after Trond Kirkvaag lost his life to cancer, but with Brummund somewhat being in the movie due to putting him in from a taped version of the Stage Play. The brothers buy a time-machine on TV-shop, and are thrown 1000 years back in time. Now they are in the Viking Age. It became too weird even for Brødrene Dal itself and wasn't well recieved.

[[AC:'''WTF''' (Weird Thing from France)]]
* ''Series/{{Telechat}}'', a French-Belgian puppet show from the '80s. The series is a parody of TV news presented by a black cat with an arm cast (which he uses as [[HammerSpace an all-purpose box]]) called Groucha and his female counterpart, an ostrich called Lola. The news (which Groucha does with the help of a sentient microphone) relates the life of "gluons", supposedly the smallest things in existence. Sometimes Lola will also have a talk round, with a fork and a [[FunnySpoon spoon]] ([with human faces!). There are also nonsense commercials with a green orangutan in the jungle, who [[RunningGag always]] manages to screw up the take, to the chagrin of the spot's director; and Léguman, a parody of Japanese Sentai shows. Because of its quirkiness and freakish ambiance, this show scared a whole generation of French kids, who will tell you that it still gives them some feeling of dread if they try rewatching the show. An outsider wouldn't necessarily be traumatized, but would get that this thing was weird in a distinctly French (well, Belgian and French) way.
* ''La Vie des Botes'' was a French sitcom about a robot family and talking objects (just like ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse''), which aired regular cartoons between the live-action segments. The channel, [=TF1=], put many hopes on this project (because it was a co-production with Canada, some designers from ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' worked on it) but it wasn't successful and it stayed for just one year; today, very few people remember this show.
* ''Series/LazyCompany'', a French TV ([[CerebusRollerCoaster mostly]]) comedy about four hapless [=GIs=] during the Battle of Normandy, featuring a Franchise/CaptainAmerica ersatz, Hitler disguised as a nun, mad scientists, a friendly Japanese pilot, and general wackiness all over the place.
* ''Series/LeBebeteShow'' looks like ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', but all the Muppets are replaced by caricatures of French political figures. For example, François Mitterrand is portrayed as a frog named Kermitterrand (and naming himself [[AGodAmI God]])

[[AC:'''Wicket''' (Weird Canadian Thing)]]
* In the same vein as ''Téléchat'', we have ''Series/{{Telefrancais}}'', a Wicket produced by [=TVOntario=] for the purpose of teaching French to English-speaking children that features, among many other oddities: a talking pineapple puppet that lives in a junkyard and looks like a rejected Furby, a fourth-wall breaking ''annonceur'', and ''Les Squelettes'', a musical group consisting of singing, dancing, instrument playing skeletons who will occasionally perform a number on ''the outside of a moving plane''. It was also made in TheEighties.
* ''Series/{{Nanalan}}'' is another Wicket for kids. A green little girl with a speech impediment visits her nana and plays in the backyard. For some reason, us Canadians thought that both this and ''Series/{{Telefrancais}}'' were educational. Have fun trying to find out what her dog's name is. [[https://youtu.be/NPnJuHN24xU Here's one short]].
* ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall''.
* With sketches like ''[[StuffBlowingUp Farm Film Report]]'', [[https://youtu.be/s4B_PY2vveQ the story of Vikings and beekeepers]], and of course, [[CanadaEh Bob & Doug McKenzie]], ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' could be considered as such.
* The 90's version of ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow'', which was produced in Canada, had many weird and random segments during the show that were very out of place, including random quizzes, people dancing against stock backgrounds depicting places like the mountains and a church, a Japanese man who knows karate visiting a science lab and a man being fed corn like a baby.
* ''Series/TheNoddyShop'' may look like your average kids' show, but some parts of it seem very strange. There's Aunt Agatha, a woman who has a high-pitched voice, obsesses over the ocean and rats, thinks she's a mermaid and can produce the sounds of a big ocean liner; a woman who runs an ice cream shop while dressed up in an ice cream cone costume; small creatures called goblins that act like a reverse family with the parents being childlike and the kid being the parent figure; a talking lobster who can play a piano and has a family; talking babies who claim to be toilet trained; singing lips without faces that live in a box; and [[BigBreastPride an alligator who has big breasts]], which is something not normally seen on a show made for preschoolers.
* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'' is a well-known Wicket. A group of middle-aged rural Canadian men engage in various shenanigans in their lakeside lodge (including one stance where one of the members made hot sauce with a secret ingredient that was jet fuel) whilst the titular character creates [=DIY=] projects usually out of random junk held together with duct tape. For some reason, American PBS viewers found this to be hilarious.
* ''Series/TodaysSpecial'' centers around a mannequin with improbable dancing skills who lives in a department store and has a magic hat that brings him to life every night. Other characters include a MagicalComputer who behaves like a human being, a mischievous oversized mouse who always talks in rhyme, and "the Mime Lady" who appears in random segments for no reason. And that's just the regular cast.

[[AC:'''Wabbit''' (Weird British Thing)]]
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banzai_%28television_show%29 Banzai]]'' was a British parody of Japanese game shows, deliberately designed to be strange and incomprehensible. The show's greatest stunt? Pitting several ventriloquists against each other in the Puppet Petrol Pump challenge - the vents themselves had to put petrol in a car blindfolded, and the ''puppets'' had to shout to tell them when to stop. Closest to £20 worth won.
* Anything by Creator/MontyPython, to the point where much British comedy is considered "Pythonesque" by non-Brits whether or not it's actually similar to Python's material.
* ''Series/BlackBooks''. Dave "Mouse Ears" Smith, pesticide by coffee machine, and "Then it's left... at the dead badger."
* ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'' pretends to be the rediscovery of a cult 1980s horror series, somewhat in the style of actual British shows of the period but [[StylisticSuck deliberately bad]], with a made-up history on top of it.
* ''Exploitica'' was a late-night Channel 4 equivalent of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', except without actors, just text commentary in the letterbox space or superimposed on characters as thought bubbles. Subjects dryly mocked included B-movies, {{exploitation film}}s, outdated educational reels, and a Music/GeneAutry serial, for some reason.
* ''Series/{{Jam}}'' was another late-night Channel 4 program designed to make you think the next morning that you probably hallucinated it. Deeply surreal BlackComedy specially aired with no intro, end credits, or ad break.
* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' can be described as an endless series of nonsequiturs, or the aesthetics of a children's show (low budget, bad costumes, puppets, musical numbers) mixed with vulgar humor and stoner plots. Based on a radio program and something non-British people often cannot believe really exists.
* The American episode of ''Series/{{Screenwipe}}'' had Creator/CharlieBrooker [[https://youtu.be/LgwKU54rO0U showing]] an American focus group a handful of shows that he felt would be seen as Wabbits, including ''Series/EastEnders'', ''Series/TheBill'', ''Series/{{Countdown}}'', ''Series/{{Bullseye|UK}}'', and ''Springwatch''. The Americans hated them... [[spoiler:except for ''[=EastEnders=]'', apparently.]]
* ''Series/NoelsHouseParty''. Specifically, Music/MrBlobby. Originally created as a fake children's show character used for a CandidCameraPrank-type section of the show, that monstrosity spiraled out of control and became a franchise that fits this trope in its own right.
* There is a particular genre of British scifi/fantasy/horror which makes up for having no effects budget by filming at nice homes and focusing very intently on very ordinary objects with some spooky music, until eventually the very fact that [[NothingIsScarier you see nothing clearly menacing becomes unsettling]]. Some examples include ''Series/SapphireAndSteel'' (the wall is haunted), ''The Owl Service'' (the plates are haunted), ''Film/TheStoneTape'' (the stairs are haunted), etc. It's very British.
* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'': four college students who can't stand each other share a house with a series of random talking objects. In addition to frequent cutaway gags and other non-sequiturs, OnceAnEpisode a band (or lion tamer) will perform, usually in their house.

[[AC:'''STANZA''' (Strange Thing from Australia/New Zealand/Australasia)]]
* STANZA is a term that would apply rather nicely to ''Music/TheWiggles''.
* See also... ''Series/MrSquiggle''.
* ''Series/BananasInPyjamas'', a kids' show about giant anthropomorphic bananas. That wear pajamas. And get cheated nearly every episode by the giant anthropomorphic rat that runs the corner shop. And there's the issue of their inherent desire to chase and hug giant living teddy bears.
* ''Series/RoundTheTwist''. Plots include a skeleton's curse that forces the cursed to end every sentence with "without my pants" (from the episode of that title), gum leaves that can transfer injuries to anyone who can hear a song played on them ("The Gum Leaf War"), a ghost haunting an outhouse ("Skeleton On The Dunny"), and superpower-conferring underpants ("Wunder Pants")...in the first season. It gets weirder: [[AnArc Overarching plots]] including music [[spoiler:played by ghosts who are trying to save their lighthouse]], two ghosts wanting to save their loved ones [[spoiler:from accidentally crashing on a boat thanks to human error 100 years ago, and doing so by possessing ''all of the regulars, including a young girl possessing a teenage boy'']], a viking love book and a mysterious visitor from a lost land. On top of that, two seasons have ''extra'' story arcs, both involving hints that a child is [[spoiler:deliberately cultivating weaponizable stenches]]. Based on the works of Creator/PaulJennings, who's in Literature above.
* From the creators of ''WebVideo/ItalianSpiderman'' comes ''Series/{{Danger 5}}''. Danger 5 are an international team of spies charged with fighting against the Nazis and, ultimately, assassinating [[StupidJetpackHitler Hitler]]. This is a difficult task, as the Nazis are armed with dinosaurs, diamond women soldiers, and various other useful weapons. It's also set in an [[AlternateHistory alternate 1960s]], despite being about UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

[[AC:'''EIEIO''' (Excessively Irish Example Of Intentional Oddity)]]
* ''Series/FatherTed'', while produced and funded by the British Creator/{{Channel 4}}, was written and created by two Irishmen, Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, and all of the actors, characters, locations, and crew were Irish. Collectively had the entirety of England, Wales, and Scotland asking "what does ''[[UnusualEuphemism feck]]'' mean exactly?"
* ''Series/MooneBoy'', a surrealistic series featuring a Martin Moone, a somewhat dimwitted schoolboy, and his imaginary friend (who can talk to ''other'' people's imaginary friends) growing up in Boyle, Ireland from 1989 to the early 1990s which would occasionally shift into an animation style that resembled Martin's drawings.

[[AC:'''PEGS''' (Peculiar & Eccentric German Subject)]]
* ''Bernd the Bread'': depressive, pessimistic, box-shapped Bread from a kids' show whose hobbies include staring at his ingrain wallpaper and collecting TV test cards... [[http://www.brot-bernd.de/englisch/bernd.htm Just look at his profile!]]

[[AC:'''Other''']]
* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' has shades of this. It's a comedic Mexican series with a fairly normal plot but has a serious case of DawsonCasting. The very obviously adult comedians playing children can come off as unusual.
** ''El Chavo'' is specially seen as widget to the rest of Latin America. While the show's popularity in its home country has waned in recent years, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff it's still widely beloved]] across countries like Venezuela, Colombia, and ''specially'' Brazil, of all places. Part of the appeal comes from just how zany and exotic the Mexican slang and mannerisms are to other Latin Americans (it helps that the stereotypes are ''very'' exaggerated), while still managing to be fairly relatable. Hell, ''El Chavo'' is just one of the pieces of media that makes English speakers think that the Spanish-speaking world ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brazil & Portugal]]) is a paradise for crazyness.
* ''Series/KingofMaskSinger'', a Korean TalentShow where every contestant is a celebrity hidden behind an elaborate costume, tends towards this. [[https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/the-masked-singer-fox-review.html Vulture described]] its American adaptation, ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'', thusly:
-->"What if [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gritty_(mascot) Gritty]] walked out on a soundstage made to look like an arena concert, belted out Music/SamSmith's 'Stay With Me,' was described as ‘a professional’ by Creator/JennyMcCarthy, took off his head to reveal he was [[Music/NSync Joey Fatone]], and the entire experience felt three clicks away from an episode of ''Series/BlackMirror''?”
* ''Xou da Xuxa'' is a Brazilian Oddity (BRAZO), which was hosted by model-turned-singer & TV presenter Xuxa Meneghel, wherein she dressed in scantily-clad outfits while presenting games, cartoons and various special guests' acts as well as performing musical numbers, while assisted by a mosquito named Dengue and a turtle named Praga. Surprisingly, it became a huge hit and led to two Spanish-speaking versions being produced with Xuxa at the helm (''El Show de Xuxa'' produced in Argentina for Latin America, and ''Xuxa Park'' for Spain) as well as an American version (''Xuxa''). It got weirder with the Brazilian version of the Spanish ''Xuxa Park'' series (mainly known in the English-speaking world for the series-ending fire on the set), which began every episode with Xuxa ''emerging from a spaceship'', and ended each episode with her leaving in the same spaceship.
* ''Hachaverim Shel Barney'' is a Odd Israeli Occurence ([=OIO=]) that was adapted from ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'', itself a [=WHAT=], that has even more shades of this, especially to viewers who aren't Israeli or Hebrew speakers. It's the same as ''Barney & Friends'', but takes place in Israel (something that is very prevelant in this version) instead of America. And there's it's very own weird elements including a NightmareFuel-inducing Israeli rendition of Rainbow Beard the Pirate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Though it has a [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very large following in the US]], early editions of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' were very much a Weird British Thing. Orks were based on FootballHooligans, there were visible references to British '80s UsefulNotes/{{Punk}}, jabs at [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher certain politicians]] were made, etc. Although as time went on it became more universal and less overtly British.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' is an example of American absurdity at its finest.
* ''TabletopGame/MaidRPG''. Original flavour Japanese weirdness in RPG form.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Hol}}: Human Occupied Landfill''. Hand-written in several late-night sessions in an IHOP, and originally offered no character creation since "everyone just makes the same types of characters over and over again". When character creation was included in the expansion, stat rolling included several strange and useless abilities, such as an "Almond Joy" stat. ("Roll 1-3: Sometimes you feel like a nut. Roll 4-6: Sometimes you don't.")
* A lot of card-carrying mad genius Jenna Moran's (best known for ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'') non-commercial pet projects are just straightforwardly weird. One that's currently on hiatus is about mischievous little fairies and has a task resolution system based off circuit diagrams and predicate logic.
* Experimental / indie / made for contest [[=RPGs=]] in general. From "Appliance Adventure" (a game about [[WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster intelligent, talking household appliances]]) to "Get Out of Infernopolis" (storytelling gameified UNO where there is only one player / soul and everybody else is a GM / petty demon who makes the one player's life miserable).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation / Original]]
* The ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fan video, ''[[https://youtu.be/bCVIu5mrkDw Border of extacy]]'' by Music/{{IOSYS}} is a widget with illogical pixellated imagery. Let's just extend that to "Half of all touhou-related songs and music videos" rather than list examples for half a page. Though some make more or less sense than others.
* [[https://youtu.be/4bOBMJVFGpU Health with Little Red Riding Hood.]] Oh God, Health with Little Red Riding Hood.
* ''WebVideo/CookingWithDog'', a Website/YouTube program featuring a woman demonstrating how to cook simple Japanese dishes [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "hosted" by a dog]] with a thick Japanese accent. Equal parts weird, cute, Japanese, and useful.
* ''WebAnimation/FightKikkoman'' is a ProductAsSuperhero ParodyCommercial featuring a {{fundoshi}}-wearing, comically-buff man with a packet of soy sauce for a head who fights off "foreign sauces" in a ''Series/KamenRider'' parody. And it's based on an in-joke from the Japanese web forum [=2channel=].
* ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats'' is, to put it simply, a series of videos describing the adventures of a psychopathic llama who visits and devastates a South American city, sinks a cruise ship, and [[spoiler:nukes an entire city]]. All the while, his squeakily-voiced friend with a flowery hat voices his concern and condemns the madman's orphan-dooming actions by crying CAAAAAAARL! Repeatedly.
* The ''WebVideo/ItalianSpiderman'' series on Website/YouTube is a STANZA. It is filmed in English, dubbed into Italian and then subtitled back into English. As well as being a parody, its plot is fairly nonsensical, and it features various wonders such as surf-offs derailed by attacking penguins, and detachable exploding boomerang moustaches.
* ''WebAnimation/TheBigLezShow'' is another Youtube STANZA. It's an UsefulNotes/MSPaint animated series about Lezlie Mackerel, an [[HumanAliens extra-terrestrial]] living in Australia along with his Sasquatch friends, weird [[NoIndoorVoice loud]] yellow creatures known as Choomahs, and... whatever the hell [[TheWoobie Clarence]] is. Virtually everyone speaks in thick, [[ClusterFBomb curse laden]] UsefulNotes/AustralianSlang, are [[StonersAreFunny huge stoners]], and [[SurrealHumor various other weird stuff happens]].
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. All crazy retro pop culture references, all the time. And are those guys supposed to be people or what?
** ''Sweet Cuppin' Cakes'' is an in-universe example, depicted as Strong Bad's attempt to deliberately create a "kuh-''razy'' cartoon".
* The ''WebAnimation/{{Asdfmovie}}'' series is a rather odd series of sketches not tied together at all that involves potatos with guns, throwing cheese at aliens and "doing an internet".
** In a similar vein, you have ''WebAnimation/ActionBunnies''.
* ''WebVideo/TheAnnoyingOrange'', which has now crossed over to Creator/CartoonNetwork.
* Although the plots in ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' tend to be a bit [[CerebusSyndrome more serious]], the site itself has a LOT of weirdness. And that's why people love it.
* ''[[https://youtu.be/vpU8vFatBx4 The Weird History of Finnish Youtube Art]]'' is a compilation of 10 years of internet weirdness from that part of the planet, between the years 2005 and 2015. WARNING: contains WebAnimation/YouTubePoop (SinäTuuba Paska).
* Dutch Youtuber ''[[https://www.youtube.com/user/MassagrafReviews?feature=watch Massagraf]]''. He usually makes WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s of Belgian kids' shows, which can (at times) be rather weird. An even weirder thing, however, is his ''[[https://youtu.be/OgTkX2NOk1w Samsonimatie]]'' series, in which he takes characters from ''Series/SamsonEnGert'' and makes them do ridiculous things, such as drinking each other's heads through a straw. And if that's not weird enough for you, there's also ''[[https://youtu.be/RXhBQwlTJFA vogeltje]]''.
* Large amounts of {{YouTube Kids Channel}}s can be considered as even weirder types of a typical Widget Series.
* The Animutation genre can best be described as an American attempt at imitating widgets.
* ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'' is a creepy but [[ArtStyleDissonance deceptively cute]] series of videos starring puppets who encounter FauxAffablyEvil talking [[AnthropomorphicFood food]], animals, and [[AnimateInanimateObject objects]]. There's also a lot of {{gorn}}.
* ''The WebVideo/FilthyFrank Show'' (made by George "Music/{{Joji}}" Miller, the self-proclaimed "Creator/EdWood of Website/YouTube") relies heavily on SurrealHumor and tends toward the extremely random, [[EqualOpportunityOffender offensive]], and often downright {{gross|OutShow}}. Since Joji was raised in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} by an UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}n father and a Japanese mother, then moved to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity before starting the show that made him famous, the show is either a Widget, STANZA, or W(H)AT.
* The Website/SCPFoundation's NewWeird trappings regularly lead it into Widget territory. Among the less surreal things the titular organisation deals with are [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3081 a species of giant human hands that can be milked like cows]] to an [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-426 alien disguised as a toaster that forces people to refer to it in first person]].
* Some Japanese Website/YouTube channels that review toys for kids are widgets, because the reviewer will often put the toys into weird situations. If the channel is hosted by children, sometimes it shows the kid hosts doing weird things. For example, [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=WrcVhSiV54c this video]] features a young girl named Mari watching an episode of ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'' enacted by plush dolls involving a unicorn Oshimaida that defeats not only the main team, but the ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' girls. Cure Yell [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall]] and tells Mari (who Yell somehow knows the name of) that the show cannot continue until the girl buys the new merchandise from the show. After a brief scene where the girl goes shopping to find the merchandise, she is sucked into the show and defeats the unicorn. [[spoiler:It's then revealed to be AllJustADream, and her dad surprises her with the merchandise she got in the dream]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJQaslHLgs Another video by the same channel as the video above]] involves a girl being sucked into a void while shopping for ''Anime/StarTwinklePrettyCure'' merchandise at a store and seeing ghosts. It is only after she defeats them while becoming a Pretty Cure that she is able to return back.
* The Website/YouTube channel ''[[https://www.youtube.com/c/Berdboi/videos Berd]]'' consists of short (ranging from one ''second'' to just over 1 minute) StylisticSuck animations, starring WebAnimation/{{kiwi}}-esque bird characters and a large dose of SurrealHumor. If you're wondering about the 1-second videos, they're mostly from the "skunk second" series, where each episode is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin just a picture of a skunk with a second-long voiceover of someone saying "skunk."]]
* Music/SiIvaGunner is a gag music channel dedicated to imitating video game music channels as closely as possible. Most of their purported "High Quality Rips" are joke posts, except when they aren't (which itself is part of the joke). Their {{Running Gag}}s are consistent enough to [[AnthropomorphicPersonification become sentient characters]], some of which include: a recolored Mario that sometimes wears [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone]]'s clothes, a porn star with NoIndoorVoice, Nozomi Tojo from ''Anime/LoveLive'', and a poorly drawn [[VideoGame/MegaManII Wood Man]].
* ''WebVideo/JosephsMachines'' is a STANZA channel focused on [[RubeGoldbergDevice Rube Goldberg Devices]], known for its complete lack of DoNotTryThisAtHome disclaimers, instead choosing to show the failures of the machines directly to the audience.
* ''WebOriginal/MushroomLand'' is a Polish (so, a "Whippet") web video series that seems to be some cross between an educational children's television and [[MushroomSamba a heavy trip on hallucinogens]]. Or a product of a damaged child's mind. [[MindScrew Or who knows]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/AxeCop''. What actually happens in the comic is weird enough, but when you factor in that the writer is a six-year-old boy, it truly achieves WHAT status.
* ''Webcomic/ElectricWonderland'' can come off as pretty crazy, due to it taking place in a {{Cyberspace}} world unbound by the laws of physics.
* ''Webcomic/PrincessPi'' tends to rely on nonsensical logic.
* ''Webcomic/{{Dolan}}'' is the epitome of a Weird Finnish Thing.
* ''Webcomic/LetsSpeakEnglish'' thought it necessary in the [[https://www.marycagle.com/letsspeakenglish/112-going-viral strip for 24/02/2016]] to explain the vital importance - as well as the social convention - of wearing a face mask in Japan if you suspect you are ill, so as not to spread anything contagious in a densely populated country. Up until early 2020 this was indeed a Weird East Asian Thing that had to be patiently explained to Westerners, and was taken as proof that the Japanese are impossibly weird and alien.
* ''Webcomic/ListeningTo11975MHz'' is made by a Texan who is also a marine. You really, really would not guess that by reading it if you're going by stereotypes.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is fairly internally coherent, but the extremely unusual storytelling, as well as the sheer absurdity of the plot, definitely qualifies it as a WHAT. Furthing it is how American pop culture such as ''Film/ConAir'' and Music/InsaneClownPosse directly ties in to the plot.
* "WHAT?!" perfectly describes the appropriate reaction to ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' ''AND'' perfectly summarizes it as THAT kind of WHAT. Everything about it is brain-meltingly surreal, to say the least, besides all the unorthodox characters and bizarre workings of the fictional universe it takes place in.
* ''Webcomic/{{Lookism}}'' a WOK, where to begin. Most of his life Park Hyung Suk [[KidsAreCruel has been bullied]] for being [[{{Gonk}} fat and unattractive]]. After his mother shows up at school and sees that he's bullied, she takes all the money she got and lets him transfer schools. It's a school with 7 departments, and he's enrolled to the [[TheFashionista fashion]] department. But On [[HumiliationConga his way]], the hairdresser cuts his hair to look like Kim Jong Un, and after being beat up on the street, he locks himself into his new apartment. After crying himself to sleep, ha awakens again due to a PottyEmergency. When done and washing his hands, he sees a {{bishonen}} in the mirror. It's him, with a HeroicBuild! But in the bedroom, his old body is sleeping. It's not a FreakyFridayFlip and can best be described as LiteralSplitPersonality as he changes between bodies each time he sleeps. Instead of taking the normal path of revenge, [[MiseryBuildsCharacter he decides to befriend as many as he can]]. So it's a {{fighting|Series}}, {{gag|Series}}, PsychologicalHorror, RomanticComedy, and possibly more series with [[MrFanservice male fanservice]](the same way some AnimeAndManga has female fanservice for no reason what so ever all of sudden), while aimed at the same age and gender group as {{seinen}} manga.
* ''Webcomic/MountainTime'' is about as WHAT as it gets, what with its constantly-derailing story lines, characters that range from astronauts to neurotic hamsters to Jewish garden hoses, and settings that are often nonsensical (such as clouds that turn into hams).
* Where do we even ''start'' with ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'' and its magnitude of WHAT-ery? The basic premise alone is already bizarre; the adventures of a Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog[=/=]Franchise/{{P|okemon}}ikachu hybrid and [[AuthorAvatar his real life creator]], and only gets more wild from there; with one of the main villains being a witch based on one of the author's college deans, TimeTravel, and [[Webcomic/{{Asperchu}} rival webcomic creators]] being put on a [[KangarooCourt show trial]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]

!!In General/Multiple Media
* Most American Christian media can come across this way to secular people, or even other Christians. Sometime in TheSeventies, evangelical Christians in the US became deeply enraptured by the concept of [[TheMoralSubstitute creating alternatives to "secular" pop culture]]. This grew to encompass literature (the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series is one of the most visible examples), [[ChristianRock music]], movies, video games, dating sites, and more, to the point where it eventually became an entire separate subculture. ComicBook/ChickTracts also fit the bill.
* [[https://youtu.be/ZHpiPbua_-U tykylevits]]' [[https://youtu.be/WKYD-cDd_Gs videos]] make very little sense until you do some research and find out that, yep, he's from Finland. Then it seems perfectly normal.
%%* Everything shown on [[http://www.wtfjapanseriously.com this site]], really.
* There are also the Japanese vending machines which dispense things like live crabs/lobsters and ''used panties''.
* One aversion. Up until early 2020, television footage from the Far East showing Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc. people going about their everyday business in cities or on mass transport - whilst wearing breathing masks covering mouth and nose - was taken in Europe and the USA as yet more proof of how weird places like Japan were. [[Usefulnotes/COVID19Pandemic And then in 2020...]]

!!Art
* Ao Usagi's art. A lot of it is ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fanart. Some of it is incredibly normal. Sometimes it's a boob in an orange peel.
* Another Whippet ('''W'''eird '''P'''olish '''T'''hing): old Polish movie posters have earned a reputation for mind-blowing weirdness on the Internet, with places such as Cracked or Something Awful doing articles on their content or parodies thereof. In the modern day, a typical movie poster to be seen in Poland is probably the same one as published internationally. However, it used to be so (especially in the commie times) that they were created from scratch by artists who never had much to do with popular art, and frequently had no access to the film beyond the title and perhaps a summary; and in those days, the market was never buyer's so if you went to a cinema the question was "what is" rather than "what to pick". As a result, they created artsy images that would suit an art gallery perfectly, but with nary a thought given to whether or not would they make a viewer actually watch the film they were supposed to advertise.

!!Audio Books
* "Hitsuji de Oyasumi" is a series of short talk [=CDs=] featuring various Japanese voice actors CountingSheep. Not just a few sheep, either; most of the albums go to 400, plus short openings and closings and occasional other mid-count comments. There are at least 22 volumes of this.

!!Live shows
* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil. This Weird French-Canadian Thing first caught attention in the U.S. because it was so different from the long-established, Ringling Bros.-dominated circus format. No animal acts, one ring, little dialogue, New Age/world music, etc. It actually took a lot of inspiration, and later performers, from established European and Asian circuses, but managed to make its own artistic statements and remain distinctive, to the point that their overall style has spawned its own imitators. (By the way, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the Japanese love Cirque]], to the point that the non-touring show ''ZED'' was created for Tokyo Disneyland.) Their 2003 TV show ''Solstrom'' is a true Widget Series: a mostly silent fantasy series that links acrobatic and novelty acts together via whimsical stories involving mischievous "sun creatures" (characters from the various stage shows) running amuck on Earth.

!!Sports
* ''Men With Brooms'' is possibly more Weirdly Canadian than ''Kids in the Hall.'' It's a sports comedy about curling, that also features [[Series/DueSouth Paul Gross]], Leslie Nielsen (as a retired curling guru and hallucinogenic mushroom enthusiast), a guest appearance by Canadian rock group The Tragically Hip, a bagpiper in a kilt with no explicit connection to the plot, and a running gag involving beavers.

!!Tools and Gadgets
* Japanese Bento Lunch Tools. Ever see egg molds? Take a boiled egg, while it's still hot, shell it, and place it into one of these. The resulting shape can be anything from a bunny to a fish to an ice cream cone. There are also ones that essentially makes egg logs with the yolk in varying shapes, such as flower, star, heart etc. On a more extreme note, [[https://youtu.be/g8gJOCwBuFc this kit]].
* [[http://pinktentacle.com/2006/11/eco-friendly-bra-doubles-as-shopping-bag/ The Japanese have invented a bra that turns into a shopping bag.]]
* Japan now has the Toylet. It's a urinal game system. Your pee is the controller. [[http://singularityhub.com/2011/01/05/controlling-video-games-with-your-pee-sega-brings-awkward-fun-to-the-restroom/ And it's made by Sega]].
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu Chindōgu]], literally translating to "weird tool" is a Japanese term for useless inventions, such as a mop attached to a baby so they clean the floor as they crawl around, a [[https://files.tofugu.com/articles/japan/2016-03-14-chindogu-japanese-inventions/noodle-cooler.jpg small fan on your arm that cools off your noodles for you]], and the ''selfie stick''.
* [[https://youtu.be/-Ro3xaCY6JU This weird Estonian thing]] that gives a person one euro if one Estonian kroon is inserted into it, instead of 15.6466 kroons to one euro. It's a cow.
* Invoked with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko Cybiko]], which was a Russian portable computer that was TotallyRadical for the millennium! It tried to convince people that it was a WJT by using [[GratuitousJapanese Gratuitous Japanese]], IntentionalEngrishForFunny and [[http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/740/retro-scan-of-the-week-the-cybiko all]] [[https://youtu.be/cvbQubCXMgo around quirkyness]]

!!Vehicles
* The car industry has more than its fair share of quirkiness:
** Most small Toyotas since about 2000 have this to some extent or another.
** On the international front, ridiculous little dinky cars and hatchbacks from all around the world are perceived this way by Americans.[[note]] This is starting to lessen somewhat in more densely-populated American cites like New York City, due to the sheer impossibility of finding reasonably-priced parking there. Also this American attitude is viewed with puzzlement in nations where there are less roads, more cars, or massive tax duties on fuel. Small cars become essential and everyday.[[/note]] The ultimate example is the autorickshaw, a demented little car-thing built around a ''motorcycle''. The American muscle cars, on other hand, are perceived this way outside America, since the idea of shoving an EnormousEngine in a box-shaped family car, let alone a large luxury car, comes off as ridiculously huge and thirsty for the rest of the world (with rare exceptions like Australia).
** A western example is the short-lived Yggdrasil 'green' motorcycles. We can't link to an example, unfortunately, as the website has been down. If you've played or seen screenshots of the game series ''XtremeG'', they resembled those cycles but only went about 140-170kph and were sold in small numbers in mainland Europe as an environmentally conscious alternative to move from point A to B. They were cheap to buy, but annoyingly expensive to maintain, and attempts to sell them elsewhere were met with confusion and head scratching elsewhere (and even at home) due to the way-too-futuristic designs and odd seating arrangement. (ridden as if you were straddling a rocket [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Wile E Coyote]] style).
** Microcars/small cars in general and Smart cars in particular may also be seen this way in North America. This is caused by Japanese and European car makers not bothering to sell their microcars and more left-field models in North America in a [[SelfFulfillingProphecy self-fulfilling cycle]] of lack of demand from lack of products from lack of demand... Conversely, a lot of places in the rest of the world perceives their relative absence and the preponderance of big sedans, pickup trucks, [=SUV=]s and even the aforementioned ''American muscle cars'' for city dwellers as just as strange. The last few years have however seen [=SUV=]s getting commonplace ''everywhere'', from America to Europe to even ''Japan'', so the trend might be changing.
** The whole Morgan car company is a weird British Car Company: two-seat roadsters with a 1930s design and ''wooden'' chassis? Three wheelers [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Morgan.f4.arp.750pix.jpg with the one wheel at the back?]]. A car with [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Morgan_Aero_8.jpg crossed eyes]]? [[Series/TopGearUK Jeremy Clarkson]] did a thorough investigation of the phenomenon of British sports cars and their drivers [[https://youtu.be/WqjZlx4sRtI here]], noting the irony of a country infamous for [[UsefulNotes/BritishWeather its wet, chilly weather]] being the home of a car that seems meant to be driven on warm, sunny days.
** The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Caterham_7_Roadsport.jpg Caterham 7]].
** In one of his solo feature-length DVD releases, Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson has also introduced many British and American gearheads to this [=DOT=] (Dutch Oddity of Transportation), the Vandenbrink [[https://youtu.be/zb-MIuXTlEs Carver]]. It was subsequently reviewed on ''Top Gear'' proper by the Hamster [[https://youtu.be/TK4wzBYmTIo here]].
** Top Gear also had a segment about the bizarre creations of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact civilian car industry, ranging from Russian compact sedans with holes in the bottom for ice fishing purposes and some kind of...''thing'' from Czechoslovakia with three wheels and a body made of ''leather''.
** French car makers have long had a reputation for quirky and advanced design and engineering. In particular, the Citroen DS was way more futuristic and technologically advanced than many other cars when it was first sold in 1955. The same was said for the Citroen SM when it came out in 1970.
* Some comments about the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Handley_Page_Victor_in_Jubail_naval_airport.jpg Handley Page Victor]] bomber run along the lines of "Only the British would make their nuclear deterrent look like ''that''". The same seems to apply to the Avro Vulcan, which happens to [[CoolPlane look more like a fighter plane than a bomber]]. Applies for the Russians and the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Tupolev_Tu-95_Marina.jpg Tu-95]].
** Thanks to a combination of being [[OlderThanTheyThink strikingly ahead of their time]], unique looking and having few export sales due to (among other things) Sweden's rather [[NoExportForYou strict policies on weapons export]], SAAB's jet fighters have seen Sweden get a reputation for uniquely distinct fighter jet designs. These include the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_35_Draken#/media/File:SAAB_DRAKEN.png J 35 Draken]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_37_Viggen#/media/File:Viggen.svg JA 37 Viggen]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_JAS_39_Gripen#/media/File:JAS39_Gripen.svg JAS 39 Gripen]].
** Talking about Sweden, they also managed to field a turretless tank with its main gun just sticking out of the chassis (the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stridsvagn_103#/media/File:Stridsvagn_103_Revinge_2013-1.jpg Stridsvagn 103]]).
* The Japanese have a weird obsession with making as much noise as possible when driving a car or motorbike (even if that noise is the sound of the engine being shredded). They love to rev the crap out of mopeds for no apparent reason.

[[/folder]]

----

[[index]]

[[/index]]

* Most small Toyotas since about 2000 have this to some extent or another.

** The weird German movie ''Sei zärtlich, Pinguin'' (Be gentle, [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguin]])

[[folder:Western Animation]]
[[AC:'''W(H)AT''' (Weird (Humorous) American Thing)]]
* A lot of Creator/HannaBarbera shows are this, depending on how obscure they are. A show featuring a [[WesternAnimation/HongKongPhooey talking dog Kung-fu hero]]? A show where [[WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop a woman is constantly in danger of being brutally murdered]]? And even those shows are fairly well known.
** The H-B crossover series ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'' is what happens when you combine the H-B library with ''Chowder'', ''Regular Show'', and ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}''. Choice plots include Yogi voring everyone, Cindy turning the entire town into gelatin, El Kabong transforming into a guitar, evil animatronics at a pizza arcade, a destructive VR game, and a random {{Animesque}} battle sequence.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' If you're a newcomer to the show, and not tearing your hair out in frustration, crying "WHAT!? THE!? HELL?!?" by the time the {{c|ouchGag}}himpanzee line rolls around in its ''opening theme'', then you should probably check yourself into the nearest psychiatric ward. And that's just ''one'' of the many, '''''MANY''''' oddities that this show likes to throw at you.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', albeit to a far lesser degree overall than ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{CatDog}}'' involves a pair of ConjoinedTwins who happen to be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a cat and a dog]] who live with their blue mouse-like neighbor and constantly go through [[SadistShow complete and utter misery]] while dealing with a gang of literal Greaser dogs, a green rabbit [[NewJobAsThePlotDemands who has at least one new job every episode]], and [[spoiler:were raised by a yeti-like creature and a frog with a big nose and the voice of Creator/BillyBobThornton]]. It definitely qualifies as a W.H.A.T., especially thanks to the plethora of [[NightmareFuel disturbing imagery]] and DerangedAnimation.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBuzzOnMaggie'' easily qualifies for this trope just by virtue of being an otherwise rather [[Creator/DisneyChannel archetypal tween-girl sitcom]] set in an [[AudienceAlienatingPremise anthropomorphic-sentient-bug-infested garbage dump]] where [[ScavengedPunk basically everything is made out of trash and other assorted human refuse]]. Also, Maggie (a fly) has [[HumanlikeFootAnatomy human feet]] in one of the episodes as well.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the bizarre adventures of a boy and his dog in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, much of which is totally surreal. The show itself also has a Widget Episode in "Food Chain", animated by Creator/MasaakiYuasa. [[BizarroEpisode It is bizarre even by the show's own standards]]. At one point the characters turn into birds and sing an aria from ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', and it just gets stranger from there...
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack''. Just watch [[https://youtu.be/hN4uhOWQrHU the opening]]. Though, much of the oddness comes from the [[DerangedAnimation sheer amount]] [[NightmareFuel of horror]] [[BlackComedy as humour]].
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' has the tagline "It's anything but [regular]". The cast comprises a mish-mash of humans, animals, creatures and inanimate objects, and every episode has surreal events, their resolutions being even more so. It also has its InUniverse widget anime: ''Planet Chasers Starlight Excellent''. It's so nonsensical, it traps your mind within the videotape.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''. Sentient food, NoFourthWall, and Dr. Seuss-like weirdness? Yup. Definitely an example.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheProblemSolverz'', [[FlameBait a rather polarizing cartoon]] about a man, a robot, and a [[InformedSpecies "dog-anteater"]] (he looks more like a turd with limbs and a face) who do ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}''. A kid's show about robots going to school is one thing, but one where something (or someone) is destroyed every other scene, the cast is almost entirely mentally unstable, and the ENTIRE planet is a war zone? Yup, pure WHAT.
* ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa''. From the moment Uncle Grandpa reappears in the picture frame ''after'' disappearing from view ''from outside'', and then walking into frame from the side (if not sooner), it's been made incredibly clear that this show isn't simply on a rocket train to Weirdsville, it already arrived long ago, made itself at home and set up shop.
* Creator/AdultSwim's original animation block is filled to the brim with a variety of [=WHATs=], starting from ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'' (an anarchic, animated "talk show"):
** ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', the misadventures of a trio of talking fast-food items, and their put-upon neighbor.
** ''WesternAnimation/PerfectHairForever'', a parody of anime in general and shonen anime in particular. The hero's mentor and the main villain look identical aside from one being nearly bald and the other having {{kaleidoscop|eHair}}ic AnimeHair, and minions include Catman (who is just a guy in a cat costume) and Terry/Twisty, a walking, talking tree with a SplitPersonality (who later seems to do a HeelFaceTurn but that's around the point where the show stopped following the plot and started just being a RandomEventsPlot).
** ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021'', which has surreal, rambling plots and often outright insane characters.
** ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'', a show with the eponymous superhero-turned-lawyer as its protagonist. Many of his cases are based around jokes referencing old, sometimes obscure American cartoons.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow'', which parodies the trope in its WJT form in the episode "Sexy New Brak Show Go".
** ''WesternAnimation/BlackDynamite'', which focuses on fantastically warped versions of characters from out-of-date African American culture and just plain weirdness.
** The rest of Creator/AdultSwim, and quite possibly all other media that has ever been made, is put to absolute shame by ''WesternAnimation/XavierRenegadeAngel''. The main character is a creature with the legs of a goat, six nipples, the beak of a bird, and a snake for a hand. One episode ends with a casino being destroyed by sentient drops of blood. And that's one of the ''relatively normal'' episodes.
** ''WesternAnimation/MikeTysonMysteries'', which is exactly what it sounds like -- an AffectionateParody of Hanna-Barbera's 70's "mystery-solvers" cartoons, starring a foppish ghost, a talking pigeon, a pre-teen Asian girl, and Mike Tyson AsHimself.
** ''WesternAnimation/TwelveOunceMouse''. Some describe it as TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: The Cartoon. No surprise given that it's StylisticSuck mixed with bizarre pseudo-drama.
** ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' falls more on the bizarre end of this trope. While sci-fi comedy is nothing new by any means, it has never been this demented. Planets and alternate universes with hamsters living in humans' butts, structures and organisms modeled on a cob down to the molecular level, sentient furniture beings that use humans as furniture and eat phones, sentient phones that use pizza as furniture, anthropomorphic pizza slices that eat humans... that's only the tip of the iceberg.
%% ** ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}.''
%% ** ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}.''
* [[Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer The Fleischer Studios]] with anything they did. There's a ghost of a walrus singing a song written by Cab Calloway, rotoscoped from Cab Calloway's dancing; as well as [[WesternAnimation/OutOfTheInkwell Koko the Clown's]] antics. Counts as a W.E.N.T, or "Weird Early Nineteen-hundreds Thing."
* Some ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons would probably count, since only jazz music was an instant hit worldwide and the culture took a little time to catch up, and also purely American-centric television tropes like Mammy Two-shoes. (Granted, on that second part, minstrel show anything would count. Droopy had a crapload of those kinds of jokes.) Not that they didn't exist in other countries, it just existed in different forms. Errr, is there a trope for humour that plain doesn't translate well?
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' was not known only for its bizarre, [[GrossoutShow grossout humor]], but also [[https://twinsanity.co/2015/07/23/toons-tunes-ren-stimpy-climb-inside-my-world/ off-kilter music choices...]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' comes across this way to anyone who isn't from Middle America or the DeepSouth. Ironically though, ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' may be the ultimate ''anti''-Widget Series. On top of that, the lead character feels this way about [[WeirdnessCensor anything outside his comfort zone]].
* [[https://youtu.be/PJYxCSXjhLI The short]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Rejected}}'', by Creator/DonHertzfeldt. "You're watching the Family Learning Channel. And now, angry ticks fire out of my nipples."
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' occasionally veers into this territory, especially in its more nonsensical episodes. Being a series that relies ''heavily'' on American popular culture and [[RippedFromTheHeadlines news]], an outsider may find an easier time comprehending the episodes with TalkingPoo. In the directors' commentary of ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'', the director and the interviewer commented that ''South Park'' comes across as a big-time Widget Series in Japan since so many of the popular culture references are lost.
* The 80's ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' was a Widget series to anyone familiar with the original Mirage Comics. Lampshaded during ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever''. After [[AnotherDimension transporting into the dimension]] of the 1987 TMNT cartoon, the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Turtles]] witness the heroics of their 1987 counterparts as they [[DamselInDistress rescue April]] from evil {{leprechaun}}s, [[AnimateInanimateObject monster bowling balls]], mutant pizza slices, and... well, Raphael says the last one:
-->'''2003 Raphael:''' Was that a mutant... ''banana''?\\
'''2003 Michelangelo:''' This [[AlternateUniverse dimension]] is seriously messed-up.
* ''WesternAnimation/KappaMikey''. Helps that the premise is about a WesternAnimation character living in AnimeLand.
* ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone''. Kids having adventures in a world inhabited by walking, talking chalk drawings means lots of weirdness, alright.
%% * ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'', even moreso in earlier episodes.
%% * ''WesternAnimation/KAlphaAndOmega''
%% * ''WesternAnimation/K{{Gumby}}''
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' could be seen this way by people who aren't used to it.
** The show's third movie, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOnTheRun'' features two rather bizarre characters: a tumbleweed with a human's face and a human who lives in an underwater version of Atlantic City.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' is a series where kids are menaced by an evil conspiracy of adults and protected by a BenevolentConspiracy of kids, in a reality where Saturn's rings are made of stuffed animals, the stuffed animals themselves have real animal counterparts (some of which are gigantic), jungle gyms lead to islands with chocolate volcanos populated by wedgie-sauruses - you get the idea. Anything can happen here, and probably will in this crazy world.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Twin Peaks style supernatural animated weirdness, and on Disney to boot. Though not as weird as everyone else on this list.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' is what happens when you combine this trope with BlackComedy and GrossoutShow. Episode premises have included a principal and a hippo being turned into rappers, Billy turning the world into a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 30s-]]era cartoon by juggling chickens, an invisible fart-imitating duck annoying everyone, and a parody of Creator/HannaBarbera cartoon characters trying to conquer the world by stealing beds.
* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder''. Take ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', the wackiness of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', the character designs of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', and a space setting. Now, put them in a blender, and voila! A weird, wacky little cartoon.
* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' is a W(H)AT about a couple, who both happen to be a pair of legs, who have two children: a cow and a chicken. The duo are harassed in every episode by an insane, crossdressing demon who emphasizes his lack of pants and the former of the two can turn into a Spanish-speaking superhero. [[FlatWhat What.]]
** If you think ''that's'' weird, from the same creator as ''Cow and Chicken'' is ''WesternAnimation/YoohooAndFriends'', which is exactly what you get when you take some obscure Korean preschool cartoon based on a cute toyline and Westernize it by [[GagDub re-dubbing]] and re-animating it into a [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] comedy show about five greedy executives who are turned into cute, fluffy animals by ''the'' Father Time (voiced by ''the'' Flavor Flav), and in order to wish themselves back into being humans, they must do good deeds and help out the environment. If literally any of that was confusing to you, you now know ''exactly'' what you're in for.
%% * '' WesternAnimation/{{Breadwinners}}''
* ''WesternAnimation/PickleAndPeanut'' If the name alone didn't tip you off, how about spoonfuls of DerangedAnimation, excessive {{Art Shift}}s, MediumBlending, and just all-out weirdness.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' made reference to this, as the weirder episodes (such as those involving insane RealityWarper villains like Mad Mod and Mumbo Jumbo) usually had the theme song done in Japanese whereas the more "serious" episodes had it in English. Follow-up series ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'', while less {{Animesque}}, just outright drops the seriousness and embraces WHAT territory.
* ''WesternAnimation/WordWorld'': Everything and every''one'' is made of the letters in their name, and new objects (and even new characters) can be created by just putting the appropriate letters next to each other. It's especially strange by Creator/{{PBS}} standards.
* ''WesternAnimation/FutureWorm'': A boy makes a time machine out of his own lunch box and befriends the eponymous character, an unbelievably badass ''worm'', complete with a beard. HilarityEnsues.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse:'' The title character is a half-alien, half-human boy with three alien aunts, one of which is actually two smaller aunts, but also herself, and one human dad. He is also his mom, [[spoiler:who is also the alter ego of a space goddess who became fascinated with humanity and waged war against her older sisters to save the Earth from being hollowed out for its organic resources]]. He owns a pink lion [[spoiler:who was revived from the dead with his mother's tears]] whose mane contains a pocket dimension that functions as a hold-all storage unit.
* Creator/{{HBO}}'s late-90s show ''WesternAnimation/{{Crashbox}}'' was a rare edutainment example-- the premise of the show was a bunch of robots inside a giant, steampunk-ish computer would create game cartridges for segments where the viewers would learn stuff, ranging from a robotic match teacher who taught "Psycho Math", to a talking pair of ears who would try to guess where they were based on the noises they heard.
* ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', TV's first animated reality show where [[TheyKilledKennyAgain characters die and come back in the same episode without explanation]], making it the most unrealistic animated show ever created. Really think about how completely insane that is. WordOfGod implied nothing in this show is ever meant to make any sense [[RuleOfFunny other than that it's funny.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' is a W(H)AT. The fact that nobody finds anthropomorphic animal actors in a human-filled world and walking in broad daylight to be odd brings questions to first-time viewers' minds.
* From much of the same team as ''Bojack Horseman'', we have ''WesternAnimation/TucaAndBertie'', a WHAT taking place in a similar WorldOfFunnyAnimals with ''much'' more [[SurrealHumor offbeat humor]], which is [[RapidFireComedy faster-paced]] to boot. The first episode alone involves the titular duo searching for an urn belonging to Bertie's boyfriend Speckle, containing his grandmother's ashes, ultimately leading to the two chasing a turtle through the city into a bakery, where the ashes are baked into a cake... only for Speckle's grandmother to be reincarnated as a cake. She then tells Speckle to eat her, so she can live on in his stomach.
-->'''Eat the ghost cake! Eat the ghost cake!'''
* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' is an old Disney cartoon about the golden age of seaplane travel. What makes it very bizarre is that characters are very, very randomly taken from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'', a work with a vastly different tone and plot. They have been anthropomorphized and revisioned, with Shere Khan for example going from a regular wild tiger living in a forest to a bipedal businessman.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' is a WHAT describable as ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]. The series revolves around two boys who decide to spend a [[ComicBookTime supposedly 104-day summer vacation]] by doing all sorts of crazy & inane activities (mainly making crazy inventions in their backyard), all while trying to hide their shenanigans from their bratty older sister. And then there's the stranger elements such as each episode's subplot where the family pet becomes a secret agent and fights an evil German mad scientist, and random appearances by a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin giant floating baby head]].
* ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'' is a WHAT animated series from the same people as ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' about a trio of river otters who live on a houseboat on a lake [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield of undetermined location]] who do a "Noodle Dance" to solve problems, and live alongside a variety of neighbors including millionaire poodles, a toilet seat-collecting "mayor", and "watchbird" cranes.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'', a typical episode of which involves a talking horse competing in a drag queen show or a kleptomaniac antelope counseling her kidnappers through their OCD. Centaurworld's widget-ness is used as a setting element; it's a planet that exists alongside a fairly realistic medieval Earth, and the protagonist ([[TrappedInAnotherWorld who got stranded in it from the latter]]) has extreme difficulty coping with the weirdness there.
* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': First off, God in this universe is a corncob. Next, Santa Claus is a school principal. Video games are referred to as "videos game" [sic], there's a talking sun, a strawberry girl, a robot barber, a Real Magic Skeleton (yes, he's called that), a guy with cobras for hands, a salesman with cookies for eyes, and everyone has their own trading card and "Hero Level". And there's the OffModel animation, and all the very specific anime and Creator/CartoonNetwork jokes that only a few people will get.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' is [[ReferenceOverdosed filled with pop-culture references]], many of which only a few people will get. Other than that, there are episodes with plots like Peter buying an army tank at a car dealership, Brian and Stewie going [[BackToTheEarlyInstallment back to the]] {{Pilot}} and attempting to stop 9/11 only for it to backfire, Peter discovering the house is technically not on American soil and nearly starting a war, Peter and Lois getting pursued by an angry Creator/MelGibson in a second honeymoon gone awry, Chris's evil talking pimple encouraging him to do horrible things, and so forth. There’s also the fact that Stewie is a sadistic baby bent on killing Lois, and there's another kid whose face is on upside-down.

[[AC:'''Wabbit''' (Weird British Thing)]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WhatsTheBigIdea'' is a Wabbit mainly because the concept of a philosophy show for preschoolers is rather unheard of.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretShow'', a show about two secret agents going on adventures that include explosive boogers and a sentient evil brain that feeds on fear.
* WesternAnimation/TheClangers, a '70s British children's show which was about pink alien mice that spoke in whistles; one could call it a [[Creator/TheBBC BBT]] ([[JustForPun Bizarre British Thing]]).
* ''Creator/AardmanAnimations'' animations are often filled with British terms that non-Brits might not be familiar with.
** ''WesternAnimation/RexTheRunt'' manages to be the epitome of this. A bunch of claymation dogs and their adventures through time, outer-space, 'inside brains'...
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePresentators'' is one of these; an extremely short-lived series about a trio of otherwise-normal {{Cartoon Creature}}s hosting a TV show, featuring theme parks based on countries, hats that make music when lifted from the table, and reality-warping weather maps that can crush people with giant pencils.
* ''WesternAnimation/OscarsOrchestra'' on CBBC. Set in the ''very'' distant future, about a group of [[AnimateInanimateObject sentient]] ''[[AnimateInanimateObject music instruments]]'' (Oscar is a grand blue piano, and their leader) fighting the music-hating world dictator Thaddius Vent.
* ''WesternAnimation/PibAndPog'' is a pure WABBIT with its maniacal humor and guise as a preschool show.
* ''WesternAnimation/NinaNeedsToGo'' turned out to be a Wabbit for most foreign markets, as the concept of a grandma who does insane stunts to take her grandkid to the bathroom on time seemed to be a little bit over the top and strange for them.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Llanargollen}}'' is a wabbit ([[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} sort of]]) about a man solving mysteries in a live-action world with an [[RogerRabbitEffect animated doggy sidekick]] in the small, titular village. You'd think it sounds awfully a lot like ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues'' (and you're right), but what's especially weird about it is what it contains. From [[FlyingCar flying bikes]] to [[EverythingTalks talking handbags and singing letter stamps]], and with the main cast comprising of a {{pirate}} and {{wizard|sAndWitches}}, this show is nothing short of a Welsh MindScrew.
* ''WesternAnimation/DoctorSnuggles'' is a "Wabbit". A lot of elements in this show are best understood in the context of British culture with a 1970s vibe to it. You have British elements like an idyllic countryside and tea drinking; psychedelic animation; a FunnyAnimal supporting cast to the title character; plus talking trees!

[[AC:'''Wicket''' (Weird Canadian Thing)]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JacobTwoTwo'' is very much a wicket. It includes major references to hockey, is set in Montreal, has an explicitly stated Quebecois character, and has assignments about Canadian explorers. There's also the Canadian style of humour in the show.
* Creator/{{Teletoon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}''. The premise being about MixAndMatchCritters is just the top of the barrel for this Wicket where ''the very first episode'' involves bowling pin aliens invading Earth.
* Another Wicket from Teletoon is ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''. How many other versions of {{Hell}} have giant talking sandwiches (among other objects), a month in which everyone falls asleep for a day, evil pickles, biker clowns, a perfume that turns wearers into giraffes, talking animals, racing fleas, evil space unicorns, and a demon version of the Tooth Fairy? It's probably worth noting that a lot of these happened in Season 2 as opposed to the more defined Miseryville of Season 1.
* ''WesternAnimation/YakkityYak'', an obscure and short-lived GagSeries by Creator/{{Teletoon}} that also aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in 2003. It's about the adventures of a yak who lives in the town of Onion Falls and dreams about being a comedian. By itself, that's weird enough, but to add to it, his best friend is a pineapple-headed person, his agent is a trilobite, and a mad scientist with hair that changes colour based on his mood and a robot daughter[=/=]assistant lives in his basement. Yup, a Wicket in the purest sense of the term.
* Creator/{{Teletoon}} gives us yet another pure, undiluted Wicket in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishfart}}'', a series best described as ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]. The main characters are a non-traditional leprechaun, a talking puffin, and a StringyHairedGhostGirl. Every episode title is a non-sequitur uttered in the episode. And a normal episode for the series would be the leprechaun eating cabbage to impress a mermaid that leads to snowmen declaring war on everyone. Even the freakin' title screams of Wicket![[note]]It's like a brain fart but for wishes![[/note]]
* ''Hoze Houndz'' is a huge Wicket. Think ''WesternAnimation/FiremanSam'' but if it was made by UsefulNotes/FurryFandom members [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on a lot of drugs]]. One piece of fanart on [=DeviantArt=] had a comment recalling an episode "where the main characters go to a fast-food restaurant and they get toys that were actually superpower accessories." In other words, a typical episode.

[[AC:'''WTF''' (Weird Thing from France)]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvezVousDejaVu'' is a ''Weird Thing from France'' ('''[[FunWithAcronyms W.T.F.]]''') that can easily beat ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' and ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' for the title of the weirdest series in the world. Although it seems like all the information about this... strangeness... is in French, you can find some videos on the Internet by googling the title. It was made by Alain Chabat, who's considered the king of the weird in France.
* ''WesternAnimation/ChapiChapo'', a Weird French Thing, consists of the playful adventures of two small... children that manipulate innumerable boxes, and sometimes even physical laws.
* ''Les Renés'', another ''Weird Thing from France'', a series about a cyclop family, created by the French artist Hervé Di Rosa.
* One of the earliest French CGI series, ''Chipie & Clyde'', a series about a selfish wolf called Clyde who live in a loft and his antagonist, a girl called Chipie, who is able to send him by magic to make a test each time he says the [[ClusterFBomb F word]]. In the same case, ''Les Quarxs'', a scientist who shows some weird creatures that came from nowhere which caused him some serious problems in his work.
* ''WesternAnimation/PeepoodoAndTheSuperFuckFriends'', a French animated series which ''heavily'' parodies children's cartoons in the vein of ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', and although there are some very helpful lessons on sexuality scattered throughout, it's packed with unbelievably graphic and raunchy content. (one episode even discusses coprophilia and urophilia) Also, [[NakedPeopleAreFunny almost every single one of the characters has their junk hanging out.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SoupeOpera'': Definitely a Weird Thing from France. Fruit and vegetables move around and form animals, all to '90s-sounding music.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': The entire cast are mentally unstable [[FunnyAnimal talking animals]], they live on [[CrapsaccharineWorld a planet that runs on magic]] (with no buildings, stores, schools, offices, etc.), there's ridiculous amounts of violence and destruction, and the characters have access to time machines, love potions and the like.
* ''La planète de Franchise/DonkeyKong'' (especially its final years under the ''DKTV'' title) is pretty weird by design: it's basically a post-modern sketch show featuring a handful of the ''Donkey Kong'' characters, who behave [[NotAsYouKnowThem very differently]] from their portrayals in any other media, and features humour and subject matter raunchier than what you'd expect for something based on a Nintendo property. What pushes it in WTF territory is the frequent references to French pop culture and that most of the skits are built around untranslatable puns.

[[AC:'''STANZA''' (Strange Thing from Australia/New Zealand/Australasia)]]
* ''WesternAnimation/LittleElvisJonesAndTheTruckstoppers'' is a STANZA. The main character is a foundling who may or may not be the heir to Music/ElvisPresley. He and his friends have a profitable band, which draws them into conflict with an asshole corporate bigwig who uses {{Unobtanium}} to [[EvilIsPetty cheat at marbles]] and constantly subjects his one minion to ElectricTorture.
* ''WesternAnimation/Epic1984'' is a [=STANZA=] variety, as it's [[AmbiguousTimePeriod apparently set in the distant past]] and features two children raised by dingoes who must find a way to remain with them; As the writer and director Creator/YoramGross put it: "A rather Australian film - I can't say very successful, a little bit too much experimental film, too much abstract story."

[[AC:'''WST''' (Weird Scandinavian Thing)]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnDillermand'' is a Danish children's TV series about a man and his very long and prehensile penis, that can act independently of him and get him into trouble.

[[AC:Other/Multiple]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' is this in terms of animation (a mix of stop-motion, computer-generated effects and traditional animation), characters (the protagonist is a blue cat with an orange fish as his adopted brother, and his parents are a pink bunny married with another blue cat; his schoolmates include a UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex, a paper-made bear, a cactus and a cloud) and events (very silly incidents that are taken too seriously). Many episodes revolve around the characters reacting to [[DeconstructorFleet and examining tropes]] the way a normal person would, making their setup all the funnier.
* Any episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' that begins with its theme song in Japanese is this. Especially the one where it is sung by a one-shot, otaku character, according to Creator/AndreaRomano's comments in a DVD EasterEgg.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when an already manically bizarre promotional videotape for the Japanese cleaning product Mr. Sparkle includes, for no apparent reason, a brief clip of a reporter asking a two-headed cow, "Any plans for summer?" Then the cow shatters with a look of horror on its face(s) upon viewing Mr. Sparkle.
* ''Panique au Village'' (''A Town Called Panic'') is a bizarre Belgian stop-motion shorts series. Also, ''Pic Pic André Shoow'' by the same authors.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pingu}}'' is totally a weird Swiss thing. It's a {{Claymation}} series about a BrattyHalfPint little boy [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguin]], who [[RubberMan can stretch and squash himself into any shape he desires]], who speaks a [[SpeakingSimlish non-sensical babble]] thus leaving the stories of the show to be told through inference via body language, and of which several episodes have been BannedInChina due to horror and ToiletHumor.
* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'': Take two or more celebrities, put them in a wrestling ring and make them duke it out until one of them is left alive. Then make the whole setting a WorldOfHam. With lots of bloodshed and violence, this show is a prime example of Widgetness in claymation form.
* ''WesternAnimation/FatDogMendoza'': The adventures of [[ABoyAndHisX a boy in a superhero costume and his dog (which looks more like a giant cat's head with legs and a tail)]]. They're best friends with a girl who has purple hair, their teacher has two heads [[PunnyName (one named Polly, the other Esther)]], the villains include a guy with feet for hands and another with a giant green head... and that's just the ''premise.''
* ''WesternAnimation/CoconutFredsFruitSaladIsland''. Take ''[=SpongeBob SquarePants=]'' and ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', throw them in a blender, add a whole load of plots so nonsensical and random that you head will be spinning by the time the episode's over, and make them into a cartoon. Voila, one of the weirdest cartoons ever made.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wunschpunsch}}'' is a [=WTF=], WICKET, and a PEGS ''at the same time''. Who thought a series wherein a cat and a raven are forced to stop their witch owners' spells from destroying the city they live in could be so crazy?
* ''Baby Jake'' is a combination Wabbit/[=EIEIO=] about the titular character, who is [[ItMakesSenseInContext a baby's face on an animated body]], with it's babbling translated by the character's 6-year old brother, who resides in a windmill in England. To parents, it's irritating and annoying. To others, it makes them go "What the hell did I just watch?"
** From the other side of the pond is the W(H)AT ''Go, Baby!'', a series of shorts that aired during Playhouse Disney in the 2000s and briefly returned in 2012 when it rebranded to Disney Junior. Like ''Baby Jake'', the characters are animated photographs.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' qualifies as a W(H)AT and partially a Wicket since the series is produced in the US and the voice cast is from Canada. The show is quite wacky, taking place in a QuirkyTown and starring a QuirkyHousehold, having many absurd jokes, and some plots that [[ItMakesSenseInContext only make sense in context]].
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/{{Telechat}}'', a French-Belgian puppet show from the '80s. The series is a parody of TV news presented by a black cat with an arm cast (which he uses as [[HammerSpace an all-purpose box]]) called Groucha and his female counterpart, an ostrich called Lola. The news (which Groucha does with the help of a sentient microphone) relates the life of "gluons", supposedly the smallest things in existence. Sometimes Lola will also have a talk round, with a fork and a [[FunnySpoon spoon]] ([[UncannyValley with human faces!]]). There are also nonsense commercials with a green orangutan in the jungle, who [[RunningGag always]] manages to screw up the take, to the chagrin of the spot's director; and Léguman, a parody of Japanese Sentai shows. Because of its quirkiness and freakish ambiance, this show scared a whole generation of French kids, who will tell you that it still gives them some feeling of dread if they try rewatching the show. An outsider wouldn't necessarily be traumatized, but would get that this thing was weird in a distinctly French (well, Belgian and French) way.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation's NewWeird trappings regularly lead it into Widget territory. Among the less surreal things the titular organisation deals with are [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3081 a species of giant human hands that can be milked like cows]] to an [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-426 alien disguised as a toaster that forces people to refer to it in first person]].

** A western example is the short-lived Yggdrasil 'green' motorcycles. We can't link to an example, unfortunately, as the website has been down for about two years. If you've played or seen screenshots of the game series ''XtremeG'', they resembled those cycles but only went about 140-170kph and were sold in small numbers in mainland Europe as an environmentally conscious alternative to move from point A to B. They were cheap to buy, but annoyingly expensive to maintain, and attempts to sell them elsewhere were met with confusion and head scratching elsewhere (and even at home) due to the way-too-futuristic designs and odd seating arrangement. (ridden as if you were straddling a rocket [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Wile E Coyote]] style).

* ''Oscar's Orchestra'' on CBBC. Set in the ''very'' distant future, about a group of [[AnimateInanimateObject sentient]] ''[[AnimateInanimateObject music instruments]]'' (Oscar is a grand blue piano, and their leader) fighting the music-hating world dictator Thaddius Vent.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}''. A kid's show is about robots going to school is one thing, but one where something (or someone) is destroyed every other scene, the cast is almost entirely mentally unstable, and the ENTIRE planet is a war zone? Yup, pure WHAT.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': The entire cast are mentally unstable [[FunnyAnimal talking animals]], they live on [[CrapsaccharineWorld a planet that runs on magic]] (with no buildings, stores, schools, offices, etc.), there's ridiculous amounts of violence and destruction, and the characters have access to time machines, love ptions and the like.

* ''Oscar's Orchestra'' on CBBC. Set in the ''very'' distant future, about a group of [[AnimateInanimateObject sentient]] [[AnimateInanimateObject ''music instruments'']] (Oscar is a grand blue piano, and their leader) fighting the music-hating world dictator Thaddius Vent.

* Experimental / indie / made for contest [[=RPGs=]] in general. From "Appliance Adventure" (a game about intelligent, talking household appliances) to "Get Out of Infernopolis" (storytelling gameified UNO where there is only one player / soul and everybody else is a GM / petty demon who makes the one player's life miserable).

* ''Oscar's Orchestra'' on CBBC. Set in the ''very'' distant future, about a group of sentient ''music instruments'' (Oscar is a grand blue piano, and their leader) fighting the music-hating world dictator Thaddius Vent.

* Although books of humorous stories and "laws" about how things go horribly wrong are a somewhat common genre, ''ThePeterPrinciple'', with its punny names and fantastically banal "case studies", is not only the most famous but the most uniquely wickety of all of them. (It was, however, inspired by ParkinsonsLaw, a hilariously turgid Wabbit.)

* David Lynch and Mark Frost followed up TP with ''Series/OnTheAir'', a short-lived sitcom about the producyion of a 1950s variety show that included among other things a possibly magical duck, a definitely magical talking dog, a studio technician with a medical condition that caused him to see 25.62 times more than anyone else (everything from childrens' toys to dancing Santas) along with the Hurry Up Twins who do nothing but rush around the studio saying "Hurry up! Hurry up!"

* WHAT - ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''. A couple of gun-toting {{Funny Animal}}s [[TheyFightCrime Fight Crime]] ([[DesignatedHero sometimes on purpose]]), and go on mildly psychedelic adventures through {{Eagleland}} childhood nostalgia and American pop cultural references. To non-Americans it ranges from mildly incomprehensible to completely incomprehensible, [[SurrealHumour which may be why the largest fansite for them is British]].

* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': '''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck''' has a SecretIdentity as Paperinik, known in English-speaking countries as Superduck or the Duck Avenger; he finds an ArtificialIntelligence in a skyscraper. TheyFightCrime.

* ''John Dillermand'' is a Danish children's TV series about a man and his very long and prehensile penis, that can act independently of him and get him into trouble.