History YMMV / Dilbert

** The PHB accuses Dilbert of this after the latter saves his life via CPR. In addition to [[RefugeInAudacity assuming Dilbert tried to date rape him]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Some strips suggest the Pointy-Haired Boss isn't as dumb as he often appears. Possibly he's a semi-competent middle manager with a [[JerkAss sociopathic streak]]. He's unquestionably out of his depth with technology though.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The strip began on '''April 16''', 1989. Needless to say, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre its 18th birthday wasn't a good one]], and every other birthday since hasn't been all that great. Fortunately, unlike {{Garfield}}, this strip doesn't do formal birthday celebration episodes. And life sucks in this strip's universe, anyway.

** The PHB accuses Dilbert of pulling this after the latter saves his life via CPR.

'''Dilbert:''' ''He'' wrote it!

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Parodied in a (nun) art expert who insists everything is about barely suppressed sexual urges. It's obvious that she's projecting so hard that they could use her for powerpoint presentations.

** The scenario of a crochety old lady who only owns one share of a failing company rambling about irrelevant things at a stockholders' meeting may sound familiar to fans of a [[WesternAnimation/Futurama certain other show]]. The fact that said old lady is [[HeyItsThatVoice voiced by the same person]] certainly doesn't help.

* TrueArtSticksItToTheMan (Uh-oh, ''Dilbert'' doesn't stick it to the man enough! Therefore it must be evil! At least that's Norman Solomon's way of thinking.)

* XPacHeat: Considering how many of the strip's fans are actual engineers and other science-y types, it lost a few readers when Scott Adams admitted in an interview that he was a Creationist (albeit not one of those Young Earth ones).
** He lost even more in an incident on his blog where he displayed shocking levels of both misogyny and misandry (wherein he compared women to children or someone with a mental illness and men who didn't want to treat them that way as mewling whiners), deleted it to cover it up, and when he discovered that it had been preserved and reposted numerous places, tried to claim it was all an "experiment" to see how people would react (a common claim of annoying internet denizens who have found themselves in an argument they can't win).

* HilariousInHindsight: Comp-U-Comp's boast -- [[{{Portal}} "Have you ever wondered what happens when humans die? I know the answer! All I'm saying is...]] ''[[{{Portal}} big surprise!]]''" -- as he's challenging a human in the central command room of his totally automated production plant.

* NeutralEvil: Dogbert. On those rare occasions when he pauses from conquering and pillaging on a global scale to help Dilbert, it is solely for his own amusement.

* BetterThanItSounds- Typical business life, as depicted by an economist.

* RecycledScript: The [[http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-09-18/ September 18, 2008]] strip is similar to [[http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2007-05-25/ May 25, 2007]], except the [=PHB=] provides the strip's exposition instead of [[GenericGuy Ted]]'s thoughts, the [[YourHeadAsplode explosion]] was an indiscretion shot, the [=PHB=] doesn't look disheveled in the last panel, and Carol is facing him.

* HilariousInHindsight: Comp-U-Comp's boast -- [[{{Portal}} "Have you ever wondered what happens when humans die? I know the answer! All I'm saying is...]] ''[[{{Portal}} big surprise!]]''" -- as he's challenging a human in the central command room of his totally automated production plant.

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Parodied in a (nun) art expert who insists everything is about barely suppressed sexual urges. It's obvious that she's projecting so hard that they could use her for powerpoint presentations.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Alice marries a death-row inmate and immediately stuffs the gag into his mouth herself before he's executed. It's much more horrifying than it sounds.

* UnpleasableFanbase: Tina the tech writer was introduced, and described as "brittle", which is Adams' shorthand for "easily offended". She was created female to give Dilbert's office some gender balance, and Adams was flamed by Tech Writers for maligning their profession, and by men and women for a negative stereotype of women. As he notes in the "Highly Defective People" collection, "Who says 'brittle' is a female stereotype?" Then he created "[=AnTina=]", the [=ANtidote=] to Tina, who was as non-stereotypical as possible. Short hair, masculine build, and wasn't interested in stereotypical female pursuits. He was flamed for making fun of lesbians. "Clearly there was no safe ground in this game."
** Similarly, when he introduced Asok the Intern, the first non-white main character, Adams made him a technical genius beyond levels of normal humans with psychokinetic abilities he's too nice to use to get his own way, with his only flaw being his naivety, due to his being an intern. He was still flamed for his negative portrayal of people from India. According to Adams "If I get any more hate mail I think I'll turn him into a drug dealer. I've never been good at playing defence."