Line #40 Main/GiftedlyBad


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3	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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6	->''"He was so giftedly bad that he backed unwittingly into genius."''
7	-->-- '''Stephen Pile''' on William [=McGonagall=][[note]][=McGonagall=] is universally acknowledged to be the worst name-recognized poet of the 19th century[[/note]]
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9	Giftedly Bad refers to someone, typically an {{art}}ist, who plies their trade with intense passion, infinite drive, supreme self-confidence, and absolutely no talent whatsoever. If they are actors, they're melodramatic [[LargeHam hams]]; if they are singers, they [[DreadfulMusician warble and screech]]; if they are poets, they're masters of the PainfulRhyme. In general, their work will have what one person associated with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Bad_Art Museum of Bad Art]] (an exhibition of this trope in visual media) has called the "''Oh my God'' factor" (as in, ''Oh my God, what do they think they're doing?'')
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11	What makes someone giftedly bad is not just their extreme lack of talent, but two other factors. First, the subject must be absolutely convinced that they're the best there is at what they do. And second, pretty much every other person must believe that they're as terrible as they really are (although they might not admit it to them to spare their feelings).
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13	A giftedly bad artist often sees some level of severe CriticalBacklash; they treat this criticism with SelectiveObliviousness and continue working undeterred, believing all their critics to be wrong and misguided. They'll occasionally throw out a TakeThatCritics and say that they'll be VindicatedByHistory. It's not all bad, though; a giftedly bad artist could also be considered SoBadItsGood, and thus become as celebrated and revered as a genuinely talented artist, but only out of the kick people get out of seeing an earnest and enthusiastic artist producing utter crap.
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15	SoUnfunnyItsFunny is a SubTrope. SoBadItsGood is often a by-product, but not a necessary condition; while an artist whose entire ''oeuvre'' is SoBadItsGood is almost always Giftedly Bad, the reverse isn't necessarily true, and no giftedly bad artist is ''trying'' to be SoBadItsGood.
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17	It's also a surprisingly common trope in RealLife, thanks to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect Dunning-Kruger effect]], which states that the skills necessary for being good at something are also necessary for assessing one's talent at something. This means that someone who's ''really'' untalented doesn't know enough to know how untalented they are.
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19	Related tropes include HighHopesZeroTalent (the artist is aware of how bad they are but keeps trying nonetheless); SmallNameBigEgo (who overestimates themself in every other aspect of their life); MuseAbuse (where an artist exploits people in their real life for inspiration); BunglingInventor and TerribleArtist (natch); and BileFascination (explaining why people are so interested in the Giftedly Bad).
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21	Finally, '''please remember the above criteria when adding examples:'''
22	* The artist must be objectively, ''universally'' bad -- so don't add an example just because you personally think they're bad
23	* The artist must be totally deluded into believing they're really good -- so don't add an example of an artist who's just bad
24	* Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease
25
26	[[noreallife]]
27	----
28	!!Examples
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Advertising]]
32	* A Subaru commercial from 2013 involves a 30-something man getting an easel from his wife for his birthday. He enthusiastically brings it with him in his Subaru as he drives through increasingly punishing terrain to get the best view for his painting. But for all his enthusiasm (and the car's capability), he still can't paint better than a 5-year-old. He's very proud of his artwork, while his wife can't tell top from bottom on her "favorite" painting.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
36	* Sousuke of ''Anime/{{Classicaloid}}'' is a budding musician of the desktop music variety, but [[DreadfulMusician his music has caused glass to crack and objects to fall]] (even when it's not particularly loud). When he tries to sing, it causes people to collapse.
37	* Giant/Big G from ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' is not only a DreadfulMusician but also a Dreadful Painter and Chef. His songs are so terrible they are legitimately {{Brown Note}}s. When the world turned into a world without sound, just ''looking'' at its lyrics is enough to nauseate people and in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasGreatAdventureIntoTheUnderworld'', they were able to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu knock out a group of sirens and a demon whale]] from sheer horribleness. Of course, this doesn't stop him from setting up his own concerts, which he practically forces others to attend, no one dares to point this out to his face as he's TheBully.
38	* In ''Anime/EarwigAndTheWitch'', while the Mandrake has a passion for writing, he really sucks at it, repeatedly destroying newspapers due to the poor reviews.
39	* In ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', Nagi is convinced that she's an amazing manga writer. Only one other person can even understand her bizarre over the top storylines, let alone appreciate them. When she eventually sees an actual professional's manuscript and realizes just how bad she really is, she's absolutely devastated on realizing she doesn't even know how to do the one thing she thought she had a talent for.
40	* In ''Manga/LoveStage'', protagonist Izumi Sena aims to be a mangaka one day, not seeing that there's anything wrong with what he produces. Everyone in his class thinks his drawings are terrible. Even the family manager, [[BigBrotherMentor Rei Sagara]], tells him bluntly that his drawings suck.
41	* Miia in ''Manga/MonsterMusume'' is a LethalChef, full stop. She doesn't realize this because lamia only have a fraction of the taste buds that humans do so she can't taste how awful her own cooking is. The smell alone has sometimes caused normal humans who've tried to eat her cooking to lose consciousness.
42	* In ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'', Yukko cannot tell a joke to save her life, no matter how much she believes she can.
43	* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Akane Tendō is [[LethalChef bad at cooking]]. She does know she's not great at it. But she [[BerserkButton is offended by criticism]] and always tries to "improve" her recipes. Her relatives treat her cooking as some sort of disease or a curse.
44	** She's also shown to have a serious problem with believing that she is an InstantExpert at any skill, with many of the plots based round her claims of such. The fact Ranma is seemingly an IdiotSavant [[MasterOfAll at everything he tries to learn]] presses her BerserkButton that bit faster.
45	* Naga from ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'' is giftedly bad all across the board. From her fashion sense to her magic, she views everything she makes or selects as a thing of elegant beauty, even though everyone else sees it as a source of absolute horror. She even creates a dragon golem that destroys most of a town simply trying to keep its poorly-balanced body upright, and her only response is that some people have no appreciation for art.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Books]]
49	* Cacofonix the bard from ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' thinks he's a great musician, but his singing and harp-playing scares off small animals and has been known to cause rainstorms. He has to be restrained about OnceAnEpisode from performing, usually by Fulliautomatix the blacksmith.
50	* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'' is giftedly bad at [[DreadfulMusician music]], [[BunglingInventor inventions]], [[MadScientist science]], and [[LethalChef cooking]]. Notably, Gaston (and his LoveInterest Miss Jeanne) thinks the music he plays on his gaffophone is great even though it causes ''plants'' to commit suicide.
51	* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'': Major Bludd has a rather deservedly dismal reputation as a poet. People tend to not bring it up to his face because he's a cold blooded killer, so he believes himself to be a peerless poetic genius. From issue #47:
52	-->'''Destro:''' Hrmph! This Doctor Mindbender thinks more highly of himself than Major Bludd does!\
53	'''The Baroness:''' Major Bludd's {{poetry}} is quite beautiful...\
54	'''Cobra Commander:''' Poetry? That idiot Bludd thinks that Proust rhymes with Faust![[note]]it more closely rhymes with "roost", hence CC's derision[[/note]]
55	* Monica from ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'' sucks at many things [[KnowNothingKnowItAll she thinks]] she's talented at: [[LethalChef cooking]], [[TerribleArtist drawing]], [[DreadfulMusician music]], [[BadBadActing acting]], you name it. However, because of her [[SuperStrongChild super strenght]] and [[CantTakeCriticism inability to take criticism]], she'll threaten you with a beating of a lifetime (something she is ''really'' talented at) if you ever say that her work is less than good.
56	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Destruction spends his days making new recipes, paintings, and sculptures, all of which are mediocre at best. This might be because he's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of [[DestroyerDeity destruction]].
57	* ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'' has [[IronicName Harmony Smurf]], the [[DreadfulMusician village musician]]. He has a wide collection of instruments, but can't play a single one of them, and tends to blow off the others' complaints as jealousy. He's so bad that it verges on the supernatural, as he can make a ''music box'' play awfully bad simply [[BeyondTheImpossible by holding it]].
58	* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' reveals that ''Megatron'' of all people was an aspiring poet before he became a revolutionary / terrorist / dictator / TheAtoner. A horrible one. After defeating Impactor, the Autobot used the last of his strength to scratch "No More Poetry" on the ground. When Swerve needed an idea to bring business back to his bar after a competitor opened up, he hired Megatron to perform his poetry...at the competitor's. The customers fled in horror back to Swerve's.
59	** Then there are the Scavengers, who, if [[OneManArmy one-bot armies]] like Megatron, Tarn and Sixshot are at one end of the scale, are waaaaay down at the other end, trying to push onto a different scale entirely (possibly one used for weighing vegetables). Most notably, Misfire got his nickname by being such an astonishingly bad marksman that the Decepticons could probably have won the War by having him defect to the Autobots. He insists that he's actually quite a good shot and it was just a teensy misunderstanding that ended with all those dead Decepticons.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
63	* Cookie in ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' thinks he's a virtuoso chef, even though he's more of a LethalChef. It varies, though; there are a few occasions when he seems to really have that kind of ability when a joke requires it. Mostly, though, it's jokes about his being really, really bad at what he does.
64	* ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'': Tonsils has a loud, clear voice and nothing else going for him as a singer. He's initially not sure about a musical career, but his manager "Dude" is convinced Tonsils will be a star. It turns out that audiences love Tonsils' SoBadItsGood singing, and he gets a swelled head. Unfortunately for Tonsils, this is a crime story, and things rapidly go downhill from there.
65	* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Snoopy seems convinced that he's a famous writer. [[http://goldfishbroth.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/authorsnoopy.jpg He isn't]]. On at least one occasion, he received a publisher's rejection letter telling him [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that he's a bad writer, that they wouldn't publish his work if he paid them, and that they just want him to leave them alone already]], which he dismissed as a simple form letter.
66	* ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'': Trumpet Smurf is bad at playing his instrument of choice. He's even ''worse'' with other instruments, and any instrument he touches would somehow produce a trumpet sound. Even a triangle!
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Gamebooks]]
70	* The Poetic Fiend in the ''Literature/GrailQuest'' series, encountered once a book, is a horrifically bad poet, yet convinced he's the best of the best. However, it's in the player's interest to always praise his work, since the Fiend is also a nigh-unstoppable vampire who can kill an adult ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' with one bite. His poetry can also be useful to you as a weapon; in the last book, he teaches you a cringingly bad poem that will neutralise instant-death powers used on you.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Fan Works]]
74	* ''Fanfic/AfterTheJungleSeries'' (by Creator/Flowerprincess11) combines this with HighHopesZeroTalent for Olga Sherman (née Pataki), the older sister of Helga Shortman (née Pataki). About five years after graduating from college (so when Helga's a freshman or a sophomore in high school), Olga decided to quit her job as a teacher to pursue a career as an actress--she moved to New York City to try and get a role on Broadway. Unfortunately, Olga fails to make it big as an actress and the few roles that she ''is'' able to get are in (very) off-Broadway style productions. Olga eventually moves back to her old hometown of Hillwood and also eventually gets married and has children--she's ultimately forced to go back to working as a teacher to help support her family. However, despite her acting abilities being ''mediocre'' at beast, Olga refuses let her "pipe dream" (as Helga calls it) go, [[WaitingForABreak convinced that she's a star just waiting to be discovered]]--seriously, even by the time that Olga's well into her 40s[[note]]And at this point, not only has Helga gotten married and had kids of her own, but Olga's kids are now in middle school and Helga's two oldest children are both students at P.S. 118, where Olga works as a 5th-grade teacher[[/note]], she's ''still'' trying to get a role on Broadway.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
78	* Twilight in ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheGuardiansTheOwlsOfGaHoole'' is a self-styled "poet warrior" whose poetry is dreadful. (He's not so bad on the lute, though.)
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
82	* In ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'', Antonio Salieri is portrayed as giftedly bad, at least in comparison to someone genuinely talented like Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart.
83	-->'''Salieri:''' Did you my work please you?\
84	'''Mozart:''' ...I never knew that music like that was possible!\
85	'''Salieri:''' ''(not fooled)'' You flatter me.\
86	'''Mozart:''' ''(insincerely)'' No, no! One hears such sounds, and what can one say but... Salieri!
87	* In ''Film/ArizonaDream'', Paul raves about acting throughout the movie and gives impromptu renditions of whatever he's watching on TV, but the only two times we actually see him perform are bombs. The first time, he hops on stage at the cinema and starts acting along with the characters in front of the screen, only to everyone to boo him and throw popcorn at him. The second is at a talent show where he attempts Cary Grant's cornfield scene from ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''; all the judges [[HoldUpYourScore rate him a "1."]]
88	* ''Film/BillAndTedFaceTheMusic'' reveals that 2.5 decades of attempting to write a world-saving hit have turned Wyld Stallions into this. Their attempt at a romantic first-dance song for Ted's brother's wedding involves a theremin, bagpipes, and throat-singing.
89	%%* The Cobra Dance in ''Film/BrideAndPrejudice''.
90	* Partially averted in the case of Susan Foster Kane's atrocious operatic performances in ''Film/CitizenKane'', because she realizes that she's untalented and only persists with her doomed operatic career because of the pressure from her ambitious husband, Charles Foster Kane.
91	* ''Film/ComingToAmerica'' has Randy Watson and his band Sexual Chocolate performing in Queens' Black Awarenes Rally. When he starts singing, practically everybody in the audience ''immediately'' begins dozing off.
92	-->'''Sweets:''' That's boy's good!\
93	'''Clarence:''' Mmm, good and terrible.
94	* ''Film/EdWood'' is about the RealLife giftedly bad movie director Creator/EdWood, widely considered a man of limitless enthusiasm for filmmaking -- and zero talent.
95	* The titular character of ''Film/EddieTheEagle''. Despite having impossible odds placed against him, and coming in dead last at the Olympics, he's loved for his determined nature and relatability.
96	* ''Film/FlorenceFosterJenkins'' is about the RealLife giftedly bad singer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins of that name]].
97	* Stage director Mark Bodine in ''Film/TheGoodbyeGirl'', who has a ludicrous notion of staging ''Theatre/RichardIII'' with the titular king as a mincing, effeminate CampGay. The play is so bad that most of the audience is gone by the second act.
98	* ''Film/TheGreatMcGonagall'' is based on the RealLife giftedly bad Scottish poet William Topaz [=McGonagall=], considered in some circles to be the worst poet in the English language, and yet utterly convinced of his greatness.
99	* ''Film/ThisHouseHasPeopleInIt'': The character known only as "The Sculptor", who goes so far as to run his own sculpting TV show called "The Sculptor's Clayground", can't actually make decent sculptures. Everything he makes turns out to be a lumpy, mishapen mess at best with random sticks, rhinestones and paint splatters for good measure. Despite this, he's delusional enough to feature several pictures of his art on his website, which claims that his art was sold to rich patrons or "a collection of good art".
100	* Arthur Fleck in ''Film/Joker2019'' is a mentally ill, impoverished clown in Gotham who fancies himself as a stand-up comic. However his first ever stint is a complete disaster; not only is his material deeply unfunny, but his first joke is ruined by an unceasing laughing fit which then prevents him from saying anything else. People end up laughing at his act, but for the wrong reasons...
101	* Rupert Pupkin in ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'' is obsessed with becoming a stand-up comic - stalking and eventually kidnapping late night talkshow host Jerry Langford to get his shot at fame. His material is predictably stale, unoriginal, and mediocre at best, even though he spent years of his life rehearsing and preparing it, but he delivers it with great enthusiasm and excellent timing.
102	* ''Film/TheProducers'', being about an attempt to deliberately make a terrible work of art, naturally has several characters like this, as the eponymous producers try to hire the worst artists they could find. They come up with:
103	** Franz Liebkind, an unashamed Nazi who writes the incredibly tasteless ''SpringtimeForHitler'' (and who in the musical was also the original choice to play Hitler before breaking his leg and is as good an actor as he is a playwright);
104	** Roger de Bris, a CampGay director who knows nothing about the Nazis (or really directing) and turns a love letter to Hitler into a ridiculous flamboyant production;
105	** Lorenzo St. [=DuBois=], [[TheStoner a stoner hippie]], who plays Hitler accordingly.
106	%%* Edward Lionheart (played by Creator/VincentPrice) in ''Film/TheatreOfBlood''.
107	* The title character in ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane''. To be sure, her dancing is okay, but her singing is rubbish, and her acting is awful. The fact that what we get from the height of her career is her singing a StylisticSuck {{Glurge}}-y vaudeville song doesn't help.
108	* Withnail of ''Film/WithnailAndI'' is an out-of-work LargeHam who has ''some'' talent, but it's entirely obscured by his drinking, drug abuse, unreliability, overbearing personality, and his inability to accept that anyone doesn't recognize his absolute genius. He genuinely has no idea why he never seems to win any parts:
109	-->''"Bastards! You'll all suffer! I'll show the lot of you! I'm gonna be a STAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!"''
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Literature]]
113	* Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' short story "El Aleph" features a poet who is obsessed with his own mediocre poetry, and believes that as soon as anyone of importance will read his epic poem, he will be immediately regarded as the greatest poet of his time. During the story, he is attempting to write a poem describing in minute detail the entirety of the Earth.
114	* ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'' is an account of actor Greg Sestero's work in ''Film/TheRoom2003'' and his relationship with the film's director/producer/writer/star, Creator/TommyWiseau. ''The Room'' is widely considered SoBadItsGood, to the point where people believed [[PoesLaw it had to be a parody]]; Sestero reveals that it was an earnest work of art by a singularly motivated individual, who just happens to be terrible at filmmaking.
115	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
116	** Bergholt Stuttley Johnson, more famously known as Bloody Stupid Johnson embodies this trope. He was such a [[BunglingInventor poor architect and inventor]] that people commissioned him just to see what he'd come up with. Indeed, it became something of a status symbol to own something designed by [[MeaningfulName BS]] Johnson. His genius was that the final product was brilliant, often in some way ''completely unrelated'' to the original intent. Some of his creations [[BeyondTheImpossible warped time and space]], such as his terrace rows and an omnitemporal mail sorting machine containing circles where [[AlienGeometries pi equals 3]]. His particular specialty is the [[DoubleEntendre Johnson Organ]], which actually plays music as intended (although with strange voices like "farm animals" and "young ladies screaming"); his most famous example there is the Great Organ at Unseen University, which includes a 128-foot long "Earthquake pipe" and is so complicated that only the Librarian (who's an orangutan) has enough flexibility to play it.
117	--->''If you wanted a small surface-to-air missile, you asked Johnson to design an ornamental fountain. It came to pretty much the same thing in the end.''
118	** In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', Igor "cures" a MadArtist by switching his brain with a turnip. He's upbeat, calm and terrifically proud of everything he does -- but it looks like a five-year-old drew it. Moist has to tell Igor to change him back, both because he needs the art skills and because he was never really happy with the idea in the first place.
119	** Though it's less clear when he appears in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' -- where it seems like he's doing ContractualGenreBlindness more consciously -- ''The Discworld Companion'' reveals Evil Harry Dread to be a giftedly bad EvilOverlord. He tries his hardest and wonders why he's not successful; it's because everything he does "right" is basically every mistake warned against on the EvilOverlordList.
120	* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', Newton Pulsifier is passionate about electronics but manages to [[WalkingTechbane destroy everything he touches]]. His ham radios black out entire districts. He always buys a computer that doesn't work. His car ([[TheAllegedCar if you could call it that]]) is so dysfunctional that its airbags would randomly deploy. But when he puts together a circuit that's ''designed'' not to work, he ends up with a fully functional transistor radio that appears to be picking up communications from Russia.
121	* In ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'', one of the ghosts is a poet whose response to a bad review is to vow never to publish his poetry again, his logic being that people would one day discover his poetry and revere him as a genius, making the reviewer look foolish. On Creator/NeilGaiman's blog, he says that the poet's epitaph was "Swans Sing Before They Die", in reference to a verse from Coleridge:
122	-->''Swans sing before they die - 'twere no bad thing\
123	Should certain persons die before they sing.''
124	* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' describes the three worst poets in the universe, all of whom are giftedly bad to some degree:
125	** The protagonists only encounter the third worst, the Vogons, who hook them up to "poetry appreciation devices" which make them [[SuckinessIsPainful physically feel how bad the poetry is]]. The Vogons seem to be aware how bad they are and take pride in it; when Arthur tries to compliment the poetry (a thought that had never ''occurred'' to the galaxy-savvy Ford), the Vogon poet gets pissed off and chooses to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throw them out the ship's airlock]].
126	** The second worst are the Azgoths of Kria, whose most prominent poet was so oblivious to how bad his poetry was ("four of his audience died of internal haemorrhaging, and the President of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived only by gnawing one of his own legs off") that he was strangled to death ''by his own intestine'', which had become sentient in a desperate attempt to get him to stop.
127	** The worst poetry in the universe, naturally, came from Earth, courtesy of "Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England." This is, in fact, a reference to a RealLife terrible poet who went to school with Creator/DouglasAdams (and who's named for real in the original radio series as "Paul Neil Milne Johnstone of Redbridge" -- he asked for the name change not to protect his reputation so much as to obscure his identity and address). He freely admits now that he was an awful poet as a teenager, but at the time, he was Giftedly Bad. The "dead swan" poem shown in the TV series is in fact one of his actual works from that period.
128	* In the ''Literature/IRichardPlantagenetSeries'': The queen's brother, Anthony Woodville, is a terrible poet but thanks this his closeness with his sister, he gets to recite it all the time.
129	* Creator/PGWodehouse wrote one ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' story about a friend of Bertie's who wanted to be a portrait painter. He couldn't get any commissions until he had painted some portraits, and he couldn't paint any portraits until he fulfilled some commissions, so he spent his time doing commercial artwork. His uncle, who financially supported him, commissioned him to paint a portrait of his new baby. The portrait was so monumentally bad that his uncle cut him off completely, in a huff (or a minute and a huff). Jeeves, however, saw an opportunity to use the ugly portrait as the basis for a comic character, Baby Blobb, and the friend went on to become rich, drawing comics of ''The Adventures of Baby Blobb''.
130	* The third ''Literature/MaloryTowers'' book introduces Zerelda Brass, an American transfer student who fancies herself as a great actress, and believes that her destiny to one day become a famous actress makes her exempt to many of the school's customs and regulations. When she does try to act, her acting is so [[{{narm}} melodramatically over-the-top]] that all the other girls laughs at it, thinking it to be a comedic act. Her arc ends with her learning humility and try to fit in better.
131	* The novel ''The Planet for Tyrants'' from the cycle ''Literature/AliceGirlFromTheFuture'' features Underwater Bull, an [[CivilizedAnimal alien frog]] from a society where social mobility depends on [[BlueAndOrangeMorality how well you could sing]] (well, croak). Underwater Bull was born tone-deaf, and he is completely disenfranchised by society -- so he [[PlayedForDrama organizes a coup]], installs himself as dictator, forces everyone to listen to his terrible singing, and tries to present his non-existent talent as the new, mandatory art form (to the point of banning everyone else from singing and enforcing the prohibition by [[TongueTrauma cutting out offenders' tongues]]). He gets ousted himself and taken to the eponymous [[CrapsaccharineWorld rehab planet for former tyrants]].
132	* In Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheTamuli'', the minor antagonist Elron spends most of his free time composing his ridiculously lengthy poem "Ode to Blue" (yes, the primary color) which, according to the protagonist unlucky enough to be forced to hear a part, is the most awful dreck ever allowed to sully a paper. When another character presents him with a starkly poetic (and entirely spontaneous) description of the steel-grey light of a harsh Rendorian dawn, Elron actually flees. This is also true of his villainous persona, "Sabre". While Elron/Sabre clearly ''wants'' to be a MagnificentBastard, and may even think he is one, he doesn't actually have the first clue how to do it. The result, rather than being badass and intimidating, is such a ClicheStorm that the heroes, upon seeing him for the first time, are utterly amazed he's actually for real.
133	* ''Literature/ThreeMenInABoat'':
134	--> ''It is one of Harris’s fixed ideas that he can sing a comic song; the fixed idea, on the contrary, among those of Harris’s friends who have heard him try, is that he can’t and never will be able to, and that he ought not to be allowed to try.''
135	* Lapis-Trubetskoy from the Russian novel ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs'', whose poems are filled with [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment inane tautologies]]. Ostap Bender, one of the two protagonists, calls him [[FreudianSlip Lapsus]]-Trubetskoy when they first meet. Later he is seen trying to sell poetry to several different magazine editors, changing the subject matter every time; for example, he calls his submission to a medical journal "The Ballad of Gangrene."
136	* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', the Imperial Security HQ was designed by an insane architect (a relative of Mad Emperor Yuri). The building is so uncomfortable to be in, as either prisoner or actual staff of [=ImpSec=], that it verged on AlienGeometries -- to the point that [[TheSpymaster Simon Illyan]] once offhandedly remarked that he was never so close to emigrating as when he saw the beautiful glass tower that housed Escobar's Investigatif Federale. He also apparently once said that he'd sell the place for a Betan Dollar, if he could find a Betan with a Dollar and no taste.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Literary Criticism]]
140	* Creator/MarkTwain went on at considerable length to describe just how awful he thought the works of Creator/JamesFenimoreCooper were in ''Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffenses''.
141	** In ''A Tramp Abroad'' he also went into great detail about a performance of "The Battle of Prague" he encountered at a hotel in Switzerland, carried out with total conviction and an absolute lack of talent:
142	--->'''Twain:''' None of us like mediocrity, but we all reverence perfection. This girl's music was perfection in its way; it was the worst music that had ever been achieved on our planet by a mere human being.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
146	* Madam Edith in ''Series/AlloAllo'' is such a terrible singer that she makes customers stick cheese in their ears, if not outright run away.
147	-->'''Lt. Gruber:''' Madam Edith has an unusual voice, René. Was it trained?\
148	'''René:''' Oh, yes. But it escaped and returned to the wild.
149	* Cordelia Chase in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is so bad at acting that her colleagues debate yelling "Fire" to get out of her play. They reason that although it's a theater, it's not a ''crowded'' one, so they can get away with it.
150	* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'':
151	** Tobias Fünke believes himself to be a good actor, when he really isn't. He thinks the only reason he hasn't landed a major film role is that he just hasn't tried yet. When he does try, he forgets to read the script. He's ''slightly'' more successful as a writer but gets in trouble thanks to his [[ThatCameOutWrong legendarily poor phrasing]] -- his only success was ''[[DoubleEntendre The Man Inside Me]]'', a self-help book that became popular in the gay community (he's not sure why).
152	** Gob thinks of himself as a talented magician, but his props constantly fail and his animals keep dying. As the show goes on, his [[InsistentTerminology illusions]] get more complex and his failures more spectacular; his method for making a yacht disappear is to sink it when nobody is looking. Despite this, he continues to vigorously pursue his craft and insists on everyone taking it [[SeriousBusiness deathly seriously]].
153	* The Scouse woman in [[Recap/BlackMirrorFifteenMillionMerits the second episode]] of ''Series/BlackMirror'' is convinced she can sing. She's so sure of herself she paid 15 million merits just to enter the contest and then waited for over two months to be seen. She's on stage for all of a minute, after which she's told she's rubbish. She isn't convinced.
154	* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Spike was a Giftedly Bad poet before he became a vampire (which didn't cure him of his bad poetry, but did cure him of the notion that he was a good one). His audience back then called him "William the Bloody" ("because he writes bloody bad poetry!"). He gets a better reception in the modern day, but that might be because it's SoBadItsGood. Series creator Creator/JossWhedon validates the trope in the DVDCommentary when he notes how difficult it is to write poetry [[StylisticSuck that entertainingly bad]].
155	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Diane Chambers, several times over, usually blithely ignoring anyone telling her she's awful or suggesting she stop. Her drawing of a horse is mistaken for a lizard. Her poetry is automatically rejected. Her attempt at ballet is so awful everyone at Cheers is reduced to hysterics, but Diane is convinced she could've been a star. And her writing winds up with her writing for cable TV (the joke at the time being that, despite her desire to break it big, this was all she could manage). This is even part of what Sam says when she leaves the series, that she's failed at everything she's tried except writing.
156	* Subverted on the teen comedy ''Series/CityGuys'': Cassidy is about to perform at a big New York audition night with Chris and L-Train. Her bad singing convinces them they'll be a laughingstock if they go on stage with her, so they let her perform by herself. At that point, Cassidy reveals she's a fantastic singer and was faking being bad to trick the two into letting her go solo.
157	* Britta Perry of ''{{Series/Community}}'' believes herself to be a talented photographer, but the only good picture she takes is by accident.
158	* In an audition of the third series of ''Factor X'' (the Spanish version of ''Series/TheXFactor''), a contestant introduced himself saying he thought of himself as "the personification of the X factor". Said contestant then proceeded to butcher Music/ElvisPresley's "Steamroller Blues", and afterwards admited to one of the jurors that his friends and family had advised him to quit singing. Other juror advised him in return to listen to that advice.
159	* At one point in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Frasier and Niles try to revive the career of Jackson Hedley, a Shakespearean actor who performed for their school when they were children. However, it turns out they were too young to realize he's utterly awful. Jackson himself has absolutely no idea how bad he is and thwarts all their efforts to keep him off the stage.
160	* Jessica from ''Series/FreshOffTheBoat'' spends quite a bit of time working on her mystery novel, "A Case of a Knife to the Brain". She considered it an instant classic before writing a single word, but in the end the book sold terribly and got terrible reviews.
161	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
162	** Phoebe is occasionally portrayed as a Giftedly Bad musician when she plays the guitar at the coffee shop -- specifically, she writes her own songs, and her lyrics tend to be bizarre, stupid, or both. Her friends just smile and nod, perhaps because they're not any better (if Ross's "wordless sound poems" are any indication, although Phoebe liked those -- go figure). Her actress, Lisa Kudrow, ''hated'' learning to play the guitar, so she just didn't, reasoning it would be perfect if Phoebe was simply terrible.
163	** Joey steps into this territory with his acting work; not only is he not particularly good, he's also [[TheDitz not quite smart enough]] to understand criticism of it (for instance, thinking the word "abysmal" is a positive word – after all, so many of his critics have described his work as such). Sometimes it's because he's acting in utter dreck and doesn't realize it, like his show ''Mac and CHEESE'', which Chandler referred to as the worst thing humanity had yet come up with. By the end of the series, though, he's improved enough ([[InformedAbility off screen]]) that he can perform in an Oscar-nominated film without raising eyebrows.
164	** Monica is a Giftedly Bad masseuse, which she can't accept because [[CompetitionFreak she has an incredible drive to be the best at everything]]. Only Phoebe is brave enough to tell her the truth. Her boyfriend, Chandler tries to soften the blow ([[DiggingYourselfDeeper as only he can]]) by saying [[BadNewsInAGoodWay she's so bad, she's the best at being the worst]].
165	* On ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'', Maya is a very talented artist. Riley, not so much. She pretty much paints purple cats in a style one might get from a kindergarten student.
166	-->'''Riley:''' I’m a happy artist...This is why I stink.
167	* Brent Norwalk of the second attempt at ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' writes a novel that he thinks is god's (his) gift to mankind (emphasis on ''man''). It's racist, sexist trash that's such a bad murder mystery that the AuthorAvatar solves the mystery on the tenth page and it keeps on going for another six hundred pages.
168	* Tim Taylor from ''Series/HomeImprovement'' is a Giftedly Bad handyman. His problem lies in his never keeping things simple; everything he does has to be "improved". There's a reason TimTaylorTechnology was named after him. His show ''Tool Time'' consists mostly of Tim trying to soup something up and failing spectacularly (while his HyperCompetentSidekick Al provides actual useful repair tips). Not only does Tim think he's a home improvement genius, he thinks he's more popular than RealLife well-known handyman Bob Vila. It's established that Tim is ''capable'' of repairing things properly; he just doesn't want to. He's also got a couple of remarkable accidental achievements this way, like launching a barbecue grill into geosynchronous orbit.
169	* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Marshall Eriksen has many impressive talents, like winning every board game ever invented. He thinks that stand-up comedy is one of those talents. He would be wrong.
170	* ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' has one-shot character Jimmy Nakata, whose singing causes physical pain to its listeners and knocks birds out of the sky. And he's winning an ''Series/AmericanIdol'' style show in spite of this (because the MonsterOfTheWeek is rigging the contest). In a slight subversion, when the [=MotW=] is dealt with and Jimmy sings again, the judges say it was bad, but they can't disparage anyone who sings [[ThePowerOfLove from the heart]].
171	* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', Sophie Devereaux is a terrible actor and [[DreadfulMusician an even worse singer]]. Among her more interesting performances are a [[LargeHam hamtastic]] rendition of [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Lady Macbeth]], a soap commercial where she viewed the dirt "as a metaphor for sin," and an unseen performance of ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman'' where she played Willy Loman. In a twist, she actually ''can'' be a great performer -- as long as she's conning someone.
172	-->"Never before has a performance of ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' made me root for the Nazis."
173	* Debra Jo from ''Series/LittleLunch'' is convinced that she is very good at ballet and a virtuoso on the recorder. Neither is true, with her recorder playing landing soundly in DreadfulMusician territory.
174	* Echo from ''Series/MrYoung'' is a terrible singer. The eponymous Mr. Young spends the episode about her singing trying to either improve her voice or hide it. By the end, he saves her public embarrassment by performing a duet with his own amazing voice. Echo then believes that the horrible voice is the duet was his and the amazing one was hers.
175	* The main character in the KoreanSeries ''Series/OhMyLady'' is the world's worst actor.
176	* A common trait in ''Series/PeopleLikeUs'', but particularly "The Photographer" (played by Bill Nighy), who thinks himself much more talented than he actually is.
177	* Dave Lister from ''Series/RedDwarf'' is an abysmally bad guitar player, but believes himself to be the next Hendrix. This ultimately saves his life when a form-copying Psiren invades the ship and takes Lister's form. The rest of the crew is [[SpotTheImposter unsure which one to shoot]], so they hand one of them a guitar -- when he plays it perfectly, they shoot him:
178	-->'''Lister:''' How did you know that wasn't me?\
179	'''Cat:''' 'Cause that dude could play!\
180	'''Lister:''' He wasn't any better than me.\
181	'''Kryten:''' That's how you ''believe'' you play, sir. That's why, when the Psiren read your mind, he shared your delusion that you are not a ten-thumbed, tone-deaf, talentless noise polluter.\
182	'''Lister:''' Are you seriously saying you think he was better than me?\
183	''(Lister picks up the guitar and plays several dissonant, atonal notes.)''\
184	'''Lister:''' If anything, this is slightly better.\
185	'''Cat:''' Little survival tip, bud. (DramaticGunCock) Never play your guitar in front of a man with a loaded gun.\
186	'''Lister:''' I resent this. [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike I resent you saving my life in this fashion.]]
187	* On ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Elaine thinks she can dance and shows off her skills at parties. George likens it to "a full-body dry heave set to music."
188	* ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2017:'' Count Olaf believes he is a tremendous actor, despite being literally unable to distinguish between "literally" and "figuratively", and his acting being very poor indeed. He doesn't take well to criticism, but even the most praise he can sum up for his works is that he's been "favourably mentioned in several small reviews". Most of his attempts at disguising himself are the most thin of [[PaperThinDisguise Paper Thin Disguises]], only working because the people he's dealing with don't know him, or are mind-bogglingly stupid.
189	* In ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', Trina Vega is so bad that no one's sure how she even got into the Hollywood School of Arts. She can't sing, she can't dance, and she can't act. The other students -- and even some teachers -- are befuddled as to how she got in. A later episode shows that most of the select committee never saw her to begin with; only Sikowitz was left to judge her, and he drank spoiled coconut milk and just saw [[MushroomSamba a beautiful performance of colors]].
190	* ''The WB's SuperstarUSA'', a parody of ''Series/AmericanIdol'', was built around this trope. The show used the same "series of auditions, then on to Hollywood" format, but purposely picked the ''worst'' performers to advance, while showering them with praise. The singers weren't told until the very end that they were actually picked for being terrible.
191	* Jack from ''Series/WillAndGrace'' practically lives and breathes this trope, mostly because he's incredibly wrapped up in himself and has to be the center of attention. His suckitude specialty is acting, which exhibits histrionic narcissism and LargeHam traits, and his flop of a one-man stage show “Just Jack!” is a prime example. His attempt at being a talk show host also fails as he’s too self-absorbed to share the spotlight with his guests.
192	* Rik The People's Poet from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' is firmly convinced that he is a left-wing ideologue, TheCasanova, and the voice of a generation of kids and punks and skins and rastas. He is spectacularly wrong on all counts. His poetry is howlingly wretched, and believe it or not, is actually ''better'' read than recited:
193	-->''Pollution! All awound!\
194	Sometimes .. up! Sometimes... down!\
195	But always... awound!\
196	Pollution, are you coming to my town... or am I coming to yours?\
197	Ha! We're on different buses, pollution... but we're both using petwol!... BOMBS!!''
198	[[/folder]]
199
200	[[folder:Music]]
201	* Music/HarryChapin's "Six String Orchestra" is about a would-be musician continuing to pursue his dream in the face of humorously harsh criticism.
202	* Music/PDQBach, the last, and certainly the least, of Music/JohannSebastianBach's children. (Fictionally speaking.)
203	* [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} Murdoc Niccals]] [[TakeOurWordForIt has never canonically been heard to sing onscreen]], but his singing has been described as sounding "like someone treading on a duck". He insists the world is merely too small-minded to appreciate his genius and he needs 2D's more "conventional" voice for the albums.
204	** Possibly averted with the release of Demon Days, where supposedly he sang (Or whispered, more accurately) the words to the harder, punk track "White Light".
205	** As of phase 3, we have heard him sing, but contrary to what the characters and WordOfGod said in ROTO, [[{{Retcon}} his voice is actually not bad.]] Though that may be an oversight on the management, so who knows.
206	* Music/MariaCross, the worst singer in all of VisualKei either as their persona or as their style. Maria adopted an Oshare style look, never mind their music being an affront to the subgenre, and is known best for street performances in Tokyo where NoIndoorVoice meets with ScreamsLikeALittleGirl, MetalScream, and other such tropes to create a [[HellIsThatNoise hellish sound]] that somehow could be workable grindcore or noise, at least until the police end the performance because Maria has no permits for the amplified sound. The entire persona is ''possibly'' a StealthParody aimed at trashing Oshare Kei as a subgenre or parodying the very concept of VisualKei itself, which makes it enough of a not-real-life example to be put here (though if it turns out to be serious, the example can be removed). In fact, it's pretty likely Maria Cross is some sort of a parody, because they're actually capable of singing in ways that ''aren't'' absolute crap, and the way Maria flips between relatively ordinary for VisualKei cleans/screams to HellIsThatNoise hints at StylisticSuck--someone who does know what they are doing and is messing it up on purpose.
207	* [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Yowane Haku]] is this in spades, having a voice which is just slightly out of tune, making any song she sings be full of StylisticSuck, but a dedicated part of her fanbase find she's actually a case of NarmCharm, adoring her attempts to sing better.
208	[[/folder]]
209
210	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
211	* Franchise/TheMuppets thrive on this trope, especially in ''Series/TheMuppetShow.'' Fozzie Bear is probably the purest example; while he occasionally comes up with something good, the others point out that even a broken clock is right twice a day.
212	[[/folder]]
213
214	[[folder:Theater]]
215	* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'':
216	** Montfleury thinks he is a dramatic actor capable of romancing the ladies. Everyone else (except maybe his protector the Duke of Candale) disagrees: the bore calls him “a shame for theater”, Theatre representant, Jodelet, thinks the public came to see him to laugh at him, nobody really tries to help when Cyrano bullies him out of the scene and everyone calls him a coward.
217	** In Act II Scene IV, Baker Ragueneau, who wants to be a poet, declaims his poem (a recipe in verse) to his friends, the poets. He is totally serious about his poem, but it's StylisticSuck.
218	* Comedian and song and dance man Archie Rice in Creator/JohnOsborne's ''Theatre/TheEntertainer''. His act and material is terrible. He probably knows it's terrible too, but he's determined to keep on performing at any cost to himself and others because it's all he knows how to do and the only thing that gets him through the day.
219	* One of the most memorable scenes from Creator/{{Moliere}}'s ''Le Misanthrope'' comes when Alceste, the title misanthrope, thrashes the poetry of Oronte, an obsequious nobleman who desperately wants to be his friend. Alceste finds Oronte's poetry cloying, pretentious and devoid of meaning, and even says it is "meant to be taken to the cabinet" -- [[{{Toilet Humour}} "cabinet" having a secondary meaning of "outhouse" in 17th century French.]] He then responds with a poem he finds of high quality, a simple medieval country ballad.
220	* While not an intended part of the plays in which he appeared, 18th-century actor Robert 'Romeo' Coates was so terrible, yet utterly confident in his acting, that his shows would sell out from sheer curiosity.
221	* ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'': The Phantom has shades of this with ''[[ShowWithinAShow Don Juan Triumphant]]''. It can't be ''that'' good if he has to terrorize the opera's cast into performing it. (Indeed, it only ''gets'' produced as part of a BatmanGambit to smoke him out.)
222	* Harry, the young aspiring stand-up comedian in ''Theatre/TheTimeOfYourLife'' with his nonsensical, rambling monologues.
223	[[/folder]]
224
225	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
226	* ''[=Turnip28=]'' has Tod, the commander of the "Tod's Folly" cult. Tod is a horrible little toad man who is such an incompetent general, yet so totally convinced of his own valour and heroism, that it wraps around into battlefield success. The special rule in question, Misplaced Confidence, causes the results of fights to be reversed as long as neither unit was wiped out - so, if you charge your Fodder into a hard-as-nails unit of Grogs and get half of them butchered, the ''Grogs'' will be treated as having lost the combat and have to test for panic. On the rare occasions you think you might actually win a fight, Tod's [[CloudcuckoolandersMinder Minders]], the other officers in your army, can bundle him into a sack until he calms down.
227	-->''"Half a league onwards!" cheered Tod as he tripped, slid, and fell face-first into a puddle.''
228	[[/folder]]
229
230	[[folder:Video Games]]
231	* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'':
232	** Rosabeth of Melfia is an eager and passionate student of sorcery. She is absolutely terrible at sorcery. She is, however, an incredibly gifted pyromancer, but is utterly uninterested in pyromancy.
233	** Similarly, Felkin the Outcast finds hexes fascinating and is a keen student of their use, eagerly discussing them with you... but when you aggro him, he will only ever attack you with pyromancies. What's especially notable is that pyromancies and hexes scale off ''the same stats'', although in different ways.[[note]]Pyromancies scale off Intelligence and Faith added together, softcapping at a total of 60, while hexes scale off of whichever of the two stats is currently lower than the other, softcapping at 30. If Felkin has most of his points dumped into one stat instead of going for an even 30/30 split, then it's understandable that his pyromancies would be better than his hexes.[[/note]]
234	* May in ''VideoGame/DragonNest'' is a fairly typical example. She genuinely believes that she is amazing at painting, cooking, managing her small business, fashion, and everything else, and she believes herself to be smart, sophisticated, and attractive, but in reality, she is so stupid and terrible at everything that other townsfolk begin to wonder if she's cursed after a while. This is compounded by her endless quests that tend to create problems rather than solve them. It's almost a wonder she isn't chased out of town with torches and pitchforks.
235	* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', there is Lurbuk, an Orc bard working in the Moorside Inn in Morthal. He is a notably terrible bard and the only reason the innkeeper doesn't kick him out is because there are no customers around to complain, so there's no point. He's so bad that, if you work for the [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]], you get a contract to assassinate him. In fact, the Brotherhood recieved ''multiple'' requests to assassinate him and had to hold a lottery to determine whose request got picked.
236	* Saber in ''VideoGame/FateExtra'' believes herself to be the pinnacle of the arts, a creative savant on par with the gods. In reality, her skills are below-average at best. In her past life as [[spoiler:Nero Caesar]] she even built a personal theatre devoted specifically to her performances, and when people started to leave in the middle of her first recital, she ordered all the exits sealed.
237	* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance'' features Dr Raffitto "Raffi" Leevon, who believes himself to be a very good doctor despite his medical skills barely being good enough to use a first aid kit. Surprisingly, only two genuine doctors in JA1 point out just how bad he really is:
238	-->'''Dr Cliff Highball''': Raffi's a quack! Some sort of a bush butcher! I bet you never even asked to see his qualifications! Unload him....and you can have me!\
239	''' Dr Mitch Shudlem''': I can't believe you bought Raffitto Leevon's story about being a doctor! I can't work with him!
240	* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' gives us Inge Wagner, a BrawnHilda whose StartOfDarkness began when her parents pressured her into becoming an opera singer, ignoring that she was completely tone deaf. The combination of reassurement, ridicule, pressure, and resentment drove her mad, and she eventually fell in with [[NebulousEvilOrganization H.A.R.M.]] She runs a cover operation as a nightclub in Hamburg, where her responsibilities as a hostess extend to singing for her patrons. [[DreadfulMusician Badly]]. Yet the club remains popular with beatniks, who think that she does so deliberately as an avant-garde rejection of conventional taste in music. She is completely ignorant that [[SoBadItsGood this is why they enjoy her singing]].
241	-->'''Patron''': "Anyone can sing a melody. It takes a true artist to ''defy'' a melody!"
242	** According to WordOfGod, Wagner is based on Florence Foster Jenkins.
243	* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Yukiko, Chie, and Rise have the utmost confidence in their cooking skills and are seemingly oblivious to the fact that they're [[LethalChef absolutely horrible at it]], no matter how many times they're told as such and how many times their meals have made the others sick. Yosuke even lampshades it in ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', outright asking them ''how'' they haven't realized how badly they suck at cooking.
244	* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' gives us Cave Johnson, CEO of Aperture Science, a man with great enthusiasm, vision, and commitment to '''[[ForScience Science!]]''', but next to no common sense, much less business acumen. Inventions include Repulsion Gel, which allows objects to bounce off of it without losing any momentum, thereby enabling a perpetual motion machine. It was originally marketed as a dietary aid replacing pudding so that the food would bounce right out of people's stomachs. Aperture's most famous invention is the Handheld Portal Device that can create wormholes and is powered in part by a miniature black hole. Johnson's original intent for it was to be used for shower curtains. It goes without saying that either of these inventions could have changed the world, but Aperture instead became obsessed with trying to get them to function in their original roles, and became trapped in an endless cycle of cube and button-based testing.
245	** "[[TractorBeam Excursion funnels]] are part of an investigation into how well test subjects can solve problems while traveling through a churning funnel of liquid asbestos. Results so far have been highly informative: [[InferredHolocaust They cannot]]."
246	** Wheatley himself fits the profile. [[spoiler:He's designed to be the dumbest moron who ever lived, but his chaotic actions make him utterly impossible to predict and [[TooDumbToFool almost impossible to outwit]]]].
247	--->'''Wheatley''': '''[[BerserkButton I! AM NOT! A MORON!!!]]'''
248	* Dan Hibiki in the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series constantly operates under the belief that his partly-self-learned style of martial arts, Saikyo Karate, is the ultimate fighting style ("Saikyo" even meaning "the strongest"), when actually, it's pretty much quite the opposite. Perhaps he developed the stance in order to stand up to Sagat (as in, the King of Muay Thai, the greatest of all street fighters before Ryu came around, and the killer of his father), but even after his character arc moved on, Dan has maintained the stance, even with a "disciple" who eclipses him only by watching and imitating moves and a rundown dojo no one applies for.
249	* ''VideoGame/ZenoClash'' has Chneero, a Corwid musician who's focus (all Corwids [[{{Idiosyncrazy}} have a singular thing they fixate on and devote their entire lives to, even at the expense of their physical well-being]]) is playing music. His music is so atrocious that only other Corwids can appreciate it, as it [[MagicMusic buffs and heals them]]. He also dances, and similarly so bad at it that it actually makes him an unintentional DanceBattler, as he'll accidentally hit Ghat if he gets too close.
250	[[/folder]]
251
252	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
253	* Inverted with Uncle Tommy in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework''. He ''knows'' that his playing and singing suck, and to him, that's part of the sound. And the crowds... they don't care.
254	* ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'' gives the opening act for The Squeaky Wheel (the title character's favorite band). The protagonist and Melody can agree that this band is going nowhere.
255	[[/folder]]
256
257	[[folder:Webcomics]]
258	* The Light Warriors in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' are, collectively, extremely bad at [[YouFightLikeACow throwing around snarky quips at their enemies' expense]], yet all of them insist they're great except Fighter. When fighting the Dark Elf king Astos, for example, Red Mage fumbles out something about kicking his ''ass'', which would bring their ''toes'' into close proximity; Black Mage insults him for it, then trots out "Astos? Mo' like your ass is toast!", a line so bad that [[AntiClimax Astos dies immediately upon hearing it]].
259	* Count Legato [[spoiler:actually a nerdy kid named Panpipe using a [[ItmakesSenseInContext stolen magic contact lens]]]] of ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'' writes and stars a play that is atrocious by just about any standards. Not only is it poorly-written and possibly even less well acted, it's also incredibly self-serving to the point of creepiness. He is so deluded that he thinks it's a work of brilliance and only realizes how bad it is when he's called out on his behavior and his writing in front of the audience, whereupon he promptly has a pseudo-VillainousBreakdown.
260	* Cyril The Bard in ''Webcomic/TheFourth'' is not a very good musician, yet he doesn't seem aware of this.
261	* In ''Webcomic/TheGreatestEstateDeveloper'', Lloyd's singing was so bad [[spoiler: that his parents requested him to never sing again, his music teacher flung a piano at him in anger, and a priest mistook him for a demon and splashed him with holy water.]] These incidents all took place when Lloyd was still known as Suho during his previous life in Korea. Despite being self-conscious about his awful singing skills, Lloyd [[spoiler: ended up using his voice to great effect and subdued a death knight.]]
262	* Tom and Izzy from ''Webcomic/HomeOnTheStrange'' [[http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=110 visit an art exhibition]], and everyone they encounter is one of these.
263	* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
264	** Tavros greatly enjoys rapping and is shown engaging in rap-offs with multiple other characters. He is also incredibly terrible at it. His attempted rap-off with Dave is full of AccidentalInnuendo and [[VerbalBackspace subsequent backpedaling]]. Though Gamzee seems to greatly enjoy his raps (probably because he has a crush on Tavros), the narration describes a rap battle between the two thusly:
265	--->You then proceed to have the worst rap battle in the history of paradox space.
266	** Caliborn. His first drawings are incomprehensible (think three-year-old discovering MS Paint), and only mildly improve after several years. When he has the chance to use a ''Learn How To Draw'' book, rather than actually practice the drawings in the book, he cuts them out and uses them for his own shitty comic.
267	* In ''Webcomic/MenInHats'', Jeriah likes to [[http://www.meninhats.com/d/20040324.html think he's an underappreciated great artist]]. He characteristically maintains that TrueArtIsAngsty, but his own efforts come across more as [[http://www.meninhats.com/d/20040322.html just plain ridiculous]].
268	* ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'''s XXXYYY (yes, that's her actual name) combines this with MadArtist; she's bitter about art itself being a boring, tiresome odyssey whose most successful works get deconstructed and re-interpreted by flippant critics. This causes her art to be lazy, destructive, and generally celebrated for approaching some weird equilibrium simultaneously destroying art while preserving it; as in, her work is preserved ''because'' it sucks and her attitude causes ReversePsychology to take effect. She's also drinking 95% of the time. Naturally, [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Vanderbreem]] is dumb enough to let her on a ship full of priceless artifacts, which she tries to blow up as performance art. Which also fails when ''Vanderbreem'' is convinced to press the detonator.
269	[[/folder]]
270
271	[[folder:Web Original]]
272	* Website/{{Cracked}} gives us "[[http://www.cracked.com/article_170_5-people-who-failed-their-way-to-fame-fortune.html 5 People Who Failed Their Way to Fame And Fortune]]".
273	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'''s resident [[DreadfulMusician dreadful]] [[PissTakeRap white rapper]] Coach Z. Notably, he's pretty decent when he's had time to set up and practice but his preferred style is free-style and he sucks at it.
274	%%* WebVideo/MirandaSings
275	* Rusty from ''WebAnimation/PokemonRusty'' believes he is destined to be a Pokémon master, despite clearly being one of the worst, most ignorant trainers in the world who shouldn't be allowed to take care of anything let alone Pokemon, and everybody but him knows it.
276	[[/folder]]
277
278	[[folder:Western Animation]]
279	* From ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', Trent and his band "Mystik Spiral" [[RunningGag (although they're thinking of changing their name)]] are pretty poor musicians in general, but Trent is absolutely ''abysmal'' at writing lyics. The lyrics of "Oh, my nose! Oh, my face!" have to be heard to be believed.
280	-->'''Daria:''' It has a beat, and you can dance to it. If you have no shame.
281	* Brian Griffin of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' is a dedicated, passionate, confident writer... whose book was such a flop that the unsold copies were sent back to him packed in shredded copies of his book. The one time he writes a hit is supposed to be a TakeThat to the trend of awful self-help books, which he writes in a day. When he's suddenly well-known, he rolls with it until Creator/BillMaher utterly destroys him on his show.
282	* Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' became a major-league blernsball player in "A Leela of Her Own". Her complete lack of depth perception combined with a very strong throwing arm made it quite dangerous to be on the receiving end of her pitches. She did, however, provide a strong boost to ticket sales, as people would show up just to see how many batters she would "bean" during the game. It took her most of the episode to discover that she was really nothing more than a publicity gimmick... despite [[ComicallyMissingThePoint being explicitly told so multiple times]].
283	* WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}} draws like a kindergartener, but considers herself to be a great artist (not that anyone else does).
284	* Throughout ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', whenever the Cutie Mark Crusaders attempt a new scheme to get their cutie marks, it usually goes wrong in a particularly spectacular fashion. Their attempt at performing a rock ballad in "The Show Stoppers" is probably the best example. It ends up winning them an award... for best comedy act. All of this despite being told multiple times by multiple different characters that they're going about getting their cutie marks the wrong way. [[spoiler:It takes them until Season Five to finally get their cutie marks, in the episode "Crusaders of the Lost Mark".]]
285	* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' has Captain Peter "Wrong-Way" Peachfuzz, the worst sailor in the world. Despite having wanted to be a sailor since childhood, he's totally incompetent at it (mainly because he has NoSenseOfDirection). He only captains a ship because he inherited a huge sum of money, bought a cruise liner, and hired himself as its captain. The rest of his crew has a conspiracy to keep him from actually controlling the ship: they disconnected all the controls on the bridge, and the ship is actually steered from a secret control room he doesn't know about. This plan fails when he blunders his way into the real control room by accident while trying to get to the fake one.
286	* Squidward Tentacles from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is not as good at music as he thinks he is. He does have his moments though. The trope is zig-zagged depending on [[RuleOfFunny whether it would be funnier]], at the moment, if Squidward were an unappreciated talent or Giftedly Bad.
287	** When Squidward actually gets ''passionate'', his clarinet playing is pretty good. However, he normally plays just to ''tone out'' the stupidity of his neighbors... which doesn't really require a proper melody.
288	*** Interestingly, when Squidward tries his hand at conducting, he actually seems quite good.
289	** [=SpongeBob=] himself is a notoriously incompetent driver, having failed well over a million times on his driver's test. Each time normally leads to him reducing Bikini Bottom to ruin through his manic driving habits, which has led Mrs. Puff to deem [=SpongeBob=] ''unteachable''. This however never sways him and he remains obliviously optimistic even as he has driven his instructor deeper into insanity. The first episode that focused on his atrocious driving skills showed that he's got a large amount of the boating lessons memorized, but that he always fails actual ''driving'' portion of the test because he gets extremely nervous and panics once he's behind the wheel; nearly every other episode just portrays him as being completely oblivious to anything and everything around him.
290	** Like with Squidward and his clarinet, [=SpongeBob=]'s incompetence varies, and can be a competent driver through unorthodox, though unfortunately illegal means that would otherwise also be deemed unsafe. In the first movie, he is shown to drive the Patty Wagon quite competently without the need for a license, saying such a thing is not needed to drive a sandwich.
291	** Plankton is determined to destroy Mr. Krabs with his rival restaurant at the Chum Bucket, trying to market chum-related products to his customers even as he's trying to acquire the Krabby Patty formula. It has been shown that the food Plankton offers is simply ''unfit for consumption'', driving away anyone who isn't already scared away by his cruelty. Plankton tries numerous ways to convince his customers his food is just as good as that of the Krusty Krab, but it usually only sickens whoever works up the nerve to try it.
292	[[/folder]]
293

Context Main / GiftedlyBad