Line #1 Main/OnlySaneMan


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sane_man_1998.png]]]]
5
6	->''"I began to get a feeling... of being the only sane man in a nut house. It doesn't make you feel superior but depressed and scared, because there is no one you can contact."''
7	-->-- '''Will Dennison''', ''And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks'', by Creator/JackKerouac and Creator/WilliamSBurroughs
8
9	When there is a group of characters who are all just totally weird, either in general or in a particular scenario, the Only Sane Man is the only one who, well, isn't.
10
11	Picture this: Alice is the StupidEvil PsychoForHire, Bob is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, Henry is an EmptyShell, Charlotte is a ChaoticStupid [[ThePrankster prankster]], Karl is an ExtremeDoormat who's StupidGood, Daniel is Charlotte's AnnoyingYoungerSibling, Emily is a [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk shallow]] {{sociopath}}, Maria often RhymesOnADime, Franklin is a MadScientist, Gardenia is a LawfulStupid {{Fundamentalist}}, Jacob thinks [[WindmillCrusader he's a hero on a grand quest]], and Lily is a MadArtist who's obsessed with her [[{{WaxMuseumMorgue}} wax "statues."]] Looks like your standard DysfunctionJunction. But then you have Isaac. Isaac is actually a very well-adjusted individual. He reacts with appropriate horror to things like Alice's finger and eyeball collection, Gardenia's tendency to attack anyone not believing in her religion, Franklin's experiments to revive the dead with science, and the crimes against nature that Franklin calls pets. Or reacts with either annoyance or bewilderment to things like Bob's [[InsaneTrollLogic warped logic]], Karl's HonorBeforeReason mindset (honor being always thought first in his case), Maria's insistence to rhyme all the time, and Jacob's [[HeroicWannabe delusions of being a hero]]. Isaac is the Only Sane Man in the room.
12
13	The other variant is where the other characters aren't ''always'' that weird, but everyone save one character is acting weird in a particular situation. For example, they might regard something absurd as SeriousBusiness, with the Only Sane Man the only one who notices how crazy that is.
14
15	This latter variant also includes a standard comedy piece: something absolutely insane [[NoMereWindmill is going on]], but only one person notices (or cares). There are usually three stages, with a rough correspondence to the FiveStagesOfGrief: Bewilderment (Shock and Anger), trying to get others to see or admit the weirdness (Bargaining and Denial), and [[DeadpanSnarker bitter sarcasm]] (Acceptance).
16
17	In the more extreme cases, the poor soul may be trapped in a WorldGoneMad and/or wind up GivingUpOnLogic in frustration. Sometimes, though, they are NotSoAboveItAll. A character may also ''think'' of themselves as the Only Sane Man without proper justification.
18
19	A TooDumbToFool character may be the Only Sane Man, although he is likely to be less worked up about the failures of others to see than in most cases.
20
21	The Only Sane Man is [[TheReliableOne often relied upon]] as the OnlySaneEmployee. This character often ends up a KnightInSourArmor. For a more horrific version, see ThroughTheEyesOfMadness. For the sci-fi version, the IgnoredExpert is your go-to guy. The comedy version will often end up being either a ButtMonkey or a ChewToy. If all the other characters are otherwise sane, and really should see something, but only one guy does, he's an EinsteinSue. See also CassandraTruth, SurroundedByIdiots, and SurroundedBySmartPeople; contrast with the UnfazedEveryman. May temporarily overlap with WhatTheHellHero.
22
23	If several characters take turns being the Only Sane Man, they're playing with a SanityBall. If it's a two-person show, with one person playing the Only Sane Man to the other's wackiness, it's a StraightManAndWiseGuy scenario. This trope is the savvy half of a SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl duo, one third of a ComicTrio, and part of the FourManBand. If they're only later proven right, it may be TheDissenterIsAlwaysRight.
24
25	Usually, but not always, a CastFullOfCrazy contains an Only Sane Man. Usually, he's prone to SanitySlippage. Sometimes, he's OnlySaneByComparison, in which he's pretty crazy himself but not ''as'' crazy as the rest of his cohorts.
26
27	TheWonka may well feel like this (or be this!) in a world that doesn't follow his thinking. Insanity is, after all, in the eye of the beholder, and TheWonka often has quite valid points.
28
29	Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease -- RealLife does not have only one sane person.
30
31	[[noreallife]]
32	----
33	!!Example subpages:
34
35	[[index]]
36	* OnlySaneMan/AnimeAndManga
37	* OnlySaneMan/ComicBooks
38	* OnlySaneMan/FanWorks
39	* [[OnlySaneMan/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
40	* OnlySaneMan/{{Literature}}
41	* OnlySaneMan/LiveActionTV
42	* OnlySaneMan/TabletopGames
43	* OnlySaneMan/{{Theatre}}
44	* OnlySaneMan/VideoGames
45	* OnlySaneMan/WebAnimation
46	* OnlySaneMan/{{Webcomics}}
47	* OnlySaneMan/WebVideos
48	* OnlySaneMan/WesternAnimation
49	[[/index]]
50
51	!!Other examples:
52
53	[[foldercontrol]]
54
55	[[folder:Advertising]]
56	* The US ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' commercial has several barbarian kings all eating and laughing around a table (the gist was that they'd all just agreed to be allies). One of the men suddenly keels over, dead. There were many confused faces and cries of alarm, prompting one of the kings to shrug and say, "I put poison in his mutton." After a pause, the kings laugh and continue eating... except for one, whose facial expression clearly communicates that he knows that he's the Only Sane Man in the room.
57	%%* These hilarious [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR71GnQ4CU4 commercials of CareerBuilder.com]].
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Audio Plays]]
61	* ''AudioPlay/ExitTunesPresentsACTORS'': Hinata Mitsutsuka. Despite his character design and cheerful personality, he is in fact the one who reins in his fellow club members' more...''unorthodox'' ideas.
62	-->''[talking to the Singing Club, about [[ItMakesSenseInContext the cat]] the Singing Club had accidentally adopted] "Like I said, that kind of naming sense is no good!!"''
63	** In [=ACTORS2=], Rei Ichijoudani. While he [[NotSoAboveItAll has his moments where he acts otherwise]], for the most part, he acts like this. Especially when it comes to his former ''nanpa'' partner [[HandsomeLech Takato]]...
64	** In [=ACTORS3=], Seijun Yuyama, mostly with regards to his Club President [[LargeHam Kouya]] and friend [[SweetTooth Kaoru]].
65	--->'''Seijun:''' Don't drag me into this conversation, you perverts.\
66	'''Kaoru:''' I'm no pervert! I'm a CovertPervert!\
67	'''Seijun:''' Don't just say that so easily!!
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Comedy]]
71	* Most comedians are trying to invoke this trope a lot of the time, particularly in observational material.
72	* This is the schtick of Japanese comedian Jinnai Tomonori. His sketches involve him being placed in the middle of increasingly surreal situations where he's forced to point out just how ridiculous what he's dealing with is, and futilely try to enforce order on the situation. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNKbj6d3E1M This is a fairly typical example.]] It's similar to a BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine, except that the Boke is not an actual individual character, but anything from a video game, to an ATM, to someone we never see who's controlling the lights on a building.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
76	* The title character of ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. He's about the least dysfunctional character in the comic and the closest to a genuinely good one.
77	* Frank Mellish from ''ComicStrip/LibertyMeadows'' gets flustered and dismayed at the animals' antics.
78	* Sam from ''ComicStrip/InSecurity'' may have his quirks, but compared to his [[GenkiGirl wife]] Sedine and her [[ManChild cousin]] Roy, he's practically the voice of reason.
79	* Conchy and Oom Paul split this role between them in ''ComicStrip/{{Conchy}}'', with Conchy being TheEveryman and Oom Paul being a DeadpanSnarker.
80	* Sara in ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable''.
81	* ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' frequently plays the role of OnlySaneMan to his party, having by far the greatest amount of common sense of the lot and being less bound by the ContractualGenreBlindness that seems to come naturally to adventurers. This happens in almost every standalone story they're in, but by far the most noticeable is the comic's [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2011-04-24 pastiche of]] ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
82	* Franklin from the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' comics: he is the only character not to have some sort of quirk or obsession. He is also the only person to point out exactly how weird everyone else in Charlie Brown's neighbourhood is. ''And'' -- in a twist that was particularly ironic in the late 1960s - he is the only black character in the strip.
83	-->'''Charlie Brown:''' Franklin! Where are you going?\
84	'''Franklin:''' I'm going home, Charlie Brown. This neighborhood has me shook. I didn't mind the girl in the booth or the beagle with the goggles, but that business about the "Great Pumpkin" - no, sir!\
85	'''Charlie Brown:''' But...\
86	'''Schroeder:''' Hi! Did you guys know there are only sixty more days until Beethoven's birthday?\
87	'''Charlie Brown:''' Oh, good grief!\
88	'''Franklin:''' ''[under his breath]'' Like, wow!
89	* ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre'':
90	** Spider-Man is basically the only person in the entire world with a single lick of common sense. However, this has caused him to become so [[JadeColoredGlasses jaded]] he flat-out refuses to participate in any kind of action if he can avoid it, for example immediately taking the blue pill to go back to sleep when Morpheus offered to take him to Film/TheMatrix.
91	** Spider-Man might have company in the "not completely out of his mind" department in Doctor Doom, the series' ''other'' main character. Maybe.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
95	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'', Mittens the cat is the only one of the main characters who doesn't constantly have her head in the clouds, and is also the only one who is aware of the fact that Bolt is living in a fantasy world -- Bolt believes that everything he's been in on his TV show is real, and Rhino ''would'' have the capacity to know what Mittens would know if he wasn't so cripplingly fanatical about Bolt and so off his rocker.
96	* In ''WesternAnimation/ElArca'', everyone seems to be totally in love with the female panther Panty, all of them singing and dancing to her song "I will Survive", none of them seeming to notice she's talking about ''[[CarnivoreConfusion murdering and eating them]]'' except for the pig, who is clearly uneasy and suspicious, while everyone else, including the other prey animals, is completely oblivious to the actual words of the song, only really seeming to pay attention to Panty's... um... ''[[{{Pun}} assets]]''.
97	* ''WesternAnimation/CharlottesWeb'': Edith Zuckerman is the only one to point out that the writing in the eponymous spiderweb ought to be taken as a sign that the ''spider'' is special. [[CassandraTruth She is quickly dismissed.]]
98	* ''WesternAnimation/GlistenAndTheMerryMission'': While all the elves believe in heart when it comes to toy making, only Cinnameg seems to understand that constant singing, dancing, and breaks aren't helping with making enough toys.
99	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': Sally seems to be the only denizen of HalloweenTown who even approaches the realization that people don't want to be scared or attacked on Christmas. Santa himself later [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] her wisdom: "The next time you get the urge to take over someone else's holiday, I'd listen to HER. She's the only one who makes any ''sense'' around this INSANE ASYLUM!"
100	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': Pocahontas herself is the only character in the film, apart from Grandmother Willow, who knows right from the start that war and xenophobia will do absolutely nothing to help matters between the opposing English settlers and Powhatan tribe. She is the reason John Smith gains a greater appreciation for both the landscape around him and the people inhabiting it, and [[spoiler:she is also the reason why the war at the end of the film comes to a peaceful resolve.]]
101	* Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': [[ComicBook/SpiderMan2099 Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man 2099,]] is the leader of the Spider Society, [[BeleagueredBoss which means that he's the unfunny and grounded one in a tower full of quippy, eccentric Spider-People,]] [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids and the lone pragmatist in a group of idealists.]] [[TheComicallySerious It's played for laughs most of the time,]] but he complains to Gwen just after meeting her that he seems to be the only one taking the threat to the multiverse seriously. By the end of the movie, he's full-on ranting while slamming Miles Morales against a wall:
102	-->'''Miguel O'Hara:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis And all this time! I! Have been the only one holding it all together!]]
103	* ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Merryweather proves to be the most realistic and grounded of the Three Good Fairies, often pointing out flaws in Flora's plans and correctly anticipating Maleficent's schemes. When Flora and Fauna attempt to make Aurora/Rose a new dress and cake for her sixteenth birthday, Merryweather is the only one who points out that they're doing an absolutely terrible job and insists on using their magic to fix the presents, saying that they have to put Aurora's happiness first.
104	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': Branch gives off vibes of this, compared to the hyperactive Poppy and her happy-go-lucky brethren when dealing with the Bergen trying to eat them.
105	* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Jin is the only one in the family who tries to approach Mei on her own terms. When Jin sees the video Mei made with her friends, he encourages her not to delete it.
106	* In ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', Captain [=McCrea=] is the only human on board the Axiom that isn't entranced by the 700-year-long ennui of their existence.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Manhwa]]
110	* ''Manhwa/{{Yureka}}'': Ah-dol is often the only one with any common sense within the main trio, and when ''he'' loses it Boromid has often regained enough sanity to show off, and when ''all three of them'' lose it the task of remarking that yes you ''are'' still sane and have not forgotten that the actions around you are a bit off may fall to [[SanityBall any random passerby]], but most often to [[AscendedExtra Lawe]]. Lowe [[TheMagnificent the Mighty]], that is.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Music]]
114	* Music/TheBeatles: "The Fool on the Hill".
115	* The protagonist from Music/HarryChapin's "The Rock".
116	* The singer in Music/TearsForFears' "Mad World" sees himself as this. It's arguable whether he actually is.
117	* The Spine of Music/SteamPoweredGiraffe is arguably this, being much more calm and rational than his siblings.
118	* Contessa of Music/EmilieAutumn's Bloody Crumpets likes to see herself as this. Then again, seeing as how the Crumpets are supposed to be a group of asylum inmates, "sane" is relative.
119	-->'''Contessa:''' I would like to make it very clear that I am not, I repeat, I am not, not, NOT insane!\
120	'''Everyone Else:''' ''[hysterical laughter]''\
121	'''Emilie:''' ''[to the audience]'' ...She eats people!
122	* Music/DanielAmos: The album ''Music/{{Alarma}}'' includes a short story in the liner notes where the narrator winds up in a decrepit city, where he's the only one to notice that the religious leaders are all spouting nonsense. The narrator outright calls himself "the only sane mind in [[WorldGoneMad this mad world]]."
123	* Music/{{Drake}} is naturally this on the four-way collaboration "Forever" from the ''More Than A Game'' Soundtrack, since the other three are [[AxCrazy Eminem]], [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Lil Wayne]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Kanye West]].
124	* In the music video for ''Music/ImagineDragons''' "On Top Of The World" has Stanley Kubrick, Richard Nixon and the band members faking the moon landing. Very badly. The whole thing is being broadcast live and everyone is watching with anticipation. Eventually, the ruse becomes obvious and people burst into the studio... so that they can cheer along with the fake astronauts, even laughing along as Richard Nixon does a cabaret line dance with the astronauts. Meanwhile, Stanley Kubrick is obviously humiliated by the entire event and the cosmonauts are watching with mixed confusion and irritation.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Podcasts]]
128	* Caleb the medic from the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' game of ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' is the only member of the Zelda's crew who isn't weird (Roc), bloodthirsty (Kimmy), or just plain thirsty (Mickey).
129	* ''Podcast/KakosIndustries'' has the company owner, Corin Deeth the III, act as this for the most part. He's a lot more logical to an almost pretentious degree though even he has had instances of becoming obsessed with inanimate objects and believes having a live baby implanted into someone's thigh is a good idea for a Halloween costume.
130	%%* ''Podcast/RandomAssault'':
131	%%** Tony.
132	%%** Alex seems to fancy himself this when Matt's away.
133	* In ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', most Night Vale residents are so often exposed to Orwellian government surveillance, eldritch abominations, and supernatural disasters that they don't recognize such events as odd any more. Carlos, a recently-arrived scientist from the outside world, is the only person in the town who realizes just how WRONG all this is. [[DownplayedTrope Though even he doesn't seem to appreciate the full extent]] of just how weird Night Vale is
134	* Georgie is this in ''Podcast/WoodenOvercoats'', being an [[MellowFellow easy-going]] HyperCompetentSidekick among a misanthropic {{jerkass}} (Rudyard), a [[ShrinkingViolet shy]], CovertPervert [[CreepyMortician mortician]] (Antigone), a talking mouse (Madeleine), and a ParodySue (Eric). She's also Funn Funeral's OnlySaneEmployee.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
138	* Wrestling/JoeyStyles was signed to play ''precisely'' this trope in {{Wrestling/ECW}}. Wrestling/PaulHeyman told him "In the midst of all the craziness, I want you to be the steady voice of reason"
139	* In Wrestling/{{WWE}}, it's pretty common for play-by-play guys on commentary to do this (Especially if their were {{Face}}). Wrestling/JimRoss did this on [[Wrestling/{{WWERAW}} RAW]] while Wrestling/MichaelCole was the same on [[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown!]].
140	* In a rare example of the colour commentator coming off as this, Wrestling/WilliamRegal on {{Wrestling/WWENXT}}
141	** This is continuing now that he is the GM of NXT
142	* Several heels tend to think they're this, including Wrestling/ChrisJericho, Wrestling/CMPunk, and Wrestling/DamienSandow. They usually tend to drift into NotSoAboveItAll.
143	** Though Punk was the genuine sane one in the "love triangle...square" storyline, as [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] was ''certifiably'' insane by that point, Wrestling/{{Kane}}'s reputation spoke for itself while Wrestling/AJLee, the object of all their "affections", was clearly off her rocker and three-fourths of the way to being committed.
144	* Whenever WWE or [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] wrestlers venture out into the "real" world for skits, there is usually at least one bystander who fills this role. The "Special Guest Host" on ''Monday Night Raw'' (usually a non-wrestling-related celebrity) also tends to play this part, but there have been some exceptions - and, in at least one instance, the Special Guest Host turned out to be the ''heel'' of the show.
145	* [[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]] filled this niche when he guest-starred on ''Monday Night Raw''. Yes, that's right - ''[[StereotypeFlip Jerry Springer]]''. (Double-subverted when he proved to be NotSoAboveItAll, of course.)
146	* Jonathan Coachman caught the SanityBall - temporarily, anyway - at the 2007 ''Royal Rumble''. He, Theodore Long, and Wrestling/KellyKelly - representing ''Raw'', ''[=SmackDown=]'', and ECW, respectively - were backstage watching the Royal Rumble Match participants file in to choose their numbers from a bingo tumbler that Kelly was cranking. It wasn't long before Coachman was becoming visibly unnerved by the CarnivalOfKillers - including a pair of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] (Kevin Thorn and Ariel) and a mentally-challenged Indian giant (The Great Khali) - lining up to take their numbers, as well as frustrated that Theodore Long and Kelly Kelly seemed [[WeirdnessCensor completely unfazed by these frightening individuals]]. Finally, Coach lost his temper and - in a manner that made him look anything ''but'' sane - screamed at Long and Kelly that he had had all he could stand of "Your ''[=SmackDown=]'' freaks!" and "Your ECW degenerates!" As it happened, the final man to enter the room was Wrestling/RicFlair - and this caused Coach to cheer up and become pleased that at last they had a classy, "normal" Superstar in their midst. Then Flair revealed that he was NotSoAboveItAll by getting down with his bad self at an impromptu dance party thrown by Kelly's "Extreme Exposé." Talk about PlayingWithATrope until its wheels fall off.
147	* At ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 1999'', [[WrestlingDoesntPay wrestling porn star]] Wrestling/ValVenis led his [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits team]] of [[Wrestling/MarkHenry "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry]], wrestling [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] [[Wrestling/DavidHeath Gangrel]] and, filling this role, wrestling [[IKnowKarate martial artist]] [[Wrestling/SteveBlackman "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman]] to victory over Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith and [[Characters/WWETagTeams The Mean Street Posse]].
148	* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} 2009-2010: Wrestling/{{Crossbones\|TheWrestler}} played this role in Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}}'s The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, as a subtrope of TheUnfavourite. Mantis would fawn over Hydra and [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]] while belittling or dismissing Crossbones.
149	* '''Nobody''' was better at being the eye of the storm while wrestlers were ranting and raving than Wrestling/GordonSolie was.
150	* On a late 1992 episode of ''WWF Prime Time Wrestling'', Wrestling/BretHart teamed with '''[[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR]]''' to defeat [[HollywoodVoodoo wrestling voodoo master]] '''[[Wrestling/CharlesWright PAPA SHANGO]]''' and '''[[Wrestling/{{Kamala}} KAMALA THE UGANDAN GIANT]]'''!
151	* Wrestling/TheShield: Originally, Wrestling/RomanReigns used to be this for the stable. [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Dean Ambrose]] was liable to fly off the handle at any time and Wrestling/SethRollins showed a startling lack of self-preservation during matches along with a sadistic streak after he ended the Shield to join Wrestling/TheAuthority. However, as the years went on, the actual OnlySaneMan turned out to be ''Ambrose'', at least in part because he was the only member to make peace with the end of the stable. Both Reigns and Rollins, meanwhile, underwent such severe SanitySlippage that they made even Ambrose at his worst look sane in comparison.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Radio]]
155	* Central to the style of comedy team ''Radio/BobAndRay''. As neither was a classic StraightMan, they played point/counterpoint between this and the CloudCuckoolander instead.
156	* ''Radio/TheGoonShow'': Hercules Grytpype-Thynne fills this role, not that this is particularly difficult.
157	* ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'': Mary was generally the most level-headed character on the show. Jack and the guest stars would fill this role often as well.
158	* In ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'' April essentially plays this role in Series 1. This might've been a factor to [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome her disappearance in Series 2]], since she doesn't get much material in the comedy (apart from the episode "Moderately Important Person", where she's the main focus of Prince Salim's lust).
159	* ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'': At the start of the show, The Professor is the only major character who isn't completely incompetent and/or a vicious sadist. [[spoiler:After he leaves, Edith takes his place]].
160	* Karl Pilkington of ''Radio/TheRickyGervaisShow''. While Ricky and Steven laugh about all his thoughts, a fair number of his questions and statements are perfectly logical: notably a thought experiment where he wondered if one would be able to confidently state that they are the original if they had a clone with all the same exact memories up to the point of their creation.
161	[[/folder]]
162
163	[[folder:Roleplay]]
164	* ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'':
165	** Despite her mental illnesses that make her believe that she's unstable, Zia is shown to be one of the more dependable characters in tense situations. When she finds a group of students attempting to break out the school- without even bothering to check the emergency exits first- she calls them out for overreacting. She does so again when the group jump to killing Benjy now that he's [[HulkOut hulked out]], rather than seeking a non-violent solution.
166	** Nurse Dini lacks the quirks of the other staff at Rogers High, and is instead a straight-talker who's sensible to her patients.[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
169	* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': All playable lawyers (these being VisualNovel/{{Phoenix Wright\|AceAttorney}}, Mia Fey, VisualNovel/{{Apollo Justice\|AceAttorney}}, [[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Miles Edgeworth]], Gregory Edgeworth, and [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Athena Cykes]]) play this role. They live in a world full of wacky over-the-top personalities, and they are constantly reminded of that. Most of them seem to enjoy it most of the time though, constantly thinking on how ridiculous nearly everyone else is [[FirstPersonSmartass in the comfort of their minds]]. That said, there are a few other stable personalities besides them, but they are the exception. It's worth noting that even the main characters are only really stable ''by comparison'': this is the agency that made its name for itself doing things like cross-examining a parrot and summoning ghosts whenever they ran out of ideas, after all.
170	** Apollo deserves special mention, as he is ''consistently'' portrayed as the OnlySaneMan, even when he is not the playable character.
171	** The ultimate prize for Only Sane Attorney has to go to Gregory Edgeworth; when he's playable in a flashback, he proves laid-back, polite, and professional, with his only 'quirk' being [[GoodParents how much he thinks about his young son Miles]]. He even admonishes his assistant for appearing to not take the crime scene seriously.
172	** The Only Sane Prosecutor prize goes to Klavier Gavin (with post-timeskip Edgeworth as a runner-up). Yes, he has a second career as a rock star, and yes, he air guitars in court, which is kind of weird. He's also the ''only'' prosecutor you face to be a GracefulLoser with no baggage regarding his win record, completely non-corrupt, and have no grudge against any main characters. He's also fairly good at keeping quirky witnesses on-task (compare Edgeworth, who can never get them to even say their ''names'' on the first go) and is the only prosecutor to think of issuing a gag order surrounding a high-profile crime. Being called "Herr Forehead" and lightly teased/flirted with is ''tame'' compared to what other prosecutors get away with. The only times Klavier is remotely antagonistic is when he's an UnwittingPawn to people he genuinely trusts, and he immediately about-faces when given reason to believe they've betrayed that trust.
173	* In ''VisualNovel/CodeRealize'', [[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} Victor]] is not particularly any more normal than the rest of his companions -- a group which includes [[Literature/ArseneLupin a self-proclaimed gentleman thief]] with peculiar ideas about justice, an excitable and mishap-prone GadgeteerGenius who [[Literature/FromTheEarthToTheMoon plans to travel to the moon]], the mysterious and eccentric Comte de Saint-Germain, [[Literature/{{Dracula}} the hero of the Vampire War]] who's known as a "human weapon," and an amnesiac girl who [[PoisonousPerson melts anything she touches]] -- but he ''is'' the only one of them who seems to expect people to behave or events to occur in a reasonable manner. Cardia is also normally sensible but doesn't have a strong frame of reference for what's normal and what isn't, which means poor Victor is the one most often reacting in dismay and exasperation to the group's antics.
174	* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
175	** All of the 'Detective' characters (Kyoko, Chiaki, Shuichi) count, as they're the ones whose first reaction to a crime scene is to start solving the crime instead of freaking out or accusing random students- a very important trait when ''not'' solving crimes gets everyone but the perp killed.
176	** The player characters (Makoto, Hajime, Kaede) embody the trope in a different way, since they're the ones most vocal about how mistrusting each other is playing into Monokuma's hands and focused on ''ending'' the game instead of playing it. Hajime gets special mention as the snarkiest protagonist and the one most likely to vocalize his observations.
177	** As a general rule, the vast majority of ''Danganronpa'' characters are a massive DysfunctionJunction [[ThereAreNoTherapists who seriously needs therapy]][[note]]especially the more unstable characters like [[TheSociopath Togami]], [[DefectiveDetective Kyoko]], [[ShrinkingViolet Chihiro]], [[CainAndAbel Mondo]], [[FragileFlower Mikan]], [[SourOutsideSadInside Hiyoko]], [[AxCrazy Nagito]]...[[/note]], but outside of the painfully normal main protagonists, there are two exceptions overall: [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc Leon Kuwata]] and [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Sonia Nevermind]]; Leon's CasanovaWannabe and {{Keet}} tendencies aside, the former had a pretty normal upbringing due to getting his talent through TheGift and implied to come from a rich family (his cousin, Kanon, is the daughter of a TV company executive) [[StraightMan and thus is pretty quick to point out a lot of the cast's zanier behavior]]. Sonia is largely the same way, who's generally speaking a SpoiledSweet NiceGirl who, outside of being a NightmareFetishist and CovertPervert, doesn't have nearly as many issues as her friends do. Interestingly, [[spoiler:Leon had the rotten luck of being attacked by Sayaka and killing her in impulse that he justified as self-defense, resulting in his execution. Meanwhile, Sonia had no such incidents and it's her friendly personality that helped her survive to the end of the game]].
178	* [[GayOption Jaehee Kang]] in ''VisualNovel/MysticMessenger'' is by far the most reasonable member of the RFA. This trait is made apparent in the choices necessary to enter her route: she likes a main character who is optimistic and hard-working, but sensible and cautious. She claims that nothing special has ever happened to her (downplaying the fact that she lost both of her parents when she was young) and is the one most wary of you in the beginning, which makes sense because you're a total stranger entering a locked, private server, and suddenly living in their dead friend's apartment under extremely mysterious circumstances. Whereas everyone else warms to you pretty quickly, you have to put in a little work to get her to begin trusting you.
179	* The protagonist is the only one in ''VisualNovel/DraKoi'' who seems to actually be at all well balanced. His classmates are all crazy and his mother wants to rape him. The dragon herself indicate she'd like to eat him or sleep with him and sees little difference between the two options.
180	* ''VisualNovel/TheFruitOfGrisaia'': Makina believes that this is how Yumiko sees herself, and considering the quirky and wacky nature of her classmates, it' no wonder.
181	* Kenji and Hisao both claim they're this in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo''. Kenji is quite offended at Hisao's claim: "There can't be two last sane men... There can only be one, like in [[Film/{{Highlander}} that foreign movie]] where there could only be one, and in the end there is only one dude left, because that was the point." (In other words, Hisao is, Kenji [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy only thinks he is]].)
182	* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub''
183	** Natsuki is the only member of the titular club who keeps her head throughout the entire game, even as [[spoiler:the game starts to show its true psychological horror colors]]. Every character, including the PlayerCharacter, eventually shows various degrees of mental health problems, seeming shifts from their original personality, and/or lack of proper reaction to the things going wrong around them. Natsuki is the only one who's still herself at the height of the weirdness, and she's also the only one to try to ''do'' something about the problems by pleading with the player character to intervene where she can't.
184	** {{Subverted}} with Monika: In the first act, when everyone else's problems are still relatively normal (so Natsuki, for example, is suffering from abusive relationships, poor self-esteem, and [[{{Tsundere}} anger management issues]]), it seems Monika is the only one who's totally fine and stable. [[spoiler:It turns out she's worse than any of the others and the cause of all the insanity going on since the end of the first act.]]
185	* ''VisualNovel/ShinraiBrokenBeyondDespair'': Raiko, the PlayerCharacter, is a somewhat gloomy introvert, but she's by far the least eccentric of the ten teenagers who attend Rie's party. It's played seriously at the climax, when Raiko is the only surviving character who thinks rationally and [[spoiler:doesn't immediately accuse Kamen of the murders.]]
186	* Unlike [[WickedCultured Rire]] and [[SerialKiller Strade]], [[MadDoctor Sano]] in ''VisualNovel/BoyfriendToDeath'' isn't as gung-ho to kickstart the ColdBloodedTorture, and is considerably kinder ''if'' he warms up to you. It says something about how utterly ''fucked up in the head'' the "boyfriends" are when the MadDoctor is [[OnlySaneByComparison the closest to a sane man]].
187	[[/folder]]
188
189	[[folder:Web Original]]
190	* [=Ab3=], the AuthorAvatar in ''The Literature/BinderOfShame''. He's kind of a jerk, but he's still leagues more moral and rational than the other players, and is the only one who calls out things like El Disgusto's obsession with ninjas and lack of personal hygiene, Psycho Dave's white supremacy, etc.
191	* ''Blog/TheBlackLegionOfTheDarkLordSketchMelkor'' has Mac, who is a friend of the Dark Lord Sketch and holds the title of [[TheWatson Plain Old Bilbo]]. She has, so far, basically been the only one to attempt talking reason to Sketch. [[EvilMinions Everyone else]] just goes along with everything she says.
192	* Welshman in ''Literature/{{Englishman}}'' started out like this (and usually turned out to be wrong) while later on he seems to give up and accept the insanity of [[TheVerse the Englishverse]].
193	* Oli White in ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' is the only one who never loses focus of the groups original goal; escaping the house with as many people as possible. He never wastes time bickering and is always looking out for his fellow teammates. He’s also the least eccentric cast member in the entire show. His reactions to situations are also the most realistic.(usually exasperation)
194	* Sasha Hunter in ''Literature/GreekNinja'' finds herself rolling her eyes all the time at her comrades' antics.
195	* Guy of ''WebVideo/LifeInAGame'', being the only "real" person in his video game world, is the only one who questions the insane video game logic that everyone else seems to take for granted. It comes and goes, but the best example of it is in [[http://www.lifeinagame.com/pages/episode62.html Episode 6-2.]]
196	* ''Rational Wiki'': The category [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Category:Right_of_reason Right of Reason]] is for conservatives with enough reasonable viewpoints that they can be taken seriously[[note]]Gerald Ford, Robert Taft, T.Boone Pickens, etc.[[/note]]. The leftist version is called [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Category:Left_of_reason Left of Reason]][[note]]Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, Bernie Sanders, etc.[[/note]].
197	* Algernon's characterization in the ''LetsPlay/SomethingAwfulDungeonsAndDragons'' gaming sessions, being dragged into increasingly ridiculous situations with increasingly ridiculous people.
198	* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Both Lancer and She-Beast play this role for Team Kimba and the Bad Seeds, respectively.
199	* Several in ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms,'' on different levels. Of the founders of the titular kingdoms, [[NiceGuy Sun Quan]] is the only one who could possibly be described as "sane." Zhou Yu is far from sane, but he's the only character to point out that the hero/villain premise is absurd, and the first to react appropriately to Liu Bei.
200	* ''WebVideo/ShortsWars'': Riggy is the only one aware of the glitches in the shorts.
201	* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'': A common character trope that shows up, in particular in response to some of the more outlandish characters. A few examples of this include: Heather Pendegrast, Lyndi Thibodeaux, Huy Tran, Eddie Sullivan, Christopher Harlin, Melanie Beckett, Sean Leibowitz.
202	* Hall of Sida in ''Fanfic/NjalGetsBurned.'' Though he certainly has his CloudCuckooLander moments (for instance, he thinks Christianity is based around worship of the Archangel Michael), he's the strongest advocate for peaceful resolutions and one of the few people respected enough by both sides to have a chance of pulling it off.
203	[[/folder]]

Context Main / OnlySaneMan