Line #18 YMMV/AvenueQ


1	* AccidentalAesop:
2	** Although most of the show's many Aesops are clearly presented and framed, some are shown rather than stated. For example, Rod and Nicky are proof that being great friends doesn't make two people good roommates.
3	** The updated version of "For Now" which changed "George Bush is only for now!" to "George Bush ''was'' only for now!" actually reinforces the message that "Nothing lasts forever."
4	** A subtle one is that there's a key difference between setting a goal and putting heavy emphasis on finding one's purpose. Brian wants to be a comedian and get paid for it, for example, and Kate longs to set up a monster school, but Princeton simply wants to find his purpose and wants it yesterday. The lesson being that this is an easy way to make yourself miserable--whereas if you have an actual dream, you might just get it.
5	** Don't talk about your friend's issues behind their back, especially if they are giving you room and board. You can easily cross a line that you can't fix. Nicky tries very hard to help Rod come out of the closet, but he does so in a hamfisted way that eventually leads to Rod hitting a RageBreakingPoint and kicking him out of their apartment when he hears Nicky telling their friends that he's probably gay. It's not until Nicky apologizes by finding a guy on Rod's wavelength that they reconcile.
6	* {{Adorkable}}: Princeton is a nice, often awkward, and apparently very handsome young man.
7	%%** Kate Monster is probably moreso than Princeton!
8	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist": Either, yes, everyone's a bit racist, and rather than being hypocrites by getting mad about "little things," we should let 'em slide and save our anger for the big kinds of racism, or everyone's a little bit racist, and being in denial about it rather than admitting it won't help us get over it. Also, "Bigotry has never been exclusively white" - every ethnic group has a prejudice against another ethnic group, and some of these have been ingrained for centuries of conflict. (Robert Lopez even [[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2083157,00.html explained]] to ''Magazine/TimeMagazine'' that the song is even [[WriteWhoYouKnow partially inspired by his own]] RacistGrandma, who was Filipino).
9	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
10	** Does Christmas Eve not have any clients because she only recently got her master's degrees, or is it because she is quite abrasive and BrutallyHonest? Even worse, is it because she's not completely fluent in English and thus people may be unconsciously biased against her skills?[[note]]That's more than a little racist.[[/note]]
11	** Is Princeton a well-meaning college graduate lacking ambition because he's taken life for granted, as he puts it at the end of the musical, or is he an entitled {{Wangst}}y character? He's the only character whose parents send him money to tide him by after he gets laid off; Brian has to go out and search for another job, while Kate is left drifting after she's fired. Not to mention he breaks up with Kate in a panic when she catches the bridal bouquet, rather than talking it out and explaining he may not be ready for an intense commitment.
12	** In the finale, some productions have [[spoiler:Nicky tell Rod that he "knows [Rod's] type" after introducing a potential boyfriend who looks, acts and has nearly the same name as him (Ricky). This could be taken to mean either Nicky wasn't so ObliviousToLove after all or that he was ComicallyMissingThePoint]]. He also constantly remarks ''...but I'm not gay'' while (not so) subtly convincing Rod to come out in "If You Were Gay". Meaning he probably knows Rod would be interested if he mistook him for homosexual. Of course, that same line raises the question "is Nicky straight and genuinely trying to be supportive, or [[HypocriticalHumor is he being just as defensive]] about his own sexuality?" Along these lines, some productions [[spoiler:have an implied threesome between Rod, Nicky ''and'' Ricky.]]
13	** How badly off is Gary Coleman? Everyone admits that his life sucks the most because he's a FormerChildStar whose parents stole all his money from him, and he serves as the superintendent and landlord for Avenue Q to pay the bills. Thing is, owning an apartment building in New York City is like owning a goldmine, and Kate Monster says he supplements that income by selling his old merchandise. Gary is also the OnlySaneMan in the dysfunctional cast; rather than kick Princeton out on learning he lost his job and thus can't pay rent, he gives him the advice to take the time to be introspective before searching for another position in a hurry. Gary also stays out of most of the drama that goes on between his tenants because he aptly points out it's none of his business; the exceptions are the racism song and "The Internet Is For Porn". It says something that a homeless Nicky concedes to Gary that it's mean how the latter enjoys his suffering but is correct that everyone revels in others' pain. Also is Gary actually the landlord, or is he just the superintendent? A superintendent is simply an employee of the landlord who collects bills and such on the landlord's behalf. In that case, Gary doesn't own the building.
14	* {{Anvilicious}}: Not unlike [[Series/SesameStreet the show it's parodying]], ''Avenue Q'''s morals are spelled out to the letter.
15	* AssPull: Done as a deliberate laugh. After all their efforts fundraising fail, [[spoiler:Trekkie turns out to have ten million dollars on hand because he doesn't just watch porn, he invests in it]].
16	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: ''All of it'', from the comedy gold of "The Internet Is for Porn," "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," and "Schadenfreude" to the soul-wrenching "There's a Fine, Fine Line" and "For Now." There's a reason Robert Lopez went on to have a fruitful career as a composer after this show.
17	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
18	** "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today," the shortest song in the musical. While it ''does'' show how truly horribly unfunny Brian is, his unfunniness was already established.
19	** "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." The set-up is plot relevant for establishing Kate's dream and the FantasticRacism monsters face, but the song itself is just a parody of ''Sesame Street'''s {{Educational Song}}s that doesn't actually forward the plot or establish anything new about the characters. This doesn't stop it from being one of the most memorable songs of the show, though.
20	* BrokenAesop: the theme of "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist". The message is that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin everyone's a little bit racist,]] but certain lines come off less as "everyone makes incorrect assumptions about other based on race" and more as "AtLeastIAdmitIt." For example, Kate, Princeton, and Gary laughing at Christmas Eve's accent, then telling Brian to "come off it" when he defends her, is more than a "little" racist. The rest of the show also depicts the FantasticRacism against monsters as potentially having serious consequences, as [[spoiler:Trekkie Monster]] is still dealing with psychological issues related to schoolyard bullying for being a monster. Interestingly, he isn't included in "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," possibly in part because it would contradict the weight of this reveal.
21	* DieForOurShip: Poor [[spoiler:Ricky]] gets a fair amount of this from Rod/Nicky shippers, despite only appearing at the end of the musical and pretty much being a gay version of [[NiceGuy Nicky]].
22	* FridgeBrilliance:
23	** During the wedding scene, when Gary suggests that Rod's gay, the first one to voice surprise is Christmas Eve. Why? Because Rod had previously confided in her that [[IHaveThisFriend his "friend"]] might be gay and in the closet--chances are, Eve put two and two together and realized he was actually talking about himself.
24	** During "It Sucks To Be Me," Kate feels like her life sucks worse than Brian's, even though her problems seem less serious compared to his (she doesn't have a boyfriend, but Brian is out of a job). She wants what he has; he's already married!
25	** [[spoiler:The Bad Idea Bears converting to Scientology at the end makes perfect sense for them. Until then, they could only get unemployed schlubs to do their bidding. Now they can benefit off the bad ideas of obscenely rich celebrities.]]
26	* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The musical has a RayOfHopeEnding called "For Now" about how both the good and the bad things last a short while. Thus you should enjoy the little things and hope the bad ones bad. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_cB9sSswpo The original cast in 2020 reunited to give a rendition of the song, explicitly mentioning current dire circumstances and reminding viewers that it's not forever, just "for now"]]. To a lesser extent, Rod in the musical was worried he would never find love due to being a gay Republican and stuck in the closet forever. [[CharacterDevelopment He ends up signing off the video]] by saying "[[PlatonicDeclarationOfLove I love you]]" to the viewers.
27	* HilariousInHindsight:
28	** A ''Series/SesameStreet'' parody with a song called "The Internet Is for Porn". Fast forward to 2011, when ''Sesame Street'''s official Website/YouTube channel was hacked and pornographic videos were uploaded.
29	** Nicky and Gary simultaneously listing, "watching actors never reach the ending of their Oscar speech" as a source of schadenfreude might have gained some hilarity after songwriter Robert Lopez won the Best Song Oscar for ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', and successfully ''thwarted'' an attempt to cut short his speech.
30	** The musical is a off-Broadway musical heavily inspired by ''Series/SesameStreet''. Hilariously and likely by sheer coincidence, it was announced in 2022 that ''Sesame Street'' itself would have a off-Broadway musical of its own, which premiered later that year, bringing things full circle.
31	* MemeticMutation:
32	** TheInternetIsForPorn, a {{Trope Namer\|s}}, and also very popular material for [[FanVid AMVs]] on Website/YouTube.
33	** Pick any anime character ever made ever, and there will be three different [=AMVs=] featuring them: 1. Them singing about their lack of underwear. 2. Them convincing their friend to come out of the closet, as well as a video of their friend trying to convince ''them''. 3. How much they [[JapaneseRanguage ruv]] someone, but also want to kill them in equal measure. There are no exceptions to this rule. Even applies to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqcYJzc6lKw Bert and Ernie]].
34	* MoralEventHorizon: The Bad Idea Bears manipulate Princeton into getting him broke and having sex with a drunk Kate. They cross it when they try to [[DrivenToSuicide talk Princeton into hanging himself]].
35	* NightmareFuel: Princeton's nightmarish ImagineSpot in which he imagines the word "Purpose" becoming "Propose," followed by Brian and Christmas Eve walking towards him like zombies while wearing masks of him and Kate. And if that wasn't disturbing enough, a ''massive Kate puppet'', wearing a bridal veil, appears from behind the set, towering over Princeton and scaring him half to death. It perfectly illustrates how terrifying something as simple as commitment can be to a young person.
36	* OneSceneWonder: The kaiju-sized bridal Kate who appears at the end of act one. A few audience members have left the theater unhappy that it didn't come out for a bow.
37	* SignatureScene: TheInternetIsForPorn, Trekkie Monster's derailing of Kate's lecture on the internet, to the point of MemeticMutation.
38	* SignatureSong: "The Internet Is for Porn", "It Sucks to Be Me", and "If You Were Gay" are the most iconic songs of the musical.
39	* StrawmanHasAPoint: Brian is treated as being hypocritical for getting angry with Princeton, Kate, and Gary for laughing at Christmas Eve's accent. Trouble is, him calling her "Oriental" is accidental racism (a debatable example anyway, considering some Asian Americans don't mind being referred to as "oriental"), and while the jokes they were telling earlier could be described as "mild racism" or "ethnic banter", making fun of someone who is speaking a second language... "How many languages do you speak?" Indeed, Brian, indeed.
40	* ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs: What if ''Sesame Street'' was drunk and depressed?
41	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Several aspects of the production date it to the early 2000s. The discussion of the internet doesn't mention much about social media, and refers to Amazon as "Amazon.com," which has become much less common since Amazon became a household name during TheNewTens. Princeton giving Kate a mix tape has fallen out of relevancy with the decay of physical media and most playlists being put together online. The production is aware of this, updating a few references during its run (such as replacing George Bush's name in "For Now" or swapping out the Creator/DavidHasselhoff reference for Creator/BenedictCumberbatch), and even made jokey "modern" versions of songs for a Creator/BroadwayCaresEquityFightsAIDS charity performance.
42	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Everyone else's problems suddenly seem comparatively small once Nicky goes ''homeless''. He's not an AssholeVictim, either. Yes, he told Rod's friends that he suspected Rod was in the closet. Yes, that was obviously offensive to Rod. But it's clear that Nicky only mentioned it out of sympathy, hoping that Rod would someday come to accept himself. Rod should know it too, since he's previously heard Nicky go on and on about how it's ok to be gay. But instead Rod just kicks Nicky out, which feels like DisproportionateRetribution, particularly once Nicky winds up living behind a dumpster.
43	* ValuesDissonance: In the early 00's, fraught with political correctness and debates about the same, "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" was a funny reminder of our common, misanthropic humanity. One would be hard pressed to find the song landing the same way today.
44	* {{Wangst}}: Some people find Kate's part of "It Sucks to Be Me" this, since she claims her problems are worse than Brian's. To clarify, Brian just got laid off and doesn't have an income, while Kate's problem is... she doesn't have a boyfriend. Probably intentional since the entire musical is populated by characters who thrive on making their problems seem worse than they really are. Just after Kate's verse in "It Sucks To Be Me" when she tries to get Rod and Nicky to decide if her or Brian are worse off, Rod and Nicky then declare that [[TakeAThirdOption their lives are the worst]] because...they don't like each other as flatmates.
45	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Don't let the Sesame Street-style puppetry and lighthearted musical numbers fool you. This play is not for children. Most productions make sure to emphasize this in content warnings outside the performance hall.
46	* TheWoobie: Pretty much every character in the musical is deserving of sympathy, the only exceptions are the Bad Idea Bears and Lucy (who are the closest things to actual villains in the story). But then again, Lucy [[spoiler:almost dies and literally loses her head twice]], so even she might get some sympathy by the end.
47	* {{Woolseyism}}:
48	** The Hungarian production of the show is considered the best Hungarian localization of any work in recent years. The most significant change was the replacement of Gary Coleman with Music/MichaelJackson; this was in part because Gary is all but unknown in the country, and mostly because Hungary has almost no black population and thus no one to play the role without doing {{Blackface}}. In the original book, Jacko ended up on Avenue Q after two six-year-olds sued him for his entire estate; after the Pop King's death it was adjusted to say that he faked his own death to escape from his creditors.
49	** In the Hungarian production, Trekkie Monster is [[DubNameChange renamed]] Kuki Mumus. "Kuki" is a slang word for "penis", perfectly fitting his perverted personality, and it sounds exactly like "Cookie".

Context YMMV / AvenueQ