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[[quoteright:199:[[Webcomic/BobAndGeorge http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/test26_6310.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:199:[[VideoGame/MegaMan You can never be too careful.]]]]

->''Look, it's the Goodyear Blimp!''
-->-- '''Bill''' [[[TimeTravel in the late 1800's!]]], ''[[Film/BillAndTed Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure]]''

Alice is in a tight situation involving Bob. Maybe Bob wants money from her, or has a gun pointed at her head, or is just plain annoying.

Alice points past Bob's shoulder and yells, "Hey, what's that over there?!?", or "Look! A [insert improbable thing here]!" Bob looks. Alice legs it. In the subversion, Bob doesn't look, but instead mocks Alice: "You'll think I'll fall for that?" or "That's the oldest trick in the book!" Unfortunately for Bob, deciding not to look [[TemptingFate drastically ramps up the probability]] that the thing Alice described ''is'' there, and it'll be something he's not going to like.

A variant is for Alice to just look past Bob with a quizzical expression, or to duck herself--this latter being an almost certain guarantee of Bob mocking Alice and then getting brained by the oncoming low bridge.

One of TheOldestTricksInTheBook; quite possibly ''the'' oldest.

Related to WeNeedADistraction. Also in the process of becoming a DiscreditedTrope (if not an outright DeadHorseTrope). Note, however, that just the two last words ([[spoiler:BEHIND YOU]]) are pure ParanoiaFuel on their own. Compare SnapToTheSide. If the method involved deliberately having them look somewhere just in time to be killed/heavily injured by something, see DeathByLookingUp.

Not to be confused with ''LookAroundYou'', RightBehindMe, or the {{Viewer Stock Phrase|s}} yelled at [[NoPeripheralVision blinkered horror movie victims]].

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!!Example subpages

[[index]]
* LookBehindYou/{{Anime And Manga}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Comic Books}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Film}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Literature}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Live-Action TV}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Video Games}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Web Comics}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Web Original}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Western Animation}}
* LookBehindYou/{{Real Life}}
[[/index]]

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comedy]]
* EddieIzzard's monologue on beekeeping depicts the process of honey-harvesting as walking into a hive and then saying "Look, there's a Ferrari over there!" so you can steal all the honey.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''A Black Comedy'':
-->'''Sirius:''' Wait.
-->'''Remus:''' What?
-->'''Sirius:''' Don't interrupt them.
-->'''Remus:''' Why not?
-->'''Sirius:''' Because I'm supposed to stall you.
** And then, later: "You know telling someone you're stalling them," Harry criticized, "is poor stalling technique."
* ''FanFic/TheImmortalGame'': At one point, [[CrazyAwesome Sir Unimpressive]] pulls this off on some [[{{Mooks}} Puppets]]. Since the Puppets are mindless, it works.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* In the song "I Ran Away" by Music/TheArrogantWorms, the DirtyCoward narrator escapes {{Satan}} with this trick.
-->I'm hopin' that the devil smokes two packs a day, 'cause my day of reckoning is here and I ran away!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ComicStrip/FoxTrot had Paige invoking this trope on an Ice Cream vendor at the Zoo, claiming that there is an escaped Lion, Tiger, and Bull Elephant in that order. By the time he even turns around, he notices that the Ice Cream Cone he prepared for Paige had far too many swirls (about 16, with some drooping over the cone). He also mentioned that she did something similar the previous summer.
* In the ''ComicStrip/PoochCafe'' [[http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=4844b91b2768d15a67258648d49232df comic for March 9, 2011]], Chazz uses "Look! Halley's Comet!"
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin once pulled this at dinner. His parents turned to look while Calvin quickly pushed his own dinner off his plate and onto theirs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In 4th edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the bard power "Timely Distraction" is made of this trope. It's even lampshaded in the flavor text:
--> "Look! An [[HybridMonster owlbear]]!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/SherlockHolmes'', Holmes uses this trick to handcuff Moriarty after getting him to place his hands within convenient reach.
* In {{Pantomime}}, a standard AudienceParticipation line: "It's behind you!" is often [[LampshadeHanging triggered not by a spoken line]] but by [[GenreSavvy most of the panto audience knowing what's expected of them]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* Played around with in ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'': Krika tells Tahu, who has him cornered, to look behind him. Tahu asks Krika if he really thinks that Tahu is stupid enough to fall for that. Krika tells Tahu that he's ''counting'' on that, since there actually ''is'' something behind him. Tahu chances the look, [[spoiler:and sure enough, four of Krika's allies are charging straight into the battle.]]
[[/folder]]

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