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I agree Boomer on St Elsewhere was cursed; didn't he also have his son abducted? And the other med students teased him because he got his degree from some caribbean med school. //Corvus

:Wouldn't the ancient TV archetype for these be Kowalski from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea? And Stargate SG-1 had a long time friend of reappear for abuse from alternate dimensions several times oddly gifted with a similar name - Charles Kawalsky. - Sparky

:Bf VS the first TV occurrence of this? What about Beavis&Butthead?

Boobah: Yeah, Beavis And Butthead used the word, but for them it was just another insult they could get past the Media Watchdog. Buffy seems to be where it was first used to refer to this trope.

Re Charlie Brown: It should be noted that Schultz did subvert this trope at a few points; in one set of strips that eventually became a TV special, Charlie Brown beats a champion marbles-player to win back a set of heirloom marbles lost by Rerun. As Brown walks into the sunset, Rerun cries, memorably, "Come back, Shane, come back!" Then, of course, there's the ending of the Christmas special... // Wells

Lale: But he also admitted he intentionally would not show Charlie Brown any mercy, because then it wouldn't be funny.

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Cassius335: Re: Chief Tyrol Seriously, are there any humans on that ship?

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Ronfar: Is Homer Simpson a Butt Monkey?

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That Other 1 Dude: On closer examination Sokka The Chew Toy instead of this, as most the unpleasant things are from bad luck, not being the butt of most of the jokes with people he hang out with.

Were Josh Peck Prince: What? No Seymour Butz? Put up a nice photo of the late Rodney Dangerfield on the main page, it will be a lovely tribute to the man. In the many role playing games i've played i'm always the butt monkey, I play an amutuer druid by the name of Dangerfield and I use Rodney's catchphrase on a regular basis.

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Lina: Sorry to whoever wrote the original entry for Brienne from A Song Of Ice And Fire, but that baby was one really long and detailed spoiler. I didn't want to block out such a big chunk of text, so I rewrote it.

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Working Title: Chew Toy vs. Butt Monkey: From YKTTW

Meta Four: The above ykttw discussion was an effort to clarify the distinction between this trope and The Chew Toy.

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arks: Moved

• Mary Ingalls, from Little House On The Prairie. The tragic blindness could be excused as historically accurate... but not the sandstorm on her wedding day, the miscarriage of one child, the horrible death of another in the same fire that destroyed the school she and her husband ran and just generally having her isolation and helplessness exploited for every last drop of drama. They even devoted an entire episode to raising her hopes about getting her sight back, only to dash them in the last act.

to The Woobie, where it fits better. There are also many other examples that should be moved or at least reworded. For example, I can see Sokka being a Butt Monkey, but the way the entry's written now, he's a Chew Toy

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Charred Knight: Shouldn't most of the dramatic ones go into the The Woobie, the Heroes ones are definatly The Woobie material, as is the one on Battlestar Gallatica, those are not the writers just picking one person, but an attempt to make them sympathetic.

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Adam850: Removed "* I can't believe nobody's noticed Usagi in Sailor Moon.Just look at her home life.

• Her mum's a typical japanese parent,locking their kids out and then along comes Shingo irritating her.Then she goes to school.Her teacher's OK most of the time unless...she's late."

Because I can't make head nor tails of it. Can someone who knows this example sort it out?