"Hilarity ensues when two adventurers from different ends of the alignment spectrum must work together in the feel-good comedy of the year!"
Jazmine: "What's so funny?"
Robert: "Oh, nothing. Hilarity just ensued, that's all."
Jazmine: "It
did?!"
—
The Boondocks
Alleged consequence of any event in a
Sit Com or cartoon which in the real world would result in hospitalization,
a lawsuit, or dismissal from one's job, at the very least, up to and including possible imprisonment. Thankfully for our fictional friends both the
Rule Of Cool and the
Rule Of Funny keeps them safe (the latter more prominently).
Traditionally seen in the capsule descriptions of episodes found in programming guides: "Jimbo accidentally glues his boss to a golf cart and hilarity ensues." Outside of these descriptions, though, the phrase is usually used sarcastically, indicating that the consequences are anything
but hilarious. The less charitable might say this is what it
really means when used
in these descriptions, as well. Or that hilarity is what happens for those hearing of it.
On
TV Tropes, phrase may or may not be taken seriously; in a number of examples that use this hilarity actually does ensue.
Variants include "...with hilarious consequences" (more common in the UK), "wackiness ensues", and "hijinks ensue." In extreme cases "wacky hijinks ensue." The collective noun for a hijink is an "aplenty."
Not To Be Confused With the
webcomic Hijinks Ensue. Or with
Humanity Ensues. When something serious happens and it's not played for laughs, you may end up with
Reality Ensues.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
Comic Books
Literature
Live Action TV
Newspaper Comics
- Fox Trot uses a similar phrase to describe the typical plot of an episode of Frasier. Jason complains to Andy that the restaurant where he's scheduled an impressive party is removing foreign cheeses from its menu, finishing with "I just know madcap hijinks will come of this!"
Stand Up Comedy
Tabletop Games
- "Hilarity ensues" is a good way to describe what happens when Orks go to war in Warhammer 40000 because, to the Orks, it really is hilarious — they're having a great time, and the bigger the stuff they blow up, the more fun it is. To say that everyone else in the galaxy does not reciprocate the Orks' feelings on warfare and Ork invasions would be an understatement.
- Tends to pop up whenever anything involving Paranoia is discussed. Indeed, the latest release features slogans down the bottom, including one requiring hilarity to ensue.
Video Games
Web Animation
Web Original
- "Hilarity ensues" is one of the cliches often used in headlines at not-news website Fark
. A variant, used for stories that involve idiot criminals, is "jailarity ensues".
- Used frequently in the summaries of Fanfiction.
- Thomas Wilde and Dan Birlew's Resident Evil Plot Analysis frequently uses the phrases "hilarity ensues" when giving the preliminary outline to the plot of a game. Since the games involve zombies, mutants, Corrupt Corporate Executives, and vast amounts of death, it's safe to say this is slightly ironic...
- I hadn't realized I used it so much. It's Fark's fault. - Thomas Wilde
- Wilde's usual writing style usually has an extremely sarcastic tone to it, so it's not so much ironic as two tons of deadpan snark.
- Web Author Tucker Max uses "hilarity ensues" in the titles of his short stories on occasion, e.g. "Tucker ruptures appendix, hilarity ensues". Or "Tucker fucks fat girl, hilarity ensues".
- Inverted, when he write his story, "Tucker tries buttsex; Hilarity does not ensue."
Webcomics
Western Animation
- In The Simpsons, Moe gets on a soap opera, only to be led to think his character will be killed off. He decides to have Homer spoil the future plot events on live broadcast. All the plot summaries written seem to end with "...with sexy results"
- In one Simpsons comic, Bart convinces professional Butt Monkey Milhouse van Houten that Professor Frink's dumpster has rendered him (Milhouse) invisible. Lampshaded, because when Bart's thought bubbles include the phrase "hilarious hijinks", he concludes he spends way too much time reading program descriptions in the TV guide.
