To show that a character is in such dire financial straits that he's literally "lost his shirt", the otherwise naked character will resort to
wearing a large barrel
◊ held up with suspenders. Primarily seen in cartoons. This image probably came from a punishment for public drunkenness in Germany and England, where drunks had to wear a booze barrel. It's unclear how barrel wearing became associated with bankruptcy, but the trope stuck.
Examples:
Live Action TV
- Although no one wears it, there is the barrel in the neighbourhood of El Chavo Del Ocho where the titular Chavo seems to live in.
- Mentioned in an episode of Seinfeld. Elaine finds out the man she's dating is poor, and Jerry asks, "Does he wear the barrel with the straps?"
Newspaper Comics
- Appeared in one short Dilbert arc. "Our new dress-code is barrels."
- Long ago, Popeye managed to beat the Sea Hag at gambling so badly she ended up wearing one of these.
Video Games
- In Sierra's Jones In The Fast Lane, failing to buy new clothes for your character every once in a while will eventually cause the character to resort to wearing a barrel.
- There was a gambler in the first Jak And Daxter game that lost all his winnings, and for some orbs, he'll hand over your Plot Coupons.
- Mild degrees of discomfort can result when he hands you the coupon he's keeping inside the barrel.
Web Original
Webcomics
- In Kevin And Kell, when Kell's mother Elanor loses her life savings day-trading, she suddenly goes from wearing a coat composed of live minks to a barrel.
- In The Princess Planet, Princess Christi and her snowman friend briefly wear barrels after losing at Strip Poker, but Christi later has to cover her nudity with leaves.
Western Animation
- Referenced in the opening theme to Freakazoid; the lyrics "So stay tuned to this station / If not, we'll be unemployed" is accompanied by several characters from the show wearing barrels.
- In the episode of Futurama, "Raging Bender", one of the robots Bender fights as part of his stint as an Ultimate Robot Fighter is a rich looking robot. Bender seals his victory by forcing a barrel onto him labeled "very poor".
- In Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law Harvey is called out of court by Gigi to buy her things. After a shopping montage, he returns to the court wearing a barrel.
- In the first part of the Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers pilot, main villain Aldrin Klordane's lackey Percy is seen wearing a barrel, but not because he's flat broke, but because the police dog Plato tore off the bottom of his pants.
- He's actually wearing a cardboard box.
- Spoofed in an old Goofy cartoon: After playing poker, Goofy is seen wearing a barrel, holding it up with both hands. He then hails a taxicab and, in a brilliant subversion, empties the barrel- full to the brim with his winnings- into it.
- A Garfield And Friends episode depicting Garfield's take on the Arabian Nights had Jon playing the part of a young artisan with Garfield as "Alley Katta" in a town overrun by thieves. At the start, Jon went out to get a job with the Sultan declaring that "I have nothing left to lose" and, of course, ran back in the room a second later wearing a barrel. Garfield commented that "we'd better jump the story ahead before someone steals the barrel." (Jon got his clothes back in the next shot.)
◊ held up with suspenders. Primarily seen in cartoons. This image probably came from a punishment for public drunkenness in Germany and England, where drunks had to wear a booze barrel. It's unclear how barrel wearing became associated with bankruptcy, but the trope stuck.
