History Main / BasementDweller

* BasementDweller/LiveActionFilms

* Played with in ''{{Literature/Freakonomics}}'' with the chapter titled, "Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?"[[note: It's because drug dealing is not as lucrative as popular conception would have it, unless you are high up the chain. ]]

* Played with in ''{{Literature/Freakonomics}}'' with the chapter titled, "Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?"

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
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* ''Film/EightMM'': [[spoiler:the killer]] lives with his mom, [[spoiler:who is completely oblivious to his problems]].
* ''Film/ThirtyMinutesOrLess'': [[Creator/DannyMcBride Dwayne]] still lives in his father's estate watching TV and goofing around instead of doing anything productive, which his father even calls him out on.
* ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks: The Squeakquel'': Dave's cousin Toby lives in his grandmother's basement and plays video games all day.
* ''Film/BabyBoy'': Jody's mom calls him out for being a grown man living at home until he points out that ''she'' never moved out and simply inherited her house from her own mother.
* ''Film/BadlyDrawnRoy'': Roy continues to live at home because he can't hold down a job despite being in his thirties, which causes [[spoiler:friction and arguments between him and his parents as well as [[{{Mockumentary}} running away from the camera]]. He eventually checks himself into a rehabilitation center because of his depression]].
* ''Film/BestPlayer'': The male protagonist lives with his parents in spite of being an adult until they decide to sell their house. He must win a video game tournament to be able to buy the place.
* ''Film/BringMeTheHeadOfTheMachineGunWoman'': Santiago lives with his mother. While he has a job as a DJ (which his mother disapproves of), the rest of his life seems to revolve around video games, with his ambition being to create the world's most awesome video game.
* The movie ''Film/FailureToLaunch'' deals with a group of grown men living with their parents who exhibit stereotypical nerd behavior. Subverted though, in that the "nerdiest" of the group actually owns the home he lives in, and took in his mother because that's what you do when your mother has nowhere else to go. In fact, everyone in the group but the main character has some sort of technicality that makes them not ''really'' live with their parents, which is used to explain why only said main character is [[AnimalsHateHim attacked by chipmunks and dolphins]].
* ''Film/{{Fanboys}}'': Hutch is a man in his mid-20s who resides in his mom's garage ([[InsistentTerminology or "carriage house", as he likes to call it]]).
-->'''Eric''': Your mom said, "Clean up this shithole, [[DeniedFoodAsPunishment or no grilled cheese for a week]]."\\
'''Hutch''': That's emotional blackmail, and you know it!\\
'''Hutch's mom''': Screw you!\\
'''Hutch''': I will sue you! Renter's rights! \\
'''Hutch's mom''': You don't pay rent!
* ''Film/FreeGuy'': One gamer by the name of Revengamin Buttons has an encrypted file in his hideout that shows proof of ''Life Itself'' existing in the game's Code. After Guy becomes an internet sensation, he ends up confronting the player, who is shown to be a 22-year old who lives with his mom.
-->'''Buttons:''' Mom, do you have to vacuum right now? I'm saying my catchphrase! You're ruining it for my viewers, God!\\
'''Button's mom:''' You're 22 and live in my house, there is no God!
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'':
** Subverted when Jason Nesmith is contacted by the Thermians. He thinks that they're particularly rabid fanboys who have built an exact replica of the ''Protector'' in their parents' basement. He's only two-thirds right.
** Guy Fleegman, whose character played a RedShirt in the [[ShowWithinAShow in-movie TV-show]], can be spotted in one scene hitting on a young woman who responds with "but you live with your mom!"
* ''Film/TheHangover'': {{Manchild}} Alan refers to himself as a stay-at-home son. Even his dad thinks it's ridiculous that his 42-year-old son is still living at home. He gets his meals served to him in his room by his mother.
* Subverted early into ''Theatre/{{Harvey}}''. Myrtle Mae complains to her mother about how her uncle Elwood does nothing but lounge around the house all day and still lives with his older sister. Veta promptly corrects her that Elwood inherited the entire family fortune so ''they're'' the ones living with ''him.''
* At the beginning of ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'', Jacob lives in his uncle Adam's basement and refuses to get a job or do anything with his life.
* ''Film/JaneWantsABoyfriend'': 25-year-old Jane lives with her parents. When her parents move to New Jersey, she moves in with her older sister instead.
* ''Film/KeepTheChange2017'': David is an unemployed aspiring filmmaker who lives with his parents.
%%* ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'': [[spoiler: "Warlock's" "Command Center".]]
* ''Film/LizzieBordensRevenge'': Bobby still lives with his mother, in her basement. He is very defensive about it:
-->"I don't live in her basement! I live in a room! That happens to be in her basement."
* ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'': Comic-loving slacker Brodie lives in his mother's basement. [[spoiler: His girlfriend dumps him for this reason.]]
* ''Film/MenInBlackII'': Agents J and K get intel from a conspiracy theorist guy who lives in his mom's attic. They claim to be from his therapy group. [[spoiler:They end up convincing him to move out after deneuralizing him]].
* ''Film/MostLikelyToMurder2018'': Duane lives with his mother and sister, despite working as a realtor. Lowell also lived with his mother before her death.
* ''Film/TheNightClerk2020'': Bart lives with his mom, despite being employed.
* Subverted in ''Film/OfDiceAndMen''. John Francis lives in his mom's basement, but he doesn't have any of the social problems normally associated with the trope, and he's about to move out in order to take a job offer in another town.
* ''Film/ThePallbearer'': Creator/DavidSchwimmer still lives in his childhood bedroom.
* ''Film/{{Pixels}}'': Ludlow, a ConspiracyTheorist with NoSocialSkills, lives in his grandma's basement.
* ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'': Tony lives with his parents, even though his mother wants him to move out and become a priest like his older brother Frankie. He ''does'' end up moving out eventually to live with Stephanie.
* ''Film/SaveYourLegs'': Teddy is living in his mate Stavros' garage. Stavros' wife does not approve of this arrangement.
* ''Film/TheScore'': Stephen lives in a HackerCave in his mother's basement.
* ''Film/SingStreet'': Brendan dropped out of college and is reduced to staying in his parents' house.
* ''Film/Snatched2017'': Jeffrey Middleton is a middle-aged [[TheShutIn shut in]] who lives with his mother Linda and is too terrified of germs to leave the house.
* ''Film/StepBrothers'': Dale Doback and Brennan Huff both live with their single parents (Dale with his widowed father and Brennan with his divorced mother). The plot of the film kicks off when Dale's father marries Brennan's mother.
* At the beginning of ''Film/TheStoryOfLuke'', Luke is an unemployed 25-year-old living with his grandparents. It isn't until his grandmother dies, his grandfather is placed in a nursing home, and Luke is forced to move in with his [[AwfulWeddedLife horribly dysfunctional relatives]] that he really starts looking for a job.
* ''Film/{{Tanguy}}'': The whole plot involves exasperated parents who try to get their grown son (the title character) to move the hell out so they can have their own lives back. This French film appeared to have hit a chord with the public, as the name "Tanguy" has basically become a generic word for Basement-Dweller in French-speaking countries, where it's not uncommon to hear people complain that their son is a Tanguy.
* ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'': Subverted with Agent Simmons. When questioned about living with his mother, he states "She lives with me. [[TruthInTelevision There's a big difference]]."
* Wayne of ''Film/WaynesWorld''. In the second movie, he and Garth move into their own place.
* ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': Peter Maximoff is around 27 years old in 1983, and he still lives in the basement of his mother's house. In his case, it probably has something to do with his SuperSpeed and petty criminal past making it very hard for him to find a plausible means of self-support; he's very self-deprecating about his situation [[spoiler: and jumps at the chance to start attending Xavier's school]].
* ''Film/ZoomAcademyForSuperheroes'': [[Creator/TimAllen Zoom]] meets his fans and asks how many of them still live in their Mom's basement. All but [[Creator/ChevyChase Grant]] raise their hands.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
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* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', one of Jake and Lady Rainicorn's sons, T.V., is revealed to be this in the episode "Jake Suit". Jake expresses his approval.
* Mookie from ''WesternAnimation/AtomicPuppet'' lives in his overbearing scooter-chair-bound mother's basement despite being the former sidekick of Captain Atomic and the rival of Atomic Puppet.
* Cluemasters from ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' concocts his evil schemes from his mother's basement.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Night Of The Huntress": The middle-aged "The Calculator" operates his evil ventures from his mother's basement. When Huntress comes to bust him, his mother is all too pleased that there is a girl here to see him.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Carpe Museum", school guidance counselor Phillip Frond reveals that he still lives with his mother. The museum director, whom he's been flirting with the entire episode, ''immediately'' loses interest in him when she learns this.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': "Operation: M.I.N.I.G.O.L.F." involves The Great Puttinski [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinking down]] Numbuh Two and challenging him in a mini-golf course complete with models of the world's monuments. The whole course is in his mother's basement. Numbuh Two still wins.
* Trent from ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' is in his early 20s and living in his parents' house with no job, and no formal education (he's not even entirely sure if he graduated high school), has no motive to go and find a job, and if he isn't sleeping, he's rehearsing with his band Mystik Spyral. Daria, who had a crush on him in the earlier seasons, once expressed that she at the very least hopes his music career pans out because she can't imagine him doing much else. He's definitely a far more sympathetic depiction of this trope, however.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Big Superhero Wish": The middle-aged writer of the [[ColorCharacter Crimson Chin]] lives with his mother and receives a magazine called "Geeks Who Live With Their Mothers Monthly". Not that [[SadistTeacher Denzel Crocker]] is any better...
* ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'': Oz fits this trope to a T. He's an adult, action figure-collecting, obese comic book nerd who lives with his mother. They technically run a comic book shop together, although in "The Hard Sell", it's revealed they're unable to sell anything due to Oz's infatuation with the items.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[ParodyEpisode Where No Fan Has Gone Before]]": Melllvar hits this trope dead center.
-->'''Melllvar's Mother:''' Melllvar! Dinner time!\\
'''Melllvar:''' Aw, but Mom, I'm playing with my collectibles!\\
'''Melllvar's Mother:''' Now!\\
''[Melllvar groans and disappears.]''\\
'''Fry:''' All this time we thought he was a powerful super-being, yet [[GooGooGodLike he was just a child]].\\
'''Melllvar's Mother:''' He's not a child, he's 34!
* Wade from ''WesternAnimation/KickButtowskiSuburbanDaredevil'', while not a nerd but a severe slacker, tells Kick and Gunther that he lived in his stepmom's basement but she kicked him out... Turns out she lived in a trailer and the basement was just a hole in the ground underneath it.
* ''WesternAnimation/KidCosmic'' has Fantos the Amassor. While styling himself as a herald and loyal supporter of Erodius the Planet Killer, he comes off as more of a big ManChild and fanboy, whose "minion" is actually his mom who he still lives with.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' "The Witches of East Arlen", Bobby joins a group of "wizards" who appear to be basement dwellers as the leader Ward who looks middle-aged lives in his mother's house.
* Frugal Lucre of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' operates his schemes of world conquest from his mother's basement where he lives. Taken two steps further, when the heroes gain access to his 'lair' not through their usual MO of breaking in through the roof or ventilation shafts, but by knocking on the front door and asking his mother if he was home. When Lucre and the heroes are gearing up to fight in the basement a few moments later, they're interrupted by his mother bringing a tray full of snacks and juice for her son and his "friends".
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' Book 3 (Change), one of the new potential [[BlowYouAway Airbender]] recruits is a 22-year-old man who still lives with his mother. His mom, despite saying that he's "still trying to figure his life out" to try and justify it, is ''delighted'' by the idea of Tenzin taking him to the Northern Air Temple, just so she can finally get him out of the house. Three years later, not only does he join Tenzin and the other Airbenders, they also give him a job as a tour guide, and his parents are glad he has a job. However, he's embarrassed to see them at work.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Zephyr Breeze, the younger brother of Fluttershy, tries to reintegrate his parents' home at the beginning of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E12FlutterBrutter Flutter Brutter]]" because he can't find a job. His mom and dad aren't exactly pleased (since he's wholly insufferable) but are too meek to straight-out refuse.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Jenkins the Griefer from the episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft". The main thing known about him is that he has played ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' so much that he's reached a level thought unreachable even by the designers -- from which they conclude that he must have absolutely no life at all.
-->"...But how do you kill that which has no ''life?''"
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Underfist}}'', when Hoss Delgado was going to use explosive weaponry on the bad guys, his mother interrupts and tells the bad guys that Hoss is 48 and he still lives with his mommy.
-->'''Mrs. Delgado:''' Hoss?\\
'''Hoss:''' ''(in a high-pitched voice)'' Yes? Mommy?\\
'''Mrs. Delgado:''' You're not pretending I'm dead again because you're 48 and you still live with your mommy, are you?\\
'''Hoss:''' ''(angry and embarrassed)'' No mommy. ''(the bad guys laugh hard)''\\
'''Mrs. Delgado:''' Okay, you play nice now.\\
'''Hoss:''' Yes mommy. ''(fires his cannon at the bad guys, creating a huge explosion)''
* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' episode "Substitutes" has Porcupine Pete, who not only has his mom drive him and the other audition rejects around, but also has the best moment of his life ruined by his mother arriving and saying it's his ''nap time''. Although technically Pete and the rest of the Subs are still teenagers so him living with his mom makes more sense, and this may count as a subversion.
* Coop from ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' makes for a strange non-nerd (albeit very slacker) example. Upon learning that the MonsterOfTheWeek intends to destroy his house, he exclaims "My Mom's home! She'll ''kill'' me!"
* The ''Slimer!'' segments of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' gave the gluttonous green ghost an archenemy in Professor Norman Dweeb, an eccentric scientist obsessed with capturing him who is shown several times to still be living with his mother.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Comic Book Guy is subject to GeographicFlexibility. Apparently, someone thought this would make a worthy gag to have him living in his parents' basement after they'd ''already established'' that he lives above his shop (it's one of those business-on-the-first-floor-home-on-the-second-floor buildings common in small-town USA).
** Most of the jokes about Seymour Skinner revolve around how he still lives with his beloved [[strike: [[MyBelovedSmother smother]]]] mother in middle age (although as with Frasier, he insists "she lives with me!"). Given Skinner has a paying job as principal of an elementary school (though he is revealed to only make $25,000 a year in "Skinner's Sense of Snow") while his mother Agnes is frequently shown as quite senile, [[StrawManHasAPoint he has a point]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Bubble Bass is shown to be one, as first seen in the episode, "Moving Bubble Bass". When he gets fed up with his mother interrupting his fantasy talk show and making him do chores, he tricks [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick into helping him move his belongings to his grandmother's basement across the street.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Dennis, Ludo's brother, is a grown man who still lives in his parents’ home, and they often complain that he’s not doing anything good with his life, blowing stuff up, and thus becoming a deadbeat like Ludo. Dennis eventually moves out of his parents' home.
* ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'': The main character Dudley Puppy and the leader of D.O.O.M. Verminious Snaptrap are both shown to still live with their mothers. The former does eventually get his own place, but it's a treehouse in his mother's backyard, so there isn't much distinction.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': Henchmen #21 briefly lives and operates his own comics supply business out of his mother's house, before being called back by The Monarch.
* A villain in ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'', Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy, lives in his mother's basement. (He tried to move into his own lair once, but got too homesick and moved back.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
[[/folder]]

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* Frank on ''Series/ThirtyRock'' lives with his mother and pays her rent. It hasn't been mentioned if he actually lives in her basement. Subverted when he almost moved out to become a lawyer[[note]]Jack put a stop to this after learning that all of Frank's male relatives were lawyers for TheMafia and consequently met bad ends[[/note]].
* Buster Bluth in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' is a grown man still living with his mother. He is more or less incapable of functioning in the outside world.
* A rather disturbing variation occurs in ''Series/BeingHumanUK''. One episode has a young man who lives with his parents... because he was turned into a vampire while in his late teens and his parents are trying to hide it. They constantly move around so no one notices their son staying the same age and have him feed off of them so he won't attack anyone else. By the time the protagonists meet him, they find his now-elderly father dying, leaving his son on his own for the first time in his life.
* ''Series/BigCatDiaries'': Invoked by Saba's characterization of Chui the leopard when she finds he's still living with his mother about a year after they thought he'd have become independent. Obviously, being a leopard, he doesn't show the human-specific features of a Basement-Dweller, but he is living mostly off of his mother's kills when he's old enough to be on his own. Best guess about why? The local male (probably his father) seems to have gone missing and therefore wasn't around to drive him away and mate with his mother. Sadly, his mother Bella was looking kind of skinny from supporting her adult son as well as herself.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Howard lives in his old bedroom instead of the basement, but otherwise fits this trope to a T. However, he and his family are Jewish, which is one of the cultures where adults living with their parents before they get married is considered normal. Howard did try moving out of his mother's and he financially can afford to (he's an engineer at [=CalTech=]), but his mother kept guilting him into staying until he married Bernadette in Season 5 and moved into a separate house to start his own family. After his mother's death, Howard and Bernadette move into her house.
* ''Series/BobHeartsAbishola'' has Chukwuemeka, the RomanticFalseLead competing with Bob for Abishola. He's a handsome pharmacist, but a sexist mama's boy. In fact, his mother Ogeche is the one who introduced Abishola to her son. When Abishola chooses Bob, Chukwuemeka tries dating Kemi instead. The first date went awful and Abishola tells Kemi that "There's a reason why a man that handsome still lives with his mother." Kemi keeps seeing Chukwuemeka however, even though Ogeche is doing everything she can to mess things up.
* The ''Series/BroadCity'' episode "St. Marks" has a 34-year-old man who lives with his mother after dropping out of graduate school and kills time by pretending to be homeless and robbing people as a "joke."
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Xander Harris does not enroll in college during the fourth season and lives in his parents' basement, where he pays rent. He gets his own place in season five, about the time he's shown to take charge of his life by getting a permanent job and a steady girlfriend. By season seven, everyone seems to be living in the Summers household, but that's for mutual protection.
** Also the [[BigBadWannabe Nerd Trio]] of season six, whose evil headquarters is Warren's parents' basement. ("Why can't we have a lair with a view?")
** Spike in parts of Seasons 4 and 7. ("I'm chained in a bathtub, drinking pig's blood from a novelty mug!")
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** The accomplice of the killer from "Extreme Aggressor" has shades of this, since he lived with his grandmother and spent almost all his time in the attic; Morgan, after finding his bedroom, even says "This is a boy's room, not a man's".
** The [=UnSubs=] in "The Wheels on the Bus..." were implied to be this trope for much of their lives, since their parents had abandoned them.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "A Space Oddity" plays the trope ludicrously straight by showing two guys living in a reconstruction of the ship from "[[Franchise/StarTrek Astro Quest]]" in their mother's attic.
* There was a series called ''Series/GetALife'' starring Chris Elliott that aired on Fox in the early '90s. Elliott's character was an epitome of this trope, although he lived in an apartment over his parents' garage, rather than in the basement.
-->Chris Elliott plays Chris Peterson, a carefree, childlike bachelor who refuses to live the life of an adult. At the age of 30, Chris still lives with his parents and maintains a career delivering newspapers (the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press''), a job that he has held since his youth. He has no driver's license (instead, riding his bicycle wherever he goes). He is depicted as being childish, naïve, gullible, foolish, occasionally irresponsible, and extremely dimwitted. Chris is often the subject of abuse from his friends and family. He is often seen dancing (involving a silly back-and-forth step while swinging his arms) to the piano tune "Alley Cat" by Bent Fabric. His lack of intelligence is exaggerated to absurd levels: at one point, he tries to leave his parents' house but is unable to operate the front door. He also fell out of an airplane after opening the plane's exterior door, believing that it led to the restroom.
* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'': Drew had long been living in his parents' house, which he bought from them. When they have to move back in, he's forced to live in the basement. Naturally, he comments on being a 40-year-old man who lives in his parents' basement.
* ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'':
** Robert Barone is forced to move in with his parents -- even though he bought their house from them, and ends up having to give it back to them after he loses his apartment, he's cast as the "loser" because he's a man in his mid-40s living with his parents. The first time he moves out, he ends up in an apartment above the garage of the Jewish versions of Frank and Marie. They even cook his dinner, boss him, and ignore him in order to pay attention to Ray.
** Then there is Amy's brother Peter, who when first introduced is running a failing comic shop in Pennsylvania but still living in his parents' basement. When Amy and Robert marry, Peter is a ManChild living in the basement and the despair of his parents. They take advantage of him staying in New York as an effective Basement-Dweller first with Robert and Amy, and briefly with Ray and Debra, to clear the basement, emphatically hinting it's time for him to move out. This makes him a problem for the extended Barone family. [[note]]he begins to shape up and accept responsibilities when he takes Robert's old apartment. And then he meets the sympathetic Peggy.[[/note]]
* On Sci-Fi's ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'' the title character lives with his mother and sometimes worries that he's falling into this trope. Everyone assures him that he's actually rather admirable because he moved back home to help take care of his mother when she was diagnosed with cancer.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
** People routinely make fun of the title character for living with his father, causing him to make the same reply of "He lives with me!" Except that this is actually the case... Frasier's father moved into Frasier's apartment to be taken care of, not the other way around. Oddly enough, the ''writers of the show'' seem to occasionally forget this.
** In Season 11's "Match Game":
--->'''Charlotte''': I am thirty-five years old and I am living with my mother! How pathetic is that?!\\
'''Frasier''': Well... I've seen worse.
* Chip from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' isn't nerdy. In fact, he was considered quite cool back in high school ... which is apparently why he decided to stay that way forever. He still works in a movie theater for the free popcorn, he still rides the same motorbike, and of course, he's still staying with his parents (although he's quick to add that he can stay out as late as he wants).
* ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'' episode "Into The Comics": Manny Gite runs his evil operation from his mother's attic, where he resides.
* In ''Series/{{Girls}}'', unemployed college graduate 24-year-old Hannah still gets room and board from her parents. The show begins right when they cut her off because they fear they can't afford a retirement home if they just keep funding her. Hannah already quits looking for a job after only one failed interview (she did seem rude in the interview, to say the least) and instead runs back to her parents asking for money again, which only makes them laugh then get angry and shoo her away. Hannah walks out with $40 her parents left in cash on the table.
* Double-subversion on ''Series/GoodEats''. There's a 32-year-old unemployed man who's having trouble cooking for himself. He lives on his own in a small apartment but has his mother come by every morning to fix breakfast (and presumably other meals) for him. Alton and an assistant by the name of Clarence teach him how to make coffee, bacon, eggs, and hash browns. It's also revealed that his mom still does his laundry.
* ''Series/ICarly2021'':
** The first episode reveals that two divorces and a failed startup company forced Freddie to move back in with his mom. His mom doesn't really mind, much to his chagrin.
** Nora Dershlit returns in the following episode and is revealed to still be living with her parents. Freddie starts to laugh until he notices the hypocrisy.
* Vinton Harper of ''Series/MamasFamily'', despite being over 40 years old, and a single father of two children, who DO move out when they're old enough. It was explained in the first episode that Vint was living elsewhere originally, but a combination of bad financial management and his wife leaving him meant he could no longer afford his house and returned to Mama's house with his two teenage kids. Vint's second wife, Naomi, lived next door. After they got married during the first season, Naomi sold her house and they were planning to move elsewhere, but she wound up getting scammed out of her money and them having to stay with Mama.
* Bud Bundy in the later seasons of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''.
** In one episode Kelly asks Bud to chaperone the sister of a rich guy she's dating, Bud refuses so Kelly sweetens the deal by saying she'll hook him up with her friend Fawn, aka, [[{{Pun}} "Fawn, Fawn ]][[ReallyGetsAround let's get it on"]]. Kelly says Fawn owes her a favor for going out with her brother who lives in the attic. Bud agrees to the deal and laughs at the "loser" who lives in his parents' attic, [[HypocriticalHumor while he goes down to the basement.]]
** Kelly herself is also a Basement Dweller of sorts. Several gags imply that [[DumbBlonde she's too stupid]] [[BrainlessBeauty to take care of herself]] and she'll always be dependent on Al and Peg. She also turns into a ButtMonkey after she graduates from high school, as she's stuck in a series of dead-end jobs, largely fails to make it as an actress, and never succeeds at being a GoldDigger.
* ''Series/MrShow'': Don Pratt from a sketch. During his commercial, he tells the audience he can get anywhere within a 30-mile radius "anytime she doesn't need the car." Also when calling, "if [Don Pratt's] mother answers, hang up quickly!"
* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Earl tries to make up for poking a hole in his crush/babysitter's condom. He finds the girl, who has married the guy who got her pregnant, and they have an unemployed adult son who dropped out of high school and leeches off his parents. Earl decides to help him truly become an adult.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
** In one episode, Tony and Ziva interview the webmaster of a porn site who lives in his mother's basement. He also collects ''Franchise/StarWars'' toys as "investments" and met the site's owner/performer on his paper route. When Tony asks if his mother knows he's being interviewed by federal agents, the man looks down and admits he told her it's a job interview. Tony doesn't bother to hide his laugh, and Ziva guffaws hysterically.
** Another, featuring an episode-long, city-wide BigBlackOut, starts out with a man in his thirties who's playing a computer game when the Internet connection is suddenly lost. He immediately shouts for his mom, who he apparently lives with.
--->'''Man:''' [[BigNo Nooooo!]] Moooom! MOOOOOOM!!!
* Jess dates a guy who still lives with his parents in an episode of ''Series/NewGirl''. She is hesitant about it at first, but quickly realises the parents are much more interesting, lively, and welcoming than him.
* ''Series/OddSquad'':
** Delivery Doug, the egg-salad-loving rival of Delivery Debbie, has his egg salad delivery service set up in his mother's basement. Comments from his mother, in which she asks Doug if he's doing all right and plans on gifting Doug's brother a new car, imply that he still lives with her, much to the amusement of Debbie and Otto.
** Bradley, who is the brother of Milton, still lives with his NervousWreck of a mother despite appearing to be in his late 20s, although it's never stated whether he lives in the basement or not. As opposed to going outside, he spends the majority of his time creating board games, with his newest one, ''Swamps N' Gators'', having the capability to put players in the game as pawns.
** Lord Rectangle's butler and maid are exaggerated examples -- they are treated so lowly that they live ''under'' the basement of Shapely Manor.
** The Soundcheck tribute band Soundcheck-ish has a Danny T impersonator who still lives in his mother's basement. He hopes to one day make it big with the band so he can move out and get his own place.
* GenderInverted on ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', where it is shown that just before being sent to {{Prison}} [[spoiler: for setting a bomb under her crush's fiancee's car, as well as mail fraud]], Lorna Morello was living with her parents in her old bedroom.
* The TropeMaker is likely Creator/WilliamShatner's "Get a Life" sketch on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', in which he made reference to how the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans should [[TakeThat get a life and move out of their parents' basements]]. That sketch may have single-handedly popularized ''every'' Trekkie stereotype.
* The most extreme example of this is Ted from ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', the pathetically inept sad-sack attorney who not only lives with his mother but [[{{Squick}} shares a bed with her.]]
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': George lives with his parents during most of season 5 because he can't find a job.
* ''Series/SexAndTheCity'': In one episode, Carrie begins dating someone who still lives with his parents. She is uncertain about it at first, and is concerned he is too financially dependent on his parents. Regardless, the high-rise apartment he lives in is far from being a basement, and his mother is always making snacks for him and Carrie. The episode ends with the mother finding his large bag of weed in the apartment. With a hangdog expression, he lies and says it's Carrie's. Instead of defending herself, Carrie goes along with the lie and leaves the apartment with the weed.
* During a hockey broadcast by ''[[Creator/{{CTV}} The Sports Network]]'' in Canada, announcer Gord Miller and commentator Pierre [=McGuire=] were talking about ludicrous trade proposals they've read. Miller noted, sarcastically, "there are two types of people who make up proposals - 13-year-olds that live in their mother's basement, and 30-year-olds who live in their mother's basement."
* Played with in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. When what's left of the Cardassian resistance movement are on the run on Cardassia, they end up hiding in the basement of the house Garak grew up in; complete with an overbearing mother figure who feeds them and makes them do chores. Garak shelters there, and if it never definitely says she is his mother, she acts damn close. Still, [[MagnificentBastard he]] [[MysteriousPast certainly]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder is not]] a shiftless [[AffablyEvil loser]]. Eventually they realise they can't hide there forever, go out into the streets and start rousing the people to revolt.
* ''Series/WeirdScience'': Chett Donnelly doesn't live in the basement and is aggressively macho instead of nerdy, but he otherwise ticks a lot of the boxes. The first episode has him moving back in after giving up being in the Marines, claiming they lost their way but clearly just wanting to mooch off the folks. He only worked a handful of paying jobs throughout the entire series (often under threat of being kicked out) and, for the most part, was content to goof around all day watching TV. He does have something of a social life, dating fairly regularly and having his own hangouts, but even his friends[[note]]one of whom, in contrast, is married, has kids, and owns his own house[[/note]] don't particularly like him. Despite his age, he's far more immature than Wyatt and often acts as a BigBrotherBully towards him out of frustration for having been TheUnfavorite for years. It's implied the folks would've kicked Chett out early on if not for the fact that Wyatt is still a minor and they're always away because of work.
* In ''Series/TheWire'', [[RecoveredAddict recovering addict]] Bubbles lives for a time in his sister's basement. Even though he is clean, she won't let him come upstairs because he's stolen her property in the past.

* Howard from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' lives in his old bedroom instead of the basement, but otherwise fits this trope to a T. However, he and his family are Jewish, which is one of the cultures where adults living with their parents before they get married is considered normal. Howard did try moving out of his mother's and he financially can afford to (he's an engineer at [=CalTech=]), but his mother kept guilting him into staying until he married Bernadette in Season 5 and moved into a separate house to start his own family. After his mother's death, Howard and Bernadette move into her house.

* Don Pratt from a ''Series/MrShow'' show sketch. During his commercial, he tells the audience he can get anywhere within a 30-mile radius "anytime she doesn't need the car." Also when calling, "if [Don Pratt's] mother answers, hang up quickly!"
* GenderInverted on ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', where it is shown that just before being sent to {{Prison}} [[spoiler: for setting a bomb under her crush's fiancee's car, as well as mail fraud]], Lorna Morello was living with her parents in her old bedroom.
* Double-subversion on ''Series/GoodEats''. There's a 32-year-old unemployed man who's having trouble cooking for himself. He lives on his own in a small apartment but has his mother come by every morning to fix breakfast (and presumably other meals) for him. Alton and an assistant by the name of Clarence teach him how to make coffee, bacon, eggs, and hash browns. It's also revealed that his mom still does his laundry.
* The ''Series/BroadCity'' episode "St. Marks" has a 34-year-old man who lives with his mother after dropping out of graduate school and kills time by pretending to be homeless and robbing people as a "joke."
* ''Series/BobHeartsAbishola'' has Chukwuemeka, the RomanticFalseLead competing with Bob for Abishola. He's a handsome pharmacist, but a sexist mama's boy. In fact, his mother Ogeche is the one who introduced Abishola to her son. When Abishola chooses Bob, Chukwuemeka tries dating Kemi instead. The first date went awful and Abishola tells Kemi that "There's a reason why a man that handsome still lives with his mother." Kemi keeps seeing Chukwuemeka however, even though Ogeche is doing everything she can to mess things up.

* The TropeMaker is likely Creator/WilliamShatner's "Get a Life" sketch on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', in which he made reference to how the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans should [[TakeThat get a life and move out of their parents' basements]]. That sketch may have single-handedly popularized ''every'' Trekkie stereotype.
* In an episode of ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', Carrie begins dating someone who still lives with his parents. She is uncertain about it at first, and is concerned he is too financially dependent on his parents. Regardless, the high-rise apartment he lives in is far from being a basement, and his mother is always making snacks for him and Carrie. The episode ends with the mother finding his large bag of weed in the apartment. With a hangdog expression, he lies and says it's Carrie's. Instead of defending herself, Carrie goes along with the lie and leaves the apartment with the weed.
* Jess dates a guy who still lives with his parents in an episode of ''Series/NewGirl''. She is hesitant about it at first, but quickly realises the parents are much more interesting, lively, and welcoming than him.
* There was a series called ''Series/GetALife'' starring Chris Elliott that aired on Fox in the early '90s. Elliott's character was an epitome of this trope, although he lived in an apartment over his parents' garage, rather than in the basement.
-->Chris Elliott plays Chris Peterson, a carefree, childlike bachelor who refuses to live the life of an adult. At the age of 30, Chris still lives with his parents and maintains a career delivering newspapers (the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press''), a job that he has held since his youth. He has no driver's license (instead, riding his bicycle wherever he goes). He is depicted as being childish, naïve, gullible, foolish, occasionally irresponsible, and extremely dimwitted. Chris is often the subject of abuse from his friends and family. He is often seen dancing (involving a silly back-and-forth step while swinging his arms) to the piano tune "Alley Cat" by Bent Fabric. His lack of intelligence is exaggerated to absurd levels: at one point, he tries to leave his parents' house but is unable to operate the front door. He also fell out of an airplane after opening the plane's exterior door, believing that it led to the restroom.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "A Space Oddity" plays the trope ludicrously straight by showing two guys living in a reconstruction of the ship from "[[Franchise/StarTrek Astro Quest]]" in their mother's attic.
* ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'' episode "Into The Comics": Manny Gite runs his evil operation from his mother's attic, where he resides.
* Played with in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. When what's left of the Cardassian resistance movement are on the run on Cardassia, they end up hiding in the basement of the house Garak grew up in; complete with an overbearing mother figure who feeds them and makes them do chores. Garak shelters there, and if it never definitely says she is his mother, she acts damn close. Still, [[MagnificentBastard he]] [[MysteriousPast certainly]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder is not]] a shiftless [[AffablyEvil loser]]. Eventually they realise they can't hide there forever, go out into the streets and start rousing the people to revolt.
* In ''Series/{{Girls}}'', unemployed college graduate 24-year-old Hannah still gets room and board from her parents. The show begins right when they cut her off because they fear they can't afford a retirement home if they just keep funding her. Hannah already quits looking for a job after only one failed interview (she did seem rude in the interview, to say the least) and instead runs back to her parents asking for money again, which only makes them laugh then get angry and shoo her away. Hannah walks out with $40 her parents left in cash on the table.
** But then Hannah didn't learn anything from this as she then proceeded to mooch off her friend Marnie for food and rent!

* Howard from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' lives in his old bedroom instead of the basement, but otherwise fits this trope to a T. However, he and his family are Jewish, which is one of the cultures where adults living with their parents before they get married is considered normal. Although Howard did try moving out of his mother's and he financially can afford to (he's an engineer at [=CalTech=]) yet his mother kept guilting him into staying until he married Bernadette in Season 5 and moved into a separate house to start his own family. After his mother's death, Howard and Bernadette move into her house.
* Frank on ''Series/ThirtyRock'' lives with his mother and pays her rent. It hasn't been mentioned if he actually lives in her basement. Subverted when he almost moved out to become a lawyer. (Jack put a stop to this after learning that all of Frank's male relatives were lawyers for TheMafia and consequently met bad ends.)
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
** In one episode, Tony and Ziva interview the webmaster of a porn site who lives in his mother's basement. He also collects ''Franchise/StarWars'' toys as "investments" and met the site's owner/performer on his paper route. When Tony asks if his mother knows he's being interviewed by federal agents, the man looks down and admits he told her it's a job interview. Tony doesn't bother to hide his laugh, and Ziva guffaws hysterically.
** Another, featuring an episode-long, city-wide BigBlackOut, starts out with a man in his thirties who's playing a computer game when the Internet connection is suddenly lost. He immediately shouts for his mom, who he apparently lives with.
--->'''Man:''' [[BigNo Nooooo!]] Moooom! MOOOOOOM!!!
* Similar to this, people routinely make fun of the title character of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' for living with his father, causing him to make the same reply of "He lives with me!" Except that this is actually the case... Frasier's father moved into Frasier's apartment to be taken care of, not the other way around. Oddly enough, the ''writers of the show'' seem to occasionally forget this.
** In Season 11's "Match Game":
--->'''Charlotte''': I am thirty-five years old and I am living with my mother! How pathetic is that?!
--->'''Frasier''': Well... I've seen worse.
* The most extreme example of this is Ted from ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', the pathetically inept sad-sack attorney who not only lives with his mother but [[{{Squick}} shares a bed with her.]]
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George lives with his parents during most of season 5 because he can't find a job.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** The accomplice of the killer from "Extreme Aggressor" has shades of this, since he lived with his grandmother and spent almost all his time in the attic; Morgan, after finding his bedroom, even says "This is a boy's room, not a man's".
** The [=UnSubs=] in "The Wheels on the Bus..." were implied to be this trope for much of their lives, since their parents had abandoned them.

* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Earl tries to make up for poking a hole in his crush/babysitter's condom. He finds the girl, who has married the guy who got her pregnant, and they have an unemployed adult son who dropped out of high school and leeches off his parents. Earl decides to help him truly become an adult.

* Vinton Harper of ''Series/MamasFamily'', despite being over 40 years old, and a single father of two children, who DO move out when they're old enough. It was explained in the first episode that Vint was living elsewhere originally, but a combination of bad financial management and his wife leaving him meant he could no longer afford his house and returned to Mama's house with his two teenage kids. Vint's second wife, Naomi, lived next door. After they got married during the first season, Naomi sold her house and they were planning to move elsewhere, but she wound up getting scammed out of her money and them having to stay with Mama.
* Buster Bluth in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' is a grown man still living with his mother. He is more or less incapable of functioning in the outside world.
* ''Series/BigCatDiaries'': Invoked by Saba's characterization of Chui the leopard when she finds he's still living with his mother about a year after they thought he'd have become independent. Obviously, being a leopard, he doesn't show the human-specific features of a Basement-Dweller, but he is living mostly off of his mother's kills when he's old enough to be on his own. Best guess about why? The local male (probably his father) seems to have gone missing and therefore wasn't around to drive him away and mate with his mother. Sadly, his mother Bella was looking kind of skinny from supporting her adult son as well as herself.

* A rather disturbing variation occurs in ''Series/BeingHumanUK''. One episode has a young man who lives with his parents... because he was turned into a vampire while in his late teens and his parents are trying to hide it. They constantly move around so no one notices their son staying the same age and have him feed off of them so he won't attack anyone else. By the time the protagonists meet him, they find his now-elderly father dying, leaving his son on his own for the first time in his life.

* In ''Series/TheWire'', [[RecoveredAddict recovering addict]] Bubbles lives for a time in his sister's basement. Even though he is clean, she won't let him come upstairs because he's stolen her property in the past.

* ''Series/ICarly2021'':
** The first episode reveals that two divorces and a failed startup company forced Freddie to move back in with his mom. His mom doesn’t really mind, much to his chagrin.
** Nora Dershlit returns in the following episode and is revealed to still be living with her parents. Freddie starts to laugh until he notices the hypocrisy.
* Chip from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' isn't nerdy. In fact, he was considered quite cool back in high school ... which is apparently why he decided to stay that way forever. He still works in a movie theater for the free popcorn, he still rides the same motorbike, and of course, he's still staying with his parents (although he's quick to add that he can stay out as late as he wants).
* ''Series/WeirdScience'': Chett Donnelly doesn't live in the basement and is aggressively macho instead of nerdy, but he otherwise ticks a lot of the boxes. The first episode has him moving back in after giving up being in the Marines, claiming they lost their way but clearly just wanting to mooch off the folks. He only worked a handful of paying jobs throughout the entire series (often under threat of being kicked out) and, for the most part, was content to goof around all day watching TV. He does have something of a social life, dating fairly regularly and having his own hangouts, but even his friends[[note]]one of whom, in contrast, is married, has kids, and owns his own house[[/note]] don't particularly like him. Despite his age, he's far more immature than Wyatt and often acts as a BigBrotherBully towards him out of frustration for having been TheUnfavorite for years. It's implied the folks would've kicked Chett out early on if not for the fact that Wyatt is still a minor and they're always away because of work.
* ''Series/OddSquad'':
** Delivery Doug, the egg-salad-loving rival of Delivery Debbie, has his egg salad delivery service set up in his mother's basement. Comments from his mother, in which she asks Doug if he's doing all right and plans on gifting Doug's brother a new car, imply that he still lives with her, much to the amusement of Debbie and Otto.
** Bradley, who is the brother of Milton, still lives with his NervousWreck of a mother despite appearing to be in his late 20s, although it's never stated whether he lives in the basement or not. As opposed to going outside, he spends the majority of his time creating board games, with his newest one, ''Swamps N' Gators'', having the capability to put players in the game as pawns.
** Lord Rectangle's butler and maid are exaggerated examples -- they are treated so lowly that they live ''under'' the basement of Shapely Manor.
** The Soundcheck tribute band Soundcheck-ish has a Danny T impersonator who still lives in his mother's basement. He hopes to one day make it big with the band so he can move out and get his own place.

* Howard from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' lives in his old bedroom instead of the basement, but otherwise fits this trope to a T. However, he and his family are Jewish, which is one of the cultures where adults living with their parents before they get married is considered normal. Though to be fair, Howard did try moving out of his mother's and he financially can afford to (he's an engineer at [=CalTech=]) yet his mother kept guilting him into staying until he married Bernadette in Season 5 and moved into a separate house to start his own family. After his mother's death, Howard and Bernadette move into her house.

* The image for this article is of Jenkins the Griefer from WesternAnimation/SouthPark, as depicted in the episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft". The main thing known about him is that he has played ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' so much that he's reached a level thought unreachable even by the designers -- from which they conclude that he must have absolutely no life at all.
-->"...But how do you kill that which has no ''life?''"

* Frugal Lucre of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' operates his schemes of world conquest from his mother's basement where he lives. Taken two steps further, when the heroes gain access to his 'lair' not through their usual MO of breaking in through the roof or ventilation shafts, but by knocking on the front door and asking his mother if he was home. When Lucre and the heroes are gearing up to fight in the basement a few moments later, they're interrupted by his mother bringing a tray full of snacks and juice for her son and his "friends".

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Underfist}}'', when Hoss Delgado was going to use explosive weaponry on the bad guys, his mother interrupts and tells the bad guys that Hoss is 48 and he still lives with his mommy.
-->'''Mrs. Delgado:''' Hoss?
-->'''Hoss:''' ''(In a high-pitched voice)'' Yes? Mommy?
-->'''Mrs. Delgado:''' You're not pretending I'm dead again because you're 48 and you still live with your mommy, are you?
-->'''Hoss:''' ''(Angry and embarrassed)'' No mommy. ''(The bad guys laugh hard.)''
-->'''Mrs. Delgado:''' Okay, you play nice now.
-->'''Hoss:''' Yes mommy. ''(Fires his cannon at the bad guys creating a huge explosion.)''
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Night Of The Huntress": The middle-aged "The Calculator" operates his evil ventures from his mother's basement. When Huntress comes to bust him, his mother is all too pleased that there is a girl here to see him.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': "Operation: M.I.N.I.G.O.L.F." involves The Great Puttinski [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinking down]] Numbuh Two and challenging him in a mini-golf course complete with models of the world's monuments. The whole course is in his mother's basement. Numbuh Two still wins.
* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' episode "Substitutes" has Porcupine Pete, who not only has his mom drive him and the other audition rejects around, but also has the best moment of his life ruined by his mother arriving and saying it's his ''nap time''. Although technically Pete and the rest of the Subs are still teenagers so him living with his mom makes more sense, and this may count as a subversion.
* Coop from ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' makes for a strange non-nerd (albeit very slacker) example. Upon learning that the MonsterOfTheWeek intends to destroy his house, he exclaims "My Mom's home! She'll ''kill'' me!"
* Cluemasters from ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' concocts his evil schemes from his mother's basement.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Comic Book Guy is subject to GeographicFlexibility. Apparently, someone thought this would make a worthy gag to have him living in his parents' basement after they'd ''already established'' that he lives above his shop (it's one of those business-on-the-first-floor-home-on-the-second-floor buildings common in small-town USA).
** Most of the jokes about Seymour Skinner revolve around how he still lives with his beloved [[strike: [[MyBelovedSmother smother]]]] mother in middle age (although as with Frasier, he insists "she lives with me!"). Given Skinner has a paying job as principal of an elementary school (though he is revealed to only make $25,000 a year in "Skinner's Sense of Snow") while his mother Agnes is frequently shown as quite senile, [[StrawManHasAPoint he has a point]].

* A villain in ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'', Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy, lives in his mother's basement. (He tried to move into his own lair once, but got too homesick and moved back.)
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': Henchmen #21 briefly lives and operates his own comics supply business out of his mother's house, before being called back by The Monarch.
* Oz from ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' fits this trope to a T. He's an adult, action figure-collecting, obese comic book nerd who lives with his mother. They technically run a comic book shop together, although in "The Hard Sell" it's revealed they're unable to sell anything due to Oz's infatuation with the items.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' "The Witches of East Arlen", Bobby joins a group of "wizards" who appear to be basement dwellers as the leader Ward who looks middle-aged lives in his mother's house.

* Mookie from ''WesternAnimation/AtomicPuppet'' lives in his overbearing scooter-chair-bound mother's basement despite being the former sidekick of Captain Atomic and the rival of Atomic Puppet.
* Bubble Bass in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' is shown to be one, as first seen in the episode, "Moving Bubble Bass". When he gets fed up with his mother interrupting his fantasy talk show and making him do chores, he tricks [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick into helping him move his belongings to his grandmother's basement across the street.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Dennis, Ludo's brother, is a grown man who still lives in his parents’ home, and they often complain that he’s not doing anything good with his life, blowing stuff up, and thus becoming a deadbeat like Ludo. Dennis eventually moves out of his parents' home.

* Trent from ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' is in his early 20s and living in his parents' house with no job, and no formal education (he's not even entirely sure if he graduated high school), has no motive to go and find a job, and if he isn't sleeping, he's rehearsing with his band Mystik Spyral. Daria, who had a crush on him in the earlier seasons, once expressed that she at the very least hopes his music career pans out because she can't imagine him doing much else. He's definitely a far more sympathetic depiction of this trope, however.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Carpe Museum", school guidance counselor Phillip Frond reveals that he still lives with his mother. The museum director, whom he's been flirting with the entire episode, ''immediately'' loses interest in him when she learns this.
* ''WesternAnimation/KidCosmic'' has Fantos the Amassor. While styling himself as a herald and loyal supporter of Erodius the Planet Killer, he comes off as more of a big ManChild and fanboy, whose "minion" is actually his mom who he still lives with.
* ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'': The main character Dudley Puppy and the leader of D.O.O.M. Verminious Snaptrap are both shown to still live with their mothers (Dudley eventually does get his own place, but it's a treehouse in his mother's backyard, so there isn't much distinction).

Note that living with one's parents is a stigma mainly in the USA and other Anglosphere countries, where working-age adults are expected to live on their own, so [[ValuesDissonance this trope shouldn't be applied to characters from cultures where this is the norm]]. This trope has become much less stigmatizing in RealLife, however, as rising rents and the increasingly precarious nature of work in the "gig economy" and with layoffs, more and more adults back to their parents' homes, and some in the newer generation don't even leave in the first place. [[https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2017/08/young-adults.html And if this article is any indication, this trope could even become discredited at some point in the future.]] [[https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/05/24/for-first-time-in-modern-era-living-with-parents-edges-out-other-living-arrangements-for-18-to-34-year-olds/ In fact, it may already be that "near future"]].