Da-dada-DAAAA!
Mr. Bergstrom: Lisa, your homework is always so neat. How can I put this? Does your father help you with it?
Lisa: No. Homework's not my father's specialty.
Mr. Bergstrom: Well there's no shame in it, I mean, my dad—
Lisa: Not mine.
Mr. Bergstrom: You didn't let me finish—
Lisa: Unless the next word was "burped", you didn't have to.
Born out of the
Sit Com Dysfunctional Family, he's a deliberate subversion of the
Father Knows Best design. Now so ubiquitous the older trope is nearly
forgotten.
Although he's clever at times, he's not usually allowed to be smart. He has glaring vices. His children may love him, but they often don't respect him. His main charm is his complete love and loyalty to his family, even if it means fixing up the problems he causes them.
His family is made up of at least one child nearing or in their teenage years, and a
Closer To Earth wife (usually
much prettier than Dad) who seems more sensible and honest than him (even if that is debatable). If he has one or more teenage daughters, at least one will be a
Bratty Teenage Daughter or a
Daddys Girl; whether they are or not, the dad will be an
Overprotective Dad in regards to the girl(s).
For more than a decade this trope has pretty much been synonymous with Homer Simpson (of
The Simpsons), to the point any animated series featuring one is almost immediately compared to him. Although barely any other
Bumbling Dad is on his stupidity's level.
Used in almost any commercial directed towards kids.
Bumbling Dads also don't know that
Shortcuts Make Long Delays.
Ironically, in
anime, this type of character is taken more respectfully, since it usually consists of a goofier dad, more involved with his family than the stereotypical
Salaryman. This is even more common when his children have
no visible mother.
Often used as an enabler of the
Double Standard, since even when the mother of the family does something dumb, she can count on using the father's past indiscretions against him, or for him to make some new screw-up to take the heat off her. Also, the children are very likely to lash out at their dad, but if their mom makes a similar mistake, they won't be as hard on her.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Recent Eggo Waffle commercials have dumped their live-action gimmicks in favor of crudely-drawn cartoon shorts featuring a Bumbling Dad trying to steal his daughter's waffles.
- He always seems to want the ones she's eating. He can't just take some more out of the box and put them in the toaster. He's obviously the breadwinner, if only because he's older than she is. He paid for the waffles. They're his fnuckin' waffles. Just take some, ya sap.
- Quite popular in virtually all television advertisements. Stand-up comedian Nick Di Paolo once commented on a commercial that advertised a computer as being "so simple even DAD can use it." Quote Di Paolo: "You mean the guy that BOUGHT you the fucking thing?"
- Some commercials for food or household products usually have the dad destroying the kitchen in an attempt to cook something (which always ends in an inedible mess), failing epically in housework or being utterly incompetent with childcare. Then in swoops mom to save the day with the product being advertised.
Anime and Manga
- In Ranma 1/2, both Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome were often Bumbling Dads more typical of the American form of the trope than the Japanese style (as opposed to the egregious Principal Kuno in the same series, who was very much in the Japanese mold despite his obsession with Hawaii). This was even more pronounced for those times when they did act like the competent martial artists they were supposed to be.
- In Bleach Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's widower father. However, we learn later on that Isshin is in fact an exiled captain-level shinigami, and that his goofiness is a put-on.
- Tenchi's dad Noboyuki in Tenchi Muyo. He is a pretty competent architect, buyt when off-duty he exemplifies the trope.
- Nanjiroh Echizen in The Prince Of Tennis, though it can be said he's also a case of Obfuscating Stupidity.
- In the manga, Tezuka's father Kuniharu is hinted to be a bit like this too. Quite a contrast with his kid and his dad.
- Ouka, father of Recca Hanabishi, in the Flame Of Recca manga is like this, despite being a stoic bad ass leader of Recca's 8 headed dragons, Resshin. In the anime, however, he's just like a normal, stoic dad.
- Recca's adoptive father, Shigeo Hanabishi, however, plays this trope straight in both versions.
- All the fathers in Ojamajo Doremi, to some degree. Special mention goes to Kenji Senou, Aiko's single father.
- Sojiro Izumi, Konata's widowed, perverted, gaming father in Lucky Star. The fact that he was nicknamed Awesome-kun is not surprizing at all.
- It should be mentioned that the manga implied Soujirou is actually the least Book Dumb living member of the Izumi-Kobayakawa household.
- Hajime in Jigoku Shoujo at times.
- Saiunkoku Monogatari has Kou Shoka, who fills the role not only for his daughter Shuurei, but also to a lesser degree for both Seiran and the young Emperor, Shi Ryuuki. He mostly comes off as kind and good-natured but hopelessly inept, at least until it's revealed that he's also the highly skilled assassin known as the Black Wolf and that his bumbling is mostly an act.
- Kogoro Mouri of Detective Conan is basically a loser, but his care towards his daughter Ran is utterly remarkable.
Film
- John Candy played at least a couple of characters like this. In Uncle Buck, Buck Russell is the Bumbling Dad type who comes across as a bit of a slob at first. And also in Summer Rental and Great Outdoors he played an actual Bumbling Dad role.
- the Father in The Movie of Coraline (don't know about the book). In contrast, the Other Father is attentive, caring, and much cooler.
- See also the Are We There Yet? movies. That is, if Your Head Doesn't Asplode from seeing this from the guy who helped found the group known as Niggaz With Attitude and once dropped tracks like this
.
Live Action TV
Newspaper Comics
Real Life
- Truth In Television. Even if you don't have one, you probably know someone who does.
- More to the point, just about every real-life father feels like one.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- As noted above, Homer Simpson of The Simpsons.
- Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
- Drake Mallard, AKA Darkwing Duck, from Darkwing Duck and his adopted daughter Gosalyn.
- "Numbuh One" or Nigel Uno's dad in Codename Kids Next Door Which is a huge contrast to who he was when he was Numbuh Zero.
- Goofy Goof in Goof Troop, although he can probably be excused; bumbling has always been part of his personality.
- Jake Morgendorffer (Daria), who grew increasingly clownish as the series progressed.
- In a way, Baloo, from the animated series Tale Spin, though he wasn't married to Rebecca, and wasn't Kit's actual father.
- Cosmo and Mr. Turner of The Fairly OddParents. The show is fair enough to show that Mrs. Turner isn't that much brighter.
- Jack Fenton of Danny Phantom. One good look at him and you can tell he's not meant to be treated seriously... at least until he gets dangerous (specially if his family is at risk). He is also something of a Genius Ditz, having invented at least half the Fenton gadgets, which go between being useless (The Fenton Ghost Gabber) and working a little too well. (Fenton Ghost Catcher, Ghost Peeler, Ectxo-Skeleton).
- Dexter's father in Freakazoid.
- Oscar Proud from The Proud Family. Oscar Proud is an unsuccessful inventor of snack foods. He regularly engages in, and loses, competitions with his Rival "The Wizard." He is the frequent victim of cartoon-slapstick mishaps. His mother, the "cool" grandmother Sugar Momma, insults him constantly. And to top it all off, many episodes portray him foolishly overprotective of his daughter Penny.
- Hugh Neutron from Jimmy Neutron
- Mr. X from The Xs is your typical bumbling father, who knows 50 ways to destroy a man with his bare hands alone.
- Dexter's father in Dexters Laboratory.
- Cow And Chicken's Dad who is more insane than bumbling. Mom too.
- Dick Daring in The Replacements.
- Although that's one case where the wife isn't that much better. Oh, sure, Agent K is competent, but she's also paranoid and confrontational.
- Randy Marsh in South Park has drifted in this direction over the years; in the beginning he rarely appeared (and the first episode he played a major part in needed him because he was a scientist); now, he usually gets caught up in every stupid fad, and is frequently portrayed as the single dumbest individual in any of the kids' families.
- Becky Botsford's adoptive father has no idea she's the titular WordGirl, and often makes stupid mistakes and screw-ups. But to be fair, her mother isn't shown to be incredibly bright, either.
- Possible aversion in the form of Hank from King Of The Hill. Although he is rather ignorant about cultural fads and the like, rarely does he seem like a bumbler. He is a little too straitlaced by some standards but is respected by all of those who surround him, he is Closer To Earth then his wife, and can get anyone out of any jam.
- Of course, it helps that the show is normally shown from his perspective- Hank still has a tendency to find himself in all kinds of trouble.
