History Main / CoattailRidingRelative

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'': Sulley shows symptoms of this at the beginning of the film. His father, Bill Sullivan, is said to be a renowned scarer, and Sulley frequently brags about being "a Sullivan" to get praise and special treatment from others.

Some families have one member who is especially successful, or at least famous and influential... much moreso than the rest of the clan. Sometimes another member of the family decides that this means they should have an in with their well-known, wealthy, or influential relative, and they expect to reap some of the benefits of {{Nepotism}} for themselves. Alternatively, such family members try to take advantage of sharing the family name to get a foot in the door elsewhere by exaggerating their closeness to said successful relative or by falsely claiming to share talents or knowledge with them. In other words, they try to get by on the coattails of their more accomplished kin.

This trope is usually PlayedForLaughs, but it's also occasionally used more seriously in dramas as a source of familial resentments when the successful relative shuts down the coattail rider. There's extra irony if the coat-tailing relative had previously disowned or driven off their successful relative and now wants to claim that blood is ThickerThanWater.

* Briefly touched on in ''Fanfic/SomethingAlwaysRemains''. When Bonnie Wickes first opened [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4 Fredbear's Family Diner]], some of her relatives "came out of the woodwork" looking for a piece. She just gave them Fredbear figurines as a thanks for their "shared effort" and made sure none of them got a dime when she passed.

* ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'' and you really feel the family is ''scum'' for it. Among other things, the mother doesn't sign the papers to finalize her daughter buying her a house (as that would disqualify her for welfare) and learning the daughter they're mooching off of is tetraplegic for life isn't enough for them to cancel a trip to Disneyland.

* In ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', Hank Rearden is approached by his younger brother Philip, who begs for him to give him a job, not to mention guilt-tripping him for a $10,000 handout, then proceeding to insult him. In fact, Rearden's entire family are perpetrators of this trope, living solely off his hard-earned cash while constantly criticizing and demonizing him. This is especially exemplified when Hank, who had just completed his life's work, a new kind of ultra-efficient steel alloy that could possibly revolutionize industry and save the economy, makes a bracelet for his wife out of the very first pouring of the metal. Her reaction is, let's say, less than grateful. She first insults the bracelet by sarcastically pointing out that its made out of the same metal intended to be used for railroad spikes and oil tankers, then she comes out with this wonderful line: "A chain. Appropriate, isn't it? It's the chain by which he holds us all in bondage."

* In ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', [[BasementDweller Peter McDonald]] presents this annoyance to his despairing sister Amy and her husband Robert, turning up at their marital home and never leaving. Among other things his sister gives him some of Robert's clothes to wear, as Peter did not think to bring his own.

* Cuban-born bandleader Dámaso Pérez Prado legally shortened his name to just Pérez Prado when he became famous as "the King of the Mambo". He mostly toured in Mexico and the US. His younger brother, Pantaleón Pérez Prado, was also a bandleader. He exploited Dámaso's popularity by way of ExactWords--he toured Europe and also called himself just "Pérez Prado", passing himself off as his more-famous brother. Dámaso was not amused, and took Pantaleón to court to prevent him from using that name.

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Metalocalypse}}'', Pickles' shiftless brother, Seth, who constantly schemes to get involved with Pickles, Dethklok, and by extension Dethklok's money. Eventually, he's offered the position of head of Dethklok Australia, to get him out of the way and possibly get him killed, seeing how the last head was assassinated by the Revengencers. [[spoiler: Seth appropriates the entire Sydney police force to protect him, causing lawlessness in the city.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': After Donald Duck and his triplet nephews get settled into Scrooge's enormous mansion, it doesn't take long before [[LazyBum Louie]] makes the very best of the lifestyle. He spends the day loafing around watching tv, only drinks the first sip of each can of soda before discarding them, wants a servant to get him more drinks, and throws his new phone away just because the battery was used up. Scrooge is angered by this incredibly wasteful extravagance (because he built his fortune from scratch by decades of penny-pinching hard work).

This trope sometimes overlaps with GoldDigger, StageMom, and ObnoxiousInLaws. The relative looking to ride the coattails may also be VicariouslyAmbitious for the famous relative. Compare ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections.

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* Invoked by quite a few customers on ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' try to get free food by claiming they're related to the restaurant owner. Including to ''actual'' relatives of the owner.

* ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'' and you really feel the family is ''scum'' for it.

* In ''Series/EverybodyLovesraymond'', [[BasementDweller PeterMcDonald]] presents this annoyance to his despairing sister Amy and her husband Robert, turning up at their marital home and never leaving.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'': After Donald Duck and his triplet nephews get settled into Scrooge's enormous mansion, it doesn't take long before [[LazyBum Louie]] makes the very best of the lifestyle. He spends the day loafing around watching tv, only drinks the first sip of each can of soda before discarding them, wants a servant to get him more drinks, and throws his new phone away just because the battery was used up. Scrooge is angered by this incredibly wasteful extravagance (because he built his fortune from scratch by decades of penny-pinching hard work).

** In an episode that shows Lisa becoming president in the future, Bart, now an unemployed slacker and freshly evicted from his apartment, turns up to mooch off his successful sister and crash at the White House. To further drive the point, Bart is visited at one point by the ghost of [[UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter Billy Carter]].

** In an episode that shows Lisa becoming president in the future, Bart, now an unemployed slacker and freshly evicted from his apartment, turns up to mooch off his successful sister and crash at the White House.