Delocated - Television Tropes & Idioms

What happens when you take a family from the Witness Protection Program, move them to New York City, and give them their own reality show?

Delocated is a live action [adult swim] show about a man in the Witness Protection Program who's starring in his own Reality Show. He's targeted by a Russian stand-up comedian/hit man. Jon wears a mask all the time and uses a voice harmonizer, and he expects his family to do the same. The entire show and premise are chock-full of absurd Fridge Logic, likely entirely intentional.

The Real Life show produced by PFFR, which also produced The Heart She Holler, Wonder Showzen, and Xavier Renegade Angel. Unlike their previous shows, Delocated isn't based on Black Humor; rather, it, like The Office, uses deadpan humor. It also has no CGI mixed in with the Live Action, which is odd for a show on the Cartoon Network.

Its pilot premiered on April Fools' Day in 2008, which confused or pissed off some people who were expecting The Boondocks. Its first season ran in 2009 with six episodes, a second in 2010 with 12 episodes, and a third with ten episodes in 2012.

This show provides examples of the following tropes:

Actor Allusion: In addition to being a hitman, Yvgeny wants to be a stand-up comic. Eugene Mirman is also well known for his stand-up acts.
- "Jon" has "David" wear a curly blonde wig in Season 3 Episode 4, as part of a what was supposed to be a coming of age camping trip. The blonde wig looks very similar to the wig that "David's" actor, Jacob Kogan, wore in another PFFR production, Wonder Showzen.
Anyone Can Die: Season 2, thanks to Yvgeny's brother. So far we have the crooked producer from season 1, an assistant, ~~Jon's parents~~(Jon lied about them being killed) and 2 body doubles. And that's just episode one....
- Jon's bodyguard and best friend, Mike is killed in episode 2.
- Jon's parents are Killed Off for Real in episode 4.
- Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blonde bites the bullet(Literally) in the Season 2 Finale.
- Qi-qang, leader of the Wang Cho Chinese mob, is killed by Sergei in the 3rd season finale.
Ax Crazy: Sergei, who wants to kill all of "Jon"'s loved ones and drive him insane because it's "more fun" than just killing him.
Badass Decay: Deliberately invoked. Yvgeny is no longer nearly as dangerous in season 2 when his brother Sergei takes the reigns as antagonist.
- He once again Takes A Level In Badass when his brother convinces him to use The Power of Acting to murder people under the guise of living out the character of train robber Igor Pachenko. When he turns out his soundtrack and starts saying his lines, someone is about to get strangled.
Black Best Friend: Charlie, an affable old black man with a similar sense of humor to Jon, becomes his best friend for a while in an episode of season 3. He soon dies of old age, though.
Break the Haughty: Jon throughout the second season.
Bubble Boy: Jon makes himself invulnerable by walking around in a multimillion-dollar bulletproof bubble in the next-to-last episode of season 3.
Cameo: Paul Rudd in the pilot.
Cerebus Syndrome: The ending of season 2, episode 2.
- Season 3 isn't much better.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blonde goes to some depraved and blatantly illegal lengths to improve the show's ratings. Sergei ends up killing him for it at the end of season 2.
Crapsack World: Apparently, no one objects to giving an hit man a show, or arranging for more murders to get more ratings.
The Danza: The creator, producer, writer, and lead actor, Jon Glaser, plays Jon and Mishka.
- In a language shift example, Eugene Mirman plays Yvgeny Mirminsky.
Dark-Skinned Blonde: The aptly named "Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blond" (though his hair color is technically white).
Dogged Nice Guy: Jay the Doorman. Poor Jay.
Ensemble Darkhorse: In the fictional world it's set in, recognizes Susan & Yvgeny as this.invoked
Eviler than Thou: Sergei is a straight up cold blooded murderer who got right to work forcing Jon into a breakdown, and then kept trying to shatter him. Compare that to Yvgeny who did try killing Jon, he just sucked at it.
The Faceless: Everyone in the pilot, but later just Jon. Soon transcended in that Jon's ski mask itself has become the face of his fame.
Hypocritical Humor: In the episode "David's Girlfriend", David runs away with a girl from the Mirminsky family. Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blonde comes up with the idea to hire Hollywood writers to think of places that they might have gone. Jon eventually angrily dismisses the writers.
Jon: "This isn't a Hollywood movie, this is life! I don't need a bunch of writers coming up with fake lines, I need someone to GIVE ME BACK MY SON!"
Jerkass:Jon, who cares nothing for his family or girlfriends saftey and only for his popularity.
- Jon shows he's not completely heartless on occasion. Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blond is a worse jerkass in any case, as shown in the season 2 finale. He also does honestly love his son.
Kick the Son of a Bitch:While it was supposed to scare Jon who was already at a low point, it was EXTREMELY satisfying to see Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blonde get shot in the Season 2 finale, especially after he manipulated Kim's ex-husband into trying to win her back and actually made a reality show out of Jon being in a coma. And that's not counting all the other crap he's done this season.
Killed Off for Real: Susan and Mighty Joe John in season 2.
Knight of Cerebus: Sergei in his season 2 introduction makes the show's tone much darker. Though more like a darker shade of Black Comedy as the show didn't actually cease being one.
Long List: By multiple people after Paul Rudd's death, of all the movies he has been in.
The Mafiya: The Mirminsky Family
- Comedian Todd Barry, though pretty much just hangs out at their social club.
  - Implied that he joins them for real after he gains a taste for killing people under Sergei's tutoring.
Mood Whiplash: Again, Season 2 Episode 2, which swing wildly between tragic and funny in the last five minutes.
- Season 3 pretty much turns to Up to Eleven.
Mushroom Samba
Jon: The suicide pills turned out to be Ecstasy.
No Respect Guy: Jon. Then again he is a Jerkass.
Only Sane Man: Kim has the patience of a saint. Her patience runs out when at the end of season 2 when Jon emphatically tells her that he'll never marry.
Papa Wolf: One of the few positive traits John has, he truly does love his son. So much so that he threatens Sergi when Sergi vows to go after him next.
Paper-Thin Disguise: The show parodies the hell out of this. For the first season, Jon's black mask and modulated voice are ridiculously conspicuous by themselves, in a "why do you even bother?" sort of way. Not only this, but as a celebrity with a reality show, witness relocation becomes meaningless, which Delocated lampshades. His ex-wife and son soon ended up taking off their masks as they had become pointless, but Jon kept his and flaunted it everywhere as the face of his fame. Season two added the Jon decoy program which flooded New York with masked decoys so that Jon would be harder to snipe in public, which would be a more effective solution if only Jon didn't constantly hang out in the same places. This became a literally paper thin disguise when Jon decided to wear a paper bag over his head as a disguise during the stand-up comedy contest, but then took off the bag in front of Yvgeny. Not that Yvgeny was all that dangerous anymore.
The Parody: Reality shows.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jon gets possibly the most epic one in Season 3 episode 5 ending with "I hope the Mirminsky does all of us a favor and finally kills you!"
The Reveal: Yvgeny in the pilot.
Trademark Favorite Food: Jon loves sandwiches, so much that it gets him in trouble.
Running Gag: An in-universe example, Yvgeny's standup act consists entirely of jokes about vodka (but his audience never seems to care). This is Lampshaded by both Sergei and Jon.
- At one point, he decides he needs some "fresh material" for his act. Later in the episode, we see him with what appears to be a vodka dummy.
  Mighty Joe Jon, The Black Blonde: "I don't know, Yvgeny, I mean...just keep doing vodka jokes, I guess. It never gets old."
Sex God: The Glaze, Jon's exotic self-help guru from Season 3.
Sleepwalking: Sleepcooking, to be precise. Jon becomes a master TV chef while non-awake in the episode "Midnight Munchingtons."
Spell My Name with an S: It's Yvgeny, not Yevgeny.
Spin-Off: Both Susan and Yvgeny get (a fictional) one.
Suspiciously Similar Song: The song in Jon and Rob's "Street Stretch" infomercial sounds EXACTLY like "Freeze Frame" by the J. Geils Band.
Totally Radical: Jon sometimes talks in a manner used by nobody else, even in serious situations.
The Unreveal: Jon's face in the season one finale was blurred when he took off his mask.
The Vamp: Susan. She actually seemed more sympathetic at first because Jon was such a jackass. But as the series progressed, she proved she could be at least as petty and glib as Jon.
Wham Episode: The season three finale, during an interview for a talk show. Sergei stages an escape and manages to take John to an isolated area intending to kill him nice and slow. The police manage to find the warehouse but by the time they bust in, Sergei and Yvgeny have escaped with John.
Well Done Son Guy: Yvgeny, who just can't seem to make his dad/Mafiya happy.
- Hilariously averted when Sergei confesses to Papa that he thought about killing him once. Papa then congratulates Sergei, saying that he would have been disappointed if he hadn't thought about killing him.

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