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alt title(s): Hypocritical Humour
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Louis: I am shocked, shocked, to find gambling going on in this establishment!
Emile: Your winnings, sir.
Louis: [Sotto voce, to Emile] Thank you. Thank you very much. [Shouting, to casino patrons] Everybody out!

In time I grew as rich as the Gurneys
An incubus then I thought her
So I threw over the rich attorney's
Elderly, ugly daughter
The rich attorney my character high
Tried vainly to disparage
And now if you please, I'm ready to try
This breach of promise of marriage.

The Learned Judge, Trial by Jury

A type of slapstick gag not limited to but most prevalent with sitcoms and children's comedies. Basically it goes like this: A) A character openly makes some kind of statement and then does the exact opposite of what he or she just said. B) Another character criticizes the character for a fault they have, the character denies it, and then immediately performs a contradictory action that proves the other right. C) A character critisizes another character for for some fault, just before or after showing that fault themselves (alternatively, this fault can be established for them in the shiow). Sounds hilarious already, doesn't it?

For example, an overweight girl deep in denial might say, "I don't see why you guys think I have an eating problem"... right before taking the first bite out of her fourth consecutive Big n' Tasty. Or a man might exclaim, "What are you talking about? I'm not greedy"... and then swipe clean every last cent in the Take-a-Penny-Leave-a-Penny tray.

It doesn't even have to necessarily be the character who does the opposite. Half the time, it seems like the entire universe is instantaneously altered just so the polar opposite of the character's sentence occurs for the sake of a subversive gag. If a character is lying to his or her parents and says that they didn't go to that concert last night, sure enough, the phone will instantly ring and the answer machine will broadcast a friend instructing them to call back, raving in great detail about how much fun they had at the concert, and saying how glad they are that they snuck out how there's no way their parents will ever find out.

The delivery of hypocritical humor in reality-bending situations is usually executed via Contrived Coincidence.

Sometimes used as a Hypocrisy Nod, or a Hypocrisy Nod is used for laughs by mixing it with this.

Compare with Tempting Fate, I Resemble That Remark, I Would Say If I Could Say, Such A Phony, and Description Cut.

Not to be confused with Hippocratic Humor, which would be what House, M*A*S*H, and Scrubs is all about.


Examples:

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     Truth In Television  


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