Imagine The Audience Naked - Television Tropes & Idioms

Ben, a shy and retiring man, needs to deliver a Big Speech to a Large Audience of Important People. Hilarity Ensues during rehearsals, until someone suggests that he imagine that the audience is au naturel.

Basically a Stock Phrase, "If you're nervous, imagine the audience naked." A common variation of this is "Imagine the audience in their underwear." This trope is usually played with. Sometimes the viewers at home are shown what the character sees, usually in the underwear variety unless there's some handy scenery - sometimes they will wish they couldn't. Sometimes, there really will be someone naked or in their underwear.

Subtrope of Naked People Are Funny.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

In Gantz, this is the first of Kurono's Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny moments.

Literature

Used by the stand-up comic main character in Louis Sachar's Dogs Don't Tell Jokes.

Live Action TV

Gilmore Girls: Richard advises against this, he had a Squick when doing this with a audience of Bulgarians.
In one episode of Red Dwarf Lister encourages Kryten to stand up to people by imagining them on the toilet. When it actually comes down do it though, he can't manage it. So he forces them, at gunpoint, to go sit on the toilet so that he can laugh and them and have the courage to say that No, he does not want to be reset to factory settings. For some unaccountable reason they decide to do it anyway.
On Friends, Phoebe is uncomfortable with singing to children. She suggests this strategy, but is cautioned against it, 'cause "that's sort of how the last guy was fired."
Used hilariously in one episode of Big Wolf On Campus. Of course, Tommy gets it wrong and thinks you're supposed to imagine yourself naked.
Tommy: All you got to do is picture yourself...naked.
Lori: Tommy, you're supposed to picture the audience naked.
Carla's trick on Cheers is to imagine the audience naked, but wearing black socks.
Dorothy gives Rose this advice on The Golden Girls, but Rose and Blanche crack up at the thought of Dorothy naked.
In Coupling, Patrick's advice to Jeff that he imagine his bosses naked during a big presentation almost works; Trying it out the day before, Jeff sees a big boost in confidence, but at the presentation accidentally visualises himself naked in the full length body mirror behind the desk his bosses are sitting at.
- In fact, he practices this technique so much in preparation that it becomes an instinctive habit. Good fun when hanging around attractive ladies, not so much when attending a funeral with elderly relatives.
  Jeff: I can't turn off the naked people!
The Office episode "Fun Run": Pam walks in on Michael, who is using his office to change. She later comments on how picturing an audience naked is a bad idea and instead you should imagine them wearing funny winter coats.
On The Brady Bunch, Marcia imagines her driving tester in his underwear.
On Saturday Night Live, guest host Pam Anderson did an opening monologue where she said (paraphrased): "I'm really neverous. They say when you're nervous you're supposed to imagine the audience naked...that's not working. Maybe you're supposed to imagine yourself naked...no, that's not working, either. Oh wait, maybe you're supposed to really be naked! (takes off clothes) Oh yes, that's much better, I'm more relaxed now." (Full transcript here)
A similar case is in an episode of Salute Your Shorts where the group is putting on a play. Dina has bad stage fright, and Sponge advises her to picture a giant chicken at the back of the audience. On the day of the play, she begins to choke...then sees a chicken in the back of the room. Turns out it's Sponge in a costume; the trick works and the play goes as well as any play with Donkey Lips as a rapping mouse could go.
In an episode of the Dinosaurs TV show, Charlene was nervous about a musical act for soldiers. "Two thousand teenage boys in their underwear?? See you on stage, daddy!"
In The Zack Files, Zack is told to imagine himself in his underwear (his friend getting the advice wrong), which causes his pants, and any subsequent pants he tries to put on to disappear until he can confront his fear of not only giving a speech, but doing it in his underwear, too.
In the spelling bee episode of Neds Declassified School Survival Guide Ned gives this advice to Cookie, and at the end of the episode, Ned and many of the other characters actually strip to their underwear to help Cookie win the bee.
- Even Moze?
  - Sadly... no.
In an episode of Home Improvement, Brad was about to appear on Tool Time and was suffering from stage fright. Heidi, who was played by Pamela Anderson, advised him to picture everyone in their underwear.

Newspaper Comics

Roger gives Paige this advice in a Fox Trot strip. It doesn't work, as her reaction is, "Wowza! It's just like a Chippendale show!"
Dilbert is given this advice by Dogbert, before giving a speech to a group of engineers. It backfires when he apparently needs Brain Bleach after what his imagination shows him.
Dogbert: Whoa! Cancel that. I just pictured four hundred naked engineers.
Dilbert: Too late.

Webcomics

In the webcomic Nip and Tuck, shy porcupine Zelda is uncomfortable with interviewing her childhood crush Nip. Charlotte says, in jest, this trope. Then Nip swam across the pool. The last three strips show Zelda grinning and blushing more and more, but not without escaping the notice of Charlotte.
In the webcomic Brat-Halla, Hod's stage fright causes his powers to go awry. One guy has everybody present strip to the underwear, until he's reminded that Hod is blind.
Notfunny Cartoons has a really, really weird subversion - a man comes to a job interview, only to find out that the interviewers are actually naked so he can't imagine they were, just to spite him. (His comment? "Aww.") It has to be seen to be believed (although it's only available in German right now).
Two Kinds gives us this.

Western Animation

The Simpsons: In the episode "Homer Defined", Homer becomes a hero after accidentally saving the power plant. When he's invited to give a speech about how he did it, he imagines the audience in their underwear, then shrieks and hides behind the podium because he imagined himself in his underwear, too.
- Used again in The Simpsons. Homer is hired by Mr. Burns to help him write an important speech. Due to the fact that at the time he was hired, Homer had been using medical marijuana and found everything funny. Since he was clean now, and no longer found Burns funny, Marge suggests Homer picture Mr. Burns naked, resulting in him screaming. Trying to make the situation better, she then changes it to picturing him in a funny hat. This idea is worse, causing Homer to curl up in a ball shuddering.
Happens in an episode of The Replacements with the twist that one of the audience [Shelton] actually is sitting there in his underwear.
Spongebob Squarepants episode "Squidwilliam Returns": In an attempt to stand up to his rival Squidward tries to imagine Squidwilliam in his underwear, only to discover that Squidwilliam is really, really buff.
Squidward: Oh no, he's hot!
I recently saw another example of someone thinking he was supposed to be naked (as opposed to imagining the audience naked) but I'm not sure where; Sit Down Shut Up maybe.
At one point in Rockos Modern Life the turtle, Filbert, can't realize his dreams because of stage fright. He's given this advice. It doesen't work. ("It's just too disgusting!") Until he's asked to perform at a club for nudists...
Sam does this on an episode of Rocket Power. Nervous about asking some classmates for a favor, he says to himself "picture the audience in their underwear." Unfortunately, he does it backwards, picturing himself standing in front of them in his underwear. It works anyway, as he says to himself, "Close enough."
When Stan on American Dad revealed he had never killed anyone his colleagues, and Roger, decided to help him, setting up several scenarios for him to pop his killing cherry, as they termed it. One had this advice.
Ray:If you start to get nervous, imagine them naked. You start to get really nervous, make them get naked. Still nervous? You get naked; you can do whatever you want, you're killing these people!