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Interrupting Meme

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Knock Knock.

Who's there?

Interrupting Article.

Interrupti—
A particular form of Memetic Mutation, generally taking the form of an article, video or similar, in which the subject at hand gets flipped, turned upside-down, so I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, I'll tell you how—

...er, sorry. The subject at hand is overtaken by the meme, to the surprise and chagrin of the viewer. Sometimes these memes go as far as interrupting other memes. (One assumes that should any of these memes face off against each other, the universe would end.)

See also Bait-and-Switch. The original topic may be left with No Ending. If the original topic was boring anyway, the interruption may serve as a Drop the Cow moment. A bit related to Jump Scare, except the "jump" in this case is meant for humor, not horror.


Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 

    Anime and Manga 
  • On the TV Tropes forum, any discussion can get derailed into an Evangelion discussion at any moment because EVANGELION DERAIL: This thread is now about Evangelion.
  • People referencing the second Darker than Black opening will often UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ
  • When discussing Puella Magi Madoka Magica, you sh-*CHOMP*
    • And don't lose your head over it either, mmm'kay? /人 ◕ ‿‿ ◕ 人\
  • The Garden of Sinners: Touko is a dirty red bitc
  • There's also Rozen Maiden which- DESU! DESU! DESU! DESU!
  • It's become a thing for fans of Jojos Bizarre Adventure to edit clips from other media so that suspenseful moments are interrupted by Yes' "Roundabout", in homage to that song being used as the closing theme for the anime adaptation of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency (and always including a sepia tone and a "To Be Continued" message). note 
    • 'ZA WARUDO' is also popularly used like this, since it's essentially a time-out.
    • Not to be outdone, Kira's theme has officially succeeded Roundabout for use at the end of things, especially for Faux Horrific situations.
    • Part 5 introduced a villain whose ability is precisely to interrupt things, so naturally-*BWOONG* *CRASH!* (One-Woman Wail)
    No one can escape the fate that was chosen for them.
    All that remains is the end, where you will all perish.
    Eternal greatness exists only within myself.
    Sing a song of sorrow in a world where time has vanished.
    *BWOONG* -and it's pretty rad whenever it happens. Wait, what the hell?
  • In Soul Eater, Excalibur is infamous for—FOOL! MY LEGEND DATES BACK TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY! He near-constantly interr—FOOL!
  • Orgaposting from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, in which Orga is edited to be appearing suddenly to take the bullet for all sorts of characters.

    Card Games 
  • Magic: The Gathering:
    • Time Stop! note 
    • The Scornful Egotist is a creature spell that, despite its flagrantly bad effect, has gathered something of a ALL HAIL THE GREAT LORD EGOTIST.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! interrupting me—"Not so fast! You've activated my trap card!"

    Comic Books 
  • Final Crisis: Due to The Anti-Life Equation running through all of humanity, some fans have beguALL IS ONE IN DARKSEID.

    Films — Animated 
  • After the scene in Wreck-It Ralph where the audience learns the origin of the Arc Words "going Turbo" Explanation , animated pictures started popping up of Turbo interrupting other video games involving vehicles, driving by with his smug grin and his catch-phrase "Turbo-tastic!"
  • If you've seen Up, then you probably know that Muntz's dogs are very easily distrac— SQUIRREL!

    Films — Live-Action 

    Jokes 
  • This is used in the Interrupting Cow joke, as follows:
    Knock knock.
    Who's there?
    Interrupting cow.
    Interr-
    MOO!
  • Made popular by The Office (US):
    Knock knock.
    Who's there?
    KGB
    KGB w-
    *slap* WE WILL ASK THE QUESTIONS!
  • Another joke:
    "Hey, ask me what's the secret of great comedy."
    "Okay, what's th—"
    "TIMING!"

    Live-Action TV 
  • As demonstrated above, a video or story getting "Bel-Air'd" (the topic at hand getting interrupted by the Expository Themetune of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) is a common form of this. Frequently takes the form of a story segueing into how the writer got into one little fight and his mom got scared, and so on and so forth. Eventually, this became so prevalent that my mom got scared, and said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air".
  • Monty Python: Sometimes, when you least expect - NOOOOOOOOOOObody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
    • Alternately, squished by a giant cartoon foot.
    • A knight in full armour who hits the person who is talking with a dead chicken, thus ending the sketch.
    • Of course, the colonel, who interrupts the sketch and ends it because it is too silly.
    • And now, for something completely different...
  • The start of the opening Theme Tune Rap of Crash & Bernstein (Specifically the part where Crash breaks out of the TV) has taken off on youtube in 2023 due to- *Glass shatters*, YO! Imma let you finish but, ding dong!
  • Game of Thrones is one of the most pirated shows these days, but one version of the "Walk of Punishment" episode cuts the sound out early in favor of the end credits, drowning out A BEAR THERE WAS, A BEAR, A BEAR!
  • On El Chavo del ocho, when he gets really annoyed with somebody (usually either El Chavo or La Chilindrina), Don Ramón (or sometimes another character) will sometimes (¡Fuera de aqui!note ) but...(¡Fuera de aqui!) but I...(¡Fuera!) but...(¡Fuera!) but...(¡Fuera!)...
  • This also occurs in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but is especially prevalent in the pin-"Thank you, Mr. Data".
  • On The New Howdy Doody Show from the mid-late 1970s, this happened Once an Episode. After the opening theme song, Buffalo Bob would talk about what today's show is abou—
    Howdy Doody:"Oh, Buff'lo Bob, Buff'lo Bob!"
    Buffalo Bob: "Oh hey, it's Howdy Doody!"
  • In The Closer, one can imagine that Brenda Leigh Johnson won't have anyone's..."ANSWER THE QUESTION!!"
  • Originating from a photoshopped board image on Wheel of Fortune, memers like to GUACAMOLE NIGGA PENIS

    Music 
  • A Rickroll can occasionally take this form. This includes a certain Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade appearance.
  • The Kanye West "Imma let you finish" meme is sometimes used in this-Yo Troper! I'm real happy for ya, and imma let you finish, but this is one of the greatest pages of all time! ONE OF THE GREATEST PAGES OF ALL TIME!!!!-fashion.
  • Was (Not Was): Sometimes, people will start to write a post, but then their parents will open the door, get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur.
  • The Monster Mash is occasionally used as an alternative to the Bel-Air theme song.
  • MC Hammer: STOP! HAMMER TIME!
  • Vanilla Ice: STOP! Collaborate and listen!
  • Sabaton: THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!
  • "Jack Sparrow", by The Lonely Island, popularized NOW BACK TO THE GOOD PART

    Pinball 
  • Skilled players can invoke this in No Good Gofers any time they hit one of the—OW!note 
  • Please be careful when nudging—DANGERnote —the machine to influence the—DANGERnote —ball movement, otherwis—TILTnote 
    Girl: "That's it! Take me home right now!"
  • It's time for a nice game of Theatre of Magic—OH NOOOOOOO!! Oww, oof, oof, ow! (Secret Ball Lock) THIS BALL IS FULL OF MAGIC!

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Dwayne Johnson, as The Rock, would often bait people by asking them: "What do you think of that?"
    • Well, I-
      • It doesn't MATTER what you think!!
  • After his debut in WWE, Muhammad Hassan would often interrupt other wrestlers promos and whatnot, with his distinctive theme music. This spread to YTMND, and became what is now referred to as "Hassaning," where his music would oftAN ALIEN, ALIEN, ALIEN, ALAYLEE....
  • "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, also known as Stone WHAT Cold WHAT Steve WHAT Austin WHAT? Usually done by his fans when a rival talks trash about him. Hilariously transformed into a massive Take That! by The Undertaker in this instance.
    • This eventually became a problem as audiences began interrupting any heel promo, drowning out the dialogue for home viewers. On the plus column, it started teaching wrestlers not to rely on the overdone "portentous statement followed by dramatic pause" style of promo delivery.
  • Number Four: "Chris Jericho's ARMBAR!"
  • X has just completed/defeated (insert REALLY difficult feat/opponent here) and is tired, exhausted, and badly beaten, savoring his hard-fought victory. You think you know me... * guitar riff* ON THIS DAY! I SEE CLEARLY! EVERYTHING HAS COME TO LIFE!
    Edge: [Running down the ramp with the Money In The Bank briefcase] I'M CASHING IT IN! I'M CASHING IT IN! RING THE DAMN BELL!
  • The Wyatt Family's entrance starts with a Jump Scare that blacks out the arena and bombards the TV viewer's screen with a quick jumble of disturbing images before they enter, usually finishing off with a DEA-
  • Actually, this happens fairly often. A guy's in the ring cutting a promo, only to be cut off by another wrestler's entrance music. (Especially effective if the wrestler's entrance music starts with an attention getting soundbyte, catchphrase, or Epic Riff.) The interrupted wrestler's reaction to this, depending on the context, can range from obvious annoyance to full-blown Oh, Crap!. The resounding BONG and consequent darkness that preludes the entrance of The Undertaker being a prime example. This becomes hilarious in situations where a segment features multiple wrestlers (a build for a multi-man Elimination Chamber or Money In The Bank ladder match) where no one can finish a promo for all the entrance themes cutting them off mid-sentence.
  • This trope is the reason no ring announcer could ever finish introducing Bad News Br...—WHOA!! [starts the match before troper can finish]note 
  • There is one wrestler who's become famous for popping up just about anywhere... AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA!
  • And I guess that's it for the wrestling part of this ar-
    Teddy Long: Now, hold on, playa! Tonight, TV Tropes is going one on one with DA UNDATAKAH!
    • And half way through the match when Wikipedia and Kane get involved
    Teddy Long: And now it's gonna be a TAG TEAM MATCH!
  • In 2023, a new one was born when someone is— [Epic Riff] IF YOU BELIEVE YOURS IS THE ONLY WAY, THEN YOU'RE A FOOL WHO LIVES TO DIE!

    Sports 
  • Formula One has produced quite a handful of these:
    • One of the earliest, though saw less usage in recent times, was the "IS THAT GLOCK?!" line, in reference to the final moments of the 2008 Brazilian GP.
    • Another was during the 2018 Belgian GP, where Lewis Hamilton was leading the first lap of the race at the Kemmel Straight, BUT HERE COMES SEBASTIAN VETTEL!
    • The latest was in the 2021 Monaco GP where, instead of the cameras on an exciting duel between Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly, the feed cuts to Lance Stroll running wide, followed by David Croft disbelievingly crying, "What has happened?! We need to know!" This immediately sparked a trend of inserting Stroll replays into various other footages.
  • During the pandemic-shortened 2020 MLB season, Thom Brennaman, then announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, was caught using a homophobic slur on an open mic. He later proceeded to apologize, as there's a drive into deep left field by Castellanos, it will be a home run. And so that will make it a 4-0 ballgame.
  • In 2022, Aaron Judge was chasing Roger Maris' single-season mark of 61 home runs.note  As he got close, ESPN cut into whatever they were showing when he was at bat, to the dismay of people interested in the scheduled program. This created a meme of Judge cutaways disrupting exciting moments.Postscript 

    Tabletop Games 
  • I was going on TV Tropes, thinking about how to add to the Warhammer 40,000 article, when suddenly I heard a rumbling sound. I looked around a bit, and concluded it must be coming from underneath the table my monitor was sitting on. I stood up and looked underneath the table, when, out of nowhere, a frakking Baneblade came out from under my computer, smashed it and the table, then shot up my modem and entire Chaos Space Marine army. How the hell did a 300 ton tank sneak underneath my computer? It would have to take some kind of tactical genius t- CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDD!
    • It's also damn near impossible to discuss the Imperial Guard, and especially Commissars, witho-"HERESY!" *BLAM*
    • Squats (essentially Space Dwarves) are infamous among the fandom. It is alleged that Games Workshop employ assassins to make their removal from canon stick, and merely bringing up their name ca ... though this meme fell into irrelevance since the Squats were brought back into Canon with the 6th edition rule book released in 2012.
    • There is an infamously terrible unit which shall not be named because otherwise you'll turn into one and being a Chaos Spawn suck-OH GOD I DIDN'T MENAW0RWHIOEFEFER9IGHERGVJKR
  • The Truly Immovable Rod from Dungeons and Dragons, which, when interpreted as a rod that stays immobile as the world rotates around it, would frequentl- *CLANG* WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?
    • Or, for the more extreme version, activating it leaves it motionless on a Universal scale. The *CLANG*, in that case, is when a space station collides with it.

    Video Games 
  • This is pretty much a regular thing for any arcade game, since the Attract Mode is a regular feature that will be interrupted when anyone inserts a...KA WA!
    • Not all arcade games have separate "wating-for-start" screens. Most games by Atari (and Atari Games) will continue their attract modes while telling the player to "press start". Their later games will even sound a chime, but the attract mode will continue to play until the game starts.
  • Mass Effect's infamous Harbinger who goes on Assuming direct control .
    • On some Mass Effect 2 message boards, Garrus' combat shouts "HEADSHOT!" and "Impressive!", due to his enthusiastic voice acting during combat, have also become memes, though obviously not to the extend of We are assuming control .
    • Alongside that, Garrus also has "Can it wait? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." Even after the Romance Sidequest.
    • Perhaps Commander Shepard can shed some light onI've had enough of your disingenuous assertions. SHEPARD PAUNCH!!!
    • Shepard's 'I should go'. BioWare even made a shirt of it.
  • Trombe from Super Robot Wars is so awesome that even his theme song can overpower any oth-TROMBE OVERRIDE!
    • It's worth noting that this meme is not mutated from its original form at all. Thanks to an Ascended Glitch in the games themselves, every time Elzam engages in battle, Trombe will override even the most dramatic final boss music.
    • With the exceptions to this rule being the Blue Danube and Despair
  • Star Wolf's "Can't let you [Verb] that, Star Fox!"
  • If talking about I Wanna Be the Guy difficulty, you might hear about GAME OVER - PRESS 'R' TO TRY AGAIN
  • When playing BlazBlue, it's important to remember thaBANG BANG BANG BAAAAAANG! BANINGU DAMASHIII!
  • Red Dead Redemption: Several members of GameFAQs have started a trend where in the middle of their sentence they suddenly *cougar'd*
  • Discussions about the Glitch Pokémon MissingNo start out well bUt sO)n b3c1e-♠◘♥‼K☺Tµî>#BÜ╕╫@⌠§-Ü
  • After Rock Band 2 came out, one might fiSPOONMAN
  • Killer Instinct has a memetically popular announcer who C-C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
  • Dwarf Fortress player cancels example, interrupted by Rhesus Macaque.
    • At one point (not anymore), "Urist McDwarf cancels thirsty, killed by a carp."
    • It's changed again to "Urist McDwarf cancels fishing, shoved by sponge".
  • Minecraft's Creepers have became popular as masc-SSSSSSSSSSSSS
  • TOUHOU HIJACK LOL.
    • Implying that Sakuya wears pads is a good way t-*knifed*note 
    • And talking about Yukari's age-*gapped*
    • Talking about Flandre occasionally ge-*kyuu~*
    • Mentioning Kogasa tends to le-SURPRISE!
    • Many new players tend to struggle with the Bullet Hell aspect of th—*pichuuuun!*
  • Star Control: The Slylandro Probes would like to tell you that that they come in pea... PRIORITY OVERRIDE. NEW BEHAVIOR DICTATED. MUST BREAK TARGET INTO COMPONENT MATERIALS.
  • League of Legends:
    • Fiddlesticks just hit Level 6. Let's stay away from-CAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAW
    • Garen's missing. It's time to go ward that bush just in case-DEMACIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
  • The Metal Gear franchise brings us the iconic Scare C!
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance:
    • The game's Variable Mix soundtrack sometimes cuts to different parts of a song to match the action, so a particularly awesome moment might sudd- RULES OF NATURE!
    • A video version of an interrupting meme happens with Revengeance Status, in which an unrelated video suddenly transitions to a scene from Revengeance. A common transition is Senator Armstrong suddenly running towards the viewer to punch them out of the first video.
  • Monster Hunter too has a Scar!
    • A common occurence in High- and G-Rank quests from Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) onwards is hunting a monster and th—! oh crap it's Deviljho!
    • Many players are not fond of transport quests due to a single hit being all it takes to—(splat!) Wyvern Egg has broken!
    • The series is particularly well-known for its high degree of diffiYou've fainted. Reward decreased by 4000z. Returning to camp...
  • Dark Souls has a few examples such a—Invaded by dark spirit That Troper. ...oh, son of a—
    YOU DIED
  • When playing GoldenEye (1997), please be careful when tilting the c—GET DOWN, YURERU MAWARU FURERU SETSUNAAAAAI KIMOCHI, FUTARI DE ISSHO NI NEMURU WINTER LAAAAAANDnote 
  • Trying to play a Fighting Game at the arcadenote  in one-player mode may be difficultnote  becau—HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion lends itself to this whenever you break the l—STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!
  • Sonic the Hedgehog's underwater stages — (ta-ta...) are notorious because — (ta-ta...) — when Sonic is about to drown, the — (ta-ta...) — current stage music is replaced with the infamous countdown ji—5...4...3...2...1...0 (drown)
    • Some of the dialogue in Sonic Adventure 2 have characters interrupting each other's sentences right before they end it due to having to time dialogue with the Japanese lip movements; sometimes it works. Take the prelude of the first Sonic vs. Shadow fight for instance:
      Shadow: You're comparing yourself to me? Ha! You're not good enough to be my f—
      Sonic: I'll make you eat those words!
    • With Sonic Frontiers, we have a whole new open world to explore and do things and— SQUID
  • DJMax Technika 2 and 3 can be Nintendo Hard at times; being reduced to a sliver of your Life Meter can be a nerve-wrac—*CLANG* YOU FAILED.
  • Begin! Super Hexagon is a game where you try to dodge Deadl(zap!) GAME. OVER.
  • In Hogan's Alley, the farther you get, the more difficult it beco...*BLAM!* *ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT ANT!* The same thing goes for Wild Gunm...FIRE! *BLAM!* YOU LOSE!
  • This applies for the "Quick Draw" minigame in Kirby's Adve....*FIRE!*, *BLAM!* as well as the Samurai Kirby minigame in Kirby Super...*!!*, *SLICE!*
  • (presses power button) The original NES had a very bad tendency toooooooooooooooo... (presses reset button)
    • Okay, let me try that again. The original NES had a very bad tenden....(blank screen...pink screen...blank screen...pink screen...)note 
  • BEMANI:
    • Fans on Vine are known for taking clips from various media and e—Daisuke.note 
    • When playing beatmania IIDX, use your best judgement before setting the HARD or EX-HARD Life Meters or else—(pewwwwww) STAGE FAILED
    • SOUND VOLTEX also has a "hard" Life Meter, called Excessive Rate, which you must also never let drain—TRACK CRASH
    • Playing DanceDanceRevolution with—(pow!)—the LIFE4—(pow!)—meter can be a—(pow!)—risky endeav—(clang) FAILED
      • Also on DDR, look out for the Shock Arrows! Make sure your feet are not on the arrows when they pas—(z-zap!)
  • CROSS×BEATS and crossbeats REV. have the Ultimate life gauge, a Harder Than Hard meter that multiplies your Rank Points if you make it to the end of the song. Unfortunately, it restores very little on a Flawless—EMERGENCY—and takes damage on anything less, which means even in the middle of a full combo you co—GAME OVER
  • Super Mario Bros. 3 brings us Thwomps, who like t—BA-BUM!
  • The Thwomps in Super Mario 64 also have a distincti—UNGRRH!
  • One criticism of the Eastern RPG genre is the irritatingly frequent employment of Rando(Fight Woosh!)
  • While playing Cardinal Sins: Judgement Silversword Recycle Edition's Sloth stage, be careful with your shots when you see a 1-Up or else you might shoo—(boom) NO!
  • Five Nights at Freddy's has its Jump Scare noise that you'll be hearing a lSKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
  • Races in Daytona USA can get very cro—Try to go easy on the car!—can get very crowded, and opponent cars will constantly be trying to pa—Guard that rear bumper!—trying to pass you. The courses are also quite diff—Try to stay low on that turn!—are also quite difficult and the wrong approa—Careful! You'll melt the tires!—the wrong approach can send you into a wa—(CRASH!) You're all over the track! Let's see some control!
  • Pump It Up attract mode—HEY! Why don't you just get up and dance man?
  • Four new warriors make their debut in Street Fighter V, one of these characters has a theme song with vocals th-RAAAAAAAAAASHIIIIIIIIIIDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!note 
    • Going back to the "original" Street Fighter II when you'd be playing by yourself when HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!
    • Did you do exceptionally well on a single player play through? Surely the final boss will be no...(Gouki / Akuma teleports in, does Shun Goku Satsu on final boss; fight begins)
    "I am power made flesh! Feel how weak you truly are!"note 
  • Overwatch:
    • Play of the Game: Troper as Soldier: 76. Oh wonderful, you got a Play of the G — 💀 — Play of the Game: Report as Sombra.note 
    • Oh whoops, I died, now to watch my humiliating Kill Cam footage while I wait to resp—Heroes never die!note 
    • Okay, nice! Most of the team is now de—Helden sterben nicht!—well, I killed them all for nothing now!
    • Alright, my Pharah ultimate is ready! Justice rains fr—AAAAAAUUGHHH!!
  • In Dragon's Lair, you often have to quickly make the right move befo...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
  • The same thing applies to Cobra Co...(KABOOM!!)note , not to mention Road Bla...(SCREEEECH; SMASH; KABOOM!)note 
  • Any of the light gun games by American Laser Games will...(BANG!)
  • God of War (PS4) is a fantastic game, and it's about that— Baldur is blessed with invulnerability to all threats, physical or magical.
  • This is actually a pretty common characteristic of Laserdisc-based arcade games, since they involve a pre-rendered videonote . If the player makes a mistake, the current clip will stop playing, and then switch to another clip where the player loses a life.
  • Arrogant nephalem! Azmodan from Diablo III is a boss who keeps interrupting hims—ENOUGH! The dark power of hell will consume y—Arrogant nephalem! My servants will—ENOUGH! The dark power of—Arrogant nephalem!—ENOUGH!Explanation 
  • Towards the end of the main campaign of Red Dead Redemption 2, there is an optional mission in which the terminally ill protagonist Arthur goes to help a tribal chief named Rains Fall. While they're riding together, Arthur opens to him about something he only brings up twice in the rest of the entire game, his dead son. While Arthur is pouring his heart out to him, he stops him mid-sentence and runs off to pick some ginseng to help Arthur with his cough and Arthur doesn't get to finish the story,
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III has Rean either try using Spirit Unification or summoning his Humongous Mecha, only to be interrupted by a Big Damn Heroes moment from his former Class VII friends or outright blocked by villains or coworkers.
  • A clip of the intro for a Brazilian bootleg of International Superstar Soccer 64, Mundial Ronaldinho Soccer 64, became a meme in this manner in May 2020.
  • In Elemental 3 and fangames based on the concept, it's not uncommon for people to end chains of same-element combin- its time to stop

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 

    Real Life 
  • We'd talk about the vuvuzelas at World Cup 2010, but BZZZZBZZZZBZZZZBZZZZBZZZZBZZZBZZZZ
  • The ZX Spectrum USENET newsgroup often has particularly embarrassing statem3w587fuN^NO&*IULYBvilu£%b6viaby5i+++NO CARRIER+++
    • This is most certainly a remnant of the era of FidoNet and similar messaging networks, connected via BBSes before the advent of the Internet. Users usually connected to a BBS via a phone line (one phone line, one user) and they could usually write messages on forums directly on their terminal emulation software instead of using an off-line, separate program. When they were typing the message and the line got suddenly noisy, the software interpreted the line noise as random characters. The "NO CARRIER" was the standard modem response after an interrupted connection; whether the text ended being part of the message or not depended on the software, but it always appeared in the console of the interrupted user; hence the meme.
    • This was later picked up by Slashdot.
  • Attention Deficit Disorder, and the jokes about it like for example "They say I have ADD, but they don't understa—SQUIRREL!" and its varia—Ooh Shiny!.
  • This probably has happened to most people when they were kids.
    Kid 1: Knock Knock
    Kid 2: Who's There?
    Kid 1: Interrupting Cow.
    Kid 2: Interrupting Cow w—
    Kid 1: MOO!
  • Windows is known by many users for periodically having programs ha..........................tvtropes.exe has stopped working...
    • Android has similar issues with its soft—Unfortunately, TV Tropes has stopped.
    • Anyone who has programmed with C(++) or other low-level programming languages and had to deal with pointers knSegmentation fault (core dumped).note  Explanation 
  • Any and all TV broadcasts have been subject to this whenever a major or otherwise serious news event—"We interrupt our regularly scheduled trope entry to bring you this special report"..."This concludes our special report. We now resume our regularly scheduled trope entry."—occurs.
  • CONNELRAD and its successors, the Emergency Broadcast System, and the Emergency Alert System whenever they are tested. Originally occurring (usually) during commercial breaks, these days, the tests can happen at any...........*BZZZZZZZZZZ!* *BZZZZZZZZZZ!* *BZZZZZZZZZZ!*note  *A required weekly / monthly test of the Emergency Alert System has been issued for the following areas / counties [list of areas / counties is shown] until [cutoff time].*note  *BZZZ!" *BZZZ!* *BZZZ!*
  • Telemarketers may as well be...
    [phone rings]
    "Uh, hello?"
    "Hello! Is this the troper editing this entry?"
    "Uh, yes..."
    CONGRATULATIONS, YOU MAY HAVE JUST WON A MILLION DOLLARS...!!note 
    [hangs up phone]
    • ...examples.
    • Their spiritual predecessors...
    [doorbell rings]
    "Oh, I'll get it!"
    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
    • ...door-to-door salespeoplenote .
  • George W. Bush is well-known for, among other things, one of the presidential debates he had with JohWell actually, he forgot Poland.
  • Many movie theaters will have a pre-screening short that looks like a dramatic, serene, or romantic scene out of some movie, only for the scene to be rui—(beepbeepbeepbeepbeep!) Please turn off your cellphones.note 
  • So you're just sitting on a plane flight relaxing with your seat belt unfastened and—(ding!) Ladies and gentlemen, the "fasten seat belt" sign has been switched on.
  • For a while, Avast Antivirus was infamous for its obnoxious update mess—(di-ding!) Virus database has been updated.
  • Anyone who breaks the law will be subject to this trope sooner or later once the police catch up to them. One of many instances is when the police spot the car they're dri—OKAY, BUDDY! PULL OVER!!note 

—ng Article who?

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