Troperville
Editing Help
Tools
Toys
|
alt title(s): The Ralph Wiggum "Me fail English? That's unpossible!"
Ralph Wiggum. When it comes to stupidity, this character from The Simpsons is in a class of his own. Others can only dream to live down to his standards. For a Ralph Wiggum is beyond The Ditz. Beyond The Fool. The Ralph Wiggum merely is.
The Ralph Wiggum is a character that is so stupid, so inept, so downright useless their only possible application is in "Oh, God, look how stupid that guy is!" situations. They aren't Jerkasses, they aren't The Ditz, they aren't The Fool, they aren't even a Cloudcuckoolander, although they're almost always crazy. The only reason they exist is so that even the stupidest characters can have somebody to look down on.
Can often be identified by the fact that they can observe a completely ordinary situation, and completely and horribly misinterpret it. E.g., Tom Arnold's character in The Stupids, who, upon seeing one morning that the garbage has been removed from the trash can left at the curbside the night before, exclaims "Someone's stolen our garbage again."
Sometimes the humor in a Ralph Wiggum character can derive from them saying something totally out of character, such as Ralph saying "that is so 1991" or by showing profound depth beyond that for which they are credited. Can be very similar to Hulk Speak in this respect. In fact one shouldn't think that being a Ralph Wiggum necessarily just means the character actually is stupid, or perhaps even mentally deficient in some way; the point is that their dim-wittedness is so detached and nonsensical... and sometimes even regularly inconsistent that you don't even know what's up with them... or if there's even a description for it. There's just... Ralph. A very special trope.
Compare Too Dumb To Live, where the character's stupidity drives the plot. In this case, the character seems like he'd be too dumb to exist, let alone live, but somehow manages to survive in spite of his idiocy. As seen in the above illustration, the Ralph Wiggum can occasionally even become Chance The Gardener. Contrast Obfuscating Stupidity.
Examples
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- Chikage of Antique Bakery.
- Maria from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, whose primary claim to fame is being the only character more divorced from reality than Kafuka.
- Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo. An infamous officer with the Galaxy Police known for her miraculous luck, succeeding in situations you'd think she'd be too stupid and inept to possibly overcome. Cute and lovable (as most Ralphs tend to be), she is nevertheless used 95% of the time in jokes highlighting just how dense she is. Yet thanks to aforentioned luck, her stupidity can somehow lead to her saving the day so she somehow could be considered a valuable team-commodity...begrudgingly to the others. Some may say she's a Chance The Gardener, some may say she's Cloudcuckoolander, while others might even say there's a slight possibility of Obfuscating Stupidity...but only slight. Well this troper says that the very fact all of the above could be true at the same time is ripe reason to say Mihoshi belongs here.
- Actually original OAV Mihoshi is stated as extremely stray-minded, i.e. ADD, clumsy, romantic daydreaming, and maybe even mild Cloudcuckoolander, but also as a very competent, brave, and determined officer when she manages to focus. She does however have an immensely powerful causality-bending ability that causes very odd things to happen. Her current condition is also heavily implied as the result of a case of severe trauma (showed as cataconic in a flashback image) that "burned her out". In Tenchi Muyo Abridged, Mihoshi is almost taken to Too Dumb To Live levels, but is not insane, and does not make completely inappropriate statements à la Ralph Wiggum, so she does not belong in this category.
Comics
Films — Live Action
- The two main characters in the movie Dumb and Dumber, Harry and Lloyd, are both textbook examples of The Ralph Wiggum.
- Karen Smith of Mean Girls hovers on the edge between being a full blown Ralph Wiggum and merely The Ditz (and the Cloudcuckoolander) — she is relatively articulate and coherent compared with some of the examples on this page. On the other hand this is a girl who can't spell "orange", doesn't understand the concept of first cousins and who thinks her breasts are psychic.
"I'm actually psychic — It's like I have ESPN or something — I have a sort of fifth sense. My boobs? Can tell when it's going to rain.... Well I mean — it's a work in progress and — well, they can tell when it's ALREADY raining. >:"
- Doofy, the mentally retarded police deputy in Scary Movie. Subverted hard — he was the killer, using Obfuscating Stupidity to fool everyone. Including the audience.
- Brick Tamland from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
Brick: (as he puts mayonnaise in a toaster) ... Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48 and am what some people call "mentally retarded".
- In the film Idiocracy (go figure), the human race, through 500 years of pandering to the lowest common denominator in society, eventually turns totally tarded n' shit.
- Alan in The Hangover.
- Bob The blob from Monsters Vs Aliens was born without a brain and eventually decided he didn't need it anyway. He also got confused when Susan was talking about her fiancée and decided that he was in love with him...
- Frank Drebin, main character of The Naked Gun series.
Frank Drebin: When I see five weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in plain view of a hundred people, I shoot the bastards, that's my policy. Mayor Barkley: That was a Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar, you moron! You killed five actors!... Good ones!
- Stanley Spadowski from UHF.
- Brian Half Baked 2 quotes stand out. "I'll pretend to be Jamaican." "You said you gave Mary Jane a pearl necklace!"
- Zangief from Street Fighter The Movie.
Literature
Live Action TV
- Alan Davies from Quite Interesting.
- This may or not be the entire point of Bottom.
- Constable Turnbull from Due South. Put on this earth so that there'd be at least one person out there to whom Benton Fraser would have half a chance of looking remotely normal in comparison.
- The Gumbys in Monty Python's Flying Circus are loud-mouthed and aggressively stupid.
"I BELIEVE IN PEACE AND BASHING TWO BRICKS TOGETHER!"
- Larabee from Get Smart is Ralph Wiggum's direct ancestor. Even the way he evolved was eerily similar to Ralph. Just like Ralph, he started off as a nameless extra, just a CONTROL agent in the background. Eventually he was given a name, when the Chief said, "Do this, Larabee." This continued for several episodes (the "this" was usually escorting an arrested KAOS agent offstage). Then he was given some lines. Then, at the end of the second season, Max shouted, "Larabee! Follow That Car!" Hilarity ensued. From then on, Larabee's few lines emphasized his stupidity, with even Maxwell Smart incredulous that anybody could be that dumb. By midway through the fourth (and next-to-last) season, Larabee had become the fourth main character on the show after Max, 99, and the Chief. Dumber than any fool, dumber than any ditz, and remembered fondly by Get Smart fans as the only CONTROL agent even dumber than Max.
- Max even stated once that the Chief would never fire him because Larabee would take his place.
- London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
- Joey Tribbiani in Friends (and his titular spin off show Joey) grew more and more stupid as Friends continued. He starts out as merely shallow but capable of genuine perception and wit, and ends up at a point where he needs a calculator to find out the answer to five hundred plus five hundred, and takes several extra seconds to react to sudden events than everyone else.
- Father Dougal from Father Ted has to keep a diagram illustrating the difference between dreams and reality, as well as a list of "Things That Don't Exist", such as "Darth Vader" and "Non-Catholic Gods".
- Harry Solomon on 3rd Rock From The Sun. Consider this exchange from when he went to work as Dick's secretary:
Dick: Harry, did I get any phone calls?
Harry: Oh yes, it rang repeatedly.
Dick: And... who called?
Harry: Well, I don't know, Dick, I'm not clairvoyant.
- Munch Wilkinson of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.
- On the subject of Vimto: "It's big, and it's clever, and it's purple. Just like the Prime Minister," and "Stick to Vimto, kid. It's a really mellow high."
- Ted Bullpit of Kingswood Country is a borderline example of this trope. The episode where he reveals that he spent six months deaf as a child because he had put peas in his ears and not put two and two together supports his Ralph Wiggum status.
- Kelly Bundy from Married with Children graduated from The Ditz to this.
- Prince George from the third season of Blackadder. In one episode, he shows a complete inability to tell a play of Julius Caesar from reality, trying to call the militia on Brutus (and Blackadder mentions that at a past performance, he shouted "Look behind you, Mr. Caesar!"). Later that night, an anarchist throws a lit bomb into his hands and he thinks it's a part of the play. He is also incapable of dressing himself without help. Did we mention he's the Head of State for a multi-continental empire?
- And then there's Baldrick, who, in the second series, has trouble with "two beans plus two beans...".
- And Percy, who in the second series proudly held in his mortal hands a nugget of purest green...
- Scrubs: Ted Buckland is what happens when Ralph grows up, takes eight years to get a college degree, passes the bar (but only after attempting it twelve times) and loses his hair from the stress of his job.
- Max Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place. The only person who could write "One syllable" as the answer in a game of charades.
- Kiko, from El Chavo Del Ocho. He believes he can get a square ball, is often outsmarted by El Chavo (who isn't very intelligent himself either), and the only reason he escapes dire situations is because his mom Doña Florinda slaps whoever she perceives is hurting her "little treasure". Particularly telling are the lot of jokes where he inadvertently lampshades his own idiocy.
Kiko: (mocking El Chavo) Ha ha, I'm sure you arrived late to the brains repartition!
El Chavo: Yes? What 'bout you?
Kiko: Ha! Like if I ever went!
- It's implied that Kiko's late father was also very dumb, and because of that, not even Doña Florinda has any hope about her son's intelligence.
Kiko's dad: (Looking over Baby Kiko) Dear, don't you think he is just exactly like me?
Doña Florinda: Well, he is healthy, and in the end, it's what really matters.
- One recurring bit on Conan O'Brien's show is casting announcements for fake TV-movies about world events. During George W Bush's presidency, he was invariably played by Ralph Wiggum.
Pro Wrestling
- Perry Saturn from WWE had a gimmick in vein of this trope for a good portion of 2001, which gave us such hits as, "Monkeys learn sign language so they can tell dolphins they love them. You're welcome."
Puppet Shows
Radio
Video Games
Web Animation
- In the webseries Red Vs Blue, the Blue Private Caboose goes from a somewhat annoying Fool to a full-blown Ralph Wiggum.
- His most famous line is in response to his commanding officer, Church, explaining that Tex, the mercenary that they just hired, was not a guy, but actually his ex-girlfriend, who was possessed by a hyper-violent AI. When asked if he followed the description, he replied "I think so. That guy Tex, is really a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot." Church decided, rather than argue, to sarcastically admit "Yeah, thats right. I'm a gay robot."
- That was first season. Caboose found his niche quickly.
- Thing is... he was half right. Not sure about the gay part though.
- His ultimate Ralph Wiggum moment came — fittingly enough — in the final episode, when Church possessed Caboose and entered his mind. When encountering Caboose's mental image of their newest teammate, Sister, it was revealed that Caboose had been completely overwhelmed by the influx of information, and made up a story (heavily ripped off of other shows, such as Lost) explaining the yellow armored soldier to be Church's long lost twin brother (despite Sister being a woman in real life).
- Not verbatim, but still hilarious: "Last time I got shot, I got a Purple Heart. Next time, I want to get a Purple Lung. You see, eventually I hope to make an entire Purple Person. And we will be best friends."
- There's also "Time is not made of lines. It is made of circles. THAT IS WHY CLOCKS ARE ROUND." It makes some shambling mockery of sense.
- The title character of the Flash cartoon series Blockhead.
- (Kind of) subverted by Charlotte from Making Fiends; to be fair, she's not strictly a Ralph Wiggum, but she's so incredibly clueless and naive that she comes amazingly close.
- Homestar Runner has the character Homsar. This guy is so incredibly thick that he can openly defy physics and is the character equivalent of Dada Comics: he was once playing a game with Strong Sad and said "Oh no! You shanked my Jengaship!" to which Strong Sad replied "I shanked your Jengaship? We're playing Connect Four!".
- In Strong Bad Episode 2: Strongbadia the Free, it's implied that Homsar is actually intelligent. After activating a mystical pylon, Strong Bad learns to speak like Homsar, and finds that Homsar's voice is soothing and he's more intelligent than most, if not all of the cast, once he understands him (Strong Sad doesn't, though). Heck, when Strong Bad tries to speak like Homsar usually does in this mode, Homsar actually asks why he's talking like a two-year-old child. It doesn't last long; once the pylon is destroyed, Homsar begins speaking like usual again.
- Kael'thas Sunstrider in Azerothian Super Villains.
Web Comics
Web Original
- Michael Swaim's portrayal of himself in Agents of Cracked. He somehow managed to become a successful web journalist without knowing what the internet is (except that he "works there"), considers live blogging to be a cause worth dying for, thinks that Garfield the cat and Garfield the president are the same person, and apparently learned how to eat from watching his partner. He also could only be insured by his company if his partner kept a device with a button that would make Swaim's head explode if pressed (Swaim presses it).
- Mind you, it often turns out that Swaim is right. President Garfield the Cat attended a teleconference later that episode, and at one point Swaim managed to get the "high score" on Digg. (He put his initialls in as "ASS", of course.) The Chief hires Dan O'Brien as his partner specifically to be a Butt Monkey catalyst for his bizarre savantism.
Western Animation
- Ralph Wiggum, of course.
- Cletus, the Slack Jawed Yokel, also from The Simpsons, is a borderline Ralph Wiggum. Although Cletus has shown both consistency, and a strange sort of pseudo-Yokel sophistication at times.
- Kevin the dumb jock from Daria was so mind-bendingly moronic that he did not get so much as a single moment in the entire series that even SUGGESTED anything other than 100% stupidity; even his squeaky blonde cheerleader girlfriend came across as smarter than him. He once asked Daria to help him with the answers to the personality test. For the question about "who I really am" she convinced him to put "cross dresser". He thanked her for her help.
- Both of the 2 Stupid Dogs. Hence the name.
- Billy on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
- Billy's dad is the source of his stupidity. Anyone who thinks that Billy is very smart fits this trope. He also couldn't tell a viking from Billy and played "Tuxedo Man" with Billy.
- There is also Fred Fredburger, the demon anteater...thing who may have managed to become even more stupid and inept than Billy.
- YES!
- J-j-j-j-JUDGE, WHERE'S THE NACHOS?
- I LIKE NACHOS AND FROZEN YOGURT!
- The many heinous and often obliviously stupid deeds of Captain Hero from Drawn Together can either be attributed to him being a sociopath or an extreme example of a Ralph Wiggum. Examples of some of his acts of "intelligence" include destroying his home planet in order to prove that he is heroic, murdering all the participants in a charity fundraiser walk so he could be in first place, and, after watching a dangerous scene unfold on a television, attempting to "save the day" by flying through said television.
- Both Fry and Zap Brannigan from Futurama have their moments (although Fry is usually just The Ditz, and Zap may be seen as more of a Ted Baxter).
- Mom's youngest son, Igner, is a perfect example of this trope.
- Lumpy the moose from Happy Tree Friends. Despite his stupidity, he usually makes it out of episodes alive.
- Stimpy of Ren and Stimpy fame.
- Cheese from Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends is somewhere between this and Cloud Cuckoolander.
- Cosmo from The Fairly Oddparents.
- Timmy's Dad isn't exactly a genius; I mean, AJ once said that Cosmo looked smarter than Timmy's Dad.
- The alien Mo-ron (go figure) from Freakazoid. In his premiere episode, he brings "an im-por-tant mess-age for all mankind", but can't remember it until the end of the episode.
- Being the end of the world via asteroid, this Troper thinks this only emphasizes how mo-ronic said Mo-Ron is.
- Bluke from The Weekenders.
- The Mayor from The Powerpuff Girls.
- Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, although he had his occasional moments of intelligence.
- One episode was centered entirely on following the plot from inside Pinky's brain. Viewed from the inside, his train of thought made some sort of bizarre sense. Barely.
- Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants switches between being surprisingly articulate to being one of the most extreme examples of this trope.
- Chip and Skip from Camp Lazlo. Because they're so dumb they run up to the speaker every time the camp announcements come on, looking for the voice. They also can't think at all; their brains work to make them become geniuses when hung upside down but. Right side up, they're Ralph Wiggums. This all happened in just in one episode too and they demonstrate this the least of the time.
- That episode made me learn about my Berserk Button. Skip mentioned that the sun would go "supernova", and I got mad. For an episode about smarty pants, why was there a case of Did Not Do The Research?
- The William Clone in Season 4 of Code Lyoko. Justified in that he is controlled by a non-evolving artificial intelligence that Jérémie programmed hastily. The efforts to improve this A.I. were quickly abandoned as too dangerous, since the only code at Jérémie's disposal was the same that ultimately gave birth to XANA.
- Dean in Code Monkeys takes the "dumb" in Dumb Muscle to its logical extremes. Dave and Todd sometimes have their moments, but Dave is usually the Jerkass and The Stoner and Todd is more of a Ted Baxter.
- Johnny Bravo has most episodes based on the titular character's blindingly brilliant idiocy, in addition to his chick-chasing egotism. Favorite example: a researcher testing Johnny's intelligence compared to that of a monkey tied a banana to the ceiling and provided two cardboard boxes and a stool to each. While the chimp stacked the boxes and put the stool on top to climb up to the banana, Johnny's solution was to stick an arm up the bottom of each stool: "With these stool wings, I'll fly to the banana!" and promptly fall crashing through a window.
- Lucky Bob from Histeria!
- Beavis is just plain stupid — anyone who can make Butthead look like the smart one in any given duo... that's an accomplishment.
- There is evidence — particularly in the Its A Wonderful Life parody episode — that Beavis is actually the smart one, and is mostly held down by Butthead's bullying and his own uncontrolled ADHD.
- Bull. And by that, I mean Bullwinkle.
- GIR from Invader Zim.
- Brain from Top Cat, who obviously does not live up to his name.
|
|
