A character is shown while singing while
bathing or
said to do this — depending on amount of
Censor Steam and
Censor Suds the author uses.
That being a small room with hard walls, its acoustics should be bad enough to resign all worries about voice and quality. Add to it that during the bath time one is alone (
usually) and feels secure (
usually), and it makes more or less a light-hearted version of
What You Are in the Dark. Though usually someone overhears the singing character anyway. As a narrative device, this usually is an opportunity to show that the character is in good mood and to demonstrate amusing quirks (beyond this habit as such).
Mostly a
Comedy Trope. Happens a great deal in
Real Life, too.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
Comic Strips
Films — Live-Action
- There's an old Norman Wisdom film in which somebody hides a microphone in our hero's bathroom, records him singing in the bath, and pretends it's his own work.
- Summer Stock begins with Judy Garland singing "If You Feel Like Singing" in the shower.
- In one of The Naked Gun movies, Jane is in the shower singing when an assassin walks in to try to kill her. He is entranced by her singing and starts to hum along, then gets louder and louder until he starts belting, which causes Jane to find out he's there and run away.
- Pitch Perfect contains a scene where the protagonist's singing talent is discovered in this way.
- In To Rome With Love, Woody Allen's character discovers his daughter's future father-in-law has an amazing voice because of this. He gets him to audition, which fails horribly, because it turns out he can only sing in the shower. Eventually, they stage an opera in which everyone is in appropriate period dress,except him, who sings from a movable shower cubicle.
- In the beginning of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris starts singing "Danke Schoen" in the shower, using the showerhead as a mike. This of course foreshadows his performance when he hijacks a float in a parade later on that day.
Live-Action TV
- The Love Boat: Gopher is overheard singing in the shower and is really good, so he's talked into singing at the crew/guest Talent Contest. But it turns out he's good at singing only while in the shower; so they make a prop shower for him to sing in for the show.
- Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger: Umeko’s favorite pastime, taking a bath, is often accompanied by singing.
- Doogie Howser, M.D.: Doogie has been seen on a couple of occasions belting out a few random Rolling Stones and Righteous Brothers tunes in the shower (granted he can sing); usually ends with Vinnie subsequently barging in on him.
- Doctor Who
- The Doctor is heard singing in the shower in episode "The Lodger", while he's sharing a flat and trying to act like an ordinary human being.
- And the third Doctor sings the shower in the hospital his first appearance in "Spearhead from Space".
- Glee
- This is how Mr. Schuester learns of Finn's singing talent.
- This scene is mirrored in season 2 with Finn hearing Sam in the locker room shower.
Music
Puppet Shows
- Sesame Street: Ernie sings "Rubber Duckie" (naturally enough) in the bath.
Video Games
Web Comics
Western Animation
