"Why, I've never felt better in my whole life. Well, if you'll excuse me now, I think I have to finish breaking the breakfast dishes."
— Oscar, Sesame Street
A character just learns some piece of news. They stand up, excuse themselves, go outside to react to the news offscreen (laughter, anger, frustration...), and return as though nothing had happened. Sometimes this happens several times in a row.
The reason why varies, sometimes that they don't want to mock a character to their face or have friends/coworkers see them be Not So Stoic, there are children present, or even because overt displays of emotion are considered unprofessional.
Sister trope to Running Away to Cry and Bad Mood Retreat. Compare Holding in Laughter, Trying Not to Cry. Contrast Get Out!.
Examples:
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Advertising
- A Twix commercial
has a factory boss, after flaunting a new flavor of cookie and discovering that the adjacent factory is making the same kind of cookies as his factory, calmly excuse himself and activate a machine to create a pillow, which he cries into loudly before calmly declaring "Problem solved".
Anime and Manga
- Moriarty the Patriot: After learning William is alive, all of his crew in MI6 have explosive emotional outbursts and several well up with tears. Louis, however, his Big Brother Worshipping little brother, has no reaction at all and insists they discuss the rest of the relevant news. And then he steps outside with Sherlock to thank him from the bottom of his heart for saving William and finally reveal how he was feeling.
- Oshi no Ko: Dr. Amamiya, upon discovering that his favorite idol is at his hospital and is pregnant, calmly leaves the patient lobby and retreats to the doctor's hall, where he proceeds to Freak Out as he tries to process the transpiring events. He manages to calm down in time to eavesdrop on the idol's manager demanding to know who the father is.
- Overlord (2012):
- Albedo leaves the room to vent at Shalltear apparently being favored by Ainz over her (in Ainz's mind, making Shalltear serve as his seat is a punishment, but they're both in Mad Love with him and he stops when Shalltear audibly gets off on it) by punching the wall, then returns to resume her duties.
- Later, the Eight Fingers assigned to watch Phillip regularly have to leave the room to scream out their frustration when he grandiloquently shares his imbecilic plans (like killing Ainz and marrying Albedo to inherit the Sorcerous Kingdom), especially since they have good reason to think Phillip's idiocy will get them all killed by Albedo. They're right, but Ainz recognizes there was nothing the Fingers could have done to prevent Phillip's war-sparking actions and spares them.
- Albedo leaves the room
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: In Chapter 112, upon hearing that Mimimi intends to drop out of the muse-ical club'snote play due to the club president insisting on including a kiss scene where Mimimi kisses a fellow actor who isn't him, Rentarou calmly leaves the roof and ventures into the nearby forest, where he throws a tantrum over the thought of one of his girlfriends having to kiss someone she doesn't love. When he returns, however, he urges her not to throw away all the hard work she's done, especially if she's trying to spare his feelings. Mimimi assures him that it was her own choice, and when the two go to the muse-ical club to affirm her decision, the club president agrees to cut the kiss.
- Old Master Q has a strip where the titular character sees his Mean Boss walk past. He then greets the boss, who ignores Master Q only to unexpectedly slip and fall down. Cue Master Q making a run to the washroom... to laugh his ass off.
- Early on in Fruits Basket, Yuki quietly slips outside after witnessing Tohru's first attempt at ping-pong. She follows him to discover that he's laughing his head off at her antics, but is too shy and reserved to let the others see him in such an unguarded state.
Comic Books
- Spirou & Fantasio: At the end of one story, the treasure hunter Bill Callaway barely escapes with his life while his top-of-the-line ship gets totaled by sea monsters. He then has this to say:
Callaway: While excessively aware of how lucky I am to have escaped, would anyone mind if I mourned the loss of my multi-million dollar ship?
Fantasio: Go right ahead.
Callaway: WAAAAAAAH!
Comic Strips
- Garfield: Jim Davis used this gag at least twice:
- In one strip, Jon asks Garfield if his cat would risk his life to save his owner from a burglar.
Garfield: Excuse me a moment.
[laughs hysterically off-panel]
- In one strip, Jon asks Garfield if his cat would risk his life to save his owner from a burglar.
- In a later strip, which provides the page image, Garfield goes off-panel to laugh himself sick at Jon announcing his mom got him a date (and Jon is perfectly aware he's being mocked). He does it again as Jon continues his story.
Jon: Mom fixed me up with a Blind Date tonight. She says she's got a great sense of humor.
Garfield: [turning around and leaving] Excuse me.
Garfield: [off-panel] BWAH-HAHAHA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HAR HAR HAR! Gah-HA! Ha! gasp! snort! WAH Ha! Ha! Ha! *wheeze* cough... cough...
Garfield: [returning] Do continue.
Jon: [angrily] She won first place at the county fair in the pork rind-eating contest.
Garfield: [turning around and leaving] Excuse me again.- In a later strip
Fan Works
- In Ben 10: Unlimited, Bruce Wayne buys Ben (who is new to their dimension and has no home) a house, while Batman had doctored the papers to make it look as though the house had belonged to Ben's parents and that they'd left it, fully furnished, to him before they died. Ben is fairly calm and collected when Bruce shows him the place... but once Bruce steps outside to return to Gotham, he screams at the top of his lungs that this is so cool. Bruce hears him from the driveway and grins before driving away.
- In the Discworld of A.A. Pessimal, proud Rimwards Howondalandian Doctor Johanna Smith-Rhodes realises her Hogswatch present from Lord Vetinari is elevation to the Ankh-Morporkian nobility. Becoming a Dame of the Ankh-Morporkian Empire is no insignificant thing to one whose ancestors fought like Hells not to be any part of that Empire. Johanna has to leave the room to vent quietly. note
- The Mountain and the Wolf: When the Wolf learns there will be no battle with the Iron Fleet, he storms out of the tent, there's a screeching noise, and the hapless guard comes in with the twisted remains of his helmet. It's an act, as the Iron Fleet now obeys him and he made it clear that they were to stay away.
- Mother's Wish is an X-Men fanfic where Emma Frost learns that, of the mysterious teens that arrived at the X-Mansion, two of them are her genetic daughters with Scott/Cyclops. Emma calmly steps out of the room, and then the rest of the X-Men hear her shouting:
Emma: YES!! TAKE THAT, YOU RED-HEADED BITCH!! NOT IN EVERY FUCKING FUTURE!!
- With Pearl and Ruby Glowing: In the side story Robinson R&D, Wallace, upon hearing from Cornelius and the R&D team that Wilbur ruined/lost the cars they were working on and they're about $3 million in the hole, excuses himself to the bathroom to swear up a storm over their predicament.
Wallace: [inside the bathroom] Goddamn motherfucking teenager! Fuck! Fuck! Shit shit shit shit shit God damn it! [walks out of the bathroom] Okay. Okay. I’m calm.
Pietro: …Are you?
Wallace: Yes. Just had to get that out of me system.
Pietro: Good to know.
Film — Animated
- Chicken Run: When Bunty claims the odds of breaking out of the hellish farm are a million to one after many failed escape attempts, Ginger responds that there's still a chance. She then steps out of the henhouse and then starts to sob out of stress and frustration.
- In one deleted scene from Inside Out, Fear is in charge after Joy goes missing, which is even more stressful for all concerned because none of the other emotions have been in charge for long before. After things go awry, Fear announces that everything went well and he needs to go do something... which turns out to be screaming.
Fear: All right, back to work, everyone!
- Madagascar: After the lemurs reveal to Alex and company that they're in the wild, uninhabited by living humans island, Alex calmly asks to leave for a minute... and then nervously runs back to the beach to try to swim back to the New York (despite the fact that he never learnt how to swim).
Film — Live-Action
- Annie (1999): When Miss Hannigan learns that Annie, her least favorite of the orphans under her care, has been chosen to stay at Oliver Warbucks' luxurious mansion for Christmas, she excuses herself and screams in anguish.
- Barbie (2023): When Barbie asks Ken if she can be his long-term girlfriend, he excuses himself to leave and yells "SUBLIME!" off-screen before returning to say yes.
- Down Periscope: Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge is so surprised that he received a message to get to headquarters to be assigned a submarine for captaining (right after seeing that he was denied a commission for the third time, which made his career in his own words "thirty years down the fucking drain") that he asks his captain if this is a misunderstanding (and his captain says he had the message decoded twice, so it isn't) and then walks out of the room before whooping out in joy.
- In Get Smart, Max learns that he's been promoted to an Agent in the middle of a staff meeting. He calmly activates the Cone of Silence and turns away so he can overreact without the others hearing him: "OH MY GOD, I'M SO HAPPY! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Unfortunately, he fails to press the button hard enough, so everyone hears him anyway.
- Six Days, Seven Nights: When Quinn realizes his plane crash-landed on an uncharted island with no way to signal for help, he calmly walks over to a shrub, ducks behind it, then thrashes around while muttering Angrish for a minute or two. When he emerges he looks shell-shocked but calm.
Literature
- The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: After Seigi goes too far complimenting Richard in volume 1, Richard steps into his office to beat up a couch, then emerges and insists he only wanted to practice his boxing.
- In Girls Kingdom, Societal Arts student and aspiring, but awful, comedian Inaho makes a joke about how her height and the number of visitors to Erisu's restaurant are alike, in that neither are going up. Having reminded herself of her Height Angst, she excuses herself to the bathroom to cry. Her seraph, Haruka, says to let her be and that she'll return at a comically appropriate moment.
- Wagons West: When Harvard-educated Paul is repeatedly being corrected by Lisolette in Oregon!, it gets to the point where Eulalia has to leave the room just so she can laugh about it.
Live-Action TV
- The Beverly Hillbillies: Milton Drysdale arranges for his wife to run against Granny Clampett for Opossum Queen, without her knowledge, of course. A reporter interviews Mrs. Drysdale and gets quite a few juicy sound bites, which are edited into a broadcast that sounds like she's disparaging Granny. The Clampetts hear this doctored interview, including the zinger, "Why doesn't that stupid woman give up?" Granny is hopping mad, and Jed has to caution her not to vent in front of Jethro and Ellie May. Granny moves into the pantry, where she lets out an angry bear roar, then emerges slightly less furious, and toting a flintlock rifle. Jed wisely disarms her before she can use it.
- The Big Bang Theory: The Stinger to "The Justice League Recombination" has Leonard asking Sheldon if he can turn down the thermostat. Sheldon has an Imagine Spot where he's The Flash, running all the way to the Grand Canyon to yell "Good Lord, how you frustrate me, Leonard Hofstadter!", then running right back to say "fine."
- Blackadder The Third: In Ink and Incapability, Blackadder learns the book he's spent years writing (and, to make matters worse, would have made him a millionaire) was thrown into the fire and asks to be excused. He screams "OH GOD, NO!" just behind the door and returns.
- Drake & Josh: At the end of "Really Big Shrimp", when Drake is given the record deal, he and Josh excuse themselves so that they may go into the hallway and cheer wildly. They then walk back in to try and professionally continue the discussion.
- Fawlty Towers: Downplayed in "The Hotel Inspectors" when Basil tastes the wine which is corked and has gone bad, and then turns into the corner to cover his reaction; more about the cost of the wine than the bad taste.
- In the Friends episode "The One Where Emma Cries," the girls have been taking care of Emma and are finding it very harrowing. Emma has been crying for hours. Once Monica has quieted her down a bit Rachel leaves to take a bathroom break and Phoebe leaves to "scream into a pillow."
- The Inbetweeners: Mr Gilbert deliberately misfiles Will's work experience application, leaving him to hang out in a garage where he gets violently hazed. When his mother rightfully confronts Mr Gilbert about his part in this, she makes the mistake of describing the hazing in detail. Mr Gilbert politely excuses himself, steps outside and can be heard laughing his arse off.
- Liv and Maddie: In "Sing it Louder!!-A-Rooney", when Ruby is asked to audition for the lead character Sasha on Sing it Louder!!, she calmly excuses herself, goes inside the house and screams, "NO WAY, NO WAY! BEST DAY EVER!" She then comes back outside and accepts.
- NewsRadio: When Lisa asks Jimmy to give her away at her wedding, he calmly excuses himself and goes into Dave's office, from which the sounds of loud sobs, as well as a bemused Dave, emerge.
- Night Court: After hearing the details of a mishap involving sideshow performers at a child's birthday party, Judge Harry Stone reminds the court that this is a very serious manner, ducks down behind his bench to laugh hysterically, then reappears with a sober expression.
- Odd Squad: In "Bad Luck Bears", Olive and Otto are told that the entirety of the Burly Bears basketball team needs to be brought into Headquarters to be scanned for unlucky thirteens. Once Olive confirms that the team is coming to her Headquarters where she'll get to meet them, she calmly excuses herself and leaves Oprah's office through its glass doors. The camera then cuts to Otto and Coach Roberts before cutting back to her as she begins screaming out cheers, doing the Running Man dance, and even inviting other agents to celebrate along with her in spite of their unease.
- Inverted in The Office (US). In "Broke", after successfully bluffing David Wallace into buying out Michael Scott Paper Company and giving them their jobs back, Michael calmly asks David and Charles to step out of the conference room so they can celebrate in private... which is perfectly audible to everyone in the bullpen.
- In The Thundermans episode "Restaurant Crashers", Cousin Blobbin fixes the car that Hank bought for Barb as an anniversary gift, but he made it grey instead of red like it originally was. Phoebe excuses herself and gets inside the car, where she angrily shakes and hits the steering wheel while screaming (which we don't get to hear) for a few seconds before getting out and saying "Okay, where were we?"
- Trigger Happy TV: One sketch in Series 3 sees Dom pretending to be a meditation teacher, only for a deafening car alarm to go off outside the building. Dom tells his class to carry on meditating, before leaving the room and shouting at the car's owner, "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! I'M TRYING TO DO A MEDITATION COURSE!! YOU ARE TOTALLY RUINING IT!! THERE'S PEOPLE IN THERE TRYING TO RELAX!! YOU ARE GETTING ON MY BLOODY NERVES!! AND TURN THAT OFF! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" As soon as he's finished shouting, the car alarm turns off, and Dom immediately calms down and goes back to meditating with his students.
Puppet Shows
- Sesame Street: In 1975, there was a five-episode arc about the Sesame Street gang visiting the New Mexican ranch where Luis grew up. At one point, Maria and Luis are eating tacos with chili peppers, and Oscar says he'd like to try a pepper. They tell him he won't like the peppers; they're too hot. Oscar insists that Grouches are Unaffected by Spice. He eats a chili pepper, then pretends that he doesn't find it hot at all. Teasing him, Maria gives him one pepper after another, and still he claims to be unaffected. Finally, after he's eaten eight of them...
Luis: Okay, Oscar. Now, admit they're hot, right? Aren't they? Huh?
Oscar: [panting] Hot?
Luis: They're really hot stuff, aren't they?
Oscar: Not a bit! Why, I've never felt better in my whole life. Well, if you'll excuse me now, I think I have to finish breaking the breakfast dishes.
[He ducks into his trash can. Moments later, a huge cloud of steam erupts from it.]
Oscar: [from inside his can] YEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!
Tabletop Games
- Vampire: The Requiem: Vampires are prone to Frenzy when they're angry, scared, or hungry. The Sotoha have developed a unique Discipline power, "The Fitting Moment", that gives them just enough time to get to a discreet location before they go berserk, specifically to avoid the embarrassment of losing their cool in public.
Theatre
- Legally Blonde: When Callahan asks Elle for her resume for his selective internship, she calmly and professionally gives it to him, then walks offstage squealing just under her breath.
Video Games
- In Final Fantasy XIV, Roaring Spring is a stressed-out aviation researcher who begins commissioning toys and treats for his pet cat from the Warrior of Light. He's happy to get help from such an accomplished gleaner until he learns he's been buying his kitty goods from one of the passengers of the Ragnarok and the savior of all life in the universe. He then runs out the door before screaming from embarrassment.
Roaring Spring: What? So I've been waxing poetic about kitty cats to...no, commissioning kitty goods from... I-If you'll excuse me! [sprints out the door] ...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Margrat: [watching Roaring Spring leave] ...I'll, er. Go and check on him later.
Webcomics
- Robber x Lover: Gang Dojin becomes frustrated over being mistaken for a robber and wordlessly leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. There's a slamming sound, then he walks back in, blood dripping down his forehead.
- Unexpected Guests: When Undyne sees that Sans's Blaster has also turned into a dragon, she takes one look at Toriel, who is there with her child Frisk, runs off to the woods in the distance, drops an Atomic F-Bomb and runs back to demand answers.
Web Video
- Bad Days: At the end of silently enduring the titular bad day, the Thing storms out of dinner with the rest of the Fantastic Four and screams so loud Galactus can hear it.
- History of Power Rangers: During the video on Power Rangers Turbo, Linkara has to leave to scream his head off upon seeing the infamous "Ranger Pizza".
Linkara: So after a filler episode where they get baked into a giant pizza... excuse me a moment... [footsteps into the distance] AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!! [footsteps coming back] ...the story continues in The Phantom Phenomenon.
- Sword Art Online Abridged: When Kirito realizes Gary (the Annoying Video Game Helper NPC indirectly responsible for Sachi's death) is nearby, he cheerfully excuses himself to go to Gary and start eviscerating him. We don't see it, but judging by the Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises of onlookers, that's for the better.
Kirito: 'Scuse me! I have to say hi to an old friend! Hey Gary, long time no see!
Gary: We must save my familyAGGHHH!!
Kirito: [stabbing Gary over and over] YEAH! Betcha didn't expect to see me again, did'ja, punk?!
Gary: WE MUST SAVE MY FAMIL-AGH!!
Kirito: YOU LEFT US TO DIE, YOU BASTARD! THIS IS FOR SACHI! - The YouTuber Joe Scott has a Running Gag where he learns some extremely frustrating or infuriating fact, excuses himself, walks slowly from his recording room to his basement (framed as a montage), yells off-screen behind a closed door, then returns (another montage), sits back down, and continues the video as if nothing happened.
- Inverted example in the Toon Sandwich Trailer Spoof of Spider-Man: No Way Home, when Spiderman causes Dr. Strange to screw up his spell. Cue Strange telling Spiderman to leave the room so he can let out some steam.
Dr. Strange: Peter... would you please step outside for a minute?
[Peter obliges]
Dr. Strange: [offscreen] GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'M GONNA KILL THAT LITTLE BRAT!!!! NYAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!! - Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series episode "Rex and Weevil Do Atlantica", has Professor Hawkins reveal himself to be completely fine, with Yami Yugi noting that his entire duel to rescue the professor in the first place ended up being completely pointless, and that he lost Yugi's soul for nothing. Yami Yugi then excuses himself so he can yell into a pillow for five minutes, during which viewers can hear his muffled screams while Hawkins explains his findings on Atlantis.
Western Animation
- Cyberchase: In "Castleblanca", Hacker's henchmen Buzz and Delete had broken a mirror to use moonlight to power a machine to transfer Dr. Marble's mind into his monster Gegabite. He goes into another room, closes the door behind him, and screams in frustration.
- Family Guy: In "Peter's Two Dads", after Peter's father Francis dies, Lois and Brian take a break from comforting Peter to go outside and happily cheer the demise of the Bible-thumping asshole that's long been a thorn in their sides.
- Looney Tunes: In "From Hare to Heir", Yosemite Sam (as Sam, Duke of Yosemite) has to keep his temper in check or have some of his inheritance deducted every time he blows his top. When Bugs Bunny keeps on annoying him, he has to run into a closet so he can spew angrish without Bugs knowing.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In the episode "Sounds of Silence", Autumn Blaze gets frustrated at trying to communicate with a mute kirin and goes off-screen to scream and light herself on fire.
- In "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" after Pipsqueak wins the election for class president, Diamond Tiara is livid and wonders why she didn't win. She politely excuses herself to go inside and check the vote count; once she gets in and realizes she only got one vote, we hear Diamond scream out a Big "WHAT?!".
- In the Mysticons episode "The Coronation", when Arkayna is uninvited to her stepbrother Gawayne's coronation, she excuses herself and shouts that she hates him before creating an explosion that blows the door off.
Arkayna: (offscreen) I HATE MY STEPBROTHER!!
(cue green explosion and a door flying offscreen)
Arkayna: (calmly returns onscreen) Yes, much better.
(cut to her teammates, hair frazzled from the explosion) - The Simpsons:
- In "Bart on the Road", Homer learns that Bart's gotten himself into particularly deep trouble. He excuses himself to put on a hazmat hood and screams his frustration until the hood is all fogged up.
- In "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)", Homer has been trying to get Mr. Burns to remember who he is, with one of his failed attempts involving a box of chocolates with a photo of the entire Simpson family so he'll know who he is. Burns sends a thank-you letter, mentioning every member of the Simpson family except for Homer. A very upset Homer then asks Bart and Lisa to leave the room, though what he yells out is so loud it could be heard by those outside.
Homer: Kids... would you step outside for a second?
[Bart and Lisa run out of the room.]
Homer: [inhales deeply] FUU--
[Jump Cut to outside. A loud F-chord from a church organ pierces through the air as Disturbed Doves fly out of the destroyed treehouse. The local neighbors look out their windows in utter shock.]
Ned: Dear Lord! That's the loudest profanity I've ever heard!
- South Park: In "Tonsil Trouble", the boys are told that Cartman has received AIDS from a botched tonsillectomy. Kyle leaves the principal's office and proceeds to laugh hysterically. Butters, however, thinks he's crying.
- Steven Universe, In "Made of Honor", when Ruby and Sapphire decide to formally get married, Steven has the wild idea to bring back Bismuth from her imprisonment to be the maid of honour. Considering a lot has happened since he last saw Bismuth (particularly the revelation that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond), he takes a minute to catch her up to speed. Bismuth's reaction is to calmly walk over to a pool of lava and dunk her head in it and scream, before coming back up and exclaiming that everything makes sense now.
- Tex Avery MGM Cartoons:
- In "Deputy Droopy", Droopy is guarding some money in a bank while the sheriff is sleeping in the next room. The robbers incapacitate Droopy, leaving him Bound and Gagged. In the entire short, Droop is trying to make a sound so the sheriff'll wake up and get the robbers. Most of the time he's hurting, tickling, or doing something else to the robbers. They run away out of town to express pain, laugh, etc. Eventually, they surrender and go to the cell themselves. The final punchline is that all four characters use hearing aids which, with the exception of Droopy's, have dead batteries.
- The same gag was first used in "Rock-A-Bye Bear", where Spike the bulldog is hired by a bear to guard his house while he hibernates. The bear demands absolute quiet and threatens to fire Spike if he makes any noise. Another dog, who wants the job, tries to make noise and every time Spike has to run outside the house to shout, laugh, burp, sneeze, etc., then run back inside.
