Two characters swap roles in life, usually gaining greater understanding of each other's challenges. In '50's and '60's sitcoms, this often took the form of Dad staying home to watch junior while Mom went to work. More recently, kids tend to swap roles with parents. Another common formulation, usually played for comedy over the
Aesop, is masters and servants swapping roles for some deceptive reason.
Often begins with a fight, where the two characters are convinced they can do the other character's job better, and/or the other character has a much easier life. Usually ends up with a
Be Careful What You Wish For Aesop, with both characters realising that they prefer their own roles.
Contrast with
Prince And Pauper and
Guise Will Be Guise. Compare with
Freaky Friday Flip.
Examples:
- The episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy and Ethel get jobs at the candy factory may be the most well-known example (thanks to the infamous conveyor belt scene).
- Jerry and Kramer swap roles in Seinfeld after exchanging apartments, resulting in a laid-back, sarcastic Kramer and a jumpy, wacky Jerry.
- Rocket Power: Trying to prove which of their chosen sports requires more talent, Reggie Rocket and Cleo swap events at Winter Fest, with Reggie ice dancing and Cleo playing on her ice hockey team.
- The Lois And Clark episode "Chi of Steel (which juggled three gender-equality storylines) used this in the C-plot, with Martha and Jonathan swapping places. Since they weren't Down On The Farm however, Martha's new role consisted of playing checkers, while Jonathan did all the things she'd normally do on a visit to Metropolis (shopping, cooking, ironing Clark's cape...)
- My Family featured an episode in which Susan and Janey swap roles, with Susan as a single woman (and Ben trying to win her heart all over again) and Janey driven insane by the pressures of running a home and family.
- This goes back at least as far as the Scandinavian folk tale "The Man Who Kept House", making it Older Than Print.
- Played with in the first episode of New Maple Town Story: Palm Town Chapter, where Nurse Alice informs George and his wife Jane that a patient came in asking to be examined by Jane and that another patient wants some of George's onion soup for lunch. Their stunned silence at realizing they've been roped into this trope by pure dumb luck is enough to send Alice running from the room, though afterward they seem to take the strange twist in stride.
- The Lonestar song Mister Mom.
- The premise of Freaky Friday is that of a mother and daughter swapping minds for a while, without actually intending to or possibly knowing that it was possible.
- The story of The Prince And The Pauper starts with a pair of identical people swapping outfits and going back to fill each others' role for a while... longer than either wants, it turns out. Oh, and while the prince is busy being a pauper, his daddy dies...
- The parent-child version features in an episode of Step by Step.
- In on episode of Dilbert, he swapped roles with a guard. At the end after failing to do the job he swapped roles with Ratbert.
- The Elvis movie Clambake, has millionaire oil heir Elvis swap places with a water-skiing instructor at a Florida hotel, to find a girl who isn't just interested in his money.
- In the children's book Bea and Mr. Jones, the titular characters (father and daughter) switch jobs, with Bea taking over her father's job in advertising, and Mr. Jones going back to kindergarten. They end up enjoying their new jobs so much that they decide to keep the new arrangement.
- In the third series of Blackadder, the nincompoop Prince Regent swaps places with scheming butler Mr Blackadder to avoid being killed by Lord Nelson. The predictable occurs.
- One scene in the first episode of the anime Palm Town has Nurse Alice telling Dr. George and his wife Jane that one patient is complaining of a headache and another wants onion soup...but the former wants Jane to examine him and the latter wants George to make the soup. (In a slight subversion, George is an excellent chef in addition to being a doctor, and it's not hard to imagine Jane having the better bedside manner.)
