We all know trailers are intended to promote their production. To do this, they will invariably use notable scenes depending on the type of movie. In the case of a comedy,
Crowning Moment Of Funny scenes may be selected. When first shown, they probably elicit the desired reaction: The audience will "laugh out loud", as it were. All fine and good, but this trailer is constantly airing and/or streaming, so you're inevitably going to see it more than once, meaning you're going to be seeing that same amusing scene over and over.
When it comes to finally seeing the movie/TV show and that rib-tickling scene plays out, you notice that the gag isn't doing it for you. In fact, you may find yourself thinking that it's kinda lame - this, ladies and gentlemen, is Trailer Joke Decay. Additionally, it maybe due to the unfortunate exposure to a
Memetic Mutation of the gag, or it can be a case of both
Never Trust A Trailer and
Trailers Always Spoil, oddly enough.
Expect that almost every comedy movie will fall victim to this, though, of course,
Your Mileage May Vary.
As noted, related to
Never Trust A Trailer and
Trailers Always Spoil (or possibly a subtrope, no consensus yet).
Examples:
- The trailer for My Big Fat Greek Wedding highlighted the scene where Nia Vardalos' character slams onto the ground due to her still holding onto the phone. Come screening time, not so funny.
- Lex Luthor saying, "Wrong!" to Lois Lane might have been the only thing This Troper enjoyed about Superman Returns, but not only was it overexposed in the trailer, it was already an Internet meme weeks before the damn move even aired. So I didn't enjoy anything about Superman Returns, thank you, Internet.
- While not a comedy film, every ad ever for the sixth Harry Potter film included this humorous exchange:
Hermione: Hey, she's only interested in you because she thinks you're the Chosen One!
Harry: But I am the Chosen One!
[SMACK]
- Borat. Pretty much the whole thing.
- The "We are actors, not astronauts!" line from Galaxy Quest.
- Spider-Man's "You're not Superman, you know."
- Men In Black II had an ad lib from Will Smith concerning the autopilot driver for their vehicles. Even the director was upset because he felt it ruined the joke by showcasing it ahead of time.
Kay: Does that come standard?
Jay: It used to come with a black guy, but he kept getting pulled over.
- The Master Of Disguise: "Am I not turtley enough for the Turtle Club? Turtle, turtle!"
- It would be in remiss not to mention the trailers promoting any of the novel masterpieces by Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer. Ever.
- Scary Movie had an especially ridiculous one; the trailer featured the line "I see dead people!" The problem was, they removed all context that actually would have made it funny, so they basically spoiled the punchline but not the joke. Meaning that it didn't get to be funny even in the trailer.
- Of course, Your Mileage May Vary, but the Year One trailer pretty much played it straight by overexposing every funny moment.
- Ice Age suffers from this. Many of the Scratch-related jokes were already run in the trailers, seriously diminishing their humor value when finally seen on the big screen.
- This is thankfully averted with Pixar's movies by using extraneous footage not used in the final product e.g. The Incredibles trailer has the belt buckle ricocheting everywhere and taking out the lights - this did not stay in their movie.
- Though there have been exceptions particularly during the movie's completion as seen with the final trailers for Up and the "squirrel" gag.
- Spider-Pig... apparently, just Spider-Pig.
