History Main / TwentyFourHourPartyPeople

Not to be confused with the movie ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople'', a {{biopic}} of Factory Records and the [[UsefulNotes/FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Manchester]] music scene in the 1980s/1990s, though both the trope and that movie are named after the Music/HappyMondays song.

--->'''Phoebe:''' Hey Rach, who the hell are all these people?

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Series/QueerAsFolk'''s first season, when Michael has a birthday party attended, apart from his close friends, by dozens of strangers. Brian explains that in order to have any kind of crowd he had to open up the invite list to his own past sex partners.

* In the infamous "So bad it's good film" ''Film/TheRoom'', the climax takes place at a birthday party Lisa throws for Johnny. The party is full of people that the audience has never seen before but the kicker is the character of [[RememberTheNewGuy Steven, who has never been introduced up until that point and somehow is involved enough in the plot to give counsel to the main characters.]] (The character was actually supposed to be Peter the therapist, who was introduced previously, but that actor had another gig. Wiseau, despite knowing this, did not finish filming the actor's scenes, and so had to go with another actor, hoping no one would notice.)

* In the infamous "So bad it's good film" ''Film/TheRoom'', the latter part takes place at a birthday party Lisa throws for Johnny. The party is full of people that the audience has never seen before but the kicker is the character of [[RememberTheNewGuy Steven, who has never been introduced up until that point and somehow is involved enough in the plot to give counsel to the main characters.]] (The character was actually supposed to be another character that was introduced previously, but that actor had another gig. Wiseau, despite knowing this, did not finish filming the actor's scenes, and so had to go with another actor, hoping no one would notice.)

* It's used a few times in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' when the title character throws parties, and it's justified in-universe by showing that he'll let pretty much anyone in (it's how he met his best friend Todd). In one episode where he'd alienated all of his friends it was explicitly stated that he didn't actually know anyone at his own party. It's averted when his frenemy Mr. Peanutbutter throws a party; the guests are usually all recurrers or minor characters we've seen before. When someone is new there's always an explanation as to how he knows them, and he keeps track of and will invite anyone he's ever met, up to and including some guy he met at a gas station.

* A notable exception is ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', which has [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters so many characters]] now that any gathering will consist entirely of people who were featured in at least one past episode (although it may be completely ludicrous for them to attend the gathering in question). In fact, ''The Simpsons'' has random extras instead of FacelessMasses. It's not that unusual for an animated show to have its party people to be the same at every party. After all, you only need to draw these characters, and they don't necessarily have to have any lines. In a regular, non-animated sitcom, you would either have to hire the same group of extras for every party, or only use crew members and friends of crew members as background talent. Parodied in the episode "How I Wet Your Mother", when Homer throws an apology party after angering all his coworkers. At the table with Lenny and Carl, a female extra notes this is the best apology party Homer has ever thrown. Lenny, still smiling, casually asks "Who the hell are you?"

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Care Bears|1980s}}'' episode "Care Bear Town Parade", everyone is in the parade, so who is in the audience? The parade-watchers are extra bears who exist only in this one episode. They all look like clones of Tenderheart in different colors, though this is not obvious unless one pauses the video.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', in one episode the titular character is saying goodbye to his leaving party guests and he starts out listing a large number of the extended cast. He then simply says "goodbye, the rest" and a large group of extras all run out at once.

* It's used a few times in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' when the title character throws parties, and it's justified in-universe by showing that he'll let pretty much anyone in (it's how he met his best friend Todd). In one episode where he'd alienated all of his friends it was explicitly stated that he didn't actually know anyone at his own party. It's averted when his frenemy Mr. Peanutbutter throws a party; the guests are usually all recurrers or minor characters we've seen before. When someone is new there's always an explanation as to how he knows them, and he keeps track of and will invite anyone he's ever met up to and including some guy he met at a gas station.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', in one episode the titular character is saying goodbye to his leaving party guests and he starts out listing a large number of the extended cast. He then simply says "goodbye, the rest" and a large group of extras all run out at once.

* It's used a few times in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' when the title character throws parties, and it's justified in-universe by showing that he'll let pretty much anyone in (it's how he met his best friend Todd). In one episode where he'd alienated all of his friends it was explicitly stated that he didn't actually know anyone at his own party.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/PorkysParty'', two characters come to Porky's birthday party, Penguin and Goosey, with the only familiar character being [[WesternAnimaion/PorkyPig Porky]] himself. These characters are only seen in this cartoon. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen They were originally intended to be Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig respectively]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/PorkysParty'', two characters come to Porky's birthday party, Penguin and Goosey. These characters are only seen in this cartoon. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen They were originally intended to be Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig respectively]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/PorkysParty'', two characters come to Porky's birthday party, Penguin and Goosey. These characters are only seen in this cartoon. {{Main/WhatCouldHaveBeen They were originally intended to be Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig respectively.}}

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/PorkysParty'', two characters come to Porky's birthday party, Penguin and Goosey. These characters are only seen in this cartoon. They were originally intended to be Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig respectively.