You Meddling Kids - Television Tropes & Idioms

When the evil character is finally brought to justice, he claims that he would've gotten away with it if it weren't for those "meddling kids" (or whoever it was who foiled his plot). He may be evil, but he gives credit where credit is due. The classic form is, "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

Not to be confused with those meddling executives.

Examples:

While the exact wording sometimes varied, every episode of Scooby Doo ended in this vein, making you wonder what the local police were doing all that time.
- The first Wayne's World movie had Multiple Endings including a nonsensical Scooby Doo one which used this phrase.
- Similar sentiments were often expressed in other Hanna Barbera shows about crime-fighting teen with comic pet sidekicks: Josie And The Pussycats, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kids, The Funky Phantom, Speed Buggy, Clue Club and Jabberjaw.
Occasionally happens in Monk.
Lloyd In Space, "The Ride Along", has this somewhat opposite version: "I almost got away with it too thanks to those meddling kids"... referring to Lloyd and his friend Eddie who turned out to have chased down an undercover cop (the real baddie was cornered by Eddie's dad).
In an episode of Kim Possible, Kim cuts off a villain's post-foiling rant, citing the "meddling kids" line as cliché. The villain denies he was going to say it, but no one believes him.
- The same happens in Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series:
  Pegasus: And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling...
  Bakura: Don't you even think of making a Scooby-Doo reference!
  - Ironically, Professor Cobra actually says this line in its entirety in an episode of the Season 3 dub of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Ditto for Bakura in the original's Season 5.
- Similarly, in Stargate SG-1, Daniel says "And you would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for us meddling kids" after a bounty hunter fails to capture SG-1.
  - That line is made even funnier when you realize that Michael Shanks ad libbed it because he hates when the characters explain to the villain what the audience already knows.
An episode of Futurama had a Corrupt Corporate Executive remark "And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those blasted meddling adults!"
In Sideshow Bob's first appearance on The Simpsons, he takes this to its logical conclusion, adding "Treat kids as equals! They're smarter than you think!" Considering that he had spent most of his time that episode running quality children's programming, it's an especially good point.
South Park uses this trope in the episode Child Abduction Is Not Funny: "I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling policemen."
The Joker does a Shout Out to this in an episode of Justice League. Referring to some superpowered children the government was trying to mold into tyke bombs, which he turns to his side, he states:
The Joker: "And they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for me meddling with the kids!"
One of the Troperrific chapter headings in Soon I Will Be Invincible is "And Now For Those Meddling Children".
Defeated Eternion says a variant of this line in Adventurers! (He then follows it up with a double And Zoidberg)
Eternion: "And I would have got away with it too if it wasn't for you pesky adventurers!"
There is an Archie issue where Archie and Jughead solve a crime and the crooks are being led away in restraints by the police. One crook complains about being stopped by a bunch of dumb kids and Jughead fires back "This 'dumb kid' is not the one wearing handcuffs!"
Magic The Gathering's Unhinged joke set has a card called Meddling Kids, which is also a reference to the real card Meddling Mage.
In the main GBA generation Pokemon titles, the Team Aqua/Magma goons accuse you of being a meddling kid after you stop them from stealing the Devon Goods again in Slateport.
When Donald Duck foils one of his plans to shut down the House Of Mouse, Pete remarks that he "would've gotten away with it if it weren't that meddling duck!"
The Teamo Supremo Halloween episode (which itself completely parodied Scooby Doo) used this trope.
The Pinky And The Brain story in the second-to-last issue of the Animaniacs comic book gave a Shout Out to this in the form of Pinky's response to that issue's Are You Pondering What Im Pondering?:
Pinky: I think so, Brain. But would the villains really have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those pesky kids and their dog?
An optional line of dialogue in Sonic Chronicles. If you know how this goes, you'll know what to say.
In the Second Golden Sun game, one of the Pirates delivers the line if you visit them in jail after turning them over to the local government.
The Sarah Jane Adventures' teenaged protagonists, with help from Intrepid Reporter Sarah Jane, meddle muchly in the plans of would-be alien invaders.
In The DCU, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake investigate the sabotage of Grayson's circus. Eventually, they crack the case and caught the crooks. When one of the crooks says this quote, Grayson dismisses it saying that they were sloppy and the police would have figured it out on their own. However, since that would have created some really embarrassing press for the circus, it was better that the once and future Robins took care of this.
Averted in the relatively new (as of 2009) PBS Kids series "Martha Speaks," in which the villain, being taken to jail, says "[The plan] would have worked, too, if it wasn't for... it not working."