Basic Trope: Someone is trying to talk, but another character keeps asking for irrelevant details.
- Straight: Mary tells Spencer that she was preparing a pizza at her pizzeria when a robber came in. Spencer says, "No way! What kind of pizza was it?"
- Exaggerated: "What kind of pizza was it?" "Pepperoni." "Where did the pepperoni come from?" "I think it's pork." "Where did the pork come from?" "Pigs." "Where were the pigs raised?..."
- Downplayed: Spencer says "Shame about the robbery, but that was a waste of a good pizza..."
- Inverted: Spencer keeps asking for details about the robbery, but Mary only tells him about the pizza she was making.
- Subverted: Spencer had ordered a pizza before the robber came in, but neither Mary nor Spencer knew the other was there. He wants to clarify if he could have been there at that moment.
- Double Subverted: Except he ordered the pizza last week, and the robbery happened today.
- Parodied: "I was at work when a robber came in!" "No way! What did you have for breakfast three days ago?"
- Zig-Zagged: Spencer repeatedly asks for details. Some are relevant to the story, but others aren't.
- Averted:
- Spencer doesn't ask for details.
- The details Spencer asks for are relevant to the story.
- Enforced: Mary telling Spencer about the robbery is a tense scene. The executives wanted to add some humor to lighten it up.
- Lampshaded: "What kind of pizza was it?" "Well, it was pepperoni— hey, that's not important!"
- Invoked: Spencer messes with Mary by asking for pointless details.
- Exploited: The idea of a robbery is too much for Spencer to handle, and he doesn't want to hear about it. He tries to derail the story so Mary will lose her train of thought.
- Defied: "What kind of pizza was it?" "That doesn't matter! The robber went and..."
- Discussed: "Who reacts to hearing about a robbery by asking what you were cooking at the time?"
- Conversed: "I like the scene where Spencer asks what kind of pizza Mary was making. It's definitely something he would do."
Go back to Derailed for Details— and hey, can you tell me what kind of mouse you're using?
