Basic Trope: A (usually drunk or high) character puts a lampshade on their head.
- Straight: Bob gets drunk at a party and puts a lampshade on his head, to the amusement of other guests.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob wears said lampshade home from the party.
- Bob wears several lampshades on his head.
- Bob is not only wearing a lampshade, but has a light bulb in his mouth.
- Bob has an entire lamp on his head.
- Downplayed: Bob holds the lampshade over his raised hand but doesn't put it on his head.
- Justified:
- Bob drunkenly mistakes the lamp for a hat rack.
- It's a costume party, and Bob forgot his costume, so he grabs the lampshade and hopes nobody notices he didn't come in with it.
- Or the theme is furniture and home appliances and he is dressed as the lamp.note
- Inverted:
- Bob crouches on top of the lampshade while drunk.
- Bob puts a lampshade on his head, but isn't drunk or high at all.
- Subverted: Bob drunkenly reaches for a lampshade but then puts it down.
- Double Subverted: But as he stumbles home, he puts a traffic cone on his head.
- Parodied:
- Every time a trope is lampshaded, this seems to happen. But what happens when this trope is lampshaded?
- Bob wears the lampshade home. At work the next day, he is still wearing it.
- Everyone has lampshades on their head during the party.
- Alice wears the lampshade as a skirt.note
- Zig-Zagged: Bob puts the lampshade on his head and takes it off at apparently random moments.
- Averted: Bob doesn't put anything on his head.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny
- Lampshaded:
- "That was some party last night!"
- "Bob, stop wearing our housewares..."
- Invoked: Bob has had too many drinks at the party and eyes a lamp.
- Exploited: Bob is Playing Drunk and puts a lampshade on his head to help sell it.
- Defied: Bob doesn't drink at the party, knowing he'll make a fool of himself if he does.
- Discussed: "I swear, he does this at every party."
- Conversed: "Yeah. It's amusing and embarrassing at the same time."
- Deconstructed: This behavior could cause embarrassment for Bob or others. Also, Bob could get hurt as he cannot see where he's going. Plus it stops being funny after some time.
- Reconstructed: Bob doesn't get hurt and everyone is amused (not embarrassed) by Bob's behavior.
- Implied:
- A house that's in a mess after a party has had all its lampshades removed.
- The morning after the party Bob gets a call telling him that he forgot his hat. Bob then wonders "so what was I wearing on my head?"
- Played for Laughs: Bob's dialogue while wearing the lampshade has a humorous echoing effect.
- Played for Drama: Bob's behavior embarrasses his wife, gets him fired, or otherwise comes back to haunt him.
Get that lampshade off yer friggin' head, ya goofball!