History Main / BadOmenAnecdote

!Examples

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* In ''GnomeoAndJuliet'', Gnomeo has a chat with a statue of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, who tells him that [[RomeoAndJuliet he knows this story]]. When Gnomeo asks what happens to the lovers in that story, Shakespeare tells him that they both die.
--> '''Gnomeo:''' ''They both die?'' What kind of an ending is that?
--> '''Shakespeare:''' My dear boy, this is a tragedy.
--> '''Gnomeo:''' Yeah, you're telling me, mate! It's rubbish! There's gotta be a better ending than ''that!''

* When Hot Rod and Kup are trying to avoid a MacrossMissileMassacre in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'', Kup likens it to an encounter with shrikebats on Dromedon. When Hot Rod asks what he did back then, Kup remarks that there were an awful lot of casualties before remembering they [[ReverseThePolarity reversed the polarities]]. It works, sort of.

-->'''Mat''': Oh. ({{Beat}}) [[DeadpanSnarker Well, that's kind of a sad story, then]].

-->"Wow, this is like that big fight in "Dirt, Swords, Sweat, and Togas"! [[ThisIsGonnaSuck ...I think the hero got pummeled in that picture.]]"

This trope is for when, in the middle of some tense, possibly life-or-death situation, one character will remark to the other: "You know, this reminds me of a similar story...". The other character, [[HopeSpot hopeful]], will remark "Oh, and they succeeded?". And of course, the first character says "No, [[RocksFallEveryoneDies they all died]], actually."

* Near the conclusion of ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'',Billy and his partner, [[OnlySaneMan Taggart]], find themselves outnumbered and pinned down by enemy gunfire. Despite the gravity of their situation, it's made clear that Billy is having the time of his life, as he gleefully recalls how ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid found themeselves in a similar situation when facing the [[BolivianArmyEnding Bolivian Army.]] Taggart tells Billy, if they make it out alive, he's going to make him pay.

This trope is for when, in the middle of some tense, possibly life-or-death situation, one character will remark to the other: "You know, this reminds me of a similar story...". The other character, [[HopeSpot hopeful]], will remark "Oh, and and they succeeded?". And of course, the first character says "No, [[RocksFallEveryoneDies they all died]], actually."

* In ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'', the ''[[CoolStarship Defiant]]'' is leading a fleet of over six hundred Federation starships to retake Deep Space Nine from the Dominion, and find themselves up against twice their number in Dominion warships. O'Brien and Bashir begin reciting Tennyson's ''Charge of the Light Brigade'', but are told to cut it out. Later on, Nog asks O'Brien how that poem ends. O'Brien assures him that he [[DownerEnding doesn't want to know.]]

* Near the conclusion of ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'', [[AdultChild Billy]] and his partner, [[OnlySaneMan Taggart]], find themselves outnumbered and pinned down by enemy gunfire. Despite the gravity of their situation, it's made clear that Billy is having the time of his life, as he gleefully recalls how ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid found themeselves in a similar situation when facing the [[BolivianArmyEnding Bolivian Army.]] Taggart tells Billy, if they make it out alive, he's going to make him pay.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', in the episode about the cave of two lovers, the hippie nomad who tells the Gaang about the secret cave, sings to them a song about it. The song ends with "...aaaand death!".
** The "Secret Tunnel" song in "Cave of Two Lovers" actually ends with "and diiiieeeee", as the hippie musician who was singing it finally remembered the last words of said song.

[[AC:Film]]

* In ''GnomeoAndJuliet'', Gnomeo has a chat with a statue of WilliamShakespeare, who tells him that [[RomeoAndJuliet he knows this story]]. When Gnomeo asks what happens to the lovers in that story, Shakespeare tells him that they both die.

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live Action TV]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

** The "Secret Tunnel" song in "Cave of Two Lovers" actually ends with "and diiiieeeee", as the hippie musician who was singing it finally remembered the last words of said song.

* Near the conclusion of ''BeverlyHillsCop'', [[AdultChild Billy]] and his partner, [[OnlySaneMan Taggart]], find themselves outnumbered and pinned down by enemy gunfire. Despite the gravity of their situation, it's made clear that Billy is having the time of his life, as he gleefully recalls how ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid found themeselves in a similar situation when facing the [[BolivianArmyEnding Bolivian Army.]] Taggart tells Billy, if they make it out alive, he's going to make him pay.

* In DumbAndDumber, Lloyd tricks Sea Bass and his friends into picking up Lloyd and Harry's tab at a restaurant. They rush off in their van before Sea Bass can catch them. While on the road:

* In ''{{Scrubs}}'', Eliot often tries to cheer people up by remembering one of her relatives being in a similar situation. These stories all end with the relative committing suicide.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', in the episode about the cave of two lovers, the hippie nomad who tells the Gaang about the secret cave, sings to them a song about it. The song ends with "...aaaand death!".
** The "Secret Tunnel" song in "Cave of Two Lovers" actually ends with "and diiiieeeee", as the hippie musician who was singing it finally remembered the last words of said song.
* In ''SeaquestDSV'' the crew are exploring an ancient alien spacecraft. One of them brings up a science fiction story he read as a kid that was about a similar situation, except the ship hadn't really crashed. The characters in the story were trapped when the ship took off again and dissected.
* PlayedForLaughs in Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2007 when he compares G.W. Bush's presidency to Film/{{Rocky}}:
--> "''... But does he stay down? NO! Like Rocky, he GETS BACK UP and IN THE END HE actually loses in the first movie... um...''"

* Near the conclusion of BeverlyHillsCop, [[AdultChild Billy]] and his partner, [[OnlySaneMan Taggart]], find themselves outnumbered and pinned down by enemy gunfire. Despite the gravity of their situation, it's made clear that Billy is having the time of his life, as he gleefully recalls how ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid found themeselves in a similar situation when facing the [[BolivianArmyEnding Bolivian Army.]] Taggart tells Billy, if they make it out alive, he's going to make him pay.
* The dour Scot Frazer in ''DadsArmy'' is fond of doing this, much to Mainwaring's exasperation.
* Inverted in an episode of HowIMetYourMother, in which the gang tell anecdotes within anecdotes within anecdotes all trying to convince Ted not to do something. All of them have bad endings except for one. Barney's. Because he's crazy.
* One of the more famous scenes of ''SpongebobSquarepants'' invokes this; the mysterious tale of ''Literature/TheUglyBarnacle''.

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, one young cat's spine is broken when a tree falls and she's pinned by the branches. Jayfeather, the medicine cat, tries to encourage her by telling her how [=ShadowClan=] once had a cat with a similar injury and had told him about their experiences. Unfortunately, [=ShadowClan=]'s warrior had ended up dying because of complications with it, which doesn't encourage Jayfeather's patient much.
* If a person playing ''ManiacMansion'' picks Michael, they get this before heading into the mansion:
-->'''Michael:'''Hey, did anybody see that movie on television last night? These four kids went into this strange house and...uh, never mind.

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, one young cat's spine is broken when a tree falls and she's pinned by the branches. Jayfeather, the medicine cat, tries to encourage her by telling her how [=ShadowClan=] once had a cat with a similar injury and had told him about their experiences. Unfortunately, [=ShadowClan=]'s warrior had ended up dying because of complications with it, which doesn't encourage Jayfeather's patient much.

!Examples:

* PlayedForLaughs in Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2007 when he compares G.W. Bush's presidency to {{Rocky}}:

* In the ''WarriorCats'' series, one young cat's spine is broken when a tree falls and she's pinned by the branches. Jayfeather, the medicine cat, tries to encourage her by telling her how [=ShadowClan=] once had a cat with a similar injury and had told him about their experiences. Unfortunately, [=ShadowClan=]'s warrior had ended up dying because of complications with it, which doesn't encourage Jayfeather's patient much.

* One of the more famous scenes of ''SpongebobSquarepants'' invokes this; the mysterious tale of ''TheUglyBarnacle''.

* In AvatarTheLastAirbender, in the episode about the cave of two lovers, the hippie nomad who tells the Gaang about the secret cave, sings to them a song about it. The song ends with "...aaaand death!".