History Main / Bouncer

* In the ''{{Planescape}}'' campaign, most bars, clubs, inns, and restaurants in Sigil have bouncers (many of them not human) but practically ''all'' of them can be bribed if you need to get in. (How much you have to pay them depends on what kind of place it is, but Sigil is a place where EveryManasHisPrice, literally.)

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee'', June hired a trio of demons - known for being dedicated to whatever they were hired to do - to do this at a stadium and not let any supernatural beings in who weren't supposed to be there. Unfortunately, she got more than she bargained for - they were ''so'' dedicated to their job, even ''she'' couldn't get in when she needed to. (She managed to do so by entering Monroe in the dog show, obtaining a valid reason.)

In truth, most real-life club bouncers have far more prosaic duties; their job consists primarily of checking ID, tossing out rowdy customers, watching for signs of trouble to come (be it the beginnings of a possible fight, patrons who are far too intoxicated for their own good, illegal activity being conducted, sexual predators getting ready to make their move, and other things of that sort), guarding [=VIPs=], and often includes acting as the bar's janitor.

* Naturally, the PS2 launch title ''TheBouncer'' by SquareEnix is all about this trope...except they don't actually do a lot of bouncing in the game at all.

* The three protagonists of ''Videogame/TheBouncer'' are all employed as bouncers at the Fate bar.

In truth, most real-life club bouncers have far more prosaic duties; their job consists primarily of checking ID, tossing out rowdy customers, watching for signs of trouble to come (be it the beginnings of a possible fight, patrons who are far too intoxicated for their own good, illegal activity being conducted, sexual predators getting ready to make their move, and other things of that sort), guarding VIPs, and often includes acting as the bar's janitor.

From TV and movies, one gets the impression that a bouncer is a large person, whose main job is to turn away the business of people who are insufficiently cool, or to provide an escort out for those customers who have lost their cool after admittance. They also oversee the WannabeLine. Overtly unsympathetic examples are usually portrayed as [[DumbMuscle dimwitted]], [[JerkAss loutish]] assholes who needlessly harass patrons minding their own business and ''always'' seem to be [[BloodKnight looking for a fight to start or join in on]] or a sufficiently annoying patron to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown pound the shit out of]].[[note]]While there ''are'' definitely bouncers out there who fit this description, they very rarely work in reputable establishments. Violence in a club is bad for business, it can cause damage, scare patrons away, and invite massive lawsuits. Intelligent owners look for bouncers who know how to ''prevent or stop'' fights, not start or escalate them.[[/note]]

In truth, most real-life club bouncers have far more prosaic duties; their job consists primarily of checking ID, tossing out rowdy customers and often includes acting as the bar's janitor.

* Each location in ''[[TheSims The Urbs: Sims in the City]]'' except for the apartments, has a midnight party in a room guarded by a bouncer. You have to get your popularity high enough to be recognized by the bouncer and let in. You must enter the party to get a Power Social to use against a crook that steals money from people to get him to go away for good.

From TV and movies, one gets the impression that a bouncer is a large person, whose main job is to turn away the business of people who are insufficiently cool, or to provide an escort out for those customers who have lost their cool after admittance. They also oversee the WannabeLine. Overtly unsympathetic examples are usually portrayed as [[DumbMuscle dimwitted]], [[JerkAss loutish]] assholes who needlessly harass patrons minding their own business and ''always'' seem to be [[BloodKnight looking for a fight to start or join in on]] or a sufficiently annoying patron to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown pound the shit out of]].[[note]]While there ''are'' definitely bouncers out there who fit this description, they a). seldom work in reputable establishments because no owner or head-of-security of a halfway decent establishment is going to let them get past the screening process, and b). are almost always forced out of the game at some point or another by way of jail time or a massive lawsuit. Remember, bouncers, like other security personnel, can only exercise reasonable force to subdue someone or defend themselves, meaning that while a basic submission hold or defensive strike is allowed if someone is actively trying to harm them, beating the shit out of them or putting them in holds likely to result in broken bones or torn ligaments is a great way to get the club and/or individual sued, meaning that clubs view anyone with obvious aggression issues or known violent tendencies as lawsuits waiting to happen.[[/note]]

* In ''MissionHill'', Andy and his friends are turned away by a bouncer at the new club across the street. In retaliation, they start their own club and turn away everyone but themselves. Said "club" (the building's maintenance room) naturally becomes the hottest club in town in no time due to it's refusal to admit anyone except the show's "hip" main cast and one hip baby. Eventually, after the joke has run it's course, Andy and company have to stage a fire to get the crowd outside to disperse.

* Each location in The Urbs: Sims in the City except for the apartments, has a midnight party in a room guarded by a bouncer. You have to get your popularity high enough to be recognized by the bouncer and let in. You must enter the party to get a Power Social to use against a crook that steals money from people to get him to go away for good.

* An episode of That70sShow involved the gang trying to get past a bouncer into a nightclub. The bouncer was played by [[Series/{{Scrubs}} Neil Flynn]], who isn't a big guy.

* ''LoisAndClark'' once went to a Gentleman's Club to investigate a robbery. The bouncer would allow Clark him but wouldn't allow Lois. Her name was NotOnTheList because she's a woman.

* In Steve Perry's ''[[MatadorSeries The Man Who Never Missed]]'', Dirisha, Sleel and Bork are the bouncers at Khadaji's Jade Flower tavern. To decide who he was going to hire, Khadaji had the tables bolted to the floor, then asked each applicant to move on. Dirisha tried to lift one and failed, stooped down and studied how it was fastened, then set herself and pulled it loose; Sleel tore the top off of his, then used it to batter the base loose; Bork simply reached out and grabbed the base, held it up and said, "Where do you want it?", apparently not even noticing that it had been bolted down at all. Needless to say, with bouncers like that on duty, very few troublemakers stick around the Jade Flower.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoTheBalladOfGayTony'' has the main character perform club management as one of his duties, mostly watching certain locations for activity.

* In ''MissionHill'', Andy and his friends create a club in which no one but them can get in because they were turned away by a bouncer at the club across the street. Said "club" (a maintenance closet) is shown to be so exclusive, ''nobody'' can get in outside of three extremely hip people and an apparently hip baby. Naturally, this makes it the hottest club in town in no time.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', the bouncer of The Ink & Paint Club is a {{toon}} gorilla named Bongo.

** It becomes less funny when one considers that according to the Codex, Elcor can punch through the average non-military starship's hull. It means that he probably can't even throw anyone out (he'd splatter them with a touch) but it does ensure no one tries to pick a fight with anyone under risk of that.

From TV and movies, one gets the impression that a bouncer is a large person, whose main job is to turn away the business of people who are insufficiently cool, or to provide an escort out for those customers who have lost their cool after admittance. They also oversee the WannabeLine.

[[quoteright:329:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bouncer1_420.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:329:''[[Film/TheMask "Never]]'' [[Film/TheMask cross the rope."]]]]

* ''MassEffect2'' features a FunnyBackgroundEvent in the Afterlife nightclub on Omega: an ''elcor'' doorman, an alien species whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] amounts to "very patient, very polite gorilla". Of course, Aria maintains a more traditional selection of bouncers/[[{{Mooks}} generic goons]] for actually kicking people out and/or roughing them up, but it's the thought that counts.
** It becomes less funny when one considers that according to the Codex Elcor can punch through the average non-military starship's hull. It means that he probably can't even throw anyone out (he'd splatter them with a touch) but it does ensure no one tries to pick a fight with anyone under risk of that.