History Main / CuckooFingerTwirl

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'', Obelix's {{catchphrase}} "These Romans are crazy!" (sometimes with another group substituted in for the Romans) is often accompanied by him tapping the side of his head with his finger. On one occasion, he says, "These Britons are crazy!" while using both hands to tap the sides of his head.

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' when it comes to Jake having to hang around Susan Strong after his experience with her trying to eat the Candy People in "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS2E18SusanStrong Susan Strong]]". Jake thinks Susan is actually a deranged member of the hyoo-mans, a strange race of FishPeople living in the ruins of human civilization, and pleads for Finn to stay away from her and often describes her as dangerous and insane. He makes the gesture in the page image to warn Finn that Susan is just not right in the head.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'', Obelix's {{catchphrase}} "These Romans are crazy!" (sometimes with another group substituted in for the Romans) is often accompanied by him tapping the side of his head with his finger as a period equivalent of this gesture. On one occasion, he says, "These Britons are crazy!" while using both hands to tap the sides of his head.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', any Sims witness to another Sim's [[HeroicBSOD aspiration failure]] will stare at them in bewilderment and make the "cuckoo" gesture.

So there's something ''off'' about a person in the room. Perhaps the person is a blatant Cloudcuckoolander, a pretty blatant example of TheMadHatter or TheLoonie. Perhaps the person is spouting some blatant InsaneTrollLogic or some Cloudcuckoolanguage. Maybe the person has a history of being disturbingly AxCrazy or is just voicing how much a macabre subject appeals to them as a clear NightmareFetishist. Maybe the person is just a clear oddball because they voice and do things that set them apart from their peers.

* In a self-applied variation, Turkish singer Ebru Gündeş twirled his finger next to her head seconds before she collapsed from what turned out to be a brain aneurysm. After recovering, she explained she was trying to communicate feeling drowsy.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice You only Move Twice]]", Bart is put into a remedial class at school and is made to do kindergarten-grade work. He points out that he's supposed to be in 4th grade and is never going to catch up with his peers at the pace the remedial class expects him to work, and does the cuckoo gesture to indicate the absurdity of the situation. His classmate then start to copy him before the teacher puts a stop to it.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice You only Move Twice]]", Bart is put into a remedial class at school and is made to do kindergarten-grade work. He points out that he's supposed to be in 4th grade and is never going to catch up with his peers at the pace the remedial class expects him to work, and does the cuckoo gesture to indicate the absurdity of the situation.

[[caption-width-right:350:"This bird, the Aracuan -- he's ''meio maluco'', a very stupid fellow."]]

->'''Dr. Mystico:''' I saw that!!
->'''Freakazoid:''' What?
->'''Dr. Mystico:''' ''That!'' You think I've got a clock in my head, don't you?!

* Happens in the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' episode, "1987". One sketch involved Ted Turner being told about toxic dumping and how there was nothing his company could do to stop it. Turner responds that they might not have the power, but ''Captain Planet'' does... only in this setting he's fictional and Turner plans on painting himself as the superhero to take care of it personally. One of his boardroom members turns to another and does the "cuckoo cuckoo" motion.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'', Michelangelo does the cuckoo gesture when describing Leo's declining mental state to Master Splinter after the Turtles' last big fight with the Shredder made him into a vicious and aggressive KnightTemplar.
* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' at the end of "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E13FryAndTheSlurmFactory Fry and the Slurm Factory]]" where the Professor reports the truth of Slurm's origins to the police, but when the hopelessly addicted Fry figures out that will get Slurm outlawed he tries to make the Professor look like a senile old man. Making the "crazy" gesture when the 160-year old refers to him as his uncle.

* Done in tandem with InvisibleAnatomy in the episode "Love is in the Air" of ''WesternAnimation/AngryBirdsToons''. King Pig falls in love with a cabbage after getting hit in a head and hallucinating it as a beautiful princess pig, much to the confusion of the onlooking minion pigs. When observing King Pig's affections to the cabbage, one of the gardener pigs twirls his gardening shears around his head in a circle while saying "cuckoo".
* [[ConspiracyTheorist Dib]] of all people does this to Countess von Verminstrasser in the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Lice" after growing fed up with her obsession with lice, wild statements about a Lice Queen being the cause, and brutal treatments on him and his classmates. Subverted when it turns out [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight she was right all along.]]
* Garfield does this in the ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' episode "The Sludge Monster" in response to the maniacal laughter of the owner of the hotel that the trio are staying in for the night.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'': José Carioca does this as an aside to Donald Duck, in reference to the Aracuan, after the latter interrupts him with his antics.

So there's something ''off'' about a person in the room. Perhaps the person is a blatant Cloudcuckoolander, a pretty blatant example of TheMadHatter or TheLoonie. Perhaps the person is spouting some blatant InsaneTrollLogic or some Cloudcuckoolanguage. Maybe the person has a history of being disturbingly {{AxCrazy}} or is just voicing how much a macabre subject appeals to them as a clear NightmareFetishist. Maybe the person is just a clear oddball because they voice and do things that set them apart from their peers.

** Another example is shown in "[[RenAndStimpy1x04FireDogsTheLittlestGiant Fire Dogs]]", where Ren and Stimpy (who are disguised as dalmatians) go to the fire station to be hired as fire dogs. When Stimpy almost gives them away by saying he's a cat, Ren tells the Fire Chief that Stimpy's "not quite right in the head" while doing the finger-spinning gesture to convince him to ignore the outburst.

** In "Son of Stimpy", Stimpy asks his [[NoseNuggets magical nose goblins]] if they've seen Stinky, his very first fart. The nose goblins [[HypocriticalHumor think he's crazy for talking to farts]], and one does the cuckoo gesture.
** Another example is shown in the episode "Fire Dogs" where Ren and Stimpy (who are disguised as dalmatians) go to the fire station to be hired as fire dogs. When Stimpy almost gives them away by saying he's a cat, Ren tells the Fire Chief that Stimpy's "not quite right in the head" while doing the finger-spinning gesture to convince him to ignore the outburst.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E9LisaTheBeautyQueen Lisa the Drama Queen]]", Lisa befriends a delusional girl who sees the world as her own idealized version of it. By the end of the episode, the girl is consumed by her fantasies and walks away from Lisa, who responds by twirling her finger next to her temple and making a cuckoo sound.

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' at the end of [[Recap/FuturamaS1E13FryAndTheSlurmFactory Fry and the Slurm Factory]] where the Professor reports the truth of Slurm's origins to the police, but when the hopelessly addicted Fry figures out that will get Slurm outlawed he tries to make the Professor look like a senile old man. Making the "crazy" gesture when the 160-year old refers to him as his uncle.

** In the episode "Homer's Triple Bypass", Chief Wiggum did this gesture in response after a guy leaped off the building.
** In "Lisa the Drama Queen", Lisa befriends a delusional girl who sees the world as her own idealized version of it. By the end of the episode, the girl is consumed by her fantasies and walks away from Lisa, who responds by twirling her finger next to her temple and making a cuckoo sound.
** In the episode ''A Tale of two Springfields'', [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the incompetent bodyguard]] of Music/TheWho allows Homer and Bart to enter the band's green room and when they protest about this, the guard insults the group by snarking out "yeah, sure, I was fired by ''[[WhosOnFirst the Who]]''" and walking out of the room doing this gesture.
** In "You only Move Twice", Bart is put into a remedial class at school and is made to do kindergarten-grade work. He points out that he's supposed to be in 4th grade and is never going to catch up with his peers at the pace the remedial class expects him to work, and does the cuckoo gesture to indicate the absurdity of the situation.

->'''[[MadScientist Dr. Mystico]]:''' I saw that!!

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adventure_time_crazy_jake1.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:When just saying someone is crazy is not enough]]