History Main / DerailedTrainOfThought

* In ''DaveBarry Slept Here'', Thomas Jefferson, who is writing the Declaration of Independence in an all-nighter, lets the document's subject wander to people flushing inappropriate objects down toilets, among other things.

* The Music/WeirdAlYankovic song "Albuquerque" is a long, rambling screed that starts off with an account of his mom serving him sauerkraut for breakfast that touches on the number of molecules in LeonardNimoy's butt, moving out of the house, playful shriners, fluffy towels, ukulele-playing lepers, back-shavers, Albanian women with really bad body odor, Doctor Pepper, an airplane crash, an overly stuffed suitcase, eating soup out of ashtrays, air conditioning, those little mints that housekeepers leave on your pillow at high-class hotels, hermaphrodites with that Flock-of-Seagulls haircut, weasels, peaches, [[TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]], mint-flavored dental floss, working at the Sizzler, excessive ear wax, Torso Boy, and a lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel, all to end up at the entire point of the song:

* In ''CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin often goes off into these. Watterson, apparently, based Calvin's tangents off of his own wife.

* Played with in the 4th ''LethalWeapon'' movie, where Chris Rock and Joe Pesci go off on a huge tangent about cell phones, for no apparent reason.
* Happens briefly to Lightning McQueen at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' when pysching himself up for the race.

* In ''{{Seinfeld}}'', George's boss, Mr. Steinbrener, always gets sidetracked by one thing or another when George tries to talk to him.
* The Tenth Doctor, on ''Series/DoctorWho''.

* The Swedish comedy show Hipp Hipp had Melodikrysset, a musical crossword aired on radio, wherein the host would play a song and then explain whet you were supposed to write. After playing In the summertime the explanation is as follows.

* ''{{The Newsroom}}'' features this regularly, most notably when a meeting where a discussion regarding the possibility of American troops having committed a war crime segues into a long discussion about whether Santa Claus has eight or nine reindeer.

* English teachers who actually don't hate their job seem to be rather fond of doing this in RealLife.
* The News sometimes segues into new stories using incredibly strange logic.

* Many of SethMacFarlane's works are prone to this. ''FamilyGuy'' and ''TheClevelandShow'' employ [[CutawayGag 10-second shorts to provide comedy]], connected only to the dialogue by a "Just Like X" statement made by one of the characters.
* InvaderZim- Don't even ''try'' to have a coherent conversation with [[CloudCuckoolander Gir]]

* In ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'', Ed would rather recite the periodic table than talk about his potential love for Winry.

* In ''FullMetalAlchemist'', Ed would rather recite the periodic table than talk about his potential love for Winry.

* Luna Lovegood of ''HarryPotter'' often manages to turn a conversation into something about the magical equivalent of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Many of the conversations she starts begins with her saying something completely ordinary, and then turning it into this trope.

* Many of SethMacFarlane's works are prone to this. ''FamilyGuy'' and ''TheClevelandShow'' employ 10-second shorts to provide comedy, connected only to the dialogue by a "Just Like X" statement made by one of the characters.

* Happens briefly to Lightning McQueen at the beginning of {{Cars}} when pysching himself up for the race.

* In the ''{{Bleach}}'' anime, Orihime manages to produce the epic [[MemeticMutation Leekspin]] meme in an Epic Tangent resulting from a crash-in with Ichigo in their school hallway. He asks if she's okay, this results from her embarrassment of bumping into him.

* NealStephenson's ''{{Anathem}}'' seems to do this several times, but [[ChekhovsArmory every single one of them]] turns out to be a ChekhovsGun of some sort.

--> '''The Host''':That was In the summertime by Mumbo Jerry and it's about the summer, in the summer people like having ice-cream. Personally I'm fond of 88:an. 88:an has crushed nuts in it so therefore [[GroinAttack Sack kick]] goes on vertical no. 13.

->That was In the summertime by Mumbo Jerry and it's about the summer, in the summer people like having ice-cream. Personally I'm fond of 88:an. 88:an has crushed nuts in it so therefore [[GroinAttack Sack kick]] goes on vertical no. 13.

* ''AzumangaDaioh'': Osaka, Cloud Cuckoo Lander extraordinaire, does this at least once, with a discussion on japanese characters that starts with hemorrhoids and goes on to the proper way to write kanji, and then to sea life.

* Many of [=~Seth MacFarlane~=]'s works are prone to this. ''FamilyGuy'' and ''TheClevelandShow'' employ 10-second shorts to provide comedy, connected only to the dialogue by a "Just Like X" statement made by one of the characters.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[VisualPun I bet every train of thought on that train was derailed]].]]

* ''Everyone'' who tries to talk to [[Literature/{{Baccano}} Isaac and Miria]]. ''' ''Everyone''.'''

* ''Everyone'' who tries to talk to [[{{Baccano}} Isaac and Miria]]. ''' ''Everyone''.'''

* The [[Series/DoctorWho tenth Doctor]]: "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces... whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

* The [[DoctorWho tenth Doctor]]: "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces... whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

* The tenth Doctor: "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces... whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

* ''AzumangaDaioh'': Osaka, Cloud Cuckoo Lander extraordinaire, does this at least once, with a discussion on japanese characters that starts with hemorrhoids and goes on to sea life.

[[quoteleft:351:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/derailed_train_455.jpg]]
[[caption-width:351:[[VisualPun I bet every train of thought on that train was derailed]].]]

* Many of [=~Seth MacFarlane~=]'s works are prone to this. ''FamilyGuy'' and ''TheClevelandShow'' employ 10-second shorts to provide comedy, connected only to the dialogue by a "Just Like X" statement made by one of the characters.

[[caption-width:351:I bet every train of thought on that train was derailed by the train being derailed.]]

* The tenth Doctor: "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. It can also boil an egg at thirty paces... whether you want it to or not, actually. So keep it away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

[[caption-width:351:I bet ever train of thought on that train was derailed by the train being derailed.]]