History Main / EccentricTownsfolk

* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' has Refuge, whose inhabitants include an old Prophetess who bakes magic scones and talks like Bjork, an Elemental deputy sheriff whose voice is supplied by a talking bird, and a diamond miner who is inexplicably convinced the boys are Gerblins.]]

* The people of Port Niranda in ''RoundTheTwist''. The Gribble family are a nasty piece of work, though.

* Any town you like in Creator/TerryPratchett's Lancre, a rural location remote from just about anywhere. This corner of the {{Discworld}} has towns called Bad Ass, Mad Stoat, Slice... many sttlements in remote corners of the Sto Plains, like Scrote and Twoshirts, would also fit the general vibe.

* The inhabitants of [[Series/TheVicarOfDibley Dibley]], with the [[OnlySaneMan possible exception of]] the Vicar and David Horton.

* Subverted in ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', where the people of Royston Vasey are certainly eccentric, but very, very far from harmless.

* The titular town from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', to be sure. There's ditzy waitress and CrazyCatLady Lazy Susan, [[TestosteronePoisoning comically-macho]] lumberjack Manly Dan Corduroy, and hillbilly MadScientist and self-declared "local kook" Old Man [=McGucket=]. [[spoiler: Justified due to the fact that the LaserGuiedAmnesia the townsfolk are subjected to whenever they encounter [[TownWithADarkSecret something they shouldn't]] leads to mental deterioration.]]

* Spoofed in ''TheTallGuy'' when JeffGoldblum is hired to play one, and is told to give a simple one-line greeting in a mysterious manner.

* GravityFalls, to be sure. There's ditzy waitress and CrazyCatLady Lazy Susan, [[TestosteronePoisoning comically-macho]] lumberjack Manly Dan Corduroy, and hillbilly MadScientist and self-declared "local kook" Old Man [=McGucket=].

!!'''Examples:'''

* The residents of the [[TownWithADarkSecret village Sandford]] in ''Film/HotFuzz''. But it's a dark form of this however; many of the townsfolk do have their stereotypes, or at least roles, but it turns out that [[spoiler:they're actually murdering anyone who threatens the town's rural image, including other EccentricTownsfolk]].
** But...it's for the greater good!
*** The greater good!

* The ''GilmoreGirls'' crew in Stars Hollow.

** This trope seems to gravitate toward Alaska, since we also have the denizens of Cicely in ''Series/NorthernExposure''.

* Increasingly, and delightfully, kook-filled [[Series/ParksAndRecreation Pawnee, Indiana]].

* Found all over the place in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}''. In ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', you get to know them all by name.

* GravityFalls, to be sure.

* Ponyville in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The locals include a socially-awkward {{bookworm}} from the big city who's trying to learn how to make friends, a manic-depressive (mostly manic) baker who loves to throw parties and [[ToonPhysics occasionally defies known physics]], a [[DramaQueen melodramatic]] fashion designer who loves to make GemEncrusted {{Pimped Out Dress}}es, a painfully-shy animal lover who can [[DeathGlare stare down dragons and cockatrices]] when [[BewareTheNiceOnes provoked]], a hot-headed apple farmer with a NiceHat and [[TheClan a huge extended family]], and a boisterous stunt flier with rainbow-colored hair, and those are just the main characters.

* The inhabitants of [[Series/TheVicarOfDibley Dibley]], with the possible exception of the Vicar and David Horton.

* Spoofed in ''TheTallGuy' when JeffGoldblum is hired to play one, and is told to give a simple one-line greeting in a mysterious manner.

* ''Series/TheAndy GriffithShow's'' Mayberry inhabitants.

* The inhabitants of [[TheVicarOfDibley Dibley]], with the possible exception of the Vicar and David Horton.
* Pretty much everyone in ''FatherTed'', up to the main characters. Only visitors from the mainland and (maybe) Ted don't count.
* The inhabitants of Elmo, Alaska in ''MenInTrees''. Alaska is evidently a popular locale for this type of setting.
** This trope seems to gravitate toward Alaska, since we also have the denizens of Cicely in ''NorthernExposure''.
* The people of [[TheGoldenGirls St. Olaf, Minnesota]]. We never actually see the town ourselves, but plenty of locals drop by Miami, and what they all manage to prove is that [[TheDitz Rose]] seems to be the most clear-headed and intelligent person who ever lived there.

* [[FrankZappa Centerville...A real nice place to raise your kids up...]]

* Karl Pilkington of ''TheRickyGervaisShow'' et al told a series of stories about the people who lived around where he grew up that consistently amazed or bewildered Ricky and Steve. They included:
** Karl's own family: his mother, who made him stay home from school when it was very windy and used to shave the family cat so it would be easier to keep clean; his dad, a cheapskate and grocery thief who once removed a mentally challenged young man ("a ForrestGump") from his taxi and left him in a wheelie bin; his brother, who impregnated many girls and was discharged from the army after driving a tank to the store to buy cigarettes; and two aunts: Auntie Nora, who once farted for five straight minutes and wanted her back yard astroturfed so she wouldn't have to take care of it, and "Uncle" Hazel, a lesbian with a haunted house.

* ''TheNavyLark'' has the UK armed forces as being populated solely by Eccentric Forces Personnel.

* All of the inhabitants of St. Mystere in ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage''. Not only do they have "unusual" personality quirks, they have an unhealthy obession with riddles. [[spoiler:This is because they're all robots designed as part of a test to see who's worthy of getting the treasure and Flora.]]

* Several towns in the ''{{Pokemon}}'' franchise, but the quirkiest are probably the denizens of Vientown in ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger: Shadows of Almia''.

* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Bob's girlfriend Jean has commented in frustration (and more or less accurately) that she appears to be the only sane person in town--casually lumping Bob himself in with the EccentricTownsfolk.

* Some of the quirky residents might be a bit quirkier than you'd like in Dunwich, New Hampshire, just a mile or two from the SuperHeroSchool [[WhateleyUniverse Whateley Academy]].

* The monsters in Halloween Town in ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', as introduced in the opening song.

* ''TheSimpsons'' cast.

* The residents of Kinkan/Gold Crown Town in ''PrincessTutu'', who are all [[spoiler:unaware characters in a fairytale]] and are comprised of quirky people ''and'' anthropomorphic animals.

* The lemurs of ''{{Madagascar}}'', lead by King Julien XIII, self-proclaimed king of the lemurs, blah, blah, blah, hooray everybody!
* The residents of the [[TownWithADarkSecret village Sandford]] in ''HotFuzz''. But it's a dark form of this however; many of the townsfolk do have their stereotypes, or at least roles, but it turns out that [[spoiler:they're actually murdering anyone who threatens the town's rural image, including other EccentricTownsfolk]].

* In many of the {{Laurel and Hardy}} pictures, townsfolk tend to exhibit some unusual behaviour.

* The inhabitants of the town in the movie ''TheKingOfHearts'' are escaped patients from the local mental institution and qualify as this trope.

* In NoraRoberts' ''Nothern Lights'' the town Lunacy, high up in Alaska is inhabited with independent eccentric characters.

* ''{{The Andy Griffith Show}}'s'' Mayberry inhabitants.

* Everyone in {{Ed}}'s hometown of Stuckyville.
* There are a few quirky townspeople in ''{{Eureka}}'', including the cloned set of twins. (Or would that make then quatruplets?)

* On ''{{Newhart}}'', pretty much everyone in Stratford, Vermont apart from [[OnlySaneMan Dick Loudon]] qualifies.
* The residents of Hooterville, in ''Series/PetticoatJunction'' and (especially) ''GreenAcres''.
* ''{{Northern Exposure}}'', with Rob Morrow playing the straight man to everybody else.
* ''{{Scrubs}}'' has an Eccentric Hospital Staff version.
* Pretty much the entire cast of ''TwinPeaks'' qualifies.
* Subverted in ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', where the people of Royston Vasey are certainly eccentric, but very, very far from harmless.

* Subverted in ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', where the people of Royston Vasey are certainly eccentric, but [[NightmareFuel very, very far from harmless]].

* Ponyville in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The locals include a socially-awkward {{bookworm}} from the big city who's trying to learn how to make friends, a manic-depressive baker who loves to throw parties and [[ToonPhysics occasionally defies known physics]], a [[DramaQueen melodramatic]] fashion designer who loves to make GemEncrusted {{Pimped Out Dress}}es, a painfully-shy animal lover who can [[DeathGlare stare down dragons and cockatrices]] when [[BewareTheNiceOnes provoked]], a hot-headed apple farmer with a NiceHat and [[TheClan a huge extended family]], and a boisterous stunt flier with rainbow-colored hair, and those are just the main characters.