History Main / IdiotHoudini

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{BioshockRapture}}'' In the backstory to the Bioshock game, this trope ''drives'' Andrew Ryan, but it runs out shortly before the events of the game. He used to be a good little boy working in a Jewish enclave - until his family was brutally slaughtered in a Bolshevik revolution, [[TeachHimAnger convincing him that good guys die first]]. The instant he let the darkness into his heart, ''fate itself'' seemed to bow before him - he escaped multiple Soviet purges, made his way to America solo, struck oil after buying a random patch of land, became a multimillionaire despite his obvious Russian origins and lack of social tact, got away with starting a massive wildfire on his property, and built a giant underwater city without drowning. This string of borderline physics-defying luck warped his personality into a sociopathic workaholic who believed that people who work for themselves ''always'' get paid what they're deserved - which is the exact opposite of true. When his 'capitalist utopia' finally crumbled under its own arrogant weight and lack of social infrastructure, he couldn't comprehend the idea that his hard-working exploitation and lack of empathy was the cause, especially since he hadn't faced any negative consequences for his sheer number of reckless gambles that always went well for him, and he went full fascist trying to convince his few remaining loyalists to go back to work, destroying what was left of the city.
* Creator/TommyWiseau and [[Film/TheRoom ''The Room'']]. ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'' (a book later made into a film) details all of the bizarre decisions Tommy made as Writer/Director/Producer/Star, spending $6 milliion on a film that took SoBadItsGood to new heights, drawing in crowds to its showings and lifting him to stardom.
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*** Despite Francine begging Stan to just stop helping, Stan keeps trying to help out as he takes a harpoon and throws it at the bear, but winds up missing and hits Francine instead. [[EvenTheDogIsAshamed Even the bear looks to Stan and shakes his head as if to say "Dude, really?"]]
*** Hell, it got so bad that when Buckle (their neighbor) [[BigDamnHeroes busted into the house to save them]] by shooting the shark and bear with a tranquilizer gun, he shot Stan as well, noting afterwards that couldn't tell which of the three was doing the most damage.

*** Stan takes exposed wires and tries to dip them in the water to fry the shark, but he fries Roger instead.
*** Stan sees a bear floating down the street and he moves it into the house to fight the shark, only for the bear and the shark to attack the family as a team.

[[folder:Comic Books]]

This is what happens when a character who is known for making consistently poor judgments never has to answer for them. In fact, nearly the exact opposite happens: Whatever mind-numbingly stupid idea they've come up with this episode, it will work. If he sells the party's material possessions for some magic beans to give to a Nigerian prince he met over the Internet, we can rest assured that at the end of the episode, a Nigerian prince will come solve the conflict with a DeusExMachina. The Idiot Houdini will be healthy, wealthy, and have an ample supply of TrueCompanions even though in RealLife, anyone acting the way he does would almost certainly have died ten episodes before the series began.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' In the backstory, this trope ''drives'' Andrew Ryan, but it runs out shortly before the events of the game. He used to be a good little boy working in a Jewish enclave - until his family was brutally slaughtered in a Bolshevik revolution, [[TeachHimAnger convincing him that good guys die first]]. The instant he let the darkness into his heart, ''fate itself'' seemed to bow before him - he escaped multiple Soviet purges, made his way to America solo, struck oil after buying a random patch of land, became a multimillionaire despite his obvious Russian origins and lack of social tact, got away with starting a massive wildfire on his property, and built a giant underwater city without drowning. This string of borderline physics-defying luck warped his personality into a sociopathic workaholic who believed that people who work for themselves ''always'' get paid what they're deserved - which is the exact opposite of true. When his 'capitalist utopia' finally crumbled under its own arrogant weight and lack of social infrastructure, he couldn't comprehend the idea that his hard-working exploitation and lack of empathy was the cause, especially since he hadn't faced any negative consequences for his sheer number of reckless gambles that always went well for him, and he went full fascist trying to convince his few remaining loyalists to go back to work, destroying what was left of the city.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' In a way, this trope ''drives'' Andrew Ryan - at least until his last venture. He used to be a good little boy working in a Jewish enclave - until his family was brutally slaughtered in a Bolshevik revolution, convincing him that good guys die first]]. The instant he let the darkness into his heart, ''fate itself'' seemed to bow before him - he escaped multiple purges, made his way to America solo, struck oil by buying a random patch of land, became a multimillionaire despite his obvious Russian origins and lack of social tact, got away with starting a massive wildfire on his property, and built a giant underwater city without drowning. This string of borderline physics-defying luck warped his personality into a sociopathic workaholic who believed that people who work for themselves ''always'' get paid what they're deserved - which is the exact opposite of true. When his 'capitalist utopia' finally crumbled under its own arrogant weight and lack of social infrastructure, he couldn't comprehend the idea that his hard-working exploitation was the cause, especially since he hadn't faced any negative consequnces for the sheer number of reckless gambles that always went well for him, and he went full fascist trying to convince his few remaining loyalists to go back to work, destroying what was left of the city.

** It bears mentioning that fans often don't actually like these episodes, for the same reason that the standard Idiot Houdini is disliked. In particular, the character Elmyra from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', who is both an Idiot Houdini ''and'' a CreatorsPet, is resoundingly despised by all fans of the shows.

** Timmy's parents, too. They almost always neglect him and, aside from Mr. Turner's occasional ButtMonkey status, ''never'' receive any comeuppance for it.

* Ashley Abbott on ''Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless'' falls into this pattern chronically. Her characters arcs tends to follow a simple pattern. Make an extremely poor decision. Then, get mad at other characters when they point out why what she's doing is a bad idea. When she finally realizes how stupid she's been, she then gets mad at other characters for offering advice and decides to deal with her problems by going it alone. Rinse and repeat. This doesn't even get into her ability to screw up other people's plans simply by being involved in them. On one occasion, while speaking with Abbott arch-nemesis Victor Newman, she gets a phone call from her brother Jack about an important business deal. So, naturally, she excuses herself so she can talk about it without Victor over-hearing. Which room does she go to? The nursery. [[WhatAnIdiot She left Victor in the living room with the baby monitor.]] It's hard to miss the fact that, in a show where many of the main characters are business executives, Ashley stands alone as the one whose business sense is clearly an InformedAbility.

* In ''Series/FamilyMatters'', while Steve Urkel is not an idiot [[HollywoodNerd per se]], he does several stupid and destructive things to the Winslows, mostly involving destroying their property and getting the family injured. This is largely laughed off as him being clumsy, but it got so bad that ''their insurance company decided to charge them more just for having him as a neighbor''. Every time the family (usually Carl) gets mad at him for being destructive, and tries to keep him away from the house, they're presented as being judgmental and "bad friends", even though Steve at best presents a very real and serious financial liability. He REALLY grated on some fans' nerves when he broke out his (in)famous CatchPhrase ''"Did I do that?"''

** If not for his ridiculous stream of good luck, [[GeneralFailure Zapp Brannigan]] would have died several times over but he always seems to survive by the skin of his teeth, just in time to get another commendation from the Democratic Order Of Planets for doing nothing intelligent or strategic. In at least one case (when sitting in on a hearing to consider his reinstatement), Leela even reinforces it by agreeing to every single bold-faced lie he told just so he and Kif can be out of her hair.

* ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' has [[NonIdleRich Principal Larry.]] Not only is he ditzy, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} extremely weird,]] and [[BewareTheNiceOnes downright creepy sometimes,]] he doesn't seem to know much of anything. Whenever he's around, [[TalkativeLoon all he does is be extremely long-winded and tell stories he never finishes.]] What is Larry's life like?? [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense He won the lottery 32 times.]] [[BigFancyHouse He lives in a giant mansion.]] His butler has a butler. [[Fiction500 He genetically modified an elephant to stay small and cute forever.]] And at the end of his ADayInTheLimelight episode, he wins the lottery again.

* Both Todd and Mr Peanutbutter on ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman,'' although Todd's is more powerful: When Mr Peanutbutter is in a skiing contest, and relies on his luck to win, ''Todd'' wins instead, ''even though he wasn't in the race.'' They both seem to be completely aware of this, too, and follow whatever random thought crosses their minds in the explicit expectation that it will pay off later. It's most dramatic in the third season, where a string of bizarre business decisions over the course of the season ends up with them having the ''exact'' combination of resources and employees needed to save the day from an absurd disaster. Princess Carolyn calls Todds' status as this trope as "Failing Upwards", where he somehow always gets higher up the foodchain in his schemes.

** Deconstructed in one episode where Dog gets an intelligence boost, but as a result of his huge brainwaves, starts draining Cat's own brain matter from him. Thus still unintentionally causing misery for his brother, but no longer having the excuse of being too dumb to know any better. It is poetically this particular circumstance which reaches Cat's RageBreakingPoint and has him ''beat the living shit out of Dog'' until their IQs are evened out again.

-->'''Outraged Matron:''' That's a priceless Steinway!\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', we have Heihei the rooster. There are several points throughout the film where he should've drowned, but he doesn't. It helps that the ocean [[GeniusLoci likes the protagonist.]]
** And even the ocean ''itself'' gets fed up with [[TooDumbToLive his stupidity]], stuffing him in a MatryoshkaObject before cramming all of it into the cargo area of the ship.

* Creator/TommyWiseau and [[Film/TheRoom ''The Room'']]. Should the reader need more, "The Disaster Artist" was first a [[Literature/TheDisasterArtist book]] then a [[Film/TheDisasterArtist film]] detailing all of the bizarre decisions Writer/Director/Producer/Star Tommy made as he spent $6 milliion on a film that is objectively terrible. Taking SoBadItsGood to new heights has meant that the film has made a profit, still draws in the crowds to its showings and made a name for the star himself.

* To an extent, the entire Planet Express team of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' tend to cause endless problems in their botched deliveries. Of course [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist many of them]] (especially [[VillainProtagonist Bender]]) fluctuate between this and an outright KarmaHoudini at times. Nibbler, the TeamPet, seems to undergo this trope due to being percieved as a mindless animal.

* The flock from ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep'' qualify. No matter how stupid of an act they do, they're saved by the end, it inconveniences the Farmer in some way. Well, being a farmer, that flock ''is'' his livelihood, so he kinda has to keep them around. Though as he's oblivious to the wacky hi-jinx the animals on his farm get up to, he never realizes that they're the reason for his misery in the first place (except for the frequent times when it's caused by an error in judgement on his own part.

* When James Ironwood's floating city of Atlas is attacked in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} he eventually decides to take Atlas into the upper layers of the atmosphere to keep the city and its relic away from the hands of Salem and her enforcers. Problem is he never actually ensures that the city is safe and clear from Salem's forces even when Salem parks a giant Grimm whale a quarter the size of the city on Atlas. He earnestly believes that his is the only plan to save Atlas even when the heroes enact another plan that gets the people and the relic of Atlas elsewhere.

** Cameron is incredibly scatterbrained, often forgetting to bring his Pokémon to matches and almost not making it to the League. He even brings 5 Pokémon to a 6-on-6 match by accident, and still manages to defeat Ash.

* Cosmo from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', notably when he was the cause of Crocker losing his fairies, ''twice''. Once when his past self revealed himself as a fairy godparent, and again when his present self and Timmy travel back to the 70's to prevent this from happening. While Timmy stopped Crocker's fairies from revealing themselves, present Cosmo [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo notices a switch that turns the microphones on]], and Crocker's secret is accidentally blurted out by Timmy out loud, thus making him the indirect cause. Timmy was punished by being forbidden to travel to this decade again, and yet '''nobody''' called Cosmo out on ''his'' actions.