History Main / KilroyWasHere

* On the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Haredevil Hare", BugsBunny lands on the moon and mentions that he's the first living creature to do so. He then passes a rock with "Kilroy was here" written on it.
* ''TheSimpsons'': Bart has made several "El Barto was here" graffiti.

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]

* ''Left4Dead'' has graffiti in every safe house as a form of pseudo-communication between groups of survivors. Among them is Chicago Ted, whose statistics for zombie killing become something of a legend.

* As mentioned above, "Kilroy was here". However it originated (TheOtherWiki has a few theories), American soldiers began leaving Kilroy everywhere.

* During the Potsdam Conference HarryTruman allegedly had some fun at JoesephStalin's expense by sneaking into his private bathroom and writing this on the wall. Stalin, in characteristic fashion, had the KGB on high alert looking for this mysterious "Kilroy".

This trope is pretty much as old as humanity itself (it's posited that there are hand-prints at Lascaux is for this very reason, among other theories), but the TropeNamer is a bit of MemeticMutation from WorldWarTwo whose origin has many stories (see RealLife section below).

So you're somewhere--on vacation, at war, time traveling, teleporter accident, whatever--and you want something that'll stick around longer than just a FunTShirt. That's easy, just vandalize a handy surface[[note]]illegal in most places, so DontTryThisAtHome[[/note]]!

* ''{{Pokemon}}'': The memetically infamous "Gary was here! Ash is a loser!"

* In ''TheNeverendingStory'', there is a mountain that is only conquered for the first time - that is, you are always "the first person to ever climb it"; it is impossible to get on the top as long as there is any memory of anyone doing it before. So leaving a tag at the top blocks everyone else from it until the tag is worn out by the elements.

So you're somewhere--on vacation, at war, time traveling, teleporter accident, whatever--and you want something that'll stick around longer than just a FunTShirt. That's easy, just vandalize a handy surface[note]illegal in most places, so DontTryThisAtHome[/note]!

So you're somewhere--on vacation, at war, time traveling, teleporter accident, whatever--and you want something that'll stick around longer than just a FunTShirt. That's easy, just vandalize a handy surface!

This trope is pretty much as old as humanity itself (it's posited that one of the reasons there are hand-prints at Lascaux is for this very reason), but the TropeNamer is a bit of MemeticMutation from WorldWarTwo whose origin has many stories (see RealLife section below).

[[AC: Comics]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live Action Television]]

[[AC: Radio]]

[[AC: Video Games]]

* In ''PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', outside Lilycove City's Pokémon Fan Club building, it is noted that a number of Trainers have scribbled their names all over its sign. There is also a small island in the waters by Seaside Cycling Road that Team Aqua (or Magma) have tagged ("Team Aqua Was Here!").

[[AC: Western Animation]]
* On the ''LooneyTunes'' short "Haredevil Hare", BugsBunny lands on the moon and mentions that he's the first living creature to do so. He then passes a rock with "Kilroy was here" written on it.

* HomestarRunner: "Rad, rad Robotank!"

* IsaacAsimov's short story ''The Message'' is about a time traveler from the 30th century to WWII North Africa who, forbidden to interfere (he can only observe) resorts to writing a message on the wall of the hut he was in. His name is [[JustSoStory George Kilroy]].

* In the radio program ''TheBlackMuseum'' (based on real cases of Scotland Yard and real objects in their 'Black Museum'), episode 'The Notes', police find notes actually saying 'Kilroy Was Here." [[spoiler:The police eventually realize the killer is actually telling them his name is Kilroy!]]

* Two Kilroy faces appear in the opening credits of ''{{Community}}'', with the noses forming the l's in "Joel [=McHale=]".

Do not confuse with [[Music.KillroyWasHere the Styx album]].

[[AC: Video Games]]
* In general, any video game that lets you leave behind some kind of message (text or graphical) can result in this trope.
** This, and bragging rights, is the whole point of high score lists.
* ''Left4Dead'' has graffiti in every safe house as a form of pseudo-communication between groups of survivors. Among them is Chicago Ted, whose statistics for zombie killing become something of a legend.
* In ''PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', outside Lilycove City's Pokémon Fan Club building, it is noted that a number of Trainers have scribbled their names all over its sign. There is also a small island in the waters by Seaside Cycling Road that Team Aqua (or Magma) have tagged ("Team Aqua Was Here!").

* [[HomestarRunner "Rad, rad Robotank!"]]

* The Kilroy face appears in the opening credits of ''{{Community}}'', with the nose forming the l's in "Joel [=McHale=]".

* {{Pokemon}}: The memetically infamous "Gary was here! Ash is a loser!"

* JourneyToTheWest: Sun Wukong makes a bet with the Buddha that he can leap out of Buddah's grasp. He goes an extreme distance away and finds a set of pillars. Thinking that he'd won, he leaves the words "Son Wukong Was Here" on the middle pillar and pees on it for good measure. [[spoiler: Turns out the "pillars" were just Buddha's fingers. Oops!]]
* In TheNeverendingStory there is a mountain that is only conquered for the first time - that is, you are always "the first person to ever climb it"; it is impossible to get on the top as long as there is any memory of anyone doing it before. So leaving a tag at the top blocks from everyone else it until the tag is worn out by the elements.
* In ''TheShawshankRedemption'', inmate Brooks, unable to fit into society after so many years in prison, carves "Brooks was here" into a ceiling beam from which he then hangs himself. [[spoiler: At the end of the film, Red carves "So was Red" before leaving to join Andy in Mexico.]]
* IsaacAsimov's short story ''The Message'' is about a time traveler from the 30-th century to WWII North Africa who, forbidden to interfere (he can only observe) resorts to writing a message on the wall of the hut he was in. His name is [[JustSoStory George Kilroy]].

* In MyNameIsEarl, Randy had made several graffitis like this, and after the episode where he goes back to school, he sets him to correct them since he has realised that those graffitis had bad spelling.

* Left4Dead has grafitti in every safe house as a form of pseudo-communication between groups of survivors. Among them is Chicago Ted, whose statistics for zombie killing become something of a legend.
* In ''PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', outside Lilycove City's Pokemon Fan Club building, it is noted that a number of Trainers have scribbled their names all over its sign. There is also a small island in the waters by Seaside Cycling Road that Team Aqua (and/or Magma) have tagged ("Team Aqua Was Here!")

* In the radio program TheBlackMuseum (based on real cases of Scotland Yard and real obkects in their 'Black Museum'), episode 'The Notes', police find notes actually saying 'Kilroy Was Here'--[[spoiler: the police eventually realize the killer is actually telling them his name is Kilroy!]]

* TheSimpsons: Bart has made several "El Barto was here" graffitis.
** In another episode Bart writes his name in wet cement, with an ImagineSpot of the future, where archeologists speculate on what he might be like.

* In TheBoondocks'' Riley graffio-tags his name in big bold letters, then wonders how he got caught.
* In ''TheFlintstones'' episode "Adobe Dick", Fred and Barney are swallowed by a whale. Inside, they spot some graffiti that reads "Jonah was here"

--> '''Timmy's Dad:''' Vicky was key-scratching "Vicky Was Here" on my car! I punished ''Timmy'' for key-scratching "Vicky Was Here" on my car!