History Main / NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion

** The serial "City of Death" (written by Creator/DouglasAdams) features the following exchange:

** Also, in the Seventh Doctor story "Dragonfire", the Doctor distracts a guard by engaging him in a philosophical discussion and then later bursts in on a hold up by Belazs, gun in hand:

* From Creator/MikeLeigh's ''Film/{{Naked}}'':

* Two of the White Ninjas in ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans 2'' have a conversation that is a direct ShoutOut to the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' example.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

'''Kowalsky:''' Ah, the question that has vexed common man and philosopher alike!\\

'''Kowalsky:''' That's not what you're going for, is it?

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' . When [[ADayInTheLimelight Chester and AJ]] needed a story for the school newspaper. At one point they woke up their teacher to show them the news, he asked if they were aware of the time. Chester replied that journalism has no schedule, and he doesn't have a watch.

* From Creator/MichaelLeigh's ''Film/{{Naked}}'':

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* From Michael Leigh's ''Naked'':

* Inverted in commercials for Tombstone brand frozen pizzas. A modern individual is about to be killed in any of a number of far-off settings. The executioner asks the modern individual "What do you want on your tombstone?", as in choosing their FamousLastWords. The would-be victim responds by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8simZ9mut4Q naming off pizza toppings.]]

* Two of the White Ninjas in ''Videogame/DestroyAllHumans 2'' have a conversation that is a direct ShoutOut to the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' example.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* WebComic/{{Gamecheetz}} gives us a rare inversion:

* On ''{{Arthur}}'', Carl, who has UsefulNotes/AspergersSyndrome, takes George literally when asked his opinion of George's drawing of a lion. Carl says that lions used to live all over the world, but now live only in Africa and Asia. George is interested, but he has to clarify that he was asking Carl what he thought of his drawing.

** Also, in the Seventh Doctor story "Dragon Fire", the Doctor distracts a guard by engaging him in a philosophical discussion and then later bursts in on a hold up by Belazs, gun in hand:

* Inverted in commercials for Tombstone brand frozen pizzas. A modern individual is about to be killed in any of a number of far-off settings. The executioner asks the modern individual "What do you want on your tombstone?", as choosing their FamousLastWords. The would-be victim responds by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8simZ9mut4Q naming off pizza toppings.]]

* Commercials for Tombstone brand frozen pizzas usually go something like this: A modern individual is about to be killed in any of a number of far-off settings. The executioner asks the modern individual "What do you want on your tombstone?" The would-be victim responds by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8simZ9mut4Q naming off pizza toppings]].

* In ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe asks her partners Atticus and Lexi why they are here[[labelnote:Explanation]]The here being the Hidden Temple Car[[/note]]:

-->-- ''[[http://www.richardwiseman.com/LaughLab/second.html Runner-up in a "Funniest Joke in the World" competition]]''

** The first episode shows two characters on top of one of the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Blood Gulch]] bases. One asks the other, "Do you ever wonder why we're here?". The other expectantly responds with a brief speech about whether or not we were created, or just popped into existence. What the asking character actually meant was "Why are we here in a box-canyon in the middle of nowhere?"

** Similarly, the Blood Gulch Chronicles series ends with another character asking the same question, and the other gives a rant about how hate should be a personal thing, not a product of prejudice. The other just wanted to know why they were standing in the open sun when they could stand in the shade. It even gives a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' and how they'd be fighting aliens if Master Chief hadn't blown up the Covenant armada single-handed.

->''Franchise/SherlockHolmes and Dr. Watson are out camping. Suddenly, Holmes wakes up Watson in the middle of the night.\\
"Look up, Watson," Holmes says, "and tell me what you see."\\
"I see billions of stars," says Watson.\\
"And what do you deduce from that?" says Holmes.\\
Watson thinks for a minute. "Well, Astrologically, I deduce that Saturn is in Capricorn.\\
Astronomically, that it is 3:00 am. Meteorologically, that tomorrow will be a beautiful day.\\
Theologically, that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignificant.\\
What do you deduce?"\\
Holmes sighs. "Watson, you idiot. I deduce that ''someone has stolen our tent''."''

** In ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', it's mentioned that the greatest philosopher of the Disc was asked at a party "Why are you here?" He needed three years for the answer.
** In ''Discworld/EqualRites'', when a young girl is asked (after arriving unexpectedly) where she came from, she answers that Granny won't tell her that yet.
** In ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'', when at the end of time Astfgl the demon lord speaks with Death, resulting in the following exchange:

** In ''Discworld/ReaperMan'', when Death is asked: "Why are we here?", he says: [[AC:"I do not speculate on cosmic matters."]]
** In ''Discworld/IShallWearMidnight'', when Esk is asked "Do you know what the time is?" she replies "It is a way of describing one of the notional dimensions of four-dimensional space. But for your purposes, it's about ten forty-five."
** In ''Discworld/GoingPostal'', there's an inversion, as unlikely as that sounds. Vetinari asks a serious philosophical question and gets the answer, "Well, my lord, I've always thought that what the world really needs are [[MundaneWish filing boxes which are not so flimsy.]]"

'''James Veitch''': How can I prove to you that I am real? How can you prove that you are real? In truth, how can any of us prove that we are real?[[/folder]]

'''Horace:''' Oh, somebody tied me up and took all our cartoons.

* Commercials for Tombstone brand frozen pizzas usually go something like this: A modern individual is about to be killed in any of a number of far-off settings. The person leading the execution asks the modern individual "What do you want on your tombstone?" The would-be victim responds by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8simZ9mut4Q naming off pizza toppings]].

'''Johnny:''' Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology fowl to frog]], to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, [[AltumVidetur amo amas amat, quid pro quo, memento mori, ad infinitum]], sprinkle on a little bit of grated cheese and leave under the grill till Doomsday.