History Main / NotWearingPantsDream

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' episode "Attack of the Synthezoids" begins with Peter Parker dreaming that he goes to school in his Spider-Man costume. He then looks down and realizes he's missing his pants, exposing his underwear for all to see.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': In the episode [[TheOneWith with Dewey's chickenpox and the dominoes]], Hal has a dream that starts with his wife on a white horse, and transitions to him having a test in school for which he didn't study... and suddenly he's in only his underwear.

* Chloe in ''Recap/InfinityTrainCherryBloodlines'' suffers a variation of this. After seeing her mother wearing a ''very'' bold sling bikini at the beach, she has a nightmare of herself wearing it at school, while Yeardley leers at her.

** Following the progress of the 2020-present Coronavirus pandemic, Some people reported dreaming about forgetting their face masks or other protective gear in public.

** As the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic progresses people have reported dreams about dreams where they forget about wearing a mask in public.

* In ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', the LivingDream and (quadrupedal, incredibly shy) fawn spirit Lillia has this as one of her respawn quotes:
** "I'm not wearing any pants! Oh-oh. So that's what human nightmares are like."

* ''Film/BringItOn'': [[DreamIntro The film begins]] with Torrance having a nightmare where she's doing a cheerleading performance in front of the whole school and as she finishes we see her ToplessnessFromTheBack in front of the crowd that staring laughing and EatingTheEyeCandy. she resorts to [[HandOrObjectUnderwear using her pom-poms to cover herself up]] before she wakes up and realizes it was just a bad dream.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'': While not shown, this appears to be the fear vision that the pixies put Mary in during "Where Is My Mind?" (aka the WhatDoTheyFearEpisode), as she's shown running around [[HandsOrObjectUnderwear covering herself with her arms]] and demanding to know who took her clothes.

** Jon [[https://garfield.com/comic/1991/12/01 once had a nightmare]], where he was about to address the assembly of the United Nations, with millions of people watching by television- introducing himself as a horrible loser and saying that he forgot to wear pants.
** Subverted in [[https://garfield.com/comic/2006/08/04 another strip]] where he thinks he's dreaming about being locked outside without pants.

* There is an advertisement for Agrofert (a Czech conglomerate holding company) where a woman pole-vaults naked and wakes up from the dream to reveal that she was sleeping on a plane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-ze2bfsNbc

* In 2003 sitcom ''I'm With Her'', main character and famous actress Alex has a dream where she's accepting a major award, only to suddenly find herself naked in front of the audience.

* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': In "[[Recap/TheMagicians2016S02E06 The Cock Barrens]]", Margo has a dream where she's naked in front of class during a test, [[HandOrObjectUnderwear covering herself with her arms]] in panic. Penny happens to contact her during it, invading her dream and ending up actually seeing her naked, much to her horror. He considers it prime fodder for a favor later.

* Inverted in ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': In the episode ''Teacher Pets'', while sitting in class, Bud Bundy is humiliated by the actions of his father. He then believes he must be having a nightmare, and if he drops his pants, he'll be so embarrassed he will wake up. He does, and not only he isn't dreaming, he finds out he was [[GoingCommando not wearing underwear]].

* ComicBook/HackSlash: Cassie's first battle with [[NeverSleepAgain Ashley Guthrie]] starts out with one of these.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3553239/4/The-Boxer The Boxer]]'':
-->[Harry] regained consciousness too quickly for his liking. As he did a mental checklist and found that he was bound, physically and magically. He couldn't touch his own power. From his position on his back on his floor he looked around to find himself, unsurprisingly, in the centre of a ring of Death Eaters. They were back in the graveyard. And he was naked, brilliant. This was way worse than that dream where he was in Transfiguration and he was supposed to transfigure a bird and wrist watch into a cuckoo clock but ended up naked instead.

* Parodied in the World Builder game ''Brownie's Dream''. One of the dreams involves the title character being back in high school and naked in class. He then wonders what he's worried about, given that he's a cartoon dog who doesn't normally wear clothes, and it turns into a dream about the day he met his girlfriend Jane Doe.

* In ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', the LivingDream and (quadrupedal, incredibly shy) fawn spirit Lillia has this as one of her respawn quotes:
** "I'm not wearing any pants! Oh-oh. So that's what human nightmares are like."

* This is one of the stock dreams referenced in CollegeHumor's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ewVbNIvvI "I'm Not Awake"]] song.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTwistedTalesOfFelixTheCat'' episode "Nightmare on Oak Street", one of the nightmare scenarios Jeepers Creepers uses to torment Felix and Roscoe during his VillainSong involves the two being seen in public in their underwear. It's a rather odd choice, considering that Felix ordinarily goes naked anyway.

* This trope is alluded to in the ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'' episode "Eyes of the Skull".
-->'''Dusty Hayes''': Without my mask, I feel like I'm in one of those dreams where you forget to put pants on.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'' episode "The Hyena and the Mighty", Adam had a dream that he came to school in his underpants. Jake informed him [[ThatWasNotADream that it wasn't a dream]].

* ''Film/TheGift2015'': Robyn has a dream where she sees Gordo [[PeepingTom peeking on her]] while she's [[ShowerScene showering]].

See also OutOfClothesExperience, ComedicUnderwearExposure and NakedFreakOut. Not to be confused with PantsFree (a specific sight gag where someone is revealed to be partly undressed BehindTheBlack); the everyday attire of a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal; a superhero who is NotWearingTights; or situations [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl where a character isn't wearing pants but doesn't care]]. Also not to be confused with GoingCommando. Expect GoofyPrintUnderwear to make an appearance in most cases of this.

The inversion is NudeColoredClothes. To a British audience this trope would be "only wearing pants", since in Britain "pants" are what Americans call "underpants". "Not wearing pants" in Britain would either be "going commando" or "completely nude".

If someone finds themselves unexpectedly naked in public when they're ''awake'', see NakedPeopleTrappedOutside and GoneSwimmingClothesStolen. See SleepsInTheNude for character who sleep in the buff and UndressingTheUnconscious for character that are stripped while they're unconscious.

* ''Film/NewYorkMinute'' [[NakedOnArrival introduces Jane]] while she's having one of these, since the plot is about how anxious she is about an upcoming speech that could win a scholarship. The nightmare has her giving a speech and the audience suddenly starts laughing at her, and the camera shifts to shows she's naked with ShouldersUpNudity. Confused, she then steps away from behind the [[SceneryCensor podium that was concealing her]] and the camera changes to a ToplessnessFromTheBack shot where she stands nude in front of the crowd, who starts laughing harder, and she finally notices her nudity. Cue NakedFreakOut followed by a CatapultNightmare.

* Referenced in ''Literature/{{Dinoverse}}'', when Candayce has a lovely dream of lying out beside a pool in the warm sun, then realizes with horror that she feels the air on her bare chest - and when she wakes up she's naked, because she's in the body of a dinosaur.

* OlderThanRadio: ''The Dream of Councillor Popov'' (1873), a satire in verse by Aleksey Tolstoy (a cousin of Creator/LeoTolstoy and himself a famous Russian poet, novelist and playwright)

* ''Literature/OneOfOurs'': Claude has a dream in which he's walking over to see Enid, only to realize he has no clothes on. In his dream, he leaps into the vegetable garden to hide, and then talks with Enid while trying to conceal his nudity.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Cersei Lannister has a nightmare that starts at her sitting on the Iron Throne and everyone admiring her. Then suddenly Tyrion appears and laughs at her, and Cersei realizes that she's not wearing a dress. After that, the dream takes a horrific turn: Cersei stands up, stumbles and is impaled on the blades of which the throne is made of. The throne starts to grind her into fine red paste like a meatgrinder, and she awakes in horror.

** In season 1, Episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E10Nightmares Nightmares]]", Xander is forced to live through his dream of suddenly being in his underwear in front of the entire class. Apparently he has this one a lot.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': In the episode [[TheOneWith with Dewey's chicken pox and the dominoes]], Hal has a dream that starts with his wife on a white horse, and transitions to him having a test in school for which he didn't study... and suddenly he's in only his underwear.

Then all of sudden I'm floating in mid air

-->'''Merrill''': (giggles) The Champion of Kirkwall going into battle naked! [[CovertPervert Why can't I ever have that dream?]]

* Happens in the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' when April sees a "dream" about Arcadia. Justified, as she actually ''did'' unconsciously travel to Arcadia while sleeping in her bed (and she didn't sleep fully-clothed, naturally). It happens again much later, when she has to flee after being awakened at night and arrives to Arcadia in just her undies.

* ''Webcomic/TheBarePit'' has 2 but since this is a nudist webcomic it gets inverted. The first time it happens the whole world is nude, 2nd time the dreamer is the only who wears clothes.

** The eponymous character ends up in his underwear on a bridge in front of a reporter, his little sister and his home economics teacher who turns out to be another dragon. He figures he must be having a bad dream because of all the stress of his job and begins acting crazy. However, he was not dreaming and pictures of the event were eventually published.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Arthur's Underwear" makes the title character endure at least one every day, while suffering a guilt trip from mocking Binky for ripping his pants in front of the class. [[spoiler:Eventually, Arthur does end up splitting his pants for real... in front of the whole school! Ironically, the event helps him get over his fears and the nightmares stop. The episode ends with [[HereWeGoAgain Buster starting to get dreams about forgetting his pants]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'': "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueActionS1E37TheRinger The Ringer]]", Atom's first hallucination begin with him awkwardly accepting his fellow heroes' accolades... and then finding himself wearing nothing but his mask and underpants as everybody laughs at him.

* Pants-less or fully-nude nightmares do occur in real life and are fairly common (as far as nightmares go). The general consensus among health experts is that such dreams are the result of [[AnxietyDreams anxiety]] in the dreamer's waking life (and, you know, people sleeping either completely pantless or in very lose-fitting pajamas). For instance, people preparing for a wedding often report such dreams.