History Main / OnlySaneByComparison

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Bob is usually the straight man to the rest of his family, but he's been the subject of odd looks himself, as he has a tendency to take on ridiculous tasks to prove a point, suffer breakdowns, and sometimes talks to himself (or imagines inanimate objects talking to him) under stress.

** Brian can fill this role with his usually down-to-earth attitude whenever Lois is being just as insane as the rest of the [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional Griffins]]. He's still a smug, pretentious KnowNothingKnowItAll who thinks he is a brilliant writer (when he's anything but) and he has a habit of getting caught up in his own hype, can be extremely selfish, and consistently refuses to [[NeverMyFault face up to]] or learn from any of his flaws.

** Fry plays this role in "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E7TheDayTheEarthStoodStupid The Day The Earth Stood Stupid]]". Although he's usually the show's main [[TheDitz Ditz]], when earth is invaded by the Brain Spawn, Fry's [[DisabilitySuperpower lack of a Delta Brainwave]] makes him the only person on the planet who is immune to their powers, which turn everyone else into brainless morons. Although he's still very much an IdiotHero, he's the only person who can save the day by default. It's best demonstrated when he yells at the people of New New York to stop acting so stupid [[HypocriticalHumor through the wrong end of a megaphone.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill is extremely uptight and a staunch believer in the GoodOldWays, and is the OnlySaneMan among his closest friends: Dale Gribble, a ConspiracyTheorist, Bill Dauterive, [[TheEeyore a pathologically depressed barber]], and Boomhauer, an [[TheUnintelligible unintelligible]] [[TheCasanova casanova]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[{{Bookworm}} Twilight Sparkle]] started off as the FishOutOfWater in Ponyville dumbfounded by the group's eccentricities and even declaring the whole town to be "crazy". As episodes progressed however, she evolved into this trope and Twilight demonstrated just as many comedic flaws and neuroses, which, rather ironically, have led to her having maybe the most exaggerated {{Freak Out}}s of the whole main group. To the point that her having a nervous breakdown due to her obsessions has become a RunningGag and the others regularly acknowledge her flaws inverse.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': In season four, Double Trouble is an amoral, self-serving sadist whose only goal is to cause drama and make money without a care for how they do it. But, even they are a picture of sanity compared to [[spoiler:Catra]], who by that point has destroyed her relationships and turned into a paranoid, spiteful wreck hellbent on conquering Etheria at any cost. [[spoiler:Thankfully, she gets better]].

** Squidward Tentacles is a rude, selfish, and bad-tempered {{narcissist}} and a blatant case of SmallNameBigEgo, but he's also the most rational character who has to put up with his annoyingly idiotic neighbours (originally he was more a grouch and a stick in the mud, but over time their antics became increasingly disruptive and obnoxious), and usually has more common sense than most people around him to the point that he [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]] takes this as far as being effectively the only voice of common sense to the entire town.
** Mr. Krabs is generally more mature and sensible than most of the cast, and is likewise usually the only one focused on business and the job at hand, especially compared to the foolish Patrick, the lazy Squidward, and the energetic {{Cloudcuckoolander}} [=SpongeBob=], with him usually struggling to keep them in line with and focused on whatever goal he's got. This doesn't make him much saner than the others, though, as he's [[MoneyFetish greedy to the point of obsession]], prone to [[PsychopathicManchild immature bouts of psychosis]], and [[SkewedPriorities will prioritize his money over just about anything, even his own safety]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Played with. Of the Homeworld Elite rulers [[spoiler:Pink]] Diamond is initially viewed by the cast as being an insane, galactic tyrant just like her fellow Diamonds, but is eventually [[spoiler:revealed to be the alter-ego of Steven's mom, Rose Quartz, who liberated Earth and fought against the Diamonds after she witnessed the destruction their actions were causing to other planets]]. However, it's later revealed that despite all that, she still did a lot of terrible things, such as [[spoiler:tricking Spinel into staying alone for six thousand years, leaving Steven to deal with her problems, and causing Pink Pearl enough psychological stress that her eye is permanently cracked]]. In the end, everyone is left with a lot of complicated feelings towards her and her deeds, and accept she wasn't always the [[spoiler:infallible hero they thought she was]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The Straw Hat Pirates are, in the most part, crazy. You have: Monkey D. Luffy, [[ManChild a young man with the brain and personality of a hyper-active 7-year-old]]; [[CasanovaWannabe would-be lady's man and raging misandrist]] Sanji; border-line feral swordsman Roronoa Zoro; Franky, a self-made {{cyborg}} who runs around in freezing weather in a speedo and thinks flashlight nipples and nose-triggered automatic hair-styles are brilliant inventions; and Brook, a panty-obsessed [[DemBones living skeleton]] with severe psychological trauma and survivor's guilt. The ''saner'' members of the crew are Nami (who is absurdly greedy), Nico Robin (who has an extremely morbid sense of humor), and Chopper (who, despite his advanced medical skills, fundamentally has the personality of a small and naive child, though in fairness he ''is'' a kid). The only crewmember who can unequivocally be considered sane is Jinbei, who tends to come off as rather flat by comparison.

* ''Anime/DragonballZ''

* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'': Exaggerated. ''No one'' is sane in this series, but some are definitely saner than others given the cast includes ''multiple people'' obsessed with a headless fairy (some prefer the head, some prefer the body), knife-wielding love zombies, and more. Mikado initially seems to be the only normal person around, [[spoiler:but he also founded a gang online because he was bored and undergoes SanitySlippage until he becomes suicidal]]. Celty - the aforementioned headless fairy - is more consistently portrayed as the sane one, but she is still an entirely inhuman being who's suggested to act the way she does only because of her missing head.

* In ''Literature/{{Konosuba}}'', Kazuma is the most generally functional member of his party, but when the other members consist of a crusader who seems to only enter battle [[TooKinkyToTorture for weird sex reasons]], a mage who [[CripplingOverspecialization refuses to cast any spell except one that knocks her out immediately afterward]], and a priestess who is [[TheDitz just profoundly stupid in general]], this is a low bar. Kazuma himself is ''also'' [[MrViceGuy stupid, lazy, perverted, egotistic, and prone to getting himself killed]]; he's just not as bad as his compatriots, which regularly shows whenever he has to interact with someone outside his circle.

* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura:'' One-time cast member Mr. Shiowatari is an old friend of mainstay secondary character Mr. Fujinami who [[IncompetenceInc decided a deserted island was the perfect place to open a beach cafe]], ate himself to death trying to perfect [[CordonBleughChef sea urchin shaved ice]], and was so determined to have a daughter to marry his friend Fujinami's son that he [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised his son as a girl]]. He only comes off as "sane" because Mr. Fujinami shares the same low competence and refusal to accept his daughter's gender, but is also [[AbusiveParents horribly abusive]] and an all-around JerkAss, whereas Shiowatari is a friendly guy who genuinely loves his son and treats him well outside of insisting he's really a girl.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Batman's RoguesGallery is notorious for the majority of its members suffering from some variation of insanity or other, to the point that even amongst other DC villains they're generally regarded as the crazies. However, some of them are so far over the line that they have this effect on the other members, as demonstrated during their frequent team-ups and interactions. The most notable example is the ComicBook/TheJoker with his sheer homicidal mania and sadism [[EvenEvilHasStandards being too much even for their standards]], but others who provoke this effect include [[{{Pyromaniac}} Firefly]] (in one memorable incident his partnership with Killer Moth ended with Moth seriously fearing for his life after getting a good look at just how insane Firefly really was), The Mad Hatter and [[TheMentallyDisturbed Professor Pyg]].

* In ''ComicBook/SamAndMax'' Sam serves as the straight man of the duo who reins in Max's worst urges... but Sam is also a trigger-happy vigilante who sees Max's violent and sociopathic tendencies as ''mildly'' irritating at best (in that they're getting in the way of doing something, not that he's being violent) and adorable character quirks at worst.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'': Jerry Craven lives in a fantasy where he's in Heaven and goes back to Earth to help the government when really they brought him back to life as a cyborg against his will after he died. Nonetheless, he's the only Supergod to treat humans with respect and compassion rather than apathetically killing them by the thousands. He's also the only one who recognizes that fighting Krishna will only cause massive civilian casualties and should be avoided at all costs.

* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'': Mr. Pink, despite being a neurotic robber, a jerkish coward, and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist towards black people]], fulfills this in comparison to his colleagues and supervisors. Throughout the movie he is the only one who tries to calm down the estranged group as they argue about who the traitor is, reminding them that they are supposed to be professionals and to focus on the situation at hand. While he fails to stop the situation from escalating this is why [[spoiler: only he survives the end of the story, whereas everyone else (including the traitor) dies]]. [[AllForNothing He still gets caught by the Police though.]]

* ''Literature/{{Flashman}}'': [[VillainProtagonist Harry Flashman]], supposedly a [[FakeUltimateHero glorious Victorian military hero]] of the British Empire, is in reality a bullying, lecherous, backstabbing racist, misogynistic coward who kisses up to superiors and exploits everyone below him. However, compared to the sheer number of {{Upper Class Twit}}s, [[GeneralFailure incompetents]] and/or [[GeneralRipper bloodthirsty]] senior figures that make up the British Army of the 19th century (or for that matter most of the world's armies), Flashman more often than not comes across as far more sane than he has any right to. Likewise while a self-admitted scoundrel (at least in private) and murderer, he's also usually the only one to be visibly disgusted by the needless loss of life or pointless cruelty that [[WarIsHell every side involved in the wars]] he takes part in is guilty of.
* ''Literature/TheMagicians:''
** Alice seems to be the one member of the Physical Kids who can act sensibly and isn't somehow horribly dysfunctional - at least compared to Quentin's {{Manchild}} tendencies, Eliot's alcoholism, Josh's SadClown antics, and Janet's nature as an AlphaBitch. However, you don't get into [[WizardingSchool Brakebills]] without being obsessive to the point of insanity. Alice is just a lot more self-aware about her issues, having seen her own parents go off the deep end. Among other things, she's one of only two students who participate in Mayakovsky's UltimateFinalExam - a ''naked walk to the South Pole'' - and actually refuses to use the correct technique to do so, instead deliberately botching a spell in a way that'll burn her alive if she makes a mistake. [[spoiler: Later, she's the first to take the journey into [[EldritchLocations the Neitherlands]], a course of action that could best be described as "ill-advised - and that's ''before'' she sucker-punches Quentin in the face.]]
** In ''The Magician King,'' Julia seems to be one of the few sensible members of the Murs coven, in the sense that she hasn't descended into highly-dangerous MadScientist tendencies and thinks that the group's ultimate goal of [[spoiler: summoning a goddess for the sake of truth and happiness]] might be a bad idea. However, Julia isn't without her own eccentricities: ever since she failed the Brakebills IncomprehensibleEntranceExam, she's suffered from crippling depression and has been obsessing over magic to the point of abandoning all her prospects, refusing all her college offers, and descending into the magical underground [[spoiler: where she actually traded sex for magical knowledge.]]
* ''Literature/NumeroZero'': Maia Fresia is an eccentric young journalist with somewhat childlike mannerisms and a penchant for randomly blurting out her thoughts, to the point where it's speculated by her co-workers she might have an undiagnosed development disorder. However, compared to her colleagues, who are a bunch of unscrupulous swindlers (plus one crazy ConspiracyTheorist), she appears very rational and level-headed, not to mention [[CuckooSnarker quick-witted]] and sharp.

* ''[[Literature/SisterPelagia Pelagia and the Red Rooster]]'': Emmanuel (aka Manuila) is a [[EccentricMentor a quirky religious prophet]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolanguage}} with peculiar speech mannerisms]]. However, compared to the others who are either [[KnightTemplar religious extremists of various sorts]] (such as the fanatical Russian Orthodox Pobedin) or just plain weirdos (such as a bunch of [[CampGay Camp Gays]] who rebuilt and inhabited the biblical Sodom, and are planning to rebuild Gomorrah for lesbian women), Emmanuel appears one of the most sane, not to mention kind-hearted.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}:''

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse2018'': Played with in the case of Steve Crain. Steve likes to style himself as the one sane, rational member of the family, and for the most part, he's often the first to take a practical approach to things. By contrast, his father is constantly speaking to an illusory version of his dead wife, Shirley is a ControlFreak obsessed with "fixing" the dead through embalming, Theo is "[[{{Tsundere}} a clenched fist with hair]]", Luke is an AddledAddict plagued with nightmarish visions, and [[TheWoobie Nellie]] experienced visions of her own, spiralled into depression and ended up apparently killing herself. However, Steve ultimately admits to seeing the same visions as the others, believing them to be symptoms of hereditary mental illness - and takes his fear of madness all the way into insanity: [[AloofBigBrother he obsessively distances himself from his family's "madness"]], instinctively denies the supernatural to the point of interrupting any attempts to explain things to him, refuses to acknowledge his habit of hurting people in pursuit of his ambitions, and [[NeverMyFault transfers his guilt over Nellie's death to his father]]. [[spoiler:Finally, he was so desperate to avoid spreading his "condition" that he got a vasectomy right out of college, and ''never told his wife'', not even when she divorced him out of frustration.]] Of course, the supernatural is real in this setting, meaning that Steve is not only completely wrong about the hereditary mental illness deal but is actually ''less'' in touch with reality than Luke and Nellie.
* ''Series/TheInbetweeners'': Simon and Will tend to trade the OnlySaneMan role depending on the situation, with Simon being more socially adept and Will more logical and intellectual. Both are certainly much more sane than Jay, a lecherous CasanovaWannabe who tells some of the most outrageous BlatantLies imaginable, and Neil, who takes being TheDitz to absurd heights. However, they are still a pair of awkward, whiny, and spectacularly uncool teenagers frequently prone to holding the JerkassBall or gaining AcquiredSituationalNarcissism, with Will being an InsufferableGenius at best and a KnowNothingKnowItAll at worst, while Simon rapidly transitions from the most rational to least rational member of the group whenever his hopeless infatuation with Carli comes into play.

* ''Series/TheITCrowd'': Jen is a [[ConsummateLiar pathological liar]] with a massive chip on her shoulder, and is so appallingly unsuited for working in IT that she thinks the Internet comes out of a small box. That said, her co-workers are the lazy, immature Roy, {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Moss, and eccentric goth Richmond, and thus she was appointed head of the department simply because she's the only one there who can pass for functional.

---> ''(After witnessing Ben apologize for killing Locke at the latter's funeral)'' Weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to.
* ''{{Series/Maniac|2018}}'': The scientists in charge of the Neberdine drug trial seem to be almost as neurotic as the test subjects they're studying: Dr Justin Mantleray is an obsessive, pompous egotist plagued with MommyIssues and a [[KissMeImVirtual technology-related]] paraphilia; Dr Robert Muramoto is a barely-FunctionalAddict [[spoiler: and has [[{{Robosexual}} been having an affair with the GRTA]] behind closed doors]]. Next to them, Dr Azumi Fujita seems to be the one consummate professional... except she's almost as obsessed with the project as Justin, compulsively bottles up her emotions, and suffers from such an extreme case of agoraphobia that she rarely leaves the project base.

** In the ''Dead Money'' DLC, Christine Royce seems to be the sanest possible member of your hopelessly ragtag heist team... at least compared to Father Elijah's [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal obsession]] with pre-War technologies, Dog's [[HorrorHunger endless hunger]], God's [[ControlFreak need for control]], and Dean Domino's IrrationalHatred for anyone who seems even ''slightly'' better than him. However, Christine is almost as obsessed as everyone else on the team - in this case, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge she's out for revenge against Elijah]] and has continued hunting him down even after suffering crippling losses in the process: so far, she's lost the ability to read and write due to being [[spoiler: lobotomized by the Big Mountain Think Tank]], been locked in an auto-doc for god only knows how long, and had her vocal cords ripped out. But even mute, brain damaged, and traumatized, she's still saner than any of the others.
** In the ''Old World Blues'' DLC, every single member of the Big Mountain [[BrainsInJars Think Tank team]] seems to be wildly eccentric verging on insane: Dr Klein is a bullying narcissist, Dr 0 is a BunglingInventor with an irrational hate-on for Mr House, Dr Borous is a RedScare promoting PsychopathicManchild with NoIndoorVoice, and Dr Dala is a creepy SoftSpokenSadist obsessed with organic bodies to the point of FantasticArousal. Next to them, the unassuming [[TokenGoodTeammate Dr 8]] seems quite reasonable, even helpful; at his only problem seems to be his inability to speak in anything other than static. But then, he wouldn't be a member of the Think Tank if he wasn't a MadScientist willing to stuff his brain into a jar: translation reveals that he's a bit of a MoodSwinger... and he's really, ''really'' into pleasuring himself, to the point that [[spoiler: he prepares your sonic blaster for combat by sonically ejaculating into it.]]
*** There's also Dr Mobius, former member of the Think Tank turned BigBad. [[spoiler: He's got the personality of a rambling, senile old man and has an addiction to the mind-altering drugs mentats and psycho but he's also got the strongest moral compass of the Think Tank and had long come to realize just how insane and dangerous they all are so he created an elaborate setup that keeps the Think Tank ignorant and trapped in Big Mountain so they don't wreak havoc on the rest of the world]].

* ''Videogame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope:'' Among the Passionariyy Far-Right clique in [[DisasterDemocracy Komi]], Igor Shafarevich is a less-than-hidden cryptofascist who will [[PresidentForLife pretend to run a democracy where his name's the only one in the ballots]], and also a stealthier, but virulent Slavic supremacist that quietly disappears ethnic minorities. Seems awful enough, but when compared to Gumilyov (Eurasianist and Mongol Horde [=LARPer=] who wants to tie the continents into one thing), Serov (a literal [[CommieNazis Commie Nazi]] who blames the Koreans for everything bad that happened to Russia) and especially Taboritsky ([[AxCrazy unmedicated schizophrenic]] that thinks he needs to cleanse Russia to make (the deceased) Tsar Alexei come back, and takes to it with [[AbsoluteXenophobe genocidal vigor]]), he at least ''tries'' to look like he'll make something stable.

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'': Issue 9 introduces Harumi and Yuichi, siblings trapped on the outskirts of Kaidan by the Tokyo Incident. Of the two, Harumi is the most rational and a CloudcuckoolandersMinder to her older brother - who spends most of the day too paranoid to even function [[spoiler: thanks to nearly being used as a suicide bomber by the Fear Nothing Foundation.]] However, "[[AffectionateNickname Rum]]" is ridiculously exuberant, ever-so-slightly grandiose, and obsessed with achieving digital omniscience by hacking anything with an internet connection.

-->'''Spike:''' [[LampshadeHanging Am I the only sane one in this crazy world of technicolor pony weirdos!?!]]

* In Creator/TomSka's video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLE-K1CJ-Ts The Blame Game]]", Tom plays a masked madman who plans to kidnap and murder the people responsible for him being bullied as a child. None of the people he kidnaps seem to care about being kidnapped and threatened - they just cheerfully blame their actions on someone else and then join in on threatening the next person to be kidnapped. Tom ends up being the only one who notices how bizarre the situation is getting, and the only one who's confused as to how all these people are [[OffscreenTeleportation popping out of nowhere]].

** Sandy Cheeks is a downplayed case of this since she is legitimately talented, virtuous, and intelligent, often making her the undisputed voice of reason among the main group as a result of their aforementioned vices and stupid qualities. However Sandy also has her own eccentricities such as a violent SeriousBusiness temperament and a ''very'' competitive streak. "Sandy, Spongebob and the Worm" lampshaded that her being the most competent civilian of the hapless Bikini Bottom doesn't necessarily make her infallible.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Played with. Of the Homeworld Elite rulers [[spoiler:Pink]] Diamond is initially viewed by the cast as being an insane, galactic tyrant just like her fellow Diamonds, but is eventually [[spoiler:revealed to be the alter-ego of Steven's mom, Rose Quartz, who liberated Earth and fought against the Diamonds after she witnessed the destruction their actions were causing to other planets]]. However, it's later revealed that despite all that, she still did a lot of terrible things, such as [[spoiler: tricking Spinel into staying alone for six thousand years, leaving Steven to deal with her problems, and causing Pink Pearl enough psychological stress that her eye is permanently cracked]]. In the end, everyone is left with a lot of complicated feelings towards her and her deeds, and accept she wasn't always the [[spoiler: infallible hero they thought she was]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Villainous|CartoonNetwork}}'': Dr. Flug is the meek scientist behind many of the schemes and weapons sold by [[EvilInc Black Hat Organisation]] to take down heroes. He's considerably reasonable and easy-going compared to the other members, such as his vaguely demonic BadBoss Black Hat and crazed cannibal [[CoDragons CoDragon]] Demencia. However, he is still a villain, a MadScientist to be exact. His sadism surfaces when he does torturous experiments on others, and in his hobbies such as collecting shrunken planes, supposedly [[AndIMustScream with passengers still inside]].

* ''Series/FatherTed'': Father [[{{Schemer}} Ted Crilly]] is a somewhat smug, legitimately corrupt, selfish man who spends the series constantly trying to cheat and scheme his way out of work or into fame and fortune and who is only really smart in comparison to the incredibly low standards of [[EldritchLocation Craggy Island]]; he is also heavily implied to be a gambling addict and is overall a disinterested, unsuitable priest. However, compared to the [[ManChild childish]], incredibly [[TheDitz stupid]] and outright strange Father [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Dougal McGuire]]; the foul-mouthed, [[HairTriggerTemper hot tempered]], [[DirtyOldMonk lecherous]], borderline subhuman and utterly insane Father [[TheAlcoholic Jack Hackett]] (who even in flashbacks to when he was sober and lucid was [[SinisterMinister terrifying, abusive and sadistic]]); and the neurotic, tea- and housework-obsessed (to the point of staying up every night for two years straight in case anyone wanted a cup of tea despite none of them ever doing so), passive-aggressive Mrs Doyle, as well as all the other nutty inhabitants of the island, Ted usually comes across as the only (slightly) competent and rational person, and is generally the closest thing the series has to a normal person.

* ''Franchise/TheMuppets'': DependingOnTheWriter Kermit the Frog falls into this. Sure, he's pretty grounded and sensible compared to the diva pig, the bear comedian, and whatever Gonzo is... but he's still a Muppet. In Jim Henson's early career and ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', whilst usually the voice of reason compared with the other abrasive Muppets and their bizarre acts, he has a clear penchant for mischief, neurosis, and sometimes poor decisions to keep the show barely held together which made up just as much of the humour as any of the other Muppets antics, with Henson even stating that Kermit was designed to say things he'd hold back. After Jim died and Steve Whitmire took over, this side of him was dialled down with Kermit becoming a more conventional StraightMan. Recent works such as ''Film/TheMuppets2011'' and ''Series/MuppetsLive'' however, call back to the earlier more flawed and eccentric Kermit. Lampshaded in one episode of the series:

-->'''Doug/John from theroommovie.com:''' We have our good name to keep!
-->'''Doug/Tommy:''' No we don't. We're famous because people make fun of our name.

* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'': The titular critic often finds himself playing the snarky straight guy to more off-the-wall characters, such as Chester A. Bum, Hyper Fangirl, [[AdamWesting the insane personas of his coworkers]], or the parody characters who often appear into his house. Of course, Critic himself has always had a HairTriggerTemper and serious mental instability, so he's nowhere near sane himself. On the flip side, some episodes have Malcolm and Rachel or Tamara play the straight man to Critic's childish insanity, while still throwing hints that, despite reacting more calmly to movies, they're also quite emotionally disturbed and can get violent at times. A few episodes give up on the charade and present them as equally accepting of each other's insanity.
** The sketch "The Tommy Wiseau Show" has the title character being his CloudCuckoolander self, including saying "Poodles." for no reason. However, his sanity goes up when compared to John from theroommovie.com, [[Main/FrivolousLawsuit who wants to sue Tommy Wiseau for using the copyrighted image of Tommy Wiseau.]]

* ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'': Nagito is known by his class for being a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} at best and [[spoiler:a deranged terrorist]] at worst. [[spoiler.After being brainwashed, the students use their talents to destroy the world, believing what they're doing is right. In contrast, Nagito's personality is mostly the same and he knows he is Ultimate Despair, though his deeds are far less horrific than those of his peers.]]

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Played with in the case of Steve Crain. Steve likes to style himself as the one sane, rational member of the family, and for the most part, he's often the first to take a practical approach to things. By contrast, his father is constantly speaking to an illusory version of his dead wife, Shirley is a ControlFreak obsessed with "fixing" the dead through embalming, Theo is "[[{{Tsundere}} a clenched fist with hair]]", Luke is an AddledAddict plagued with nightmarish visions, and [[TheWoobie Nellie]] experienced visions of her own, spiralled into depression and ended up apparently killing herself. However, Steve ultimately admits to seeing the same visions as the others, believing them to be symptoms of hereditary mental illness - and takes his fear of madness all the way into insanity: [[AloofBigBrother he obsessively distances himself from his family's "madness"]], instinctively denies the supernatural to the point of interrupting any attempts to explain things to him, refuses to acknowledge his habit of hurting people in pursuit of his ambitions, and [[NeverMyFault transfers his guilt over Nellie's death to his father]]. [[spoiler:Finally, he was so desperate to avoid spreading his "condition" that he got a vasectomy right out of college, and ''never told his wife'', not even when she divorced him out of frustration.]] Of course, the supernatural is real in this setting, meaning that Steve is not only completely wrong about the hereditary mental illness deal but is actually ''less'' in touch with reality than Luke and Nellie.

* ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Vaggie has a HairTriggerTemper and a tendency to threaten people with knives and spears but she's one of the most level-headed and ProperlyParanoid of the cast when compared to the cannibalistic SerialKiller [[AmbiguouslyEvil Alastor]], the drug addicted, [[AllGaysArePromiscuous promiscuous]] and flippant Angel Dust, the possibly crazy and [[NeatFreak obsessively clean]] LoveFreak Niffty and the drunkenly depressed, apathetic Husk. However, it's more of a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example]] with her girlfriend Charlie; compared to Vaggie, Charlie can be somewhat naïve and overly trusting but she's also the only person who's even attempting to find an alternative solution to Hell's overpopulation problem and has the sense to not make [[DealWithTheDevil pacts]] with other demons.

* PlayedForLaughs with T'lyn from ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''. She was kicked off of her last ship for being an impulsive hellraiser... by ''[[TheSpock Vulcan]]'' standards. As far as anyone else is concerned (especially on the insanity that is the ''Cerritos''), she comes across as TheStoic.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Nami and Nico Robin are by far the sanest members of the Strawhat crew. This is not a great achievement.

* ''Literature/TheRunningGrave'': PosthumousCharacter Rust Andersen (an early Chapman Farms resident) was a Vietnam veteran who never returned to America, looks prematurely aged in a picture Robin sees, and spent decades living in a tent and avoiding crowds. He still comes across as having been more benevolent and grounded than most of his neighbors (two different cults of sexual predators, con men, and lost or gullible followers) both before and after the Waces’ takeover of the farm]].

* ''Literature/SharpObjects'': Camille Preaker is the TokenGoodTeammate of the Preaker-Crellin family, as well as the most normal and relatable of the lot. She's also an alcoholic, a self-harmer, a JadedWashout, and a completely self-destructive cynic who isn't even very good at her job of being an reporter. However, her [[EvilMatriarch mother]] is an abusive monster [[spoiler:who's been poisoning her children for decades]], her little sister Amma is a FilleFatale, horrifyingly BarbaricBully [[spoiler:and a SerialKiller]], and her stepfather Alan enables them both. Camille is at least genuinely ''trying'' to do better, tries to protect Amma from their mother, and is acutely aware of her own shortcomings.

* ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'': Nagito is known by his class for being a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} at best and a deranged terrorist at worst. After being brainwashed, the students use their talents to destroy the world, believing what they're doing is right. In contrast, Nagito's personality is mostly the same and he knows he is Ultimate Despair, though his deeds are far less horrific than those of his peers.

** Verlaine is arguably less sane than Rimbaud, but by a thinner margin than one might expect. On their mission to capture the seven-year-old Chuuya, Rimbaud had been perfectly fine handing the boy over [[spoiler:to be experimented on]] as he did not consider him a human like Verlaine despite them both being [[spoiler:clones]], leading to a fight when he decided to set Chuuya free. However, without Rimbaud to make him feel human, Verlaine's [[spoiler:CloningBlues]] cause him to snap and attempt to murder everyone close to Chuuya. [[spoiler:He gets better]].

* ''Fanfic/RickAndTheLoudHouse'': While Rick himself isn’t the sanest or moral person around, he isn’t afraid to scold his granddaughters on their more problematic behaviors or aspects of their relationship with Lincoln, such as assuming his bully likes him because said bully a girl.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
** [[Characters/MonsterVerseUSGovernmentAndMilitary Admiral William Stenz]] is a calm and collected military officer who at least tries to listen to the experts he's provided, but he's also all but blinded by his narrow-mindedness to the idea that humans coexisting with the [[{{Kaiju}} Titans]] is mankind's best chance at survival and tends to be too focused on neutralizing the immediate Titan threat to recognize that the military's methods for attempting to kill them are very likely to only make things go FromBadToWorse. That being said, after what we saw of Stenz in ''Film/Godzilla2014'', he comes off as comparatively more open to reason than the other U.S. government figures such as Senator Williams in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', who lack Stenz's respect for Monarch's top brass and are pretty much looking for any excuse to take over Monarch and fall back on GottaKillEmAll.
** Also in ''King of the Monsters'', one of [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah Ghidorah]]'s [[MultipleHeadCase three heads]] has this comparative to the other two. Ichi (the middle head) appears to be the most intelligent of the three, and he has quicker reactions than the other two when they notice a change in development. That being said, he also appears to be the ''most'' {{sadist}}ic of the three if his more-frequent {{Slasher Smile}}s and attack on [[spoiler:Dr. Graham]] are any indication; furthermore, if just one of the heads can be held responsible for Ghidorah's EvilPlan to reshape the Earth and wipe out the majority of life on it, it'd be Ichi as the trio's leader.

*** [[Characters/MonsterVerseRenSerizawa Ren Serizawa]] is part of Apex Cybernetics' MugglePower EvilPlan, is obsessed with killing Godzilla [[UngratefulBastard despite everything the Titan has done for the world that saved humanity from destruction]] all because of how Ren's father's HeroicSacrifice affected him, and the {{novelization}} reveals he has some GodhoodSeeker delusions about himself and his psionic uplink to Mechagodzilla. Oh, and as Apex's chief technology officer and the Mechagodzilla pilot, he's directly part of Apex's TooDumbToLive plan to [[spoiler:use Ghidorah's [[NotQuiteDead still-telepathic]] [[BizarreAlienBiology extraterrestrial]] remains as the '''brain''' for their Mecha]]. That being said, Ren is the only one in the control room who speaks up when his [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil boss]] Walter Simmons wants to rush straight through uploading the Hollow Earth energy formula into Mechagodzilla because they don't know how the Mecha's technology or [[spoiler:Ghidorah's telepathy]] will react without proper testing.
*** PlayedWith among the three-man Team Godzilla in the film. On one hand, [[Characters/MonsterVerseMadisonRussell Madison Russell]] is intelligent but not a CloudCuckoolander like Bernie and has none of Josh's CowardlyLion as well as none of the other two's PluckyComicRelief. On the other hand, [[Characters/MonsterVerseHumans Josh Valentine]] because of his Cowardly Lion tendency is the only one who hesitates and speaks up against heading straight towards possible unknown danger, not that the other two listen to him.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh: While Koyomi Mizuhara has a mean spirited sense of humor (As shown when she gave Osaka hiccups by feeding her some spicy food) and can sometimes be short-tempered when dealing with Tomo's antics, she is, for the most part, the sanest of the main group.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Exaggerated. ''No one'' is sane in this series, but some are definitely saner than others given the cast includes ''multiple people'' obsessed with a headless fairy (some prefer the head, some prefer the body), knife-wielding love zombies, and more. Mikado initially seems to be the only normal person around, [[spoiler:but he also founded a gang online because he was bored and undergoes SanitySlippage until he becomes suicidal]]. Celty - the aforementioned headless fairy - is more consistently portrayed as the sane one, but she is still an entirely inhuman being who's suggested to act the way she does only because of her missing head.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'', Kazuma is the most generally functional member of his party, but when the other members consist of a crusader who seems to only enter battle [[TooKinkyToTorture for weird sex reasons]], a mage who [[CripplingOverspecialization refuses to cast any spell except one that knocks her out immediately afterward]], and a priestess who is [[TheDitz just profoundly stupid in general]], this is a low bar. Kazuma himself is ''also'' [[MrViceGuy stupid, lazy, perverted, egotistic, and prone to getting himself killed]]; he's just not as bad as his compatriots, which regularly shows whenever he has to interact with someone outside his circle.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'', Kazuma is the most generally functional member of his party, but when the other members consist of a crusader who seems to only enter battle [[CombatSadomasochist for weird sex reasons]], a mage who [[CripplingOverspecialization refuses to cast any spell except one that knocks her out immediately afterward]], and a priestess who is [[TheDitz just profoundly stupid in general]], this is a low bar. Kazuma himself is ''also'' [[MrViceGuy stupid, lazy, perverted, egotistic, and prone to getting himself killed]]; he's just not as bad as his compatriots, which regularly shows whenever he has to interact with someone outside his circle.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': The homunculi are AxCrazy psychos with a myriad of individual issues. Gluttony is stupid and eats people, Sloth is similarly dim-witted, Envy is an AttentionWhore, Pride is immensely cruel and Lust likes killing people. Greed, however, cares for his property (friends) and [[spoiler:is the only homunculus not part of a giant conspiracy to destroy Amestris]]. Wrath [[spoiler:is evil, unlike Greed, but also highly intelligent and able to keep his cool, never hinting at his true allegiance or indulging his rage during his entire career as the Führer]]

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': The homunculi are AxeCrazy psychos with a myriad of individual issues. Gluttony is stupid and eats people, Sloth is similarly dim-witted, Envy is an AttentionWhore, Pride is immensely cruel and Lust likes killing people. Greed, however, cares for his property (friends) and [[spoiler:is the only homunculus not part of a giant conspiracy to destroy Amestris]]. Wrath [[spoiler:is evil, unlike Greed, but also highly intelligent and able to keep his cool, never hinting at his true allegiance or indulging his rage during his entire career as the Führer]]

* ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Vaggie has a HairTriggerTemper and a tendency to threaten people with knives and spears but she's one of the most level-headed and ProperlyParanoid of the cast when compared to the cannibalistic SerialKiller [[AmbiguouslyEvil Alastor]], the drug addicted, [[AllGaysArePromiscuous promiscuous]] and flippant Angel Dust, the possibly crazy and [[NeatFreak obsessively clean]] LoveFreak Niffty and the drunkenly depressed, apathetic Husk. However, it's more of a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example]] with her girlfriend Charlie, compared to Vaggie, she can be somewhat naive and overly trusting but she's also the only person who's even attempting to find an alternative solution to Hell's overpopulation problem and has the sense to not make [[DealWithTheDevil pacts]] with other demons.