History Main / PottyEmergency

[[quoteright:107:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/need-to-pee_5235.png]]
[[caption-width-right:107:[-Hopefully she managed to fit a change of clothes into that purse.-] ]]

Sometimes a variant has the character(s) looking for a place to perform some non-potty-related but similarly private activity such as changing clothes, making out, or [[ADateWithRosiePalms whatever]].

* In one episode of ''Manga/{{Mistudomoe}}'', the girls get diarrhea due to bad oranges.

A person trapped in a PottyEmergency can expect to be [[ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere sadistically subjected to all sorts of "watery" imagery]] -- flowing water, spraying water, splashing water, kids running through sprinklers, water fountains, and worst of all, ''lemonade''. All of which will remind him of the ''one thing'' he so desperately wants to do, but can't. Relatedly, a character who has to go to the bathroom while asleep will have dreams of such watery imagery. Sometimes this is punctuated with the character engaging in a little CallingYourBathroomBreaks.

This trope can also be the effect of [[TheFoodPoisoningIncident food poisoning]] or a LaxativePrank.

* In one episode of ''Manga/Mistudomoe'', the girls get diarrhea due to bad oranges.

This trope can also be the effect of [[TheFoodPoisoningIncident food poisoning]] or LaxativePrank.

This trope can also be the cause of [[TheFoodPoisoningIncident food poisoning]] or LaxativePrank.

Now, if your day is ''really'' '''crappy''', one of these emergencies tends to take on an even more extreme precedent...

->''YOU GUYS!! I HAVE TO PEE '''SO BAD!!''' I'M GONNA PEE '''RIGHT HERE!!!'''''[[hottip:*:.........OKAY NEVER MIND]]

* In ''JunieBJones and the Stupid Smelly Bus'', the title character goes through this during the climax when she tries to open several bathroom doors at school, only to find them locked. Thus, she rushes to the nurse's office and calls 911 on the phone. When she finally runs out the school exit, [[EpicFail a green fire truck, white police car and red ambulance drive up to the parking lot on purpose]]. Then the janitor[[hottip:*:or "the man with the can" as she calls him in the book]] stops her when this happens, but Junie B. convinces him that she's having an emergency, so he unlocks a girls' bathroom door for her.

* The ''RoundTheTwist'' episode "The Big Burp" opens with Pete experiencing a PottyEmergency. His eventual solution to this is what sets the main plot in motion.
* ''TheSarahSilvermanProgram'' has an episode where Sarah deals with one of these by relieving herself in a public mailbox.

** In "The City Of New York Vs. Homer Simpson", Homer, standing by his car in order to get it unbooted, overindulges in "crab juice". He rushes to the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center... and finds that the bathroom is out of order. To his utter dismay, he realizes he now needs to go to the top of the ''South'' tower. He does make it there in time. We're treated to a shot outside the tower and hear Homer groaning happily for half a minute. (And coincidentally, the cop he was waiting for shows up ''as he's relieving himself'' and tickets the car again, much to his horror.)

** In "The City Of New York Vs. Homer Simpson", Homer, standing by his car in order to get it unbooted, overindulges in "crab juice". He rushes to the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center... and finds that the bathroom is out of order. To his utter dismay, he realizes he now needs to go to the top of the ''South'' tower.
*** He does make it there in time. We're treated to a shot outside the tower and hear Homer groaning happily for half a minute. (And coincidentally, the cop he was waiting for shows up ''as he's relieving himself'' and tickets the car again, much to his horror.)

** Marge has a Potty Emergency at the beginning of "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’Oh". She drinks too many samples of [[BlandNameProduct "Science Water", and she keeps trying to find a bathroom. She finds one in Springfield Elementary, which is what sets the main plot in motion.

** Marge has a Potty Emergency at the beginning of "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’Oh".

* In the {{trope namer|s}} skit in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' Wakko, who drank too much soda during a movie, was the hapless victim of this routine, which featured just about every twist and turn that you can expect to see in a skit like this. Wakko ''already had'' a toilet on him, thanks to his BagOfHolding -- he just needed the privacy to make use of it. Fortunately, he actually did find a usable potty. In the movie that he was watching at the beginning of the skit.

* Perhaps the greatest example ever was from the [[TropeNamer "Potty Emergency"]] skit in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' [[CaptainObvious (from which this trope takes its name)]]. Wakko, who drank too much soda during a movie, was the hapless victim of this routine, which featured just about every twist and turn that you can expect to see in a skit like this. (Except that Wakko ''already had'' a toilet on him, thanks to his BagOfHolding -- he just needed the privacy to make use of it.) Fortunately, he actually did find a usable potty. In the movie that he was watching at the beginning of the skit.

* Perhaps the greatest example ever was from the [[TropeNamer "Potty Emergency"]] skit in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' [[CaptainObvious (from which this trope takes its name)]]. Wakko, who drank too much soda during a movie, was the hapless victim of this routine, which featured just about every twist and turn that you can expect to see in a skit like this. (Except that Wakko ''already had'' a toilet on him, thanks to his BagOfHolding -- he just needed the privacy to make use of it.)
** And he actually did find a usable potty. In the movie that he was watching at the beginning of the skit.
*** The cruelest gag? Wakko desperately runs through a park but can't "go" because there are children everywhere - and they're either drinking from water fountains or glasses of ''lemonade''! (And no... [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar not the pink kind]].)
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' once featured an episode with Homer being brought to Mr. Burns's mega-mansion to engage in union negotiations. The negotiations were quickly cut short by Homer's overindulgence in coffee and watermelon and his subsequent need to rush to the nearest bathroom. Unfortunately for Homer, the nearest bathroom was about 100 doors away and down a long hallway. (Homer ''does'' eventually relieve himself, although it is implied that he ''didn't quite make it'' to the bathroom.)
** A more famous example happens in "The City Of New York Vs. Homer Simpson" (due to not being seen [[TooSoon since a certain day in 2001]]): Homer, standing by his car in order to get it unbooted, overindulges in "crab juice". He rushes to the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center... and finds that the bathroom is out of order. To his utter dismay, he realizes he now needs to go to the top of the ''South'' tower.

[[quoteright:108:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mizpee_12-38-54.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:108:[-Hopefully she managed to fit a change of clothes into that purse.-] ]]

-->[[{{Persona 4}} Yosuke Hanamura]], [[{{Hiimdaisy}} Big Long Persona 4 Comic]]

Sometimes a PottyEmergency won't end like this, but instead, end with the character fainting or just giving up and going in some random place, damn the consequences. Or, even more humiliatingly, it will end when the character just can't hold it any longer, resulting in PottyFailure. Very rarely does it end with him/her finding a suitable bathroom in the nick of time.

* One scene in ''AreWeThereYet?'' features Ice Cube's attempts to find a bathroom for one of the children he's babysitting. They find a bathroom, but the toilets are so filthy that the child resorts to peeing in the wastebasket. That's when a woman shrieks in horror and Ice Cube, who's holding the boy, turns around to face her...

* In ''YoungGuns2'', an elderly reporter has to go but is stuck on a horse. In case the viewer had any doubts, said character loudly and desperately announces that "I have to have a movement" repeatedly. He manages to dismount, onto a cycad. It is not known whether or not he made it in time.

* Creator/BennyHill used the joke version (see Other below) in his song "Anna Marie".

* This trope occurs in ''The Walking Dead Video Game" Part 1. When you get to the Pharmacy in Macon after the car ride from Hershel's Land. When they get into the Pharmacy and during the following article. Clementine announces to Lee that she has to pee. During the remaining argument Clementine's bladder issues were brought up now and then. Soon enough, Clementine gets the keys to the bathroom. We are then given that in the bathroom was a zombie as Clementine is attacked by the zombie but she is saved.

* In VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire, there is a fisherman just north of Dewford Town who wants to use the washroom, but is afraid of missing a big catch while he's out. When you defeat him in a battle, he claims to have lost because he has to go so badly.

* ''TheSimpsons'' once featured an episode with Homer being brought to Mr. Burns's mega-mansion to engage in union negotiations. The negotiations were quickly cut short by Homer's overindulgence in coffee and watermelon and his subsequent need to rush to the nearest bathroom. Unfortunately for Homer, the nearest bathroom was about 100 doors away and down a long hallway. (Homer ''does'' eventually relieve himself, although it is implied that he ''didn't quite make it'' to the bathroom.)

* In "WesternAnimation/LifeWithLouie" in the episode "The Kiss is the Thing" has this occur with Louie's Dad during the play. After drinking a lot of coffee at work, he rushes out to the play without using the restroom. Once getting there he really needs to go, but the mother doesn't let him. The father is forced in agony while sitting in his seat for the whole play really needing to pee, as a fountain is showed on stage torturing him even more. He puts his hands to his crotch and squirms in pain until the final kiss, when he rushes out feeling like he's going to blow. but, once getting to the bathroom he sees long lines and it's occupied. His legs cross down and tightens in torment.

[[folder:Other]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viz_%28comic%29 Viz Comic]] did an animated spoof of ''Series/DoctorWho'', aptly titled [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZahysN2sIIw "Doctor Poo"]]. In this, the TARDIS clearly doesn't have a toilet, and the Doctor travels through space and time looking for somewhere to defecate.
* A joke: Two guys are going to the theater (that sort with the stage, not with the flicks). Shortly before the play begins, one of the guys feels he has to pee, so he starts looking for the bathroom, but can't find it and gets more and more desperate. Finally, behind a door he finds an empty, badly-lit room, pees into a vase and goes back to his seat. Being arrived there, he asks his friend: "Did I miss something?" The friend answers...
---> 1. "Seems to be one of these modern art pieces - some guy enters, pees into a vase, and exits."
---> 2. "Hey, you should know. ''You'' were at the stage after all."
* A joke book title: ''1000 Yards To The Outhouse'', by Willie Makeit. The actual distance may vary, but isn't really the point of the joke. (It may also be edited or illustrated by Betty Dont, with an introduction by Doris Locked.)
** This eventually spawned a tractor puller to name his tractor after the joke.
* The radio show Car Talk on NPR refers to this occasionally, usually as a driver in need of "an urgent haircut." They even refer to Urgent Haircut Productions.
* [[http://notalwaysright.com/urine-her-way/24264 This]] NotAlwaysRight story, appropriately tagged "bizarre".
* One urban legend involved a potty emergency. A woman really needed to go, but the only place within walking distance that had a functioning restroom was a funeral home. She pretended to be a mourner so she could use the facilities. Afterwards she decided to pay her respects anyway and discovered she was the ''only'' person at the funeral. [[spoiler:Later she is told that the deceased's will stated that his entire fortune should be divided among the people who attended his funeral. Since she was the only one there she inherited all of his money.]][[/folder]]

* ''ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'': A desperate Makoto engages in a mad search for the palace bathroom, which he eventually finds, but can't make use of, since it's the size of a football field and lined with dozens of ''female'' palace servants. (Makoto at this point is impersonating the Princess Fatora, and were he to relieve himself in the traditional ''male'' fashion, the jig would soon be up.)

* In the ''RanmaOneHalf'' episode "Tatewaki Kuno, Substitute Principal", Gosunkugi ''tries'' to prevent Ranma from using the bathroom during a potty emergency, but seeing as it ''is'' Ranma he's dealing with things don't go so well for him.
* A case of ''DetectiveConan'''s featured Conan, Detective Takagi, and the kids trying to prove the innocence of a man who was handcuffed with Sato in an abandoned building. When the case is solved and Sato freed, the first thing she does upon free is desperately ask for a toilet. The irony of the situation is Sato and her suspect were cuffed to a (non-functioning) toilet the entire time.

* Kanata spends most of ''SoRaNoWoTo'''s eighth episode waiting by the phone in case it rings. Even when she has to go to the bathroom. She lasts almost the entire episode. [[PottyFailure Almost.]] Had it not been for Noel sleeping in the bathroom.
* Becky on ''PaniPoniDash'' has an extreme emergency in the episode Even a Thoroughbred has its Habits.
* In a chapter of the ''GunsmithCats'' manga, Rally Vincent finds herself in this situation while stowed away in Bean Bandit's car. She even considers allowing a PottyFailure,despite the fact that it'll give her away. [[spoiler:Luckily, Bean stops at a diner, allowing Rally to visit the ladies's room.]]
* An episode of ''ThoseWhoHuntElves'' has a variation on this, as Junpei refuses to go #2 until he finds some toilet paper. The animators threw in a stress meter to show just how bad the situation was getting.
* In a filler episode of ''{{Dragonball}}'', Goku volunteers to fight the leader of a rival school since the teacher was nice enough to feed him. His son became angry because he was not chosen to fight in his father's place so he put medicine in Goku's soup that would make him go to the bathroom and force him to withdraw from the match. This backfires, however, because Goku did not become sick until the match started, making Goku ask for the match to be stop so he could go the restroom. His opponent ignores his plea and beat him up, causing a little to come out, which pissed Goku off. Goku quickly beats him and then disappears to run to the nearest restroom.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' has a scene involving Misa tied up for investigation, but wants to use the bathroom. She accuses L of being a pervert when he refuses her request.
** In context: Misa was suspected of being Kira, and had been to the bathroom 5 minutes previously. L comments that she's only claiming to need to use the toilet to get out of her restraints. She replies that he is a pervert for having her restrained and watching her 24/7.
* Played for laughs in ''MacrossFrontier'' where Ranka and Alto crash onto a jungle planet. She asks him to wait a second [[PoorCommunicationKills but doesn't say why]]. When Alto says that he doesn't know what might be living in the jungle so he's going with her, she understandably roars "'''[[BigNo DAMEEEE ZETTAI]]!!! {{BAKA}}!!!'''" then runs off. He then grumbles that if she wanted to go to the toilet, she should've said so. Subverted immediately afterwards as the bad guys take advantage of them being separate to kidnap Ranka.

* High's whole part in a certain segment of ''DottoKoniChan'' is a 7-minute-long potty emergency, where he runs around in Koni's ''seriously'' weird house while ''desperately'' searching for the bathroom... and he simply can't get there: [[RunningGag there's someone in a room, he opens a door but it's not a toilet, a poster says that the bathroom is supposed to be several mile ahead, etc.]]. [[spoiler: He ''does'' find it in the end.]]
* In episode 13 of ''{{Nichijou}}'' the Professor has a light night Potty Emergency and is too scared to go alone due to stormy weather. She doesn't have very much trouble holding it, but ultimately fails due to a sudden bolt of lightning [[BringMyBrownPants spooking her]].

* Early in the bondage comic ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'', Lisa's very first request to Ally when they have their first face-to-face meeting is for directions to the bathroom, since she ''really'' needs to pee. She is shown embarrassed that how awkward that felt.

* In the long-lost ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon "Jumping Jack Contest" (which can be viewed [[http://www.hrwiki.org/mirror/jumpinjacks2.html here]]), The Cheat makes Homestar drink lots and lots of Melonade so that he will have to pee. He, obviously, has to pee after drinking all that, so then he relieves himself [[JarPotty in a jar]] supplied by the Poopsmith.

* In the ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup Last Roundup]]'' episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Pinkie gets off the train in Dodge Junction quite clearly in need of a toilet. She finds a public toilet and is about to use it until she realises that Applejack, whom they came to Dodge to find, just walked out of it. She runs back after she and the others have caught her.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has an example [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0086.html here]]. Notable in that the use this trope itself is the punchline.

* Early in the bondage comic ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'', Lisa asks Ally where the restroom is. She is shown embarrassed that how awkward that felt.