History Main / WeirdnessCoupon

If somebody or something is really weird or fantastical, they're allowed to do things that "normal" people would never say or do. After all, they're either inimitable, or are in a situation nobody would want to emulate. The opposite can also hold true: when a coupon holder acts normal, those around him or her may react with shock and horror, or [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness assume something is wrong]]. A cousin to ElephantInTheLivingRoom and BunnyEarsLawyernd.

If somebody or something is really weird or fantastical, they're allowed to do things that "normal" people would never say or do. After all, they're either inimitable, or are in a situation nobody would want to emulate. The opposite can also hold true: when a coupon holder acts normal, those around him or her may react with shock and horror, or [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness assume something is wrong]]. A cousin to ElephantInTheLivingRoom, BunnyEarsLawyer, and UnusuallyUninterestingSight.

Contrast HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster RefugeInAudacity is a closely related trope that involves someone behaving so far outside of accepted norms that everyone else is too stunned to stop them, but this trope tends to be recurring with a character to the point that everyone is just used to it while RefugeInAudacity is usually a one-time action.

If somebody or something is really weird or fantastical, they're allowed to do things that "normal" people would never say or do. After all, they're either inimitable, or are in a situation nobody would want to emulate. The opposite can also hold true: when a coupon holder acts normal, those around him or her may react with shock and horror, or [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness assume something is wrong]]. A cousin to ElephantInTheLivingRoom and BunnyEarsLawyer.

-->--''Series/{{Mythbusters}}''

** Also, when one of House's fellows wants to talk to her, she calmly cuts her off, saying "Sexual harassment claims go through HR, stress-related leaves through workman's comp., and any accusations of criminal activities go directly to the Princeton Plainsboro police department."

* {{Dragonlance}} features a race of mischievous kleptomaniacs called Kender, who can rarely resist swiping small (usually valueless) objects from people. Needless to say, generations of gamers have used this as an excuse to steal from their party members. The willingness of other players to put up with this Coupon varies greatly, and has caused Kender to be TheScrappy among many groups.
* {{VampireTheMasquerade}} has the Malkavians, a clan of vampires where every one of them is insane. Some players use this as an excuse to say or do the most bizarre things in character. Such as worship a fire hydrant, or argue that the universe is resting on the back of a dog. A surprisingly large number of players tolerate this, if only because a well played Malkavian can cause major damage to their enemies, either in combat or in the political arena.

* In ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the MadOracle Malkavian player characters can get away with behaviour (using potentially insulting nicknames, suggesting you might know about things worth killing to keep hidden) which... granted, you're already being sent to get killed, but this ought to be hastening the process considerably.

* Many critics would probably write off {{of Montreal}}'s lyrics as misogynistic if they were more conventional in music style or presentation, especially on the albums ''Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?'' (answer: "You are not the destroyer" / "[[ForeignCussWord Du er ikke densom ødelegger]], [[CountryMatters fitta]]") and ''Icons, Abstract Thee'', written when the primary lyricist was having problems with his wife... but they're so ''creatively'' misogynistic...

** When Twilight showed up to help Pinkie babysit in ''Baby Cakes'', Pinkie answered the door wearing ''two'' diapers (one was on her head; she had just achieved EpicFail trying to change the twins). This passed entirely without comment from Twilight.

* Jughead Jones in the ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' gets a lot of freedom in this regard; anytime his oddness is called into question it's usually answered with something along the lines of "that's Jughead, he doesn't count".

** Somewhat related, the first couples to avert SleepingSingle in the early days of television had some type of Weirdness Coupon that made it not "count." Fred and Wilma Flintstone were animated, Samantha Stephens was a witch, Herman and Lily Munster weren't really considered human. Apart from UrExample ''Mary Kay and Johnny,'' all the way back in ''1947,'' who [[UnbuiltTrope snuck in before the rules were made,]] and are sadly forgotten due to no episodes of the show surviving, the first real, human, coupon-free couple sharing a bed on television were [[Series/TheBradyBunch Mike and Carol Brady]].

* [[{{House}} Dr. House]] is given a lot of leeway in doing bizarre, irritating, and often illegal things by the staff at PPH. One of many, ''many'' instances of this included his shooting a corpse in the hospital's morgue. A horrified technician hears the gunshot and runs to find House with a pistol standing over the body. House's explaination:

-->-- ''Series/{{Mythbusters}},'' obviously

* In ''PaniPoniDash'', many of the odd and improbable things that Ichijou is capable of are shrugged off with "Don't worry about it. It's Ichijou."

* It was repeatedly commented by the producers of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' that if they had a joke that some might find to be in poor taste, they always had one of the robots make it. Because people were more willing to accept that sort of thing from a puppet.

Contrast HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster RefugeInAudacity is a closely related trope that involves someone behaving so far outside of accepted norms that everyone else is too stunned to stop them, but this trope tends to be recurring with a character to the point that everyone is just used to their antics while RefugeInAudacity is usually a one-time action.

* In the All Stars season of ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' Nina Flowers is the only one who doesn't react to Tammie Brown taking a question about what underwear her partner wears by deciding the best way to figure that out is to "smell the flowers" and [[OverlyLongGag sniff at her partner for a few seconds]], since Nina had been on their original season with Tammie and was just used to her odd behavior.

** [[Creator/JeffDunham]] lists this as the same reason people were okay with [[CrossesTheLineTwice Achmed the Dead Terrorist.]]

->--''Series/{{Mythbusters}},'' obviously

* ''KimPossible'': she, or her {{sidekick}}, are often hit by weird ray-guns, or grabbed by {{Clingy MacGuffin}}s, or affected by magic amulets or whatever, and have to deal with the wacky consequences to their home lives, but no-one seems to think this behaviour out of the ordinary - for her. And that's not even mentioning their [[ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow frequent bunking off school]] to go and save the world.
* An exploited example occurs in ''{{Justice League Unlimited}}'', when the Question discovers [[spoiler:an alternate universe where {{Superman}} kills Lex Luthor leading to a coup where the Justice ''Lords'' rule the world]]. The Question, in response to what he thinks is a probable future, attempts to [[spoiler:kill Lex first]], because as he is a well known loon, the Justice League will be able to diplomatically calm things down afterward.

* Done by StudioGainax: Instant pass on MindScrew, WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs, and just about any other form of absurdity you can imagine.
* Also applies to StudioShaft, especially in terms of just plain ''strange'' choices when it comes to art direction and [[CouchGag background]] [[FunnyBackgroundEvent gags]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0d-O2go9Po Attempted]] by Ron Swanson in ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' after he brings a live pig to a barbecue that he plans to slaughter and cook and a Park Ranger tells him he can't:

Contrast HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster RefugeInAudacity is a closely related trope in that both involve someone being so far outside of accepted norms of behavior that everyone else is too stunned to stop them, but this trope tends to be recurring with a character while RefugeInAudacity is usually a one-time action.

Contrast HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster RefugeInAudacity is a closely related trope in that both involve someone being so far outside of accepted norms of behavior that everyone else is too stunned to stop them.

Contrast HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0d-O2go9Po Attempted]] by Ron Swanson in ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'':