History Main / WisdomFromTheGutter

* BruceAlmighty features this -- although justified, as the homeless man providing Bruce with pithy yet wise messages morphs into [[MorganFreeman God]] at the end.
* ''FerrisBuellersDayOff'' had the [[RetroactiveRecognition delinquent]] at the police station, whose advice helped Jeanie to entirely change her attitude toward her brother.

* Subverted in the {{Firefly}} episode "Out of Gas." When the ship is damaged and the life support destroyed, it is Jayne, the self-serving mercenary, who scolds Mal and Wash for shouting at each other. They are suitably surprised and chagrined until Jayne reveals that he only spoke up because he was worried that their screaming would use up the air faster.

* A quest in FalloutNewVegas involves finding out who sold a man's wife into slavery. One of the most useful sources in the quest is the local insane man who tells you exactly who did it. Although he thinks the wife who disappeared was kidnapped by Mole people who wanted to steal her hair, he's still of more use in the quest than ''any other person in town.''

** [[spoiler: [[ StrawmanHasAPoint He does have a point though.]]]]

[[spoiler:** [[ StrawmanHasAPoint He does have a point though.]]]]

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* In Chapter 6 of the online animated series ''BrokenSaints'', aged Shinto priest Kamimura hitches a ride with CloudCuckooLander egg farmer Masayuki, who relates this story to him: "My father used to say that eggs had all the answers. He used to hold up a hen, and point to its bum. He’d say “Two things come from here, Masayuki: Eggs... and poop. Two things from the same hole. Remember that.” And I understood. ... Good and bad things come from the same place--inside." This silly little story, told by this silly little character who hardly ever appears again, turns out to [[spoiler: tell the most important message of the entire story, and is referenced by Kamimura in the GrandFinale, right before his HeroicSacrifice.]]

* In the {{Shojo}} {{Western}} ''Miriam'', Douglas gets relationship advice from two men holed up in the local jail for starting a barfight, and is embarrased by how valuable their words are and how they have a much easier time seeing things from Miriam's point of view.

** Then again, not necessarily so suprising, considering he has [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech "seen the fall of empires and the murder of millions"]], [[http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=986 as suggested here]].

* In one ''Batman Adventures'' comic, Batman, caring for a lost baby, is educated on how to hold it properly by some thugs whose mugging attempt he had foiled.
** ''Batman R.I.P.'' had an amnesiac Bruce Wayne receive guidance (and a [[ChekhovsGun Chekov's Gun]]) from a homeless man, or quite possibly said homeless man's ghost.
*** He also receives helpful advice from a drug-induced hallucination Bat-Mite.

* In ''[[Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople 24 Hour Party People]]'', Tony Wilson gets a pep-talk from a bum on the street who claims to be the philoshoper Boethius. (Since Boethius is played by ChristopherEccleston, some fans claim that this is actually [[DoctorWho The Doctor]] in disguise.)

See also DumbassHasAPoint and JerkassHasAPoint.

* Sometimes, the advice given by a TedBaxter like [[{{CLANNAD}} Yohei Sunohara]] ''does'' work....

* An episode of ''JustShootMe'' had this in a ''literal'' gutter: Maya spends a night in a sewer with a creepy informant trying to get evidence of illegal phosphate dumping after being jealous of her former college roommate's journalistic success while she's stuck working in a fashion magazine. Eventually, she questions what she's doing and realizes she actually likes her current occupation. The creepy guy then says "Sometimes in our way to our dreams, we get lost and find a new one". Maya is surprised and impressed until the guy somewhat ruins the moment by saying he read the phrase on the wall of a brothel.

* ''FerrisBuellersDayOff'' had the delinquent at the police station, whose advice helped Jeanie to entirely change her attitude toward her brother.

* In '''''24 Hour Party People''''', Tony Wilson gets a pep-talk from a bum on the street who claims to be the philoshoper Boethius. (Since Boethius is played by ChristopherEccleston, some fans claim that this is actually [[DoctorWho The Doctor]] in disguise.)

* The country song: "''(I've had my) Moments''"

Sometimes this is combined with the idea that angels disguise themselves as beggars and homeless. It even goes back to {{fairy tale}}s that have fairies disguising themselves as old beggar women, making this one of the OldestOnesInTheBook.

* In '''''24 Hour Party People''''', Tony Wilson gets a pep-talk from a bum on the street who claims to be the philoshoper Boethius. (Since Boethius is played by ChristopherEccleston, some fans claim that this is actually DoctorWho in disguise.)

* There's a parodic version (though not a parody of ''this'') in one episode of ''{{Pasila}}'', where a random bum analyses the protagonist's (Kyösti Pöysti's) character within a few seconds of meeting him. If anything, this seems to be a parody of how the series had got into the habit of having him analysed like that. It's not exactly useful advice, either, though it's wise enough, because it just makes him decide (for a moment) to spend the rest of his life as a drunk in the gutter, too.

Sometimes this is combined with the idea that angels disguise themselves as beggars and homeless. It even goes back to {{fairy tale}}s that have fairies disguising themselves as old beggar women. Making this one of the OldestOnesInTheBook

See also DumbassHasAPoint and AdviceFromLibby.

* There's a parodic version (though not a parody of ''this'') in one episode of ''{{Pasila}}'', where a random bum analyses the protagonist's (Kyösti Pöysti's) character in a few seconds of meeting him. If anything, this seems to be a parody of how the series had got into the habit of having him analysed like that. It's not exactly useful advice, either, though it's wise enough, because it just makes him decide (for a moment) to spend the rest of his life as a drunk in the gutter, too.

* ''TheBoondocks'', A Pimp Named Slickback actually gives Riley TheTalk (though obviously filtered by his biased and frankly misogynist mouth) and helps him figure out that his pal Gangstalicious is probably gay. All this despite the bad blood between him and the Freemans...

* Subverted in the ''LawAndOrder'' episode "The Wages of Sin", where a bum who the cops are currently questioning offers a cryptic-yet-wise statement that foreshadows the hubris the cops and district attorneys, in their quest to bring down a mobster that takes up the next two episodes, will face and which they would do well to pay attention to. However, because he's a bum and because what he's saying has absolutely no connection to what the cops are currently talking to him about, they just ignore him and wearily ask him to focus on the point at hand.

** ''Batman R.I.P.'' had an amnesiac Bruce Wayne receive guidance (and a [[ChekovsGun Chekov's Gun]]) from a homeless man, or quite possibly said homeless man's ghost.

See also DumbassHasAPoint.