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* BadassBookword: Tamika Flynn, who defeated the Librarians in "Summer Reading Program" by reading advanced level books.
* LittleMissBadass: Tamika Flynn from "Summer Reading Program" who broke down the Library wall, and the cut off head of the Head Librarian.
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* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The topic of a rant in episode 12.
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* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The topic of a rant the commercial break in episode 12."The Candidate".
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** The names of places aren't exempt. [[http://commonplacebooks.com/faqs The FAQ section on the official website states that it's "Svitz", "Franchia", "Moonlite All-Nite Diner", and others]]
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* DarkIsNotEvil: Episodes 16 and 25 in particular emphasize the difference. [[spoiler:The revelation that the Man in the Tan Jacket isn't evil, despite what he does to Carlos's memory in Episode 16, and Carlos's speech out back of the Arby's at the end of Episode 25, drive home that Carlos has learned this lesson well]]
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* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Episode 19B is hosted by Kevin of Desert Bluffs.
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* Foreshadowing: Framed by the community calender.
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* Foreshadowing: {{Foreshadowing}}: Framed by the community calender.
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* Foreshadowing: Framed by the community calender.
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* GainaxEnding: The ending of episode 13, "A Story About You".
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* MultipleHeadCase: Discussed by Cecil regarding Hiram [=McDaniels=]. Cecil considers the whole "multiple heads not getting along" thing to be inaccurate.
-->Sure, critics will say, "Oh, but Cecil! What if his five heads don't agree on something? What if one's like, 'Yeah, let's build this school!' But another's like, 'No more schools.' And the others are drunk or sleepy or something? How can we agree to elect five heads that can't agree with themselves?" To this, I say shame on you for your negative stereotypes of multi-headed beings.
-->Sure, critics will say, "Oh, but Cecil! What if his five heads don't agree on something? What if one's like, 'Yeah, let's build this school!' But another's like, 'No more schools.' And the others are drunk or sleepy or something? How can we agree to elect five heads that can't agree with themselves?" To this, I say shame on you for your negative stereotypes of multi-headed beings.
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** Stever Carlsberg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who questions the building of a drawbridge in a desert town with no rivers, streams, or bays, or seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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** Stever Steve Carlsberg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who questions the building of a drawbridge in a desert town with no rivers, streams, or bays, or seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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** About the only solid detail of his appearance is that he has slightly greying hair.
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** About the only solid detail of his appearance is that he has slightly greying black hair.
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added Close Knit Community
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* CloseKnitCommunity: Judging from Cecil's depiction of the townsfolk assembling to celebrate their survival after "Street Cleaning Day."
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** Stever Carlsburg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who questions the building of a drawbridge in a desert town with no rivers, streams, or bays, or seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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** Stever Carlsburg Carlsberg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who questions the building of a drawbridge in a desert town with no rivers, streams, or bays, or seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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** Stever Carlsburg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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** Stever Carlsburg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who questions the building of a drawbridge in a desert town with no rivers, streams, or bays, or seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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** Stever Carlsburg may count as well, as he is the only citizen of Night Vale who seems concerned with the fact that the City Council can create deadly natural disasters at will.
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--> -- '''from this article:''' http://www.theawl.com/2013/07/americas-most-popular-podcast-what-the-internet-did-to-welcome-to-night-vale
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--> -- '''from this article:''' http://www.[[http://www.theawl.com/2013/07/americas-most-popular-podcast-what-the-internet-did-to-welcome-to-night-valecom/2013/07/americas-most-popular-podcast-what-the-internet-did-to-welcome-to-night-vale article]]'''
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-->Speaking of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, it's owner, Teddy Williams, reports that he has found the entrance to a vast underground city in the pin retrieval area of Lane 5. He said he has not yet ventured into it, merely peered down at it's strange spires and broad avenues. He also reports voices of a distant crowd in the depths of that subterranean metropolis. Apparently, the entrance was discovered when a bowling bowl accidentally rolled into it, clattering down the city below, with sounds that echoed for miles across the impossibly huge cavern...so, you know, whatever population that city has, they know about us now, and we might be hearing from them soon.
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-->Speaking of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, it's its owner, Teddy Williams, reports that he has found the entrance to a vast underground city in the pin retrieval area of Lane 5. He said he has not yet ventured into it, merely peered down at it's its strange spires and broad avenues. He also reports voices of a distant crowd in the depths of that subterranean metropolis. Apparently, the entrance was discovered when a bowling bowl accidentally rolled into it, clattering down the city below, with sounds that echoed for miles across the impossibly huge cavern...so, you know, whatever population that city has, they know about us now, and we might be hearing from them soon.
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* SantaClaus: Everyone knows Santa is just a pack of [[HighOnCatnip drugged-up bears]] in Santa outfits that are released by the CIA every Christmas.
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* InsaneTrollLogic: Night Vale seems to run on this.
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* ShoutOut: the cat video that Cecil and Kevin enjoy in episode 19 sounds a lot like [[https://www.youtube.com/user/mugumogu Maru]].
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->''A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. [[TitleDrop Welcome to Night Vale]].''
-->-- Intro to the first episode.
-->-- Intro to the first episode.
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Still, his nonchalance about terrible things isn't a patch on Kevin's.
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::Still, his nonchalance about terrible things isn't a patch on Kevin's.
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* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: For some reason, Cecil is the only person who can acknowledge or speak about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Shape In Grove Park That No One Acknowledges or Speaks About]]. This causes it to get very upset, and Cecil eventually has to voluntary pretend like it doesn't exist to placate it.
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* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: For some reason, Cecil is the only person who can acknowledge or speak about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Shape In Grove Park That No One Acknowledges or Speaks About]]. This causes it to get very upset, and Cecil eventually has to voluntary voluntarily pretend like it doesn't exist to placate it.
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* ConMan: Louie Blasco offered bluegrass lesson at $50 a lesson. However, Louie's Music Shop burned down years ago and Louie skipped town with the insurance check shortly thereafter. Leanne Hart from the Night Vale Daily Journal is also suspect, as the distribution plant burned down in a suspicious accident, and she's prone to coming up with ideas like an "imagination edition" of the paper. The subscription costs "just" $60 a month.
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* ConMan: Louie Blasco offered bluegrass lesson at $50 a lesson. However, Louie's Music Shop burned down years ago and Louie skipped town with the insurance check shortly thereafter. Leanne Hart from the Night Vale Daily Journal is also suspect, as the distribution plant burned down in a suspicious accident, and she's prone to coming up with ideas like an "imagination edition" of the paper. The subscription costs "just" $60 a month.month, and is mandatory and automatic.
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intern dana (or her double)
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* AmbiguousCloneEnding: It is never revealed whether the Dana that survived the sandstorm is the original or the doppelgänger. As such, she is always referred to as "Intern Dana (or her double)".
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** About the only solid detail of his appearance is that he has slightly greying hair.
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* BluntYes: "Alligators. Can they kill your children? Yes."
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There\'s more evidence to suggest that Cecil is gay than that Carlos isn\'t bi, and we don\'t necessarily have enough information to catagorize him as straight-acting
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** More recent episodes have also given the same treatment to [[spoiler:Carlos, as he reciprocates Cecil's feelings and the two date]].
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* DeadpanSnarker: Cecil, with a heavy emphasis on the "deadpan". It's hard to say when and if he's every actually being sarcastic, but one gets the feeling he sometimes is.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Cecil, with a heavy emphasis on the "deadpan". It's hard to say when and if he's every ever actually being sarcastic, but one gets the feeling he sometimes is.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Cecil, with a heavy emphasis on the "deadpan". It's hard to say when and if he's every actually being sarcastic, but one gets the feeling he sometimes is.
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namespacing, will move the wicks later
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[[quoteright:252:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nightvale_8204.bmp]]
[[caption-width-right:252:Look to the sky...]]
'''''Welcome to Night Vale''''' is a SurrealHumor {{Podcast}}/RadioDrama depicting life in the small desert town of Night Vale, a fictional community [[FantasyKitchenSink where everything paranormal is not only true, but a fact of life the citizens have to deal with]] in addition to the mundane details of living in a small town.
Done in a community radio style, the show reports on the various stories around town and the community events happening that week. The host is Cecil, who coolly narrates in a dispassionate, {{NPR}}-style manner. The background music, which can be heard playing throughout the show, is done by [[http://disparition.info/ Disparition]], except for the "Weather" section of the show, which features a different musical guest each episode.
The show treads a fine line between ominous absurdity and genuine creepiness. While having some degree of randomness, the show features certain returning elements and characters, such [[HotScientist Carlos the scientist]] (Cecil's LoveInterest, [[VerbalTic who must be described as beautiful and perfect in the same breath every time]]), the "Sheriff's SecretPolice", the city council's disturbingly far-reaching authority, and the mysterious hooded figures around town.
The show is produced by [[http://www.commonplacebooks.com/ Commonplace Books]] and releases a roughly 20-minute show semimonthly.
Now has a [[Characters/{{Welcome to Night Vale}} character page]].
----
!! This podcast provides examples of:
* [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Absurdly Powerful City Council:]] They've been in power since the mid-1800's, voting for them is mandatory in every election, and they command the Sheriff's SecretPolice. People who defy them are regularly detained for "re-education," or are simply taken in the night, never to be seen again.
* AdorableAbomination: Khoshekh the Cat, which mysteriously appeared in the men's room of the community radio station, levitating in mid-air and permanently suspended at a fixed point. Initially seemed like an adorable side note, until we start to learn some things about Khoshekh. Like how [[spoiler:being in his presence seems to make people into cat-lovers, to the point where it drove one woman to have her dog put to sleep so she could adopt several cats.]] Or how [[spoiler:it's impossible to take a picture of Khoshekh, and attempting to do so results in a horrible death.]] Or how [[spoiler:his 'adorable meow' is a blood-curdling screech.]]
* UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics:
** The National Rifle Association is parodied on one segment where the local Night Vale [=NRA=] puts out a bumper sticker that says "Guns don't kill people, [[BrokenAesop it's impossible to be killed by a gun, we are all invincible to bullets and it's a miracle]]".
** A segment in a later episode lampoons the recent trend of metal detectors in schools:
-->Night Vale High School is adding metal detectors, and parents and students alike are outraged. Several parents we talked to said that NVHS students have long been recipients of shadow government-issued Uzis and rifles, as well as tasers and armor-piercing munitions. The school board's decision to put up metal detectors, according to parents, impinges on the clandestine operation's rights, as a vast underground conspiracy of giant mega-corporations and corrupt world leaders, to bear arms, via teenage paramilitary proxies.
* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: After some particularly weird story, the creepy music will suddenly cut out and Cecil, speaking matter-of-factly, will say "And now the weather", followed by a random piece of music that changes each episode (in a kind of "musical guest" section).
* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: Parodied on a segment called "Know Your Choppers."
-->Black? Probably world government. Blue? That's the Sheriff's SecretPolice. They'll keep a good eye on your kids, and ''hardly ever'' take one. Are they painted with complex murals depicting birds of prey diving? ...No one knows what ''those'' helicopters are, or what they want.
* AndThatsTerrible: Cecil takes it upon himself to constantly remind listeners that the guy invoking the MagicalNativeAmerican schtick is racist, and a bad person.
* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: The Glow Cloud appears to be different shifting colors to each person who views it.
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: A member of a Night Vale high school sports team was recently cured of cerebral palsy -- a terminal, degenerative case of cerebral palsy. Maybe it's a Night Vale thing.
** Considering that the cure was by a "sentient lightning bolt" and also gave him "the strength of two Jeeps and the intelligence of a heavily concussed Rene Descartes", as well as a second head...
* ArousedByTheirVoice: Cecil thinks Carlos's voice is like "caramel" and bemoans the fact that while he's at work, "it would be completely inappropriate for me to answer my phone regardless of how much I want to soak my ears in the oaky tones of our community’s most significant outsider." He also describes himself as having a "smooth, sonorous voice."
** This might not just be Cecil, though. See LoveIsInTheAir.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking[=/=]BreadEggsMilkSquick: Very common.
* BaitAndSwitch: The Sheriff's SecretPolice are on the lookout for Hiram [=McDaniels=], a five-headed, 18-foot tall, fire-breathing dragon with "mostly green" eyes. Why? He committed insurance fraud.
** BaitAndSwitchComment: "Friends, listeners, there's a real tarantula problem here in Night Vale! Many residents have called in to report illiteracy, unwanted pregnancy, and violent crime are on the rise in the tarantula communities."
* BadBoss: Cecil's sinister, otherworldly bosses in the radio station. They're possibly related to (or are) the mysterious hooded figures around town that no one can look at or acknowledge.
* BeneathTheEarth: Apparently the local bowling alley contains the entrance to a vast underground empire.
-->Speaking of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, it's owner, Teddy Williams, reports that he has found the entrance to a vast underground city in the pin retrieval area of Lane 5. He said he has not yet ventured into it, merely peered down at it's strange spires and broad avenues. He also reports voices of a distant crowd in the depths of that subterranean metropolis. Apparently, the entrance was discovered when a bowling bowl accidentally rolled into it, clattering down the city below, with sounds that echoed for miles across the impossibly huge cavern...so, you know, whatever population that city has, they know about us now, and we might be hearing from them soon.
* BigDamnKiss: After a lot of tension, [[spoiler:Cecil and Carlos]] finally get one.
* BigNo: When the Whispering Forest appears in Night Vale, officials from the town's Parks Department react with a press release consisting of "the word 'no' on a single piece of paper, but with hundreds of Os and maybe two dozen Ns."
* BilingualBonus: Cecil speaks a bit of Spanish in Episode 6. ("¡Muchas gracias, El Presidente! [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_P%C3%A9rez_Molina Mano dura, cabeza, y corazón]]," meaning, "Thanks, President! Firm hand, head, and heart.") There's a lot of Russian later on, when the Apache Tracker mysteriously becomes actually Native American and only capable of speaking in Russian, which Cecil often quotes verbatim, in Russian.
* BlackComedy
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Kevin, as perceived by Cecil. [[spoiler:Possibly Cecil as well, as gauged by Kevin's observations of the photograph of him.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality
* {{Bookends}}: The one-year anniversary episode, episode 25, has a ''lot'' of {{Callback}}s to the pilot. It mentions and incorporates many plotlines that were first introduced back then. It's most obvious in Cecil's opening lines for the episode.
* BreathlessNonSequitur: According to Episode 3, Cecil is battling Lyme disease, which he mentions offhand while simultaneously discussing a "creeping fear" which temporarily afflicted the entire town as well as his life-threatening contract negotiations.
* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: For some reason, Cecil is the only person who can acknowledge or speak about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Shape In Grove Park That No One Acknowledges or Speaks About]]. This causes it to get very upset, and Cecil eventually has to voluntary pretend like it doesn't exist to placate it.
* CassandraTruth: After a long debate at the radio station as to whether or not mountains exist, one mountain-believer apparently had to resort to driving his opponents - including Cecil - out to see an actual mountain in order to get them to believe in its existence. Cecil, however, is still hesitant to believe that there is more than one mountain, believing that the one he saw may have been put there specifically to prove the existence of mountains. Then again, given Night Vale, he could be right.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Muddled in with the below examples of VerbalTic.
* CityOfWeirdos: Night Vale, naturally. [[spoiler:As well as its neighboring burg Desert Bluffs.]]
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A common theme of the show, since most people in Night Vale are so desensitized to the weird paranormal happenings of the town that they'll instead key in to the mundane, irrelevant details of a story.
-->The "Apache Tracker", and I remind you, that this is that white guy who wears the large and cartoonishly inaccurate Indian headdress...has announced that he has found some disturbing evidence concerning the recent incident at the Night Vale Post Office, which has been sealed by the City Council since the great screaming that was heard from it a few weeks ago. He said that using "ancient Indian magics", he slipped through Council security into the Post Office and observed that all the letter and packages had been thrown about as in a whirlwind. That there was the heavy stench of scorched flesh. That the words written on the wall in blood read "More come" and "Soon"...can you believe this guy said he used "Indian magics"? What an asshole.
** Carlos leaves several messages for Cecil, detailing the fact that none of the clocks in Night Vale are real and are instead filled with a mysterious grey substance, as well as the mysterious appearance of the Man in the Tan Jacket at his house. He ends the last message with a request to meet up with Cecil to get some phone numbers. All Cecil takes away from this is that he and Carlos have a date.
-->Did you hear that listeners? A date!
** The thick lead door sealing off Radon Canyon is removed because lead is a health hazard and the big yellow warning sign was an eyesore.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Cecil doesn't see why everything should come to a halt for every unexplained phenomenon that kills people, and thinks it's the prerogative of government to read people's minds, control the weather, and cause pandemics. Also:
-->I know for some of you young people, this lottery seems like a barbarous, outdated tradition, but, if not for a municipally planned citizen sacrifice each quarter, how else would we find satisfactory meats to feed those sad, scrawny animals?
::Still, his nonchalance about terrible things isn't a patch on Kevin's.
* ConMan: Louie Blasco offered bluegrass lesson at $50 a lesson. However, Louie's Music Shop burned down years ago and Louie skipped town with the insurance check shortly thereafter. Leanne Hart from the Night Vale Daily Journal is also suspect, as the distribution plant burned down in a suspicious accident, and she's prone to coming up with ideas like an "imagination edition" of the paper. The subscription costs "just" $60 a month.
* ConspiracyKitchenSink: It's openly acknowledged that there's a world government and the government created AIDS and can read your mind and so on.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Steve Carlsberg, who writes in to Cecil's show trying to expose various conspiracies. However, Cecil seems to treat the existence of almost any possible conspiracy as common knowledge and also a good thing, and scoffs at Steve for only just catching on and getting all upset about it.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: On the surface, Desert Bluffs appears to be a much more cheery town than Night Vale, but little hints of creepy sneak in. [[spoiler:[[UpToEleven And then you find out]] everything is either [[MeatMoss covered in]] or ''[[HumanResources made out of]]'' [[EvilIsVisceral viscera]]]].
* CrazyPrepared: When Night Vale is threatened by a plague of [[spoiler: wheat and wheat by-products]], it turns out that the City Council already had a bunker built for that specific purpose.
* {{Cult}}: "Our fair burg" of Night Vale was founded by 18th century religious leaders, wearing "soft meat crowns".
* DadaAd: Whenever Cecil starts to say "And now a word from one of our sponsors...", expect this. Or Cecil simply making weird noises for several seconds.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve: You thought that cars were real? Oh, that is rich.
* DisproportionateRetribution: When he learns Carlos got a haircut, Cecil flies into a rage and gives out the name, address and description of the barber responsible so Carlos's perfect locks can be avenged. It eventuates that the barber was driven from the town into the desert, and now maintains a parody of his old life trimming the spines on cacti and gibbering to himself.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler:At the end of Carlos and Cecil's first date, Cecil talks about deciding who's going to fill out a governmental first-date report form in a way that sounds similar to deciding on "your place or mine", and then says something about going with Carlos to look at Carlos's scientific equipment... but he doesn't, Carlos kisses him goodnight and goes into his lab alone.]]
* EldritchAbomination: Implied with the hooded figures around town and Cecil's management.
* EldritchLocation: Night Vale itself, due to it playing host to various paranormal happenings, government conspiracies, and alien visitors.
** And if Cecil's shocked description of what he saw is accurate, so is the viscera-covered Desert Bluffs.
* EveryoneIsArmed: Even the elementary school students. Granted, this is practically a necessity for survival in Night Vale.
* EvilInc: The Stryx Corporation, which controls Desert Bluffs. They essentially act as the MirrorUniverse version of the City Council.
* FamedInStory: [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]] as far as Carlos the scientist is concerned. Every time Cecil mentions him, he always describes Carlos as being magnificently handsome, talks about his perfect hair, and at one point tries to hold a ceremony naming him as Night Vale's most important citizen. Due to the paranormal nature of the show, it's not clear if this is some [[{{Glamour}} mysterious effect]] Carlos is having on everyone, if Cecil and the population of Night Vale just [[LoonyFan develop unnatural obsessions with random individuals]], or if Carlos is just really that good looking.
** It's more likely that all of the over-the-top descriptions of Carlos are simply by-products of hearing about him from an UnreliableNarrator who is obviously in love with him.
* FauxlosophicNarration: A lot of the things Cecil says qualify by virtue of having nothing to do with the plot or anything else. However, they are sometimes interesting bits of philosophy.
* FeelNoPain: 53% of the residents of Night Vale were born without pain-sensing nerves.
* FictionalCountry: All the European countries Cecil mentions having traveled to in college.
* FirstKiss: [[spoiler:Carlos kisses Cecil for the first time in episode 27.]]
* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Cecil doesn't do much at all himself, which at times he's quite distressed by.
* ForbiddenZone: The City Dog Park.
-->The City Council announces the opening of a new dog park at the corner of Earl and Sommerset, near the Ralph's. They would like to remind everyone that [[ImmediateSelfContradiction dogs are not allowed in the dog park]]. ''People'' are not allowed in the dog park. It is possible you will see hooded figures in the dog park. Do ''not'' approach them. Do not approach the dog park. The fence is electrified and highly dangerous. Try not to look at the dog park, and especially do not look for any period of time at the hooded figures. The dog park will not harm you.
** A pterodactyl from a rift in spacetime enters the Dog Park at one point. We know this because it was found several feet from the entrance. Well, most of it. The organs were definitely there - you could count them with a glance!
* ForScience: Carlos's motivation, although unusually for this trope he seems to do more good than harm.
* GibberishOfLove: Cecil is embarrassed to have been afflicted with a mild form during one conversation he has with the ever-so-radiant Carlos.
* HollywoodOld: The faceless old woman who lives in your home is played by 25-year-old MaraWilson, and sounds quite youthful. She also seems very tech-savvy for an old lady.
* HotScientist: Beautiful, perfect Carlos.
* HumanoidAbomination: The City Council.
* TheHypnotoad: "'''All hail the mighty Glow Cloud.'''"
* IceCreamKoan: The proverbs at the end of each episode can come off like this.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Various locations around Night Vale have names like The Scrublands and the Sand Wastes. Then there's Radon Canyon ("The view is ''literally'' breath-taking!").
* IgnoranceIsBliss: Various authority figures regularly ask citizens of Night Vale to forget things they might have seen or heard. Generally speaking, this is a good survival tactic, considering the sheer number of horrors they must confront daily.
* InformedAttractiveness: Cecil can't bring Carlos up without telling us that he's beautiful and perfect, and of course we only have his descriptions to go on. Cecil also describes Carlos's voice as "caramel" and "oaky", but since he shares some voice mail messages from Carlos in Episode 16, you can form your own opinion on that.
* InherentlyFunnyWord: Most of the words in the list issued for memorization by the secret police in Episode 16.
* TheIntern: The radio station has several, generally {{Red Shirt}}s, often only mentioned to say that they're missing, presumed dead.
** Intern Dana (and/or her doppelgänger) is trapped inside the Dog Park, but she's alive and is asking for some snacks to be tossed into the Dog Park because she's hungry.
* IrrationalHatred[=/=]SitcomArchNemesis: Cecil hates Steve Carlsberg for no discernible reason, and insults him at every turn.
* KentBrockmanNews
* LadiesAndGerms: "Ladies and gentlemen and those of you not clearly falling into either category..."
* LanternJawOfJustice: Carlos, whose jawline is just as perfect as his hair.
* LikeIsLikeAComma: Cecil, surprisingly, has a habit of talking like this when he goes off-topic. It gets even worse when he's talking about Carlos.
-->Well, to the point: Carlos called, and I’m like, ‘Hellooo?’ Like I don’t even have caller ID, and he’s like ‘I need to talk to you. This is important.’ And I’m like, ‘Ummm, okay.’
* LongList: Several.
** "The Boy Scouts of Night Vale have announced some ''slight'' changes to their hierarchy, which will now be the follow: Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, Blood Pact Scout, Wyrd Scout, Dreadnought Scout, Dark Scout, Fear Scout, and finally, Eternal Scout."
** "Dear listeners, here is a list of ''things'': Emotions you don't understand on viewing a sunset, Lost pets found, Lost pets ''un''found, a secret Lost Pet city on the moon, trees that see, restaurant that hear, a void that thinks, a face half-seen just before falling asleep, trembling hands reaching for desperately needed items, sandwiches..."
** "The Night Vale school district has announced some changes to the elementary school curriculum [...] in addition to the foreign language offerings of Spanish, French, and Modified Sumerian, schools will now be offering Double Spanish, Weird Spanish, Coptic Spanish, Russian, and ''Un''modified Sumerian."
** Episode 6 features a horoscopes section where each of the zodiac signs are given increasingly odd/hilarious horoscopes. Among other things, Cecil warns Capricorns that "those were not contact lenses you put in this morning", announces that its Taurus's "annual crime day" where they're exempt from all laws, and simply curses Scorpios and their families and calls them "vile".
* LotteryOfDoom: Mentioned in Episode 8.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Exactly what happens in Episode 1 when Cecil sees Carlos smile for the first time.
-->...Everything about him was perfect, and I fell in love instantly.
* LoveIsInTheAir: It's obvious [[LovePotion the effect that Carlos has on Cecil.]] However, considering the barber who cut Carlos' hair was seemingly [[DespairEventHorizon driven to despair]] for defiling Carlos' beauty, it's entirely possible that Carlos has this effect on ''everybody.''
--> Baldwin, who records the podcasts just a few in advance, didn’t see the Cecil/Carlos chemistry straight away. He thought that "because of the weirdness of Night Vale," Carlos was just the perfect human being, like a "male model who threw on a pair of glasses and a lab coat." Of course everybody loved him. "But then when the relationship between the two characters started to develop, I was so happy and so pleased," he said.
--> -- '''from this article:''' http://www.theawl.com/2013/07/americas-most-popular-podcast-what-the-internet-did-to-welcome-to-night-vale
* MagicalNativeAmerican: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in-universe by the "Apache Tracker" guy, who claims to have supernatural tracking abilities but is clearly not an actual Native American and in fact comes off as vaguely racist in his stereotyped portrayal of Native Americans.
* MauveShirt: Dana, the only intern to have survived more than one episode, currently stranded in the Dog Park. Fortunately, she's getting help from The Man in the Tan Jacket.
* {{Megacorp}}: Stryx Corp, which runs Desert Bluffs.
* MirrorUniverse: Desert Bluffs is one for Night Vale. And may, depending on your perspective, [[EvilerThanThou be worse than Night Vale]]. Cecil certainly seems to think so.
* MoodWhiplash: Cecil often switches abruptly from talking about something terrifying to an unrelated and much more cheerful story, or at least one he seems to feel cheerful about at any rate.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Seemingly a requirement for the Night Vale Medical Association.
* MundaneFantastic: One of the essential elements of the series.
* NeverNeedsSharpening: The slogan "''[[NotHyperbole Literally]]'' breathtaking!" for [[LiteralMetaphor Radon Canyon]].
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Cecil has a very charming, chipper way of making even the most terrifying, unknowable events that occur in Night Vale sound completely mundane. Other times, [[CreepyMonotone not so much.]]
* NobleBigot: [[spoiler: The Apache Tracker, essentially, whose MagicalNativeAmerican shtick is oh so very offensive, yet he dies rescuing Carlos from the tiny people under the bowling alley and was apparently protecting the town in mysterious ways all along.]]
* NobodyTouchesTheHair: Cecil feels this way about Carlos's lovely and perfect raven locks. Carlos, evidently, doesn't.
* TheNondescript: The Man in the Tan Jacket.
* NonPOVProtagonist: It seems that Carlos could qualify as one, it's just that Cecil's ability to properly report on anything Carlos has been doing aside from being perfect and radiant is somewhat hit-or-miss. Dana might be one too.
* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:Carlos and Cecil.]]
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Carlos, described only as "a scientist", doesn't seem to concentrate on any particular branch of science.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. All of the angels who stay with Old Woman Josie are named Erika.
* OnlySaneMan: Possibly with Carlos and his team of scientists, who constantly seem disturbed and amazed by their findings about the town.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Actually, we're not sure how different they are, since no one is allowed to know about them or talk about them, and their existence is denied by the City Council. Yet, they manage to show up on multiple occasions, including at a City Council press conference that denied the existence of angels.
** But the ones at the Ralph's are liars.
* PointlessCivicProject: The demented city council approves several of these:
** The town's continued project to build a drawbridge in Old Town Night Vale, despite there not being any rivers or bodies of water nearby, and no boats to even ''necessitate'' a drawbridge. The project keeps on failing due to the engineers insisting on using hilariously inappropriate materials, such as cardboard. And ceramic bowls. And ''non-dairy creamer.''
** There's also the Night Vale Harbor and Waterfront Recreation Area... in a city that's landlocked and in the middle of a desert.
-->There is no ''water'' at the actual waterfront. And that is a definite drawback, I agree. For instance, the boardwalk is currently overlooking sagebrush and rocks. The Business Association did not provide and specific remedies to this problem, but they assured me that the new harbor would be a ''big boost'' to Night Vale nonetheless. Maybe wait until the next flashflood and head down there for the full waterfront experience.
* PointyHairedBoss: The City Council borders on this, as does the Mayor. For example, they continue to insist that angels don't exist, even if they're in the audience at the press conference; they have insisted on building a bridge in an area with no major bodies of water (see PointlessCivicProject above); and they nearly caused a panic by [[spoiler: summoning the soul of [[Music/PinkFloyd Syd Barret]] for a Pink Floyd Laser Show in Radon Canyon.]]
* PollutedWasteland: The appropriately named Radon Canyon.
* POVSequel: The second part of "The Sandstorm" tells the other half of the story of the first part.
* PresidentEvil: The City Council, collectively, fill this role.
* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Desert Bluffs is run by Strex Corp, as Kevin cheerfully discusses.
* ProductPlacement: The semi-regular "Word From Our Sponsor" segments, which involve Cecil relating some horrific story, generally in the second person, followed by [[MoodWhiplash the sponsor's name and slogan.]] Given [[PsychologicalHorror the]] [[BodyHorror typical]] [[CosmicHorror content]] of these stories, one hopes that the companies did not pay too much for the ad space.
** Then again, this is Night Vale. These ads might actually ''work.''
* PsmithPsyndrome: Old Woman Josie can tell Cecil is misspelling the angels' name, and he doesn't seem to question how she figured that out.
-->‘Erica?’ I asked.
-->‘No, no, Erika, with a K,’ she said.
-->‘Ohh, Erika, with a K,’ I said.
* PsychicNosebleed: Suffered by Cecil once when he tried to text Dana after she became trapped in the dog park.
* PteroSoarer: Subverted.
-->Secret police are now reporting that the offending beasts were not pteranodons after all, but pterodactyls. Also, pteranodons aren't even dinosaurs, as the station had previously stated-- just winged reptiles that lived about 70 million years after pterodactyls.
* PurpleProse: Cecil will occasionally, and without warning, launch into soliloquies or what sounds like poetry. Even in normal news stories, he'll add in plenty of lurid details and elaborations.
* RandomTeleportation: In the pilot episode, a commercial airliner that, while in-flight, is briefly teleported into the Night Vale Elementary school's gymnasium during a basketball game. It's only there for a split second, and before it can hit anything, it's teleported away again, only causing a rush of wind and a roar. Everyone blames it on some wacky hijinks by the rival school.
-->No word yet on if, or how, this will affect the Night Vale Mountain Lion's game schedule, and also, if this could perhaps be the work of their bitter rivals, the Desert Bluffs Cacti. Desert Bluffs is always trying to show us up through fancier uniforms, better pre-game snacks, and ''possibly'', by transporting a commercial jet into our gymnasium, delaying practice for several minutes, at least. For ''shame'', Desert Bluffs. For shame.
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: Nobody likes the Apache Tracker, and Cecil frequent refers to him as a racist and a jerk, but when the Apache Tracker saves Carlos from the miniature people and is fatally wounded in the process, Cecil calls him a good man.]]
** [[spoiler:And then goes on to acknowledge in the next episode that while the Apache Tracker's heroic actions were worthy of the statue the City Council had built of him, said statue was then buried somewhere in the desert because he was still a racist jerk and nobody wanted Night Vale to be associated with him.]]
* RedShirt: The constant deaths of the community station's lowly interns/staffers. Cecil will mention their "sacrifice" to the station's cause.
* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler:Episode 25 marks the first moment Carlos is shown to reciprocate Cecil's long-standing crush. Two episodes later, they begin dating.]]
* {{Scandalgate}}: Cecil coins the terms "Drawbridgegate" and "Pteranadon Attackgate".
* SecretPolice: The Sheriff's Secret Police. They're not very secret, since Cecil talks about them a lot, even though it seems that the authorities monitor what he says.
* SitcomArchnemesis: Steve Carlsberg.
* SmallTownRivalry: With the neighboring town Desert Bluffs. See RandomTeleportation above.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A lot of names tend to be misspelled. For the record, [[http://stevecarlsberg.tumblr.com/post/55797081331 according to Jeffrey Cranor]], it's "Steve Carlsberg" with an "e", "Old Woman Josie" with an "ie", "Telly" with a "y", and the levitating bathroom cat's name is [[http://stevecarlsberg.tumblr.com/post/55799545725 "Khoshekh"]].
* SpidersAreScary: And it's statistically likely that there's one on you at all times.
* StraightGay: Cecil is apparently gay, as it's implied he's only ever been interested in/had relationships with other men and is very obviously in love with Carlos.
** More recent episodes have also given the same treatment to [[spoiler:Carlos, as he reciprocates Cecil's feelings and the two date]].
* StrawmanNewsMedia: A rare sympathetic example. Cecil seems to be generally biased in favor of Night Vale's totalitarian municipal government and uncritically relays a lot of obvious misinformation, but he also doesn't seem to know any better and is clearly well-meaning.
** That being said, there are signs that [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Cecil might just be complying with the official story because he knows what might happen if he doesn't.]] After all, even his credulity/compliance is strained when the City Council explains that the feral dog pack seen around town was really just [[spoiler: plastic bags.]] There's also a vaguely [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] tone to his references to the local police and government (once referred to "unsupervised, gun-toting thugs of a shadow government"). He seems to disapprove, but isn't in much of a position to directly say anything negative.
* SuspectIsHatless: All descriptions of the Man in the Tan Jacket.
* SurrealHorror
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Frequently used to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the various cover-ups in town.
** "The City Council would like to remind about the Tiered Heavens, and the hierarchy of Angels...the reminder is that ''you should not know'' anything about this. The structure of Heaven and the angelic organizational chart are privileged information, known only to the City Council members on a need-to-know basis. Please, do not speak to or acknowledge any Angels that you may come across while shopping at the Ralph's, or at the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex. They only tell lies, and do not exist. Report all Angel sightings to the City Council for treatment."
** [[ExaggeratedTrope Taken to extreme heights]] by the city's mayor: "Notice: There is no digital, staticky hum coming from the dog park, Mayor Pamela Winchell announced today. The mayor stressed repeatedly in her 92nd impromptu press conference, that there is ''no'' unbearable, soul-tearing sound that rips at the sinews of your very being coming from the dog park. Mayor Winshell continued with a plea for all Night Vale residents to understand that there could not possibly be a deeply coded message emanating from a small fenced-in patch of municipal grass and dirt. Citizens are not even supposed to be consciously ''aware'' of the dog park, so they could not possibly be receiving a menacing and unearthly voice instructing listeners to bring precious metals and toddlers to the dog park. 'Dog park', she repeated, 'that could ''never'', '''ever''' be real', the mayor shouted, pounding the podium with her bleeding fists. There were no follow-up questions."
* TranquilFury: Usually how Cecil expresses anger.
* TheTreacheryOfImages: Carlos and his team of scientists frequently report things like this.
** The house that doesn't actually exist, despite everyone seeing it, and it being between two other, identical, actually-existing houses. But Carlos and his scientists are pretty sure that, after making many complex measurements and calculations, it ''doesn't exist''.
** Later, Carlos reports that his seismographs are recording huge earthquakes happening all the time...that otherwise are not seen, felt, or detected by anyone else.
** The sun randomly sets ten minutes later than it's supposed to one day, without reason.
** At one point, Wednesday is cancelled due to a scheduling error.
* ThemeSong: While the background music changes each episode, the opening and closing music is always "The Ballad of Fiedler and Mundt" by Disparition.
* [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Town's Most Beautiful Man]]: Carlos, although possibly Cecil just sees him that way.
** In "The Traveller", the eponymous traveller marries the town's ''third'' most beautiful woman.
* TownWithADarkSecret: Night Vale has plenty.
** Desert Bluffs has a more cheery exterior, but evidence suggests that the situation there is just as bad if not worse than the one in Night Vale.
* UnreliableNarrator: Cecil clearly sometimes lies and/or repeats lies he's been told. Also, [[spoiler:in "The Sandstorm", Cecil describes being attacked by his doppelganger (ie., Kevin) but choosing to have mercy on him. Kevin says they hugged.]]
** [[spoiler:Given that Kevin is an unreliable narrator himself they could, from their respective perspectives, have been telling the truth regarding their meeting in the vortex.]]
* TheUnsmile: Cecil and Kevin both describe each other's smiles this way.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The "Glow Cloud" from episode 2, a menacing glowing cloud of ''something'' that drifts over the town. It rains small dead animals, exhibits a low whistling noise at all times, and is later revealed to be sentient and can take over people's minds and control them. But...this being Night Vale, no one's overly concerned.
-->One death has already been attributed to the Glow Cloud. But listen...it's ''probably'' nothing. If we had to shut down the town for every mysterious event that at least one death could be attributed to, we'd never have time to do anything, right? That's what the Sheriff's SecretPolice are saying, and I agree, although I would not go so far as to endorse their suggestion to "run directly ''at'' the cloud, shrieking and waving your arms just to see what it does."
** The Glow Cloud later wins an election for president of the school board. Because [[RuleOfFunny why not.]]
* ValentinesDayEpisodes: No romance seems to be involved; apparently a normal Valentine's Day in Night Vale involves widespread property damage and terrible loss of human life. In the days following, the streets are cleared to allow emergency vehicles through to the affected areas, which are strewn with corpses, rubble, and chalky candy hearts.
* ValleyGirl: Cecil imitates the pretentious modern artists at the mall and hypothetical critics of Hiram [=McDaniels=] speaking this way. Cecil also tends to slip into a valley-girl-type speech pattern on occasion himself, most {{egregious}}ly when describing a conversation he had with Carlos, but also just from time to time when speaking off the cuff.
-->And then I was like, "Right, right, right," and I felt dumb, because that's like, the first thing you learn in seventh-grade Transmigration Studies...[[hottip:*:Episode 20, "Poetry Week"]]
* VerbalTic:
** Whenever "Government agents" are mentioned, Cecil always has to throw in "...from a vague yet menacing agency..."
** Whenever Carlos is mentioned, there's also a reference to how beautiful and/or perfect he is.
** There's also Larry Leroy, out on the edge of town.
** And John Peters, you know, the farmer?
* WeirdnessCensor: Mostly [[AvertedTrope averted]], as the townspeople are perfectly ''aware'' of the various odd things that happen in Night Vale, they've just been desensitized to it. Played straight in a few instances, such as the hooded figures around town that no one acknowledges (lest bad things happen to them), or The Shape In Grove Park That No One Acknowledges or Speaks About.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The "coffee date" planned in Episode 16 doesn't come up again, although it seems somewhat uncharacteristic of Cecil to not talk about it. [[spoiler:Episode 27 implies Cecil may have realized Carlos didn't consider it to be a date.]]
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Night Vale's location is never quite definitively established. Numerous references to "the empty lot behind the Ralphs" indicate that it's in California, the only state in which Ralphs grocery stores operate, but technically, all that's known is it's in the American Southwest somewhere, in the desert. It's also confirmedly [[https://twitter.com/NightValeRadio/status/351863614354886657 not in Texas]].
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The topic of a rant in episode 12.
* XMeetsY: ''TheTwilightZone'' meets Creator/{{NPR}}. It's also been described as "[[APrairieHomeCompanion Lake Wobegon]] as viewed by Creator/StephenKing." Also, HPLovecraft meets ''TheOnion''.
* YourTomcatIsPregnant[=/=]MrSeahorse:
-->How does a he-cat give birth? Well, how does a he-cat hover in an immobile spot in a radio station bathroom? Some things just aren't meant to be questioned.
----
[[caption-width-right:252:Look to the sky...]]
'''''Welcome to Night Vale''''' is a SurrealHumor {{Podcast}}/RadioDrama depicting life in the small desert town of Night Vale, a fictional community [[FantasyKitchenSink where everything paranormal is not only true, but a fact of life the citizens have to deal with]] in addition to the mundane details of living in a small town.
Done in a community radio style, the show reports on the various stories around town and the community events happening that week. The host is Cecil, who coolly narrates in a dispassionate, {{NPR}}-style manner. The background music, which can be heard playing throughout the show, is done by [[http://disparition.info/ Disparition]], except for the "Weather" section of the show, which features a different musical guest each episode.
The show treads a fine line between ominous absurdity and genuine creepiness. While having some degree of randomness, the show features certain returning elements and characters, such [[HotScientist Carlos the scientist]] (Cecil's LoveInterest, [[VerbalTic who must be described as beautiful and perfect in the same breath every time]]), the "Sheriff's SecretPolice", the city council's disturbingly far-reaching authority, and the mysterious hooded figures around town.
The show is produced by [[http://www.commonplacebooks.com/ Commonplace Books]] and releases a roughly 20-minute show semimonthly.
Now has a [[Characters/{{Welcome to Night Vale}} character page]].
----
!! This podcast provides examples of:
* [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Absurdly Powerful City Council:]] They've been in power since the mid-1800's, voting for them is mandatory in every election, and they command the Sheriff's SecretPolice. People who defy them are regularly detained for "re-education," or are simply taken in the night, never to be seen again.
* AdorableAbomination: Khoshekh the Cat, which mysteriously appeared in the men's room of the community radio station, levitating in mid-air and permanently suspended at a fixed point. Initially seemed like an adorable side note, until we start to learn some things about Khoshekh. Like how [[spoiler:being in his presence seems to make people into cat-lovers, to the point where it drove one woman to have her dog put to sleep so she could adopt several cats.]] Or how [[spoiler:it's impossible to take a picture of Khoshekh, and attempting to do so results in a horrible death.]] Or how [[spoiler:his 'adorable meow' is a blood-curdling screech.]]
* UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics:
** The National Rifle Association is parodied on one segment where the local Night Vale [=NRA=] puts out a bumper sticker that says "Guns don't kill people, [[BrokenAesop it's impossible to be killed by a gun, we are all invincible to bullets and it's a miracle]]".
** A segment in a later episode lampoons the recent trend of metal detectors in schools:
-->Night Vale High School is adding metal detectors, and parents and students alike are outraged. Several parents we talked to said that NVHS students have long been recipients of shadow government-issued Uzis and rifles, as well as tasers and armor-piercing munitions. The school board's decision to put up metal detectors, according to parents, impinges on the clandestine operation's rights, as a vast underground conspiracy of giant mega-corporations and corrupt world leaders, to bear arms, via teenage paramilitary proxies.
* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: After some particularly weird story, the creepy music will suddenly cut out and Cecil, speaking matter-of-factly, will say "And now the weather", followed by a random piece of music that changes each episode (in a kind of "musical guest" section).
* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: Parodied on a segment called "Know Your Choppers."
-->Black? Probably world government. Blue? That's the Sheriff's SecretPolice. They'll keep a good eye on your kids, and ''hardly ever'' take one. Are they painted with complex murals depicting birds of prey diving? ...No one knows what ''those'' helicopters are, or what they want.
* AndThatsTerrible: Cecil takes it upon himself to constantly remind listeners that the guy invoking the MagicalNativeAmerican schtick is racist, and a bad person.
* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: The Glow Cloud appears to be different shifting colors to each person who views it.
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: A member of a Night Vale high school sports team was recently cured of cerebral palsy -- a terminal, degenerative case of cerebral palsy. Maybe it's a Night Vale thing.
** Considering that the cure was by a "sentient lightning bolt" and also gave him "the strength of two Jeeps and the intelligence of a heavily concussed Rene Descartes", as well as a second head...
* ArousedByTheirVoice: Cecil thinks Carlos's voice is like "caramel" and bemoans the fact that while he's at work, "it would be completely inappropriate for me to answer my phone regardless of how much I want to soak my ears in the oaky tones of our community’s most significant outsider." He also describes himself as having a "smooth, sonorous voice."
** This might not just be Cecil, though. See LoveIsInTheAir.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking[=/=]BreadEggsMilkSquick: Very common.
* BaitAndSwitch: The Sheriff's SecretPolice are on the lookout for Hiram [=McDaniels=], a five-headed, 18-foot tall, fire-breathing dragon with "mostly green" eyes. Why? He committed insurance fraud.
** BaitAndSwitchComment: "Friends, listeners, there's a real tarantula problem here in Night Vale! Many residents have called in to report illiteracy, unwanted pregnancy, and violent crime are on the rise in the tarantula communities."
* BadBoss: Cecil's sinister, otherworldly bosses in the radio station. They're possibly related to (or are) the mysterious hooded figures around town that no one can look at or acknowledge.
* BeneathTheEarth: Apparently the local bowling alley contains the entrance to a vast underground empire.
-->Speaking of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, it's owner, Teddy Williams, reports that he has found the entrance to a vast underground city in the pin retrieval area of Lane 5. He said he has not yet ventured into it, merely peered down at it's strange spires and broad avenues. He also reports voices of a distant crowd in the depths of that subterranean metropolis. Apparently, the entrance was discovered when a bowling bowl accidentally rolled into it, clattering down the city below, with sounds that echoed for miles across the impossibly huge cavern...so, you know, whatever population that city has, they know about us now, and we might be hearing from them soon.
* BigDamnKiss: After a lot of tension, [[spoiler:Cecil and Carlos]] finally get one.
* BigNo: When the Whispering Forest appears in Night Vale, officials from the town's Parks Department react with a press release consisting of "the word 'no' on a single piece of paper, but with hundreds of Os and maybe two dozen Ns."
* BilingualBonus: Cecil speaks a bit of Spanish in Episode 6. ("¡Muchas gracias, El Presidente! [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_P%C3%A9rez_Molina Mano dura, cabeza, y corazón]]," meaning, "Thanks, President! Firm hand, head, and heart.") There's a lot of Russian later on, when the Apache Tracker mysteriously becomes actually Native American and only capable of speaking in Russian, which Cecil often quotes verbatim, in Russian.
* BlackComedy
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Kevin, as perceived by Cecil. [[spoiler:Possibly Cecil as well, as gauged by Kevin's observations of the photograph of him.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality
* {{Bookends}}: The one-year anniversary episode, episode 25, has a ''lot'' of {{Callback}}s to the pilot. It mentions and incorporates many plotlines that were first introduced back then. It's most obvious in Cecil's opening lines for the episode.
* BreathlessNonSequitur: According to Episode 3, Cecil is battling Lyme disease, which he mentions offhand while simultaneously discussing a "creeping fear" which temporarily afflicted the entire town as well as his life-threatening contract negotiations.
* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: For some reason, Cecil is the only person who can acknowledge or speak about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Shape In Grove Park That No One Acknowledges or Speaks About]]. This causes it to get very upset, and Cecil eventually has to voluntary pretend like it doesn't exist to placate it.
* CassandraTruth: After a long debate at the radio station as to whether or not mountains exist, one mountain-believer apparently had to resort to driving his opponents - including Cecil - out to see an actual mountain in order to get them to believe in its existence. Cecil, however, is still hesitant to believe that there is more than one mountain, believing that the one he saw may have been put there specifically to prove the existence of mountains. Then again, given Night Vale, he could be right.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Muddled in with the below examples of VerbalTic.
* CityOfWeirdos: Night Vale, naturally. [[spoiler:As well as its neighboring burg Desert Bluffs.]]
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A common theme of the show, since most people in Night Vale are so desensitized to the weird paranormal happenings of the town that they'll instead key in to the mundane, irrelevant details of a story.
-->The "Apache Tracker", and I remind you, that this is that white guy who wears the large and cartoonishly inaccurate Indian headdress...has announced that he has found some disturbing evidence concerning the recent incident at the Night Vale Post Office, which has been sealed by the City Council since the great screaming that was heard from it a few weeks ago. He said that using "ancient Indian magics", he slipped through Council security into the Post Office and observed that all the letter and packages had been thrown about as in a whirlwind. That there was the heavy stench of scorched flesh. That the words written on the wall in blood read "More come" and "Soon"...can you believe this guy said he used "Indian magics"? What an asshole.
** Carlos leaves several messages for Cecil, detailing the fact that none of the clocks in Night Vale are real and are instead filled with a mysterious grey substance, as well as the mysterious appearance of the Man in the Tan Jacket at his house. He ends the last message with a request to meet up with Cecil to get some phone numbers. All Cecil takes away from this is that he and Carlos have a date.
-->Did you hear that listeners? A date!
** The thick lead door sealing off Radon Canyon is removed because lead is a health hazard and the big yellow warning sign was an eyesore.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Cecil doesn't see why everything should come to a halt for every unexplained phenomenon that kills people, and thinks it's the prerogative of government to read people's minds, control the weather, and cause pandemics. Also:
-->I know for some of you young people, this lottery seems like a barbarous, outdated tradition, but, if not for a municipally planned citizen sacrifice each quarter, how else would we find satisfactory meats to feed those sad, scrawny animals?
::Still, his nonchalance about terrible things isn't a patch on Kevin's.
* ConMan: Louie Blasco offered bluegrass lesson at $50 a lesson. However, Louie's Music Shop burned down years ago and Louie skipped town with the insurance check shortly thereafter. Leanne Hart from the Night Vale Daily Journal is also suspect, as the distribution plant burned down in a suspicious accident, and she's prone to coming up with ideas like an "imagination edition" of the paper. The subscription costs "just" $60 a month.
* ConspiracyKitchenSink: It's openly acknowledged that there's a world government and the government created AIDS and can read your mind and so on.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Steve Carlsberg, who writes in to Cecil's show trying to expose various conspiracies. However, Cecil seems to treat the existence of almost any possible conspiracy as common knowledge and also a good thing, and scoffs at Steve for only just catching on and getting all upset about it.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: On the surface, Desert Bluffs appears to be a much more cheery town than Night Vale, but little hints of creepy sneak in. [[spoiler:[[UpToEleven And then you find out]] everything is either [[MeatMoss covered in]] or ''[[HumanResources made out of]]'' [[EvilIsVisceral viscera]]]].
* CrazyPrepared: When Night Vale is threatened by a plague of [[spoiler: wheat and wheat by-products]], it turns out that the City Council already had a bunker built for that specific purpose.
* {{Cult}}: "Our fair burg" of Night Vale was founded by 18th century religious leaders, wearing "soft meat crowns".
* DadaAd: Whenever Cecil starts to say "And now a word from one of our sponsors...", expect this. Or Cecil simply making weird noises for several seconds.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve: You thought that cars were real? Oh, that is rich.
* DisproportionateRetribution: When he learns Carlos got a haircut, Cecil flies into a rage and gives out the name, address and description of the barber responsible so Carlos's perfect locks can be avenged. It eventuates that the barber was driven from the town into the desert, and now maintains a parody of his old life trimming the spines on cacti and gibbering to himself.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler:At the end of Carlos and Cecil's first date, Cecil talks about deciding who's going to fill out a governmental first-date report form in a way that sounds similar to deciding on "your place or mine", and then says something about going with Carlos to look at Carlos's scientific equipment... but he doesn't, Carlos kisses him goodnight and goes into his lab alone.]]
* EldritchAbomination: Implied with the hooded figures around town and Cecil's management.
* EldritchLocation: Night Vale itself, due to it playing host to various paranormal happenings, government conspiracies, and alien visitors.
** And if Cecil's shocked description of what he saw is accurate, so is the viscera-covered Desert Bluffs.
* EveryoneIsArmed: Even the elementary school students. Granted, this is practically a necessity for survival in Night Vale.
* EvilInc: The Stryx Corporation, which controls Desert Bluffs. They essentially act as the MirrorUniverse version of the City Council.
* FamedInStory: [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]] as far as Carlos the scientist is concerned. Every time Cecil mentions him, he always describes Carlos as being magnificently handsome, talks about his perfect hair, and at one point tries to hold a ceremony naming him as Night Vale's most important citizen. Due to the paranormal nature of the show, it's not clear if this is some [[{{Glamour}} mysterious effect]] Carlos is having on everyone, if Cecil and the population of Night Vale just [[LoonyFan develop unnatural obsessions with random individuals]], or if Carlos is just really that good looking.
** It's more likely that all of the over-the-top descriptions of Carlos are simply by-products of hearing about him from an UnreliableNarrator who is obviously in love with him.
* FauxlosophicNarration: A lot of the things Cecil says qualify by virtue of having nothing to do with the plot or anything else. However, they are sometimes interesting bits of philosophy.
* FeelNoPain: 53% of the residents of Night Vale were born without pain-sensing nerves.
* FictionalCountry: All the European countries Cecil mentions having traveled to in college.
* FirstKiss: [[spoiler:Carlos kisses Cecil for the first time in episode 27.]]
* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Cecil doesn't do much at all himself, which at times he's quite distressed by.
* ForbiddenZone: The City Dog Park.
-->The City Council announces the opening of a new dog park at the corner of Earl and Sommerset, near the Ralph's. They would like to remind everyone that [[ImmediateSelfContradiction dogs are not allowed in the dog park]]. ''People'' are not allowed in the dog park. It is possible you will see hooded figures in the dog park. Do ''not'' approach them. Do not approach the dog park. The fence is electrified and highly dangerous. Try not to look at the dog park, and especially do not look for any period of time at the hooded figures. The dog park will not harm you.
** A pterodactyl from a rift in spacetime enters the Dog Park at one point. We know this because it was found several feet from the entrance. Well, most of it. The organs were definitely there - you could count them with a glance!
* ForScience: Carlos's motivation, although unusually for this trope he seems to do more good than harm.
* GibberishOfLove: Cecil is embarrassed to have been afflicted with a mild form during one conversation he has with the ever-so-radiant Carlos.
* HollywoodOld: The faceless old woman who lives in your home is played by 25-year-old MaraWilson, and sounds quite youthful. She also seems very tech-savvy for an old lady.
* HotScientist: Beautiful, perfect Carlos.
* HumanoidAbomination: The City Council.
* TheHypnotoad: "'''All hail the mighty Glow Cloud.'''"
* IceCreamKoan: The proverbs at the end of each episode can come off like this.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Various locations around Night Vale have names like The Scrublands and the Sand Wastes. Then there's Radon Canyon ("The view is ''literally'' breath-taking!").
* IgnoranceIsBliss: Various authority figures regularly ask citizens of Night Vale to forget things they might have seen or heard. Generally speaking, this is a good survival tactic, considering the sheer number of horrors they must confront daily.
* InformedAttractiveness: Cecil can't bring Carlos up without telling us that he's beautiful and perfect, and of course we only have his descriptions to go on. Cecil also describes Carlos's voice as "caramel" and "oaky", but since he shares some voice mail messages from Carlos in Episode 16, you can form your own opinion on that.
* InherentlyFunnyWord: Most of the words in the list issued for memorization by the secret police in Episode 16.
* TheIntern: The radio station has several, generally {{Red Shirt}}s, often only mentioned to say that they're missing, presumed dead.
** Intern Dana (and/or her doppelgänger) is trapped inside the Dog Park, but she's alive and is asking for some snacks to be tossed into the Dog Park because she's hungry.
* IrrationalHatred[=/=]SitcomArchNemesis: Cecil hates Steve Carlsberg for no discernible reason, and insults him at every turn.
* KentBrockmanNews
* LadiesAndGerms: "Ladies and gentlemen and those of you not clearly falling into either category..."
* LanternJawOfJustice: Carlos, whose jawline is just as perfect as his hair.
* LikeIsLikeAComma: Cecil, surprisingly, has a habit of talking like this when he goes off-topic. It gets even worse when he's talking about Carlos.
-->Well, to the point: Carlos called, and I’m like, ‘Hellooo?’ Like I don’t even have caller ID, and he’s like ‘I need to talk to you. This is important.’ And I’m like, ‘Ummm, okay.’
* LongList: Several.
** "The Boy Scouts of Night Vale have announced some ''slight'' changes to their hierarchy, which will now be the follow: Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, Blood Pact Scout, Wyrd Scout, Dreadnought Scout, Dark Scout, Fear Scout, and finally, Eternal Scout."
** "Dear listeners, here is a list of ''things'': Emotions you don't understand on viewing a sunset, Lost pets found, Lost pets ''un''found, a secret Lost Pet city on the moon, trees that see, restaurant that hear, a void that thinks, a face half-seen just before falling asleep, trembling hands reaching for desperately needed items, sandwiches..."
** "The Night Vale school district has announced some changes to the elementary school curriculum [...] in addition to the foreign language offerings of Spanish, French, and Modified Sumerian, schools will now be offering Double Spanish, Weird Spanish, Coptic Spanish, Russian, and ''Un''modified Sumerian."
** Episode 6 features a horoscopes section where each of the zodiac signs are given increasingly odd/hilarious horoscopes. Among other things, Cecil warns Capricorns that "those were not contact lenses you put in this morning", announces that its Taurus's "annual crime day" where they're exempt from all laws, and simply curses Scorpios and their families and calls them "vile".
* LotteryOfDoom: Mentioned in Episode 8.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Exactly what happens in Episode 1 when Cecil sees Carlos smile for the first time.
-->...Everything about him was perfect, and I fell in love instantly.
* LoveIsInTheAir: It's obvious [[LovePotion the effect that Carlos has on Cecil.]] However, considering the barber who cut Carlos' hair was seemingly [[DespairEventHorizon driven to despair]] for defiling Carlos' beauty, it's entirely possible that Carlos has this effect on ''everybody.''
--> Baldwin, who records the podcasts just a few in advance, didn’t see the Cecil/Carlos chemistry straight away. He thought that "because of the weirdness of Night Vale," Carlos was just the perfect human being, like a "male model who threw on a pair of glasses and a lab coat." Of course everybody loved him. "But then when the relationship between the two characters started to develop, I was so happy and so pleased," he said.
--> -- '''from this article:''' http://www.theawl.com/2013/07/americas-most-popular-podcast-what-the-internet-did-to-welcome-to-night-vale
* MagicalNativeAmerican: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in-universe by the "Apache Tracker" guy, who claims to have supernatural tracking abilities but is clearly not an actual Native American and in fact comes off as vaguely racist in his stereotyped portrayal of Native Americans.
* MauveShirt: Dana, the only intern to have survived more than one episode, currently stranded in the Dog Park. Fortunately, she's getting help from The Man in the Tan Jacket.
* {{Megacorp}}: Stryx Corp, which runs Desert Bluffs.
* MirrorUniverse: Desert Bluffs is one for Night Vale. And may, depending on your perspective, [[EvilerThanThou be worse than Night Vale]]. Cecil certainly seems to think so.
* MoodWhiplash: Cecil often switches abruptly from talking about something terrifying to an unrelated and much more cheerful story, or at least one he seems to feel cheerful about at any rate.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Seemingly a requirement for the Night Vale Medical Association.
* MundaneFantastic: One of the essential elements of the series.
* NeverNeedsSharpening: The slogan "''[[NotHyperbole Literally]]'' breathtaking!" for [[LiteralMetaphor Radon Canyon]].
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Cecil has a very charming, chipper way of making even the most terrifying, unknowable events that occur in Night Vale sound completely mundane. Other times, [[CreepyMonotone not so much.]]
* NobleBigot: [[spoiler: The Apache Tracker, essentially, whose MagicalNativeAmerican shtick is oh so very offensive, yet he dies rescuing Carlos from the tiny people under the bowling alley and was apparently protecting the town in mysterious ways all along.]]
* NobodyTouchesTheHair: Cecil feels this way about Carlos's lovely and perfect raven locks. Carlos, evidently, doesn't.
* TheNondescript: The Man in the Tan Jacket.
* NonPOVProtagonist: It seems that Carlos could qualify as one, it's just that Cecil's ability to properly report on anything Carlos has been doing aside from being perfect and radiant is somewhat hit-or-miss. Dana might be one too.
* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:Carlos and Cecil.]]
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Carlos, described only as "a scientist", doesn't seem to concentrate on any particular branch of science.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. All of the angels who stay with Old Woman Josie are named Erika.
* OnlySaneMan: Possibly with Carlos and his team of scientists, who constantly seem disturbed and amazed by their findings about the town.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Actually, we're not sure how different they are, since no one is allowed to know about them or talk about them, and their existence is denied by the City Council. Yet, they manage to show up on multiple occasions, including at a City Council press conference that denied the existence of angels.
** But the ones at the Ralph's are liars.
* PointlessCivicProject: The demented city council approves several of these:
** The town's continued project to build a drawbridge in Old Town Night Vale, despite there not being any rivers or bodies of water nearby, and no boats to even ''necessitate'' a drawbridge. The project keeps on failing due to the engineers insisting on using hilariously inappropriate materials, such as cardboard. And ceramic bowls. And ''non-dairy creamer.''
** There's also the Night Vale Harbor and Waterfront Recreation Area... in a city that's landlocked and in the middle of a desert.
-->There is no ''water'' at the actual waterfront. And that is a definite drawback, I agree. For instance, the boardwalk is currently overlooking sagebrush and rocks. The Business Association did not provide and specific remedies to this problem, but they assured me that the new harbor would be a ''big boost'' to Night Vale nonetheless. Maybe wait until the next flashflood and head down there for the full waterfront experience.
* PointyHairedBoss: The City Council borders on this, as does the Mayor. For example, they continue to insist that angels don't exist, even if they're in the audience at the press conference; they have insisted on building a bridge in an area with no major bodies of water (see PointlessCivicProject above); and they nearly caused a panic by [[spoiler: summoning the soul of [[Music/PinkFloyd Syd Barret]] for a Pink Floyd Laser Show in Radon Canyon.]]
* PollutedWasteland: The appropriately named Radon Canyon.
* POVSequel: The second part of "The Sandstorm" tells the other half of the story of the first part.
* PresidentEvil: The City Council, collectively, fill this role.
* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Desert Bluffs is run by Strex Corp, as Kevin cheerfully discusses.
* ProductPlacement: The semi-regular "Word From Our Sponsor" segments, which involve Cecil relating some horrific story, generally in the second person, followed by [[MoodWhiplash the sponsor's name and slogan.]] Given [[PsychologicalHorror the]] [[BodyHorror typical]] [[CosmicHorror content]] of these stories, one hopes that the companies did not pay too much for the ad space.
** Then again, this is Night Vale. These ads might actually ''work.''
* PsmithPsyndrome: Old Woman Josie can tell Cecil is misspelling the angels' name, and he doesn't seem to question how she figured that out.
-->‘Erica?’ I asked.
-->‘No, no, Erika, with a K,’ she said.
-->‘Ohh, Erika, with a K,’ I said.
* PsychicNosebleed: Suffered by Cecil once when he tried to text Dana after she became trapped in the dog park.
* PteroSoarer: Subverted.
-->Secret police are now reporting that the offending beasts were not pteranodons after all, but pterodactyls. Also, pteranodons aren't even dinosaurs, as the station had previously stated-- just winged reptiles that lived about 70 million years after pterodactyls.
* PurpleProse: Cecil will occasionally, and without warning, launch into soliloquies or what sounds like poetry. Even in normal news stories, he'll add in plenty of lurid details and elaborations.
* RandomTeleportation: In the pilot episode, a commercial airliner that, while in-flight, is briefly teleported into the Night Vale Elementary school's gymnasium during a basketball game. It's only there for a split second, and before it can hit anything, it's teleported away again, only causing a rush of wind and a roar. Everyone blames it on some wacky hijinks by the rival school.
-->No word yet on if, or how, this will affect the Night Vale Mountain Lion's game schedule, and also, if this could perhaps be the work of their bitter rivals, the Desert Bluffs Cacti. Desert Bluffs is always trying to show us up through fancier uniforms, better pre-game snacks, and ''possibly'', by transporting a commercial jet into our gymnasium, delaying practice for several minutes, at least. For ''shame'', Desert Bluffs. For shame.
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: Nobody likes the Apache Tracker, and Cecil frequent refers to him as a racist and a jerk, but when the Apache Tracker saves Carlos from the miniature people and is fatally wounded in the process, Cecil calls him a good man.]]
** [[spoiler:And then goes on to acknowledge in the next episode that while the Apache Tracker's heroic actions were worthy of the statue the City Council had built of him, said statue was then buried somewhere in the desert because he was still a racist jerk and nobody wanted Night Vale to be associated with him.]]
* RedShirt: The constant deaths of the community station's lowly interns/staffers. Cecil will mention their "sacrifice" to the station's cause.
* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler:Episode 25 marks the first moment Carlos is shown to reciprocate Cecil's long-standing crush. Two episodes later, they begin dating.]]
* {{Scandalgate}}: Cecil coins the terms "Drawbridgegate" and "Pteranadon Attackgate".
* SecretPolice: The Sheriff's Secret Police. They're not very secret, since Cecil talks about them a lot, even though it seems that the authorities monitor what he says.
* SitcomArchnemesis: Steve Carlsberg.
* SmallTownRivalry: With the neighboring town Desert Bluffs. See RandomTeleportation above.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A lot of names tend to be misspelled. For the record, [[http://stevecarlsberg.tumblr.com/post/55797081331 according to Jeffrey Cranor]], it's "Steve Carlsberg" with an "e", "Old Woman Josie" with an "ie", "Telly" with a "y", and the levitating bathroom cat's name is [[http://stevecarlsberg.tumblr.com/post/55799545725 "Khoshekh"]].
* SpidersAreScary: And it's statistically likely that there's one on you at all times.
* StraightGay: Cecil is apparently gay, as it's implied he's only ever been interested in/had relationships with other men and is very obviously in love with Carlos.
** More recent episodes have also given the same treatment to [[spoiler:Carlos, as he reciprocates Cecil's feelings and the two date]].
* StrawmanNewsMedia: A rare sympathetic example. Cecil seems to be generally biased in favor of Night Vale's totalitarian municipal government and uncritically relays a lot of obvious misinformation, but he also doesn't seem to know any better and is clearly well-meaning.
** That being said, there are signs that [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Cecil might just be complying with the official story because he knows what might happen if he doesn't.]] After all, even his credulity/compliance is strained when the City Council explains that the feral dog pack seen around town was really just [[spoiler: plastic bags.]] There's also a vaguely [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] tone to his references to the local police and government (once referred to "unsupervised, gun-toting thugs of a shadow government"). He seems to disapprove, but isn't in much of a position to directly say anything negative.
* SuspectIsHatless: All descriptions of the Man in the Tan Jacket.
* SurrealHorror
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Frequently used to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the various cover-ups in town.
** "The City Council would like to remind about the Tiered Heavens, and the hierarchy of Angels...the reminder is that ''you should not know'' anything about this. The structure of Heaven and the angelic organizational chart are privileged information, known only to the City Council members on a need-to-know basis. Please, do not speak to or acknowledge any Angels that you may come across while shopping at the Ralph's, or at the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex. They only tell lies, and do not exist. Report all Angel sightings to the City Council for treatment."
** [[ExaggeratedTrope Taken to extreme heights]] by the city's mayor: "Notice: There is no digital, staticky hum coming from the dog park, Mayor Pamela Winchell announced today. The mayor stressed repeatedly in her 92nd impromptu press conference, that there is ''no'' unbearable, soul-tearing sound that rips at the sinews of your very being coming from the dog park. Mayor Winshell continued with a plea for all Night Vale residents to understand that there could not possibly be a deeply coded message emanating from a small fenced-in patch of municipal grass and dirt. Citizens are not even supposed to be consciously ''aware'' of the dog park, so they could not possibly be receiving a menacing and unearthly voice instructing listeners to bring precious metals and toddlers to the dog park. 'Dog park', she repeated, 'that could ''never'', '''ever''' be real', the mayor shouted, pounding the podium with her bleeding fists. There were no follow-up questions."
* TranquilFury: Usually how Cecil expresses anger.
* TheTreacheryOfImages: Carlos and his team of scientists frequently report things like this.
** The house that doesn't actually exist, despite everyone seeing it, and it being between two other, identical, actually-existing houses. But Carlos and his scientists are pretty sure that, after making many complex measurements and calculations, it ''doesn't exist''.
** Later, Carlos reports that his seismographs are recording huge earthquakes happening all the time...that otherwise are not seen, felt, or detected by anyone else.
** The sun randomly sets ten minutes later than it's supposed to one day, without reason.
** At one point, Wednesday is cancelled due to a scheduling error.
* ThemeSong: While the background music changes each episode, the opening and closing music is always "The Ballad of Fiedler and Mundt" by Disparition.
* [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Town's Most Beautiful Man]]: Carlos, although possibly Cecil just sees him that way.
** In "The Traveller", the eponymous traveller marries the town's ''third'' most beautiful woman.
* TownWithADarkSecret: Night Vale has plenty.
** Desert Bluffs has a more cheery exterior, but evidence suggests that the situation there is just as bad if not worse than the one in Night Vale.
* UnreliableNarrator: Cecil clearly sometimes lies and/or repeats lies he's been told. Also, [[spoiler:in "The Sandstorm", Cecil describes being attacked by his doppelganger (ie., Kevin) but choosing to have mercy on him. Kevin says they hugged.]]
** [[spoiler:Given that Kevin is an unreliable narrator himself they could, from their respective perspectives, have been telling the truth regarding their meeting in the vortex.]]
* TheUnsmile: Cecil and Kevin both describe each other's smiles this way.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The "Glow Cloud" from episode 2, a menacing glowing cloud of ''something'' that drifts over the town. It rains small dead animals, exhibits a low whistling noise at all times, and is later revealed to be sentient and can take over people's minds and control them. But...this being Night Vale, no one's overly concerned.
-->One death has already been attributed to the Glow Cloud. But listen...it's ''probably'' nothing. If we had to shut down the town for every mysterious event that at least one death could be attributed to, we'd never have time to do anything, right? That's what the Sheriff's SecretPolice are saying, and I agree, although I would not go so far as to endorse their suggestion to "run directly ''at'' the cloud, shrieking and waving your arms just to see what it does."
** The Glow Cloud later wins an election for president of the school board. Because [[RuleOfFunny why not.]]
* ValentinesDayEpisodes: No romance seems to be involved; apparently a normal Valentine's Day in Night Vale involves widespread property damage and terrible loss of human life. In the days following, the streets are cleared to allow emergency vehicles through to the affected areas, which are strewn with corpses, rubble, and chalky candy hearts.
* ValleyGirl: Cecil imitates the pretentious modern artists at the mall and hypothetical critics of Hiram [=McDaniels=] speaking this way. Cecil also tends to slip into a valley-girl-type speech pattern on occasion himself, most {{egregious}}ly when describing a conversation he had with Carlos, but also just from time to time when speaking off the cuff.
-->And then I was like, "Right, right, right," and I felt dumb, because that's like, the first thing you learn in seventh-grade Transmigration Studies...[[hottip:*:Episode 20, "Poetry Week"]]
* VerbalTic:
** Whenever "Government agents" are mentioned, Cecil always has to throw in "...from a vague yet menacing agency..."
** Whenever Carlos is mentioned, there's also a reference to how beautiful and/or perfect he is.
** There's also Larry Leroy, out on the edge of town.
** And John Peters, you know, the farmer?
* WeirdnessCensor: Mostly [[AvertedTrope averted]], as the townspeople are perfectly ''aware'' of the various odd things that happen in Night Vale, they've just been desensitized to it. Played straight in a few instances, such as the hooded figures around town that no one acknowledges (lest bad things happen to them), or The Shape In Grove Park That No One Acknowledges or Speaks About.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The "coffee date" planned in Episode 16 doesn't come up again, although it seems somewhat uncharacteristic of Cecil to not talk about it. [[spoiler:Episode 27 implies Cecil may have realized Carlos didn't consider it to be a date.]]
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Night Vale's location is never quite definitively established. Numerous references to "the empty lot behind the Ralphs" indicate that it's in California, the only state in which Ralphs grocery stores operate, but technically, all that's known is it's in the American Southwest somewhere, in the desert. It's also confirmedly [[https://twitter.com/NightValeRadio/status/351863614354886657 not in Texas]].
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The topic of a rant in episode 12.
* XMeetsY: ''TheTwilightZone'' meets Creator/{{NPR}}. It's also been described as "[[APrairieHomeCompanion Lake Wobegon]] as viewed by Creator/StephenKing." Also, HPLovecraft meets ''TheOnion''.
* YourTomcatIsPregnant[=/=]MrSeahorse:
-->How does a he-cat give birth? Well, how does a he-cat hover in an immobile spot in a radio station bathroom? Some things just aren't meant to be questioned.
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