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'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' (1994-1997) is an AnimatedSeries starring Jason Alexander as Duckman -- the cheapest, sleaziest, most incompetent private investigator in the world; he's also a lousy father, a small-time crook...and a duck. He and his family are all walking, talking, tax-paying[[hottip:*:Well, Duckman never pays his taxes, but you get the idea.]] ducks, and Duckman's hyper-efficient (and humorless) assistant Cornfed is a pig, despite the fact that this is not a ''DuckTales''-type animal world. While Duckman himself walks around naked in the tradition of Daffy Duck, everyone else wears clothes.
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'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' (1994-1997) is an AnimatedSeries starring Jason Alexander as Duckman -- the cheapest, sleaziest, most incompetent private investigator in the world; he's also a lousy father, a small-time crook...and a duck. He and his family are all walking, talking, tax-paying[[hottip:*:Well, Duckman never pays his taxes, but you get the idea.]] ducks, and Duckman's hyper-efficient (and humorless) assistant Cornfed is a pig, despite the fact that this is not a ''DuckTales''-type animal world. While Duckman himself walks around naked in the tradition of Daffy Duck, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck, everyone else wears clothes.
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'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' is an AnimatedSeries starring Jason Alexander as Duckman -- the cheapest, sleaziest, most incompetent private investigator in the world; he's also a lousy father, a small-time crook...and a duck. He and his family are all walking, talking, tax-paying[[hottip:*:Well, Duckman never pays his taxes, but you get the idea.]] ducks, and Duckman's hyper-efficient (and humorless) assistant Cornfed is a pig, despite the fact that this is not a ''DuckTales''-type animal world. While Duckman himself walks around naked in the tradition of Daffy Duck, everyone else wears clothes.
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'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' (1994-1997) is an AnimatedSeries starring Jason Alexander as Duckman -- the cheapest, sleaziest, most incompetent private investigator in the world; he's also a lousy father, a small-time crook...and a duck. He and his family are all walking, talking, tax-paying[[hottip:*:Well, Duckman never pays his taxes, but you get the idea.]] ducks, and Duckman's hyper-efficient (and humorless) assistant Cornfed is a pig, despite the fact that this is not a ''DuckTales''-type animal world. While Duckman himself walks around naked in the tradition of Daffy Duck, everyone else wears clothes.
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* {{Mondegreen}}: In-universe: In "Grandma-ma's Flatulent Adventure", Duckman mishears a long speech by Grandma-ma (in a nutshell, that she accepts him as part of the family) as "Eat more cheese."
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* ComicRolePlay: Done in "Role With It".
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--> '''Duckman''': Ah what the hell? If I can't be the real-real me, maybe I'll make some dough impersonating an imitation of the imitation of the real-real me.
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--> '''Duckman''': Ah what the hell? hell. If I can't be the real-real me, maybe I'll make some dough impersonating an imitation of the imitation of the real-real me.
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* {{Postmodernism}}: The series dabbles in this kind of humor, usually with its references and jabs at the USANetwork. Two episodes that stand in particular are "[[ClipShow Clip Job]]" wherein an irate viewer criticizes Duckman's terrible character using footage of the show as evidence and "How to Suck in Business Without Really Trying", where "[[{{Viacom}} Variecom]]" capitalizes on Duckman being a character to represent the USANetwork but has to con Duckman out of his name due to Duckman actually existing in a universe that also features a fictional character named Duckman. Complete with Duckman having to dress up in a costume of himself to make money.
--> '''Duckman''': Ah what the hell? If I can't be the real-real me, maybe I'll make some dough impersonating an imitation of the imitation of the real-real me.
--> '''Duckman''': Ah what the hell? If I can't be the real-real me, maybe I'll make some dough impersonating an imitation of the imitation of the real-real me.
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** If you think Duckman is bad, his Uncle Mo is even worse, to the point where he inflicts psychological torment on Duckman and even Cornfed defines him as just plain evil.
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* SlowMotion: In "The Girls of Route Canal", Duckman and Beatrice run towards each other in slow motion when they first meet. In a subversion, the two also speak in slow motion.
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Namespace, yeah
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* ThatsAllFolks: The end of "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial" featured a LooneyTunes parody, with Cornfed taking Porky's place:
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* ThatsAllFolks: The end of "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial" featured a LooneyTunes WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes parody, with Cornfed taking Porky's place:
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** And of course his epic rant on the human condition that gets him committed to an asylum in "Room With A Bellevue."
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* OnlyFriend: Duckman and Cornfed are this to each other. Cornfed`s loyalty to Duckman is incomprehensible, but ultimately unshakable.
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* OnlyFriend: Duckman and Cornfed are this to each other. Cornfed`s Cornfed's loyalty to Duckman is incomprehensible, but ultimately unshakable.
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* OnlyFriend: Duckman and Cornfed are this to each other. Cornfed`s loyalty to Duckman is incomprehensible, but ultimately unshakable.
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* BrokenRecord: "Solve case, get out, solve case, get out, solve case, get out, solve case, get out..."
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* LopsidedDichotomy: In "Apocalypse Not":
--> '''Cornfed''': That's either thousands of pounds of destructive flood water, or Rush Limbaugh on rollerblades.
--> '''Cornfed''': That's either thousands of pounds of destructive flood water, or Rush Limbaugh on rollerblades.
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* DemotedToExtra: Many characters; notably, Cornfed gains increasing prominence at all of their expense.
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** "[[JurassicPark Bareassic Park]]"
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** "[[JurassicPark "[[Film/JurassicPark Bareassic Park]]"
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--> '''Duckman''': DAMN... STUPID... ''OXYGEN''!!!
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* HairTriggerTemper: Duckman, but especially in the beginning of "Bonfire of the Panties".
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* PunctuatedForEmphasis: On two occasions, Cornfed said in his typical monotone: "Oh. My. God."
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* ThisIsSparta: On two occasions, Cornfed said in his typical monotone: "Oh. My. God."
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Changed the Namespace stuff
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Very crude (right down to the deliberately ugly character designs), very cynical and very, very surreal -- sort of like if Luis Buñuel had made ''{{Beavis and Butthead}}'' -- it freely mixed low-brow riffs with the abstract and the intellectual. The show has an ardent cult following, and a lot of its fans are still stewing over the final episode's CliffHanger.
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Very crude (right down to the deliberately ugly character designs), very cynical and very, very surreal -- sort of like if Luis Buñuel had made ''{{Beavis and Butthead}}'' ''BeavisAndButthead'' -- it freely mixed low-brow riffs with the abstract and the intellectual. The show has an ardent cult following, and a lot of its fans are still stewing over the final episode's CliffHanger.
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** We see the ending of one at the start of "Das Sub," as Duckman stands trial for land fraud. According to the judge, Duckman had already "acted out five ''{{Film/Leprechaun}}'' movies, six ''Film/PuppetMaster'' movies and nine ''Film/ManiacCop'' movies."
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** We see the ending of one at the start of "Das Sub," as Duckman stands trial for land fraud. According to the judge, Duckman had already "acted out five ''{{Film/Leprechaun}}'' ''Film/{{Leprechaun}}'' movies, six ''Film/PuppetMaster'' movies and nine ''Film/ManiacCop'' movies."
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* ColdOpening:
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* ColdOpening: ColdOpening:
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* CreepyMonotone:
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* CreepyMonotone: CreepyMonotone:
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--> '''Iggy Catalpa''': My name is... (checks wallet) Iggy Catalpa. I was checking my wallet, like I forgot. (silence from the crowd)
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--> '''Iggy Catalpa''': My name is... (checks wallet) Iggy Catalpa. I was checking my wallet, like I forgot. (silence from the crowd) crowd)
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: In "Dammit Hollywood", the ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SylvesterStallone, and BruceWillis caricatures try to kill Duckman from their plane. In the process, they inadvertently destroy several buildings, but make sure to remind the audience that they radioed ahead for everyone to evacuate the buildings so no innocent bystanders would be harmed.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: In "Dammit Hollywood", the ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SylvesterStallone, and BruceWillis caricatures try to kill Duckman from their plane. In the process, they inadvertently destroy several buildings, but make sure to remind the audience that they radioed ahead for everyone to evacuate the buildings so no innocent bystanders would be harmed.
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* {{Exposition}}:
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* {{Exposition}}: {{Exposition}}:
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* HandWave:
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* HandWave: HandWave:
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--> '''Medfly''': You stupid clumsy idiotic brain-dead yellow imbecile!
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--> '''Medfly''': You stupid clumsy idiotic brain-dead yellow imbecile! imbecile!
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* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Dammit Hollywood" features parodies of SylvesterStallone, BruceWillis and ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
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* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Dammit Hollywood" features parodies of SylvesterStallone, BruceWillis and ArnoldSchwarzenegger.Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
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** From "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", the sunglasses-wearing cop.
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** From "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", the sunglasses-wearing cop.
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* TheyKilledKenny: Fluffy and Uranus die in just about every episode. Usually due to {{TastesLikeDiabetes}}.
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* TheyKilledKenny: Fluffy and Uranus die in just about every episode. Usually due to {{TastesLikeDiabetes}}.TastesLikeDiabetes.
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* TookALevelInBadass: Fluffy and Uranus of all people, when they're finally fed up with how Duckman is treating them in their own home and demands his respect by screwing over their usual [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad PC-obsessive schtick]] and actually [[ClusterFBomb cussing him out]]. Duckman's sole response is to walk out in silent shock and awe.
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* TookALevelInBadass: Fluffy and Uranus of all people, when they're finally fed up with how Duckman is treating them in their own home and demands his respect by screwing over their usual [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad PC-obsessive schtick]] and actually [[ClusterFBomb cussing him out]]. Duckman's sole response is to walk out in silent shock and awe.
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** In a couple episodes, though, we do hear her speak: In
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** In a couple episodes, though, we do hear her speak: In In
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* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Cornfed, from the episode "Clear and Presidente Danger", 'For a complete list, please send $12 to Journal Graphics, Washington, DC, 20300.'
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* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Cornfed, from the episode "Clear and Presidente Danger", 'For a complete list, please send $12 to Journal Graphics, Washington, DC, 20300.' '
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** We see the ending of one at the start of "Das Sub," as Duckman stands trial for land fraud. According to the judge, Duckman had already "acted out five ''{{Film/Leprechaun}}'' movies, six ''PuppetMaster'' movies and nine ''ManiacCop'' movies."
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** We see the ending of one at the start of "Das Sub," as Duckman stands trial for land fraud. According to the judge, Duckman had already "acted out five ''{{Film/Leprechaun}}'' movies, six ''PuppetMaster'' ''Film/PuppetMaster'' movies and nine ''ManiacCop'' ''Film/ManiacCop'' movies."
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** "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before"... [[StarTrek like you need to ask.]]
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** "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before"... [[StarTrek [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries like you need to ask.]]
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** And in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Fluffy and Uranus appropriately play the "red shirt" characters from StarTrek.
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** And in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Fluffy and Uranus appropriately play the "red shirt" characters from StarTrek.Franchise/StarTrek.
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* ShoutOut: Duckman's middle name, Tiberius, is a reference to the middle name of [[StarTrek Captain James Kirk]].
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* ShoutOut: Duckman's middle name, Tiberius, is a reference to the middle name of [[StarTrek [[Franchise/StarTrek Captain James Kirk]].
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* AlliterativeList: Subverted in "Ride the High School": Duckman is proud Ajax is going to a university, because he can get back to the three "R's": "Reading, running, and uh, the other thing."
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* TheReasonYouSuchSpeech: In "Role With It," during a group therapy session involving role playing, Duckman winds up taking a lot of abuse from everyone else in the cast. When he gets his nerve back, though, he very calmly gives it back - doing a little role playing of his own and pointing out all of their faults.
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* TheReasonYouSuchSpeech: TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In "Role With It," during a group therapy session involving role playing, Duckman winds up taking a lot of abuse from everyone else in the cast. When he gets his nerve back, though, he very calmly gives it back - doing a little role playing of his own and pointing out all of their faults.
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** "Clip Job" in its entirety does this.
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* JerkAss: Yes, it's Duckman. It's a core driver of the show's plots and comedy.
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* JerkAss: {{Jerkass}}: Yes, it's Duckman. It's a core driver of the show's plots and comedy.comedy.
* JerkassHasAPoint: During most of his rants, Duckman is actually capable of making some pretty valid points about other characters or society in general.
* JerkassHasAPoint: During most of his rants, Duckman is actually capable of making some pretty valid points about other characters or society in general.
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'''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
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'''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?court?\\
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* OffOnATechnicality: In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial," Cornfed looks over every possible technicality to save Duckman from going to trial [[ItMakesSenseInContext over saying "egg" in the town]]. Nothing pans out and at the trial, Duckman is about to be pronounced guilty and sentenced to death. Fortunately, Charles and Mambo come up with the most unlikely technicality of all - Duckman didn't know what he did was against the law.
-->'''King Chicken:''' Ignorance of the law is no excuse.\\
'''Cornfed:''' ''(reading the boys' paper)'' Actually, this is the one town where ignorance ''is'' a legal excuse.\\
'''Judge:''' I didn't know that.
-->'''King Chicken:''' Ignorance of the law is no excuse.\\
'''Cornfed:''' ''(reading the boys' paper)'' Actually, this is the one town where ignorance ''is'' a legal excuse.\\
'''Judge:''' I didn't know that.
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* TheReasonYouSuchSpeech: In "Role With It," during a group therapy session involving role playing, Duckman winds up taking a lot of abuse from everyone else in the cast. When he gets his nerve back, though, he very calmly gives it back - doing a little role playing of his own and pointing out all of their faults.
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* UndyingLoyalty: For some reason, Cornfed, Fluffy and Uranus are consistently loyal to Duckman.
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* FreudianExcuse: Duckman has a lot of baggage - most notably a dead father (who was not unlike himself) and a widowed mother who ignored him while looking for a replacement husband.
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--> '''Duckman:''' Did I ever tell you my Dad's last words to me?\
'''Cornfed:''' "Careful, son, I don't think the safety is on."\
'''Cornfed:''' "Careful, son, I don't think the safety is on."\
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--> '''Duckman:''' Did I ever tell you my Dad's last words to me?\
me?\\
'''Cornfed:''' "Careful, son, I don't think the safety is on."\"\\
'''Cornfed:''' "Careful, son, I don't think the safety is on.
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* KarmaHoudini: Subverted in "I, Duckman." Wolfgang Cracker was [[IAmAHumanitarian a horrible cannibal]] that Duckman inadvertently caught some time earlier. Cracker considers it the best thing to ever happen to him, as (thanks to an agent) he went on to become a rich celebrity. He even mocks Duckman for it - saying revenge against a nobody would be a waste of time. Then he gets a package that turns out to be from the Mad Bomber...
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--> '''King Chicken''': Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Think of an innocent child pickin' a daisy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. ''Now'', imagine Duckman roaring out of nowhere, driving a large truck! He hits her, and kills her, then he backs up and he runs over her ''again'' and ''again'' and ''again'', a sadistic beast, with a deranged, savage lust for blood!
--> '''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
--> '''Judge''': Sustained! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint The jury will disregard the fact that the defendant wantonly, brutally, and carelessly killed a little girl.]]
--> '''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
--> '''Judge''': Sustained! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint The jury will disregard the fact that the defendant wantonly, brutally, and carelessly killed a little girl.]]
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--> '''King Chicken''': Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Think of an innocent child pickin' a daisy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. ''Now'', imagine Duckman roaring out of nowhere, driving a large truck! He hits her, and kills her, then he backs up and he runs over her ''again'' and ''again'' and ''again'', a sadistic beast, with a deranged, savage lust for blood!
-->blood!\\
'''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
--> '''Judge''': Sustained! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint The jury will disregard the fact that the defendant wantonly, brutally, and carelessly killed a little girl.]]]]\\
'''Duckman:''' Ha! Won that one!
** Additionally, the judge is King Chicken's father, there was no jury selection process and the townspeople aren't too bright anyhow.
* KarmaHoudini: Subverted in "I, Duckman." Wolfgang Cracker was [[IAmAHumanitarian a horrible cannibal]] that Duckman inadvertently caught some time earlier. Cracker considers it the best thing to ever happen to him, as (thanks to an agent) he went on to become a rich celebrity. He even mocks Duckman for it - saying revenge against a nobody would be a waste of time. Then he gets a package that turns out to be from the Mad Bomber...
-->
'''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
'''Duckman:''' Ha! Won that one!
** Additionally, the judge is King Chicken's father, there was no jury selection process and the townspeople aren't too bright anyhow.
* KarmaHoudini: Subverted in "I, Duckman." Wolfgang Cracker was [[IAmAHumanitarian a horrible cannibal]] that Duckman inadvertently caught some time earlier. Cracker considers it the best thing to ever happen to him, as (thanks to an agent) he went on to become a rich celebrity. He even mocks Duckman for it - saying revenge against a nobody would be a waste of time. Then he gets a package that turns out to be from the Mad Bomber...
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* HilariousOuttakes: The end credits to "Haunted Society Plumbers" parody this, with audio of Homer's inept efforts to say Duckman's catch phrase correctly.
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* KarmaHoudini: Subverted in "I, Duckman." Wolfgang Cracker was [[IAmAHumanitarian a horrible cannibal]] that Duckman inadvertently caught some time earlier. Cracker considers it the best thing to ever happen to him, as (thanks to an agent) he went on to become a rich celebrity. He even mocks Duckman for it - saying revenge against a nobody would be a waste of time. Then he gets a package that turns out to be from the Mad Bomber...
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* ExcitedEpisodeTitle: True to parodying B-movie titles: "They Craved Duckman's Brain!"
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* BiggerBad: Parodied in "The Mallardian Candidate", where the episode ends with Duckman and Cornfed solving the case and being observed by a group of villains, who are also watched over by an endless chain of other criminal masterminds.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Duckman.jpg
'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' is an AnimatedSeries starring Jason Alexander as Duckman -- the cheapest, sleaziest, most incompetent private investigator in the world; he's also a lousy father, a small-time crook...and a duck. He and his family are all walking, talking, tax-paying[[hottip:*:Well, Duckman never pays his taxes, but you get the idea.]] ducks, and Duckman's hyper-efficient (and humorless) assistant Cornfed is a pig, despite the fact that this is not a ''DuckTales''-type animal world. While Duckman himself walks around naked in the tradition of Daffy Duck, everyone else wears clothes.
Very crude (right down to the deliberately ugly character designs), very cynical and very, very surreal -- sort of like if Luis Buñuel had made ''{{Beavis and Butthead}}'' -- it freely mixed low-brow riffs with the abstract and the intellectual. The show has an ardent cult following, and a lot of its fans are still stewing over the final episode's CliffHanger.
----
!!''{{Duckman}}'' provides examples of:
* TheAce: Cornfed, if it's possible to be one in a deadpan low-key sort of way.
* TheAhnold: In the episode "In the Nam of the Father", Cornfed takes off his shirt to reveal bulging muscles. Before he goes off to shoot the place up Rambo-style, he says "Thank you, Nordic Track."
** In "Dammit Hollywood", one of the celebrities that wants Duckman killed is an obvious Schwarzenegger caricature.
* AlanSmithee: In "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role", a director slate reads Raymie Muzquiz (the actual director of the episode), with the name crossed out and "Alan Smithee" underneath it.
* AmbiguousGender: Fluffy and Uranus.
** In one episode, it's implied Ajax is intersex.
* AnachronismStew: During "Pig Amok", Cornfed shows a documentary explaining the inherited gene that requires him to lose his virginity or die. During the documentary, one of those Civil War letters by Ulysses S. Grant is read, only it's revealed that it wasn't an actual letter, but an e-mail.
* AndIMustScream: King Chicken initially decides to let Duckman go at the start of "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial". When Duckman suspicious asks why he would let him go, Chicken replies with:
--> '''King Chicken''': So that one day, when you least expect it, I will trap you in an elaborately-woven web of diabolical deceit, craven cruelty, and evil so terrible, that it will turn your life into an unending tortorous Hell on Earth, where you'll be too frightened to die, and too damned to scream!
* AnimatedActors: In "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role", Duckman, Cornfed, and Bernice are sitting on the couch after the second commercial break. They're casually chatting about various subjects until they're told by the off-screen director to get into places. When he says "Action", they get into character and continue the plot of trying to find the missing Ajax.
* AnimatedAdaptation: Based on an [[UndergroundComics underground comic book]] by Everett Peck, who also helped develop the show.
* AntiRoleModel: Duckman. Explicitly lampshaded on at least one occasion.
--> '''Duckman''': "Role model"? Hey, I'm a water fowl! ''I'm not a TV show!'' Even if I were, any halfway intelligent audience would know I'm not somebody to imitate. Who'd aspire to imitate someone who's gotten the stuffing kicked out of him so many times, the only reason he gets up in the morning is because either he's ''really stupid'', or somewhere, deep down inside, beats the heart of a disappointed, yet still hopeful, idealist. A yellow, [[BrickJoke ''YES YELLOW!'']], teller of truth, who's a spokesperson for the silent masses who'd love to tell it like it is, who's an idol to be emulated, nay, a ''GOD'', to be bowed down to!... But, heh, I'm... I'm not a ''role model''.
* ArtShift: In "I, Duckman", Duckman watches various home movies to hopefully get a clue about his past. All the home movies have a different art style: SteamboatWillie for his childhood years, {{Popeye}} for another time, WesternAnimation/YogiBear for high school years, and TheSimpsons for adult years when he and Beatrice were still married.
* AstronomicZoom: Demonstrated at the beginning of "Days of Whining and Neurosis".
* {{Beat}}: In "Das Sub", there's a really long one after one of the arrested students ask if Duckman will take the rap for the crime, and Cornfed just stares blankly.
* BeleagueredAssistant: Cornfed.
* BigBad: King Chicken, although he and Duckman had a truce near the end.
* BillBillJunkBill:
--> '''Bernice''': Let's see: Junk, junk, junk, summons...
* BitingTheHandHumor: USA was a frequent target of the series.
-->'''Bernice''': USA? Are they on at night?
-->'''Duckman''': Dozens of people watch USA every night!
* BlatantLies: Cornfed resorts to using one on Duckman to get him to go on his own son's field trip.
* BrainBleach: In "Ride the High School", Duckman opens Bernice's door to say good night, and Bernice screams. Duckman quickly shuts her door, shudders, and says, "Yech! It'll be a long time before I eat broccoli again!"
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In "Ajax and Ajaxer", Duckman eggs on any potential children in the audience to steal soda to "stick it to the man".
* CallBack: In "The Gripes of Wrath", a radio announcer talks about "midget throwing". In "Ride the High School", Duckman and Ajax participate in the "midget toss" event.
** In "Research and Destroy", Duckman accidentally destroys a supercomputer that gathers focus group data. Duckman remarks: "Me and supercomputers, huh?", which is a callback to "The Gripes of Wrath".
* CannotTellAJoke: Iggy Catalpa
* CasanovaWannabe: If you were electing a president of this trope, it would be Duckman.
* CatapultNightmare: Seen in "Noir Gang" after Cornfed has a dream that ends with Duckman with dynamite saying "You're my best friend!"
* CatchPhrase: "DWAH!", "What the hell are ''you'' starin' at!?", "Hommina hommina howah!" and others.
* CharacterFilibuster: Duckman used a rant as a filibuster in "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial" to irritate King Chicken into revealing his plot to the court.
** We see the ending of one at the start of "Das Sub," as Duckman stands trial for land fraud. According to the judge, Duckman had already "acted out five ''{{Film/Leprechaun}}'' movies, six ''PuppetMaster'' movies and nine ''ManiacCop'' movies."
* ChewToy: Fluffy and Uranus.
* ChirpingCrickets: Heard at the end of "Gland of Opportunity" when Charles, Mambo, and Ajax have an extended awkward silence after Duckman says his kids are still proud of him even though he didn't perform the death-defying stunt.
* ChivalrousPervert: Duckman is implied to have been this while married to Beatrice. He also behaves this way while dating Angela and later Honey.
* CliffHanger: The last episode of the fourth season ended with one that was [[LeftHanging never resolved.]] Making that episode a cliffhanger was intentional. [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised Never resolving it was not.]]
* ClipShow: Both played straight and parodied in "Clip Job", complete with a concluding TakeThatUs at the producers' own expense.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Ajax. Also, Cornfed in "Ajax and Ajaxer".
* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: Unfortunately, the DVD releases had to remove a few of the licensed songs; in one instance, an entire scene was spliced out because of this. On the plus side, none of the removed songs were the ones by FrankZappa.
* ColdOpening:
** "Bev Takes a Holiday".
** "Clip Job" as well.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Demonstrated in "They Craved Duckman's Brain!", when bystanders overhear that Duckman has a cure for cancer in his brain. Once they start to riot when trying to grab Duckman, the doctor from the episode appeals to the crowd with AnAesop:
--> '''Doctor''': It's like the story of the goose that laid the golden egg: When the cottager cut it open to get all the eggs at once, it killed the goose!
--> '''Man 1''': Hey, did you hear that? He lays golden eggs, too!
--> '''Man 2''': Let's crack him open and get all the eggs at once! (crowd riots again)
* CommercialBreakCliffhanger:
** Lampshaded in "Hamlet 2: This Time, It's Personal".
** Also lampshaded in "Clip Job" when Harry Medfly tells Duckman he's going to die and laughs diabolically. Right before it cuts to black, he says to the camera: "Doncha hate it when they do that right before a commercial?"
* ConfessionCam: Used in "American Dicks" when various characters tell the camera what they think about Duckman.
* ContentWarnings: Parodied in "American Dicks": The text states that the show has been edited for content, but for the sake of ratings, they've let a few titillating lines slide.
* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: See the EvenEvilHasStandards example below.
* CourtroomAntic: Performed by Duckman in "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", as well as "Das Sub".
* CrapsackWorld
* CrazyPrepared: King Chicken sometimes starts plots against Duckman in the middle of another plot.
* CreepyMonotone:
** Cornfed's ''{{Dragnet}}''-Joe Friday voice.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein Dr. Stein]].
* {{Crossdresser}}: During the musical number in "The Road to Dendron", Cornfed and Duckman sing that if they want to get to syndication, one of them is gonna end up in drag.
** "Not So Easy Riders" has Duckman and Cornfed trying to evade the IRS in Las Vegas by donning showgirl outfits.
* {{Crossover}}: The end of "Haunted Society Plumbers" reveals a supposed ghost to be [[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] under a sheet.
* CueTheFlyingPigs: In "Days of Whining and Neurosis", Cornfed asks Duckman to do something. Duckman bitterly replies, "When pigs can fly!" Immediately after, Cornfed flaps his arms, lifting himself off the ground.
* CurseCutShort: In both "Apocalypse Not" and "Dammit Hollywood", a character is cut off before they can fully say "shit".
* CutShort: The final episode of the 4th Season was not planned to be the final episode.
* TheDanza: Ben Stein had a recurring role as a psychiatrist named...Ben Stein.
* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** From "Psyche":
--> '''Therapist''': Are you sexually active?
--> '''Duckman''': I'm very sexually active!
--> '''Therapist''': I mean, with another person.
--> '''Duckman''': Oh, uh, no.
** Of all people, Beverly is alluded to do this as well. In "Love! Anger! Kvetching!", Beverly says it would be hypocritical to throw out Duckman's porno mags, because then she'd have to throw out her's. Then she goes to the bedroom.
* DeepSouth: "Inherit the Judgment-The Dope's Trial". Also "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby".
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: "Noir Gang".
* DesertedIsland: Duckman is placed on one by Cornfed in "The Amazing Colossal Duckman" so Duckman is able to keep his temper under control. His temper causes him to grow in size, so being isolated on an island means nothing or nobody can piss him off.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "The Road to Dendron", Dr. Ben Stein threatens to rip out Duckman's heart and feed it to his dingo if he doesn't quit making noise on the bus.
* DistantPrologue: "Ride the High School" begins in "Africa, A Long Time Ago", where a father is teaching his son how to kill animals for food. It then cuts to "Austria, A Little Later", where a father is teaching his son how to play the harpsichord. It then cuts to "Virginia, A Little Later Still", where George Washington cut down the cherry tree. Finally, it cuts to the present: "Duckman's House, Tuesday", where Duckman is watching static on TV in the vain hopes that the Bouncing Naked Flesh Channel will be temporarily unscrambled.
** Also utilized in "Joking the Chicken", for a [[TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]] parody that starts in prehistoric times and then cuts to the present.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Duckman, OncePerEpisode, if not more.
* DontExplainTheJoke: In "Joking the Chicken":
--> '''Iggy Catalpa''': My name is... (checks wallet) Iggy Catalpa. I was checking my wallet, like I forgot. (silence from the crowd)
** Jokes often have to be explained to Ajax due to his stupidity. One time, Bernice began to explain a joke about Duckman, but gave up and said, "Oh just laugh; we're belittling your father!" At which point, Ajax guffawed.
* DoubleEntendre: Duckman often uses euphemisms for sexual acts. Examples:
--> '''Duckman''': You know, like those really ugly broads who are always yellin' about equal rights when all they ''really'' need is a little... (clicks) honey in their hives.
--> '''Duckman''': Hey nurse, I've got a thermometer that'll make you bed-ridden for a week!
* DownerEnding: "About Face", which ends with Duckman deciding to not go on a date with Angela because he feels that he's holding her back.
** In the same vein, the ending to "Bonfire of the Panties": Courtney Thorne-Smith dumps Duckman for the simple reason that as a celebrity, she makes dumb decisions and so because it would be a good decision to stay with someone she enjoys, she has to break up with him.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Duckman in "Aged Heat", where he inadvertently destroys an entire city block with his reckless driving. Though in his defense, he was under great mental stress at the time, due to Agnes threatening him to go about his normal daily routine, even though Agnes had his whole family held hostage.
* DysfunctionalFamily
* TheEighties: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their fourth stop is to a businessman's office, who represents the stereotypes of TheEighties: Obsessed with making money on Wall Street, heartless, and only concerned with material goods and trophy wives.
--> '''Man''': Pedi''greed'', is good.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: [[spoiler:Willibald Fievel]] Cornfed.
** It was revealed Duckman has one too(to him anyways). [[spoiler:Eric]] Duckman.
* EpisodeTitleCard: Done traditionally in "The Road to Dendron", complete with theme music. Every other episode merely had the episode title superimposed over the action, though.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In "Dammit Hollywood", the ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SylvesterStallone, and BruceWillis caricatures try to kill Duckman from their plane. In the process, they inadvertently destroy several buildings, but make sure to remind the audience that they radioed ahead for everyone to evacuate the buildings so no innocent bystanders would be harmed.
--> '''Bruno''': We may destroy, but it ''doesn't'' mean we don't care.
* EverybodysDeadDave: The ending to "The Longest Weekend", where Duckman is the last one standing in his warring neighborhood. A narrator explains:
--> '''Narrator''': The following story ''could'' have happened. Only by treating everyone with dignity and respect [[SpoofAesop can we hope to maintain that element of surprise on that inevitable day when we wipe our enemies from the face of the earth.]]
* EvilLaugh: The scientist from "Ajax and Ajaxer" was more than a little happy when Duckman and Cornfed took on his "case". Duckman and Cornfed eventually joined in his laughter.
** Harry Medfly from "Clip Job". See CommercialBreakCliffhanger above.
* EvilTwin: Wanted criminal Agnes Delrooney is almost an exact duplicate of Grandma-ma, except that Agnes isn't comatose and [[BrianDoyleMurray has a gravely voice]].
* ExpansionPackPast: Cornfed has seen it all, done it all. Although, come to think of it, almost every character gets one of these at one point. Even Duckman's list of acquired sex fetishes gets longer and longer.
* {{Exposition}}:
** In the first episode, "I, Duckman", Duckman delivers a bit of exposition about how Beatrice died and Bernice moved in to help care for the boys when he's irritated that the family is ignoring him.
** Lampshaded brilliantly in "The Color of Naught" when Charles and Mambo tell Duckman that Angela has returned, and proceed to explain (in great detail) their relationship from season 1's "About Face". Duckman snaps: "Don't you think I ''know'' that?!" The twins reply that they were spouting exposition for the benefit of the many non-regular viewers who stumbled upon this while trying to find softcore porn.
** In "Short, Plush and Deadly", Bernice reminds everyone why they're going camping, stating that she's not repeating it to deliver clunky exposition, but because it feels so good.
** King Chicken always felt the need to explain his vendetta against Duckman was because of being made fun of when they were kids. After his first appearance, though, this tended to be done more for parody - with other characters clearly bored/irritated by repeat utterances. The crowning example was "The Color of Naught," in which a news reporter claims TimCurry has gone into hiding because he doesn't want to be forced to say those lines anymore.
* EyeGlasses: Somehow, Duckman's eyes are his glasses. He will pull them off his face to clean them, leaving his face unnervingly lacking features.
* FakeOutOpening: Occurs all the time; much in the tradition of {{Rugrats}} (another KlaskyCsupo show), many episodes open with something puzzling, only for the camera to zoom out and reveal what it actually is. Alternatively, the episode will open on a show or movie that one of the characters is watching. Example from "America the Beautiful": A bunch of beauty contestants fighting (with one eventually pulling out a machine gun and wasting everyone). It turns out it's just a video game Ajax is playing.
* TheFifties: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their first stop is in a suburban neighborhood literally in black and white and which is mentally stuck in the 1950's, right down to one of the people accusing Duckman and Cornfed of being communists.
* FlashbackCut: Seen in numerous episodes.
* ForegoneConclusion: Character voiced by Tim Curry? It's King Chicken in disguise. One exception to this rule: "Vuuck, as in Duck".
** After the credits in that episode, the audio clip over the Reno & Osborn logo is Tim Curry's voice saying "I didn't get to peel off my head," so it can be reasonably assumed it was King Chicken.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lampshaded in "The Gripes of Wrath" when half of a background sign's letters blank out, leaving only the letters spelling "Foreshadowing" lit. This is due to Charles and Mambo debating with Duckman about whether computers are better or worse for the world, which is the whole theme of the episode.
* FreudianSlip: In "Psyche", when two big-breasted women enter his office, Duckman says "Come in, come in, I'm Duckman, and this is Hooters! I mean, Cornfed.
* TheFunInFuneral: In "The Girls of Route Canal", Duckman unknowingly knocks over a tombstone, which rolls down the hill, hits Richard's casket, sending the corpse flying through the air and getting his leg caught in a tree, causing him to hang upside down.
* FurryConfusion: Real, non-talking birds have been in the same scene with Duckman.
* FutureMeScaresMe: The premise of "The Once and Future Duck": Multiple future versions of Duckman keep popping up in the present to warn Duckman that if he does something, he'll end up like them. Duckman eventually becomes so paranoid that anything he does will have negative consequences that he remains perfectly still in a chair.
* GagBoobs: Seen in many episodes, but perhaps most pronounced in "All About Elliott" when Elliott's final ingredient to make Duckman overload on pleasure is a stripper with boobs that are practically as long as she is tall. And that's not all; she's one of identical sextuplets!
* GilliganCut: Seen in "Psyche" when Duckman says he and Cornfed aren't going on the date with the two women... and the next scene is the two on a date with the women.
* GodlySidestep: Finding himself in Heaven, Duckman gets an Etch-A-Sketch from God. He asks why and God tells him that it has the Meaning of Life written on it, but by then it has been erased from Duckman moving it around.
* GrandeDame: There's one in "Haunted Society Plumbers".
* GreenEyedMonster: The premise of "A Civil War": Duckman being jealous of Cornfed's limitless abilities in virtually every category.
* HandWave:
** Utilized in "The Road to Dendron" when the villain explains why he performed his evil plan. The instant he begins to explain, a cow walks in front of the camera and munches so loudly you can't hear him. A few seconds later, the cow walks away, only to hear the villain concluding, "And that's why I did it!"
** In "Westward No!", Big Jack [=McBastard=] comes back at the end of the episode, alive and well. When Duckman and Cornfed are baffled how he could've survived being trampled and eaten by vultures, [=McBastard=] simply says, "Long story."
* HangingJudge: In "Das Sub", after the judge carries out Duckman's community service sentence:
--> '''Judge''': Bailiff! If he's not gone in fifteen seconds, ''kill'' him!
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Tammy from "Cock Tales For Four" is never seen or heard; we only have a vague idea of what she and Ajax are doing on their date by what Ajax comes downstairs to get.
* HiddenDepths: Deep beneath the surface, Duckman is someone that really does care for his family, friends and even Bernice. He can also solve cases if motivated to actually try.
** In "Bonfire of the Panties", Duckman's friends and family give him an aphrodisiac that would allow one woman to become infatuated with him, and warn him that he is not to throw it away on some easy trick. Duckman manages to reverse engineer it and make all the aphrodisiac he wants. His Shoulder Angel admonishes him by pointing out his potential and how he is wasting his talents. His Shoulder Devil counters with how it doesn't matter because he's going to get all the tail he wants. His Shoulder Angel reluctantly agrees.
** "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role" reveals that Ajax is saving money to go to college. (Not that he can spell "college," given the six Qs, but still...) However, his savings are all [=IOUs=]... to himself. Turns out he has been secretly slipping money into his father's wallet to help him out.
** It's hinted at in the show, and ''strongly'' hinted in the comics, that Duckman and Bernice are actually attracted to each other, because, well, Bernice looks ''exactly'' like Duckman's dead wife, and Bernice actually sees what her sister saw in him. This causes them to lash out even more than they normally would.
* HypercompetentSidekick: A mainstay of Cornfed's characterisation.
* HypocrisyNod: Played with at the end of "Apocalypse Not"; Cornfed stops the town from killing Duckman by saying he and the rest of the town (who had spent all day in the sewer practicing a drill) acted no better than Duckman did on the surface. But throughout his speech, Cornfed keeps admitting that what Duckman did was ''indeed'' probably worse. Finally, Cornfed admits that he can't even convince himself that he was no better than Duckman, and rallied the town to chase after Duckman.
* HypocriticalHumor: Used all the time, often demonstrated by Duckman.
* ICommaNoun: "I, Duckman".
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Parodied in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before".
* ImageSong: "The Funky Duckman"
* ImNotADoctorButIPlayOneOnTV: Parodied in "A Civil War":
--> '''Actor''': Hi, I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
* InJoke: One episode has Confed explaining in great detail how a murder was carried out by [[spoiler: a group of celebrities in detox]]. One step involves [[KlaskyCsupo klasky soup]].
* InkblotTest:
** Administered to Duckman in "A Room With a Bellevue". His answer disturbs the psychiatrists. Cornfed later "correctly" identifies the image in the inkblot test.
** In "A Civil War", Duckman accidentally spills ink on his chest. Numerous people guess what the image on his chest is.
* InsanityDefense: In "A Room With a Bellevue", Duckman is arrested for ranting in public without a starched collar. During Duckman's trial, his lawyer advises him to plead insanity. Duckman does so, but is instantly sentenced to a mental institution. The lawyer remarks, "Guess I should've seen that coming..."
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* IronButtmonkey: Fluffy and Uranus, who always get eviscerated in some terrible way but are fine a few scenes later, though the effects sometimes last longer than others, for instance the episode where they get eaten.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: This one from "Clip Job":
--> '''Medfly''': You stupid clumsy idiotic brain-dead yellow imbecile!
--> '''Duckman''': Hey, wait, hold on there buddy! (beat) You really think I'm yellow? I've always seen myself as more a sallow ochre. Here, check the butt feathers.
* IUhYouToo: In "Cellar Beware", Duckman and the family are seemingly about to be killed by their own security system, so Duckman takes the last few moments to say he loves the whole family, even... B... B... Buh, BURRR!!! (Bernice smiles and sheds a tear)
* IWantThemAlive: When Agnes and Duckman escape the chain gang in "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby", Walt Evergreen initially orders his minions to bring them back alive. But then he changes his mind:
--> '''Walt Evergreen''': Aw heck, this is the DeepSouth. Let's bring 'em back ''dead''!
* JerkAss: Yes, it's Duckman. It's a core driver of the show's plots and comedy.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: ''Deep'' beneath his JerkAss exterior, Duckman genuinely loves his family.
* JitterCam: Done in "American Dicks" to simulate the {{COPS}} feel.
* JokerJury: In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", King Chicken requests that instead of going through the usual jury selection process, to just use whoever is currently (and unknowingly) sitting in the jury box. The motion is granted.
* JugglingLoadedGuns:
--> '''Duckman:''' Did I ever tell you my Dad's last words to me?\
'''Cornfed:''' "Careful, son, I don't think the safety is on."\
'''Duckman:''' Before that!
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: "They never just kill ya. There's always a lecture."
* KangarooCourt: "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial".
--> '''King Chicken''': Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Think of an innocent child pickin' a daisy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. ''Now'', imagine Duckman roaring out of nowhere, driving a large truck! He hits her, and kills her, then he backs up and he runs over her ''again'' and ''again'' and ''again'', a sadistic beast, with a deranged, savage lust for blood!
--> '''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
--> '''Judge''': Sustained! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint The jury will disregard the fact that the defendant wantonly, brutally, and carelessly killed a little girl.]]
* LampshadeHanging: Done quite frequently.
** In "The Road to Dendron", Cornfed asks why he's asking so unlike himself. A voice from off-screen says: "The password is: Bad writing."
** In "Clip Job", Duckman asks what kind of people would lower themselves to create a lazily written and morally bankrupt clip show, at which point he looks at the camera when the "Executive Producer" credits appear.
** In "TV or Not To Be", God says, "I hate message shows" after Duckman delivers some social commentary.
* LastKiss: In "Inherit the Judgment: A Dope's Trial", King Chicken asks Bernice for one last kiss before he's hung. Duckman, in turn, winces.
* LastNameBasis: Duckman, Cornfed, and King Chicken, although eventually their full names are revealed. Duckman is ashamed of his, and Duckman makes fun of Cornfed's name the first time it comes up.
* {{Leitmotif}}: King Chicken has one, as does Agnes Delrooney. Beatrice has one as well.
* LetsGetDangerous: Duckman can do this, rarely, when it comes to saving his or his family's ass. Even more rarely, he can do it when it comes to social situations. In certain circumstances, he can actually successfully charm women.
* LogoJoke: In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial," after Duckman is acquitted he mentions he had faith in a higher power, looks up towards the sky... the camera follows his gaze as it goes through the clouds... and stops on a mountain surrounded by stars with the word "Paramount" above the peak. [[{{Paramount}} Three guesses as to which company made this.]]
* LongList: In "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby", there's a parody of the scene from ''Film/TheFugitive'' when a long list of places to search for the getaway is given.
-->'''Walt Evergreen''': OK people, listen up. I want a hard target search of every outhouse, beach house, warehouse, boat house, smoke house, clubhouse, ice house, hot house, White House, crack house, bath house, dog house, cat house, reptile house, halfway house, slaughter house, haunted house, gingerbread house, and [[IncrediblyLamePun Joe Eszterhas]] in the tri-swamp area.
** In "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", Cornfed rattled off the merchandise created when Duckman had his fifteen minutes of fame.
** In "The Mallardian Candidate", Cornfed listed all the so-called "necessary" items Duckman purchased for the surveillance job.
** In "Clip Job":
--> '''Duckman''': Maybe I ''am'' a little rough around the edges. Maybe I could be a little more tactful when it comes to dealing with women, co-workers, service route handlers, census takers, the sheet metal workers union, people who bought Kathie Lee CD of Christmas songs, small, high-strung, butt-ugly dogs, kids with really funny birthmarks on their faces, peppers, Trekkers, boomers, buppies, slackers...
* LongLostRelative: Beverly, as introduced in "Bev Takes a Holiday". Also Cornfed's "son" in "In the Nam of the Father" (though he's eventually revealed to be an imposter trying to scam Cornfed out of money).
** Duckman's real biological father is revealed in "Kidney, Popsicle, and Nuts", [[{{Retcon}} thereby meaning that the man seen in flashbacks from previous episodes wasn't his real father.]]
* MamaBear: Bernice.
* ManateeGag: Arguably more common in the first season than the other three. Examples:
** In "Ride the High School", Bernice wonders how the public schools could've gone downhill so horribly. Cut to Duckman protesting in front of the White House, shouting "No new taxes!"
** In "Cellar Beware", the two criminals who robbed Duckman's house get their comeuppance by testing Charles and Mambo's invention, which causes the nearby cars on the freeway to fly onto theirs like magnets. In the same episode, we see a cutaway to Duke Tetsloff at a Congressional hearing on unsafe products, defending that the security system he sold Duckman is only dangerous to someone irresponsible enough to try to open the console and fix it themselves.
* MandatoryLine: In "Sperms of Endearment" Cornfed suddenly appears at Duckman's door. Duckman says [[ItMakesSenseInContext it's a bad time right now]] but Cornfed states that he's required to appear in every episode for at least 10 seconds.
* MediumBlending: The episode "My Feral Lady" features a sequence where Duckman and his wife-to-be appear on the live action daytime talk show "Leeza".
* MenCantKeepHouse: Demonstrated by Duckman in "Married Alive" when Bernice is away for the weekend. The house becomes a dump in short order.
* MissingMom: Duckman's wife, Beatrice, is thought to be dead the whole series... that is, until we're thrown a curve ball in "Four Weddings Inconceivable".
* MoralGuardians: One of them kidnaps Duckman in "Clip Job".
* MotorMouth: Duckman himself, though more in the first half of the series.
* TheMovie: Parodied in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W." when a live action made-for-TV movie is made about Duckman. Cornfed is portrayed as an incompetent drunk (by [[CastingGag his voice actor]] Gregg Berger at that).
* MultipleHeadCase: Charles and Mambo
* MusicalEpisode: Subverted: "The Road to Dendron" started out looking like a musical episode, with a catchy song to explain the plot. But there is no more singing for the rest of the episode, until the finale, which is muted anyway because [[LampshadeHanging the show used up its budget on the opening song]].
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Duckman and his son Mandingo.. Simba.. Charles' brother.. Mambo.
* NegativeContinuity: Although sometimes events did carry over to later episodes. One of the bigger examples is how Duckman and Cornfed first met. In "Civil War," the two are shown as meeting as adults when Cornfed worked as a baker. ("The Girls of Route Canal" showed the two actually meeting well-before "Civil War," but Duckman was typically pre-occupied with himself and crass, so he would obviously not remember.) But in "From Brad to Worse," the two are shown as old high school pals - played straight and not as a joke as in "The Girls of Route Canal."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Dammit Hollywood" features parodies of SylvesterStallone, BruceWillis and ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
* NoEnding: The series' 4th season final episode ended with a CliffHanger involving [[spoiler: Duckman's wife Beatrice, whose death aggravated most of Duckman's self-destructive tendencies, being revealed to be alive.]] Naturally, the first time the show's creators were confident of the show being picked up for another season, they weren't.
* NoirEpisode: Specifically, "Noir Gang", which is rendered entirely in black and white except for the final few seconds when the sun comes out. There are Noir motifs right through the series, and in Duckman's own mind he's a pulp detective hero.
* NonhumansLackAttributes: Duckman makes an aside to Cornfed in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W." when some hot babes enter his office: "It's times like this, I wish I had a penis.", lampshading that he wears no clothes and yet has no visible genitalia.
* NoodleIncident: Numerous examples, usually involving Duckman doing something horrific.
* NoFourthWall: Frequent asides to the audience, digs at the USANetwork, and so forth.
* NotableCommercialCampaigns: In-between the third and fourth seasons, USA ran a series of commercials asking, "Where is Duckman?", and showing Duckman at various locations like at a political rally and on the moon.
* NotSoDifferent: In "Cock Tales For Four", King Chicken blames Duckman for his life being a failure, due to Duckman ridiculing him to the other children when they were kids. However, after King Chicken says that Duckman couldn't possibly know what it's like to be an outcast, Duckman snaps: "I know ''exactly'' what that's like! (long pause) After you ran home, they made fun of me, too." This revelation causes the two to realize they have a lot in common, and temporarily become friends... until King Chicken's wife comes onto Duckman and King Chicken blames Duckman for it, thereby reinstating the long-standing feud between the two.
* OnceAnEpisode: Duckman doing something horrible to his living plush-animal office assistants Fluffy and Uranus.
* TheOneWith: A third season episode is titled "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role".
* OpeningNarration: The episode "Das Sub" opens with a Law&Order parody:
--> '''Narrator''': In the criminal justice system, there are two separate but equally important groups: The police and prosecutors, who apprehend and try the offenders, and the idiotic defendants who take up the court's time with their self-serving blather. These are their stories.
* OrSoIHeard: Demonstrated in "The Germ Turns" by Cornfed, of all people.
* TheOtherDarrin: Dana Hill (Duckman's son Charles) was replaced by Pat Musick following the former's death.
* OtherStockPhrases: In "Gripes of Wrath", after Bernice shows affection for Duckman, he replies: "Who ARE you, and what have you done with Bernice?!"
* OutOfCharacterMoment: Parodied in "The Road to Dendron." After Duckman is taken away by the guards (presumably to his death), Cornfed just dances around in a circle, repeatedly gloating, "The princess loves me!" When he finally exhausts himself and falls over:
-->'''Cornfed:''' Why would I act so out-of-character?\\
'''Narrator:''' The password is: Bad Writing.
* OutrunTheFireball: Parodied in "The Mallardian Candidate".
* OverlyLongGag: The "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-1 Plumbing" scene.
** {{Lampshaded}} when during the umpteenth instance of this gag, Duckman [[NoFourthWall interrupts to note]] they haven't even started the episode plot yet.
* PapaWolf: The one way to light a fire under Duckman's ass is to mess with his family. Even Bernice.
* ParallelPornTitles: In "Gripes of Wrath", some of the porno movies Bernice gives Duckman are:
** "A Room With a Spew"
** "[[JurassicPark Bareassic Park]]"
** "Hannah Does Her Sisters"
** "[[IncrediblyLamePun Howard's End]]"
* ParentWithNewParamour: Duckman somehow had girlfriends occasionally.
* ParentalNeglect: Duckman, who learned all too well from his own mother.
* ParodyEpisode: "The Road to Dendron" is a parody of all those Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road To" movies.
** "The Mallardian Candidate" is a parody of TheManchurianCandidate.
** "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before"... [[StarTrek like you need to ask.]]
** "My Feral Lady" is a parody of MyFairLady, obviously.
** "The Girls of Route Canal" parodies TheBridgesOfMadisonCounty.
** "Ebony, Baby" parodies {{Blaxploitation}} films in general.
* ThePerfectionist: Cornfed. One example from "A Civil War" is when Cornfed performed a complicated basketball slam dunk (complete with stopping in mid-air to paint a signature), and afterwards made the basket from the other end of the court using only a mirror as a guide. After the second shot, he complained that he caught some rim.
* PetTheDog: Deliberately avoided.
* PhoneTraceRace: Utilized in "Not So Easy Riders" when some IRS agents are tracing Duckman's phone call: Bernice keeps Duckman on the line by asking him if he's read any good books lately.
--> ''Bernice'': What's that one about? (listens) ...With her own ''sisters''? Oh my God.
* PlayingAgainstType: Not a specific actor, but ''studio''; so this cartoon was brought by... [[KlaskyCsupo the creators]] of ''{{Rugrats}}'', ''TheWildThornberries'' and ''AsToldByGinger''?!
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Parodied in "Joking the Chicken".
** In "It's the Thing of the Principal", Duckman and Cornfed try to get into the vice principal's office of Ajax's school, all to no avail. But the second Duckman mentions God in passing, a school cop confronts Duckman and says he won't stand for prayer in public school, and that he has to go to the vice principal's office.
** In "Forbidden Fruit", an episode about sexism, Hebrew will now be known as "We-brew" and a sewer worker was charged with sexual misconduct for referring to his "manhole".
* PoorMansPorn: Duckman has used these many times, which is odd because he has countless porno mags and videos.
* PopGoesTheHuman: A grotesque murder (by lactose intolerance) in "Days of Wine and Neuroses".
* PrecisionFStrike: In "Research and Destroy", Bernice lets loose on a snooty bouncer who keeps she and the family waiting in line for Ajax's performance, despite being family: After the bouncer makes a remark about fog, Bernice keeps saying "fogging" while yelling at the bouncer. So while not the actual "f" word, "fogging" sounds close enough. This could also be considered a GettingCrapPastTheRadar moment, really.
** In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", Cornfed asks Duckman: "Are you out of your (beep)ing mind?!"
** In "American Dicks", the cameraman's first introduction to Duckman is him swearing repeatedly, with each instance bleeped out. Even though bleeped, it's pretty obvious what words he's saying, given the context.
** Demonstrated many times when Fluffy and Uranus snap at Duckman in "Forbidden Fruit".
* PunnyName: The third suspect's name in "America the Beautiful" is Saul... Saul Monella.
* RedShirt: The waiter in "Apocalypse Not", who even protests that he's not going to perform a dangerous task instead of the main characters, because he's a one-shot and nobody will care if he dies. Bernice says that's nonsense, and after the waiter predictably dies, she half-heartedly mourns his loss, but screws it when she can't remember the waiter's name.
** And in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Fluffy and Uranus appropriately play the "red shirt" characters from StarTrek.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* ReinventingTheTelephone: A smoke signal--{{lampshaded}} when they use a telephone after it doesn't work.)
* RiskyBusinessDance: In "Apocalypse Not".
* RunningGag:
** Duckman screwing up Mambo's name.
** From "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", the sunglasses-wearing cop.
--> '''Cop''': "You folks lost?"
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: While USA treated the first three seasons fairly well (even though it did air on Saturday evenings), most of season 4 aired in the wee hours of the morning. Is it any surprise it was canceled after that?
* TheSeventies: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their third stop was a disco club.
* ShamelessSelfPromoter: In "Days of Whining and Neurosis", Cornfed plugs MurderSheWrote reruns on USA.
* ShoutOut: Duckman's middle name, Tiberius, is a reference to the middle name of [[StarTrek Captain James Kirk]].
** In "The Road to Dendron", Duckman is forced into a metal cage and lowered towards lava. This is definitely a reference to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
** In "Das Sub," a parody of 1995's ''Nixon'' sees Duckman re-enact the part where Nixon looks at a picture of JFK. As Duckman is filling the Nixon role, [[DrKatzProfessionalTherapist Dr. Katz]] is in the picture.
--->"They look at you and see what they wanna watch. They look at me and know it's the wrong channel."
* SingleMindedTwins: Sharing a body, Charles and Mambo displayed this sometimes, although they were also known to argue with each other. They've been known to ''headbutt'' each other!
* TheSixties: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their second trip was to a college campus in a 60s-ish town. Everyone who's not a cop is a hippie.
* SitcomArchNemesis: King Chicken.
* SixDegreesOfKevinBacon: Parodied in "Four Weddings Inconceivable".
* SlippingAMickey: In "The Road to Dendron", Duckman is rescued by Princess Fallopia, but doesn't want to sleep with her because [[{{Squick}} she looks virtually identical to Ajax and it would be weird.]] So he asks an aide to sleep Fallopia a mickey every night, and the next morning he tells her a tall tale about how good he was in bed with her.
* SlowClap: Played straight at first in "Das Sub", but devolves into parody when the clapping group follows Duckman home, still clapping.
--> '''Duckman''': Would you shut the hell up and go home? I've called the cops! Freakin' hoodlums.
* SmokingIsCool: Demonstrated by Duckman in "Gland of Opportunity" when he becomes famous. Interestingly, though, the show mostly averts this trope; Duckman is reluctantly trying to quit smoking right at the start of the series and we're shown the negative side effects of his former addiction.
* SoundEffectBleep: Duckman is bleeped a number of times in succession at the start of "American Dicks".
* {{Sting}}: In "The Mallardian Candidate", every time "a consiracy!" is said, a three note, dramatic sting is played. Eventually, Duckman gets irritated at it, especially when the sting interrupts his sentences and, in one instance, plays upon showing him merely walking into a building.
* TheStinger: Later episodes began to feature audio clips played over the Reno & Osborn logo. Sometimes they were a repeat from the episode a la [=MST3K=], other times they were all new.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
** "Joking the Chicken" featured a take-off of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" which played, appropriately enough, during a ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' parody.
** "The Gripes of Wrath" has a musical parody of the song "Holiday for Strings", aka the theme to "The Red Skeleton Show".
** During a couple episodes of season 4, Bernice was accompanied by a brief {{Leitmotif}} which sounded very similar to the Wicked Witch of the West's theme from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
** And, of course, the ''{{Friends}}'' theme was parodied in "With Friends Like These".
* TakeThat: In "Clip Job", Ajax basically equates WalkerTexasRanger with sewage.
** King Chicken's full name is [[GeorgeHWBush George Herbert Walker]] Chicken.
* TakeThatCritics: "And to think, Entertainment Weekly panned us."
* TakingTheBullet: A flashback in "A Civil War" showed that Cornfed protected Duckman from bullets shot by a gunman. ''Twice''.
* TastesLikeDiabetes: This is essentially Fluffy and Uranus' entire schtick. Duckman hates it. [[invoked]]
* TedBaxter: Duckman, of course.
* TemptingFate: Fluffy and Uranus tell house-crasher Duckman about some of their prized possessions in "Forbidden Fruit". The next morning, said items are ruined by Duckman.
* ThatsAllFolks: The end of "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial" featured a LooneyTunes parody, with Cornfed taking Porky's place:
--> '''Cornfed''': Abadeaabadeaabadea, that's everything we've got, people.
* ThemeParkLandscape: The underground cavern in "The Road to Dendron" features a water passage which Duckman, Cornfed, and Ajax use to escape, though in a subversion, the Fakir laments: "Why did I put in that water slide?! After them!"
* TheyKilledKenny: Fluffy and Uranus die in just about every episode. Usually due to {{TastesLikeDiabetes}}.
* ThisIsMySide: Done to an extreme in "Exile in Guyville", when an argument between Bernice and Duckman eventually causes a separation between the males and females of society, separated by a tall wall.
* ThisIsSparta: On two occasions, Cornfed said in his typical monotone: "Oh. My. God."
* ToiletHumor: In "In the Nam of the Father", Charles says that he's thirsty, and Mambo adds that he has to pee. Duckman says that both of their problems are solved.
** In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", after the family drinks a bunch of water, Duckman says, "No time for bathrooms; we'll sweat it out in the car."
** In "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Duckman says he has to go to the bathroom to give new meaning to the term "Captain's Log".
* TookALevelInBadass: Fluffy and Uranus of all people, when they're finally fed up with how Duckman is treating them in their own home and demands his respect by screwing over their usual [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad PC-obsessive schtick]] and actually [[ClusterFBomb cussing him out]]. Duckman's sole response is to walk out in silent shock and awe.
* ToothyBird: Just look at the page image.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist
* UnwantedRescue: In "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", Duckman inadvertently saves the president from a terrorist. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, he's ridiculed by the press for getting in the way of a bigger story, that is, a presidential assassination.
* UnitConfusion: In "Das Sub", after Duckman gets a sentence of 5,000 of community service:
--> '''Duckman''': 5,000 hours? That's 45 minutes!
--> '''Cornfed''': Actually, it's about six months.
--> '''Duckman''': What? Damn metric system.
* {{Utopia}}: The city briefly became one in "The Gripes of Wrath" when Duckman made an off-hand complaint about short-lasting deodorant and a supercomputer used his criticism to change society for the better. Something happened between acts two and three to cause [[{{Dystopia}} a complete reversal of this scenario, though.]]
* TheVoiceless: Grandma-ma, who can't speak due to her coma. She makes up for it by farting instead, and using morse code on one occasion.
** In a couple episodes, though, we do hear her speak: In
* VomitDiscretionShot: Art De Salvo vomits into a paper bag in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", but we never see the vomit itself.
* WeddingDay: In the final ep, "Four Weddings Inconceivable", which ended with a CliffHanger that was [[LeftHanging never resolved]].
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Cornfed, from the episode "Clear and Presidente Danger", 'For a complete list, please send $12 to Journal Graphics, Washington, DC, 20300.'
* WholeEpisodeFlashback:
** "The Girls of Route Canal", which is about Duckman telling Charles and Mambo how he and Beatrice met.
** "Crime, Punishment, War, Peace, and the Idiot", about Grandma-ma's early days.
** "Exile in Guyville", which uses the wraparounds of a future society where a mother tells her son bedtime stories of Duckman.
* WholePlotReference: "{{Hamlet}} 2: This Time, It's Personal".
* WraparoundBackground: Used during the WesternAnimation/YogiBear parody in "I, Duckman".
* {{Yandere}}: Tami from "The Tami Show".
----
'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' is an AnimatedSeries starring Jason Alexander as Duckman -- the cheapest, sleaziest, most incompetent private investigator in the world; he's also a lousy father, a small-time crook...and a duck. He and his family are all walking, talking, tax-paying[[hottip:*:Well, Duckman never pays his taxes, but you get the idea.]] ducks, and Duckman's hyper-efficient (and humorless) assistant Cornfed is a pig, despite the fact that this is not a ''DuckTales''-type animal world. While Duckman himself walks around naked in the tradition of Daffy Duck, everyone else wears clothes.
Very crude (right down to the deliberately ugly character designs), very cynical and very, very surreal -- sort of like if Luis Buñuel had made ''{{Beavis and Butthead}}'' -- it freely mixed low-brow riffs with the abstract and the intellectual. The show has an ardent cult following, and a lot of its fans are still stewing over the final episode's CliffHanger.
----
!!''{{Duckman}}'' provides examples of:
* TheAce: Cornfed, if it's possible to be one in a deadpan low-key sort of way.
* TheAhnold: In the episode "In the Nam of the Father", Cornfed takes off his shirt to reveal bulging muscles. Before he goes off to shoot the place up Rambo-style, he says "Thank you, Nordic Track."
** In "Dammit Hollywood", one of the celebrities that wants Duckman killed is an obvious Schwarzenegger caricature.
* AlanSmithee: In "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role", a director slate reads Raymie Muzquiz (the actual director of the episode), with the name crossed out and "Alan Smithee" underneath it.
* AmbiguousGender: Fluffy and Uranus.
** In one episode, it's implied Ajax is intersex.
* AnachronismStew: During "Pig Amok", Cornfed shows a documentary explaining the inherited gene that requires him to lose his virginity or die. During the documentary, one of those Civil War letters by Ulysses S. Grant is read, only it's revealed that it wasn't an actual letter, but an e-mail.
* AndIMustScream: King Chicken initially decides to let Duckman go at the start of "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial". When Duckman suspicious asks why he would let him go, Chicken replies with:
--> '''King Chicken''': So that one day, when you least expect it, I will trap you in an elaborately-woven web of diabolical deceit, craven cruelty, and evil so terrible, that it will turn your life into an unending tortorous Hell on Earth, where you'll be too frightened to die, and too damned to scream!
* AnimatedActors: In "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role", Duckman, Cornfed, and Bernice are sitting on the couch after the second commercial break. They're casually chatting about various subjects until they're told by the off-screen director to get into places. When he says "Action", they get into character and continue the plot of trying to find the missing Ajax.
* AnimatedAdaptation: Based on an [[UndergroundComics underground comic book]] by Everett Peck, who also helped develop the show.
* AntiRoleModel: Duckman. Explicitly lampshaded on at least one occasion.
--> '''Duckman''': "Role model"? Hey, I'm a water fowl! ''I'm not a TV show!'' Even if I were, any halfway intelligent audience would know I'm not somebody to imitate. Who'd aspire to imitate someone who's gotten the stuffing kicked out of him so many times, the only reason he gets up in the morning is because either he's ''really stupid'', or somewhere, deep down inside, beats the heart of a disappointed, yet still hopeful, idealist. A yellow, [[BrickJoke ''YES YELLOW!'']], teller of truth, who's a spokesperson for the silent masses who'd love to tell it like it is, who's an idol to be emulated, nay, a ''GOD'', to be bowed down to!... But, heh, I'm... I'm not a ''role model''.
* ArtShift: In "I, Duckman", Duckman watches various home movies to hopefully get a clue about his past. All the home movies have a different art style: SteamboatWillie for his childhood years, {{Popeye}} for another time, WesternAnimation/YogiBear for high school years, and TheSimpsons for adult years when he and Beatrice were still married.
* AstronomicZoom: Demonstrated at the beginning of "Days of Whining and Neurosis".
* {{Beat}}: In "Das Sub", there's a really long one after one of the arrested students ask if Duckman will take the rap for the crime, and Cornfed just stares blankly.
* BeleagueredAssistant: Cornfed.
* BigBad: King Chicken, although he and Duckman had a truce near the end.
* BillBillJunkBill:
--> '''Bernice''': Let's see: Junk, junk, junk, summons...
* BitingTheHandHumor: USA was a frequent target of the series.
-->'''Bernice''': USA? Are they on at night?
-->'''Duckman''': Dozens of people watch USA every night!
* BlatantLies: Cornfed resorts to using one on Duckman to get him to go on his own son's field trip.
* BrainBleach: In "Ride the High School", Duckman opens Bernice's door to say good night, and Bernice screams. Duckman quickly shuts her door, shudders, and says, "Yech! It'll be a long time before I eat broccoli again!"
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In "Ajax and Ajaxer", Duckman eggs on any potential children in the audience to steal soda to "stick it to the man".
* CallBack: In "The Gripes of Wrath", a radio announcer talks about "midget throwing". In "Ride the High School", Duckman and Ajax participate in the "midget toss" event.
** In "Research and Destroy", Duckman accidentally destroys a supercomputer that gathers focus group data. Duckman remarks: "Me and supercomputers, huh?", which is a callback to "The Gripes of Wrath".
* CannotTellAJoke: Iggy Catalpa
* CasanovaWannabe: If you were electing a president of this trope, it would be Duckman.
* CatapultNightmare: Seen in "Noir Gang" after Cornfed has a dream that ends with Duckman with dynamite saying "You're my best friend!"
* CatchPhrase: "DWAH!", "What the hell are ''you'' starin' at!?", "Hommina hommina howah!" and others.
* CharacterFilibuster: Duckman used a rant as a filibuster in "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial" to irritate King Chicken into revealing his plot to the court.
** We see the ending of one at the start of "Das Sub," as Duckman stands trial for land fraud. According to the judge, Duckman had already "acted out five ''{{Film/Leprechaun}}'' movies, six ''PuppetMaster'' movies and nine ''ManiacCop'' movies."
* ChewToy: Fluffy and Uranus.
* ChirpingCrickets: Heard at the end of "Gland of Opportunity" when Charles, Mambo, and Ajax have an extended awkward silence after Duckman says his kids are still proud of him even though he didn't perform the death-defying stunt.
* ChivalrousPervert: Duckman is implied to have been this while married to Beatrice. He also behaves this way while dating Angela and later Honey.
* CliffHanger: The last episode of the fourth season ended with one that was [[LeftHanging never resolved.]] Making that episode a cliffhanger was intentional. [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised Never resolving it was not.]]
* ClipShow: Both played straight and parodied in "Clip Job", complete with a concluding TakeThatUs at the producers' own expense.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Ajax. Also, Cornfed in "Ajax and Ajaxer".
* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: Unfortunately, the DVD releases had to remove a few of the licensed songs; in one instance, an entire scene was spliced out because of this. On the plus side, none of the removed songs were the ones by FrankZappa.
* ColdOpening:
** "Bev Takes a Holiday".
** "Clip Job" as well.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Demonstrated in "They Craved Duckman's Brain!", when bystanders overhear that Duckman has a cure for cancer in his brain. Once they start to riot when trying to grab Duckman, the doctor from the episode appeals to the crowd with AnAesop:
--> '''Doctor''': It's like the story of the goose that laid the golden egg: When the cottager cut it open to get all the eggs at once, it killed the goose!
--> '''Man 1''': Hey, did you hear that? He lays golden eggs, too!
--> '''Man 2''': Let's crack him open and get all the eggs at once! (crowd riots again)
* CommercialBreakCliffhanger:
** Lampshaded in "Hamlet 2: This Time, It's Personal".
** Also lampshaded in "Clip Job" when Harry Medfly tells Duckman he's going to die and laughs diabolically. Right before it cuts to black, he says to the camera: "Doncha hate it when they do that right before a commercial?"
* ConfessionCam: Used in "American Dicks" when various characters tell the camera what they think about Duckman.
* ContentWarnings: Parodied in "American Dicks": The text states that the show has been edited for content, but for the sake of ratings, they've let a few titillating lines slide.
* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: See the EvenEvilHasStandards example below.
* CourtroomAntic: Performed by Duckman in "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", as well as "Das Sub".
* CrapsackWorld
* CrazyPrepared: King Chicken sometimes starts plots against Duckman in the middle of another plot.
* CreepyMonotone:
** Cornfed's ''{{Dragnet}}''-Joe Friday voice.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein Dr. Stein]].
* {{Crossdresser}}: During the musical number in "The Road to Dendron", Cornfed and Duckman sing that if they want to get to syndication, one of them is gonna end up in drag.
** "Not So Easy Riders" has Duckman and Cornfed trying to evade the IRS in Las Vegas by donning showgirl outfits.
* {{Crossover}}: The end of "Haunted Society Plumbers" reveals a supposed ghost to be [[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] under a sheet.
* CueTheFlyingPigs: In "Days of Whining and Neurosis", Cornfed asks Duckman to do something. Duckman bitterly replies, "When pigs can fly!" Immediately after, Cornfed flaps his arms, lifting himself off the ground.
* CurseCutShort: In both "Apocalypse Not" and "Dammit Hollywood", a character is cut off before they can fully say "shit".
* CutShort: The final episode of the 4th Season was not planned to be the final episode.
* TheDanza: Ben Stein had a recurring role as a psychiatrist named...Ben Stein.
* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** From "Psyche":
--> '''Therapist''': Are you sexually active?
--> '''Duckman''': I'm very sexually active!
--> '''Therapist''': I mean, with another person.
--> '''Duckman''': Oh, uh, no.
** Of all people, Beverly is alluded to do this as well. In "Love! Anger! Kvetching!", Beverly says it would be hypocritical to throw out Duckman's porno mags, because then she'd have to throw out her's. Then she goes to the bedroom.
* DeepSouth: "Inherit the Judgment-The Dope's Trial". Also "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby".
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: "Noir Gang".
* DesertedIsland: Duckman is placed on one by Cornfed in "The Amazing Colossal Duckman" so Duckman is able to keep his temper under control. His temper causes him to grow in size, so being isolated on an island means nothing or nobody can piss him off.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "The Road to Dendron", Dr. Ben Stein threatens to rip out Duckman's heart and feed it to his dingo if he doesn't quit making noise on the bus.
* DistantPrologue: "Ride the High School" begins in "Africa, A Long Time Ago", where a father is teaching his son how to kill animals for food. It then cuts to "Austria, A Little Later", where a father is teaching his son how to play the harpsichord. It then cuts to "Virginia, A Little Later Still", where George Washington cut down the cherry tree. Finally, it cuts to the present: "Duckman's House, Tuesday", where Duckman is watching static on TV in the vain hopes that the Bouncing Naked Flesh Channel will be temporarily unscrambled.
** Also utilized in "Joking the Chicken", for a [[TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]] parody that starts in prehistoric times and then cuts to the present.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Duckman, OncePerEpisode, if not more.
* DontExplainTheJoke: In "Joking the Chicken":
--> '''Iggy Catalpa''': My name is... (checks wallet) Iggy Catalpa. I was checking my wallet, like I forgot. (silence from the crowd)
** Jokes often have to be explained to Ajax due to his stupidity. One time, Bernice began to explain a joke about Duckman, but gave up and said, "Oh just laugh; we're belittling your father!" At which point, Ajax guffawed.
* DoubleEntendre: Duckman often uses euphemisms for sexual acts. Examples:
--> '''Duckman''': You know, like those really ugly broads who are always yellin' about equal rights when all they ''really'' need is a little... (clicks) honey in their hives.
--> '''Duckman''': Hey nurse, I've got a thermometer that'll make you bed-ridden for a week!
* DownerEnding: "About Face", which ends with Duckman deciding to not go on a date with Angela because he feels that he's holding her back.
** In the same vein, the ending to "Bonfire of the Panties": Courtney Thorne-Smith dumps Duckman for the simple reason that as a celebrity, she makes dumb decisions and so because it would be a good decision to stay with someone she enjoys, she has to break up with him.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Duckman in "Aged Heat", where he inadvertently destroys an entire city block with his reckless driving. Though in his defense, he was under great mental stress at the time, due to Agnes threatening him to go about his normal daily routine, even though Agnes had his whole family held hostage.
* DysfunctionalFamily
* TheEighties: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their fourth stop is to a businessman's office, who represents the stereotypes of TheEighties: Obsessed with making money on Wall Street, heartless, and only concerned with material goods and trophy wives.
--> '''Man''': Pedi''greed'', is good.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: [[spoiler:Willibald Fievel]] Cornfed.
** It was revealed Duckman has one too(to him anyways). [[spoiler:Eric]] Duckman.
* EpisodeTitleCard: Done traditionally in "The Road to Dendron", complete with theme music. Every other episode merely had the episode title superimposed over the action, though.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In "Dammit Hollywood", the ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SylvesterStallone, and BruceWillis caricatures try to kill Duckman from their plane. In the process, they inadvertently destroy several buildings, but make sure to remind the audience that they radioed ahead for everyone to evacuate the buildings so no innocent bystanders would be harmed.
--> '''Bruno''': We may destroy, but it ''doesn't'' mean we don't care.
* EverybodysDeadDave: The ending to "The Longest Weekend", where Duckman is the last one standing in his warring neighborhood. A narrator explains:
--> '''Narrator''': The following story ''could'' have happened. Only by treating everyone with dignity and respect [[SpoofAesop can we hope to maintain that element of surprise on that inevitable day when we wipe our enemies from the face of the earth.]]
* EvilLaugh: The scientist from "Ajax and Ajaxer" was more than a little happy when Duckman and Cornfed took on his "case". Duckman and Cornfed eventually joined in his laughter.
** Harry Medfly from "Clip Job". See CommercialBreakCliffhanger above.
* EvilTwin: Wanted criminal Agnes Delrooney is almost an exact duplicate of Grandma-ma, except that Agnes isn't comatose and [[BrianDoyleMurray has a gravely voice]].
* ExpansionPackPast: Cornfed has seen it all, done it all. Although, come to think of it, almost every character gets one of these at one point. Even Duckman's list of acquired sex fetishes gets longer and longer.
* {{Exposition}}:
** In the first episode, "I, Duckman", Duckman delivers a bit of exposition about how Beatrice died and Bernice moved in to help care for the boys when he's irritated that the family is ignoring him.
** Lampshaded brilliantly in "The Color of Naught" when Charles and Mambo tell Duckman that Angela has returned, and proceed to explain (in great detail) their relationship from season 1's "About Face". Duckman snaps: "Don't you think I ''know'' that?!" The twins reply that they were spouting exposition for the benefit of the many non-regular viewers who stumbled upon this while trying to find softcore porn.
** In "Short, Plush and Deadly", Bernice reminds everyone why they're going camping, stating that she's not repeating it to deliver clunky exposition, but because it feels so good.
** King Chicken always felt the need to explain his vendetta against Duckman was because of being made fun of when they were kids. After his first appearance, though, this tended to be done more for parody - with other characters clearly bored/irritated by repeat utterances. The crowning example was "The Color of Naught," in which a news reporter claims TimCurry has gone into hiding because he doesn't want to be forced to say those lines anymore.
* EyeGlasses: Somehow, Duckman's eyes are his glasses. He will pull them off his face to clean them, leaving his face unnervingly lacking features.
* FakeOutOpening: Occurs all the time; much in the tradition of {{Rugrats}} (another KlaskyCsupo show), many episodes open with something puzzling, only for the camera to zoom out and reveal what it actually is. Alternatively, the episode will open on a show or movie that one of the characters is watching. Example from "America the Beautiful": A bunch of beauty contestants fighting (with one eventually pulling out a machine gun and wasting everyone). It turns out it's just a video game Ajax is playing.
* TheFifties: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their first stop is in a suburban neighborhood literally in black and white and which is mentally stuck in the 1950's, right down to one of the people accusing Duckman and Cornfed of being communists.
* FlashbackCut: Seen in numerous episodes.
* ForegoneConclusion: Character voiced by Tim Curry? It's King Chicken in disguise. One exception to this rule: "Vuuck, as in Duck".
** After the credits in that episode, the audio clip over the Reno & Osborn logo is Tim Curry's voice saying "I didn't get to peel off my head," so it can be reasonably assumed it was King Chicken.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lampshaded in "The Gripes of Wrath" when half of a background sign's letters blank out, leaving only the letters spelling "Foreshadowing" lit. This is due to Charles and Mambo debating with Duckman about whether computers are better or worse for the world, which is the whole theme of the episode.
* FreudianSlip: In "Psyche", when two big-breasted women enter his office, Duckman says "Come in, come in, I'm Duckman, and this is Hooters! I mean, Cornfed.
* TheFunInFuneral: In "The Girls of Route Canal", Duckman unknowingly knocks over a tombstone, which rolls down the hill, hits Richard's casket, sending the corpse flying through the air and getting his leg caught in a tree, causing him to hang upside down.
* FurryConfusion: Real, non-talking birds have been in the same scene with Duckman.
* FutureMeScaresMe: The premise of "The Once and Future Duck": Multiple future versions of Duckman keep popping up in the present to warn Duckman that if he does something, he'll end up like them. Duckman eventually becomes so paranoid that anything he does will have negative consequences that he remains perfectly still in a chair.
* GagBoobs: Seen in many episodes, but perhaps most pronounced in "All About Elliott" when Elliott's final ingredient to make Duckman overload on pleasure is a stripper with boobs that are practically as long as she is tall. And that's not all; she's one of identical sextuplets!
* GilliganCut: Seen in "Psyche" when Duckman says he and Cornfed aren't going on the date with the two women... and the next scene is the two on a date with the women.
* GodlySidestep: Finding himself in Heaven, Duckman gets an Etch-A-Sketch from God. He asks why and God tells him that it has the Meaning of Life written on it, but by then it has been erased from Duckman moving it around.
* GrandeDame: There's one in "Haunted Society Plumbers".
* GreenEyedMonster: The premise of "A Civil War": Duckman being jealous of Cornfed's limitless abilities in virtually every category.
* HandWave:
** Utilized in "The Road to Dendron" when the villain explains why he performed his evil plan. The instant he begins to explain, a cow walks in front of the camera and munches so loudly you can't hear him. A few seconds later, the cow walks away, only to hear the villain concluding, "And that's why I did it!"
** In "Westward No!", Big Jack [=McBastard=] comes back at the end of the episode, alive and well. When Duckman and Cornfed are baffled how he could've survived being trampled and eaten by vultures, [=McBastard=] simply says, "Long story."
* HangingJudge: In "Das Sub", after the judge carries out Duckman's community service sentence:
--> '''Judge''': Bailiff! If he's not gone in fifteen seconds, ''kill'' him!
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Tammy from "Cock Tales For Four" is never seen or heard; we only have a vague idea of what she and Ajax are doing on their date by what Ajax comes downstairs to get.
* HiddenDepths: Deep beneath the surface, Duckman is someone that really does care for his family, friends and even Bernice. He can also solve cases if motivated to actually try.
** In "Bonfire of the Panties", Duckman's friends and family give him an aphrodisiac that would allow one woman to become infatuated with him, and warn him that he is not to throw it away on some easy trick. Duckman manages to reverse engineer it and make all the aphrodisiac he wants. His Shoulder Angel admonishes him by pointing out his potential and how he is wasting his talents. His Shoulder Devil counters with how it doesn't matter because he's going to get all the tail he wants. His Shoulder Angel reluctantly agrees.
** "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role" reveals that Ajax is saving money to go to college. (Not that he can spell "college," given the six Qs, but still...) However, his savings are all [=IOUs=]... to himself. Turns out he has been secretly slipping money into his father's wallet to help him out.
** It's hinted at in the show, and ''strongly'' hinted in the comics, that Duckman and Bernice are actually attracted to each other, because, well, Bernice looks ''exactly'' like Duckman's dead wife, and Bernice actually sees what her sister saw in him. This causes them to lash out even more than they normally would.
* HypercompetentSidekick: A mainstay of Cornfed's characterisation.
* HypocrisyNod: Played with at the end of "Apocalypse Not"; Cornfed stops the town from killing Duckman by saying he and the rest of the town (who had spent all day in the sewer practicing a drill) acted no better than Duckman did on the surface. But throughout his speech, Cornfed keeps admitting that what Duckman did was ''indeed'' probably worse. Finally, Cornfed admits that he can't even convince himself that he was no better than Duckman, and rallied the town to chase after Duckman.
* HypocriticalHumor: Used all the time, often demonstrated by Duckman.
* ICommaNoun: "I, Duckman".
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Parodied in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before".
* ImageSong: "The Funky Duckman"
* ImNotADoctorButIPlayOneOnTV: Parodied in "A Civil War":
--> '''Actor''': Hi, I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
* InJoke: One episode has Confed explaining in great detail how a murder was carried out by [[spoiler: a group of celebrities in detox]]. One step involves [[KlaskyCsupo klasky soup]].
* InkblotTest:
** Administered to Duckman in "A Room With a Bellevue". His answer disturbs the psychiatrists. Cornfed later "correctly" identifies the image in the inkblot test.
** In "A Civil War", Duckman accidentally spills ink on his chest. Numerous people guess what the image on his chest is.
* InsanityDefense: In "A Room With a Bellevue", Duckman is arrested for ranting in public without a starched collar. During Duckman's trial, his lawyer advises him to plead insanity. Duckman does so, but is instantly sentenced to a mental institution. The lawyer remarks, "Guess I should've seen that coming..."
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* IronButtmonkey: Fluffy and Uranus, who always get eviscerated in some terrible way but are fine a few scenes later, though the effects sometimes last longer than others, for instance the episode where they get eaten.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: This one from "Clip Job":
--> '''Medfly''': You stupid clumsy idiotic brain-dead yellow imbecile!
--> '''Duckman''': Hey, wait, hold on there buddy! (beat) You really think I'm yellow? I've always seen myself as more a sallow ochre. Here, check the butt feathers.
* IUhYouToo: In "Cellar Beware", Duckman and the family are seemingly about to be killed by their own security system, so Duckman takes the last few moments to say he loves the whole family, even... B... B... Buh, BURRR!!! (Bernice smiles and sheds a tear)
* IWantThemAlive: When Agnes and Duckman escape the chain gang in "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby", Walt Evergreen initially orders his minions to bring them back alive. But then he changes his mind:
--> '''Walt Evergreen''': Aw heck, this is the DeepSouth. Let's bring 'em back ''dead''!
* JerkAss: Yes, it's Duckman. It's a core driver of the show's plots and comedy.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: ''Deep'' beneath his JerkAss exterior, Duckman genuinely loves his family.
* JitterCam: Done in "American Dicks" to simulate the {{COPS}} feel.
* JokerJury: In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", King Chicken requests that instead of going through the usual jury selection process, to just use whoever is currently (and unknowingly) sitting in the jury box. The motion is granted.
* JugglingLoadedGuns:
--> '''Duckman:''' Did I ever tell you my Dad's last words to me?\
'''Cornfed:''' "Careful, son, I don't think the safety is on."\
'''Duckman:''' Before that!
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: "They never just kill ya. There's always a lecture."
* KangarooCourt: "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial".
--> '''King Chicken''': Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Think of an innocent child pickin' a daisy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. ''Now'', imagine Duckman roaring out of nowhere, driving a large truck! He hits her, and kills her, then he backs up and he runs over her ''again'' and ''again'' and ''again'', a sadistic beast, with a deranged, savage lust for blood!
--> '''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
--> '''Judge''': Sustained! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint The jury will disregard the fact that the defendant wantonly, brutally, and carelessly killed a little girl.]]
* LampshadeHanging: Done quite frequently.
** In "The Road to Dendron", Cornfed asks why he's asking so unlike himself. A voice from off-screen says: "The password is: Bad writing."
** In "Clip Job", Duckman asks what kind of people would lower themselves to create a lazily written and morally bankrupt clip show, at which point he looks at the camera when the "Executive Producer" credits appear.
** In "TV or Not To Be", God says, "I hate message shows" after Duckman delivers some social commentary.
* LastKiss: In "Inherit the Judgment: A Dope's Trial", King Chicken asks Bernice for one last kiss before he's hung. Duckman, in turn, winces.
* LastNameBasis: Duckman, Cornfed, and King Chicken, although eventually their full names are revealed. Duckman is ashamed of his, and Duckman makes fun of Cornfed's name the first time it comes up.
* {{Leitmotif}}: King Chicken has one, as does Agnes Delrooney. Beatrice has one as well.
* LetsGetDangerous: Duckman can do this, rarely, when it comes to saving his or his family's ass. Even more rarely, he can do it when it comes to social situations. In certain circumstances, he can actually successfully charm women.
* LogoJoke: In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial," after Duckman is acquitted he mentions he had faith in a higher power, looks up towards the sky... the camera follows his gaze as it goes through the clouds... and stops on a mountain surrounded by stars with the word "Paramount" above the peak. [[{{Paramount}} Three guesses as to which company made this.]]
* LongList: In "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby", there's a parody of the scene from ''Film/TheFugitive'' when a long list of places to search for the getaway is given.
-->'''Walt Evergreen''': OK people, listen up. I want a hard target search of every outhouse, beach house, warehouse, boat house, smoke house, clubhouse, ice house, hot house, White House, crack house, bath house, dog house, cat house, reptile house, halfway house, slaughter house, haunted house, gingerbread house, and [[IncrediblyLamePun Joe Eszterhas]] in the tri-swamp area.
** In "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", Cornfed rattled off the merchandise created when Duckman had his fifteen minutes of fame.
** In "The Mallardian Candidate", Cornfed listed all the so-called "necessary" items Duckman purchased for the surveillance job.
** In "Clip Job":
--> '''Duckman''': Maybe I ''am'' a little rough around the edges. Maybe I could be a little more tactful when it comes to dealing with women, co-workers, service route handlers, census takers, the sheet metal workers union, people who bought Kathie Lee CD of Christmas songs, small, high-strung, butt-ugly dogs, kids with really funny birthmarks on their faces, peppers, Trekkers, boomers, buppies, slackers...
* LongLostRelative: Beverly, as introduced in "Bev Takes a Holiday". Also Cornfed's "son" in "In the Nam of the Father" (though he's eventually revealed to be an imposter trying to scam Cornfed out of money).
** Duckman's real biological father is revealed in "Kidney, Popsicle, and Nuts", [[{{Retcon}} thereby meaning that the man seen in flashbacks from previous episodes wasn't his real father.]]
* MamaBear: Bernice.
* ManateeGag: Arguably more common in the first season than the other three. Examples:
** In "Ride the High School", Bernice wonders how the public schools could've gone downhill so horribly. Cut to Duckman protesting in front of the White House, shouting "No new taxes!"
** In "Cellar Beware", the two criminals who robbed Duckman's house get their comeuppance by testing Charles and Mambo's invention, which causes the nearby cars on the freeway to fly onto theirs like magnets. In the same episode, we see a cutaway to Duke Tetsloff at a Congressional hearing on unsafe products, defending that the security system he sold Duckman is only dangerous to someone irresponsible enough to try to open the console and fix it themselves.
* MandatoryLine: In "Sperms of Endearment" Cornfed suddenly appears at Duckman's door. Duckman says [[ItMakesSenseInContext it's a bad time right now]] but Cornfed states that he's required to appear in every episode for at least 10 seconds.
* MediumBlending: The episode "My Feral Lady" features a sequence where Duckman and his wife-to-be appear on the live action daytime talk show "Leeza".
* MenCantKeepHouse: Demonstrated by Duckman in "Married Alive" when Bernice is away for the weekend. The house becomes a dump in short order.
* MissingMom: Duckman's wife, Beatrice, is thought to be dead the whole series... that is, until we're thrown a curve ball in "Four Weddings Inconceivable".
* MoralGuardians: One of them kidnaps Duckman in "Clip Job".
* MotorMouth: Duckman himself, though more in the first half of the series.
* TheMovie: Parodied in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W." when a live action made-for-TV movie is made about Duckman. Cornfed is portrayed as an incompetent drunk (by [[CastingGag his voice actor]] Gregg Berger at that).
* MultipleHeadCase: Charles and Mambo
* MusicalEpisode: Subverted: "The Road to Dendron" started out looking like a musical episode, with a catchy song to explain the plot. But there is no more singing for the rest of the episode, until the finale, which is muted anyway because [[LampshadeHanging the show used up its budget on the opening song]].
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Duckman and his son Mandingo.. Simba.. Charles' brother.. Mambo.
* NegativeContinuity: Although sometimes events did carry over to later episodes. One of the bigger examples is how Duckman and Cornfed first met. In "Civil War," the two are shown as meeting as adults when Cornfed worked as a baker. ("The Girls of Route Canal" showed the two actually meeting well-before "Civil War," but Duckman was typically pre-occupied with himself and crass, so he would obviously not remember.) But in "From Brad to Worse," the two are shown as old high school pals - played straight and not as a joke as in "The Girls of Route Canal."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Dammit Hollywood" features parodies of SylvesterStallone, BruceWillis and ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
* NoEnding: The series' 4th season final episode ended with a CliffHanger involving [[spoiler: Duckman's wife Beatrice, whose death aggravated most of Duckman's self-destructive tendencies, being revealed to be alive.]] Naturally, the first time the show's creators were confident of the show being picked up for another season, they weren't.
* NoirEpisode: Specifically, "Noir Gang", which is rendered entirely in black and white except for the final few seconds when the sun comes out. There are Noir motifs right through the series, and in Duckman's own mind he's a pulp detective hero.
* NonhumansLackAttributes: Duckman makes an aside to Cornfed in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W." when some hot babes enter his office: "It's times like this, I wish I had a penis.", lampshading that he wears no clothes and yet has no visible genitalia.
* NoodleIncident: Numerous examples, usually involving Duckman doing something horrific.
* NoFourthWall: Frequent asides to the audience, digs at the USANetwork, and so forth.
* NotableCommercialCampaigns: In-between the third and fourth seasons, USA ran a series of commercials asking, "Where is Duckman?", and showing Duckman at various locations like at a political rally and on the moon.
* NotSoDifferent: In "Cock Tales For Four", King Chicken blames Duckman for his life being a failure, due to Duckman ridiculing him to the other children when they were kids. However, after King Chicken says that Duckman couldn't possibly know what it's like to be an outcast, Duckman snaps: "I know ''exactly'' what that's like! (long pause) After you ran home, they made fun of me, too." This revelation causes the two to realize they have a lot in common, and temporarily become friends... until King Chicken's wife comes onto Duckman and King Chicken blames Duckman for it, thereby reinstating the long-standing feud between the two.
* OnceAnEpisode: Duckman doing something horrible to his living plush-animal office assistants Fluffy and Uranus.
* TheOneWith: A third season episode is titled "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role".
* OpeningNarration: The episode "Das Sub" opens with a Law&Order parody:
--> '''Narrator''': In the criminal justice system, there are two separate but equally important groups: The police and prosecutors, who apprehend and try the offenders, and the idiotic defendants who take up the court's time with their self-serving blather. These are their stories.
* OrSoIHeard: Demonstrated in "The Germ Turns" by Cornfed, of all people.
* TheOtherDarrin: Dana Hill (Duckman's son Charles) was replaced by Pat Musick following the former's death.
* OtherStockPhrases: In "Gripes of Wrath", after Bernice shows affection for Duckman, he replies: "Who ARE you, and what have you done with Bernice?!"
* OutOfCharacterMoment: Parodied in "The Road to Dendron." After Duckman is taken away by the guards (presumably to his death), Cornfed just dances around in a circle, repeatedly gloating, "The princess loves me!" When he finally exhausts himself and falls over:
-->'''Cornfed:''' Why would I act so out-of-character?\\
'''Narrator:''' The password is: Bad Writing.
* OutrunTheFireball: Parodied in "The Mallardian Candidate".
* OverlyLongGag: The "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-1 Plumbing" scene.
** {{Lampshaded}} when during the umpteenth instance of this gag, Duckman [[NoFourthWall interrupts to note]] they haven't even started the episode plot yet.
* PapaWolf: The one way to light a fire under Duckman's ass is to mess with his family. Even Bernice.
* ParallelPornTitles: In "Gripes of Wrath", some of the porno movies Bernice gives Duckman are:
** "A Room With a Spew"
** "[[JurassicPark Bareassic Park]]"
** "Hannah Does Her Sisters"
** "[[IncrediblyLamePun Howard's End]]"
* ParentWithNewParamour: Duckman somehow had girlfriends occasionally.
* ParentalNeglect: Duckman, who learned all too well from his own mother.
* ParodyEpisode: "The Road to Dendron" is a parody of all those Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road To" movies.
** "The Mallardian Candidate" is a parody of TheManchurianCandidate.
** "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before"... [[StarTrek like you need to ask.]]
** "My Feral Lady" is a parody of MyFairLady, obviously.
** "The Girls of Route Canal" parodies TheBridgesOfMadisonCounty.
** "Ebony, Baby" parodies {{Blaxploitation}} films in general.
* ThePerfectionist: Cornfed. One example from "A Civil War" is when Cornfed performed a complicated basketball slam dunk (complete with stopping in mid-air to paint a signature), and afterwards made the basket from the other end of the court using only a mirror as a guide. After the second shot, he complained that he caught some rim.
* PetTheDog: Deliberately avoided.
* PhoneTraceRace: Utilized in "Not So Easy Riders" when some IRS agents are tracing Duckman's phone call: Bernice keeps Duckman on the line by asking him if he's read any good books lately.
--> ''Bernice'': What's that one about? (listens) ...With her own ''sisters''? Oh my God.
* PlayingAgainstType: Not a specific actor, but ''studio''; so this cartoon was brought by... [[KlaskyCsupo the creators]] of ''{{Rugrats}}'', ''TheWildThornberries'' and ''AsToldByGinger''?!
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Parodied in "Joking the Chicken".
** In "It's the Thing of the Principal", Duckman and Cornfed try to get into the vice principal's office of Ajax's school, all to no avail. But the second Duckman mentions God in passing, a school cop confronts Duckman and says he won't stand for prayer in public school, and that he has to go to the vice principal's office.
** In "Forbidden Fruit", an episode about sexism, Hebrew will now be known as "We-brew" and a sewer worker was charged with sexual misconduct for referring to his "manhole".
* PoorMansPorn: Duckman has used these many times, which is odd because he has countless porno mags and videos.
* PopGoesTheHuman: A grotesque murder (by lactose intolerance) in "Days of Wine and Neuroses".
* PrecisionFStrike: In "Research and Destroy", Bernice lets loose on a snooty bouncer who keeps she and the family waiting in line for Ajax's performance, despite being family: After the bouncer makes a remark about fog, Bernice keeps saying "fogging" while yelling at the bouncer. So while not the actual "f" word, "fogging" sounds close enough. This could also be considered a GettingCrapPastTheRadar moment, really.
** In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", Cornfed asks Duckman: "Are you out of your (beep)ing mind?!"
** In "American Dicks", the cameraman's first introduction to Duckman is him swearing repeatedly, with each instance bleeped out. Even though bleeped, it's pretty obvious what words he's saying, given the context.
** Demonstrated many times when Fluffy and Uranus snap at Duckman in "Forbidden Fruit".
* PunnyName: The third suspect's name in "America the Beautiful" is Saul... Saul Monella.
* RedShirt: The waiter in "Apocalypse Not", who even protests that he's not going to perform a dangerous task instead of the main characters, because he's a one-shot and nobody will care if he dies. Bernice says that's nonsense, and after the waiter predictably dies, she half-heartedly mourns his loss, but screws it when she can't remember the waiter's name.
** And in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Fluffy and Uranus appropriately play the "red shirt" characters from StarTrek.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* ReinventingTheTelephone: A smoke signal--{{lampshaded}} when they use a telephone after it doesn't work.)
* RiskyBusinessDance: In "Apocalypse Not".
* RunningGag:
** Duckman screwing up Mambo's name.
** From "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", the sunglasses-wearing cop.
--> '''Cop''': "You folks lost?"
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: While USA treated the first three seasons fairly well (even though it did air on Saturday evenings), most of season 4 aired in the wee hours of the morning. Is it any surprise it was canceled after that?
* TheSeventies: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their third stop was a disco club.
* ShamelessSelfPromoter: In "Days of Whining and Neurosis", Cornfed plugs MurderSheWrote reruns on USA.
* ShoutOut: Duckman's middle name, Tiberius, is a reference to the middle name of [[StarTrek Captain James Kirk]].
** In "The Road to Dendron", Duckman is forced into a metal cage and lowered towards lava. This is definitely a reference to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
** In "Das Sub," a parody of 1995's ''Nixon'' sees Duckman re-enact the part where Nixon looks at a picture of JFK. As Duckman is filling the Nixon role, [[DrKatzProfessionalTherapist Dr. Katz]] is in the picture.
--->"They look at you and see what they wanna watch. They look at me and know it's the wrong channel."
* SingleMindedTwins: Sharing a body, Charles and Mambo displayed this sometimes, although they were also known to argue with each other. They've been known to ''headbutt'' each other!
* TheSixties: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their second trip was to a college campus in a 60s-ish town. Everyone who's not a cop is a hippie.
* SitcomArchNemesis: King Chicken.
* SixDegreesOfKevinBacon: Parodied in "Four Weddings Inconceivable".
* SlippingAMickey: In "The Road to Dendron", Duckman is rescued by Princess Fallopia, but doesn't want to sleep with her because [[{{Squick}} she looks virtually identical to Ajax and it would be weird.]] So he asks an aide to sleep Fallopia a mickey every night, and the next morning he tells her a tall tale about how good he was in bed with her.
* SlowClap: Played straight at first in "Das Sub", but devolves into parody when the clapping group follows Duckman home, still clapping.
--> '''Duckman''': Would you shut the hell up and go home? I've called the cops! Freakin' hoodlums.
* SmokingIsCool: Demonstrated by Duckman in "Gland of Opportunity" when he becomes famous. Interestingly, though, the show mostly averts this trope; Duckman is reluctantly trying to quit smoking right at the start of the series and we're shown the negative side effects of his former addiction.
* SoundEffectBleep: Duckman is bleeped a number of times in succession at the start of "American Dicks".
* {{Sting}}: In "The Mallardian Candidate", every time "a consiracy!" is said, a three note, dramatic sting is played. Eventually, Duckman gets irritated at it, especially when the sting interrupts his sentences and, in one instance, plays upon showing him merely walking into a building.
* TheStinger: Later episodes began to feature audio clips played over the Reno & Osborn logo. Sometimes they were a repeat from the episode a la [=MST3K=], other times they were all new.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
** "Joking the Chicken" featured a take-off of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" which played, appropriately enough, during a ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' parody.
** "The Gripes of Wrath" has a musical parody of the song "Holiday for Strings", aka the theme to "The Red Skeleton Show".
** During a couple episodes of season 4, Bernice was accompanied by a brief {{Leitmotif}} which sounded very similar to the Wicked Witch of the West's theme from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
** And, of course, the ''{{Friends}}'' theme was parodied in "With Friends Like These".
* TakeThat: In "Clip Job", Ajax basically equates WalkerTexasRanger with sewage.
** King Chicken's full name is [[GeorgeHWBush George Herbert Walker]] Chicken.
* TakeThatCritics: "And to think, Entertainment Weekly panned us."
* TakingTheBullet: A flashback in "A Civil War" showed that Cornfed protected Duckman from bullets shot by a gunman. ''Twice''.
* TastesLikeDiabetes: This is essentially Fluffy and Uranus' entire schtick. Duckman hates it. [[invoked]]
* TedBaxter: Duckman, of course.
* TemptingFate: Fluffy and Uranus tell house-crasher Duckman about some of their prized possessions in "Forbidden Fruit". The next morning, said items are ruined by Duckman.
* ThatsAllFolks: The end of "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial" featured a LooneyTunes parody, with Cornfed taking Porky's place:
--> '''Cornfed''': Abadeaabadeaabadea, that's everything we've got, people.
* ThemeParkLandscape: The underground cavern in "The Road to Dendron" features a water passage which Duckman, Cornfed, and Ajax use to escape, though in a subversion, the Fakir laments: "Why did I put in that water slide?! After them!"
* TheyKilledKenny: Fluffy and Uranus die in just about every episode. Usually due to {{TastesLikeDiabetes}}.
* ThisIsMySide: Done to an extreme in "Exile in Guyville", when an argument between Bernice and Duckman eventually causes a separation between the males and females of society, separated by a tall wall.
* ThisIsSparta: On two occasions, Cornfed said in his typical monotone: "Oh. My. God."
* ToiletHumor: In "In the Nam of the Father", Charles says that he's thirsty, and Mambo adds that he has to pee. Duckman says that both of their problems are solved.
** In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", after the family drinks a bunch of water, Duckman says, "No time for bathrooms; we'll sweat it out in the car."
** In "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Duckman says he has to go to the bathroom to give new meaning to the term "Captain's Log".
* TookALevelInBadass: Fluffy and Uranus of all people, when they're finally fed up with how Duckman is treating them in their own home and demands his respect by screwing over their usual [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad PC-obsessive schtick]] and actually [[ClusterFBomb cussing him out]]. Duckman's sole response is to walk out in silent shock and awe.
* ToothyBird: Just look at the page image.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist
* UnwantedRescue: In "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", Duckman inadvertently saves the president from a terrorist. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, he's ridiculed by the press for getting in the way of a bigger story, that is, a presidential assassination.
* UnitConfusion: In "Das Sub", after Duckman gets a sentence of 5,000 of community service:
--> '''Duckman''': 5,000 hours? That's 45 minutes!
--> '''Cornfed''': Actually, it's about six months.
--> '''Duckman''': What? Damn metric system.
* {{Utopia}}: The city briefly became one in "The Gripes of Wrath" when Duckman made an off-hand complaint about short-lasting deodorant and a supercomputer used his criticism to change society for the better. Something happened between acts two and three to cause [[{{Dystopia}} a complete reversal of this scenario, though.]]
* TheVoiceless: Grandma-ma, who can't speak due to her coma. She makes up for it by farting instead, and using morse code on one occasion.
** In a couple episodes, though, we do hear her speak: In
* VomitDiscretionShot: Art De Salvo vomits into a paper bag in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", but we never see the vomit itself.
* WeddingDay: In the final ep, "Four Weddings Inconceivable", which ended with a CliffHanger that was [[LeftHanging never resolved]].
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Cornfed, from the episode "Clear and Presidente Danger", 'For a complete list, please send $12 to Journal Graphics, Washington, DC, 20300.'
* WholeEpisodeFlashback:
** "The Girls of Route Canal", which is about Duckman telling Charles and Mambo how he and Beatrice met.
** "Crime, Punishment, War, Peace, and the Idiot", about Grandma-ma's early days.
** "Exile in Guyville", which uses the wraparounds of a future society where a mother tells her son bedtime stories of Duckman.
* WholePlotReference: "{{Hamlet}} 2: This Time, It's Personal".
* WraparoundBackground: Used during the WesternAnimation/YogiBear parody in "I, Duckman".
* {{Yandere}}: Tami from "The Tami Show".
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