Line #30 Main/WeirdAside


1	During what had previously been a perfectly ordinary conversation, one character nonchalantly inserts something completely bizarre, and often disturbing, which often [[MoodWhiplash derails the conversation]]. They may do this knowingly or innocently, not realizing how strange what they are saying is. This is often used for humorous purposes (even by the very character, if knowingly) or to add emphasis to how screwed up a life the particular character had, that they think something like that would be normal or conversation-appropriate.
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3	Here's an example:
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5	Old Lady: "Oh, this recipe? Well, when I fought the militias in {{Qurac}}, I met this woman who taught it to me. Very sweet lady, even though her husband made that DealWithTheDevil. Anyways, first you take two eggs, separate the whites and the yolks... Are you listening?"
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7	Similar to BreadEggsMilkSquick, only it's in a conversation and it's actually Bread, Eggs, Milk, {{Beat}}... wait, what? It can also be Bread Eggs Milk Squick depending on the content of the aside. Very closely related to [[ForumSpeak Left Fielder]].
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9	----
10	!!Examples:
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12	[[AC:ComicStrips]]
13	* ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'' has this as a RunningGag between Lemont and the "Mainstream Media" guy, who'll shout out recent frivolous events and then whisper some kind of serious news item.
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15	[[AC:{{Fanfiction}}]]
16	* Occurs multiple times in [[FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]], such as when the LemonyNarrator begins to inquire about the ingredients of a love potion just after finishing a paragraph-long passage of exposition, or when she wonders whether or not [[SidetrackedByTheAnalogy a straw really could break a camel's back]], and determines that this needs further testing. It's all PlayedForLaughs though.
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18	[[AC:{{Film}}]]
19	* Throughout ''Film/PitchPerfect'', [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Lilly]], apropos of nothing, will say things like "I set fires to feel joy" and "I ate my twin in the womb".
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21	[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
22	* Some of the wizards in the Literature/{{Discworld}} series have a tendency to make awkward pauses in the conversation even more awkward by filling them in with random trivia. In ''Literature/ReaperMan'', the Senior Wrangler is said to be able to "do to a conversation what it usually takes thick treacle to do to the gears of a precision stopwatch."
23	** Dr. Hix has had a few of these as only the head of the [[{{Necromancer}} Department of Post-Mortem Communications]] can. In ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' he derails a conversation by wondering how a human skull could be used as a football like the legends say, having perhaps more experience with skulls than the people who started the legends.
24	* At one point in ''[[Literature/RachelGriffin The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin]]'', Rachel utters the following line, earning her a weird look (but no follow-up questions) from the adults in the room:
25	-->'''Rachel''': Can you ask a boy with brown hair named Gaius Valiant to come see me after he finishes with his classes and being tortured by Vladimir von Dread, I have to ask him a question.
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27	[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
28	* ''Series/ThirtyRock'' is ''powered'' by this: characters often reveal a great deal about themselves and others through exaggerated lines that are both delivered in a matter-of-fact tone and rarely get acknowledged after the fact. [[CloudCuckoolander Tracy]] and [[AttentionWhore Jenna]], however, take the cake.
29	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': PlayedForDrama in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]]. John Smith (the human character the Doctor created and turned himself into) is holding the pocket watch that contains the Doctor's Time Lord consciousness, and talking to Martha and Joan. At one point in the conversation, the Doctor briefly takes him over, causing "John" to casually spout {{technobabble}} jargon and considerably freaking him out.
30	-->'''Tim Latimer:''' Why did he speak to me?\
31	'''The Doctor:''' Oh, it's just a low-level telepathy field, you were born with it, just an extra-synaptic engram causing–\
32	'''John:''' ''[horrified]'' Is that how he ''talks''?
33	* Phoebe Buffay, from ''Series/{{Friends}}'', often begins a story with "When I was living on the streets..." or "When my mother killed herself..." - The titular friends take it in stride (after all, they already know about Phoebe's mother and life story), new acquaintances do not.
34	** Also, when Phoebe was a surrogate mother she liked to freak people out by talking about [[ItMakesSenseInContext having her brother's baby]].
35	** Chandler also had a penchant for this, especially regarding his father - though he was quite aware of how weird it was.
36	** "The word you're looking for is, 'anyway...'"
37	%%* Sue Sylvester in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' frequently does this.
38	* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Mac and Dennis are discussing the boat they recently bought and how they can take dates out on it, when Dennis [[MoodWhiplash suddenly]] remarks that girls wouldn't refuse them sex on the boat "[[ShameIfSomethingHappened because of the implication]]". This promptly leads into a stunningly tense and awkward conversation where Mac points out how dark that sounds and Dennis [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial insists that what he just said totally isn't weird or creepy, and that he isn't some kind of rapist or murderer]], he's just saying that [[DistinctionWithoutADifference girls on the boat cannot say no to him because something might go wrong if they do]].
39	* One episode of ''Series/MythBusters'' (the Mad Trombonist revisit) had Jamie go into a weird story regarding [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a tuba mounted at a toilet]]. The odd story made [[TheNarrator Rob Lee]] go into a FreakOut regarding [[HurricaneOfPuns all the puns he could use in the situation]].
40	* In the pilot episode of ''Series/PoliceSquad,'' Ralph Twice's widow asks "Do you know what it's like to be married to a wonderful man for fourteen years?" and Frank goes onto a strange tangent about an AmbiguouslyGay relationship he had with a man he lived with for a few years for nearly the rest of the interview.
41	%%* The Janitor in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' does this sometimes.
42	* ''Series/SchittsCreek'' has many moments like this and most of the characters have done it at one point or another.
43	** Alexis Rose often cheerfully mentions some objectively terrifying or weird situation she had to escape from when she was a globetrotting socialite. For example, Ted remarks that she can't run in her high heels, and she responds "Tell that to me at 21, escaping the {{Yakuza}}".
44	** Twyla will often casually mention a relative's prison sentence, one of her mother's many boyfriends, vaguely abusive details about her childhood or even a relative's dismemberment.
45	** David mentions getting dumped by a rodeo clown who painted his face while he was sleeping and then disappeared.
46	* The news segments on ''Series/{{Top Gear\|UK}}'' often go off-topic for one reason or another, but no one derails them faster than James May.
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48	[[AC:VideoGames]]
49	* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': Javik has a habit of interspersing conversations with harsh, derogatory, or downright weird facts about life in "his cycle". For instance, when James tries to invite him to play poker, he claims that gambling was punishable by ''[[DisproportionateRetribution execution]]'' and that his troops whiled away the hours with staring contests. He's also known for aside references to Prothean cooking (ingredients: [[ToServeMan most of the galaxy's now-sapient species]]). On the other hand, he admits in a conversation in ''Citadel'' that he [[{{Troll}} enjoys winding up the rest of the crew]] by seeing what outrageous lies they'll believe about his people.
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51	[[AC:WebAnimation]]
52	* The character Sister from ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' is known for this. She inserts all kinds of weird stuff into conversations that make people go "Wait, what?" as if it were normal.
53	-->Sister: I thought about having a kid once.
54	-->Tucker: Oh really? It's a lot of work.
55	-->Sister: Yeah, it seems like it would be hard. But I thought, you know, who wants to be known as the girl who's had seven abortions?
56	-->Tucker: Heh, yeah... wait, what?
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58	[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
59	* Ed in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' is a natural for this trope. Such as this conversation when they're exploring how to market scams for girls.
60	-->'''Eddy:''' We need to explore our more "sensitive sides!"
61	-->'''Ed:''' I found my sensitive side because it has a rash!
62	-->'''Eddy:''' ''(shocked groan)''
63	* Pinkie Pie from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is seen doing this while doing the commentary for the Running of the Leaves in "Fall Weather Friends":
64	-->'''Spike:''' You know, Pinkie, these two ponies have a bit of a grudge match they're trying to settle, trying to prove who's the most athletic.\
65	'''Pinkie Pie:''' Yes! And grudge rhymes with fudge!\
66	'''Spike:''' Yes it... does... what?\
67	'''Pinkie Pie:''' And I like fudge! But if I eat too much fudge, I get a pudge, and then I can't budge.\
68	'''Spike:''' So... no fudge?\
69	'''Pinkie Pie:''' No thanks! I had a big breakfast.\
70	[...]\
71	'''Spike:''' Looks like Rainbow's doing her best to catch up!\
72	'''Pinkie Pie:''' I'm not sure how ketchup is going to help her in this contest. Now in a hot dog eating contest, it can make them doggies nice and slippery, but personally I prefer mustard. How about you, Spike?\
73	'''Spike:''' Uh...I like pickles?
74	* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Lobo describes how he and Supes would be tied down and tortured, and throws in a comment on how it would be enjoyable under other circumstances.
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76	[[AC:RealLife]]
77	* Creator/AlfredHitchcock did this in real life, especially as he was getting out of an elevator. Just as he was getting off at a floor, he'd turn to a friend and say, "So there I was with the dead body. Looking back I shouldn't have touched the knife, but, with such an amount of blood before me, I acted with poor judgement." As the elevator door shut, the other passengers would wonder what the hell had happened.
78	* Creator/RossNoble's entire routine is this. He begins practically every show by observing something strange an audience member is wearing or doing, and goes on to make a two-hour show out of it. A single show could cover Hare Krishnas, sailors, emus, and DJ [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Aslan]] before the night is out.
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