Live-Action TV / Digging Yourself Deeper

Characters who keep digging themselves deeper while trying to clarify an unintentionally unfortunate remark in Live-Action TV series.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Xander was very prone to this. The kicker is that he's not even talking to Buffy, just practicing with Willow. Which rather neatly demonstrates the wisdom of doing so, yes?
Y'know, Buffy, Spring Fling just isn't any dance. It's a time for students to choose, um... a mate and then we can... observe their... mating rituals and tag them before they migrate just kill me.
- Buffy and Xander also get another good one in "Doppelgangland":
  Buffy: See? I told you, Old Reliable.
  Willow: Oh, thanks.
  Buffy: What?
  Willow: Old Reliable? Yeah, great, there's a sexy nickname.
  Buffy: Well, I-I didn't mean it as...
  Willow: No, it's fine. I'm Old Reliable.
  Xander: She just means, you know, the geyser. You're like a geyser of fun that goes off at intervals.
  Willow: That's Old Faithful.
  Xander: Isn't that the dog that that guy had to shoot...?
  Willow: That's Old Yeller!
  Buffy: Xander, I beg you not to help me.
- In "Two to Go", a panicked Andrew runs into Willow, who knows he was an accomplice in the killing of her girlfriend:
  Andrew: Warren killed Tara. I didn't do it, and he was aiming for Buffy anyway.
  Willow: [glowering] Not making it better.
In Cheers, Diane begins by yelling at a prospective employer, "I will not sleep with you!". It actually manages to go downhill from there.
- When Norm finds his dream job as a beer taste tester and is only an interview with the president away from getting it, Rebecca advises him not to do something stupid like mention his pants. Of course, the first thing he does is say "Nice pants!", not so bad in itself, but he retracts himself immediately, then retracts the retraction and digs his way down to a song and dance number about him not being such a grumpy puss. Camera cut back to the bar and Norm mourning his lost opportunity.
Was made into something of an art by Coupling, in which attempted conversation-starters, usually by the hapless Jeff, devolved into such subjects as amputation, and collecting human ears in a bucket. In fact, this page used to be called "Bucket Of Ears".
Jeff: You have the eyes of ten women. ...I don't mean, like, in a jar. I wasn't accusing you.
- A non-Jeff example is when Steve talks to Jane's psychiatrist Jill. She thinks that he's nervous because sometimes what she does makes people nervous in a social context. Believing her to be Jane's girlfriend, he tells her that "you girls" have got "the best of both worlds." When pushed to explain what he's talking about, he uses a metaphor Jeff brought up earlier in the episode:
  Steve: Well erm, you've got four breasts...
  Jill: I'm sorry?
  Steve: No, no hang on.
  Jill: This blouse isn't particularly flattering actually...
  Steve: No, no.
  Jill: If nothing else.
  Steve: I'm not saying you've got four at the moment, just when you're...
  Jill: What?
  Steve: Excited.
  Jill: You think I develop extra breasts when I'm excited?
  Steve: Not so much develop as, you know... acquire.
  Jill: What in the name of God are you talking about?
  Steve: Sorry, sorry I've been totally sidetracked by the irrelevance of your breasts. Not that you have irrelevant breasts! You've only got two, that's for sure. Unless you were some sort of cow. No! No, an attractive cow! Or a prize-winning cow! But you're not a cow. You're a person. But I'm sure that you'd be a prize-winning person if they had a sort of cattle market for women! A women market! Which, thinking about it would be a bad thing in many ways.
- Steve gets a lot of these, usually digging a lot faster than Jeff. During his run-in with his celebrity crush Mariella Frostrup, she apologises for spilling her drink on his pants. He replies "Don't worry about it, I was about to go to the toilet anyway. Not that I was intending to wet my trousers, obviously. Although I am pleased to meet you." At this point he has a hilarious "What the hell I am I saying?" look on his face.
- Oliver carries on the tradition well on several occasions, such as his conversation with Jane about the large number of toilet rolls he's buying.
Digging Yourself Deeper is pretty much the basis of every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David makes an innocuous statement which is taken badly, or misheard, and the ensuing consequences lead to hilarious further exchanges and climax.
On the season 15 premiere of Dancing with the Stars Tom told two different people "When you're in the hole stop digging."
Too many Disney Channel "original" series to count, especially if the main characters are getting "disciplined"^note
Doctor Who: The Doctor does this quite a lot, especially in his fourth and tenth incarnations. However, this is quite often a highly calculated move on his part, as a way of distracting the person he is talking to.
- Though not always, as in "Rise of the Cybermen":
  The Doctor: What are you doing that for?
  Mickey: [holding down a button] Because you told me to.
  The Doctor: When was that?
  Mickey: About half an hour ago.
  The Doctor: Um... you can let go now.
  Mickey: Well, how long has it been since I could've stopped?
  The Doctor: Ten minutes? Twenty? Twenty-nine?
- "The Lazarus Experiment":
  The Doctor: Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones. Heard a lot about you.
  Francine: Have you? What have you heard, then?
  The Doctor: Oh, you know; that you're Martha's mother, and... um... no, actually, that's — that's about it. We haven't had much time to chat, you know, we've been... busy.
  Francine: "Busy"? Doing what, exactly?
  The Doctor: Oh, you know... stuff...
- "Partners in Crime": The Doctor is inviting Donna to travel with him, but wants to clear up the fact that he isn't looking for a relationship:
  The Doctor: But the last time, with Martha, like I said, it got complicated, and it was all my fault. I mean... [sighs] I just want a mate.
  Donna: You just want TO MATE??!
  The Doctor: I just want A mate!
  Donna: You're not mating with me, sunshine!
  The Doctor: A mate, I want, a! Mate!
- Also well done in "The Unicorn and the Wasp":
  The Doctor: Agatha Christie! I was just talking about you the other day. I said, "I bet she's brilliant." I'm the Doctor; this is Donna. Oh, I love your stuff. What a mind! You fool me every time. Well, almost every time. Well, once or twice. Well, once, but it was a good once!
- "The Vampires of Venice": The Doctor goes to talk to Amy's fiancé... and opts to show up by jumping out of a stripper's cake (at his bachelor party):
  The Doctor: Rory! What a relief! I'd thought I'd burst out of the wrong cake. Again. That reminds me, there's a girl sitting outside in a bikini, could someone let her inside and give her a jumper? Lucy? Lovely girl. Diabetic. Now then, Rory. We need to talk about your fiancée. She tried to kiss me. Tell you what though, you're a lucky man, she's a great kisser.
  [pause as everyone stares at him in amazement, and someone drops a glass]
  The Doctor: [uncomfortably] Funny how you can say something in your head and it sounds fine…
Josh of Drake & Josh, on a date with a model:
I got you a diet soda, 'cause I figured you're probably watching your figure. ...Not that you need to watch your figure, you have a great body! ...Not that I was looking at your body!
Robert did this at least once on Everybody Loves Raymond. Amy invites Stefania over to a singles party because she thought Peter might like her, but Robert is not happy with her arrival.
But she's my Stefania!
...I mean, she's my ex-Stefania.
...I mean, you're my Stefania now... baby.
- Probably the most blatant example is the entire premise of "Faux Pas", where Ray makes a joke about his son's new best friend's dad, tells it to the man himself, and keeps trying to apologize, only making it worse. His family coming in doesn't help, either.
- Robert, again, while trying to endear himself to Amy's parents, who are staying over.
  Robert: We have a great bed, you're really going to enjoy it... Not "enjoy" enjoy. Sleep! Enjoyable sleep! Cause that's all you'll be doing, I'm sure... Which is not saying you can't do what you want cause you can... It's not like you'll be breaking any Commandments.
  Ray: It's like your mouth is falling down the stairs.
The opening skit of the 2006 Emmys had host Conan O'Brien wandering onto the set of several TV Shows. The final bit had him walking into an empty house, only to find himself confronted by Dateline's Chris Hansen and in the middle of another edition of To Catch a Predator, at which point every legitimate excuse he gave only made things worse. In particular, claiming that "it's my second time" (he also hosted in 2002), and "I did it once and I liked it and thought I should do it again", prompting Hansen to declare, "Of all the predators I've met, you are by far the creepiest."
Fawlty Towers - a psychiatrist guest is talking about vacations, and asks Basil, who hadn't heard most of what he'd said, "How often do you and your wife manage it?" Basil thinks he's talking about sex ("that's what it's all about to them!") and gets all indignant and defensive. When he hears from his wife what the psychiatrist was in fact asking about, he rushes out with a plastered-on grin and starts babbling about how he thought he was talking about walks, not sex! NO, vacations! and coming off much worse than he started.
- Basil digs himself even deeper that night, while bidding the psychiatrist and his wife good night
  Basil: Well then, I'll leave you to it. I mean, to go to bed! To sleep! To sleep, perchance to dream.
Jayne Cobb from Firefly manages to turn an observation that dead people make him restless into defensively insisting that he isn't a necrophiliac. He was just giving examples of things he does when he's restless. Nothing corpse-specific in there.
- Jayne's good at this, but Simon is the undisputed master. Especially if Kaylee's in the room. Heck, the fact that Simon does this is pretty much the reason he and Kaylee don't get together until the movie. They'll be flirting and getting close, and just as it looks like they'll kiss, he says something that she thinks is offensive and she storms off.
River: You are such a boob.
Done in Frasier by Niles when talking to Daphne about her possible dismissal.
Niles: Yes, and even if by some small chance that were to happen, Daphne, I could always use you.
...I, I would know of a position you could take.
...Services that you could perform.
...I would know of an opening.
...This is on me.
- Speaking of Frasier, this is the formula for a lot of episodes; a conflict arises, and each attempt at a resolution digs the characters deeper. Some (if most) episodes even end without any resolution at all and show the characters wallowing in self pity in their inability to come to a resolution.
Seen in the Friends episode "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt", in which Ross's attempts to flirt with a pizza delivery girl degenerate into a lecture on the smell of gas and an intended compliment which makes Ross sound like a pedophile.
- There was another one where he ended up talking about sewage.
- And Chandler brought up another occasion, when Ross talked about the Irish Potato Famine.
- Ross' failures at flirting cannot be emphasised enough. Another attempt led to the conversation derailing into asking two women if they had to choice, which method of dying would they preferred: being burned or drowning.
- Chandler also did this once, while attempting to suck up to Monica's parents.
- In the first season, Chandler one says to Monica that if they turn 40 and neither of them are married then they should have a child together. When Monica asks why she wouldn't be married by then, everything he says just makes her angrier.
  Chandler: Dear god, this parachute is a knapsack! (rolls over the back of his chair to escape)
- In one episode, Phoebe and Rachel start taking karate classes, and Ross tried to prove that they weren't as good as they thought they were by pretending to attack them. When they easily overpower him, he goes to their instructor for some pointers:
  Ross: I tried attacking two women. It did not work.
  Instructor: What?
  Ross: No, I mean... it's okay, I mean, they're... they're my friends. In fact, I, I, I was married to one of them.
  Instructor: Let me get this straight, man. You attacked your ex-wife?
  Ross: Oh, no! No, no! No, I tried. But I couldn't. That's why I'm here. Maybe we could attack them together?
- In the final season, Chandler accidentally reveals to a step-kid that he's adopted. Then he traumatizes the kid even worse by revealing Santa Claus isn't real. And this was already after he attempted to make a joke to the kid's foster parents about them being infertile. In all seriousness, he and Ross were made for this trope.
- Chandler comforting Phoebe after her heart attack in the hypothetical episode.
  Monica: Phoebe, a heart attack is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
  Chandler: I always thought a heart attack was nature's way of telling you to die. I mean you're not going to die. I mean you are going to die, but you're not going to die today. (Beat) I wish I was dead.
- In a semi-Played for Drama case, there's Ross and Rachel's breakup. He's already in hot water for sleeping with a copy girl, but makes things even worse when he tries to salvage it by stating he was trying to keep Rachel from finding out about it the whole time.
  Rachel: "Oh, that is so sweet. I think I'm falling in love with you all over again!"
- Variation in one episode where Rachel accidentally does this to Ross by mistakenly bringing up every single one of his failed marriages to the father of his date. Ross has already mentioned Carol and their son, and Paul replies, "I just didn't know you were married." At this point Rachel returns from the bathroom and assumes they were talking about his marriage to her, and she clarifies that it was just a big drunken mistake. Then she realises her mistake and asks if they were talking about Emily.
Game of Thrones:
- Tyrion's efforts to convince Shae he's not interested in Sansa fall comically short in "Dark Wings, Dark Words".
- A serious example in "The Dragon and the Wolf". During Littlefinger's trial, Sansa starts listing all the crimes he did to the Starks and his responsibility in instigating the War of the Five Kings. Every single thing that he says to deny the charges is turned against him by Sansa, Bran, and Arya, until he is literally reduced to his knees, begging for his life. His request is denied, and Arya slits his throat.
On Get Smart, a married Max is on a mission dating a KAOS femme fatale; a very pregnant and emotional 99 isn't taking it well. She sniffs "You've stopped loving me just because I've grown fat and unattractive!" He soothingly replies "That's ridiculous - just because you've grown fat and unattractive doesn't mean I don't love you any more!"
Glee: Santana tells Karofsky that she has figured out that he is gay.
Karofsky: Who told you that?
Santana: No one had to tell me. First of all, I saw you checking out Sam's ass the other day. You really need to be more careful with your leering.
Karofsky: I didn't. I was just... seeing what jeans he was wearing.
Santana: ...Like that is any less gay.
In the HawthoRNe episode "Final Curtain", the titular nurse keeps doing this with a doctor (or nurse, it wasn't really specified). She tries to get him to talk Arabic to a patient's husband, but (1) the husband is speaking Dari (as we find out from the Army vet nurse Sullivan) and is thus Afghani, and (2) the guy in the turban is Sikh, not any kind of Muslim (and from Chicago).
Guy: You're a racist! (stalks off)
Hawthorne: (ashamed) Yeah...
- She manages to keep digging later, by thanking him with a namaste gesture, which is not generally used that way when you're not Hindu.
One House episode had Cameron trying to explain to a TV crew that when she said it was exciting being around him, she didn't mean it that way. It failed in a spectacular way. Because, you know, she kinda actually felt that way in the first place.
House of Anubis- Fabian does this when pressured to ask Nina to the prom. It's the expressions from all his friends, especially Patricia's, that sells it. Here's the entire conversation:
Amber: ...ANYWAY, Fabian was wondering...
Fabian: Who you'll be going with, Patricia!
Patricia: Why?
Fabian: No reason, just...curious!
Patricia: Uh...I don't know, no-one, probably.
Fabian: Right. Okay. Good.
Patricia: Good?!
Fabian: No! No! Not good! Absolutely, definitely not good! I mean, it could be good, because someone will...ask you out eventually. (Beat) I've got to go...brush my teeth, before dinner...
Will from The Inbetweeners does this a lot:
- When he's refused alcohol at a pub, Will angrily complains that everyone else present is clearly underage. As a result, everyone gets kicked out.
- The roller coaster scene. Will is furious that most of the front row seats have been taken, even though his gang were queuing for them. Despite being told by his friends and the attendant to just sit down, he demands that the queue-jumpers be removed and calls them "inconsiderate arseholes". He then finds out he's just insulted two men with Down syndrome.
- And again at his work experience at the car garage. Although the staff attempt to pull a hazing prank on him, they aren't actually that unfriendly to begin with. But Will's cocky reaction to foiling the prank, as well as his continual complaining about being "too clever" for working at the garage, encourages them to pull an even worse prank on him.
- His worst moment comes when he breaks up with Kerry. He makes her upset and refuses to apologise, even after Tara tells him that her dad died the previous month.
  Will: Well it's not... it's not relevant, is it?
In The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret , Todd could hardly have a conversation without doing this, usually in the form of creating layers of lies to cover up other lies. In one episode he got into the old "not that you're not attractive" trap and Alice admitted she was just messing with him, and then he fell for it again just moments later.
In an episode of The IT Crowd, Moss dates a woman that looks exactly like Roy's mother. She's also a psychiatrist, which leads to an... interesting conversation:
Roy: I'm sorry, it's just that you look exactly like my mother. Not - not that my mother's ugly or anything, she's a very sexy woman. Not that I want to have sex with her, because I know how you psychiatrists think, and my mother would never stand for anything like that. I can see her now... "what you are you doing, Roy? What are you doing?!"
In Kim's Convenience, Jung tries to explain to his co-workers what a ddong chim (a Korean wedgie) is and he was just messing around when he gave it to Kimchee. His explanations get increasingly more awkward and sexually disturbing.

On The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy tells Danny Kaye how thrilled she is to meet him. Danny says that they've actually met before, which she might not remember because it was a long, long time ago. Then he realizes women don't like to be reminded of their ages, and says it was back when she was thin. The punchline comes during their subsequent musical number: "I'm sorry I said I knew you when you were thin. I never knew you when you were thin."
NCIS
- A minor one from the episode "UnSEALed":
  Tony: Do you sleep with a gun under your pillow every night?
  Kate: That depends.
  Tony: On what?
  Kate: On who I'm sleeping with... (she turns around and runs into Gibbs) Oh uhh, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Tony just asked me what I would do if a man came into my bedroom and I said it depends. I mean it doesn't depend on the man... Tony could you help me out here please?
  Tony: She sleeps with a gun boss.
  Gibbs: That true?
  Kate: Sorta... sometimes... yes.
  Gibbs: Good girl!
- After the Director has suggested that Gibbs has "really pissed somebody off":
  Tony: That's not a short list! (Death Glare from Gibbs) ...of people that - that you've angered just because you have rock-solid principles, and so it's easy for people to misunderstand that, and misconstrue, because, you know, people don't —
  Director: Why don't you quit while you're behind, DiNozzo?
  Tony: I'm trying!
- Jimmy Palmer, who puts his foot in his mouth every other time he speaks, often falls victim to this trope.
- Most of the cast seems to be both aware and afraid of this trope, with one of the shows running gags providing many subverted examples of this: Many episodes have a short off-topic conversation between the team members after the opening, before they head out to the crime scene. Usually, it ends with one of the characters (mostly Tony) making an either ambiguous, sexist, or simply dumb statement, followed by a snarky comment from suddenly appearing Gibbs. Now, the character who made the statement will usually pick up the shovel and look for the right spot to start digging while stuttering, but eventually either put it down himself by simply shutting up, or have it taken from him by Gibbs ordering him to work.
Brilliantly done in an episode The Office (US) wherein a) Michael says to a superior that the office grinds to a halt when he is not there, accidentally implying that despite being a manager, he has no idea how to delegate; b) tries to cover that up by saying that it runs much better when he is absent and he is a hindrance to everybody, which, in the context of the situation, imply that things only get done because he is frequently away during work hours; and c) desperately corrects himself a third time by outright asserting that his presence or absence has absolutely no meaningful effect on business at all.
On QI, a person giving an 'uninteresting' answer - a wrong answer that the elves writing the questions can predict ahead of time - gets a klaxon and loses points. David Mitchell managed to get three klaxons on one answer for arguing with the elves:
[the question is "When was the First World War first named as such"]
David: It's gonna be some point after 1939, isn't it.
[klaxon] [screen flashes "1939"]
David: Excuse me!... I think what I said, people in the box, is "after 1939". Which may contain 1939, but does not mean it.
[klaxon] [screen flashes "AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR"]
David: Okay! No no no! "After 1939" and "After the Second World War" are not synonymous; now this is just giving you time to type "After 1939"!
[klaxon] [screen flashes "DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR"]
In an episode of Scrubs, Elliot meets a guy named Sean, but her attempts to strike a conversation up with him end with them talking about poo. "At one point I tried changing the subject to art. But we went from art to artists, to alcohol, to coffee... and that just led right back to poo!"
- When she first tried talking to Jake, her boyfriend for twenty minutes in season 4, the only thing she could think of was to compliment him on what a perfectly square head he has.
- There was that one very early episode with Elliot and Carla feuding over Elliot tattling on Carla for not doing something. When Elliot apologizes and then doubles back to elaborate on her reasoning, the scene shifts to a visual gag of her standing in a grave literally "digging herself deeper"; as Carla and the other nurses look on in like the Mafia.
  - Subverted in the end, when Turk gives a lecture to Carla to the effect that what Elliot was saying was perfectly reasonable and it was Carla who was in the wrong.
Stargate Atlantis:
- McKay pulls one off in "Trio". When Samantha Carter finally stops him, Keller has a nice little comment:
  "Aw, I bet if you hadn't stopped him he would have gone on like that forever!"
- This exchange from 5.15 "Remnants", as Richard Woolsey sees that a woman he's been flirting with found his balcony hang-out spot:
  Woolsey: You’ve approached my private spot!
  Woman: ...What?
  Woolsey: I mean you’ve entered my little personal area. [Beat] ...This is where I come... to be alone with my thoughts.
Star Trek: The Original Series: In "Friday's Child", McCoy is trying to convince a woman (Eleen) to want the child she is going to give birth to:
McCoy: Say to yourself: "the child is mine. The child is mine. It is mine".
Eleen: Yes. It's yours.
McCoy: No... no, you've got it all wrong.
Eleen: Yes... McCoy... it's yours.
McCoy: No. Say to yourself "the child is mine. It is mine. It is—" (Beat) Uh-oh.
- He eventually settles on the 'the child is ours.' It is clear that his shipmates aren't going to let him forget this one any time soon.
- In Shore Leave, Spock tricks a reluctant Kirk into taking shore leave by describing a crewman who is clearly overtired but refuses to take a vacation - guess who.
Supernatural: Season 2: Dean and Sam find a case at a carnival and are looking for the owner. Dean has a couple of these with a knife-thrower who happens to be a blind man and a little person.
Dean: Excuse me, we're looking for a Mr. Cooper, have you seen him around?
Blind Man: What is that, some kind of joke? [pulls off his sunglasses; he's blind]
Dean: Oh. God, I'm, I'm sorry.
Blind Man: You think I wouldn't give my eyeteeth to see Mr. Cooper? Or a sunset, or anything at all?
Dean: [quietly, to Sam] Wanna give me a little help here?
Sam: Not really.
Little Person: Hey man, is there a problem?
[Dean turns, then looks down to see an extremely short man in a red cape]
Blind Man: Yeah, this guy hates blind people.
Dean: No, I don't, I-
Little Person: Hey buddy, what's your problem?
Dean: Nothing, it's just a little misunderstanding.
Little Person: Little?! You son of a bitch!
Dean: No, no, no, no! I'm just, could somebody tell me where Mr. Cooper is? [Sam laughs] Please?
Frequently, this is what people do on Survivor when the jury really doesn't like them and is just picking between the lesser of two-three evils.
Thank God You're Here tries to actively induce this in contestants. The master of it is Frank Woodley, who can go somewhere horribly, horribly wrong with whatever they throw at him.
That '70s Show: In "Kitty's Birthday (That's Today?!)", Red and Eric forget Kitty's birthday, and then tried to pass it off as a Not-So-Forgotten Birthday, buying her a few balloons and a funnel from the gas station at 11:40 P.M., When she sees through it, it leads to this:
Red: Well, Kitty, marking the calendar is your responsibility!
Eric: Dad. No!

True Blood gave us this priceless exchange between best friends Jason and Hoyt:
Jason: Hoyt, I had sex with Jessica.
Hoyt: [obviously hurt] How?
Jason: Well, first we did it missionary, then doggy style, then...
Hoyt: [clocks him square in the face] I MEANT HOW COULD YOU?!

On Veep, Vice President Selina Meyer doesn't just put her foot in her mouth, she proceeds to slow boil it, chew and digest it, getting herself into even bigger trouble. Half the time her staff has to work hard to fix things... and the other half they're the ones who end up making even bigger messes for their boss.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Greatest Hits, "Songs of the Motorcycle".
Ryan: Hi. How are you? We don't know what you're watching, so we're not gonna tell you when we're gonna return you to it.
Colin: Oh, w— We're watching animal porn! [Beat, double facepalm]
Ryan: [snickering]
Colin: Mary Had A Little Lamb will be right back in just a second. But you...
[Drew frantically buzzes]
Ryan: [laughing out loud]

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