Look Behind You / Western Animation

• The Addams Family (1992): "FTV" has Norman Normanmeyer distract the Addamses by claiming to see a six-car pileup.
• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: Occurs where, after Jimmy questions the commander of BTSO whether it is legal to implant a tracking chip in a villainess' brain, the commander gets out of answering when he points out, "Oh, look! A spy satellite!" and Jimmy, of all people, falls for it before he is sucked out of the room through a tube.
  • Jimmy has fallen for it before in the past with one instance during a race against Cindy, he wears super fast speed shoes to give him an advantage, he stops at the finish line momentarily to taunt Cindy, only for her to suddenly try this.
  Cindy: [points up] Oh, look. A 1950s electrostatic generator.
  Jimmy: [turns around and looks up] Huh? Where?
  Cindy: [crosses the finish line] I win!
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic manages this by just pointing and casually stating, "I'M over there." The mooks in this show were pretty damn stupid.
• Adventure Time: In the episode "Hitman", Ice King tries several to distract Scorcher.
  Ice King: Look! A supermodel!...Look! A hoverboard!...Look! The apocalypse! ...Somebody got hit in the boingloings...Hit in the boingloings. Boingloings. Boingloings. Somebody got hit in them. (Scorcher looks) PEACE OUT! (Freezes him)
• In The Angry Beavers, Dagget distracts a group of angry bears by pointing behind them and yelling, "Look! Balloons!"
• Animaniacs frequently made use of the gag of tricking people into looking away by making something up. One example comes in "Meatballs or Consequences".
  Yakko: Look, it's Merv Griffin.
  Death: Where?
  Yakko: Oh, my mistake, it was just a big cloud.
• Arthur:
  • An early episode of has Arthur shout "Look, Hailey's comet!" just so the gang could get away from Binky.
  • In another episode, Buster, after apologizing for his cocky persona after letting his heroism get to his head, shouts to Francine and Arthur "Look out! A Runaway Piano!" Francine utters, "Very funny!" in a disbelieving manner, but the POV shows that Buster was being very serious when he tells them this, as a piano was rolling towards them, causing Buster to tackle them to get them out of the way.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: From "The Ember Island Players":
  Actress Azula: You caught me. Wait, what's that? I think it's your honor!
  Actor Zuko: Where?!
• Batman Beyond: One episode has Batman trying to warn Shriek to look behind him because a building is about to fall on him. Being deaf, Shriek thinks Batman is begging for mercy and gets crushed.
• The Joker gets Batman, of all people, with this during their flashback fight in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Batman has him by the neck and threatens to kill him, which Joker doubts and says "I on the other hand..." as he holds out an empty hand. Batman stares right at it as Joker pulls out a knife with his other hand and lands a couple of nasty slashes.
• In the Beast Wars episode "Bad Spark", Silverbolt and Blackarachnia are stuck traveling together to escape an energon storm (and Silverbolt pledges to protect her from Tarantulas). When they find out Tarantulas is indisposed, Blackarachnia predictably tries to destroy Silverbolt. He sees something, yells "Behind you!", and Blackarachnia laughs and answers "Don't be pathetic". The next instant she's jumped by a Smilodon.
• Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot: The episode "Hard drive" has a subversion. When Big Guy starts getting the upper hand in their fight, Hard Drive which is really a Powered Armor piloted by Dwayne Hunter's (Big Guy's pilot) friend backs away and threatens to set off a bomb in Rusty's new rocket. Big Guy then shouts out "Behind you!" Hard Drive mocks Big Guy's attempt to distract him with the oldest trick in the book, claiming that "only a robot would fall for that". His motivation is to prove that humans could never be replaced by robots. Only it's not a trick. The other threat of the episode, a gigantic insect Hive Queen monster, really is right behind Hard Drive and promptly crushes him in her jaws.
• Birdman (1967) episode "Monster of the Mountains". While the villain Chang is covering Birdman and Birdboy with a uranium Ray Gun, Birdboy points behind Chang and says "We have Avenger!" (Birdman's pet eagle). Chang says "That's a very old trick" and Avenger swoops in from behind him and knocks the Ray Gun out of his hands.
• Bluey: Part of playing "Octopus" is distracting the octopus — "Look, a robin!" — in order to sneak past. Whether or not the octopus should be foolish enough to fall for the distraction is part of the conflict of the episode; Chloe's dad initially struggles to relax and get into the role, but finds it easier once he and Chloe work together to learn more about what the life of an octopus might involve.
  Chloe: Look, a flying fish!
• Bounty Hamster. In the first episode a bounty hunter is about to kill Cassie and Marion, who threaten to set their army on him. He asks "Which army?" only to be told to look behind him. The bounty hunter refuses to fall for that one until he hears the large angry mob charging up behind him, and flees. Turns out the angry mob is after Cassie and Marion for making them crash their space station, so our heroes have to flee as well.
• Bratz: In "To Catch a Thief", while on a date with Burdine, Damon suddenly says, "Oh my, is that Donald Trump?", to which she turns around and he attempts to slip something into her drink.
• Bump in the Night:
  • Bumpy tricks Destructo into turning around by claiming to see Molly's Comet in the episode "Long, Long Day".
  • The episode "Not a Leg to Stand On" has Mr. Bumpy try to get away from the Cute Dolls and Molly Coddle (who are chasing him because they've wrongly accused him of stealing Molly's feet) by telling them that there's a two-headed, pink polka dot monkey riding a unicycle.
  • In the episode "Love's Labor Bumped", Bumpy unconvincingly tries to hide the wig he used to disguise himself as Molly behind his back. Molly gets him to turn around by telling him there's a sock behind him.
• Catscratch: Mr. Blik pulls this to get away from an angry alley cat. It works, but the cat catches him eventually anyway.
  Blik: Look! A flying saucer is giving away free gold!
• Codename: Kids Next Door: Parodied when the trick is pulled at the Grand Canyon by a character who yells, "Hey, look! The Grand Canyon!"
  • Used the same way in "Operation: T.R.I.P.", which took place in Japan:
  Conductor: The ticket, please.
  Brother: Look!
  Sister: Mount Fuji!
  Conductor: (looks away) Huh? Where? (the twins sneak onto the train)
• Dexter's Laboratory: In one short, Dee Dee keeps Crying Wolf, taunting Dexter with, "Dexter, what's that?" Then she says, "Dexter, what's that?" one last time, and Dexter replies, "I'm not falling for that again" — when there's a giant bug sitting on his head, big enough that it's even obscuring his vision.
  • In an episode where Dexter was cornered by some of his obsolete robots wanting to punish him for throwing them out, he distracts them with "Look! It's R2-D2!" The robots fall for it.
• Dilbert has Dogbert teaching a Girl Scout to cheat at blackjack at an illegal casino set up in the office by Wally.
  Dogbert: Look, Asok, it's a rewarding career.
  Asok: [turns as Dogbert looks at the top card of the deck] Where? I don't see a rewarding career.
  Girl Scout: Look, Asok, it's a woman who respects you despite your low status and income.
  Asok: [turns as Girl Scout replaces her deuce with an ace] Where? I don't see a woman who respects me despite my low status and income.
  Loud Howard: Look, Asok, it's a brick wall.
  [Asok doesn't react]
  Loud Howard: What am I doing wrong?
• Doug: During the Nickelodeon run, Doug's tormentor, Roger, is forced to escape the bully Percy by pulling this on him, and Percy falls for it every time. At the end of the episode, when Doug has become Percy's new target, Doug claims to see Percy's uncle, the school's hardline vice-principal. Percy has finally caught on — but as it turns out, it wasn't a trick this last time. Making this a straight-straight-subversion.
• Drawn Together: Used in an episode where Clara keeps distracting Foxxy by claiming that Denzel Washington is in the hallway. Foxxy falls for it time after time, but on the third distraction it is subverted in that Denzel is actually there. Clara then distracts Foxxy again by claiming that further down the hall is a bi-phallic version of the same man, but alas, there is only a tri-phallic Wesley Snipes.
• Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop: The episode "Where Mouse" has Officer Deadbeat cut in line by asking the yeti in front of him if he's being waved at by the yeti woman over there. As soon as the yeti leaves, Officer Deadbeat gloats about how easy it was to dupe the yeti with the old "look behind you" trick, but he then gets a taste of his own medicine when Dr. Zitbag asks Deadbeat if his wife is behind him and Deadbeat turns around to see the yeti ready to beat him up for calling him an idiot.
• Duckman:
  • In "Forbidden Fruit", King Chicken escapes by distracting everyone with a shout of "Look, it's Clarence Thomas!"
  • The title character prefers being straightforward in "Ebony Baby".
  Duckman: I'M A DIVERSION! I'M A DIVERSION!
• Ed, Edd n Eddy:
  • In "Will Work For Ed", Eddy distracts Kevin with "Holy cow! Is that Nazz skydiving in a bikini?"
  • Ed tries to distract Eddy during a footrace in "Eds or Tails" by shouting "Look, Eddy, it's Rolf!"
  • In "A Case of Ed", Ed is rather unsuccessful at distracting Kevin by pointing and shouting "Sponge stampede!"
• El Tigre: Mercilessly parodied in one episode:
  Dr. Chipotle, Jr.: Look, a thing!
  Frida: Where? [Turns around, then realizes Chipotle ran away] Aw, man!
  • Also in "The Return of Plata Peligrosa".
  Rodolfo: Look, a danger!
  Maria: Where?
• The Fairly OddParents!:
  • Timmy bulls this ploy when Francis the Bully tries to beat him up in "Timvisible".
  Timmy: Look! A Rottweiler!
  Francis: I'm not falling for that one.
  Timmy: You're right, it's just a brick wall.
  Francis: (looking) A brick wall?! Where?!
  • There was also "Look! A hot shower!" in the episode "Baby Face", to which Francis responded with terror.
  • Timmy does this trick on Crocker in the first installment of The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, a trilogy of specials crossing over with The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.
  Timmy: Look, a child in pain!
  Crocker: Where?! (Turns in the direction Timmy pointed and gets popcorn.) Hey! There's no child in pain! BUT THERE'S GONNA BE!
  • In "Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad", Timmy's parents do this to distract their son and prevent him seeing them use their powers, unaware that they have super powers in the first place because he wished for them to have them. Timmy's Mom tells her son "Look, a monkey" to prevent him from seeing her use meat vision to create breakfast, then says "Look over there" so that Timmy and his babysitter Vicky don't see them flying away crashing through the house.
  • In "Dust Busters", Jorgen distracts Timmy's parents so he can bludgeon them and carry them to Fairy World to decontaminate them of fairy dust by shouting "Look, a famous celebrity doing something noteworthy and amusing!" Later, he does the same with Crocker by telling him there's a celebrity doing something scandalous.
• Family Guy:
  • Spoofed in the episode "Wasted Talent", where a very drunk Peter cornered by police gets the trope backwards. He tells Lois to look behind her and the cops to run away. And it works!
  • Peter uses this often. When he crashed into the TV satellite dish:
    Peter: Look. There's Bigfoot!
    Bigfoot: Whoa. This isn't about me. This is about you.
  • And when he tries to run from a guard in a turban...
    Hey, look over there! There’s a woman learning!
  • During one of Peter and Ernie's fights (specifically in the episode where Quagmire is forced to become chasted by his neighbors) Peter ends up giving an implied "Look behind you!" reaction to Ernie as the propeller blades of the aircraft they are fighting under are drawing closer to Ernie (he sees the propellers, gives an "Oh, Crap!" look, and then braces himself). Ernie seems to take the hint and looks behind him... only to get cut up by the propellers, á la Raiders of the Lost Ark.
  • Brian has also tried this. In "Brian: Portrait of a Dog" he tells an angry dog to look because there is a tasty little baby. He then tries a Groin Attack which doesn't work, noting "I see someone's been neutered." In "To Love and Die in Dixie" he distracts some Deep South hillbillies by shouting, "Look over there! It's a newly-married, interracial gay couple burning the American flag!"
• Futurama:
  • "Spanish Fry" has Bender taunt Ranger Park by repeatedly claiming to see Bigfoot nearby while subtly mocking him for believing his declared Bigfoot sightings.
  Bender: Eh, he's gone. He said you should keep wasting your life, though.
  • When Bender and Amy get caught kissing in public in "Proposition Infinity", he turns the attention of the robosexuality-opposing mob away by claiming to see a single mother.
• Garfield on the Town: During the battle between Garfield's family and the Claws, Garfield's brother Raoul distracts the Claws' leader Ali Cat from his attacks by saying "Ain't that Haley's Comet?"
• The Garfield Show episode "Mother Owl" has Garfield trick Bruno into looking away by claiming to see a "green-eyed distraction bird".
• Gravity Falls:
  • In "Double Dipper", one of the Dipper clones distracts Soos with a laser pointer.
  Dipper #10: Hey, Soos! Look, a glowing dot!
  Soos: Oh man, I'm so glad I turned my head. That dot does not disappoint!
  • In "The Deep End", Dipper catches Mabel breaking into the pool at night, and she's trying to keep the fact she's trying to liberate a trapped mer-man a secret:
    Mabel: Hey look, Wendy in a bikini!
    Dipper: (whirls around) Really? At night?
• In the House of Mouse episode "The Stolen Cartoons", when it's discovered that Pete stole the cartoons, he distracts Mickey by shouting, "Hey look, Annette Funicello!"
• Invader Zim:
  • "Abducted" has Zim just pointing upward to distract the other aliens. It takes them more than a few takes to realize he's not standing there anymore.
  • In "Gaz, Taster of Pork", Dib tells a pair of pig monster guards "Hey, look! There's something a pig thing would like!" It works, but the guards catch him soon after he gets past them.
• Jackie Chan Adventures has an episode where Jackie, a jetpack-flying Jade and a levitating Finn are fighting on top of a truck. Jackie sees a tunnel and shouts a warning; Jade flies out of reach but Finn says, "Yeah, like I'm gonna fall for—" and smacks right into a concrete tunnel overhang. Lucky he also had the immortality talisman, or...
  • Another episode had Jade doing this to several mooks while in Scotland by saying the Loch Ness Monster was behind them, sure enough they look. This was subverted in a dream sequence in the same episode where she also does this, but this time the Loch Ness Monster is behind them, since it was a dream. Before the end of the episode, they end up falling for it for a third time, this time by Jackie.
  • When they first faced the Monkey King, Jade did this to them, and it worked! When he realized what had happened, he lampshaded it, saying he couldn't believe that worked on him.
• Johnny Bravo:
  • In the episode "Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women", Johnny distracts Christopher the Elephant by saying, "Isn't that Don Knotts?" After realizing he'd been had, Christopher remarked, "I hate it when people use Don Knotts to deceive me."
  • The gag is repeated almost verbatim in "Little Talky Tabitha" when Johnny tries to distract Little Suzy's evil talking doll, except he tells Little Talky Tabitha that it's Pinocchio.
  • "Welcome Back, Bravo" has Johnny cut in line at the schoo cafeteria by claiming to Little Suzy that he can see Leonardo DiCaprio.
  • When confronted by Fish Lips Malone in "Some Like it Stupid", Johnny distracts him so he can get away by telling him there's a sale on icepicks.
  • "Pouch Potato" has an Australian tour guide not appreciating Johnny's advances towards her distract him by claiming to see a dingo tap-dancing with Olivia Newton-John.
  • In "The Great Bunny Book Ban", Mr. Blowhard distracts Little Suzy by claiming to see Matt Damon.
• Parodied in Johnny Test. "Look! Something in the air to distract you dorks!" It works.
• Justice League
  • Green Lantern yells "Duck!" while fighting Star Sapphire. She refuses, and gets hit by a statue of a cartoon duck. He quips, "I tried to warn her."
  • Also, in "Tabula Rasa, Pt. II"
  Flash: You're too fast for me... But not for him.
  AMAZO: That's the oldest trick— [gets blasted from behind by Green Lantern]
• Kaeloo: In the episode "Let's Play Golf", Kaeloo, who has to power of Hulking Out, plays golf with her friends. Each time it's her turn, she tells everyone to look at something in the distance, e.g. a "flying rhinoceros", and then Hulks Out to hit the ball. Unfortunately for her, her final attempt ends in Stumpy, who is standing behind her, witnessing everything and telling the others.
  • Johnny pulls the same trick on a killer doll, using Pinocchio.
• Kim Possible: As Kim and Dr. Drakken fight on top of a train, Kim suddenly gasps and hits the deck. Drakken turns to look, and meets the roof of a tunnel.
• King of the Hill: Hilariously, Dale manages to pull this on an angry Hank in one episode just by yelling, "Hey, look, propane!"
• Looney Tunes:
  • In the short "Frigid Hare", Bugs Bunny gets rid of a penguin by shouting, "Hey! Look! A four-legged airy-plane!" and kicking the bird down an icy slope when it turns around.
  • In "Rabbit Hood", Bugs thwarts the Sheriff of Nottingham twice with, "Lo! The King approacheth!" To the Sheriff's credit, the second time he does refuse to look behind, until Bugs' acting finally gets to him. Cue Bugs Bunny disguised as the King.
• The Loud House: In "White Hare", Lincoln distracts his sisters by yelling "Look, free pizza!" Later, during his dream, Warren distracts one of his sisters by telling her "Look, shiny object!"
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In "Sweet and Elite", Rarity distracts the high-society ponies at a garden party so she can go back to Twilight Sparkle's birthday party by pointing and saying "Is that Princess Celestia?"
  • In "Too Many Pinkie Pies", Rainbow Dash manages to get the last of the Pinkie clones to fail the "watching-paint-dry test" by saying "Somepony's making balloon animals!"
• The Patrick Star Show: In "Stuntin'", not wanting to fight a sea bear as Patrick's Obvious Stunt Double, Grand Pat comes up with a plan to get out of it. He distracts Squidina by pointing away and claiming to see Mermaid Man. As Squidina is looking, Grand Pat unscrews the lid on the airhorn Squidina uses to signal Grand Pat being swapped in Patrick's place. By the time she fixes it, Patrick has already taken all the beatings, leaving Grand Pat to claim the victory.
• Phineas and Ferb, "Canderemy": Candace points and shouts, "Hey, isn't that the guy from that movie?" to distract Stacy from the fact that Candace and Jeremy have literally become joined at the hip. It ultimately fails.
  • In "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?", Dr. Doofenshmirtz distracts Perry (in Candace's body) by exclaiming "Look! Shoes on sale!"
  • In "Phineas and Ferb Save Summer", Rodney distracts Doof by saying, "Oh, look! A horse in a bookcase!" This is a reference to a Show Within a Show.
• From Pinky and the Brain:
  Pinky: Look, a diversion!
  • In another episode, he says "Look! A decoy!"
• The Quack Pack episode "Heavy Dental" has Huey at one point succeed in escaping the robotic Agent X by claiming that there's a mug of motor oil nearby. After Huey gets away, Agent X complains that it's the third time this week that she fell for this kind of trick.
• Ready Jet Go!: In "Sean's Neptune Tune", Sean distracts Jet and Sydney by saying "Wow! Look, a rare moment when you can see the sun and the moon in the sky at the same time!" so he can run away from them.
• ReBoot: Played straight where Mouse distracts two agents with the "open-mouthed stare" variant, then takes that split second to cut their guns in half with her trusty katana. Considering that there was something running around preying on unsuspecting victims, they can probably be excused.
• Rick and Morty: Rick manages to outsmart a fourth-dimension Time Police officer with this and some faulty logic:
  Langolier parody: You really think I'm that stupid?
  Rick: Alright, hear me out on this. You're immortal, right, which means your life is infinite, okay, well and that means there's a 100% chance that you will eventually do everything, including turning around and looking behind you.
  Langolier parody: ...I cannot argue that.
  (Wrench Whack)
• Rugrats (1991):
  • Angelica pulls a cruel one in the episode "Chuckie's Wonderful Life", claiming there was a dog fight outside. The babies didn't fall for it, but end up doing so when she invokes Spike. She uses the distraction to steal a CD the babies were playing with, kicking off the It's a Wonderful Plot of the episode.
  • In "Weaning Tommy" Tommy does this to Phil and Lil to take their bottles from them since he's being weaned and doesn't have any of his bottles anymore.
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The episode "Don't Fool With a Phantom" has Shaggy pulling this when Fred details his plans to catch the wax phantom using Shaggy and Scooby as bait:
  Shaggy: Fred, like, the plan is faaaaaan-tastic, except...
  Fred: Except what?
  Shaggy: Like, we won't do it. Right, Scoob?
  Scooby: Right!
  Fred: Have you got a better idea?
  Shaggy: Sure. Like, look out there [he points ahead] and tell me what you see.
  Daphne: The wax works. [Shaggy and Scooby dart away as the others turn toward the direction Shaggy pointed] They've disappeared!
  Velma: Of all the nerve!
  Fred: I have to laugh at myself. Those two chickens fooled us! (Groan!)
• Secret Squirrel: Various characters, good and bad guys alike, had a thing for using Fred Flintstone to fulfill this trope.
• Shelldon: In "Slime, Crime, A Hard Time", the jewel thief Spiky Riptide uses it to get away. It works, but he gets caught again.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "The Last Temptation Of Homer", Homer manages to trick Lisa with this ploy, though it takes a bit of extra effort on Homer's part.
  Homer: Lisa, look out behind you!
  Lisa: Dad, I'm not gonna fall for that.
  Homer: No, Lisa, I swear to you, I'm 100% completely serious! You've got to turn around right now before it's too late!
  Lisa: Huh? (Turns around)
  Homer: Sucker! (Runs away)
  • In "A Star is Burns" Jay Sherman pulls the "shoes are untied" variant on Rainer Wolfcastle when Wolfcastle realized Sherman was insulting him and is prepared to kill him. He realizes that Sherman is likely pulling this trick, but decides to look anyway, giving Jay the chance to escape. Wolfcastle meanwhile takes until well after nightfall to realize his shoes don't even have laces.
• In "Brother from the Same Planet" Homer distracts Tom when their fight begins with "Look, there's another disadvantaged boy!" before punching him.
  • Moe is also extremely susceptible to these. In "Krusty Gets Kancelled", Bart needed to get the Red Hot Chili Peppers out of the bar, so he did this:
    Bart: Hey Moe, look over there.
    Moe: (turns around) What? What am I looking at? (Bart ushers the band outside) I'm gonna stop looking soon. What, is that it? (Homer comes in)
    Homer: Hey Moe, can I look, too?
    Moe: Sure, but it'll cost you.
    Homer: My wallet's in the car!
    Moe: He is so stupid. And now back to the wall...
  • In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", Homer tries this on a cow, and it works.
    Homer: Look! A flying saucer!
  • A subversion pops up in "Bart's Comet": Bart accidentally discovers a never-before-seen comet, and the next morning at school, the nerds (including Lisa) try to get him join their science club. They ask Bart if he'd show them his comet, and he responds "There it is right there," pointing out a window. The head nerd imperiously retorts that "I make it a point to never turn around unless I expect to see something." Bart presses the issue and when they finally look, they do indeed see his comet — and realize that it's close because it's on a collision course with Springfield.
  • Another subversion is in "Children Of A Lesser Clod" when Homer yells out, "Look, a bear!" seemingly in an effort to escape from the hospital without paying his bills. Unfortunately, since he was in for a broken leg, he doesn't get very far — and while we're busy laughing at that, pan right to reveal that there is a bear!
  • Knowing the history of Shelbyville, Bart escapes from a gang in "Lemon of Troy" by yelling, "Hey look! Someone's attractive cousin!"
• Sonic Boom: In the B-plot of "You and I Bee-come One", Dr. Eggman attends a villains' retreat with the other villains. When he participates in a limbo contest, he distracts T.W. Barker, Willy Walrus, and the Weasel Bandit Leader by exclaiming "Look, over there, a solar eclipse!" so he can cheat without them looking. Barker looks up at the sun and says "Wait a sec! You're not supposed to look directly into a solar eclipse!", then sees Eggman cheating by crawling under the limbo stick, which Charlie sees and scolds him for.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): In one episode, Sonic yells, "Look behind you!" at a robot, who falls for it. But instead of doing anything, Sonic just stays in his spot and says he was just kidding.
• South Park: In the episode "It's a Jersey Thing", Kyle pulls one on Cartman, but only because there is something behind him.
  Kyle: Dude, Cartman, what is that behind you?
  Cartman: Kyle, do we really have to resort to that?
  Kyle: No, I'm serious. What is that behind you?
  Cartman: You Ginger Jersey Jew. Your tactics don't work on me.
  Snooki: (appears behind Cartman) Snooki want smush-smush!
  Cartman: Dude, what the fuck is that thing behind me?
  • The episode "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants" has an even funnier one. Cartman is cornered by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and distracts him by shouting: "Look, an infidel!" Once Osama's head is turned, Cartman pulls down his pants. Osama isn't wearing underwear, and it's revealed that he has a freakishly small penis. Cartman concludes that it's no wonder Osama is so mad at the world.
• In the cartoon version of Space Ace, episode "Wanted Dexter", during the scene where Dexter falls into the water, after turning into Ace, Ace says to the sheriff, "Baby Face Nerks went that way." The sheriff falls for it, and Ace tries to escape, only to get caught between the hands of the two servants of the sheriff.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: In the episode "Matchmaker", Ludo believes that Star being distracted by trying to help Ms. Skullnick will make it easy to steal her wand. When Star refutes this, Ludo tries to distract her by asking "What's that over there?"
• Star Wars Rebels: Sabine blasts a couple of stormtroopers, then tells two more to look behind them. They say they're not going to fall for that one right before Zed bangs their bucketheads together.
• Static Shock: In one episode, Virgil escapes an angry street gang by yelling, "Look over there! It's J-Lo!" then running away when they turn around.
• Steven Universe:
  • In "Catch and Release", Peridot attempts to use this on the Crystal Gems. It doesn't work, partially because they're already distracted that she escaped again in the first place.
    Peridot: (visibly shaking) Look! Over there! Another planet to betray!
  • Later, in "Message Received", Steven takes a communicator that Peridot stole to contact her leader with by claiming said leader is right behind her and snatching it from her hands while she's distracted.
• Street Fighter: The beginning of the episode "Chunnel Vision" had this trope. Just as Bison is about to use his Psycho Power, one of the members of the MI5 says, "Bison, behind you!" Bison only replies, "Oh please, that is the oldest—" before stopping to check what is behind him and finds a flipping train coming toward Bison.
• Tales from the Goose Lady: The short "A Fisherman, A Fisherman's Wife and a Fish" has Dot and Randy get in trouble when the Goose Lady scribbles on the museum's paintings and once again gets away before the two can show that she is to blame. Fortunately for Dot and Randy, they manage to get away by distracting the security guard, which they do by claiming to see Ed Asner behind him.
• ThunderCats (1985): From the episode "The Demolisher":
  Demolisher: [throws grenades, Lion-O braces himself, but they release smoke] A harmless toy for a harmless boy. Unlike the one behind you! [Lion-O turns around, and Demolisher blasts him] Ha ha ha! You disappoint me, boy. That was the oldest trick in the book!
  Lion-O: Not quite the oldest, Demolisher! [throws dirt in Demolisher's eyes]
• Toonsylvania featured this gag in the Night of the Living Fred segment "Football and Other Body Parts". Ashley Deadman claims to be better at doing the splits than Heather and is asked by Heather and her clique to prove it. To distract them long enough from not seeing her remove her leg and reattach it after her body collapses, Ashley cries "Look, touchdown!"
• Total Drama:
  • In "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island", Owen, Tyler, DJ, and Cody want the briefcase of money that they found first back from Justin, but threats don't work. Cody thinks quickly and points behind Justin while excitedly exclaiming that the paparazzi are here. Ever the camera addict, Justin instantly models in the alleged paparazzi's direction, which gives the quartet the opportunity to rush him and take the briefcase.
  • When Heather and Lightning are fighting over the prize money in "Up, Up, and Away in My Pitiful Balloon", Lightning spots Cameron's out-of-control rocket coming their way. He warns Heather to look behind her, but she thinks he is trying to trick her even as Lightning runs away himself. Too late for her own escape does Heather notice the incoming danger.
  • Zoey has made a salad for the cooking contest in "Eat, Puke and Be Wary" that doesn't look half-bad to eat, which isn't in Scott's interest. As she's finishing up the salad, he points and shouts that there's a bunch of abandoned puppies behind her. Zoey looks and Scott tosses some poison ivy leaves into the salad. Scott covers his tracks by saying he saw wrong and that it's just a bunch of rocks.
  • Cameron and Scott have both made a quiche for the cooking contest in "Eat, Puke and Be Wary", but Cameron's is actually edible. Because the contestants have to eat their own dishes, Scott swaps his and Cameron's quiches by distracting Cameron for a hot second by pointing and claiming there's a blogger from BubbleBoyOnline.Blog behind him. Cameron falls for it and Scott excuses himself by correcting that it's just a tree stump.
• Transformers:
  • In The Transformers episode "Money Is Everything", the Technobots angrily prepare to beat up Dirk Manus for leading them into a trap. Manus nervously backs away and suddenly tells them to look out. They angrily say that they're not falling for his lies... then one gets shot in the back by the Sharkticons.
  • In "Changing Gears," Gears has had his personality altered by a missing component, making him compulsively nice. When Starscream is about to shoot him point blank, Gears warns him he should look behind him. Starscream snarks that he would never fall for such a stupid trick... right before he's attacked from behind.
  • In the Transformers: Rescue Bots episode "All Spark Day", Dr. Greene distracts his toddler daughter CeCe, who has grown gigantic after being zapped by the Minimizer set to reverse, by saying "Look, Isaac Newton!" Not only does it succeed in getting CeCe's attention, but Dr. Green claims that it works every time.
  • In the two-part Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) episode "King of the Hill", Slipstream attempts to distract Russel while he's practicing football kicks by claiming to see Megatronus forcibly removing sugared treats from the grasp of a human infant.
• T.U.F.F. Puppy:
  • The episode "Snap Dad" has both Snaptrap and the Chameleon distract people by shouting "Look, it's the Easter Bunny!"
  • In "Mind Trap", Dudley distracts Kitty from seeing him dispose of the cookie she gave him by saying "Look, a giant ball of yarn" and the Chief later distracts Dudley with a cry of "Look, dogfood that makes its own gravy!"
• VeggieTales did a musical number called "Look, Olaf!" that was all about this trope in "Lyle the Kindly Viking".
  Larry the Cucumber: Look, Olaf! There's a turtle
  And he's wearing pink pajamas
  And he's got a cowboy hat upon his lid!
  Look, Olaf, very close, and see
  He's riding on a llama
  And he's chasing down a herd of giant squid!
• Wallykazam!: In "Victor the Villain", Victor twice tricks Wally and Norville with this, but is later Hoist by His Own Petard.
• WordGirl: In the episode "A Simple Plan", Dr. Two-Brains (who is consciously making his plots much less complex) escapes by using this phrase and running away while her back is turned. As Word Girl readily admits to a nearby grocer, "That... was embarrassing."
  • Discussed in "Kid Math" to show the titular character's inexperience as a superhero.
  Dr. Two-Brains: This 'math whiz' fell for the oldest trick in the book: the ol' "Hey, what's that?" Can you believe it? I didn't even have to sell it; just go "Hey, what's that?" and he was like "WHERE??"

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