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Reg: Mr. Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that's all - I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition!
Cardinal Ximenez: [Bursting in] NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

On some shows with a Drop-In Character, the drop-in's appearance is sometimes immediately presaged by an ironic or insulting comment born from another context entirely but which could be applied to them. In Horror works, the character may appear in answer to an ominous remark or question. In comedies, the character's appearance may be immediately preceded by a gleeful "DID SOMEBODY SAY [word]?!"

Compare Speak of the Devil, And Here He Comes Now, and Walk-In Chime-In. Sometimes results in an Answer Cut. The inverse of Phrase Catcher. Contrast Incoming Ham. See also Nothing Can Stop Us Now! and Gilligan Cut. Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace can be an example of this trope, but is specific enough to warrant its own page.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • The commercials for the Egyptian cheese brand Panda Cheese work this way. Whenever someone mentions that they do not need Panda Cheese, the product's panda mascot will appear out of thin air to troll their day hard. Well, if that ain't aggressive advertising, then what is?

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Fan Works 
  • In Book 1: Harry Potter and the Choices that Matter, Harry asks Ron, Hermione, and Neville where they can get something to eat on the Hogwarts Express, which is immediately followed by the entrance of the snack cart witch.
  • In The Boy Who Planned, Madame Bones sends Madame Pomfrey to St. Mungo's for a compulsion spell check, then asks for a replacement healer.
    Andromeda: If Healer Pomfrey was mind-spelled, do you have a suspect?
    [Dumbledore walks into the hospital wing]
    Dumbledore: Ah, Amelia, how delightful to see you again. Where's Poppy?
  • Death is forced to take a vacation: Mentioning anything about laughter triggers the sudden arrival of Pinkie Pie. Fall Harvest realizes this just after he'd said it, too late to avoid her.
  • In Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse, after marooning Eldrago and his crew on Lost Island, Ranma declares the only way Eldrago could catch them is if he can fly. Cue Eldrago plummeting out of the sky, having used his Scream-Scream fruit to fly after them.
  • The Weaver Option:
    • As a Black Templar ship makes a seemingly hopeless assault on a Drukhari-defended Webway gate, an Imperial Guard general notes that it would take a miracle from the God-Emperor himself to prevent the Templar ship being crippled. Cue the Gloriana battleship Flamewrought, guided there by the Emperor, emerging from the Warp and obliterating the defending Eldar.
    • As Imperial reinforcements arrive at Fenris, a Word Bearer dismisses the forces as irrelevant as they have no Astartes support. Cue a fleet of Astartes vessels dropping out of the Warp, led by the flagship of Lemann Russ. The Word Bearer then claims the flagship must be a ploy as there's no way Russ has actually returned. Cue Russ making his presence, and anger, very clear.
  • A New Kind of Normal:
    Quirrell: Ahhhh... You see Harry, there are some at this school who cannot be trusted. One helped build the very defences around the stone yet his soul is the blackest evil. He seeks to steal the stone for himself. He hides his nature, but scratch the surface and you'll find nothing but treachery and wickedness. Do you know who I'm speaking of, Mr. Potter?
    [Snape enters the room]

    Film — Animated 

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Batman Returns: Played with in a scene. Batman crashes through a window into the top floor of a dark, abandoned building to rescue the Ice Princess, who's been tied to a chair and muzzled with a cloth by the Penguin's goons. He quickly frees her, informing her that he's been framed for her kidnapping. The Ice Princess's response? "No problem. I'll just tell the police that I was kidnapped by an ugly bird-man with fish breath." Immediately afterward, someone announces: "Did somebody say 'fish'?" and a familiar figure drops from the rafters. Is it the Penguin? No, it's another notorious criminal who dresses in the manner of another animal well known for eating fish...
  • Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): A Double Subversion. After Riggan injures Ralph and tells Jake to find a new actor, Jake replies: "What, you think the ideal actor is just gonna knock on that door and take the part?!" [knock on the door]. It's only Lesley's face. Then she informs Riggan and Jake that Mike is available after all.
  • In Bride of Frankenstein, Elizabeth describes a vision of an evil apparition which will entangle Henry, and says she sees it drawing nearer — nearer — and is immediately answered by the evil Dr. Praetorius knocking at the door.
  • Come Live with Me: Barton the publisher receives Bill and is pretty startled to find out that Bill's novel is all about Barton's girlfriend, and namely, about his girlfriend's Citizenship Marriage to Bill. Barton especially doesn't like the notion that the older man character will lose out. He stammers "After all, there's nothing to keep him from getting the girl except—" and he's interrupted by the intercom buzzing with the secretary saying "Mrs. Kendrick." Barton's wife has arrived at the office.
  • In The Devil-Doll, Paul Lavonde, having escaped from prison, is stalking the three people who successfully framed him for their crimes. "I keep wondering which one of us he's going to look up next", says Emil, followed instantly by the door opening to reveal Levonde Disguised in Drag as "Madame Mandelip", calling on Emil.
  • From Dogma:
    Jay: Guys like us just don't fall out of the sky, you know! [Rufus falls from the sky, landing right besides them] [Beat] Beautiful, naked, big-titted women just don't fall out of the sky, you know! [looks up expectantly]
  • In the 1931 Dracula, after discovering the puncture wounds on Mina's neck, Harker asks Van Helsing, "What could have caused them, Professor?" At which a maid announces: "Count Dracula!" (He's just arrived at the front door.) Dracula's Daughter has a nearly identical scene: Just when Dr. Jeffrey Garth asks the question, "What could have made those two small puncture marks over the jugular vein?", a maid announces: "Countess Zalenska!" It's given a Shout-Out in Dracula: Dead and Loving It when Dr. Seward expresses his incredulity by asking who could possibly be a vampire, at which point the maid announces, "Count Dracula!"
  • Jack Reacher: The District Attorney is wondering how they will find this Jack Reacher guy who operates completely off the grid, with no paper trail they can follow, when his secretary informs him that there's a Jack Reacher who wants to speak to him.
  • The Living Daylights. At the end of the Action Prologue, a beautiful and scantily clad woman is reclining on her yacht, bemoaning the lack of a real man in her life, only for James Bond to parachute on board.
  • Madam Satan: There's a shot of a bunch of men in a spa. A man says "I come here to get away from women! It's the only place where they don't horn in!" Cue Trixie in her parachute crashing through the skylight. (She had to evacuate a crashing blimp.)
  • In Postcards from the Edge, the counsellor asks Suzanne "this anger isn't about me. Who are you really angry with?" Then Doris arrives.
  • Happens towards the end of Some Like It Hot, when the scene calls for the Abhorrent Admirer bellhop character:
    Sugar: Well, Daphne has a beau, I have a beau... if we could only find somebody for you [Josephine].
    [cue the door springing open]
    Bellhop: Here I am, doll.

    Literature 
  • This is how the denouement of The Boscombe Valley Mystery plays out:
    "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the direction in which all this points. The culprit is—"

    "Mr. John Turner!", cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
  • In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry reveals to Bellatrix that the record of the prophecy Voldemort has been trying to obtain all year is destroyed, and Bellatrix starts freaking out and begging for Voldemort's forgiveness. Harry laughs, telling her Voldemort can't possibly hear her. However...
    "Can't I, Potter?" said a high, cold voice.
  • In The Sorcerer's Receptionist, Alois's father is holding a party to help his son court the Princess Corolla, and wondering how he can find out whether the former's feelings are genuine. Then, for reasons completely unrelated to what's going on, one of Alois's oldest friends teleports in by accident. She apologizes profusely and tries to make it up to him, but he isn't upset at all — he's just found his catspaw.

    Live-Action TV 
  • On Arrested Development, this is the shtick of magician Tony Wonder, who waits around for someone to say the word "wonder" before appearing in a burst of smoke.
    Tony Wonder: Did somebody say... [makes a "w" with his hands] "Wonder"?
  • Arrow:
    • At the start of Season 2, Oliver Queen has taken a 10-Minute Retirement from his secret vigilante activities after the earthquake, but his friends persuade him to return, where he finds Thea Queen berating her boyfriend Roy Harper for trying to emulate his hero.
      Thea: The Vigilante, who hasn't been seen since the earthquake, which means he did get buried alive and isn't coming back!
      Oliver: [just entering] I'm back!
    • Later in Season 2, Laurel Lance is asking her father Quentin, who is in prison for aiding the Arrow, if he knows who the Arrow's masked female accomplice is. Just then Sara Lance walks through the door to visit her father as well.
    • Ravager is beating up John Diggle prior to killing him. She demands to know where Felicity Smoak is, as she intends to kill her as well. Felicity chooses that moment to run Ravager over with the team van.
    • In "Deathstroke Returns", two mercenaries are playing the card game War when Slade Wilson arrives to show them the real thing.
    • Invoked in "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2". After taking down Rory and Killer Frost, Oliver's Evil Counterpart asks if "anyone else wants to be a hero?" Instantly, Black Canary, Mr. Terrific and Wild Dog show up.
      Mr. Terrific: They wanted us to wait... but I don't think we'd ever get a better entry cue than that.
    • And in "Elseworlds: Hour Two":
      Felicity: We're gonna need Cisco's help on this one.
      Cisco: [having just arrived from Central City] I've been summoned!
      Curtis: Okay. That was a disturbingly coincidental entrance.
  • Ashes to Ashes: The team is in the pub, brainstorming ways to catch a homosexual villain, when Alex suggests that he might be into bears. As she explains what they are, Ray returns with the latest round of drinks.
  • Invoked twice in Blackadder the Third: In both "Dish and Dishonesty" and "Nob and Nobility", Blackadder says something to Prince George (how they need "a man with no brain" to be their tame MP, and how they need to "dress as the smelliest low-life imaginable" to fit in in Revolutionary France), while activating the bell in the kitchens. The Prince's follow-up question is then answered by the arrival of Baldrick.
  • Boy Meets World:
    • This is done many times with Shawn:
      Mrs. Matthews: Now guys, be careful tonight, you know New Years Eve brings out all the crazies.
      Shawn: Come on everybody, let's get crazy!
    • Used as a Rule of Three Running Gag in one episode. Alan and Amy are up in the middle of the night and Alan says that they should go to bed because "only creeps and weirdos are up now". Eric then walks in the door. Eric then says the exact same thing and Shawn walks in the door. Then Shawn says it and Mr. Feeny walks in the door.
  • The Boys (2019): In "The Self-Preservation Society", A-Train's Hannibal Lecture to Hughie Campbell ends with the rhetorical question, "So who's worse?" Kimiko then appears and breaks A-Train's leg.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Cheers:
    • An early episode has the then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neil appearing in the bar. When asked what he's doing there, he explains that as he was walking down the street a random woman came up to him and just started rambling at him, and he's ducked into Cheers to get away from her. Just as he says this, Diane Chambers, the woman in question, enters.
    • A Season 9 episode has Frasier scoffing at the notion of Death as "a grim, bloodless ghoul whose bony finger reaches out to tap you on the shoulder when your number's up." His wife Lilith, an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, then appears, taps him on the shoulder, and remarks "Frasier, it's time to go," prompting a massive scream.
  • Community:
  • In the Cory in the House crossover special with That's So Raven, Cory (who is in Washington DC) calls his sister Raven in San Francisco. Justified, as Raven's psychic abilities saw his phone call coming, so she deliberately headed to DC early to specifically invoke this trope.
    Cory: [over the phone] Hey, Raven? How fast can you get to Washington DC?
    Raven: [entering the room] Is this fast enough?
  • From the Cougar Town episode "What Are You Doin' In My Life?":
    Jules: Laurie, we all have our embarrassing family members.
    Bobby: [entering] Hello! [beat] That wasn't a coincidence. I was outside waiting for an entrance line.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In Part 1 of "The Curse of Peladon", the Peladonian high priest relates an ancient legend to the visiting delegates. The moment he comes to the part about a prophecy that a stranger will arrive to bring peril to the planet, the Doctor walks through the door.
    • Subverted in "The Snowmen" when Clara is telling the children about the Doctor as a bedtime story and looks expectedly at the door when it opens, only for the Monster of the Week to burst in, forcing them to run for their lives. However, it's then played straight when the Doctor arrives Just in Time for his "Doctor who?" Running Gag.
  • In the Enemy at the Door episode "No Quarter Given", an islander who sent his wife and children to safety before the invasion but remained behind himself is discussing his deteriorating situation with Dr. Martel, and remarks rhetorically, "I don't know why I chose to stay in this god-forsaken place." Enter his housekeeper, with whom he is in love.
  • On Family Matters, it's never a good idea to loudly state: "It sure is quiet and peaceful around here!" Doing so will inevitably herald a high-pitched, nasal "HI-DEE-HO, WINSLOWS!" from Steve Urkel.
  • Forever gives us a rather ominous example in "Hitler On the Half Shell." Henry gives the title of a painting, which translates to "Angel of Death"; cue Adam entering Abe's antique store.
  • Done a couple of times with managing agent Bebe on Frasier:
    Daphne: Well, I've done enough clothes shopping for your father. I'm pretty good at pretending to like things, no matter how horrifying I find them. [opens door] Bebe, how nice to see you.
  • In the pilot episode of Friends, Ross is lamenting his marriage ending. When the others try to tell him to enjoy being single, as soon as he says, "I don't want to be single. I just want to be married again." Rachel barges into the coffee shop, wearing a wedding dress. Chandler lampshades it, saying "and I just want a million dollars," while staring at the door.
  • The Golden Girls:
    • The show often employs this gag when Stan visits. For instance, in "Mother Load", Rose goes to answer the door, expecting a visit from a co-worker for whom she must conduct a roast. She tells the others, "Be on the lookout for any quirks or oddities." She opens the door; it's Stan. In another episode, Dorothy discusses balancing her checkbook, saying, "I can't think of anything I hate more." When she opens to door to find Stan, she says, "I spoke too soon." Later, when Rose finally agrees to talk to her boss about the stress that's causing her neck and shoulders to tense up, Dorothy says, "Good for you, [doorbell] cause there's nothing worse than a pain in the neck." She opens the door, it's Stan, she promptly says "I must be psychic."
    • In the two-parter where Dorothy plans to (re)marry Stan, Rose throws her a bridal shower. The party includes games, including having to remove a heart-shaped sticker from someone's clothing every time she crosses her legs. Dorothy protests: "Who keeps their legs uncrossed all the time?" Cue Blanche walking in covered in stickers.
    • Dorothy goes to a baseball game with Stan and Sophia, commenting that she's lucked out—she usually ends up sitting next to "a fat, sweaty man who insists on taking his shirt off." As she's saying this, a man that fits that exact description comes up behind her and sits in the adjacent seat. "What kept you?"
    • When Dorothy produces "Henny Penny" for a school play, the show might not go on when the cast is quarantined for measles. Dorothy suggests that they get adults to play the parts instead. Director Frank is skeptical: "Where are we going to find an adult with the childlike naivete to play Henny Penny?" Rose immediately walks through the door, declaring that she's just seen a cloud "that looks exactly like a cotton ball!"
      Frank: My God, she is Henny Penny.
      What makes this one even better is that the audience fully expects the gag, as they start laughing the minute Frank first asks the question.
    • In "And Then There Was One", the girls babysit the children of participants in a charity walkathon. Blanche has a hard time bonding with the kids, explaining, "I guess to relate to a child, it helps to have the mind of a child." At that instant, Rose appears on the lanai, wearing a newspaper on her head and carrying a metal lid, leading the children in a march and singing "Cling-clang, bing-bang, I'm the leader of the garbage can band!"
  • Laverne & Shirley is a famous example; Lenny and Squiggy never enter the girls' apartment without such a "cue" being uttered first.
    Shirley: There is no reason on Earth why Prince Charming cannot walk though our front door!
    Squiggy: Hello!
  • The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis uses a gag similar to Laverne and Shirley: Whenever another character (typically an adult one) mentions something filthy or disgusting, Maynard G. Krebs instantly pops up with a trademark "You rang?"
  • Happens frequently with Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show:
    Mary: [discussing disaster coverage on the news] How many big disasters are there in Minneapolis?
    Ted: [entering] Hi, guys!
    Murray: Nice timing, Ted.
  • The "Spanish Inquisition" sketch in Monty Python's Flying Circus is another example of this. Whenever someone utters the phrase "I wasn't expecting some sort of Spanish Inquisition," they barge in and the leader yells, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" It's subverted at one point; the phrase is uttered, and all characters present turn their attention to the door, clearly expecting the Spanish Inquisition, but no one enters. Made doubly funny by the fact that the inquisitors in question are shown rushing through London to get there and say their line before the episode ends while the credits roll on-screen. They make it just in time to get their catchphrase cut off by the end card: "Nobody expects the Spa— oh, bugger!"
  • The Nanny loves this trope. It's commonly used to not-so-subtly insult a character. For example:
    • In "The Nanny Napper", when Fran brings home a baby:
      Fran: Niles, do we have any old nipples around the house?
      [door opens and C.C. walks in]
      C.C.: Hello, hello!
      [Niles stuffs a coat in his mouth]
    • "Val's Apartment":
      • Fran: I'm never going to meet a rich, eligible bachelor around this place.
        Maxwell: [passing through] Hello.
      • A second example has a surprise cameo from the master of this trope.
        Fran: I'd like to meet the moron who hooked you into this dump!
        Squiggy: Hello!
    • In another instance, Maxwell remarks that Fran being stuck in a bad situation is "an awful way to spend Valentine's Day." C.C. immediately comes into the room; Niles jokes "And here's another."
  • In Neighbours, Karl and Susan become laughingstocks after Karl admits to writing an erotic short story set in a fictionalised version of Ramsay Street. When Susan asks him to retract his claim on it, he talks with Toadie, who notes that he just needs to find someone who would be willing to take credit for writing an erotic story. At that moment, Lou Carpenter enters in the background.
  • In the Nurses (1991) episode "Moon Over Miami", the characters are discussing whether the full moon increases sexual energy, and Dr. Riskin claims, "Every oversexed nut in town is having a field day". Cue a Required Spin Off Crossover from Blanche Devereaux.
  • Our Miss Brooks: In the episode "Stuffed Gopher", Miss Brooks asks Walter Denton the fatal question "Who could be so stupid?". Into the cafeteria walks Stretch Snodgrass.
  • Used in a Parks and Recreation episode in which Ann is inviting people over for her Halloween party:
    Ann: The people in this room now are the people I invited, plus Leslie and Donna, so don't tell anybody.
    April: Who's not invited then?
    Tom: [entering the room] Hey, what's going on, cupcake?! Excited about the party tonight?
    Ann: Oh. Oh, you're coming. I was just about to tell you.
    Tom: Jerry already told me. Can't wait to see how tiny your costume is.
  • Player: Byeong-min yells at Ha-ri for inviting someone else, asking what he'll do if the newcomer turns out to be a prosecutor. The newcomer is Prosecutor Jang In-gyu, who walks in while Byeong-min is still talking. Byeong-min immediately freaks out.
  • Radio Enfer:
    • One episode has the teens working on a stage show adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. They need someone to play the grandmother. Maria says it needs to be someone who's not afraid to be ridiculous. A few seconds later, Mr. Giroux shows up and says he had this feeling he arrived at the right time, not knowing what the teens have in mind.
    • When Dominique starts planning for an anger-related psychological exercise involving the other main characters, she realizes she first needs an idiot for it. Cue Giroux entering the room.
    • Maria has to prepare a Pupperwhale presentation in order to become a saleswoman for that company. Carl comments that the only people who goes to those kinds of presentations are people who are tacky and with no life. This is immediately followed by Giroux entering the room and being excited at the sight of the Pupperwhale products brought by Maria.
  • In the Red Dwarf episode "Krysis":
    Kryten: How could I have been so stupid? Stupid, stupid, stupid!
    Cat: [from the doorway] Are you talking about me?
  • Roseanne: In one episode, after everyone's heard about Dan beating up Jackie's boyfriend for hitting her, Roseanne declares that the family is officially white trash:
    Roseanne: Now all we need is some little halfwit sitting in the front yard eating dirt!
    D.J.: [walking into the house] Hi!
    Roseanne: [as Darlene is about to comment] Shut up, Darlene.
  • Saturday Night Live:
    • Mocked in a skit featuring Conan O'Brien as "Moleculo", a superhero who is unable to keep his identity a secret because, whenever he hears his name mentioned, even if out of costume, he loudly bellows: "THE MO-LEC-U-LAR MANNNN!" He finally gives up and moves to Mexico — only to constantly repeat his mistake. In Spanish.
    • In the "We're not porn stars anymore" skits, the third ex-porn star walks in and asks "Did somebody say [pun relating to the item being sold]" — only it's subverted because the cue is never said, and eventually the main girls just have the third one do their schtick regardless.
  • Scrubs:
    • The aforementioned use in Laverne and Shirley is parodied. Dr. Kelso tries to scare people into getting a full body scan to make money. When Dr. Cox asks who would be stupid enough to get the scan, Harvey Corman, a recurring character who is a massive hypochondriac pops up behind him and says, "Hello, Laverne."
    • In another episode, Turk says to Carla that he wants their next child to be a boy, because as things are, he's surrounded by girls. "There's you, Izzy, Elliot..." Carla asks "Who else?", and then J.D. enters the room. Carla finds this highly amusing.
  • Star Trek:
  • In the pilot of The West Wing, we have this gem, introducing Martin Sheen as President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet:
    Toby Ziegler: No! If I'm going to make you sit through this preposterous exercise, we're going to get the names of the damn commandments right.
    Mary Marsh: Okay. Here we go.
    Toby Ziegler: "Honor thy father" is the Third Commandment.
    John Van Dyke: Then what's the First Commandment?
    President Josiah Bartlet: "I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other god before me." Boy, those were the days, huh?
  • Will & Grace:
    • The arrival of Beverley Leslie is often preceded by such a comment. A specific example is when Jack and Karen are deciding on dessert, and Jack says that he wants something "small with lady fingers."
    • They often lampshade it themselves, such as when Will and Grace are considering moving.
      Will: Do you know what the worst part of living here is?
      [Jack barges in.]
      Will: I swear I wasn't gonna say that.

    Puppet Shows 
  • The Muppet Show:
    • Crazy Harry will drop in and blow stuff up whenever someone mentions anything explosive-related. ("Wow, that act was really dynamite!" "Did someone say 'dynamite'?!" *KABOOM!*)
    • In the Zero Mostel episode, Kermit has to put on a lady wrestling match, but can only find one wrestler. When he wonders how he's going to find a second one, he asks himself out loud where he's going to find "another heavy-weight, aggressive, tough female with a killer's instinct". Cue Miss Piggy.
  • In one sketch from Sesame Street, a hard-of-hearing Muppet visits a barber, who asks him how he'd like to cut his hair. Suddenly, a wall bursts open, and Guy Smiley, leading a marching band, screams "DID SOMEBODY SAY 'AIR?'" before singing a song about how wonderful air is. When the song finishes and the group exits, the flustered barber tells his customer to lean back in his chair... prompting Guy and his marching band to burst through the opposite wall — "DID SOMEBODY SAY 'AIR?'" — for another verse. When they finally leave, the customer asks if the barber's ever seen that before, and he replies, "No, it's exceedingly rare." And sure enough...

    Radio 
  • The BBC series Trevor's World of Sport used this in every episode, to presage the entry of Ralph Renton, one of their most irritating clients. Generally, a character would be talking about something unrelated, which would end in a string of unflattering adjectives, followed (without missing a beat) by the words "Hello, Ralph."

    Theater 
  • The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) has this in the scene where Mary is about to give birth:
    Mary: Uh-oh, it's coming!
    Joseph: Now?! Holy sheet!
    Shepherd: [entering with a sheet] Yes, sir. Right here. [covers Mary from the neck down with the sheet]
  • Used in Hamilton, and doubles as foreshadowing:
    Burr: Fools who run their mouths oft wind up dead.
    Laurens: Yo, yo, yo, yo, what time is it?
    Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan: Showtime!
    Burr: Like I said.
  • In The Play That Goes Wrong, Jonathan twice jumps his entrance cue (both times in the wrong act) to rush onstage with a gun yelling "Not so fast, Inspector!", both times because he heard the line "What a devil of a situation this is!".
  • A Very Potter Musical gives us this little exchange:
    Hermione: Come on guys, let's leave these baby-childish-jerks alone!
    Draco: Did someone say Draco Malfoy?

    Video Games 
  • In Delicious: Emily's True Love, Francois tries to get Emily to go running off to France after receiving a love letter from an old boyfriend sixteen years after it was sent, enthusing about the romance of a Paris wedding. She points out that they'd be virtual strangers to one another after that length of time.
    Emily: What kind of person would marry someone they barely know?
    [Her sister and a total stranger walk into the restaurant.]
    Angela: Guess what everyone? I'm getting married!
  • Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space features a running gag in which characters will mention that it's their birthday, prompting a Mariachi to appear out of nowhere ("Did somebody say BIRTHDAY?") and play a celebratory song before disappearing into thin air. It later turns out that the mariachis (actually a single mariachi who has recruited two younger versions of himself) operate out of a time-traveling spaceship and have a special system in place to listen for people saying that it's their birthday.
  • Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: 8-Bit Is Enough:
    Strong Sad: [in Strong Bad's memory] You'd have to be some type of idiot to take on Trogdor alone! Some type of idiot... Some type of idiot...
    Homestar Runner: [walking up] Hey, Strong Bad! Whatcha doin'?

    Webcomics 
  • Cucumber Quest:
    • A character challenges the local Evil Minion to a limbo duel in its lair. The next comic has limbo competitors bursting through the lair's wall.
    Limbo Group: Did someone sayyyyyyyyyyyy...LIMBO?!
    • In another strip, "May our souls find peace." A hole cut in the back wall with a chainsaw. "Did someone sayyyyyyyy PIZZA?!"
  • In Dumbing of Age, Lucy tells Walky how she when she started college she thought this was a fresh start where high school hierarchy didn't matter any more, and for eight weeks she seemed to be popular. Walky asks what happened then. Cue Billie, whom the whole of Lucy's dorm inexplicably worships because she used to be a cheerleader.
  • Exterminatus Now, in which the characters are part of the Moebian Inquisition, subverts it in an early script ("We're not doing the Python bit. Maybe next time."), then plays it straight much, much later on in an awesome way — it's a much more badass line when it's accompanied by a Fast-Roping drop, gunships, and dozens of armed commandos. They did say "next time"!
  • Girl Genius: Higgs, someone who is secretly one of the most powerful characters of the series, is masquerading as an attendant while a discussion about demon summoning is taking place:
    Agatha: [smugly] I mean, you can't just say, "appear before me, all-powerful creature" and expect —
    Higgs: [appears out of Butler Space] Tea?
    Agatha: Oh! Yes, thank you!

    Web Original 
  • One Deadspin article opens with a joke about the website's previous articles about Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa's endorsement of the upholding of an unwritten code of sportsmanship via in-game physical violence becoming an Inadvertent Entrance Cue for an Anthropomorphic Personification of the National Hockey League.
  • The "Did somebody say X" version shows up twice in the Epic Rap Battles of History episode "Rasputin Vs. Stalin" for Gorbachev's and Putin's respective entrances.
    Lenin: ...and stopped the greatest revolution since the birth of Marx
    Gorbachev: Knock knock knock knock... did somebody say birthmarks?
    [...]
    Gorbachev: [addressing Putin and Lenin] You two need yoga
    [addressing Rasputin] You need a shower
    And you all need to learn how to handle Real Power

    Putin: Did somebody say Real Power?
  • While attending a holiday party in Ink City, Twilight Sparkle jokingly thinks to herself that her friend Pinkie Pie might've helped set it up. Needless to say, she's floored when Pinkie bounds through the door.
  • In the webseries and novel versions of Noob, the guild's most memorable Guest-Star Party Member runs by just after the guild's permanent members are discussing how badly they need an extra player.
  • Sonic for Hire:
    Tails: Yes! Another egg!
    Eggman: Did somebody say egg?
    Jim: We were standing offscreen for an hour and a half... for that?
  • Stars In Black: Nobody expected the ambulance from Lodz!
  • Subverted in the Strong Bad Email "fan club", where Strong Sad discusses the possibility of Strong Bad attending a fan festival being held in his honor.
    Strong Sad: And there's a rumor going around that Stro Bro himself might show up to sign autographs!
    [Strong Bad walks past the doorway in the background.]
    Strong Bad: Yeah... I'm not comin'.

    Western Animation 
  • In the second half of the Darkwing Duck episode "Darkly Dawns the Duck", Darkwing is locked in prison and laments how he messed up and has no one to ask for help. Then Launchpad breaks in.
  • Family Guy: In "Baby, You Knock Me Out", Lois tells Brian that she likes to box because it helps her release her pent-up rage, prompting Brian to ask what she has to be angry about. Cue Peter bursting into the room.
    Peter: [in a faux-British accent] A-WHERE ARE MY FLAPJACKS?!
  • Lampshaded on Futurama in "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television":
    Fry: What kind of bozos would start a Bender protest group?
    [Professor Farnsworth and Hermes enter the room]
    Farnsworth: Good news, everyone! Hermes and I have started a Bender protest group!
    Zoidberg: That was uncanny.
  • Garfield and Friends:
    • Any time Garfield asks about stupid acts, either Odie or Jon performs such an act. Subverted in one episode when Odie doesn't do the act Garfield suggests, which is lampshaded as even Odie not being so stupid.
      Garfield: 63 shows and he hasn't missed a cue yet.
    • In "Rip Van Kitty", Garfield has a Dream Sequence wherein he sleeps for twenty years and wakes up in the future. During his time there, Earth is invaded by aliens from "Zizzabottawattawattaboinkboink Three"; the newscaster who announces this describes the race as short, lazy creatures that sleep twenty-three hours a day and devour an entire planet's food supply in the remaining hour. Garfield ponders this as the spaceship in question appears:
      Garfield: Gosh: short, lazy, and they eat an entire planet's worth of food. I wonder what they look like?
      [cue an endless parade of Garfield clones in space helmets emerging from the ship]
      Zizzabottawattawattaboinkboink Threebians: I'M HUNGRY! I WANT LASAGNA! COME ON, I ONLY HAVE AN HOUR! [etc.]
      Garfield: [to the audience] I think we all saw that one coming, didn't we?
  • Justice League Unlimited:
  • Kaeloo:
    • In one episode, Kaeloo decides to play "restaurant" by playing waitress to Quack Quack and Eugly, who are on a date. After Mr. Cat ruins said date, Kaeloo laments and asks whom she can play "restaurant" with now that her "customers" are gone. Suddenly, Stumpy shows up with a fork and knife and runs towards the table.
    • In "Let's Play Stumpy's I.Q.", Stumpy, who has been given Sudden Intelligence, decides to invent a bomb. When he mentions this, Olaf suddenly shows up and asks who mentioned a bomb.
  • Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem: At one point Dethklok finds itself trying to get past a swarm of wayward musicians; they succeed at this by paying their rent money and donating their instruments to give them a second chance at their dead careers. When a swarm of junkies gets in their way, however, they realize out loud that they don't have any drugs to give them. Cue a certain rock n' roll clown jumping in with a massive sack of...
    Dr. Rockzo, the Rock n' Roll Clown: C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-COCAINE!!!
  • In She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Swift Wind during his Swift-Tales shouting "Did someone say Swift Wind!", despite no one saying his name nor anything else.
    Adora: No one said Swift Wind... is this what you do on your days off?
  • The Simpsons:
    • One scene in "A Star is Burns" has Bart watching TV and hearing that The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones is about to come on. "Oh, brother," Bart groans. "I smell another cheap cartoon crossover." Right on cue, Homer and Jay Sherman (from The Critic) walk through the front door.
    • In "King-Size Homer":
      Ralph: I heard your dad went to a restaurant and ate everything in the restaurant and they had to close the restaurant.
      Lisa: Hey, my dad may have gained a little weight, but he's not some kind of food-crazed maniac.
      [Homer drives by in a stolen ice-cream truck, vigorously stuffing his face, leading Lisa to sigh in annoyance.]
  • Star Wars Rebels: In "The Siege of Lothal", the city is under Lock Down while Imperial stormtroopers search for our heroes.
    Stormtrooper 1: You think we'll find them this time?
    Stormtrooper 2: We better. [bumps right into Zeb]
  • In the TaleSpin episode "The Road to Macadamia", the King of Macadamia is blaming himself for the kingdom's poverty, and when his daughter tries to say it's not his fault, he rhetorically asks who else's fault it could be. Cue his Evil Chancellor, who we later learn is embezzling the tax money, entering the throne room.
  • Young Justice: The Blue Beetle is just agreeing that Impulse's self-portrait is "crash" when Tuppence Terror crashes into him.

Statler: Why are they rushing in when they should be rushing out?
Waldorf: Just as I'd do!
Crazy Harry: Sure, an azide'll do!
Statler and Waldorf: No! NO!
[KABOOM!]
Crazy Harry: DO-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

 
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Crow's Return

Crow's attempted-lifelong journey comes to an abrupt end once he makes it back inside the theater.

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