Comedic Hero



The Comedic Hero is a less-than-competent protagonist who nevertheless succeeds despite his best efforts. He might have dumb luck on his side, or a Hypercompetent Sidekick might be watching his back with or without his knowledge.

The Fool is a specific variant of this character type. Might be a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass. For the superhero version, see Super Zeroes. For a goof who is more competent than people would like to admit see Let's Get Dangerous

Anime

 * Milfeulle Sakuraba of Galaxy Angel, a ditz of epic proportions, actually survives by the most improbable luck in the universe.
 * The title character from Bobobobo Bobobo, Bobobo.
 * Not so much because of luck, but because his brand of insanity is perfect for dealing with the insanity around him.
 * The Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Maybe.

Comic Books

 * Numerous from the Golden and Silver Ages of comics, including but not limited to:
 * The original Red Tornado, a hefty housewife who crossdresses as a superhero with a cooking pot over her head and beats up gangsters.
 * Johnny Thunder, a hopeless twit who has an all-powerful genie at his command and doesn't even know it.
 * Super-Hip, aka Tadwaller Jutefruce, Bob Hope's nerdy nephew who turns into a super-powered mod crooner whenever he gets angry. His battle-cry? "Bleck to Lawrence Welk!"
 * Angel and the Ape: She's a private eye with brains and beauty to spare. He's a comic-book artist who happens to be a talking gorilla. They Fight Crime!
 * Stanley and His Monster, a little boy who pals around with a demon who was kicked out of Hell for being too darn nice.
 * Zayne Carrick, main character of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (no, not that one, I'm talking about the comic series) started out as this, a walking catastrophe who couldn't even hold onto one lowlife criminal once captured (my apologies to Gryph). However, after the first story-arc, he settled into a more heroic mold, and his proneness to accidental carnage degenerated to an Informed Attribute.
 * He also becomes smarter (he outsmarts and derails the plans of a mad scientist, a corrupt corporate executive, and a deranged Sith wannabe), and when he fights his former teachers he actually does fairly well (when he fights Raana Tey they're pretty evenly matched for most of the fight).
 * Bananaman of The Dandy

Film

 * Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther films.
 * Bullshot (1983). Bullshot Crummond, a spoof of British hero Bulldog Drummond.

Literature

 * Bertie Wooster, Jeeves and Wooster. Hilariously incompetent, "mentally negligible", and the epitome of the Upper Class Twit--but so ridiculously nice that you can't help but root for him.

Live Action TV

 * Maxwell Smart, Get Smart
 * Chespirito's El Chapulin Colorado
 * The Greatest American Hero
 * NBC's Captain Nice, and CBS's Mr. Terrific, two very short-run (half season) series which tried to ride the "camp superhero" wave started by the Adam West Batman series.

Western Animation

 * Mr. Magoo
 * Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
 * Inspector Gadget
 * Bullwinkle, Rocky and Bullwinkle
 * Peter Griffin from Family Guy.
 * George of the Jungle
 * The Tick
 * Daffy Duck, primarily in certain Chuck Jones cartoons: "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century," "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," "Robin Hood Daffy," etc.
 * Coop of Megas XLR
 * Fry of Futurama
 * Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible,

Video Games

 * Dirk the Daring of Dragon's Lair