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Sometimes part of a Mother's Day episode.
 
A particularly interesting variation is when the homemaker is a background character (maybe a [[Team Mom]]) who we rarely see, and then she goes missing for some reason. It's almost like [[A Day in Thethe Limelight]]--but caused by the character not being there like she usually is.
 
A subtrope of [[Men Can't Keep House]] and [[Vetinari Job Security]]. Contrast [[Just Fine Without You]] and [[House Husband]]. See also [[Doom It Yourself]]. Do not confuse with [[Gender Bender]].
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== [[Advertising]] ==
* It shows up in commercials too, and the [[Too Incompetent to Operate Aa Blanket|incompetence is limited to whatever the ad is trying to sell]], i.e. if they're selling washing machines or dishwashers, he's going to flood the house; if they're trying to sell vacuums, he's unable to operate a broom or walk through the living room without knocking over 18 potted plants; if they're trying to sell carpet cleaning he (or the children, or all of them) can't eat or drink without major spillage, usually grape juice or ketchup on a white carpet or couch; if they're selling paper towels, he's unable to pour a glass of milk without overfilling the glass and making a mess.
** In advertising, this is used in marketing cleaning products to women. The message is that you can't trust ''him'' to do it right, so instead of even asking the rest of your family for help, buy this product and you ''can'' do it all yourself and have some spare time left over.
 
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Every time Nagi is alone in the house in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', she always somehow ends up destroying it. In one instance, she lets a cow in. When she attempts to 'help out' so she has more life experience, she seems unable to do anything without destroying something. Hayate and Maria are forced to watch as their amount of clean-up work starts to mount.
** When she attempted to make tea for herself, she not only ''teleported'' a UFO into the kitchen, she also caused it to crash.
* Done in an episode of ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'', in which Brock is sick, leaving Ash and Misty to take care of all his usual chores, from cooking to polishing Onix.
* Sometimes inverted when a [[Meido|maid]] character utterly fails with housework. Doubly ironic when her master is more adept than she is.
* In ''[[Ranma One Half]]'s'' third OVA, Kasumi got sick and nobody else could cook. Half-way through the OVA, the kitchen exploded.
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== [[Film]] ==
* The movie ''[[Mr Mom]]'', staring Michael Keaton.
* [[Robin Williams]] in the beginning of ''[[Mrs. Doubtfire (Film)|Mrs. Doubtfire]]'' was clearly going for this trope, though disguising himself as the eponymous housekeeper he had to improve in a hurry.
* Happened in ''[[The Santa Clause]]'' when the Christmas turkey at the beginning caught on fire. Repeatedly.
 
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* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' used this trope in the famous "chocolate factory" episode. Ricky kept on making iron marks on the clothes, made the nylon stockings into cardboard, and caused a huge mess in the kitchen.
* The Canadian series ''The Week The Women Went''.
* One episode of ''[[Lois and Clark (TV)|Lois and Clark]]'' had Clark's parents doing this. Martha spent all day reading the newspaper, playing checkers, watching TV, etc. Jonathan had to cook, clean, shop, and run around exhausting himself trying to finish the three-page list of chores his wife had. At the end of the episode, he asks her if he ''really'' just sits around doing nothing all day while Martha works so hard. She tells him yes... but only when they're visiting Clark, and she knows he works hard when he's at home. She just wanted to prove that men aren't the only ones who work.
* Being a [[The Fifties|1950s]] sitcom, ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' did this a couple times. It also subverted the trope once; when Aunt Bee goes out of town for a few days, Andy and Opie do ''too'' good a job as housekeepers, making her feel useless... until they trash the kitchen [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|so she can clean up after them and feel happy again.]]
* [[Rumpole of the Bailey|Rumpole]] faces a more realistic form of this when Hilda takes "industrial action" in "The Summer of Discontent." The house doesn't get enough time to go to pot, but [[Lethal Chef|Rumpole sets fire to his steak]].
* ''[[Outnumbered]]'' - episode 4.2
* On ''[[3rd Rock Fromfrom the Sun]]'', Sally and Harry decided to switch "jobs", Harry's "job" essentially being "do-nothing layabout". Harry ended up being a better housekeeper than Sally (which [[Lethal Chef|doesn't say much]]) while Sally was driven crazy by having nothing to do. Eventually, she was begging for her old job back.
 
 
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* The Goofy cartoon ''Father's Day Off''. By the time Mrs. Goof comes home, the house is a shambles, the bathtub is overflowing, the iron has burned through the floor, firemen are stomping through the halls, and the cops have come to investigate a murder (Goofy left the phone unhung and the operator overheard a radio show).
** It also has what might be the dirtiest joke ever in a Disney cartoon, and says something about Mrs. Goofy's day. The doorbell rings and it's the milkman and when Goofy answers the door the milkman leans in with his eyes closed and plants a big kiss on Goofy's mouth. After the milkman leaves, unaware of who he kissed, Goofy looks to the audience and says "Gee, what a friendly cuss!"
** ''[[Goof Troop (Animation)|Goof Troop]]'' did this, too. This time, it was neighbours Peg and Pete involved; Pete was jealous of Goofy's expertise in, yes, homemaking. (What was never adequately explained was why he'd be good at it--single fatherhood, anyone?)
* This happens in ''[[Family Guy]]'' when Lois goes to jail. There's pizza boxes and beer cans all over the floor, and Stewie's diaper is so full, he's dragging it around with him everywhere.
* The Mother's Day episode of [[DextersDexter's Laboratory]].
* [[Johnny Test|Johnny and Hugh]] Test (a stay at home dad) each believe the other has it easy. [[Mad Scientist|Susan and Mary]] switch [[Freaky Friday Flip|their brains]] for a day. Cue the school torment for Hugh, and the disgust (and explosions) for Johnny. At the end, Lila and Susan have the same argument. Cut to Lila-as-Susan running from [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|Bling]] [[Abhorrent Admirer|Bling Boy]], and Susan-as-Lila managing to ''explode'' cupcakes. Mary and Dukey were the only one with the sense not to try it.
 
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