Comedy of Errors: Difference between revisions

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* [[Mistaken for Masturbating]]

* [[Mistaken for Murderer]]

** [[Guilt By Coincidence]]

** [[Guilt by Coincidence]]

* [[Mistaken for Pedophile]]

* [[Mistaken for Prank Call]]

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* [[Mistaken Message]]

* [[Mistaken Nationality]]

* [[No Longer ~~With~~ Us]]

* [[No Longer with Us]]

* [[Not What It Looks Like]]

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]

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== Literature ==

* Literary example where a mis-heard conversation made a major difference in the story: in David Weber's short story "Nightfall" in ''[[Honor Harrington ~~(Literature)~~|Changer of Worlds]]'', two characters are preparing evidence so that, if it becomes necessary to remove another character (Esther McQueen), they'll have backup. They spend some considerable time talking about the necessity of hiding this action, since they need McQueen and will for some time yet. The final comment of the conversation (approximately, "We'll need this when we pull the trigger on McQueen") is overheard and passed to McQueen -- where it triggers a full revolt. McQueen repeatedly complains that if she'd been given even six more weeks she would really have been ready. The revolt fails, McQueen dies, in the aftermath the government falls -- and the entire premise of the first 8-9 books in the series (good monarchy against evil socialist republic) is fundamentally altered. The series is up to 12 books now.

* Literary example where a mis-heard conversation made a major difference in the story: in David Weber's short story "Nightfall" in ''[[Honor Harrington|Changer of Worlds]]'', two characters are preparing evidence so that, if it becomes necessary to remove another character (Esther McQueen), they'll have backup. They spend some considerable time talking about the necessity of hiding this action, since they need McQueen and will for some time yet. The final comment of the conversation (approximately, "We'll need this when we pull the trigger on McQueen") is overheard and passed to McQueen -- where it triggers a full revolt. McQueen repeatedly complains that if she'd been given even six more weeks she would really have been ready. The revolt fails, McQueen dies, in the aftermath the government falls -- and the entire premise of the first 8-9 books in the series (good monarchy against evil socialist republic) is fundamentally altered. The series is up to 12 books now.

** It should be noted the series was to this point [[Horatio Hornblower]] [[In Space]] with Esther McQueen being the expy of Napoleon. This is the story that goes off the plot rails.

== Live Action TV ==

* Just one of many from ''[[Three's Company ~~(TV)~~|Threes Company]]'' (which made so much use of this that it was the [[Trope Namer]] at one point): Mr. Furley, the landlord, overhears Jack and Chrissy trying to hang a shower curtain in the bathroom, which begins with Chrissy saying something like "You'd better get into the tub with me so we can get it on" and "come on, I'll show you what to do". As Jack is permitted by the landlord to live with two women only because he is supposedly gay, [[Hilarity Ensues]]. Chrissy then falls, hits her head and is rushed to the hospital, and her roommates misunderstand the doctor and she is [[Mistaken for Dying]].

* Just one of many from ''[[Three's Company|Threes Company]]'' (which made so much use of this that it was the [[Trope Namer]] at one point): Mr. Furley, the landlord, overhears Jack and Chrissy trying to hang a shower curtain in the bathroom, which begins with Chrissy saying something like "You'd better get into the tub with me so we can get it on" and "come on, I'll show you what to do". As Jack is permitted by the landlord to live with two women only because he is supposedly gay, [[Hilarity Ensues]]. Chrissy then falls, hits her head and is rushed to the hospital, and her roommates misunderstand the doctor and she is [[Mistaken for Dying]].

** This troper's absolute favorite example involved the episode when the main characters met the British [[Ventriloquism|Ventriloquist]] Leslie and his puppet Pamela. Because he kept Pamela a secret for certain reasons (she was kept in a large suitcase that he would not let anyone touch), several misunderstandings came out. First Pamela was mistaken by Jack as Leslie's [[Outlaw Couple|crime partner]] after reading a news article on the "Duke and Duchess" (Leslie was mistaken for being the "Duke"), then she's mistaken for being Leslie's girlfriend when Jack lets Janet and Terri hear Pamela's (actually Leslie's) voice through his bedroom wall. The [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] of the episode was a case of [[Mistaken for Murderer]] when the trio break into Leslie's apartment, and Jack opens the suitcase thinking that's where Leslie kept the stolen money in, only to pull out Pamela's hand. Cue the trio screaming in terror and fleeing the scene in the most [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious fashion]].

*** This was lampshaded in an early episode of ''[[Friends]]'' (who would later still use this trope plenty anyway):

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* ''[[Coupling]]'' does this a bit, too: Sally approaches Patrick's bisexual girlfriend, trying to get a confession that she "fooled around" with Jeff (when no such thing had occurred), and the girlfriend thinks Sally is hitting on her; Jeff talks about how Jane's clinginess to Steve means "he's got an unflushable", and Susan, who just met Steve in the bathroom, thinks it means something else entirely.

** In another episode, Steve and Susan are watching a TV show which mentions the number of men who continue to masturbate when in a committed relationship. In the awkward silence that follows, Steve starts [[Not-So-Innocent Whistle|whistling]], in an attempt to seem relaxed. He justifies it by saying that he felt like some music but wasn't in the mood for a whole CD. "Sometimes you want a full orchestra, and sometimes you just want a... quick whistle?" Susan tells him that she doesn't mind his whistling, as long as he doesn't get "whistled out." Later in the episode, Susan's parents come round for a visit, and Susan tells them about how Steve has started whistling to himself. Her father brings it up with Steve, referring to it as "going solo," and Steve interprets it how you'd imagine. This leads to the classic line, "If music be the food of love, then masturbation is just a quick snack between meals." who suddenly start talking about whistling. Steve eventually throws them out after her dad said that he shouldn't whistle to much or else he'll be too tired to ''pucker''. Which he misheard for... well, [[You Know What I Mean|you know]].

* Justified in an ''[[~~Angel (TV)|~~Angel]]'' episode. Cordelia is magically shown several conversations her teammates have about her by the demon Skip, all of them seemingly very insulting towards her. However, Skip is actually deliberately showing her very specific parts of the conversations taken out of context for his own agenda.

* Justified in an ''[[Angel]]'' episode. Cordelia is magically shown several conversations her teammates have about her by the demon Skip, all of them seemingly very insulting towards her. However, Skip is actually deliberately showing her very specific parts of the conversations taken out of context for his own agenda.

* Averted in ''[[Little Mosque ~~On the Prairie (TV)|Little Mosque On~~ the Prairie]]'': Fatima overhears a conversation between Rayyan and JJ -- "why not do it now, we're gonna do it after the wedding anyway..." "after the wedding, I want to do it right in front of my parents!" -- and correctly guesses that they're talking about when they should open their wedding presents.

* Averted in ''[[Little Mosque on the Prairie]]'': Fatima overhears a conversation between Rayyan and JJ -- "why not do it now, we're gonna do it after the wedding anyway..." "after the wedding, I want to do it right in front of my parents!" -- and correctly guesses that they're talking about when they should open their wedding presents.

* Every episode of the German series ''[[~~Hausmeister Krause (TV)|~~Hausmeister Krause]]''. Yes, all of them.

* Every episode of the German series ''[[Hausmeister Krause]]''. Yes, all of them.

* The out-of-theater plot to the [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]] episode ''[[Mitchell]]'' revolves around this. The Mads have hired Mike Nelson to help with an inventory of the Deep-13 lab beneath the Gizmonic Institute, but they find him insufferable and decide to kill him. Gypsy overhears them plotting and comes to the conclusion that they're plotting the death of Joel and spends the rest of the episode plotting to help Joel escape the Satellite of Love. Thus did Joel leave the series and was replaced by Mike

* Happens during Earl's [[Show Within a Show|coma fantasy]] in ''[[My Name Is Earl]]''. Earl is the star of a [[The Fifties|1950's style]] [[Dom Com]] in his head, and he is married to a friend's ex-girlfriend that Earl was attracted to. She is pregnant, and conversing with Joy (their next-door neighbor) about a really awesome guy. Earl thinks she's talking about a gigolo...it turns out she's referring to a doctor.

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== Web Comics ==

* ''PvP'', which calls back to seventies shows often, does this quite a bit. Subverted in that Cole hears Brent and Jade having sex in their office, realizes he's probably making assumptions like he has lots of time before, and comes to the conclusion that they're just moving furniture.

* One of the page quotes alludes to the brief, one-sided relationship that tried to take root while Elan was separated from Haley in ''[[Order of the Stick ~~(Webcomic)~~|Order of the Stick]]''. Although he's aware of the trope (Vaarsuvius notes early on that Elan's training as a bard makes him very [[Genre Savvy]]), he's generally compelled to let tropes rule in the name of narrative even if acting on his insight would save a lot of headaches later (he once delayed Roy during an escape from a self-destructing dungeon because they escaped with several seconds to spare, and had to [[Outrun the Fireball|wait for the dramatic fireball to catch up)]].

* One of the page quotes alludes to the brief, one-sided relationship that tried to take root while Elan was separated from Haley in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''. Although he's aware of the trope (Vaarsuvius notes early on that Elan's training as a bard makes him very [[Genre Savvy]]), he's generally compelled to let tropes rule in the name of narrative even if acting on his insight would save a lot of headaches later (he once delayed Roy during an escape from a self-destructing dungeon because they escaped with several seconds to spare, and had to [[Outrun the Fireball|wait for the dramatic fireball to catch up)]].