Comedy of Errors: Difference between revisions

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{{examples}}
== Films -- Live Action[[Film]] ==
* In the 1947 comedy ''Copacabana'', Lionel and Carmen have made up a fake stage persona, [[Everyone Looks Sexier If French|Mlle. Fifi]]. When they decide to dump the persona, an old woman hears them joking about it and misinterprets them as saying that they murdered Fifi (who no-one else knows was just Carmen in a veil with a [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|French]] [[Gratuitous French Phrases|accent]]). [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* A scene from ''Look Who's Talking!'' has James pulling out a splinter from Molly's finger. Her mother overhears and assume they're having sex. When James comes out, he ''zips his fly''.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
== 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|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]] ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
* 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]].
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'''Jonathan''': Resign. }}
 
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
 
== Newspaper Comics ==
* Used in an infamous storyline in the ''[[Popeye]]'' comic strip; A woman overhears Olive Oyl talking about getting rid of a baby robot a home shopping channel had mistakenly sent her and assumes she's talking about getting rid of her (unborn) baby and quickly assembles a crew of her cohorts to talk her out of it. Although there was little negative feedback from readers or newspapers, the artist behind this strip was soon fired (The official reason being that the artist had gone too far in trying to include modern elements into such a legacy strip. The "abortion" strip was merely the last straw).
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
 
* ''[[PvP (webcomic)|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.
== 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 ''[[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)]].
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': [[This Loser Is You|Ron Stoppable]] breaks into his girlfriend's house, then her closet, steals her super battle suit, joins the football team as star quarterback, gets caught with the suit and controlled by a villain, ends up in a physical and emotional fight with Kim, then ends up on the team anyway (and is still a star player just in a different position), all because he thought Kim was going to take [[Alpha Bitch|Bonnie's]] advice about "trading up" to a socially acceptable jock boyfriend. Ron then overheard Kim talking with Monique about trading up and agreeing with Bonnie. Turns out they were talking about a new mobile phone.
* The ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' episode [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NolKsx27tRo Percy's Big Mistake] had Percy overhearing The Fat Controller say something about scrap and thought it meant he was to be scrapped (he's a steam engine). {{spoiler|The Fat Controller actually said that Percy was working too hard recently and so, after taking some scrap metal to the smelters, he would be given the somewhat easier job of carrying the mail for a week}}.
 
{{reflist}}