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[[File:Duckman.jpg|frame]]
'''''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man''''' is an [[Animated Series]] starring Jason Alexander as
Very crude (right down to the deliberately ugly character designs), very cynical and very, very
▲Very crude (right down to the deliberately ugly character designs), very cynical and very, very surreal -- sort of like if Luis Buñuel had made ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'' -- it freely mixed low-brow riffs with the abstract and the intellectual. The show has an ardent cult following, and a lot of its fans are still stewing over the final episode's [[Cliff Hanger]].
{{tropelist}}
* [[The Ace]]: Cornfed, if it's possible to be one in a deadpan low-key sort of way.
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* [[Art Shift]]: In "I, Duckman", Duckman watches various home movies to hopefully get a clue about his past. All the home movies have a different art style: [[Steamboat Willie]] for his childhood years, [[Popeye]] for another time, [[Yogi Bear]] for high school years, and [[The Simpsons]] for adult years when he and Beatrice were still married.
* [[Astronomic Zoom]]: Demonstrated at the beginning of "Days of Whining and Neurosis".
* [[Beary Cute]]: Fluffy and Uranus, the pink and blue teddy bear-esque office assistants to Duckman. They are both cute to [[Up to Eleven|an exaggerated level along with their politically correct nature]], but can come off as needlessly annoying.
* [[Beat]]: In "Das Sub", there's a really long one after one of the arrested students ask if Duckman will take the rap for the crime, and Cornfed just stares blankly.
* [[Beleaguered Assistant]]: Cornfed.
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* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Ajax. Also, Cornfed in "Ajax and Ajaxer".
* [[Clumsy Copyright Censorship]]: Unfortunately, the DVD releases had to remove a few of the licensed songs; in one instance, an entire scene was spliced out because of this. On the plus side, none of the removed songs were the ones by [[Frank Zappa]].
* [[Cold Opening]]:
** "Bev Takes a Holiday".
** "Clip Job" as well.
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* [[Crapsack World]]
* [[Crazy Prepared]]: King Chicken sometimes starts plots against Duckman in the middle of another plot.
* [[Creepy Monotone]]:
** Cornfed's ''[[Dragnet]]''-Joe Friday voice.
** [[wikipedia:Ben Stein|Dr. Stein]].
* [[
** "Not So Easy Riders" has Duckman and Cornfed trying to evade the IRS in Las Vegas by donning showgirl outfits.
* [[Crossover]]: The end of "Haunted Society Plumbers" reveals a supposed ghost to be [[The Simpsons (animation)|Homer Simpson]] under a sheet.
* [[Cue the Flying Pigs]]: In "Days of Whining and Neurosis", Cornfed asks Duckman to do something. Duckman bitterly replies, "When pigs can fly!" Immediately after, Cornfed flaps his arms, lifting himself off the ground.
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: In both "Apocalypse Not" and "Dammit Hollywood", a character is cut off before they can fully say "shit".
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* [[Excited Episode Title]]: True to parodying B-movie titles: "They Craved Duckman's Brain!"
* [[Expansion Pack Past]]: Cornfed has seen it all, done it all. Although, come to think of it, almost every character gets one of these at one point. Even Duckman's list of acquired sex fetishes gets longer and longer.
* [[Exposition]]:
** In the first episode, "I, Duckman", Duckman delivers a bit of exposition about how Beatrice died and Bernice moved in to help care for the boys when he's irritated that the family is ignoring him.
** Lampshaded brilliantly in "The Color of Naught" when Charles and Mambo tell Duckman that Angela has returned, and proceed to explain (in great detail) their relationship from season 1's "About Face". Duckman snaps: "Don't you think I ''know'' that?!" The twins reply that they were spouting exposition for the benefit of the many non-regular viewers who stumbled upon this while trying to find softcore porn.
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** King Chicken always felt the need to explain his vendetta against Duckman was because of being made fun of when they were kids. After his first appearance, though, this tended to be done more for parody - with other characters clearly bored/irritated by repeat utterances. The crowning example was "The Color of Naught," in which a news reporter claims [[Tim Curry]] has gone into hiding because he doesn't want to be forced to say those lines anymore.
* [[Eye Glasses]]: Somehow, Duckman's eyes are his glasses. He will pull them off his face to clean them, leaving his face unnervingly lacking features.
* [[Fake-Out Opening]]: Occurs all the time; much in the tradition of [[Rugrats]] (another [[Klasky
* [[The Fifties]]: The episode "America the Beautiful" had Duckman and Cornfed venturing to different cities, all of which are a different stereotype of a certain period of time. Their first stop is in a suburban neighborhood literally in black and white and which is mentally stuck in the 1950's, right down to one of the people accusing Duckman and Cornfed of being communists.
* [[Flashback Cut]]: Seen in numerous episodes.
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* [[Grande Dame]]: There's one in "Haunted Society Plumbers".
* [[Green-Eyed Monster]]: The premise of "A Civil War": Duckman being jealous of Cornfed's limitless abilities in virtually every category.
* [[Hand Wave]]:
** Utilized in "The Road to Dendron" when the villain explains why he performed his evil plan. The instant he begins to explain, a cow walks in front of the camera and munches so loudly you can't hear him. A few seconds later, the cow walks away, only to hear the villain concluding, "And that's why I did it!"
** In "Westward No!", Big Jack McBastard comes back at the end of the episode, alive and well. When Duckman and Cornfed are baffled how he could've survived being trampled and eaten by vultures, McBastard simply says, "Long story."
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* [[Hypocrisy Nod]]: Played with at the end of "Apocalypse Not"; Cornfed stops the town from killing Duckman by saying he and the rest of the town (who had spent all day in the sewer practicing a drill) acted no better than Duckman did on the surface. But throughout his speech, Cornfed keeps admitting that what Duckman did was ''indeed'' probably worse. Finally, Cornfed admits that he can't even convince himself that he was no better than Duckman, and rallied the town to chase after Duckman.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Used all the time, often demonstrated by Duckman.
* [[I
* [[I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder]]: Parodied in "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before".
* [[Image Song]]: "The Funky Duckman"
* [[I'm Not a Doctor But I Play One on TV]]: Parodied in "A Civil War":
{{quote|'''Actor''': Hi, I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.}}
* [[In
* [[Inkblot Test]]:
** Administered to Duckman in "A Room With a Bellevue". His answer disturbs the psychiatrists. Cornfed later "correctly" identifies the image in the inkblot test.
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* [[Jerkass Has a Point]]: During most of his rants, Duckman is actually capable of making some pretty valid points about other characters or society in general.
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: ''Deep'' beneath his [[Jerkass]] exterior, Duckman genuinely loves his family.
* [[Jittercam]]: Done in "American Dicks" to simulate the [[
* [[Joker Jury]]: In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", King Chicken requests that instead of going through the usual jury selection process, to just use whoever is currently (and unknowingly) sitting in the jury box. The motion is granted.
* [[Juggling Loaded Guns]]:
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{{quote|'''King Chicken''': Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Think of an innocent child pickin' a daisy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. ''Now'', imagine Duckman roaring out of nowhere, driving a large truck! He hits her, and kills her, then he backs up and he runs over her ''again'' and ''again'' and ''again'', a sadistic beast, with a deranged, savage lust for blood!
'''Cornfed''': Objection! What's this fantasy got to do with the case before the court?
'''Judge''': Sustained! [[Comically Missing the Point|The jury will disregard the fact that the defendant wantonly, brutally, and carelessly killed a little girl.]]
'''Duckman:''' Ha! Won that one! }}
** Additionally, the judge is King Chicken's father, there was no jury selection process and the townspeople aren't too bright anyhow.
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* [[Parental Neglect]]: Duckman, who learned all too well from his own mother.
* [[Parody Episode]]: "The Road to Dendron" is a parody of all those Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road To" movies.
** "The Mallardian Candidate" is a parody of [[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]].
** "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before"... [[Star Trek: The Original Series|like you need to ask.]]
** "My Feral Lady" is a parody of [[My Fair Lady]], obviously.
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* [[Phone Trace Race]]: Utilized in "Not So Easy Riders" when some IRS agents are tracing Duckman's phone call: Bernice keeps Duckman on the line by asking him if he's read any good books lately.
{{quote|''Bernice'': What's that one about? (listens) ...With her own ''sisters''? Oh my God.}}
* [[Playing Against Type]]: Not a specific actor, but ''studio''; so this cartoon was brought by... [[Klasky
* [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]]: Parodied in "Joking the Chicken".
** In "It's the Thing of the Principal", Duckman and Cornfed try to get into the vice principal's office of Ajax's school, all to no avail. But the second Duckman mentions God in passing, a school cop confronts Duckman and says he won't stand for prayer in public school, and that he has to go to the vice principal's office.
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* [[Running Gag]]:
** Duckman screwing up Mambo's name.
** From "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", the sunglasses-wearing cop.
{{quote|'''Cop''': "You folks lost?"}}
* [[Screwed by the Network]]: While USA treated the first three seasons fairly well (even though it did air on Saturday evenings), most of season 4 aired in the wee hours of the morning. Is it any surprise it was canceled after that?
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* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Demonstrated by Duckman in "Gland of Opportunity" when he becomes famous. Interestingly, though, the show mostly averts this trope; Duckman is reluctantly trying to quit smoking right at the start of the series and we're shown the negative side effects of his former addiction.
* [[Sound Effect Bleep]]: Duckman is bleeped a number of times in succession at the start of "American Dicks".
* [[Sting (music)|Sting]]: In "The Mallardian Candidate", every time "a consiracy!" is said, a three note, dramatic sting is played. Eventually, Duckman gets irritated at it, especially when the sting interrupts his sentences and, in one instance, plays upon showing him merely walking into a building.
* [[The Stinger]]: Later episodes began to feature audio clips played over the Reno & Osborn logo. Sometimes they were a repeat from the episode a la MST3K, other times they were all new.
* [[Suspiciously Similar Song]]:
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** And, of course, the ''[[Friends]]'' theme was parodied in "With Friends Like These".
* [[Take That]]: In "Clip Job", Ajax basically equates [[Walker, Texas Ranger]] with sewage.
** King Chicken's full name is [[George
* [[Take That, Critics!]]: "And to think, Entertainment Weekly panned us."
* [[Taking the Bullet]]: A flashback in "A Civil War" showed that Cornfed protected Duckman from bullets shot by a gunman. ''Twice''.
* [[Tastes Like Diabetes]]: This is essentially Fluffy and Uranus' entire schtick. Duckman hates it.
* [[Ted Baxter]]: Duckman, of course.
* [[Tempting Fate]]: Fluffy and Uranus tell house-crasher Duckman about some of their prized possessions in "Forbidden Fruit". The next morning, said items are ruined by Duckman.
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** In "Inherit the Judgment: The Dope's Trial", after the family drinks a bunch of water, Duckman says, "No time for bathrooms; we'll sweat it out in the car."
** In "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before", Duckman says he has to go to the bathroom to give new meaning to the term "Captain's Log".
* [[Took a Level
* [[Toothy Bird]]: Just look at the page image.
* [[Undying Loyalty]]: For some reason, Cornfed, Fluffy and Uranus are consistently loyal to Duckman.
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* [[Utopia]]: The city briefly became one in "The Gripes of Wrath" when Duckman made an off-hand complaint about short-lasting deodorant and a supercomputer used his criticism to change society for the better. Something happened between acts two and three to cause [[Dystopia|a complete reversal of this scenario, though.]]
* [[The Voiceless]]: Grandma-ma, who can't speak due to her coma. She makes up for it by farting instead, and using morse code on one occasion.
** In a couple episodes, though, we do hear her speak: In
* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]]: Art De Salvo vomits into a paper bag in "Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.", but we never see the vomit itself.
* [[Wedding Day]]: In the final ep, "Four Weddings Inconceivable", which ended with a [[Cliff Hanger]] that was [[Left Hanging|never resolved]].
* [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]: Cornfed, from the episode "Clear and Presidente Danger", 'For a complete list, please send $12 to Journal Graphics, Washington, DC, 20300.'
* [[Whole-Episode Flashback]]:
** "The Girls of Route Canal", which is about Duckman telling Charles and Mambo how he and Beatrice met.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
▲[[Category:Duckman]]
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