Exiled to the Couch: Difference between revisions

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A common scenario amongst [[Shipping Bed Death|married and other really close couples]].

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* In the Yaoi anime and manga ''[[Kizuna]]'', the uke Ranmaru (university student and ex Kendo champion) sometimes punishes his seme Enjouji (illegitimate son of a high-ranked Yakuza boss) by forcing him to sleep on the couch.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''State of the Union'', when Mary suspects her husband of having an affair, she pulls out a bunch of cushions, spreads a sheet and blanket over them, and remakes the double bed for her sole occupancy.

* In ''Marmaduke'', after the titular dog causes a lot of mayhem in the house, his owner locks him out in the rain for the night and says that it was his fault the house was like this. His wife retorts that Marmaduke was a dog and thus doesn't know any better. After more heated words, his wife basically says "Marmaduke may have a backyard, but YOU have a sofa." [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Thus banishing him to the sofa for the night]].

 

== [[Literature]] ==

{{quote|'''Nimashet:''' No, the rules don't work that way. Not about what we fight about, so much as how we fight about it. And this is the rule you need to keep in mind: either we work it out while we're still awake, or you go sleep on a couch.

'''Roger:''' Why do I have to sleep on the couch? I'm the prince. For that matter, this is my room.

'''Roger:''' (plaintively) Do I get a pillow? }}

 

* This trope was used straight in ''[[Small Wonder]]'', when a discussion between Ted and Joan Lawson on each other's flaws goes out of hand and Ted ends up on the couch.

*** As depicted on TV, that "mansion" wasn't much bigger than most sitcom apartments.

* A couple of times on ''[[Bewitched]]'', Samantha "twitched" Darrin there with her magic.

* There's at least one furniture ad of a couple who start an argument entirely so one of them can sleep on the sofa.

* In [[NCIS: Los Angeles]], Deeks had to sleep on the couch in the NCIS Los Angeles headquarters due to his own house undergoing what is implied to be a strong pest infestation, which also resulted in him failing to pick up Kensi from the airport when she returned from Hawaii. He later has to keep company with Kensi until midnight after the infestation clearing at his house was delayed, to which she agrees, if he meets certain conditions, such as him driving and him paying, and having him do her laundry for a month (later specifying tht its outer-wear when realizing that he might go for the underwear as well.)

 

== Music ==

* Brad Paisley's [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Sleeping on the Foldout."]] He's exiled for claiming he had to work to get out of going with her to visit her family, then going fishing instead. And then "telling her the whole staff spent the day out on the lake."

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In [[Mega Man Star Force]], when Luna Platz and the boys visit a ski resort in the second game, Luna forces Geo Stelar to sleep on the couch in their room after she catches him, Bud Bison and Zack Temple talking to the ski resort owner's daughter. Her exact words to him after he says that he is going to bed are No, you are sleeping on the couch.

* In [[The Sims]], Sims who are not at a high relationship status will refuse to share a bed. If two Sims in a relationship who have recently been in a fight, their relationship status will drop, and this is likely to happen.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In [[General Protection Fault]], Ki's mother does this to her husband, mentioned [http://www.gpf-comics.com/archive.php?d=20041015 here, in response to comment in previous strip], [http://www.gpf-comics.com/archive.php?d=20041016 here], and [http://www.gpf-comics.com/archive.php?d=20041105 here] for a rather ill-advised comment on his part (during a fight between Dad and Ki over her relationship with Nick).

* Referenced in [[Cheap Thrills]] when Elizabeth finds her son Jeordie's pot stash. She tries to make her husband have a talk with their son about responsible drug use (given that they themselves smoke pot, but are responsible about its usage) and threatens him with the couch if he doesn't (as he objects that it would be hypocritical); this backfires, however, as Mirza notes that the couch is really comfortable, so she threatens to take the couch herself and make him grow an Afro instead. However, how serious any of these threats were is questionable, as the couple enjoys having silly not-really-fights. In the end, Mirza does speak to his son about using pot responsibly, but claims he is going to flush the stash. Of course, [[Hypocritical Humor|instead he and his wife end up smoking it]].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Played straight in another episode where Marge attempts to name everything women have invented, only for Homer to point out that men have invented more things, and more important things. This leads to the page quote.

*** Taken a step further later in the episode, where Homer is sent to the couch again, and tries to take solace in the fact that at least he'll always outrank the dog. [[Smash Cut]] to Homer, now in the doghouse (literally), and [[Lampshade Hanging|wondering how he ended up there]].

* Similarly, on the ''[[Time Squad]]'' episode "Ex Marks the Spot" Larry "punishes" Tuddrussel by exiling him to the couch because he thought that Tuddrussell and his ex-wife Sheila were falling in love again. Just another one of the show's [[Time Squad/Ho Yay|many cases of Ho Yay]].

* A variation occurred in the episode of ''[[The Proud Family]]'' regarding BB and CC's baptism. After both Trudy and Oscar's respective families left due to disagreements, Trudy exiles him to the tent (the family was forced to sleep in a tent due to Oscar inviting his family over so he'd have backup against Trudy's family, and thus occupying all the bedrooms and possibly all of the sleeping areas, period). It gets worse in that, when Trudy sarcastically hopes that there is no rain that night, it was raining, and Oscar also ends up being a victim to a skunk attack.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** Most contemporary Orthodox Jewish couples simply use twin beds which they can push together when it's permissible to be intimate and pull apart when it isn't.

* The author of [http://www.hellokittyhell.com Hello Kitty Hell] claims repeatedly that every time he slags on Hello Kitty, his wife exiles him to the couch AND the Hello Kitty sleeping bag.

* Part of a failed attempt by a delusional women to punish her honest partner in [http://notalwaysright.com/a-match-made-in-size-7/1490 this] '[[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]' story. Somewhat hilariously, it backfired for her in pretty much every way it is possible to backfire (and the fact that they didn't actually ''live'' together was only the ''start'').

** Performed more successfully in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130417055500/http://notalwaysromantic.com/bosomless-buddies/18799 this] 'Not Always Romantic' story (the spinoff site of [[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]).

 

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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]