Frasier: Difference between revisions

 

 

''They're calling again''"|'''[[Kelsey Grammer]]''', [[Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune|closing theme]]}}

 

** Made even better when John Mahoney plays Sideshow Bob's father.

** Dr. Nora's mother is played by Piper Laurie, aka [[Carrie|Carrie's mother]].

** This could also be an allusion to an episode of Cheers where Frasier suited up as a clown to entertain for a kid's birthday party Rebecca was in charge of putting together.

* [[Actually Pretty Funny]]: ''Voyage Of The Damned'' sees Frasier booked as a cruise ship entertainer along with several B-list celebrities whom Frasier is less than enthusiastic about sharing billing with ("You've booked me on a floating [[The Gong Show|Gong Show]]! ... of course I got top billing! I'm the only one up there I've ever heard of!"), one of whom is comedian Giggles O'Shea. Later, Giggles helps Frasier spice up his speech with a few jokes, which Frasier has to admit are really pretty good.

* [[Air Guitar]]: Frasier and Niles play "air violin". Frasier also enjoys air orchestra conducting.

* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: ''The Ski Lodge'' features one of the most complicated love tangles ever. With an especially cruel twist, as once it's all sorted out, Frasier is left to come to the hideously painful realization that ''no one was lusting after him''.

** Subverted during [[The Stinger]] when the [[Dumb Blonde]] Frasier had been pursuing changes her mind - but Frasier unwittingly screws ''that'' up, too.

*** Also, for most of the series, Niles and Daphne. {{spoiler|Niles eventually seemed to get over his crush on Daphne and move on... just in time for Daphne to [[Unrequited Love Switcheroo|develop a crush on him]].}}

* [[Analogy Backfire]]: Used often in a variety of situations by different characters.

* [[And Your Little Dog, Too]]: Invoked in the second episode.

* [[Angrish]]: Mostly Frasier, but the other cast sometimes suffer this, too.

** From ''Roz And The Schnoz'', Roz has been having a [[Heroic BSOD]] the entire episode when she sees how massive her unborn child's grandparents' noses are.

'''Roz:''' ''(calmly at first)'' Oh yeah, and you were absolutely right, Frasier. Now I can see some of the qualities my baby can have. A great sense of humor... a sweet disposition... ''(angrish)'' '''a nose like an ANTEATER!!''' }}

* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]

** In another episode, Frasier takes a call on his show from a woman who is concerned about the fact that her husband keeps his late wife's ashes in their bedroom. The conversation ends with the sound of breaking ceramics, and the words, "Oops... I have some vaccuuming to do."

* [[Asian Speekee Engrish]]: [[Invoked Trope]] by Bulldog in one episode while attempting an ad for a Chinese restaurant.

** Also in "Ham Radio" when the cast is going through a reading of the original script with Bulldog as Mr. Wing (formerly Wang)

'''Roz:'''Stop! Chinese Embassy on line one! }}

* [[As You Know]]: Mocked at least once:

'''Martin''': [sarcastic] Gee, ya think? }}

* [[Bachelor Auction]]: Frasier gets won by Kristina Harper (Claire Stansfield) in ''Can't Buy Me Love''. Despite the fact she's gorgeous and completely adores Frasier, he [[Foregone Conclusion|blows it]].

* [[Big Fancy House]]: Maris's house, and Niles's apartment after they split up. The latter has a gift wrapping room.

** Leads to a VERY amusing scene where Frasier is convincing Niles he needs to save money during {{spoiler|his divorce from Maris}}, with Niles refusing to admit it:

'''Frasier:''' Are you saying that your BIRD requires both a study and a library? }}

** A little later:

'''Frasier:''' You have THREE roofs over your head! }}

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: If the viewer happens to speak French, they can catch the deliberately uppity yet nonsensical names of the restaurants that Frasier and Niles frequent, such as ''Le Cigare Volant'' (The Flying Cigar), ''Le Petit Oiseau'' (The Little Bird) and, arguably the best example, ''Quelquechose'' meaning literally "Something."

* [[Blithe Spirit]]: Inverted in "Taking Liberties"; Frasier gets a butler, and while he has only an incidental effect on the plot, ''he'' is cured of the [[British Stuffiness]] that's been getting in the way of his happiness.

* [[Bluff the Impostor]]: Happens on at least one occasion. One particularly notable one comes shortly after Roz discovers she's pregnant, and Frasier encourages her to find the father and tell him the news. She claims one morning at Café Nervosa that the father was an architect, and not much else. Later, at Frasier's apartment, she mentions that he was an ''archaeologist'', and Frasier gets her into the kitchen to pull one of these off the bat by asking her how the two met again.

'''Frasier''': '''''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|THIS MORNING YOU SAID NOTHING!]]''''' }}

* [[Book Ends]]: The man who delivers Martin's chair in the first episode is the same one who removes it in the final episode. He even tells the moving man the same thing: "Be careful with it!" It's an [[Ironic Echo]] since when Frasier said it in the pilot, he was upset that the mover was damaging Frasier's furniture with it. In the final episode, Frasier cautioned him warmly not to damage the chair.

** "My Coffee With Niles" takes place entirely in Cafe Nervosa, the title being a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[My Dinner with Andre]]''.

* [[Bragging Theme Tune]]: A [[Show Within a Show]] example from the season 7 episode ''They're Playing Our Song'', in which Frasier is told to come up with a jingle to introduce his show. He gets a full orchestra and chorus for something really over the top.

* [[Brain Bleach]]. Many examples at the Trope page.

* [[British Accents]]: It seems a rule of the show that every British accent must be fake ... even if the actor is actually British.

** Jane Leeves, who plays Daphne, is from London. Her Mancunian accent is not quite right and closer to an approximate Yorkshire accent.

** Meanwhile, Daphne's Mancunian family are mostly played by real British actors as well, but from all over the island, leading to hilarity for British audiences. The pinnacle of this had to be [[Cracker|Robbie Coltrane]] (Scottish) playing her brother Michael in the final episode, whose accent rendered him [[The Unintelligible]] to everyone but the Moon family:

'''Michael:''' Righ... mistuh fais thedun, wheti fai, forte fee... boom! }}

** Most of the non-British actors playing British use a drama school "working class British accent", aka bad Cockney, which sounds nothing like a Mancunian accent. Anthony LaPaglia (Australian) as Daphne's brother Simon is the most common offender, but the single worst incident has to be Scott Atkinson (American) in the first episode of season four, who actually says "luv-er-lee" at one point. Dick Van Dyke would have been proud.

* [[British Stuffiness]]: Unusually, inverted - Frasier and Niles are elitist and stuffy while most of the British characters are cheerfully working-class. According to the [[Word of God]], this was deliberate, and Jane Leeves openly expressed pleasure when discussing her role in that there were no working class Brits on American sitcoms.

** Exemplified in the penultimate episode "Crock Tales", in which Daphne explodes at Frasier when she thinks she's going to be fired:

** Gil Chesterson is a pretty straight example however. Even his [[Camp Gay]] tendencies are fairly refined.

** Ferguson, the butler who served Frasier for one episode (played by [[Godspell|Victor Garber]]) is a bit of a subversion. While he's [[The Jeeves|a very proper British manservant]], when he's alone with Daphne in the kitchen, he drops his pretension and discusses Manchester United with her, explaining that it's his ''job'' to play the role of [[The Jeeves]]. (Needless to say, both Frasier and Niles delight in his subservient behavior, and even Martin finds a use for him, clicking his remote control for him.)

* [[Broken Aesop]]: In "''I Hate Frasier Crane''," when Frasier decides to renege on fighting with a man who he had accepted an invitation to fight with, Martin is furious and brings up a past incident where Frasier decided not to fight a guy. An incident from Frasier's CHILDHOOD. His anger seems to stem from embarrassment at his son not being "man" enough to go through with such a fight. However, it's first [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Frasier how stupid it is that Martin won't be satisfied until he comes home with a black eye, and then [[Subverted Trope]] when Martin says he only wants Frasier to carry out promises he makes; once it becomes clear that Frasier is actually going to fight, Martin calls in the cops to break it up before things really get physical.

* [[Broken Pedestal]]: Played with; after discovering that his mentor and Roz are having a relationship, Frasier ''believes'' he's experiencing this (and it's not helped by the fact that he saw his mentor wearing nothing but Roz's robe) but he comes to realize that it's ''actually'' jealousy that Roz has become attracted to someone very similar to him whilst having never demonstrated any kind of attraction towards him.

'''Frasier''': Roz, that didn't work when I was cut from pee-wee football, it's not gonna work now. }}

* [[Butch Lesbian]]. [[Camp Gay|Flamboyantly gay]] Gil Chesteron's wife Deb seems to be one; he describes her as being good at auto-repair, being in the military reserves, and so forth.

** In episode "Morning Becomes Entertainment", Bethany of ''Bob and Bethany's Auto Chat'' is also extremely mannish.

* [[But Not Too White]]: Lilith's paleness was often mocked, and even [[Lampshaded]] by Lilith herself late in the series in the episode "Lilith Needs a Favor".

'''Lilith:''' I can empathize. Sometimes after a late night, I cover my under-eye circles with Liquid Paper. }}

* [[Camp Straight]] - {{spoiler|Gil.}}

** In one episode Frasier and Niles try to help a former Shakespearian actor Jackson Hedley revive his theatrical career by producing him in a one man version of ''[[Hamlet]]'', but {{spoiler|they realize to their horror that he's actually a terrible actor, who does a laughably overwrought performance of the play.}} The gag is that Hedley is played by [[Derek Jacobi]], an acclaimed Shakespearian actor.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Many, and usually quite subtle.

'''Bulldog:''' "This stinks! This is total BS!" }}

** Ironically, Frasier's catchphrase from ''[[Cheers]]'' only appeared once in ''Frasier'' ("You will rue the day you did that!") in "Look Before You Leap", and it got cut off by Niles.

'''Niles:''' ''(interrupting)'' I don’t care! Niles gotta have it! }}

* [[Celebrity Endorsement]]: Several references throughout the show and a whole episode dedicated to the ethics of putting a respected name on a product; "Selling Out". Also a [[Real Life]] example where [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHsIbjB5Ck0 Frasier hawks a soft-drink],

* [[Chez Restaurant]]: Quite a few, like "Chez Chez".

** One rather funny gag about it:

* [[Christmas Episode]]: Several

* [[Class Reunion]]

** Played with in "Daphne Returns" as well. Clips are shown from three shows, but this time, present-day Niles and present-day Frasier are inserted in the scenes (via CGI composite work) and comment on the action. For example, when Daphne and Niles start singing "Heart and Soul" while cutting vegetables, Frasier [[Deadpan Snarker|snarks]], "Even your everyday memories are idealized. [[Disney Creatures of the Farce|How long until the cartoon blue bird lands on her shoulder?]]"

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Though generally sane, Daphne has moments where she'll lapse into non-sequitur dialogue, often about her family and the strange things that have happened to them. In Flour Child, it prompts this response:

** "Death and the Dog":

'''Frasier:''' And yet she's never been committed. "[[Brief Accent Imitation|I don't know why]]"! }}

* [[The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes]]: Obviously, psychiatrists have neuroses and issues of their own, and Frasier's are liberally used to fuel both the [[Played for Laughs|comedy]] and [[Played for Drama|drama]] of the show, but one of the assets of the show's setup is that Niles (and occasionally Lilith) are there to [[Lampshade Hanging|point them out to him]] whenever needed.

* [[Companion Cube]]: Martin's chair

* [[Completely Missing the Point]]: A series of gifts meant for Niles get sent to Frasier instead. Niles and Martin discover that the gifts are actually to Niles from Maris, and when they break it to Frasier:

'''Frasier:''' ''Maris...'' is my secret admirer? }}

* [[Compliment Backfire]]

* [[Dead Air]]: When the cast put on a murder mystery show his over-directing caused Niles to rush through to the end, leaving him with nothing to fill the remaining nine minutes.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Frasier and Niles ''exist'' to point out flaws, criticise things of a perceived "lower class" and generally have fun at the expense of others. Especially Niles.

** According to the [[Word of God]], Roz is the only cast member who can put Frasier in his place - and she does, [[For the Evulz|with unbridled delight]]. Then there's Martin, and you can see where Frasier and Niles got their snarkiness from.

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: Niles during the plot of ''IQ'', while under the influence of particularly strong anti-allergy medication.

'''Niles:''' Oh well you should talk! Look at your shaky hands and your twitchy eyes! [[GASP|*GASP*]] You were up all night drinking coffee all night last night, weren't you? }}

* [[Diet Episode]]: Daphne starting eating excessively and gaining tons of weight after she and Niles got together. She was put on a regimen and eventually sent to some sort of fat camp. This storyline was a clever trick used by the writers to mask the fact that Jane Leeves was actually pregnant.

** Bebe gives a monologue about smoking that sounds remarkably like a description of another oral activity.

** In "Motor Skills" Roz got a puppy and Martin offered to give her some of Eddies old toys, and it took about forty seconds before the whole thing disintegrate into an extended metaphor of a mother and a daughter disagreeing on how to raise the grand-child. Bonus points for Roz mentioning that [[Lampshade Hanging|she got enough of that from her mother.]]

* [[Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune]]: Kelsey singing the closing song in his booming baritone -- and it's brilliant. The metaphors in the lyrics are part of the joke.

* [[Doppelganger Dating]]

* [[Dream Sequence]]: Including whole episodes based around one ("The Impossible Dream" and "Freudian Sleep").

* [[Drinking Game]]: As it turns out, Frasier, Niles and their father are all fans of ''[[Antiques Roadshow]]''. They make a game out of it, taking sips of brandy (or, in Martin's case, beer) whenever someone says "veneer".

* [[Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend]]: "Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name", used '''and''' subverted at the same time.

* [[Embarrassing Cover Up]]: At least a couple per season.

* [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Frasier and Lilith's son, Frederick, has the middle name "Gaylord".

* [[Empathic Environment]]: Bebe, and Lilith occasionally.

** Also done in an episode featuring Lilith's brother:

* [[Erotic Dream]]: Frasier's [[Homoerotic Dream|homoerotic dreams]] about Gil Chesterton plague him in ''The Impossible Dream''; in the same episode Martin claims to have had one with Jane Mansfield. Niles has many about Daphne.

* [[Establishing Shot]]: Almost completely averted: only once in 11 years did we see the exterior of Frasier's building. And it's not even an establishing shot, it's the final shot of the episode. The production team consciously wanted to avoid establishing shots, which were fast becoming the norm amongst TV sitcoms at the time, and introduced title cards as a sort of "anti-establishing shot".

** Niles related an incident where, in a marital dispute, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door as he went; of course, since the residence was equipped with an antique cathedral door, he required the assistance of several of the servants to assist in the slamming, however, "what it lacked in spontaneity, it made up for in ''resonance''."

** Frasier and Martin get into an argument over Daphne agreeing to go out with an ex-con. After telling them both it's her life and she gets to choose, Daphne storms off to her room. As Frasier himself put it:

** It almost looks like a blooper on Jane Leeves' part. Something in the way that John Mahoney breaks into a snort of laughter and the way that Jane comes flouncing back and then on the correct route to Daphne's room.

* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: Frasier is just not meant to find love.

* [[Fake High]]: Combined with [[Mushroom Samba]]. Niles gets a hash brownie, but Martin eats it without realising what it is, and replaces it with a normal brownie. And even when Frasier actually explains what happened, Niles ''still'' doesn't realise:

'''Frasier:''' Oh, knock it off, you imbecile. You're as sober as I am! }}

* [[Fat Suit]]: In ''Freudian Dreams'', Jane Leeves wore a ridiculously ballooning fat suit that kept growing in every shot, as Daphne dreamt Niles was cheating on her because she was too fat from pregnancy pounds she was unable to lose.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Niles, after spending a whole episode worrying about a one in 10,000 chance he might have a heart condition (because he's been having things with equal or worse odds happen to him for several days), makes an appointment to see a doctor. He clearly expects to be told that he's been comically overreacting and is actually completely fine. {{spoiler|He really does have a heart condition, making him [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] since he didn't know he was at the start of a set of drama episodes.}}

* [[Get Out!]]!!. Frasier is prone to outbursts of this when another character [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarks]] after he suffers an [[Epic Fail]].

'''Frasier:''' '''GET OUT!''' }}

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Although ''Frasier'' was by no means a show for young audiences, there were certain jokes that were more sexual in nature. For example, there is an episode when Frasier speaks to the condo board of his apartment block and they (through a classic misunderstanding) believe him to be speaking of his father's penis.

* [[Girl of the Week]]: Pretty much every love interest Frasier has. Sometimes he gets lucky and they last the course of a short story arc.

* [[Girlfriend in Canada]]: Gil's wife, "Deb" - an [[The Beard|Army reservist]], [[Running Gag|owner of her own auto repair shop]], [[Up to Eleven|and graduate of Sarah Lawrence]].

** Many fans may mistake Martin's friend Duke for being this, but he does appear in two episodes ("Duke's, We Hardly Knew Ye" and "Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name"), played by John La Motta. In the latter, he's the only one in Martin's poker game not referred to by name, and is only identifiable if you've seen the actor's first appearance seasons earlier. Later in the series they seem to relegate him to off-screen roles. In "Cranes Go Caribbean" he's said to have come with them but spends the evening in the hotel room after getting a bad sunburn.

* [[Godwin's Law]]: In ''Kenny on the Couch'', Frasier and Martin get into an argument at the end of the episode about the worth of psychology, with Martin thinking it's a bunch of hooey. This leads to this inevitable piece of dialog:

'''Frasier:''' That's it? An entire ''science'' devoted to '''''Hitler and Sybil'''''?! }}

* [[Gold Digger]]:

** Frasier briefly becomes this for none other than [[Patrick Stewart]], who gives him expensive watches and introduces him to celebrities. In turn, Frasier lets the guy kiss him and treat him like a boyfriend, constantly [[Cringe Comedy|"forgetting"]] to tell Stewart's character he's straight.

** During a two part episode, Frasier dates famous lawyer Samantha Pierce. In the first episode, he's worried about being in the ''female role'', but in the second, "Desperately Seeking Closure", he realizes he's only in love with Pierce for her celebrity friends. She's dumbstruck when Frasier admits this to her as the reason of his breaking up with her. Then Lesley Stahl walks in.

'''Lesley:''' Oh, how are you?<br />

'''Sam:''' ''(disbelief)'' What kind of sick bastard ''are'' you?! }}

** Niles gets asked if he married Maris for her money. He denies it, but adds that it's just "a delightful bonus."

** Then there's Bebe and her engagement to Big Willy, an octogenarian rich Texan, in ''Where There's Smoke, There's Fired''.

'''Frasier:''' Niles, Big Willy's eighty-five, he's on his third pacemaker.<br />

'''Niles:''' Ah. ''(jealous)'' Mazel tov. }}

*** Of course, [[Status Quo Is God|Big Willy dies before they get married]], but Frasier still cheers Bebe up:

'''Bebe:''' Oh dear, you always know what to say. }}

* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: In the episode ''Sweet Dreams'', Frasier tries to get Mr. Martin to stop being a corporate stooge and rehire Kenny. It works, but Mr. Martin gets other ideas as well.

'''Frasier''': I beg your pardon? }}

:: Kenny was rehired but Frasier and most of his coworkers were fired.

** Then from ''Dr. Nora''. Frasier brings Dr. Nora's mother, thinking that her abrasiveness and hostility was due to a misunderstanding between her and her mother, disappointing Roz who wanted revenge, not seeking a peaceful reconcilliation. Little did he know, Mrs. Nulhearn was a [[My Beloved Smother|shrill, grasping, moneygrubbing harpy]] whose first words to her daughter were '''"YOU LITTLE WHORE!"'''

* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: Noel, who supposedly speaks Hebrew, tells Frasier that "yeshiva" is the word for school. [[Artistic License Linguistics|It is not]] -- it means a full-time institute where Jewish law is studied. (The word for school is ''beit-sefer''). While "yeshiva" is originally a Hebrew word, the way he pronounces it with the stress on the middle syllable is the pronunciation derived from its Yiddish importation, something no Hebrew language teacher would do.

* [[Halloween Episode]]: There are a number of episodes set at Halloween, usually focusing on the show's traditional madcap antics wrung though a themed costume party of some kind. A notable party at Niles' apartment where the guests all dress as classic literary characters centers around Roz being pregnant and many overheard conversations that lead to hilarious confusions about the situation.<br /><br />The episode "A Room Full of Heroes" sees Frasier holding a Halloween party where each partygoer comes as their personal "hero" (for instance, Martin comes as Joe DiMaggio, Daphne as [[Elton John]], Roz as [[Wonder Woman]] and Niles as his father); Frasier himself dresses as [[Sigmund Freud]], and one of the main jokes revolves around all the children thinking he eats brains.

* [[Hand Signals]]: Roz plays charades on several occasions to communicate something to Frasier while he is taking a call on the show. On one occasion, she named a caller by pointing to her eye and leaning when her mouth was full.<ref>The caller's name was Eileen, if you didn't figure it out.</ref>

* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: In second season episode ''Retirement is Murder'', Daphne once mentions to Frasier how Martin "knocked her up" that morning. When Frasier seems momentarily alarmed and asks her to repeat that, she clarifies that it means "woke her up."

'''Frasier:''' Oh, something else. You'd definitely be awake for it, though. }}

* [[Her Codename Was Mary Sue]]: In-universe, Diane's [[Author Avatar]] "Mary Ann" in her play ''[[Show Within a Show|Rhapsody & Requiem]]''. Her name couldn't have been just a coincidence.

** Frasier isn't immune, as he and Niles wrote ''The Crane Boys Mysteries'' in high school.

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: Bebe likes to portray herself as this. When Frasier fires her in "Roz's Turn":

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]:

** Frasier and Niles (besides also being brothers).

* [[Hide Your Pregnancy]]: Jane Leeves got pregnant late in the show's run and it was written as Daphne becoming fat due to compulsive eating, complete with a [[Fat Suit]]; she left the series to have the baby, by having Daphne going away to a spa in order to lose the weight (with the in-joke that Niles went to see her there, and she had "just lost 9 pounds, 12 ounces".) In the final season, Leeves' second pregnancy was merely incorporated into the storyline.

* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]: Frasier's son Frederick is implied to have had one in "The Apparent Trap."

'''Frasier:''' I kinda regret doing that. }}

* [[Hilarious in Flashback]]: A flashback shows Martin has a pet goldfish named Eddie. His partner tells him to consider a "real" pet like a dog, but Martin says he isn't a dog person.

* [[Hurricane of Puns]]

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: One of the many fuels this show runs on. Frasier suffers the worst of it, thanks to his massive ego:

"I'll reveal him for the power-hungry dictator that he is! And then '''I'll''' take over." }}

** [[Hypocrisy Nod]]: This gem during one of his debates with Cam Winston, who drives an SUV.

'''Frasier:''' If mine's a substitute for masculinity, then what is yours? <br />

'''Cam:''' [[Bigger Is Better|Bigger!]] }}

* [[I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!]]: An episode centers around ''beluga caviar'' being used for this trope. Frasier and Niles get involved with the distributing and smuggling of the stuff (parodied when {{spoiler|1=the U.S. Customs agents don't care about the caviar, but the ''DVDs'' for which the smugglers used the caviar as a front}}), and even consider cutting it with cheaper stuff, while Roz becomes a generally mellow caviar junkie who would attack Frasier because she thinks he's holding out on a fix.

::Bonus points for the Russian mafia controlling the beluga caviar trade, much as Columbian drug lords would control the price of cocaine.

* [[Identical Stranger]]: Rodney, a clone of Niles that Daphne dates after breaking up with Joe (and after Frasier suggested to Niles that he wait before asking her out himself). ''Everybody'' sees it except Daphne herself.

::In Season 10 episode "Bristle While You Work", Niles is worried about a heart attack because of all the unlikely coincidences happening around him. One of the most bizarre is when a woman calls out "Niles!" Niles turns to look to see an African American version of himself greeting, "Hello, Daphne!" ''in his exact intonation'' -- to an African American version of Daphne.

* [[I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship]]: Both Frasier and Roz say it to each other.

* [[If I Can't Have You]]: Maris gets insanely jealous of women Niles dates - especially Mel. Late in the series, Maris is not opposed to Niles' relationship with Daphne, but still clings to Niles for support.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Plenty.

** They tend to crop up when Frasier describing his sexual conquests. [[Lampshaded]] by Niles when he asks if Frasier actually ever says those lines in front of his dates. Frasier wisely admits he doesn't.

** Daphne asks Frasier if one particular romantic interest likes his bad puns, and comments, "She's a keeper!" when he tells her she actually likes them.

** In a convention in Aspen:

** And occasionally a not-so-lame one, such after Daphne has a fall after becoming [[Hide Your Pregnancy|obese]]:

** A notable one came from a title card reading "Sleepless in Seattle". The card humorously lampshades the groan-worthiness of this in parentheses with "(you knew we had to do it eventually)".

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGGRNR4RTio The last straw.]

* [[Inflation Negation]]:

'''Frasier:''' ''(dripping with sarcasm)'' And still get change back from the nickel! }}

* [[Instrumental Theme Tune]]: The [[Opening Theme]] is notable as it changes frequently (a form of [[Couch Gag]]). There were more permutations introduced as the show ran longer and longer, all with a light jazz feel which set the tone nicely for the content of the episode.

* [[In the Original Klingon]]: In ''Star Mitzvah'', Frasier is tricked by Noel into thinking his blessing at Freddy's bar mitzvah is being translated into Hebrew - it's actually Klingon. The Trope is invoked by a geeky boy after Frasier makes a fool of himself.

* [[Intoxication Ensues]]: Martin's accidental ingestion of a "special" brownie in "High Holidays", [[Hilarity Ensues|with hilarious results]].

* [[Insufferable Genius]]: One thirteen year old caller to Frasier's show (played by [[Elijah Wood]]) calls about bullies picking on him for his smarts. After Frasier advises him that he'll get the last laugh later in life, the caller immediately turns into this, picking apart Frasier's advice and outright insulting him for it.

* [[Is This Thing Still On?]]: This happens frequently on the show. Some notable examples include:

** "The Adventures of Bad Boy and Dirty Girl":

'''Niles:''' ''(listening to them from his car radio)'' STOP TALKING! ''(Niles rear ends another car, causing the airbag to inflate in his face)'' }}

** "A New Position for Roz", when she is teaching Noel how to produce Frasier's show:

'''Frasier:''' ''(from the booth)'' Thank you, Roz, now that Seattle knows how we do things around here, perhaps you could let Noel know to keep his elbow off the mic button! }}

** A more minor one occurs when Frasier introduces one of the show's bloopers which involves Roz swearing violently at someone else while her mic was left on. Heavy on the "bleeps".