Lampshade Hanging/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'', "Jack versus Aku":

'''Aku:''' ''(reappears before Jack)'' See what I mean? }}

* In [[South Park]] http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/153287/beating-a-dead-horse

** In "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air". Peter points out that his doctor's voice sounds an awful lot like his father-in-law's ([[Talking to Himself|the two characters share a voice actor]]). Mr. Pewterschmidt then enters the room from nowhere and proceeds to talk to Dr. Hartman, commenting on how they do have very similar voices, and how no one has ever noticed since they have not had any previous extended interaction.

** In Season 3, "Fish Out of Water", after Peter shoots the talking fish Daggermouth, revealing that it's a robot, the fisherman Salty hops out from behind some stalagmites and explains his devious plot, spreading the Daggermouth legend and then getting rich off the merchandising, ending with:

'''Salty:''' To keep your mouth shut! And because the longer we stay here, [[Fridge Logic|the more people are gonna question]] how a fisherman, with no engineering background, managed to build a sophisticated talking fish-robot. }}

** In 'Road To Rupert, Brian and Stewie have this exchange:

'''Stewie:''' [[Vague Age|Brian, I'm 1!]]<br />

'''Brian:''' [[Not Allowed to Grow Up|Still?]]<br />

** Done several times with Peter's chin. The FCC wanted to censor it due to it looking like a set of testicles. Other time when Peter is rubbing his chin in thought he becomes surprised and promptly removes his chin and sticks it down his pants.

** In "Go, Stewie, Go", Stewie reveals he was pretending to be female through transvestism (to get a female only part) during a live scene of Jolly Farm.

'''Stewie:''' ''(interrupting)'' Let's not start pulling threads on this one... }}

** From "Spies Reminiscent of Us":

'''Stewie:''' Well, there's a pedophile up the street that nobody seems to be doing anything about, [[Rule of Funny|but it's mainly because he's so funny.]] }}

** Peter is watching the news and a story comes on that gives him an idea to solve the problem-of-the-week. Then the news presenter says: "Coming up in the next half-hour: our in-depth look at conveniently placed news reports in television shows. But first, Peter - watch out for that skateboard." Peter then stands up and slips on a skateboard that had no reason to be there and wasn't there earlier.

** "The Splendid Source"

* ''[[The Cleveland Show]]''

** Season finale. Peter Griffin and Glenn Quagmire are attending the wedding that was the centerpiece for the episode.

'''Peter:''' Quagmire, you're a rapist. }}

** Cleveland's son starts playing guitar and singing a song in Spanish to his Mexican girlfriend, Cecilia, while Cleveland watches and jealously criticizes the situation under his breath:

'''Cleveland:''' It is UNREALISTIC for him to suddenly gain these abilities! }}

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' uses this trope quite often, though sometimes in more subtle ways:

** Bart becomes a "Junior Camper" (a Boy Scout): Lisa, Bart and Homer are watching an episode of Itchy and Scratchy, Bart notes that the scene was unrealistic. Lisa defends the cartoon, reminding Bart that cartoons don't need to be 100% accurate all the time. Though Homer is watching with them in the living room, as Lisa speaks, an intentionally mis-edited Homer is seen clearly walking outdoors past the window. This is an acknowledgment of the many inconsistencies that crop up throughout the show's history, and how the authors don't intend to make the show consistent.

** In "Homer Loves Flanders", Bart is starting to wonder if Homer's newfound friendship with Ned Flanders will really last.

'''Bart:''' Ay, caramba!!<br />

'''Lisa:''' That's the spirit.<br />

** In "Why I Must Be a Crustacean In Love", Leela and Amy harp on Fry and Bender for being lazy, Leela making a point of Fry's beer belly. Amy points out that Bender's "belly" is bloated and his door won't close. She pauses, then adds, "...and that doesn't even make sense."

** The Professor offers a long, elaborate, technically dubious, and absurd explanation for the appearance of "robot ghosts" in a castle, to which Hermes responds: "Of course! It was ''SO'' obvious!"

** In Season 1's "Hell is other Robots", the Robot Devil explains the conditions of a "Devil went down to Georgia"-like fiddle contest for Bender's soul.

'''Robot Devil:''' Well, it's mostly for show. }}

** In "Godfellas", after Bender is lost in space and hurled back to Earth by a god-like entity, he lands, unharmed, directly in front of Fry and Leela, who have been looking for him in the Himalayas. After Bender stands up, Leela announces that it is "by a wide margin the least likely thing that has EVER happened". (In the DVD commentary, the crew makes explicit reference to this being a lampshade hanging. "...And that's how we wrote our way out of THAT.")

** In the "Cartoon Wars" episodes the boys repeatedly take a break from making fun of [[Family Guy]] to say, "At least it's not all preachy and up its own ass with messages." Poking fun at the newer [[South Park]] episodes, which are just that. The lampshade managed to make the withering assessment of [[Family Guy]] elsewhere in the episode seem less mean spirited, which is sadly undercut by Matt and Trey's remarks about it in real life, often without the qualifier that they know their show is sometimes nowhere near as deep as they like to think, if it ever was.

** In the same episode;

'''Kyle:''' ''(pointing at audience)'' Uh... }}

** In "Cartman's Incredible Gift", Mrs. Crabtree is killed. The police remark that she was not a popular character and wouldn't be missed by the fans, as she was not in any recent episodes.

** Done by Sharon in "You're Getting Old". It is [[Tear Jerker|not played for laughs]].

** The "Imaginationland" trilogy featured Cartman and Kyle breaking into the Pentagon three times ([[There Was a Door|using a different window to jump through each time)]], which is followed by the general asking "Why is it so easy for children to break into the Pentagon"?

* In a ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short, [[Bugs Bunny]], while falling towards water after being blasted into the sky by a [[Non-Fatal Explosions|non-fatal explosion]], says "I hope that's [[Soft Water]] down there".

** In the ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' short "[[The Scarlet Pumpernickel]]", Daffy tries to jump from a window onto his horse's saddle, but falls on the ground with a crash. He comments, "That never happens to [[Errol Flynn]]."

* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'':

'''Bullwinkle:''' [[No Fourth Wall|In about 365 other episodes]]. But I don't know who it is either. }}

** Or this one, which features Wassamatta U playing football against a team of thugs dressed as women:

'''Bullwinkle:''' Boy, [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|this really is a kids' show, isn't it]]? }}

** This classic recurring gag:

'''Rocky:''' But that trick never works! }}

* After Marty McFly keeps running into various ancestors of Biff Tannen (traveling not only through time, but space as well!) in ''[[Back to The Future The Animated Series]]'', he exclaims: "Is there a Tannen in ''every'' century?"

* The ''[[Animaniacs]]'' character Slappy Squirrel kept doing that, as part of her "[[Genre Savvy|retired toon]] [[Animated Actors|actor]]" personality.

** "King Yakko"

'''Yakko''': It better - we don't have any more commercial breaks. }}

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' frequently points out the fact that henchmen #21 and #24 never die. For example; in the episode "Lepidopterists", #21 and #24 point out to Henchman #1 that they would never die, unlike the other henchmen. Also, in the same episode, Dr. Girlfriend asked Monarch why he keeps using 21 and 24, he replied "I know it sounds crazy, but they both have that rare blend of 'expendable' and 'invulnerable' that makes for a perfect henchman."

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' is full of these types of jokes, frequently insulting the show itself for comedic effect. An example is in the episode "Little Orphan Hero", where Spanky, Princess Clara, Foxy, Toot, and Ling Ling try to help a suicidal quadriplegic end his miserable life. When said man reveals himself to be an undercover cop intending to arrest them for attempting to 'murder' him and that the entire area is surrounded by similar quadriplegic cops (importantly for the joke, all with horrible pun names, like Bob, who's waiting in the water) intending to arrest them, Spanky sighs and says, "This is so stupid, it's like some retarded 3rd grader wrote this."

* ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' does this on occasion.

* ''[[Gargoyles]]''

** David Xanatos needs some way to lure the magical Coyote to him. To do this, he puts Goliath, Angela, Elisa, and Bronx in a [[Death Trap]] to make the being intervene to save them. Xanatos and his robot lovingly describe the trap to the heroes and Xanatos cannot resist noting, "It's my first stab at [[Super Villain|clichéd villainy]]; how am I doing?"

** Xanatos and Demona creates a new Gargoyle, by putting the remains of three back together, who were destroyed in stone form. When the Gargoyle mixup began to live again, Xanatos shouted with great joy: "It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!" Followed by: "[[I Always Wanted to Say That]]."

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' has a [[Running Gag]] based around this:

'''Phineas:''' Yes. Yes I am. }}

** The lampshade hanging really takes off starting with "Leave the Busting to Us!", in which Candace notes how the same thing seems to happen every day, and exclaims "My life is like a bad sitcom!"

* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' did this a few times, with Edd making a remark about Ed's "badly drawn fingers", and later with Eddy shouting, [[Who Writes This Crap?|"Who writes his material?"]]

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':

'''Aang:''' Why? [[I Was Just Joking|Is it your turn to take a field trip with Zuko]]?<br />

'''Katara:''' Yes, it is.<br />

** In the series finale, Toph hangs her own lampshade on this by wanting to go with Zuko for her [[Character Development]] "field trip". And after trying to do so, but having Zuko out-angst her parent-wise, she mutters, "Worst. Field trip. Ever."

** "The Ember Island Players", to the extent of ''lampshading the lampshade.'' When Katara asks if it's really wise to go see a play about themselves, Sokka responds, "Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of [[Breather Episode|wacky, time-wasting nonsense]] I've been missing!"

Sokka: "Ya know, [[No One Could Survive That|it was really unclear.]]" }}

** The main characters get invited to a party for the Earth King's bear, and are surprised that it is just a bear and not a bear [[Mix-and-Match Critters|crossed with another animal]].

** "Suction Cup Symphony". SpongeBob annoys Squidward in Squidward's house. Randomly, Patrick just appears in the room. When Squidward asks why Patrick's there, he simply goes, "[[Rule of Funny|I'm funny]]"

** Patrick and SpongeBob are sitting by a campfire:

'''Patrick:''' Hey, if we're underwater, how can there be a -- ''([[Puff of Logic|fire promptly goes out]])'' I'm scared. }}

** In "Fools in April", Patrick is wearing SpongeBob's hat (Squidward only sees the hat and thinks it's him). When asked why he's wearing it, he simply says, "I don't know."

** Spongebob is trying to stop Patrick from doing some really nonsensical, dangerous things, and when asked why he's doing them, Patrick responds...

** When Patchy the Pirate sends a letter to SpongeBob inviting him to a party, the ink is smeared. SpongeBob comments "Whoever sent this letter is obviously unaware of the physical limitations of living underwater!", before throwing it into a fire.

** Mr. Krabs once called SpongeBob a "loony loofah", possibly intended to lampshade the fact that SpongeBob's a kitchen sponge.

* ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'' features this frequently. An example:

'''Ned:''' Wow. That almost never happens. }}

** Then again, it IS a show with [[No Fourth Wall]]...

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' constantly lampshades itself during most of its run. In fact it loves this trope so much, you'd almost think it [[Why Don't You Marry It?|married the trope]].

** The [[Will They or Won't They?|will-they-or-won't-they]] relationship between Kim and Ron is lampshaded by commenting on a similar couple in the [[Soap Within a Show]] ''Agony County'' before the [[Un Cancelled|original]] [[Grand Finale]].

** Team Impossible questioned about Ron's lack of [[Badass]] [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|Mystical Monkey Power]]:

'''Ron:''' You know, it's funny. It comes and goes. }}

** [[Loony Fan]] Joss Possible both commented about [[Chickification|Ron's hero-ness]] and [[The Dragon|Shego's]] [[Harmless Villain|lack of evilness]]:

[...]<br />

'''Joss:''' Ron here is afraid of practically everything, but does he let his fears keep him from sidekickin'? Let's face it, Kim. [[Girls Need Role Models|You can do anything]]. So facing all those dangers and villains, well, [[Broken Aesop|it's just like you say. No big. A fella filled with that much fear always chargin' into action with you? Seems to me that's a true hero]]. }}

** Ron commenting on how every girl he seems to get close to for the most part happen to be [[Action Girl|Action Girls]].

** The lampshading of the "[[The Men in Black|Government hiding evidence of]] [[Area 51|aliens]]" is quite hilariously done by Ron.

** Ron being attacked for the third time by birds in "Car Trouble" (the third time practically comes out of nowhere):

 

*** Another one from the same episode. Ron is lampshading an offscreen [[Noodle Incident]] that involves Kim trying to fix up a hand-me down broken down car her father gave her. Things aren't working out at all...somehow Ron is entangled in wires. Poor Ron, if only he knew [[Rule of Funny]].

 

** Shego, from [[The Movie]]: "You know, one of these days, we reeeeally need to take that [[Shoe Phone|hair]] [[Grappling Hook Pistol|dryer]] from her."

** Kim gets her own in "A Sitch in Time" when she corners the villains, but they boast they have a advantage against her, being she's outnumbered (as Drakken sneaks up from behind her). Drakken has his own Lampshade to this too.

'''Drakken:''' How does she always do that?? }}

** Another lampshade from the same movie, Kim shows up to stop the villains and...

'''Drakken''': [[Kim Possible/Funny|I don't know]]. }}

** When Drakken explains his [[Death Trap]] to Kim:

'''Drakken''': "IT'S VERY VERY DEEP, ALL RIGHT?!?" }}

** Kim lampshades her habit of [[Collapsing Lair|blowing up Drakken's lair]] in the episode "Bad Boy". The episode's main conflict - [[Personality Swap|Ron absorbing Drakken's evil]] - is resolved with Drakken's lair and Ron's [[Doomsday Device]] still intact. Drakken crows about this, but Kim just says "I think we both know what happens next." Cut to Kim and Ron flying away from the exploding lair.

* Once on ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', Beavis asked Butthead to change the channel on a video they particularly disliked. Butthead responded "Why bother? All we seem to get on this TV is bad videos."

* In an episode of ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' titled "[[Twin Peaks|Twin Beaks]]", alien plants are creating clone duplicates of everyone, exactly as in ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'', only [[Affectionate Parody|sillier]].

* ''[[Lilo and Stitch: The Series]]'', episode "Poxy": Jumba brings the heavily modified dune buggy into his and Pleakley's room to prepare for Lilo and Stitch's journey inside of Pleakley to retrieve the experiment making him sick. While Jumba is explaining the plan, Lilo asks, "Hey, how'd you get the buggy in here?" Jumba responds, "Oh, simple... um, is not important."

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]''

** In "A Mile In My Shoes", Cosmo and Wanda (while in goldfish form, inside their bowl) are preparing for a romantic dinner, and Cosmo attempts to light the candles on the dinner table by rubbing two magic wands together. Timmy walks into the room and asks the couple, "What's new?" just as Cosmo succeeds in lighting the candle. Wanda glances at the flame skeptically, then answers, "Um, the laws of physics?" To be fair, he was using [[A Wizard Did It|magic wands]].

** A later feat is to lampshade the frequent use of the [[Idiot Ball]].

'''Timmy''': Ok! }}

* In an episode of ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' three members of The Legion of Super Heroes follow Brainiac back a thousand years in time to stop him killing a teenaged Clark. Saturn Girl says Clark will need a disguise, to which Clark says "like a pair of glasses would fool anyone". Chameleon Boy a few moments later shapeshifts into Superman to illustrate what they were saying Clark was going to become, to which Clark says "Red underpants? Now I know you are crazy!"

* In the episode of ''[[The Batman]]'' called "Q&A", the villain is re-enacting a game show he lost at years before with the people who were hosting the game being forced to play it, with death the penalty for losing. Right after he tells them the rules of the game, he says "At this point in the show we would usually break for a word from our sponsor... ''don't you wish''." Cut to real-life commercial.

* In an episode of ''[[Archer]]'', the following dialog is spoken after Archer pulls out a grenade after a threesome:

'''Lana:''' Wait, what? }}

** And in an earlier episode:

'''Archer:''' No, do ''not'' say [[Chekhov's Gun|the Chekhov gun]], Cyril! THAT, sir, is a facile argument!<br />

'''Wodehouse:''' Also woefully esoteric. }}

* ''[[Ka Blam!]]'' does this a lot with their stars, Henry and June. From explaining the "anvil accordion squash", "the bongo run", "cartoons not feeling pain (except Henry)", and so many others that we lost count.

* ''[[The Backyardigans]]'' does this more or less every episode:

'''Tyrone:''' Well ''that's'' certainly convenient. }}

* ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'', from their take on [[The Clone Saga]]:

** In another episode, when Robbie is framed as a criminal mastermind, the prosecutor mocks his story of being knocked out and waking up with a blaster in his hands. "This isn't some Saturday morning cartoon show!"

** During the "Six Forgotten Warriors" arc, Kingpin reveals his intention to conquer the world to a captured Spider-Man, who doesn't take him very seriously. "Kingpin, now you're starting to sound like a Saturday morning cartoon villain."

* In an episode of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Black Cat tries to convince Spidey to join her in criminal pursuits, and when he's in his Black Costume at their next meeting, she immediately assumes that he's agreed to her proposal and made an [[Evil Costume Switch]].

* ''[[Tom and Jerry: The Movie]]'', believe it or not, lampshaded ''[[Suddenly Voiced]]'' by '''''TOM AND JERRY!'''''

'''Both''': YOU TALKED! }}

* In the [[Musical Episode]] of ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', Rocko wonders how everyone knows the [[Crowd Song]]. Heffer explains rehearsals were every Thursday.

* In the second episode of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]], Pinkie Pie starts to sing the first of her many songs. The other characters reactions?

'''Rarity''': She is. }}

** In the first season finale, Rarity objects to allowing Spike, a male character, in to the room while the female ponies were getting dressed, to which Applejack responded "Beg pardon, Rarity, but, uh, we don't normally wear clothes."