Naked People Trapped Outside

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"Can we switch? I don't trust these guys..."
"And now, I ran out of the house, naked somehow."
Homestar Runner, Homestar Runner

Characters find themselves locked out of their domiciles, which would make for a considerably less socially awkward situation if not for their also being nude. Hilarity Ensues, because Naked People Are Funny.

Note that the characters in question don't necessarily have to be naked; in their underwear or a bathrobe is close enough. The Rule of Funny here is based on the awkward situation more than it is the actual nudity. Well, most of the time.

When they manage to get back in, they may find a Birthday Suit Surprise Party. Can be started off by Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen. Can lead to Hand or Object Underwear, and Naked First Impression. Makes a bit less sense when it's Fully-Clothed Nudity.

Examples of Naked People Trapped Outside include:


Advertising

  • This happened briefly in a 2003 McDonald's commercial, of all things. A young woman is seen topless and in her underwear, covered only by a pile of dirty clothes she's holding in her arms, as she gets locked out of her apartment building when she goes to check her mail. She sneaks back inside when an elderly neighbor goes to check his own mail.
  • Another commercial for something has a man be locked out of his hotel room in his bathrobe. He manages to still buy clothes and pick up a beautiful woman...only to get into an awkward situation when the woman wants to come to his room.
    • The commercial is for the hotel itself (Caesar's in Vegas).
  • Subverted twice in a Special K cereal commercial. A woman is at the beach when her sarong is blown off by the wind. Rather than freak out or hide, she continues walking, and reaction-shots and glimpses of her figure suggest she's parading naked, unashamed. The final shot reveals she's actually wearing a bathing suit, which the previous glimpses of skin had strategically avoided.
  • A 1991 BVD underwear ad features a man locked out of his hotel room wearing only white BVD briefs.


Anime& Manga

  • Due to the nature of the show, the title character in Maicchingu Machiko Sensei finds herself naked outside or in public quite a bit. This trope is averted in that usually, many people end up seeing her.


Comics

  • "Garfield! Help! I locked myself outside getting the newspaper! I'm not wearing any pants! I'm wearing the puppy underwear!"
    • "Then use the puppy door!"
    • This happens to Jon fairly frequently. Once Garfield locked him out while he was wearing his bunny footie pajamas, and at least one other time while in a bathrobe.
  • Liberty Meadows Jen seduces and strips Frank, only to toss him outside and lock the door leading to a number of awkward and embarrassing situations.
  • X-Men heroine Jean Grey's bouts with the Dark Phoenix occasionally led to her clothes being burned off, such as in the original Dark Phoenix Saga, outside her childhood home no less.
  • A "Lighter Side of..." strip in Mad Magazine had a woman get locked outside in her underwear. Forced to go across town to get the spare key from her mother, she jogs alongside her friend and nobody bats an eyelid, assuming that it is jogging outfit.


Films -- Live Action

  • Something similar happens in the infamous French Made for TV Movie La Venus A Lulu. Lulu, a nudist, is sleeping in a camper trailer when her husband stops to change a tire. Thinking she's arrived at the clothing-optional resort they are going to visit, she sleepwalks out into the countryside, where she falls back asleep. She spends the rest of the film hiding from people in the altogether (with a plotting little boy acting like he doesn't understand her pleas for clothes) while her mere presence in the village advances the plot—namely, the little boy finally grows up, the village baker finally works things out with his wife, etc., etc. Oh, and Scenery Censor is completely and utterly averted.
  • There's a scene in Yi Yi in which a man is locked out of his house in his underwear after an argument with his wife, and he has to stay overnight at his former girlfriend's place (who relished the irony).
  • This happens to Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life.
  • In Roxanne, Roxanne gets locked outside in her bathrobe, but her bathrobe is caught in the door. She has to go for help naked. She is briefly seen covering her breasts and crotch with her arm and hand.
  • The Movie of Charlie's Angels.
  • Not socially awkward, but in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film, the resident Invisible Man meets the rest of the team outside of a cave in Siberia then cuts short their questions with "And might I remind you, I'm naked in the snow!" before heading into the cave.
  • '80s Hongkong farce where two horndogs professional con artists not only fail to get into this woman's pants, but wind up outside in just their boxers And when they demand to be let back in:
  • In the third Police Academy film, Proctor is tricked by a prostitute (hired by Mahoney's troupe) into locking himself outside a hotel room during the police ball. Instead of asking for help from anyone in attendance, he escapes the hotel, steals a car, and winds up at the Blue Oyster Bar, where he's received with open arms.
  • A rather squicky example: Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde includes a scene where the protagonist reverts to his male self while his female self is trying to seduce his boss. She hastily retreats into the bathroom before the transformation is complete, where he finds himself in skimpy lingerie and tries to exit via the window. The lingerie gets ripped off when he falls from the windowsill.
  • The protagonist of An American Werewolf in London wakes up from his first transformation stark naked in the London Zoo's wolf enclosure. The wolves aren't fazed, but David has to dodge or fast-talk his way across half of London, stealing whatever Object Underwear he can, to get back to Nurse Price's flat.
  • The female lead of I Love Trouble, played by Julia Roberts, goes skinny dipping at one point and is then photographed by a group of boyscouts after she emerges nude from the lake.
  • The Hairy Bird: A few of the boys from St. Ambrose Academy are stripped, bound, and gagged by the Flat Critters.


Folklore

  • There's an Urban Legend in which a naked man steps out of his mobile home for some fresh air, and the family, assuming he's still sleeping, drives off without him.
    • This urban legend was made Hotter and Sexier and turned into the A Plot for La V?s ?ulu, above.


Literature

  • In The Name of the Wind, Kvothe fakes this trope—he's been living as a beggar and he just came into some money, and he figures that pretending to be a nobleman who got his clothing stolen is easier than pretending to be a noble while wearing any clothing that he owns.
  • Puss in Boots did the same with his owner.
  • In the famous 1920s Soviet satirical novel The Twelve Chairs, a character runs out of his flat naked (he was taking a bath), and the door slams shut.
  • Half of a great story from Wraith Squadron:

Face: So here I am stark naked, locked out of my quarters, running around the corridors looking for a towel, a rag, anything, and I turn the corner and bump right into the executive officer. He has about the same sense of humor as a Wookie with a rash. So I throw my best salute and say, "Major, I regret to report only partial success with the Personal Cloaking Device."

    • The best part of it is when the XO responds with something about how he should go and cover up the project's "shortcomings".
  • Griffin, the title character of H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man, is on the run from the law in the snowy English countryside. The poor man can't put on clothing, or people will notice him, leaving him literally out in the cold.
  • Erotic author Lia Anderssen has this as a reoccurring theme in all her books. Every single one of her novels involves a heroine losing her clothing, being trapped outside, and quickly blackmailed into a situation where she never gets clothing back.
  • The Time Traveler's Wife. Considering Henry can't take anything with him when he (involuntarily) time travels, including clothes, this happens to him on a regular basis.
  • He's only half naked, but Michael sneaks out in only a shirt and boots once in the Knight and Rogue Series and doesn't make it back before everyone wakes up.


Live Action TV

  • Chris from Skins gets locked out of his house naked by some random person after waking up from a night of drugs and partying.
  • In an episode of Frasier, Roz lures Bulldog into one of these situations by pretending she's interested in him. (It's punishment for Bulldog scaring Roz's dates away.)
  • * Ahem* ... Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives.
  • Happened to Mr. Bean in a hotel. Got locked out his room while naked.
  • On The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Jeff and his brother, Wayne, make a bet where the loser has to run around the block in only a pair of clown shoes. Jeff's brother loses a bet. Fortunately for Wayne, Jeff lets him run at night after everyone is inside (but not asleep). Unfortunately for Wayne, after Wayne starts his (off screen) run, Jeff puts Wayne's clothes inside and pulls a bullhorn out of the closet and yells into it: "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, there is a naked streaker running around just outside your doors. Yes, he is naked, naked, naked. Good luck finding your clothes, Wayne." Jeff then goes back inside and locks the door.
  • In Primeval Episode 22, an unfortunate man gets tied up outside wearing boxers and a bra as part of a stag do prank.
  • In an episode of the Australian kids' show Bananas In Pyjamas, the title characters get stuck outside after putting their pyjamas in the wash. In a twist on the usual, they don't have any other clothes to put on, so they try to steal the other characters' washing to cover themselves.
  • In an episode of Caroline in The City, one of the male co-stars is trapped naked on the balcony of Caroline's apartment, allowing her neighbor Annie to tease him about the effects of the cold weather on his anatomy.
  • On Gossip Girl, Jenny gets even with Chuck during a Masquerade Ball by making him think she wants to sleep with him. Instead he ends up locked out on a roof in just his underwear. Chuck, being Chuck, seems to be impressed rather than angry.

Chuck: Little Jenny Humphrey manages to get my pants off and have me not enjoy it. Quite the accomplishment.

  • On 30 Rock, Jenna tried to get revenge on Frank and Toofer in the same manner as the Gossip Girl example. Frank fell for it, but Toofer was Genre Savvy.
  • In How I Met Your Mother, Barney, Ted and Lily all try to sleep with their respective partners/one-night-stands by pulling a move known as 'the Naked Man', in which they wait naked for their target, who is then compelled to have sex with them. Ted and Lily both succeed... and Barney is kicked out of his hook-up's apartment completely naked, in the middle of the night, in the streets of New York. He actually has an opportunity to put some clothes on when he comes across a rack of on-sale suits on the street, but deems them too low-quality, preferring to remain naked.
  • In one episode of Mad About You, Jamie was wearing a towel in a Women's Gym locker room. Another woman gave her the wrong directions and she walked out the fire exit. Meanwhile, Paul was experamenting with Viagra. And for some reason they decided to meet at the top of the Empire State Building.
  • Jeremy from Misfits. He's sort of a werewolf (okay...he doesn't change physically into a wolf, he changes mentally into a dog, so even if he could possibly be classified as a werewolf he's still the lamest one who ever lived) and he wakes up naked in the street on a regular basis. Sadly, he gets found by his exceptionally unsympathetic step-son:

Nathan: George Michael gets away with this shit, but he used to be in Wham! Who are YOU?!

  • In one episode of Sex and the City, Samantha decides to spice things up with her firefighter boyfriend by having sex in the fire engine bay. Mid-coitus, the company responds to a call, leaving Samantha exposed with the bay door open and the inside doors locked.


Music

  • The Theory of a Deadman song, "Little Smirk":

I locked you out, left you naked in the front yard
Burned all of your clothes having nothing can be really hard


Radio

  • One of Frank Muir's stories on My Word involved him going to a laundromat in the early hours of the morning and, while he was there, deciding to wash the clothes he was wearing as well. Invetiably, he ends up locked out of the laundromat in the altogether.


Stand-up Comedy

  • Ben Elton has a comedy routine about locking himself out of his room naked in a share house.
    • He also has a routine about almost locking himself out of his room naked.

Elton: ... and I just managed to make it back in before the door closed and this would have made a really great story if I hadn't!

Video Games

  • In Paper Mario, this is how Mario first meets party member Kooper the Koopa. An army of Fuzzies have invaded Koopa Village, and they've stolen Kooper's shell. He hides behind a bush until you reclaim it for him, at which point he joins you.


Web Comics

  • Happens to Ethan in Ctrl+Alt+Del, after he attempts to surprise his then girlfriend Lilah following her tournament. When she sees he's been wandering around naked, it makes her angry enough to go from losing to crushing the competition.
  • Deliberately invoked by Ed Lincoln against his sister in Between Failures. When she makes off with his DS, he chases her out of the apartment and refuses to let her back in until she "relinquishes her hostage". She relents when the awkward neighbor guy gets a photo of her in nothing but her panties.
  • This Square Root of Minus Garfield strip.
  • Chapter 10 of Dungeons and Denizens features a subplot about Min and Gazdar having respawned in Seidistika's office without clothes, and trying to get back to their rooms wearing only Modesty Bedsheets.


Western Animation

  • In an episode of The Fairly OddParents, Timmy wishes himself straight from the bath he's taking to the comic book store, forgetting that he's naked.
    • He is promptly mistaken for the Kid Hero "Naked Lad" by the people at the comic book store.
  • This apparently happened to Apu off camera in The Simpsons episode "The Day the Violence Died". It apparently got him arrested, but two kids called Lester and Elisa (who creepily resemble the original drawings of Bart and Lisa) got him out.
    • In the episode "Natural Born Kissers", Marge and Homer end up in this situation after engaging in some al fresco "snuggling" to spice up their sex life.
  • Referenced in the Animaniacs song "A Quake, a Quake":

I ran outside with neighbors, their faces filled with shock
Mostly 'cause I'm standing there in nothing but my socks.

  • In Tiny Toon Adventures, this happened to Hamton when he went skinny-dipping in Montana Max's pool (at Plucky's urging) in "A Bacon Strip".
  • Sandy and her fashion club, minus Quinn, of Daria are stuck outside in their swimsuits because the door is locked and they couldn't handle the hot tub any longer.
  • Code Lyoko has Season 4 episode "Bad Connection" starting with Ulrich locked outside of his room in nothing save for a bath towel.
  • Happens in Ed Edd and Eddy in the episode "Pop Goes the Ed" when they're trapped in a kiddie pool at a party after the bathing suits fly off
  • In the "Flight as a Feather" episode of The Mask a crazed stripper, Cookie BaBoom, who had an affair with Mayor Tilton, tries to blow him up with dynamite strapped to her body, which the Mask foils by yanking it off while sending her into a swirl spin. When the cops come for the Mask, he stops Cookie's spinning and distracts the cops by exposing her very attractive nude body.
  • An episode of Jimmy Two-Shoes had Jimmy taking advantage of the town's Temporary Blindness to do whatever he wanted, which included skinny dipping in the towns fountain. Guess when the blindness wore off.

Real Life

  • Truth in Television. Happens often in hotels and on cruise ships, where the door locks automatically behind you when you step out. Many a guest popping out to set out his room service has found himself outside in the nude or in underwear without a key card. Naturally, this is made into a running gag in the video game Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail.
  • Also a rather common occurrence in college dormitories, where one roommate is in the shower sans key and the other, assuming the first gone, asleep, or otherwise with their key, leaves and locks the door...
    • Quite common even where students don't share rooms, if you happen to be unlucky enough to have room doors that lock themselves upon being closed. Not funny.
  • Suddenly realizing you're naked in public is a standard plotline for dreams of personal insecurity and humiliation.
  • According to legend, President John Quincy Adams once had his clothing stolen while he was skinny-dipping in the Potomac.
    • Not a legend, but not quite how it happened either. A female reporter seeking an interview with JQA found him skinny-dipping and sat on his clothes until he agreed to talk to her. (She even screamed when he tried to leave without agreeing!)
    • Another president, Gerald Ford, got himself locked outside with only his bathrobe on when walking the dog out in the early morning.