Never Heard That One Before

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Say 'Nevermore,'" said Shadow.
"Fuck you," said the raven.

—American Gods

This is the usual response most people have when they hear a comment or joke they've heard a million times or more; particularly when said remark has long since stopped being funny, and moved past tiresome. For instance, when a person mentions Aquaman, she might mention that he talks to fish, and nothing else. The reaction of a comic fan? "Gee, I've Never Heard That One Before (often overlaid with heavy sarcasm)." (It's also untrue, for the record).

The recipient of the joke may also simply say, "It wasn't funny the first hundred times."

A variant is when a person can just tell that his new acquaintance is dying to drop that line, and says with resignation, "Go ahead; just say it. I know you're thinking it."

Often subverted by having a character who really has never heard that joke before.

Truth in Television: This happens in Real Life to people with distinctive or Unfortunate Names. Or people with names linked to something with pop cultural significance. Or another obvious distinguishing feature, for example working at a company that has the same name. Can lead to rage if done too frequently or the wishes of the person on the receiving end to cut it out already are not respected.

Examples of Never Heard That One Before include:

Anime and Manga

Jaden: Isn’t there an ambulance you should be chasing?
Miller: I’ve been asked that many times before.

Comic Books

Victoria: [As she is preparing to execute him] 'Alas, poor Yorick...'
Yorick: Gee, never heard that one before... you fucking TWAT!.

  • The final book ends with the words "Alas, poor Yorick".
  • The miniseries Superman: Secret Identity has the protagonist living in our world, who begins to develop the identical powers of Superman. His name's Clark. Clark Kent. Yes, like the Comic Book.
  • In the limited series Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure, the warden of Riker's Island is named Warden James Warden; when the photographer who arrives to interview Doctor Octopus mentions the irony of that, the warden says, "Yeah, like I've never heard that before".

Fan Works

Big Bad: You cannot escape, Doctor!
The Doctor: I can't begin to tell you how often I've heard that line over the centuries.

L: Just go to sleep. You... ha, you go out like a light.
Light: I've heard them all before, L, and they weren't funny the first time.

  • Sirius/serious jokes have become so tired and overused in the Harry Potter fandom that even the characters are complaining about them the first time they appear in a story.
  • Invoked in the Moving Days, Part I from My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character: Bob notes he needs to call "Tetsuoooooo!" at Akira Wasa of K-On!. His wife notes that she's probably heard that "like a million times already".

Film

  • In Finding Nemo, everyone who notices Marlin is a clownfish wants him to tell a joke, but seems to expect he's never gotten that response before and has a joke prepared. By the end, he's lightened up a little and even has a decent ocean-themed pun.
  • In The Incredibles. Frozone's reaction might be because he lacks humor, but really, that one's very obvious.
    • It's basically all but stated that Lucius and Bob are old friends, it's possible this is just a little good-natured ribbing on Bob's part.
  • Prince Caspian, almost to the point that it's a running gag:

Caspian: You... you are a mouse.
Reepicheep: I was hoping for something a little more original.

  • And Later...

Mook: You... you are a mouse.
Reepicheep: You people have no imagination!

  • Michael Bolton from Office Space, who expresses his annoyance at having to constantly deal with jokes about the singer no-talent ass-clown of the same name, or people asking if they're related.
  • In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Clementine asks Joel to not make any jokes about her name. He fails. It's an actual plot point, though, because the first time we see them meet, he can't remember the pun because he's had a mindwipe.

Clementine: Hi, Joel. So no jokes about my name?
Joel: You mean, like... Oh, my darlin', oh, my darlin', oh, my darlin', Clementine...? Huckleberry Hound? That sort of thing?
Clementine: Yeah, like that.

Devil: [Upon Elliot finally believing she's the devil] You can ask me anything you like. As long as it's not about God.
Eliot: [awkward silence]
Devil: Yes, there is a God. Honestly, you'd think meeting the Devil would be interesting enough.

  • In The World Is Not Enough, upon introducing herself to James Bond, Doctor Christmas Jones says, "Don't make any jokes, I've heard 'em all." Bond effortlessly replies, "I don't know any doctor jokes." He does make a couple Christmas jokes eventually, including a truly wince-inducing one that's the movie's last line ("I thought Christmas only comes once a year.").
  • When the heroine of Juno introduces herself to the prospective adoptive father of her baby, he says "Like the city in Alaska!" She immediately deadpans "No." (She's actually named after the Roman queen of the gods; the city's name is spelled "Juneau.")
  • Subverted in the 2008 remake Get Smart:

Maxwell Smart: Oh gee, Maxi-pad, I haven't heard that one before! [short pause] I never have heard that before, actually.

  • In Practical Magic, Sally's daughters are taunted with the line "Witch! Witch! You're a bitch!", causing Sally (who also received during in childhood) to lament that they've had three hundred years to come up with something better.
  • It happens only once in The Expendables, but you get the feeling that Tool (Mickey Rourke) likes taunting Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) by saying "Christmas Time" a lot.
  • In The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines, when Flynn goes to Casablanca, he makes the inevitable quotes. The taxi driver is understandably unamused.

Driver: Ah, from the movie! How delightfully original of you

  • From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, at the breakfast table, grandpa tries to tell the old joke about bagging an elephant in his pajamas (first used by Groucho Marx ) but everyone's heard that one before.

Literature

Lucifer: Quoth the Raven...
Delirium: Whatever.

    • The Death of Rats' steed in Discworld is a talking raven who's named Quoth because he was owned by a wizard who thought he had a sense of humor. Quoth does not say "the N word."
    • An earlier Pratchett book, Strata, references the trope by having a robotic raven; when it speaks, the text uses the phrase "Quoth the raven:..." even though its eventual words are something like, "You kitten!"
    • The boy in Robin Jarvis's Wyrd Museum trilogy also names his zombie raven Quoth.
  • The protagonist of About a Boy, who lives off the royalties of his father's popular song, is quite tired of people singing it once they learn about this fact.
  • Tiffany Aching refers to her father's pun as The Joke. He's a farmer and he works hard. Do the math. "He was Aching when he woke, and he'll be Aching when he sleeps." They recognize that it's not a funny joke, but it's got sentimental value behind it, like an elderly aunt.
  • Moist von Lipwig, the protagonist of Going Postal and Making Money, notes in the former book that he's heard every possible joke about his name. His love interest, Adora Belle Dearheart, commiserates.
  • Whenever Harry Potter meets anyone who knew his parents, they inevitably tell him, "You look like your dad, but you've got your mum's eyes." When Slughorn says this in the sixth book, Harry thinks that he's starting to get sick of it. Fanfiction tends to exaggerate this to the point where it becomes Harry's Berserk Button. Also, there were a number of common cracks made on his name that got really lame after a while (and they indicated as much), and his friends. "Oh, Potter, you rotter," "potty wee Potter," "crackpot," "Potty and the Weasel," "Weaselbee," And Hermione's reaction to the "Potter Stinks" badges? "Oh, very funny. Really witty."
  • In The Dresden Files, Wizard Harry Dresden mentions he gets the occasional phone call from people who just have to ask if he's 'a wizard named Harry'. He seems to be less than amused by this.
  • In So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, When Fenchurch first introduces herself to Arthur Dent, she adds,

Fenchurch:"And I'm watching you like a lynx to see if you're going to ask the same silly question that everyone asks me till I want to scream. I shall be cross and disappointed if you do. Plus I shall scream. So watch it."

So let us be clear with one another, Admiral. I have one life, not nine. I have never been killed by curiosity, my parents do not live in a cat house, my mother did not rock me as an infant in a cat's cradle, the preferred Caitian method of self-defence is not cat-boxing, I do not deposit my earnings into a kitty, if I am trying to be delicate about a subject I do not pussyfoot around - shall I go on?

  • In Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Wyoming Knott introduces herself to Mannie, adds "My friends call me Wy," then immediately forbids him from uttering the pun that naturally comes to mind. (Her close friends call her Wyoh.)
  • Mercedes Thompson works as a VW mechanic. There's a reason she usually goes by Mercy.
  • In the Knight and Rogue Series this becomes the standard reaction to Fisk's jokes by the third book, either because Michael has been listening to him compare things to bandits for almost two years by this point, or because he meets people who've had their professions compared to bandits before.
  • In The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Kate has a friend who plays the double bass, and is tired of people saying "I bet you wish you played the piccolo" when they see him trying to carry it around. When she learns Dirk is a private detective, she spends a moment thinking if there's something everyone would say to a private detective, so she can avoid saying it. When she explains this, Dirk replies "No. What happens is that everybody looks very shifty for a moment, and you got that very well."


Live-Action TV

  • Saturday Night Live wheeled out a Seth Meyers skit based solely on two guys with similar names.

"I'm William Fitzpatrick!"
"And I'm Patrick Fitzwilliam!"
"And we've heard the jokes so SAVE IT!"
"SAVE IT!!"

  • When Richard Wilson (Victor Meldrew from One Foot in the Grave) guest starred on Father Ted, Ted and Dougal decided to shout his catchphrase "I don't believe it!" at him, on the reasoning that surely no one had ever done that to him before and he'd be thrilled that someone recognised him.
  • Chris Tarrant from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (in Britain) apparently gets loads of people coming up to him and yelling things like "hey, phone a friend!" and "is that your final answer?" and other catch phrases of the show.
  • Regis Philbin's autobiography Who Wants To Be Me? has a comic strip about this on the back cover. The breaking point comes while Regis is attending a gun show.
  • The elderly gentleman in Thomas Dolby's She Blinded Me With Science video complained of random strangers coming up to him and shouting "SCIENCE!" at him.
  • Will from Will and Grace got sick of people cringing or apologizing when he told them he was a lawyer, so in one episode he tells everyone he is a tennis player. Of course, there is another professional tennis player at the party so Hilarity Ensues. And it turns out that guy really worked for the IRS, so everyone heard that before.
  • On Scrubs, with the fictional Cheers writer:

Turk and J.D.: Noooorrm!
Mr. James: Yeah, I get it.

  • In the "Cockneys" episode of QI, the buzzer music for Bill Bailey was "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey".

Alan Davies: That's very clever what they've done there.
Stephen Fry: Has anyone ever pointed that out to you--
Bill Bailey: [sarcastic] No, no one's ever pointed that out before.

  • Dan on Sports Night slips up on the air and reports about an athlete practicing in a park "all covered with cheese." By the time Rebecca starts to tease him about it, he can truthfully say "You know, I think I've heard them all."
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Will eventually admits that even he is getting tired of all the fat jokes. When his Uncle Phil laments, "Why must I always be The Heavy?", Will just says to himself, "Forget it, that would be too easy."
    • Also, in the episode with William Shatner. When he walks into the building someone jokingly says: "Hey, I saw your car outside, I guess you thought beaming down would be too flashy." Mr. Shatner was not happy.
  • Also subverted and lampshaded in Monk during the Sharona days. Sharona meets a new boyfriend.

Boyfriend: (walks up) M-M-My Sharona!
Sharona: (laughs)
Boyfriend: (seems to think it's sarcastic) You must get that a lot.
Sharona: No, actually.

(Paraphrased, of course.)

Mr. Smoke-Too-Much: My name is Smoke-Too-Much. Mr. Smoke-Too-Much.
Mr. Bounder: Well you'd better cut down a little then.
Mr. Smoke-Too-Much: What?
Mr. Bounder: You'd better cut down a little then.
Mr. Smoke-Too-Much: Oh I see! Cut down a bit, for Smoke-Too-Much.
Mr. Bounder: Yes... I expect you get people making jokes about your name all the time, eh?
Mr. Smoke-Too-Much: No, no actually. Actually, it never struck me before.

  • On an episode of Wings, Fay reveals that one of her former married names was "DeVay". Before Joe and Brian can begin cracking any, she informs them that she's "heard them all": "Can you show me DeVay?" "Do you go all DeVay?" and her personal favorite: "Old soldiers never die, they just Fay DeVay."
  • On Homicide: Life on the Street, some detectives are discussing someone's easily-punned last name. Kay Howard wonders aloud whether the guy in question got teased a lot as a kid, prompting her partner to reply:

Det. John Munch: Take it from Mrs. Munch's baby boy- HE DID.

  • Gareth Blackstock is a master chef on the Britcom Chef. "Stock", as it relates to food, is a flavored liquid "prepared by simmering various ingredients in water", and which forms the basis of soups, sauces, and many other dishes. Worse, one kind is called "white stock", which "is made by using raw bones and white mirepoix". He put up with the jokes in cooking school, and he will not tolerate them in Le Chateau Anglais.
  • When John Glenn guest starred on Frasier, the good doctor just couldn't resist:

Frasier: Hey, senator, what are you drinking there, Tang?
Sen. John Glenn: (Looks at watch) Hey, two minutes and twenty seconds - that's a new record!

    • In "No Sex Please, We're Skittish" Niles goes to the sperm bank to ask if his "deposit has earned any interest". The nurse replies "Sir, I've worked here twenty-eight years. Think you can tell me one I haven't heard? Go ahead, try me." Niles backs down.
  • In the episode of Murphy Brown where she gives birth to her son, Jim and Frank at different times ask a man present if he's the doctor, and both get the same response:

Nurse: No, I'm the nurse. [beat] Go ahead! Make all your "male nurse" jokes! I heard them all! "Gee, Bruce? Why did you become a nurse? So you can get yourself a cute doctor?"

Tim Taylor: Hey Story- what's the story?
Story Musgrave: Never heard that one before.

Dr. Elizabeth Weir: Yu? [smirks as if she's about to continue]
Dr. Daniel Jackson: Don't. Just, don't. Every joke, every pun, done to death. Seriously.

  • In the first episode of of the three-parter "The Siege" in Stargate Atlantis, Radek Zelenka explains to Elizabeth Weir that the Ancient computer system is incredibly redundant. Incredibly redundant? "That one never gets old."
  • In the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dax takes a shot at it when two members of Temporal Investigations come to question Captain Sisko. "I guess you boys from Temporal Investigations are always on time..." The annoyed look the two investigators share make it pretty clear that wasn't a new one.
  • In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Revenge of the Creature, Mike and the 'bots learn from Professor Bobo that they are in the year 2525 and Earth is now ruled by apes. You can guess which movie Mike starts quoting. Bobo then completes Mike's quotes with an utterly apathetic and bored tone, clearly having heard this several times before.

Yet no Laibach reference...

  • Subverted and Lampshaded in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "Officer Krupke", where the title officer says that he never heard the song (from West Side Story).
  • One of the villains in the pilot of Due South is named Francis Drake. "Yeah, like the explorer. Never heard that one before."
  • "It's bigger on the inside." Usually followed by the character running out of the TARDIS, round it, and back in, goggle-eyed. These days, it has become something of a Dead Horse Trope on Doctor Who, with the Doctor frequently lampshading it, pre-empting it, or the characters being in too much of a rush to really pay attention. Although when Rory figures out what's what without any help he seems to be more than a little perturbed that he didn't get the usual response.
  • From an episode of Bottom, where Richie and Eddie visit a sex shop:

Eddie: This is a sex shop, isn't it?
Assistant: Yes sir.
Eddie: [Slapping bank note on counter] I'll have five quids worth then!!!
Assistant: That's very droll, sir. I've never heard that one before.
Eddie: Haven't you? Shall I tell it again, then?
Assistant: No thank you sir, I'd rather have a pineapple violently inserted into my rectum.
Eddie: ...You've been working here too long, mate.

  • In an episode of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, while the lads are working on relocating the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, Dennis consults their structural engineer:

Dennis: You know that dismantling sequence you showed us? What do you call it, you know, when it’s the other way round? You know, when you put the bridge back up again?
Calhoun: An erection sequence.
Moxey: [sniggers]
Calhoun: No jokes please, I’ve heard them all.

  • Naomi's reaction to the laughter at the reveal of her full name (Naomi Campbell) in Skins screams that she's been through that exact rigmarole at least a dozen times before.
  • On The West Wing Sam makes a reference to "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?" when he meets Will's sister Elsie, to which she responds, "You should definitely mention that to him, 'cause he's probably never heard that reference before." She adds that he goes by Will, not Bill, and he tries again with, "Merry Christmas, y' old Building & Loan!"—which they probably also haven't heard before, since as Elsie says, that's George Bailey.
  • In an episode of Ellen guest-starring Carrie Fisher, Ellen puts a pair of cinnamon rolls on either side of her head and says, “Guess who?” Carrie replies, dryly, “You know, no matter how many times I see that it never gets old!”
  • In the first episode of Yes Minister, Jim Hacker is introduced to Sir Humphrey, the Permanent Secretary and Bernard Woolley, Hacker's Principal Private Secretary. Humphrey then explains that the Permanent Secretary also has a Principal Private Secretary, and that the Department contains 10 Deputy Secretaries, 87 Under Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries. The Prime Minister will appoint two Parliamentary Under Secretaries, and Hacker will appoint his own Parliamentary Private Secretary. Hacker asks how many of them can type, and suggests opening an agency, before adding "I suppose all new Ministers say that." Sir Humphrey smoothly replies "Of course not, Minister. Not quite all."
  • Doubly Subverted in the Leverage episode "The Reunion Job": Nate deduces that their mark Duberman has been called "Doucherman" countless times and incorporates that name into his impersonation of the popular boy who tormented Duberman in high school.
  • In Community episode Beginner Pottery the pottery teacher has seen so many lame Ghost reenactments that his single rule is no Ghost reenactments on penalty of failure.
  • Michael Scott, being such a bad comedian, falls into this one often:

Michael: And this is Oscar... Oscar the Grouch. Can you believe he never heard that one before working here?
Purse saleswoman: No, I don't believe it.
Michael: I know, amazing, right?

    • At a christmas party, he's also under the impression no one ever thought of mixing orange juice with vodka.
      • His "One With Everything" special however does seem pretty original.
    • And this isn't even getting into the time he took Jim to lunch at Hooters. His time spent in the restaurant was basically this nonstop.
  • Angel: green-skinned demon Lorne doesn't really like going by that name because he hates Lorne Greene jokes, but is fine with it once it turns out that the only one who even gets the reference is Angel.

Angel: Bonanza? Fifteen years on the air not mean anything to anyone here? Okay, now I feel old.

  • The second season of The Wire introduces us to Ukrainian gangster Segei, who is addressed as Boris several times, either by stupid punks or by detectives looking to mess with him. Sergei always responds with a long suffering sigh and the question "Boris. Why is it always Boris?"

Music

  • Five Iron Frenzy, at their 2003 farewell concert, performed "Blue Comb '78", in which Reese Roper laments a favorite comb he lost at age six, and asks the listener "Have you seen my comb?". After the song finished, Reese chatted with the audience a bit:

Reese Roper: What? You found my comb? Boy I never heard that one. Thank you! Tomorrow morning, when I'm sleeping in until, like, noon, I'm gonna be like, "Aaaaah. No more combs!" I've got about ten thousand combs at home.
Dennis Culp: If you only knew how many times we've wished we'd named that song "Have You Seen My Dollar?".


Newspaper Comics

  • Pogo has a ladybug who's sick of being told to fly away home. She's so angry about it, Albert mistakes her for a Bengal tiger.
  • One series of Calvin and Hobbes strips focused on a School Play about the food groups. Calvin asks Suzie what she's playing, she responds "I'm 'Fat'", and of course Calvin says "No, I mean in the play." The last panel shows Calvin laid out on the ground and Suzie screaming "ANYONE ELSE WANNA SAY IT?!"
  • In Mafalda, the character Libertad (whose name, of course, means Liberty) is a really short girl, half the height of the other characters of her age. When she first meets Mafalda, she introduces herself, waits a beat, and adds "Did you already reach your stupid conclusion? Everybody reaches the same stupid conclusion when they meet me."
  • One Garfield strip has a guest on a TV show Garfield is watching who has two heads. This trope is his Berserk Button.

Host: Ever hear the expression, "Two heads are better than one"?!
Guest: Ever hear it eight gazillion times a day?
Garfield: I think he hit a nerve.

Tabletop Games

  • One Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebook says that Kindred in general have a special nickname for "Bela Lugosi's Dead" - TFBS, or "That Fucking Bauhaus Song." Because there's always someone who thinks they're being a wit when they play it over the stereo at Elysium.


Theatre

It sucks to be you
It sucks to be you
Try having people stopping you to ask you:
"Whatchyou talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
It gets old.

  • In Wicked, Elphaba intercepts comments on her green skin with "No, I'm not seasick. No, I didn't eat grass as a child."

Video Games

  • In Plants vs. Zombies, the Snow Pea has "heard them all" regarding cold-themed expressions.
  • Fire mage Cynn's battle quotes in Guild Wars: Eye of the North include "The next person to call me 'hot lips' gets scorched" and "Yes, I have a fiery personality. Like I've never heard that before..." (and yes, she does).
  • World of Warcraft's male Tauren express this sentiment in one of their /silly emotes:

"Moo. Are you happy now?"

    • Also the reaction of many players when the discussion turns to the human female dance - the macarena. "It was funny for 30 seconds seven years ago."
  • When rescuing Carson the bounty hunter in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, a Malkavian PC will utter "Heeeeeeeeeerrrrreeee's JOHNNY!". He's visibly unimpressed.
  • This attitude is expresed by a DJ in Saints Row when a woman named Jane calls in to request a song. That alone tells him the title of the song she intends to request. When she's shocked he knew, his response is a sarcastic "Lucky guess."
  • Max Payne gets this a lot because of his last name.

Joey Finito: Here's Max Payne! Pain... to the max!
Max: Did you come up with that one yourself, or did you pay a wino to write it for you?


Web Original

Oh and by the way, just because I do actually happen to have an ark in the backyard has nothing to do with the fact that my name is Noah, and when the polar ice caps finally melt, flood the earth, and destroy all life, I am not gonna let any of you dickweeds who made fun of me in!

ATTENTION WORLD, STOP ASKING ME TO PLAY PIANO MAN WHEN I SIT DOWN IN FRONT OF A KEYBOARD. I AM SICK OF PIANO MAN. NO MORE PIANO MAN.

  • Dragon Ball Abridged: Lord Freeza has been keeping track of things that would-be heroes (or just empire topplers) have said to him before trying to kill him; even "I'm going to f*** your FACE!!" has come up twelve times. This is then subverted in Episode 27, when Goku shows up.

Goku: So are you that Freezer guy?
(Beat)
Freeza: I am Lord Freeza, yes.
Goku: Awesome! I'm-a deck you in the schnoz!
Freeza (after dropping Vegeta): ...I'm sorry, that's a new one.

  • In this episode of "The Offshoot" (an SCP Foundation animated adaptation) the newly "recruited" member asks her supervisor if Bigfoot is an SCP - the supervisor has obviously hear that from a lot of recruits.

Web Comics

Elliot: Hey, cool! I'm having a Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind!
William: Hey, cool! Some nerd is pointing at me!

Kathryn: You just bought yourself some military intelligence.
Schlock: Darn. I was hoping for real intelligence.
Kathryn: Oh ha. That joke never gets old.

Western Animation

Pangborn: Can it, Pickles! Or should I say, jar it?
Tommy: [sarcastically] Heh, heh, good joke, sir. Never heard that one before.

  • Family Guy: While playing golf, there was this exchange:

Peter: Hey Joe...
Joe: Don't say it, Peter...
Peter: I was just wondering...
Joe: Peter, I swear to God...
Peter: What's your handicap?
Joe: OH, HAHA! EVERY HOLE! IT'S A JOKE THAT JUST DOESN'T GET OLD!

    • On another episode, someone quoted Anne Robinson's "you are the weakest link [dead link], goodbye" in class, and Stewie went on a (sarcastic) tirade about how unoriginal that was.
  • The Simpsons visit an exhibit of luxury cars, one of which is presented by a blonde bikini bimbo. Homer quips "Do you come with the car?" and she giggles, "Oh, you!". The next person to come by makes the exact same joke and she replies in the exact same way. Either she's very used to it and has practiced it, or she has the memory of a goldfish.
  • Dr. Harleen Quinzell's response in "Mad Love" when the Joker points out that her name shortens to Harley Quinn. Of course, she later adopts the name.
  • One episode of the animated series of Disney's |Hercules, "The Arabian Night", is a crossover with Aladdin. While Herc and Aladdin are fighting each other, the latter taunts the former with the nickname "Jerk-ules".

Hercules: [repeatedly attempting to punch Aladdin] Y'know, everyone thinks they're being clever when they call me that, but it's not! That! Funny!

  • In Secrets of the Furious Five, Crane gives a variation on this when the instructor at the kung fu academy makes fun of his 'skinny legs': "Yeah...my skinny legs. First time that's ever been mentioned..."
  • During the "smoking is bad" episode of Ozzy and Drix, Ozzy tells Nicotine "This here's a no-smoking area!" Nicotine grouses that it was funny the first fifty or so times he heard it.
  • One Robot Chicken sketch has James Bond making it with a woman named Christmas. A Hurricane of Puns ensues, much to the poor woman's growing frustration.
  • From Young Justice:

Flash: Back in a flash. (runs off)
Impulse: Heh. "Back in a flash". Does he say that often?
Every Other Member of the Allen Family: (sighs) Too often.


Real Life

Please Note: Only add an example to the Real Life Folder if it is about a specific person and the person themselves has said something about, or lampshaded it happening. Do not add generic <this occupation=this quip> or <this name=this quip> entries..

  • Umberto Eco, whose surname means "echo" in Italian and Spanish. He writes of how tired he is of everyone making jokes about how he "always answers back", and journalists writing articles with titles such as "Eco's echo", "A book with echos", etc.
  • Corbin Bleu and Cordon Bleu jokes. Lampshaded in the Agony Booth recap of High School Musical:

By the way, Corbin Bleu should not, under any circumstances, be confused with chicken breasts stuffed with ham and swiss. And boy, I'm sure he's never heard anyone make a joke like that.

  • Ben Affleck has complained about people coming up to him and saying "AFFLECK!" in the same tone as AFLAC.
  • Due to Wayne's World, anywhere Alice Cooper went people started "We're not worthy!". He said that it was at least better than when he released the album Hey Stoopid.
  • John Bytheway. Yes, that is his name. He's gotten tired of people saying, "By the way, John." He realized in 8th grade that his last name is a prepositional phrase and that if his child's middle name is a verb "he or she will be a sentence." He also has traced his family name back to 16th century England. He relates a story in which, after decades, a new joke was made. "If you have a son, will you name him Owen?"
  • In the book of Harry Enfield and Chums, Enfield recounts a story about looking for a dog he was supposed to be walking. Every person he passed said "You don't want to do it like that", in reference to his character Annoying Dad (aka Mr You-Don't-Want-To-Do-That). Finally he snapped, and responded "And you don't want to be the hundredth person to say that to me today!" In the book he takes the opportunity to apologize to the person, if they're reading.
  • Wayne Knight on the Seinfeld DVDs recounts how he chewed out a fan after having "Hello, Newman" shouted at him one too many times.
  • In Kevin Jenning's memoir, Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son, he mentions that, when he first met his future partner, he said, "Your name is Jeff Davis!", prompting the man to wearily ask, "Which part of the South are you from?"
  • Ever since Team America: World Police, Matt Damon apparently cannot go a week without hearing "[stupid voice] Matt Day-minnn!" He seems to take it pretty well though. In fact, he was actually bummed that the South Park guys didn't ask him to provide his own voice.
  • Just barely avoided with David Buehler, the starting placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys football team in 2010. Due to the way his name is spelled, it appeared the poor guy was doomed to a lifetime (or at least a career) of countless smartasses saying "Bueller.... Bueller...." to him in a monotonous voice. Fortunately, TV commentators put the issue to rest as early as possible by noting that his name was actually pronounced "Beeler."
  • Dave Chappelle mentioned he was tired of people constantly saying (shouting), "I'm Rick James, bitch!"
  • Chris Barrie mentioned in an interview that until about ten years after the last episode of Red Dwarf was broadcast, he could not go on the London Underground without someone on the platform shouting "Oi! Smeghead!".
  • Averted by Billy Crystal, who commented in a standup routine that he thought it was very amusing the variety of people who would greet him with "You look mah-velous!" (Apparently this was better than the greeting he often got during the run of Soap, which consisted largely of "Hey faggot!")
  • Barenaked Ladies at one point became annoyed at fans throwing boxes of Kraft Dinner onto the stage during performances of "If I had $1000000". When fans didn't listen they started just collecting the boxes before the show to donate to local food banks.
  • According to the DVD commentary for the original Ghostbusters, the movie ruined William Atherton's life, what with random people yelling "Hey, dickless!" at him on the streets and all...
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