Overly Narrow Superlative: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Duff''': Aye, but now they call me Roboduff! [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|The world's deadliest golfing cyborg!]]<br />
'''Kim''': Wow, now ''that's'' a mouthful.<br />
'''Ron''': And really, [[Lampshade Hanging|how many other golfing cyborgs are there]]? It can''not'' be a crowded field.|''[[Kim Possible]]'', "[[The Movie|A Sitch in Time]]"}}
|''[[Kim Possible]]'', "[[The Movie|A Sitch in Time]]"}}
 
This trope covers situations where something seems to be highly praised, but the praise is only relative to an extremely small -- orsmall—or intrinsically awful -- groupawful—group (often a group of one), rendering it meaningless. Sometimes the intent is for the praise to be taken seriously (in which case it becomes a version of the [[Sharpshooter Fallacy]]), but—but the more frequent implication is that there isn't any larger category relative to which it can apply, makingthus it"necessitating" athat [[Stealththe Insult]]'''Overly ofNarrow sortsSuperlative''' invent one. Sometimes the joke is that, even in such an incredibly narrow category, the thing being discussed ''still'' isn't first, making it a [[Stealth Insult]] of sorts.
 
This is commonly used for humorous [[Self-Deprecation]]; it can also be a way to imply that a work, while bad, at least has a unique premise--itpremise—it's better than any other because there ''is'' no other. Sometimes it derives additional humor from the recipient taking it as a genuine compliment, either because they're [[Idiot Ball|dumb]] or because [[Dramatic Irony|we the audience know something they do not]].
 
The stock piece of dialogue that fits this trope goes something like:
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Contrast [[Mathematician's Answer]], which is equally meaningless but for the opposite reason. Compare [[Trivially Obvious]] and [[Medal of Dishonor]], which may be given out in cases like these. Compare [[Damned By Faint Praise]] when this is given by someone else
 
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
 
== Advertising ==
 
* A Fox Sports Detroit commercial heard one year in May: "Winner of more Emmys than any mid-Michigan sports network this year".
* Used all the time in commercials promoting TV shows. They seem to try to find some way to refer to the show as #1 somehow. They'll mention usually the genre (#1 new comedy), time (#1 new show of the year), location (#1 show on cable), and any combination of these getting more and more specific as you go.
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* Advertising for ''[[Dexter]]'' frequently cites the title character as "America's Favourite Serial Killer".
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'' has Guy constantly referring to himself as "The World's Strongest [[Cyborg]]". There can't be many of those, especially not built for combat. It gets better in ''GaoGaiGar FINAL'', where he has been upgraded to an [[Evolutionary Levels|Evoluder]] and starts calling himself "The World's Strongest Evoluder". The only other Evoluder in the world is his girlfriend, [[Unfortunate Implications|which makes it sound like he's calling her a wimp]]. <ref>[[Bilingual Bonus|Maybe that's because he keeps calling her "boluda"...]]</ref>
* Played with in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha AsA's]]''. In the last chapter, {{spoiler|Reinforce}} claims to be the happiest magic tome in the world. However by that point she has a very good reason to feel the happiest, [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|not mattering if she is the only magical tome shown in the series]].
 
== Anime[[Comic and MangaBooks]] ==
* Lampshaded in ''[[Y: The Last Man|Y the Last Man]]'': Hero compares "the highest ranking woman in the Catholic church" to being "the leggiest guy in the Rockettes".
* ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'' has Guy constantly referring to himself as "The World's Strongest [[Cyborg]]". There can't be many of those, especially not built for combat. It gets better in ''GaoGaiGar FINAL'', where he has been upgraded to an [[Evolutionary Levels|Evoluder]] and starts calling himself "The World's Strongest Evoluder". The only other Evoluder in the world is his girlfriend, [[Unfortunate Implications|which makes it sound like he's calling her a wimp]]. <ref>[[Bilingual Bonus|Maybe that's because he keeps calling her "boluda"...]]</ref>
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120503124825/http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=36&Itemid=53&limitstart=62 Golden Lad issue No.1]: Golden Lad's Most Astounding Adventure!
* Played with in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As]]''. In the last chapter, {{spoiler|Reinforce}} claims to be the happiest magic tome in the world. However by that point she has a very good reason to feel the happiest, [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|not mattering if she is the only magical tome shown in the series]].
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* Lampshaded in ''[[Y: The Last Man|Y the Last Man]]'': Hero compares "the highest ranking woman in the Catholic church" to being "the leggiest guy in the Rockettes".
* [http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=36&Itemid=53&limitstart=62 Golden Lad issue No.1]: Golden Lad's Most Astounding Adventure!
* [[Detective Animal|Detective Chimp]] sometimes refers to himself as the world's greatest chimp detective.
** He's also called [[Batman]] the world's second greatest detective.
 
== [[Fan Work]] ==
* The [[The Wiki Rule|reference wiki]] for ''[[My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character]]'' describes [[Princess Tutu|Entchen]] as "the greatest anatine ballerina on Earth" (then immediately footnotes that she's probably the ''only'' anatine ballerina on Earth).
 
== [[Film -- Animated ]] ==
* In ''[[The Lion King]]'', Scar mentions [[Blatant Lies|wanting to look out for the well-being of]] his favourite nephew. Simba's response: "Pff - yeah, right; I'm your ''only'' nephew."
 
 
== Film -- Live Action ==
* The DVD cover of ''[[Happy Gilmore]]'' has a quote referring to it as "the best golf comedy since ''[[Caddyshack]]''!" So that means it's better than ''Caddyshack II'', I suppose.
* In ''[[Mr Baseball]]'', [[Tom Selleck]]'s baseball has-been, Jack Eliot, resorts to one of these to try to avoid being traded.
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'''Skip:''' That was four years ago, Jack. Last season, you hit .235.
'''Jack Eliot:''' ''Last season'', I led this team in ninth-inning doubles in the month of August! }}
* "[Not-very-good movie] is the ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' of [tiny or inherently bad genre]" has [httphttps://wwwweb.magnetcatarchive.comorg/2009web/0520210322195031/citizen-kane-of-blog-postshttps://pagead2.htmlgooglesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js become]{{Dead link}} something of a snowclone.
** The ''Boston Globe'' memorably described ''[[Shakes the Clown (Film)]]'' as "the ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' of alcoholic clown movies."
** There's a Netflix user review of ''[[Lifeforce]]'' that calls it "by default, the ''Citizen Kane'' of naked space zombie vampire movies".
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* [[James Cameron]] is known for describing his [[Old Shame|directorial debut]] ''[[Piranha|Piranha 2: The Spawning]]'' as "the finest flying piranha movie ever made".
* One tagline for the cult classic Jean Reno movie ''[[Wasabi]]'' is "Quite possibly the greatest French-language, English-subtitled, Japanese action-comedy of all time."
* One May 2010 review described ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' movie ''[[MacGruber]]'' as "the funniest SNL movie since ''[[Wayne's World|Waynes World]]''". Most ''[[Saturday Night Live|SNL]]'' movies range in quality; calling a movie the funniest since ''Wayne's World'' isn't saying much.
* ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' does this a few times.
** Ramona tells Scott that he's the nicest guy she's dated yet. Considering that her dating history consists of the Seven Evil Exes...
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* ''Apogee of Fear'' has been called "[http://www.space.com/14234-1st-scifi-movie-space-nasa-garriott.html the best science fiction film ever made in space]".
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
* ''The New Yorker'' reviewed Jeff Lindsay's "[[Dexter]]" novels by saying "Dexter Morgan is one of the most likable vigilante serial killers in recent literature." This is weird on many levels. First, "in recent literature," as if that statement would be any less valid if they just said "in literature" given how few characters fit that crazily specific criteria. Then they complicate things even further by saying he's just "one of" the most likable, as if to cover their tracks in case there are other characters that fit his exact description who are more likable. This description is kind of like saying "[[George W. Bush]] is the best president whose father was also president and also likes Dr. Pepper."
== Literature ==
* The New Yorker reviewed Jeff Lindsay's "[[Dexter]]" novels by saying "Dexter Morgan is one of the most likable vigilante serial killers in recent literature." This is weird on many levels. First, "in recent literature," as if that statement would be any less valid if they just said "in literature" given how few characters fit that crazily specific criteria. Then they complicate things even further by saying he's just "one of" the most likable, as if to cover their tracks in case there are other characters that fit his exact description who are more likable. This description is kind of like saying "[[George W. Bush]] is the best president whose father was also president and also likes Dr. Pepper."
* In ''When You Are Engulfed in Flames'', [[David Sedaris]] ponders how sometimes the sins we haven't committed can be all we have to cling to, and some people really need to reach to find sins they haven't committed: At least I never killed anyone ''with a hammer''.
* In ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', Lucy tries to cheer up a guilt ridden Tumnus by saying he's "the nicest faun I've ever met." She kindly neglects to mention that he's the only faun she's ever met. He even suspects she hasn't met many.
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{{quote|Anyone who'd like a good, suspenseful adventure novel about a giant lizard and a big gorilla who fight at the end will get enjoyment from it.}}
* As [[Ephraim Kishon]] wrote, because a state Israel didn't exist for 2000 years, they had for some time the first anything in Israel for 2000 years. The first driving school, the first broom factory, and he himself wrote the first collection of humorist short stories for 2000 years.
* From [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]'s first ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' story, "Extricating Young Gussie":
{{quote|''Take him for all in all, dear old Uncle Cuthbert was as willing a spender as ever called the family lawyer a bloodsucking vampire because he wouldn't let Uncle Cuthbert cut down the timber to raise another thousand.''}}
* In a short scene in ''[[Lensman|Children of the Lens]]'' that shows how close the Kinnison family is, Kimball Kinnison tells his only son that he's Kim's favorite son. Kit takes the comment in the good humor that it's meant in.
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
 
* In the ''[[Colbert Report]]'' [http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/qyadrw/obama-administration-replaces-food-pyramid here]
== Live Action TV ==
{{quote|But that was my favorite Egyptian mortuary based nutritional diagram}}
* In ''[[Brothers and Sisters]]'', the following exchange happens:
{{quote|'''Saul''': Why are you so obsessed with my social life?
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'''Saul''': Only brother.
'''Nora''': In this family, you never know. }}
* ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' during a special episode of ''Tool Time'', Tim thanked the audience for making it "Michigan's fourth-highest-rated cable tool show".
* ''[[Web Soup]]'' includes a segment called ''The Greatest Web Video Ever ...This Week''.
* In ''[[That '70s Show]]'', after losing her virginity to Eric, Donna says that the sex was "the best I've ever had."
** In the [[Wonderful Life]] episode, Eric "brags" to Donna about how he's the assistant manager of the second-largest mattress retailer in the tri-county area.
* On ''[[Scrubs]]'':
** The Janitor tries this and fails.
{{quote|'''Janitor''': We're the best hospital employee ''a capella'' band around.
'''The Worthless Peons''': Oh really? }}
** Ted unintentionally does this when he's talking to Gooch:
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* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':
{{quote|'''Kendra''': That's me favorite shirt! That's me only shirt!}}
* ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]''{{'}}s Howard Moon is Britain's leading cream poet.
** This trope is also a running gag in the audio commentary. "This is one of the top five dwarf-based arctic sick jokes" and "He's one of the great London tent-shakers."
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' has a few examples:
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{{quote|'''News Announcer''': It's been a quiet day over most of the country, as people went back to work after the warmest July weekend in nearly a year.}}
* In one episode of ''[[Due South]]'', Ray Kowalski claims that his current boxing protégé is the best fighter he's ever trained. Francesca forces him to admit that he's the only fighter he's ever trained.
* ''[[Television Without Pity]]'' does this occasionally.
** They described ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' as "probably the best vampire show on now", though that's not as narrow as it sounds these days..
** They also described ''[[Top Chef]]: Just Desserts'' as "everyone's favourite competitive pastry reality show".
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* In the first 2010 episode of the ''[[Ellen DeGeneres]] Show'', Ellen proclaims to her audience, "you are the best audience of the year", and adds "no, you are the best audience of the DECADE!" The audience starts off laughing at the joke, and then cheers for themselves.
* There was a History Channel documentary on the Black Plague where one analyst referred to it as "Surely one of the most important events in European history where over fifty percent of the population died in such a short time." (Yeah, there's probably supposed to be a comma after history...)
* On ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'':
** In the 11th-season episode "Who Knew?":
{{quote|'''Col. Potter''': The best damn cartoon strip in the world is 'Li'l Abner.'
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* ''[[iCarly]]'': The ''iCarly Awards Show'' episode includes awards for things like, "The Most Interesting and Yet Frightening Tongue Video" and "Best Milk Squirting from Eye Video"
* In an early episode of ''[[Psych]]'', Shawn says the following about Lassiter: "... he is an exemplary public servant, and arguably the finest detective mind in the lower western Santa Barbara county area... over the age of 35."
* In an episode of ''[[Reno 911!]]'', Junior honors the Sheriff's memory by calling him the "best Pollack sheriff" they've ever had. He goes on to say that he isn't deprecating the Polish, he just wasn't a particularly good at his job.
* [[Sci Fi Channel|SyFySyfy]] advertises ''[[Ghost Hunters]]'' as "Television's #1 Paranormal Reality Series."
* ''[[Top Gear]]'':
** Host Jeremy Clarkson usually gives a guest that isn't near the top of the time chart bragging rights by declaring them "The fastest ''blank'' to go around our track," with ''blank'' replaced with things like Welshman or person with a senior citizen's bus pass.
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* In ''[[Friends]]'', Rachel claims that Ross is, like, the toughest palaeontologist she knows.
* Inverted in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' when Lucille calls Michael her "third least favorite child". Though, since she has four children, that's still ''kind of'' an insult.
* Fan-tweet read out on ''[[America's Test Kitchen|Americas Test Kitchen]]'': [[Twitter|@cpkimball]] is the sexiest man in a bow-tie with a cooking show on public television."
* ''[[NCIS]]'' had an under coverundercover set up blown apart by the FBI. Fornell and Gibbs start in on each other about it before heading off to Gibbs' "office". The FBI agents worriedly mentioned to the NCIS team that they hadn't seen Fornell this mad since... (other FBI agent finishes) the last time they saw him.
 
== [[Music]] ==
 
== Music ==
* When [[Flight of the Conchords]] are performing for an audience that's unfamiliar with them, they'll usually bill themselves as some variation of "formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". The third most popular is a Flight of the Conchords cover band. They play all the same songs, but they're just slightly better.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84EoBQfdrb0 "The Most Beautiful Girl (in the room)"] is this trope from beginning to end.
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* Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, a music/variety act at [[Disney Theme Parks|Disneyland]], often describe one of their members as "the fastest speed fiddler in the entire... Frontierland area".
* The comedy group [[Pig With The Face Of A Boy]] describe themselves as "[The] world's best neo-post-post-music hall anti-folk band."
* On [[AskTV the Tropers|This Very WikiTropes]] someone defended the group [[The Lonely Island]] as being ''"probably the most successful comedy rap group currently performing"''.
* [[Flogging Molly]] has a song called "The Worst Day Since Yesterday".
* The Housemartins claimed they were only the "fourth best band in Hull" (the three other bands they thought were better than them? Everything But the Girl, The Gargoyles and Red Guitars). This is referenced in the name of their 1986 debut album ''London 0 Hull 4'' (as in Hull has four great bands, as opposed to London's zero).
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* Inverted in a [[John Lennon]] quip, who, when asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, replied, "He's not even the best drummer in ''[[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]!"
 
== [[New Media]] ==
* In ''[[Conquering the Horizon]]'' Hsthressis telepathically told Evelyn:
{{quote|Out of everyone who’s ever murdered me, you’re my favorite.}}
:In case you're wondering how many times Hsthressis got murdered, the answer is once. And it was an [[Murder by Mistake|accident]] (kinda)!
 
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Dilbert]]'', Dogbert is acting as a shady, bribe-collecting movie critic, and a customer wants to know how much the review "Best movie so far this year" will cost for a film released on New Year's Day.
** Inverted in another strip where Dilbert's company manages to claim that their engineers are paid above the median salary for their industry by defining their industry more and more vaguely until the average salary drops below what they're paying their employees. Dilbert's company is officially in the industry of "High technology, textile workers, teenagers and dead people."
* In ''[[Garfield (Comic Strip)|Garfield]]'', Garfield says: "Jon! My favorite person! In this room... at the moment."
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'': [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Caesar]] [https://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/2001/10/07 brags] about being "the best freestyle rhyme champion in [[Stepford Suburbia|Woodcrest]]!!", which [[Deadpan Snarker|Huey]] [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] is not that hard to be.
 
 
== [[Radio]] ==
* Christian radio host Bob Larson often called his audience "America's #1 live radio prayer family." Quick--name another live radio prayer family.
** KCMS, that is Spirit 105.3, which broadcasts in the Seattle area has segments in the evening which can be considered a "live radio prayer family." quick-- Quick — name a third.
* A running bit on Dan Cole's radio show on KFAN is to state that a given show is "one of the top five shows on the station." There are only 5 shows on the station.
* ''[[Just a Minute]]'': "Very good chairman, very good chairman! Best chairman we've got, best chairman we've got!"
 
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy ]] ==
 
== Stand Up Comedy ==
* [[The Very World of Milton Jones|Milton Jones]] is often introduced as "Britain's funniest Milton".
* [[Tim Minchin]]'s ''So Live'' DVD describes him as "without a doubt one of the top 7 pianist-singer-songwriter-comedian-actort-pervert-wannabe-rockstars born in Western Australia in the mid-seventies."
* Drag performer Cashetta calls herself "The world's most fabulous drag magician." And follows with, "And the genius of that is that [[Lampshade Hanging|you've got nothing to compare me to!"]]
 
== [[Theatre]] ==
 
== Theater ==
* From the opening of ''[[Ragtime]]'' [[The Musical]]: "''And although the newspapers called the shooting the Crime of the Century, Goldman knew it was only 1906...and there were ninety-four years to go!''"
* In ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' : Martha Jefferson, upon meeting Adams and Franklin, says that she is honored to meet "The two greatest men in America." Franklin replies, "Certainly the two greatest in earshot."
* After the "wall" has finished his speech in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream|A Midsummer Nights Dream]]'':
{{quote|'''Demetrius:''' It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord.}}
** In several places on [[TVthis Tropes (Wiki)|This Very Wiki]]wiki, we refer to the line "[[Exit, Pursued by a Bear]]" as "the most famous piece of stage direction ever".
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
 
== Video Games ==
* The radio programs in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' use these, such as in Vice City where the hosts defends himself by saying his old clown act 'Saul the wheat-free clown' was voted "Best up and comming dietery-restricted comedic act" in Vice City. The slimy politician points out he lost that one to the 'Mary the meat-free mime'.
* In ''[[Pokémon XD]] Gale of Darkness'', [[The Renfield|Chobin]] does this to himself when he describes himself as the local [[Mad Scientist]]'s best assistant. "Chobin is only assistant, so Chobin must be best assistant."
* On this wiki, Kain Highwind of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' has been referred to as "[[Weak-Willed|the coolest hero ever to have a negative Will save]]."
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' is widely described as "the best ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' game on the [[Play StationPlayStation Portable|PSP]]" despite being the only PSP ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' title. [[Subverted Trope|It's widely considered to be a good game, though.]]
* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' is described by its developers as "the world's #1 war-themed [[Nice Hat|hat simulator]]."
* Speaking of ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'', the game contains a group that makes a show called "Tape It Or Die," which is "the number-one duct-tape related zombie-killing survival web-series today."
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* The English site for ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'' dubs the game "the world's greatest pigeon dating sim."
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
 
== Web Comics ==
* [http://www.amptoons.com/ Barry Deutsch] describes his webcomic ''[[Hereville]]'' as being "Possibly the best comic about a troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl that you'll read all week."
* Used in [https://web.archive.org/web/20120526214704/http://dresdencodak.com/wp-content/gallery/stickman/a_hourly.gif this] ''[[Dresden Codak]]'' stickman comic ("Easily the greatest Jeff Bridges [[Sci Fi]] film of the early 80's") <ref>For the record: John Carpenter's ''Starman'' in 1984 is the only possible competition to ''Tron'' (1982) in this category.</ref>
<!-- %%For the record: John Carpenter's ''Starman'' in 1984 is the only possible competition to ''Tron'' (1982) in this category.%% -->
* From ''[[Skin Horse]]'': [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/skinhorse/series.php?view=archive&chapter=27144 "Still, this is easily the best centipede-made credenza I've ever seen."]
* Comic number 377 of ''[[Bonobo Conspiracy]]'' is [https://web.archive.org/web/20071026104827/http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/bonobo-conspiracy/?i=377 possibly the second-funniest comic strip ever made about part X.1, paragraph 204.2(1.1)(b) of the Income Tax Act of Canada].
* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' likes this trope.
** Some [[PlayStationPlay Station 3]] fans claimed that the game ''[[Lair]]'' doesn't fit existing genres and is, in fact, its own genre. This caused Mike Krahulik of ''Penny Arcade'' to call it "...a really shitty genre," and mockingly refer to the game as "The best 3D dragon-based shooter with Sixaxis controls." (yes, the last part [[I_of_the_DragonI of the Dragon|is necessary too]])
** ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' has also [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/11/29/ repeatedly] [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/7/16/ referred] [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/12/17 to] ''[[Kolibri]]'' as "Arguably the finest hummingbird-based shooter for the 32X"; this has since become a minor [[Memetic Mutation|internet meme]].
* ''[[Unshelved]]'' characters got [http://www.unshelved.com/2004-2-29 the best vegan root beer float] ever.
* ''[[Xkcdxkcd]]'' does this a few times.
** [http://xkcd.com/770/ Here's] a sad example.
** [http://xkcd.com/802/ More humorous example] in the [[Alt Text]], which is a (true!) example of something ''not'' being first in its incredibly narrow category.
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* Zip in ''[[DDG]]'' is told:
{{quote|'''Matrisse''': [http://www.sincomics.com/phpAlbum/main.php?cmd{{=}}imageview&var1{{=}}DDG%2FPages+100%2B%2FDDG117.jpg&var2{{=}}2 You're the nicest dead transvestite not good enough to move past the afterlife].}}
* ''[[Nukees]]'' won the Spleen award (best comic named Nukees).
* ''[[Touhou Nekokayou]]'': "You are the guiltiest {{color|#ff0000|HELL-RAVEN}} with the power of a {{color|#ff0000|CROW}} with the power of {{color|#ff0000|THE SUN}} in the entire {{color|#ff0000|UNDERGROUND}}!"
* According to its [http://mountaincomics.com/spatula/about/ about page], "Spatula Drama is is a constrained comic that tells the tale of two lovers, Vincent Bruno and Trish, who are drama-prone spatulas. It is probably the world’s best example of this premise."
* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0831.html #831]: Oh man! I haven't seen him this mad since the last time I saw him!
* ''[[Shortpacked]]'': ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'': [http://www.shortpacked.com/2012/comic/book-14/01-deady-dearest/avengers/ the best movie Jesus Christ has ever seen.]<ref> (Out of a sample size of ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'', ''[[Short Circuit]]'' and ''[[Short Circuit]] 2'').</ref>
* As ''[[Wondermark]]'' blogged about ''[[Cathy]]'' being called "the first widely syndicated humor strip by a female cartoonist" --
{{quote|...being the ''first'' at something is a powerful branding tool, and with enough qualifiers, anyone can be the first at something.}}
* ''[[Head Trip]]'' had a case of [http://headtrip.keenspot.com/d/20141006.html Mal appreciating her appliance], who made mistake of talking about this ''before'' she had her morning coffee. Then again, that's Mal - she ''could'' know more than ten coffee makers possessed by dead guys' spirits. And/or personally deprive them of their previous bodies. 'Tis best not to ask.
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Averted when [[Diamanda Hagan]] described Zombeak as "the world's worst zombie chicken movie," because [[Poultrygeist|another one actually does exist]]. And it is [[Guilty Pleasures|amazing]].
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/cutewithchris Cute with Chris] often calls his site/show, "The number one cat website on the internet today... With the word "Chris" in the title. So proud."
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** In "kids' show", Strong Bad describes Homsar as "everyone's favorite blue midget Homestar".
** In ''[[Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People|8-Bit Is Enough]]'', Homestar remarks that Strong Bad is the "eleventh best friend a guy can have". Which is a lot less impressive when the series has twelve main characters, and Homestar is presumably not counting himself as one of his friends. Although, with [[Cloudcuckoolander|Homestar]], one can never be certain.
* One of [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20100710155209/http://beatnikturtle.com/ Beatnik Turtle's] [http://www.thesongoftheday.com Songs of the Day] is titled "This Is The Best Song That I've Written Today."
* The [[The Onion|Onion News Network]] released a clip posing as a North Korean propaganda piece about bringing the Moon down to North Korea as a trophy to put on display for the glory of the nation. What to put it on, though?
{{quote|'''Reporter''' (subtitled): The People's Great and Harmonious Moon Hand of Kim Jong-Il will be the largest moon-hand pedestal ever constructed.}}
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{{quote|- ...the most beloved teen drama ever made! ...In Canada. Between the years of 1987 and 1989. [[Lampshade Hanging|Of all time]]!}}
* [[The Rap Critic]]'s show "The Worst Lyrics I've Ever Heard.... This Month." (even more when considering that the March 2012 episode came out on March ''2nd''...)
* [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/community/myvideos/74334-thebanjokid/video/4029-Banjo+Kid+Reviews%3A+Hell+Girl Hi, I'm the Banjo Kid, the greatest banjo playing Anime critic on the net!]{{Dead link}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110901231600/http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/865987-garbage-truck-simulator-2011-review-readers-feature GameCentral] give us "what may well be the most in-depth review of ''Garbage Truck Simulator 2011'' you will ever read on the website of a national newspaper."
* The satirical Genius Guide to Jazz [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=28193&page=1 has this to say] about [[The Who]]'s Keith Moon:
{{quote|While no one will ever accuse him of being one of the greatest technicians of the instrument, Moon understood both his strengths and limitations and rightly proclaimed himself "The greatest Keith Moon-style drummer in the world."}}
* In the Spanish [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20200919115849/http://mujergorda.bitacoras.com/ Más respeto, que soy tu madre], one of the characters is the World's champion of a sport invented by himself.
* Dread Central reviewer Scott Foy has repeatedly stated in regards to director Ulli Lommel that "[[Uwe Boll]] is ''not'' the worst director in the world. In fact, he's not even the worst German director whose name begins with the letter 'U'."
* In the [[MSF High Forum]], Lily mentions that May is the 'most interesting half-breed she can remember seeing.' She's amnesiac, and just arrived at school today.
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* The conclusion of [[Cleolinda Jones]]' ''Twilight'' recaps : "''it was the best series starting with a teenage girl in love with a mysterious boy in her class that ended up with a teenage girl defending her growth-accelerated mutant hybrid baby from an ancient clan of evil vampires with her magical psychic shield that I ever read.''"
* [[Tobuscus]] got invited to livestream a playthrough of the [[Xbox Live Arcade]] game ''[[Bloodforge]]'' on its release date. He brought his mom along to the show and invited her to play for a few minutes. Shortly thereafter he called her, "The best mom who ever played ''Bloodforge'' in the first hour of its release."
* From CatsTheLookLikeHiterCatsTheLookLikeHitler.com: "[http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigany.pl?love.html I think your site is one of the funniest sites about cats that look like Hitler that I've seen this week]."
* Sally Kohn, a lawyer, former contributor at [[Fox News]] and now an "expert" on everything, bills herself as "America's second favorite cable news lesbian" (according to her Twitter profile).
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
 
== Western Animation ==
* From ''[[Garfield Specials|A Garfield Christmas Special]]'':
{{quote|'''Jon''': Doc Boy, how's my favorite brother?
'''Doc Boy''': Don't call me Doc Boy. You've probably forgotten I'm your ONLY brother. }}
* ''[[All Grown Up!]]'' has Chucky described as "The fastest braces-wearing, red-headed, nearsighted, kid on Earth!"
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':
** She probably doesn't intend it as an insult, but at one point Lisa says ''Yertle the Turtle'' is "possibly the best book ever written on turtle stacking".
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** Dr. Zoidberg has been known to refer to himself as "the most important doctor at the delivery company where I work".
** In "Bendin' In The Wind": "Bender, that was ''the'' best forty-minute washboard solo I've ever heard. The parts where I was awake ''blew my mind''."
* In ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Sonic (unsurprisingly) fails to lift Tails' spirits when he's down in the dumps on one occasion by saying that he's the fastest, coolest two -tailed fox he knows.
* Reversed in an episode of ''[[Animaniacs]]''. Yakko Warner describes an [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|overly Avant-Garde]] [[Le Film Artistique|black and white French film]] as "The worst French film I've ever seen! It's also the only French film I've ever seen."
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' episode 'Grandpa Wore Tights' includes "Zee largest secret army of atomic robot zombie men... in zhe vorld!" <ref>An unsubstantiated claim. If there ''was'' a larger ''secret'' army of robot zombie men... in zhe vorld, would he know?</ref>
* Jay Sherman of ''[[The Critic]]'' is described as "New York's third most popular early-morning cable-TV film critic."
* An episode of ''[[The Weekenders]]'' focuses on yearbook superlatives. The yearbook has a space for "Best Tino" - and main character Tino failed to even get that.
* In an episode of ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batmanand the Brave And The Bold]]'', Kite-man boasts "I'll be the most famous kite-related person in history!" Given that the only other famous kite-related person in history is [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/4p29 Ben Franklin], and that Franklin is a household name not just in America, but the world over, that is actually aiming quite high for a third-tier gimmicky villain.
* Reversed in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', where a young Doofenshmirtz isn't particularly fond of the song "What Do It Do?", even ''after'' putting it in one of these:
{{quote|'''Doofenshmirtz:''' Eh, it's in my top seven, eight favorite songs about reverse engineering.}}
* On ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', the boys are watching the Salt N Peppa video "What A Man". Butt-Head responds to the line "He is the cutest brother in here!" with "He's the only brother in here!"
* The''[[KaBlam!]]'': During the [[KaAwards Blam!|KaBlammyShow]] episode, the KaBlammy for best acting while impersonating an egg went to Loopy from "Life with Loopy", and the award for best supporting monkey went to "Prometheus and Bob.".
* In one episode of [[Scooby -Doo]], this is Velma's excuse for stealing a pair of skates.
{{quote|'''Velma:''' I'm the best figure-skater in my country! *trip* ...It's a very small country?}}
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'':
** In "The Ghost of Plankton", Plankton ([[It Makes Sense in Context|who had become a ghost]]) stumbles upon his funeral at the Chum Bucket and calls it "the worst funeral of mine I've ever been to".
 
== Comic[[Real BooksLife]] ==
 
== Real Life ==
* A standard joke: "You're the best Sunday afternoon audience we've had all week!" (change date and time as appropriate).
* Used often in movie advertisements. Your film didn't open #1 at the box office? No problem. Just say it's the #1 action-adventure/comedy/family comedy/romance/fantasy/etc of the week. The sad part? It's usually said non-[[Irony|ironically]]. A similar usage is movies in January being billed as "one of the best movies of the year".
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** Uwe Boll's ''[[Blood Rayne II Deliverance]]'' DVD release was promoted boldly as a sequel to the "Best-selling Live-action DVD of 2006!" A claim footnoted with "for films that made less than $5 million at the box office".
** ''[[The Lying Ape]]'' lists an unintentional example - a man was asked to review a book and completely bashed it, giving it overall an extremely negative review. This being early January, he ended the review ironically with "Best book I've read all year." Guess which single line out of his entire review they put on the back of the novel?
** A variation/inversion on this appeared in a review for the first ''[[Dungeons & Dragons (film)||Dungeons and Dragons]]'' film, which came out in December 2000; the reviewer wrote something along the lines of, "[this movie] was the worst film of this year; if they had only waited a few weeks it could have been the worst film of ''next'' year!"
* The same thing happens with TV shows. Almost every show is number one in some way: "#1 New Show, #1 show on cable, #1 new show on cable." It just keeps getting narrower from there.
* The [http://bassett-street-hounds.org/ Bassett Street Hounds], central New York's finest<ref>and only</ref> mixed-sex [[wikipedia:Morris dancing#Border|Border morris dancing]] team.
* Outside an Australian leagues club, their sign read "Watch the game on the coast's largest 102" television!" One wonders in what important way all the ''other'' 102" televisions on the coast are smaller...
* [[TVAll TropesThe (Wiki)]]Tropes:
** The page on [[Crack Fic]] describes [http://velvet-mace.livejournal.com/67591.html this] as "the greatest work of pornography ever written. {{spoiler|About Tetris.}}"
** The page for ''[[Axe Cop]]'' calls it the best comic by a six-year-old you'll ever read! As a bonus, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtOX_O_NKHY This] [[Real Trailer, Fake Movie]] refers to it as "the greatest action movie ever made...written by a five-year-old boy."
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{{quote|'''Parent''': Well, you're definitely my favorite daughter/second son/older female middle child.}}
* Technology writer [http://www.ihnatko.com/ Andy Ihnatko] has referred to himself as "America's 42nd most beloved industry-figure and "Possibly not the least-beloved technology pundit in the land!"
* Echoing the Beatles comment above, [[Penn & Teller|Penn Jillette]] has said, "I'm not the best magician in the world -- I'm not even the best magician at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, or the best magician in Penn & Teller."
** Similarly, the career of Andre Agassi has been noted for not being about records; "he doesn't even have the record for the most titles in his ''house!''" (Though the bar was set pretty high; Agassi's wife, Steffi Graf, has won 22 Grand Slam events.)
* Records and firsts are getting increasingly specific. 'First woman to do X'. 'Fastest 100-yard dash by an Asian.' 'Biggest statue created by a left-handed Norwegian guitarist while on crack...'.
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** The Minnesota Wild have never lost a home opener in franchise history.
* Websites like Fark.com often contain links to items such as "The most amazing picture/video of (extremely specific object or event that you aren't likely to see ever again) you'll see today."
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120122021454/http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2010/10/review-waiting-for-superman/ This review] of ''Waiting for Superman'' calls it "the second best documentary I've seen this year that ends with low-income families nervously awaiting the outcome [of] a lottery determining whether their child gets a coveted spot in a charter school." (And the reviewer is serious, going on to say that ''The Cartel'' is the best, and there's even a third film which would qualify in that category which he has not yet seen.)
* Some of the materials run on the [https://web.archive.org/web/20101107043550/http://oddlyspecific.failblog.org/ Oddly Specific] spinoff of Failblog. Others edge into [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]. [http://oddlyspecific.failblog.org/2010/10/01/funny-signs-good-luck-finding-the-coldest/ This one, for instance].
* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] is the best gubernatorial candidate in the cast of ''[[Predator]]''. Some may disagree on whether he's truly better than [[Jesse Ventura]], but the funny thing is, no matter which of them you prefer, neither of them is the worst. That distinction goes to [[wikipedia:Sonny Landham|Sonny Landham]].
* Retainer Brite - The World's #1 Daily Orthodontic appliance cleaner
* American computer scientists like telling people that the American ENIAC, finished in 1946, was the first-ever working, fully electronic computer. European computer scientists like to point out that the "fully electronic" part makes this an [[Overly Narrow Superlative]], only necessary so they can avoid mentioning the working electro-mechanical computers that existed in Europe five years prior, most notably the Zuse Z3.
** Another Overly Narrow Superlative is such a big deal that it rather cancels the over-narrowness, though. ENIAC was the first computer known to be [[wikipedia:Turing complete|Turing Complete]] during its operational life. (The Z3 ''was'' Turing Complete, but this was only demonstrated in 1998, using programming techniques not available in its time.)
* Illinois Senator Roland Burris has a huge gravestone already put in place, with a list of accomplishments carved in marble. He's particularly fond of listing personal "firsts". So his gravestone boasts, apparently seriously, that he was the first African-American to transfer from Southern Illinois University to the University of Hamburg.
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* Port Washington, Wisconsin is the host of "The world's largest one-day outdoor fish fry." Which suggests that somewhere, there is a town with the world's second largest one-day outdoor fish fry.
* Some of the more obscure scholarships out there for students can get maddeningly specific, narrowing the qualifications down to things like, "half-hispanic female student from _____ County, attending _____ University, in the Poultry Science program."
* The bigger New Orleans crawfish festivals distinguish themselves by being both overly narrow and overly superlative -- theysuperlative—they will call themselves the "best/biggest/wildest (optional qualifier: Cajun) crawfish boil ''in the world''", but there aren't many crawfish boils outside of New Orleans.
* A quote by [[Dan Quayle]] (frequently attributed to George W. Bush):
{{quote|"We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world."}}
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* If you are an only child, your dad is ''required'' to call you his "favorite daughter/son."
** It also applies if you're the only child of the specified gender. For example, if you come from a family of 4 children but 3 of them, your brothers, are male, you're your dad's "favorite daughter". [[Captain Obvious|And the other way around.]]
** And the ''other'' other way around, too - your mom and dad are probably your favourite parents.
* While in office, Mark Green was fond of referring to himself as "the greatest New York City comptroller in history." As he was also the first New York City comptroller in history, that was definitely true.
* The Wright Brothers were not the first people to travel by air -- theyair—they were preceded by hot-air balloons, for example. What Orville and Wilbur ''are'' credited with is "the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard." according to the Smithsonian.
* You probably didn't know there's a meteor crater under Manson, Iowa. It's several miles across, and completely buried under glacial till. In order to maintain its superlative status (it was briefly hoped to be the impact that killed the dinosaurs, before it was found to be too small), it's described as "the largest and best preserved impact crater on the mainland United States". Others that are larger are either deformed or offshore. Never mind that Manson's crater is completely buried. That's why it's so well preserved!
* [[The Other Wiki]] describes [[Billy Ocean]] as "the most popular British-based R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid-1980s."
** Likewise, its German-language chapter describes Johannes Heesters (1903-2011) as having been "the second-oldest man living in Germany", narrowing the aspects of rank (only 2nd), sex (only among males), country of residence (only in Germany) and discounting citizenship (he was Dutch, maybe an Austrian too). A much less narrow superlative on the other hand was his nature as the worldwide oldest active and longest-serving artist.
 
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:''You may have figured this out already: This page is the best page discussing Overly Narrow Superlatives on All The Tropes.''
 
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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Insult Tropes]]
[[Category:Overly Narrow Superlative{{PAGENAME}}]]
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