Overly Narrow Superlative: Difference between revisions

The stock piece of dialogue that fits this trope goes something like:

'''Bob''': But I'm the ''only'' janitor around here }}

* 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.

'''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 [http://www.magnetcat.com/2009/05/citizen-kane-of-blog-posts.html become] something of a snowclone.

** There's a Netflix user review of ''[[Lifeforce]]'' that calls it "by default, the ''Citizen Kane'' of naked space zombie vampire movies".

* In ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'', Jack's wife Lureen makes the following comment:

* The Norwegian nazi-zombie movie ''[[Dead Snow]]'' has been called "The best Norwegian nazi-zombie movie ever made".

* The tagline of ''[[Ace Ventura|Ace Ventura: Pet Detective]]'' is "He's the best there is! [[Lampshade Hanging|(Actually, he's the only one there is.)]]".

* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' has Esmé Squalor, the city's sixth most important financial advisor.

* From one of two reviews of the novel [http://www.amazon.com/KKXG-GIGANTOSAURUS-Adventures-Yuriko-Greatest/dp/1449904416/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308494349&sr=8-1 KKXG: KING KONG VS GIGANTOSAURUS]-

* 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":

== Live Action TV ==

* In ''[[Brothers and Sisters]]'', the following exchange happens:

'''Nora''': In this family, you never know. }}

* ''[[Home Improvement]]'' during a special episode of ''Tool Time'', Tim thanked the audience for making it "Michigan's fourth-highest-rated cable tool show".

* On ''[[Scrubs]]'':

** The Janitor tries this and fails.

'''The Worthless Peons''': Oh really? }}

** Ted unintentionally does this when he's talking to Gooch:

* [[I'm Alan Partridge|Alan Partridge]] frequently boasts of hosting "the fourth-highest-rated show on Radio Norwich"

* Perhaps lampshading the station's creaky financial status, one of ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'''s more prominent advertisers is recognizable by their spots' catchy slogan, "Red Wigglers: the Cadillac of Worms."

* ''[[The Office]]'':

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':

* ''[[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."

* In the "I Don't Know" segments of [[The Red Green Show]], Harold will often introduce the guest as his uncle's "best friend in the whole wide room."

* From ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'':

* 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 also described ''[[Top Chef]]: Just Desserts'' as "everyone's favourite competitive pastry reality show".

* From ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'':

* 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]]'':

** In the 11th-season episode "Who Knew?":

'''Charles Emerson Winchester, III''': That is roughly comparable to being the finest ballerina in all of Galveston. }}

** In the 9th-season episode "The Best of Enemies":

'''Charles Emerson Winchester, III''': That is roughly the equivalent of being the finest hockey player in all of Ecuador. }}

* ''[[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"

* 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.

* Asthmatic Kitty's press release for [[Sufjan Stevens]]' 2006 release ''Songs For Christmas'':

* Sammy Davis Jr used to describe himself as "the world's greatest one-eyed, black, Jewish entertainer".

* In one memorable TV interview, [[Jimi Hendrix]] responded to being called "one of the best guitarists in the world" by saying he was "one of the best guitarists sitting in this chair."

* The introduction to The Blanks' live show includes referring to the band as something along the lines of "The best a cappella group ever to sing in the halls of a [[Scrubs|fictional hospital]]".

* [[Alice in Chains]]' MTV Unplugged concert has this exchange between Layne and Jerry:

'''Layne''': Well, it's still the best. }}

* 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]]!"

* In ''[[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]]'':

** In several places on [[TV Tropes (Wiki)|This Very Wiki]], we refer to the line "[[Exit, Pursued by a Bear]]" as "the most famous piece of stage direction ever".

* ''[[Axe Cop]]'' is (in a parody-fashion) sometimes referred to as ''"The best web-comic written by a 6-year old and his 29-year old brother"''. It's a really good comic.

* Zip in ''[[DDG]]'' is told:

* [[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}}!"

* ''[[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" --

== Web Original ==

* One of [http://www.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?

** One horoscope listing also lampshaded this trope: "You're not sure how to react when people refer to you as 'The John Sherwood of Sailor Moon fanfiction'."

* In ''[[The Very Secret Diaries]]'', Legolas dangles Pippin over a cliff until he'll admit that Legolas is the prettiest elf in the Fellowship. Pippin diplomatically doesn't point out that he's the only elf in the Fellowship.

* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] describes ''[[Bratz (film)|Bratz]]'' as "the worst, most racist movie that stars Jon Voight, came out in the summer of 2007 and was based on a line of toys". And she ''still'' managed to make it an insult to [[Michael Bay]]'s ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movies.

* [[The Agony Booth]]'s description of ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'':

* [[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!]

* [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:

* In the Spanish [http://www.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'."

== Western Animation ==

* From ''[[Garfield Specials|A Garfield Christmas Special]]'':

'''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 an episode of ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman 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:

* 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 [[Ka Blam!|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.

* Amazon.com does this automatically with its best-seller list, narrowing the category until it puts the product whose page you're on in the top 100. "#61 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Comedic Fiction > Talking Animals > Wombats > Southern Hairy-Nosed".

* Often the evasive answer given by parents of multiple children when one of them asks if they're the favorite.

* 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."

* The bigger New Orleans crawfish festivals distinguish themselves by being both overly narrow and overly superlative -- 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):

:: Though this could be interpreted as the US coming out ahead of Canada, Mexico, and the South American states...

* The (now long defunct) Springfield News of Springfield, Oregon had a handful of regular movie reviewers, one of whom [[Once an Episode|opened every review]] with a variation on the line "The best {X} movie since the last one".