Overly Narrow Superlative: Difference between revisions

{{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 />

 

This trope covers situations where something seems to be highly praised, but the praise is only relative to an extremely small -- or intrinsically awful -- 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 the more frequent implication is that there isn't any larger category relative to which it can apply, making it a [[Stealth Insult]] of sorts. Sometimes the joke is that, even in such an incredibly narrow category, the thing being discussed ''still'' isn't first.

* 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.

* Used in an advert for ITV Digital. Monkey tells Johny Vegas that he's 'the funniest person sitting in that chair'.

* [http://www.tentaclegrape.com Tentacle Grape]: The most delicious hentai soda on the market!

** Calling it a "unique glass collector's bottle" in this case is probably another example of this trope.

** As an aside, cracked.com has named tentacle grape the 4th most horrifying soda in the world. A claim the proudly proclaim on their about page.

* Played for laughs with the iOS version of ''[[You Don't Know Jack]]'', which Jellyvision flaunts as "the #1 game in the world that contains both fart noises and trivia about Shakespeare."

* Advertising for ''[[Dexter]]'' frequently cites the title character as "America's Favourite Serial Killer".

 

== Anime and Manga ==

 

 

== Comic Books ==

* [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.

 

== Film -- Animated ==

 

 

'''Skip:''' That was four years ago, Jack. Last season, you hit .235.<br />

'''Jack Eliot:''' ''Last season'', I led this team in ninth-inning doubles in the month of August! }}

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

{{quote| '''Lureen:''' You're the best combine salesman we got. [[Lampshade Hanging|You're the ONLY combine salesman, in fact...]]}}

* 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.)]]".

** Though he would later avert this by referring to ''Road House'' as "the single finest American film" in ''Mike Nelson's Mega Moviecheese''

* [[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."

** Ramona tells Scott that he's the nicest guy she's dated yet. Considering that her dating history consists of the Seven Evil Exes...

** Earlier in the movie, Knives Chau gushes over Scott, telling him she's never dated anyone so talented. Scott correctly surmises that she hasn't dated that many people in general.

* ''[[Eight Legged Freaks]]'' was advertised as "the biggest, nastiest mutant spider movie of all time".

* In ''[[Demolition Man]]'', upon learning he's eating a rat hamburger, John Spartan shrugs and states this is the best hamburger he had in years. Considering the current society is vegetarian, and he spent a few decades as a [[Human Popsicle]]...

* ''Destroy All Movies'' describes ''Love Bites'' as "The best shot-on-video gay vampire comedy of 1988."

* ''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]".

* 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''.

* Inverted in the blurb on the back of ''The Lump of Coal'' by [[A Series of Unfortunate Events|Lemony Snicket]]: "Is there a more charming holiday tale to behold? Probably, but Lemony Snicket has not written one."

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

{{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.

{{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.''}}

 

'''Saul''': Only brother.<br />

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

* ''[[Web Soup]]'' includes a segment called ''The Greatest Web Video Ever ...This Week''.

** 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.

** The Janitor tries this and fails.

{{quote| '''Janitor''': We're the best hospital employee a capella band around.<br />

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

{{quote| I mean you're the most beautiful, perfect ukulele player I've ever seen! I know that's not saying much because they're usually fat Hawaiians...}}

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

{{quote| '''Jim''': Dwight was the top salesman of the year at our company. He wins a little prize money and gets honored at some convention. It is literally the highest possible honor that a northeastern-Pennsylvania-based mid-size paper company regional salesman can attain.}}

{{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."

** An episode of the British show featured a duet which host Clive Anderson called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgC0Aph2UDc&feature=fvsr "the best song about cat litter I've ever heard."]

* 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]]'':

* [[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..

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

{{quote| '''[[Brian Blessed|BRIAN]] [[Large Ham|BLESSED]]''': This is [[Gordon Brown]]'s worst week in politics since last week.}}

* 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...)

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

{{quote| '''Col. Potter''': The best damn cartoon strip in the world is 'Li'l Abner.'<br />

{{quote| '''Col. Potter''': We're the best mixed-doubles bridge team in the entire Show-Me State.<br />

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

* 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."

* ''[[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.

** Also all the antics of [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Top Gear Stunt Man]]. Everything he does is really just a huge failure that everyone had seen coming right from the beginning, but they always try to make it into some type of success. He successfully created a new record for the longest car jump in reverse gear, since nobody ever claimed that title before.

* The pilot episode of ''[[Extras]]'' has Ben Stiller play up his own career with "I mean, yeah, I make Along Came Polly, it opens to $32 million, one of the biggest Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday holiday opening weekends ever"

* In ''[[Friends]]'', Rachel claims that Ross is, like, the toughest palaeontologist she knows.

* ''[[NCIS]]'' had an under cover 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 ==

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84EoBQfdrb0 "The Most Beautiful Girl (in the room)"] is this trope from beginning to end.

{{quote| ''"And when you're on the street, depending on the street, I bet you are definitely in the top three..."''}}

{{quote| ''"Wow! It's the stocking stuffer of the century! Which isn't saying much, considering the century is still so young!"''}}

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

* 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".

* On [[Ask the Tropers|This Very Wiki]] 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).

* 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]]".

{{quote| '''Layne''': I would have to say that this is the best show we've done in 3 years.<br />

'''Jerry''': Layne, it's the only one we've done in 3 years.<br />

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

 

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

** 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."

 

 

** 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--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.

 

 

== Stand Up Comedy ==

* 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!"]]

 

== 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!''"

{{quote| '''Demetrius:''' It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord.}}

 

 

* 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."

* 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."

* A slightly different version: Cirno of ''[[Touhou]]'' constantly proclaims that she's the strongest fairy in Gensokyo. She probably is, but that's like being the fastest turtle - you're still miles behind everyone else.

* The English site for ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'' dubs the game "the world's greatest pigeon dating sim."

* Comic number 377 of ''[[Bonobo Conspiracy]]'' is [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.

** ''[[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.

** [http://xkcd.com/770/ Here's] a sad example.

** [http://xkcd.com/802/ More humorous example] in the rollover text, which is a (true!) example of something ''not'' being first in its incredibly narrow category.

{{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).

* 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!

{{quote| ...being the ''first'' at something is a powerful branding tool, and with enough qualifiers, anyone can be the first at something.}}

 

* 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."

** In the Strong Bad Email "record book", Strong Mad gets into the book for the record "Most Macaronis Nailed To A Paper Towel Tube [[Shaped Like Itself|By Strong Mad]]", with one piece of macaroni nailed to the tube.

** In "kids' show", Strong Bad describes Homsar as "everyone's favorite blue midget Homestar".

* 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?

{{quote| '''Reporter''' (subtitled): The People's Great and Harmonious Moon Hand of Kim Jong-Il will be the largest moon-hand pedestal ever constructed.}}

** 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'."

{{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!]

* [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."

{{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 [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'."

* 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.

* In the Facebook game "[[The Smurfs]] and Co", if you talk to Timber Smurf, he'll call himself the best lumberjack in all of Smurf Village. You'll respond by saying he's the only lumberjack in Smurf Village.

* 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.''"

* From CatsTheLookLikeHiter.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]."

 

 

== Western Animation ==

{{quote| '''Jon''': Doc Boy, how's my favorite brother?<br />

'''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!"

** 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".

** In the same episode, one of the successful female Simpson relatives describes herself as the "regional manager of the third-largest distributor of bunk and trundle beds".

** Abe Simpson describes the Flying Hellfish as "the [[Perfectly Cromulent Word|fightingest]] squad of the fightingest company of the third-fightingest battalion in the army".

** Another episode has Lisa awarded the Student of the Millennium Prize. She admits it's not as big a deal as it sounds, as we're only about a decade into the new millennium...[[Subverted Trope|but still, they picked HER]]!

** One of the DVDs has a list of unused opening captions for episodes as an [[Easter Egg]]. These include "The best show you're watching right now".

** One ad campaign run for the show on [[Adult Swim]] described it as "The action-comedy-scifi-drama that redefined action-comedy-scifi-dramas."

** 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''."

* ''[[The Tick]]'' 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.

{{quote| '''Doofenshmirtz:''' Eh, it's in my top seven, eight favorite songs about reverse engineering.}}

* 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?}}

* 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...

** 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 article for "[[Josef Stalin|The most evil Georgian (not the US state) in human history]]."

* A common saying: "Isn't this like being the best football (soccer) team in Greenland?"

* 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.

* The Guinness Book Of World Records is full of "standard" records, like world's longest beard, but it also has gems like the world record for cycling backwards with a violin.

* [[Adolf Hitler]] could be described as the Most Evil Painter In History.

* 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.

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Insult Tropes]]