Potty Emergency: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:mizpee 12-38-54.gif|frame|Hopefully she managed to fit a change of clothes into that purse.]]
A comedy routine which involves a character ''really'' having to go to the bathroom, and being prevented from doing so by various plot contrivances. This often climaxes in a frenetic scene where the character darts desperately from location to location, [[Potty Dance|clutching his/her groin]], searching for someplace, ''anyplace'' where he/she can empty his/her bladder. The search will usually prove unfruitful—and the visited places progressively more embarrassing—as the routine wears on.
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** In the 11th Season episode "Crock Tales", Frasier and a blind date become stuck to one another with superglue, and the date is on a liquid diet which catches up with her at that moment.
* Jennifer Ellison has a case of this on ''[[Hotel Babylon]]'' (Episode 13).
* ''[[The Nanny]]'':
** C.C. has a brief case of this in ''[[The Nanny]]'' during the episode "Schlepped Away" in which she desperately holds it in. She finally relives herself when she gets to Fran's parents house.
* A scene in ''[[Married... with Children]]'' (Field of Screams) where Al chains himself to his old high school football goal to prevent the stadium from being torn down, and is just about to give up since he has to pee, he tells Kelly to unlock him from the chains so he can take a leak but learns that the key doesn't fit and decides to take a leak while being chained up.▼
** In another episode, where Fran and Val are kidnapped, Fran manages to trick their captors by offering them her mother's chocolate-coated laxatives, telling them it's candy, resulting in both of them having to make a mad dash for a bathroom. After Maxwell finds and unties them, he still rejects her advances, causing her to sigh, and then offer one of them to him too. The episode ends at that scene.
▲* A scene in ''[[Married... with Children]]'' (Field of Screams) where Al chains himself to his old high school football goal to prevent the stadium from being torn down (unwisely dirinking a "Big Gulp" beverage before doing so), and is just about to give up since he has to pee, he tells Kelly to unlock him from the chains so he can take a leak but learns that the key doesn't fit and decides to take a leak while being chained up.
* During an episode of ''[[According to Jim]]'' (The Thin Green Line) in which Cheryl arrives at a bar to use the bathroom after drinking a few cups of green tea but the bouncer tells her to to just take a leak in the alley, she eventually does but gets arrested for public urination.
* During an episode of ''[[Monk]]'' in which Julie is dying to go to the bathroom however she eventually uses the bathroom in the band Korn's bus.
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* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'': In one episode, Marshall and Lily hide in the bathroom because they don't want to "spoil the mood" of Ted's date in the other room, and Lily needs to pee, while at the same time being uncomfortable with the idea of peeing in front of Marshall.
* In Episode 6 of the South Korean TV show ''[[The City Hall]]'', the extremely cute but thoroughly obnoxious councilwoman Min Joo-hwa suffers this, culminating in [[Potty Failure]]. While visiting protagonist Shin Mi-rae's bar with several journalists, she needs to urinate and asks to use the toilet. Shin Mi-Rae takes the opportunity to get back at her, holding the key to the toilet out of reach and gloating about how good it is to abuse power. After making her squirm and [[Potty Dance]] for a while, she gives her the key...and then smacks her on the bottom, causing her to wet her skirt in front of the journalists with a squeal of distress.
* In ''[[Veep]]'', Vice President Selina Meyer suffers this at the end of "Frozen Yoghurt". Suffering from diarrhoea, she visits a frozen yoghurt shop for publicity. The owner's elderly mother is using the toilet when the inevitable event happens, resulting in Selina [[Potty Failure|taking a massive dump in her dress in the car
* In episode 2 of the Thai TV show ''[[Kom Payabaht]]'', attractive student Pia becomes desperate to poo and seeks relief in a shop toilet. Unfortunately for her, the shop owner barges in in front of her, leaving her unable to wait any longer and forced to [[Potty Failure|dump in her skirt]] with a cry of despair.
== Music ==
* [[Benny Hill]] used the joke version (see Other below) in his song "Anna Marie".
* [[Weird Al]] touched upon this trope in his song "Traffic Jam":
{{quote|''Trapped inside my automobile
''Cobwebs growin' on the steerin' wheel
''Now, I'm no genius but one thing I know
''I shouldn't have had that [[Oh Crap|bag of bran muffins]]
''An hour and a half ago }}
=== Music Videos ===
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''
**
** Another strip, Calvin is dreaming. He dreams he passes by water on a street flowing into a sewer, then water coming out of a drainpipe, and then a waterfall. Then it starts to rain, then pour, then a fireman hits him with a hose, and finally, he's drowning in the ocean during a terrible storm. He wakes up and makes a run for the bathroom.
* ''[[Hagar the Horrible]]:
** In one strip, Hagar's house is nearly buried in snow (as it often is in winter), and Hagar is shoveling very, very fast towards a tree for his very frantic dog Snert behind him.
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* In an episode of ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'' after drinking too much pop at a rock concert the duo soon have to go, they eventually find a port-a-potty but it has a very long line, they try to relieve themselves on a wall but a security guard catches them, eventually they are finally able to use it but as it turns out the concert is over.
** Inverted in another episode. Both Beavis and Butthead have plenty of access to restrooms throughout the entire episode, but yet they still can't relieve themselves. The reason being they forgot how to perform the biological function of urination.
* In an episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
** That would probably count as a Potty Failure since he went in his armor. Also, during the breakdancing part, you can hear splashing sounds.
* On a ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode Hank and the guys rush home to use the bathroom after drinking tainted beer from Mexico and all just make it but Dale has to wait even longer because of the complicated security system he's setup for his bathroom. On another Bill has locked himself out of his house and has to go badly but the other guys won't let him use their bathrooms so he resorts to using the cooler they keep their beer in, it's his after all.
* In the ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' episode "Lyle The Kindly Viking", Sven has one of these, and to top it off, he even sang "I need to go to the bathrooooooooooooooooooooooom!" But it does not show him using the bathroom,
* The ''[[Cow and Chicken]]'' episode "Chicken in the Bathroom" revolves entirely around this. Mom tells Chicken that he is not allowed out of the bath tub until he has taken a bath. This soon comes back to haunt her, as she later finds herself in need of the facilities, as do Cow and Dad. Chicken still refuses to take a bath and seems to enjoy making the rest of his family suffer extreme bladder agony (or in Cow's case, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|udder agony]]). Almost two-thirds of the episode consists of the three bursting characters pleading for Chicken to vacate the premises, while pointing out what they need to do in increasingly imaginative metaphors. Eventually, [[Potty Failure|poor Cow just can't hold on any longer. The resulting eruption drowns everyone.]]
* ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' briefly makes use of this, although not as a major part of the plot. One episode features the titular boy genius and his sister Dee Dee dueling with label-makers, completely surrendering themselves to the logic that whatever is labeled by each becomes that person's property. Dee Dee is quick to ensure that everything in the fridge is hers, but Dexter spots that she has missed a giant bottle of juice, which he promptly drinks. The juice quickly makes its way to his bladder, and he runs to the bathroom. To his horror, he discovers a toilet covered in Dee Dee labels. In the next scene, Dexter has fully relieved himself. Not until the denouement do we discover his desperate solution.
* Typically, ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' take this to a new extreme in American animation. The episode "Truth or Cosmoquences" sees Timmy - unusually relegated to a B-story - have to spend an extended amount of time in Fairy World, where he soon discovers that he cannot magically transport himself through the bathroom door (the only way to pass through one) and obtain the relief he needs. With Cosmo and Wanda distracted, Timmy must endure hour after hour of unrelenting Potty Emergency - while serving the drinks at a party that has a giant fountain for a centerpiece.
** That not the worst of it, the whole them of the reunion was a "celebration to water". So as you can imagine this didn't help matters. {{spoiler|He eventually does relieve but tells his godparents "Not to drink the lemonade"}}.
*** Even worse was that Cosmo and Wanda were already drinking lemonade at that point.
** ''[[A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!]]'' has Timmy wish that Crocker had "the atomic runs" early on.
* In an early episode of [[Family Guy]], Peter mentions that he "shouldn't have had that prune smoothie" and then drives past a sign for a town dump, a truck emblazoned with the warning "Wide Load", a car whose bumper sticker reads, "I love my Shih Tzu", a sign for a furniture store proclaiming that "All Stools Must Go", a billboard for "Bob's House of Feces", (which he says can't possibly be real) and finally a casino billboard emblazoned with "Craps, Craps, Craps".
* An episode of ''[[Arthur]]'' had an episode with the dream variety, when minor character Jenna is at a sleepover and is afraid that everyone will find out she is a bed-wetter. Upon waking, she turns on the TV as a distraction...and finds, among other things, men with Scottish accents talking about "wee lassies" and an episode of Sesame Street brought to you by the letter P.
* In the ''[[Two Stupid Dogs]]'' episode "Bathroom Humor" during the middle of the night Big Dog has to pee he searches for a tree but only finds one starting to bud Little Dog stops him before he can go he tells him that "this is [their] home", so they go around looking for a place for Big Dog to relieve himself, they end up in Hollywood's house inside his bathroom but they can't find a tree and Big Dog is getting frustrated and they have a fight, they get inspiration by a photo of a little boy using the toilet so they dress him up like one and Big Dog doesn't feel comfortable so they get inspiration from a little girl on a toilet and dress him in girl's clothes and he still doesn't feel comfortable, finally Little Dog suggests a glass of warm milk while picking up the glass his fingers slip into the milk and he finally relieves himself.
* The ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' episode "The Big Drip" centers around this, made worse by the fact that [[Louis Cypher|Lucius]] destroys every washroom in Miseryville after Jimmy tries to use his...[[Didn't Think This Through|including his own]].
* Henry goes through one of these at the end of the ''[[KaBlam!]]!'' episode, "Timeless!"
* A [[Nightmare Sequence]] in ''[[Nightmare Ned]]'' had Ned being force fed water until he had a [[Balloon Belly]], which invoked this trope.
* A [[Running Gag]] variety on ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' - Grandpa generally has to interrupt whatever lesson he's teaching Arnold because he "shouldn't have had" * insert food/drink here* .
* In the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "Transformation", Starfire was analyzing her [[Bizarre Alien Biology|body changes]] while Beast Boy needed the bathroom. He notices Robin watering the flowers, Cyborg getting a drink, and Raven moving boulders out of the way of a waterfall. He says the alphabet to himself ending with the usual letter and as a plant comes into view, the scene ends with water going down a drain implying he went all over the plant.
* ''[[Wonder Pets]]'': "There's a puppy and he has to pee-pee, but he can't... because he's stuck in the house!"
* In ''[[Dan Vs.]]'', Dan falls victim to this in "Traffic." Trying to get home so he can pee, he's blocked by traffic due to a sock and road work, a train crossing, a group of senior citizens, and even a flock of sheep. [[Potty Failure|He doesn't make it]], and swears revenge on traffic.
* One episode of ''[[The Mighty B!]]'' has Penny suffering one, and it could be [[Foreshadowing|foreshadowed]] as she was seen drink all of Bessie's water from her backpack.
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E14 The Last Roundup|Last Roundup]]'' episode of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', Pinkie gets off the train in Dodge Junction quite clearly in need of a toilet. She finds a public toilet and is about to use it until she realises that Applejack, whom they came to Dodge to find, just walked out of it. She runs back after she and the others have caught her.
* Used in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbFJSStLmWw this] Cartoon Network City bumper where Ben from ''[[Ben 10]]'' has to go while in his Wildmutt form.
* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining", Cartman experiences severe diarrhea as a result of the various fast food he ate before and the soda he drank during the tour.
* The trope is the main plot of the controversial Disney Junior series ''Nina Needs To Go''. It's a series designed to teach small kids to tell when they need to go, after all.
* In ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'', restrooms (usually public ones) are commonly used by Miraculous-users to recharge when their kwami's power wears off (in order to preserve their identities) and Cat Noir used this as an excuse once to gain access to the bathroom in Chloé's house.
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Ahh! [[Not a Subversion|Finally found one!]]
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Older Than Steam]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Bathroom Tropes]]
[[Category:Turn-On Tropes]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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