Terrible Interviewees Montage: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES utter a single hilarious sentence that highlights a flaw in your character. This means you are part of a montage of 'failed dates' and will never be seen again."''
|''[http://www.cracked.com Cracked.com]'', [http://www.cracked.com/article_15079_5-stages-successful-relationship-in-romantic-comedy.html The 5 Stages of a Successful Relationship (in a Romantic Comedy)]}}
A sub trope of the [[Travelling Salesman Montage]], specifically of the job interview iteration. However, that trope focuses on the interviewer, whereas in
The montage usually ends with someone perfect (or at least, not QUITE so horrible) for the role coming along and being hired. That, or the interviewer calling it a day, only to find the perfect person for the role outside of an interview situation a scene or two later. Alternatively, the interviewer already has someone who would fit the job just fine, but is trying to avoid hiring them for some personal reason. The series of awful interviewees is then a [[Rule of Drama]] plot device to force them to hire someone they don't want to have around.
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If the montage focuses on the interviewer's reactions, it may overlap with [[Bill, Bill, Junk, Bill]]. Compare the [[Reality Show]] equivalent, [[Hopeless Auditionees]].
{{noreallife|Real Life does not have montages.}}
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==▼
▲== Advertising ==
* There was this commercial for the self-help section of FHM magazine that aired in Singapore, depicting a guy who can't say anything but lame pickup lines, or score a job interview to save his life. Yes, a montage with ''just one guy''.
* Match.com aired a commercial showing a luckless man dating a variety of creepy, awkward, or unpleasant women, before cutting to their slogan and services.
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* The Sobame (Concubine) audition in ''[[Iono the Fanatics]]'' played with this. All the interviewees were actually good, but almost everyone was eliminated due to other reasons, such as [[Oracular Urchin|getting a sudden divine revelation that told her that she had to go home now]], getting kidnapped before her turn, and [[Wholesome Crossdresser|possessing one body part too many]] [[Girls Love|for the very lesbian Queen Iono's tastes]].
* Polar Bear of ''[[Shirokuma Cafe]]'' interviews several potential candidates for part-time workers at his cafe, but they all display their typical animal traits, such as the tortoise being very slow, the baboon doing nothing but eating, and Panda stating he had no intention to work. Polar Bear fails them all and hires a human girl named Sasako right on the spot when she enters the cafe, carrying a sloth.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Fantastic Four]]''
** At one point, the Wizard held auditions for the fourth member of his latest Frightful Four in ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' comics. Applicants included an overweight cabbie in a bird suit ("The Osprey") and Captain Ultra, whose strength, flight, and gullibility made him a shoo-in... Until he fainted in the presence of a lit match.
** In the latest{{when}} ''[[Fantastic Four (animation)|Fantastic Four]]'' cartoon, this scene was reproduced with the ''Fantastic'' Four auditioning for new members after the Thing lost his powers. The Fabulous Frog-Man knocked himself out bouncing around, Texas Twister wrecked the audition area, and [[Squirrel Girl]] didn't even get to do or say anything before she was rejected. Oh, if only they knew... The cartoon also includes the Captain Ultra bit [[Homage|almost exactly the same]], except replace "lit match" with "[[Playing with Fire|Johnny]] giving a flaming thumbs-up".
* The ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' frequently holds open auditions, and, as you might expect, most of the people trying out are total losers. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130609033339/http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/340/ see here] for a pretty complete list (with a nifty parody at the end). Some of them aren't ''that'' bad, are they?
** In a subversion, a number of Legion rejects form the Legion of Substitute Heroes, who do good work as a sort of reserve team putting their unconventional powers to work in the field when the main team can't handle all aspects of a crisis.
** In one issue, the villainous Dynamo Boy, having tricked the rest of the Legion into quitting, held his own auditions
** [[Geoff Johns]] later retconned the reason as to why some applicants were rejected, citing that Saturn Girl had done psychic profiles on them during their try-outs. While some were rejected because their power was lame or they lacked suitable control, others were rejected because they had a variety of psychotic tendencies and deeply disturbed psyches.
** This was lampooned in the satire, ''[[Sergio Aragones Destroys DC]]''. The applicants included Nixon Boy (who [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?| can polarize people and make a 18 minute gap appear anywhere]]), Deja-Vu Kid (who can make events repeat themselves), Cotton-Swab Boy (who can remove earwax anywhere in the universe), Deja-Vu Kid ([[Running Gag| who can make events repeat themselves]]), Windows Lass ([[Take That|who can actually understand Windows 95]]), and Deja-Vu Kid ([[Overly Long Gag|who can make events repeat themselves]]).
* The Image series ''Wildguard: Casting Call'' revolved around a [[Reality TV]] show where superheroes competed for a spot on an auspicious team. The first rounds were... bad, and included heroes with lame powers (like Adhesor, who sticks to things), heroes who act more like villains (like Crimson Phantom Vengeance), and "Popstar", a singer who thought she was auditioning for ''[[American Idol]]''. The next round was only slightly better. [[Jerkass|Toughlon]] and [[Yandere|Wannabe]] made a lot of the others wish they didn't try out in the first place.
* A seventies [[Daredevil]] comic showed Matt Murdock interviewing possible replacements for [[Sexy Secretary|Karen Page]]. Up until Becky Blake, all applicants were pretty hopeless. "No I can't exactly type. But I make a great cup of coffee. If you like instant."
* ''[[Justice League of America]]''
** Some of the possible new League Members in the membership drive montage from ''Justice League International'' #24 were less qualified than others:
{{quote|
'''[[The Creeper]]:''' Hmmm... You said ''convicted'', right? }}
** A similar montage from JLA #5:
{{quote|
''' [[Martian Manhunter]]:''' We'll fix it. Next.
'''[[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]]:''' Name's Monaghan, Tommy Monaghan. I've got X-Ray vision and telepathy and I [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|kill]] superpeople -- for money.
''' Martian Manhunter:''' Next. And please, no smoking.
'''Hitman:''' ''(to next interviewee)'' Don't mention [[Comically Missing the Point|money]]. They don't like it. }}
** Of course, this was followed up with:
{{quote|
** Slightly subverted with Max Mercury, a very experienced and qualified [[Super Speed|speedster]]. He only showed up as a favor to [[The Flash]], and because he'd never been on the moon before (and wanted to take pictures).
* [[Brian Michael Bendis]] often uses this trope:
** In ''[[New Avengers]]'', Luke Cage and Jessica Jones interview a number of their super-hero peers to find a decent baby-sitter for their young daughter. [http://sketchcardsaloon.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/squirrel-girl-new-avengers-7.jpg The prospects aren't too great until the end].
** In ''[[Powers]]'', suspects are often interviewed in this fashion.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' prequel ''On the Origin of PCs'', there's one when Roy tries hiring for the Order, but there's a subversion: he's basically looking for anybody, and almost everybody refuses.▼
==
* One of the funnier parts in ''[[Armageddon]]'', with the twist being that all the guys being shown had already been hired on and we were watching the higher-ups regret this decision as they saw their psych evaluations.
* [[Eddie Murphy]] has one of these with his various possible dates in ''[[Coming to America]]''.
{{quote|
"I have a secret... I worship Satan!"
"I'm almost single. My man's on Death Row!" }}
* ''[[The Commitments]]'', about the story of Jimmy Rabbitte attempting to put together a soul band in Dublin, features a montage of unsuccessful for applicants to his band (including Cajun bands, riverdancers, [[Joni Mitchell]] wannabes and one poor deluded boy who only turned up because he assumed the line of people outside the door meant Jimmy was selling drugs).
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* ''[[Mystery Men]]'' has one of these with useless superheroes. Not that the protagonists themselves are lame to begin with, but these guys just suck even worse. The Waffler ([[Dane Cook]]), Ballerina Man, PMS Avenger... (that last one [[Menstrual Menace|only works 4 days out of the month]]).
* In ''[[Sex and the City]]'' [[The Movie]], when Carrie hires an assistant.
* Inverted in ''[[Shallow Grave]]'', where three roommates interview potential lodgers. The interviewees are regular people, while the roommates take the opportunity to grill them with sadistic and bizarre questions.
* ''[[Drillbit Taylor]]'' subverts this. The interviewees all seem properly qualified... then all bolt after finding out the low wages.
* ''[[Audition]]'' has one of these: an audition is held, nominally for a TV role, but its actual purpose is to find a woman for the main character to date. One woman removes her coat to reveal a yellow bikini underneath, another actually strips naked. Of course, given who he [[Yandere|ultimately ends up picking]], he really would have been better off with any of the failed auditionees.
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* The auditions for the musical in ''[[Mr. Holland's Opus]]'' are classic. "We've been at this all day, and the only ingenue we seem to have is Todd Markham!"
* ''No Reservations'', when Catherine Zeta-Jones's chef character is trying to replace Aaron Eckhart's sous-chef character.
* ''[[
* ''[[The Phantom of the Paradise]]'' features a segment in which [[The Caligula|Swan]] reviews the possible replacements for his unwanted star, Phoenix. Each of the applicants is given a bar or two of the Phantom's latest song to sing, one starting off where the other left off (usually about five seconds in): the winner of this little contest is Beef, an [[Ambiguously Gay]] glam-rocker chosen specifically to piss the Phantom off.
* ''[[The Fabulous Baker Boys]]'' has a long line of terrible singers audition for the act, and the brothers are about to give up, and then Michelle Pfeiffer shows up...
* A variant is used in ''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]'', where the cops interview a number of half-baked witnesses who think they know something about the killer. They finish off with someone who provides them with genuinely useful information that gives them their best lead.
* Subverted in ''[[Up in the Air]]''; the montages in the film are all people getting fired, not interviewing for a new job.
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* The ''[[Bewitched (film)|Bewitched]]'' movie does this ''twice'', both times for the role of Samantha in the [[Show Within a Show]] remake of the original ''[[Bewitched]]''; among the many poor showings are a few unexpected [[The Cameo|cameos]].
* ''[[Singles]]'', where most of the responses to Debbie's video dating tape are borderline psychotic, and the only guy worth considering "likes the way the world looks from a bicycle".
* ''Let's Get Harry'' (1986). A group of American construction workers want go down to Columbia to rescue a colleague kidnapped by terrorists. They want to hire a mercenary to advise
* In ''Shackleton'' (2002) the title character is interviewing people for his expedition, including a youth who prepared by taking a bath full of ice, and an army officer [[Reassigned to Antarctica|whose superior was quite enthusiastic when he proposed taking off for the South Pole]] (this is on the eve of war). But not to worry, if war is declared "[[What an Idiot!|I'll make my own way back.]]" The third interviewee also seems dubious as he was inspired by a dream to join the expedition, but as he's an experienced sea captain they can make better use of him.
* ''[[The 40-Year-Old Virgin]]'' includes a speed dating sequence that fits this trope completely, with the added humor of his individual friends' reactions to the same girls. The main character, failing to find a match at speed dating, even meets his ''real'' love interest in the following scene.
* In ''The Fighting Temptations'', the main character is looking for people to audition for a church choir. The interviewees include a girl who sings [[Amazing Freaking Grace]] badly, a bunch of kids who do a dance about Jesus baptizing them, a guy who sings "Isn't She Lovely" (including the instrumental) and some hillbilly who plays multiple mouth-related instruments but doesn't sing.
* ''National Lampoon's Van Wilder'' starts (after a random kid's suicide attempt) with Van interviewing students to be his personal assistant. All the candidates are rejected. Later, Van receives the last candidate in his
* ''[[The Way of the Gun]]'' features a montage of the two main characters getting interviewed at a sperm bank. Being opinionated criminal thugs, they each give very suspicious or bizarre answers to simple questions.
* The opening credits montage of ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' includes on-the-street comments from fans saying what they like about the band. This being a [[Mockumentary]], the comments are carefully chosen to illustrate that Spinal Tap's fans are idiots.
{{quote|
== [[Literature]] ==
* The fifth book in the ''[[X-wing Rogue Squadron|X Wing Series]]'' has Wedge Antilles go through a series of misfits and psych cases while recruiting for Wraith Squadron, complete with much snarking from his [[Number Two|2IC]]. In a subversion, the oddball applicants are the ones he ends up taking on, since the idea is specifically to get a squadron on the cheap by [[Career-Building Blunder|filling it with last-chancers and dropouts]]. Well, he took a couple of normal-seeming ones too, but as it turned out ''all'' of them [[Dysfunction Junction|had issues]]. And Wedge did reject a
* In one of the [[Stephanie Plum]] books, Stephanie, Connie, and Lula get stuck trying to find a new staff member (Vinnie's out of town). Turns out the only hireable candidate isn't what she claims to be....
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
* The first episode of ''[[Frasier]]'', and again in a later season episode where Daphne moves out and they need to find a new housemate. Also after Frasier hires a matchmaker. He ends up falling for... the matchmaker.
* On the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Bushwhacked", the crew is placed under arrest and subjected to interrogation. The resulting montage alternates between the serious (Mal, Shep, Zoe, Inara) and the hilarious (Jayne, Kaylee, Wash).
* Inverted when George is interviewing students for a scholarship in ''[[Seinfeld]]''; he picks a bad student after
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''
** In season one, when Cameron quits for the first time. It's not that the interviewees are so very awful, though, it's just that House is determined to find fault with everyone he interviews (since he doesn't really want to hire anyone new, but would rather have Cameron back). And of course, he wouldn't be [[Jerkass|House]] if he couldn't find ''something'' to hate in everyone he met...
** Another episode has a variation on this, where House bets that Chase will do well in speed dating simply because [[Bishonen|he's pretty]]. What follows is a montage of Chase himself being the terrible interviewee as women continue to fawn over him.
** Not to mention House's and Wilson's ''terrible'' dates.
{{quote|
* ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'', when the vicar is recruiting for the choir.
* ''[[Kenan and Kel]]''
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* ''[[Dead Like Me]]'' features one in the second season. George drags her heels in hiring someone, allowing the featured interviewees to make further appeals.
* In the ''[[Wishbone]]'' rendition of a couple of bits of the story of [[The Bible|David]], after King Saul takes the suggestion to have a musician around to soothe his soul, we are "treated" to three musicians, one of whom plays two pipes at once; it actually sounds good for about one second before you and Saul realize that it's going to get incredibly, annoyingly repetitive extremely quickly. The last one delivers a ''blatt'', almost prompting the king to give up... before a servant comes up and lets on that he knows of a shepherd boy who's good with a harp...
* In the first episode of ''[[Pie in the Sky]]'', detective-turned-restaurateur Henry Crabbe asks potential chefs how they would prepare a steak and kidney pie. Typically interviewees are shown to view something that simple as a task to produce it as quickly and cheaply as possible, while Henry wants quality, or claim that it's beneath the dignity of a chef to make such a common dish at all. The last interviewee impresses Henry with a technique which will take a day to produce, answers his questions quickly and decisively, then Henry sits back and says "I know you don't I? Breaking and entering..."
* ''[[That '70s Show]]''
** In an episode, the guys are applying for a job at Fatso Burger, and give the worst possible answers, except for Eric. An example:
{{quote|
'''Eric:''' Well, I'm a real people person.
'''Hyde:''' I don't answer stupid questions.
'''Fez:''' I speak Dutch.
'''Kelso:''' My eyes. Oh, and I guess my butt too. }}
** In another episode, the guys are in Canada, and are questioned in the same way by the Mounties.
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* In ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'', they hold open auditions for a new castmember of TGS, with horrible acts including several of the show's writers, a street performer dressed as a robot, and NBC anchor Brian Williams doing stand up comedy. In a twist, Jack doesn't choose the perfect candidate Liz wants, and instead picks the random guy dressed as a robot. Who actually becomes the new cast member, despite having no acting experience whatsoever and not even knowing what he was auditioning for.
* In the episode "Honey Trap" of the British sitcom ''[[The Thin Blue Line]]'', Inspector Fowler attempts to find someone who can replace Constable Habib in the upcoming trivia contest. He resorts to the perps in the detention room. Fat chance.
* Power Rangers:
* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' has the Green Ranger audition, with candidates chosen by the resident [[Plucky Comic Relief]], Ziggy. Interviewees include a ventriloquist and dummy (two for the price of one), a hula hoop girl who can't hula hoop (hypnotizing), and a mime (he's in a box). {{spoiler|Ziggy himself ends up becoming the Green Ranger [[Falling Into the Cockpit|purely by accident.]]}}▼
** Bizarrely done in ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' where Divatox holds a large "cattle call" of monsters in one episode trying out to work for her, all of whom are rather pathetic. Even her dimwitted henchman Elgar comments how he hates these gatherings. Eventually, Torch Tiger gets the job, not that he avoids messing up.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcngcqA6zHw One scene] from ''[[Misfits]]'', where Sally the probation worker is given the task of interviewing the young offenders, all of whom take it upon themselves to be as rude, annoying, sarcastic and/or angry as possible -- apart from Simon, who despite being a deeply troubled and socially inept young man with a conviction for arson, is by far the most polite.▼
▲** ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' has the Green Ranger audition, with candidates chosen by the resident [[Plucky Comic Relief]], Ziggy. Interviewees include a ventriloquist and dummy (two for the price of one), a hula hoop girl who can't hula hoop (hypnotizing), and a mime (he's in a box). {{spoiler|Ziggy himself ends up becoming the Green Ranger [[Falling Into the Cockpit|purely by accident.]]}}
▲* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcngcqA6zHw One scene] from ''[[Misfits]]'', where Sally the probation worker is given the task of interviewing the young offenders, all of whom take it upon themselves to be as rude, annoying, sarcastic and/or angry as
* There was an unusual variant in one ''[[CSI]]'' episode where the protagonists were investigating the murder of a patient in a high-security mental hospital. The terrible interviewees in that case were the victim's [[Ax Crazy]] fellow patients, and needless to say little information of value was forthcoming. The programme thoughtfully flashed up extracts from the patients' medical records between each clip just so the viewers would know what symptoms to expect.
* The seventh season finale of ''[[The Office]]'', "Search Committee", has the titular committee interview people for the position of regional manager. Notably, one of the interviewees was none other than David Brent, from the original British version of the show.
* In the ''[[Sex and the City]]'' episode "Three's a Crowd", a montage of bad potential candidates for [[Three-Way Sex]] is shown, including a geek couple seeking a woman who can impersonate [[The X-Files|Agent Scully]].
* In ''[[Charmed]]'''s episode, "Rewitched", Paige went to a speed dating event at P3 and went though a montage of awful dates until she meets the last one, "Whit".
* Used in the ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' episode "Band on the Run" when Cory and Shawn hold auditions to find new members for their fake band. However the trope was played with because one of the auditionees was actually talented but was rejected because he would make them look bad.
* ''[[American Idol]]'' has several of these in the first couple of episodes of every season, usually capping off each montage with someone good.
* A promo for ''Rizzoli & Isles'' shows the two leading ladies' reactions to a series of bad speed dates, alternating between the cop ("No, I did not bring my handcuffs.") and the medical examiner ("I can't write you a prescription."). By the end of the clip, the BFFs give up on dating and go out drinking with each other.
* In the second episode of ''[[Covert Affairs]]'', Annie, being the new girl is assigned to "walk-in" duty, as in attending everyone who "walks in" to report suspicious activity. Naturally, this tends to attract a lot of crazy people...
{{quote|
'''Annie:''' It's been well-documented that Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
'''Crazy Guy:''' ''Ted'' Kennedy. }}
* An episode of ''[[Angel]]'' does this with Cordelia looking for apartments.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* A segment of ''[[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] [[Wrestlemania]] 27'' featured Snoop Dogg and Theodore Long holding auditions for wrestlers with musical talent to join Snoop on tour. Featured acts include posh brit William Regal rapping, Beth Phoenix and Great Khali doing a song from Grease, and [[Zack Ryder]] singing Rebecca Black's "Friday".▼
==
▲* A segment of ''[[WWE]] [[Wrestlemania]] 27'' featured Snoop Dogg and Theodore Long holding auditions for wrestlers with musical talent to join Snoop on tour. Featured acts include posh brit William Regal rapping, Beth Phoenix and Great Khali doing a song from Grease, and [[Zack Ryder]] singing Rebecca Black's "Friday".
* In ''[[Merrily We Roll Along]]'', we see a few of the auditions for Frank and Charlie's first show, one of which is for a woman who doesn't so much sing as screech and clearly has no idea how bad she is.
{{quote|
"That's okay, we'll call you." }}
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* An audio sketch in one of the ''[[You Don't Know Jack]]'' games depicts [[Black Sabbath]], in 1971, trying to find someone to recite the opening line of "Iron Man", only for all of the auditionees to fail miserably. Just as [[Ozzy Osbourne]] is ready to give up, a delivery boy with a naturally-distorted voice is heard to say, "I'm from the drycleaners. I've got your ironing... man."
* The ''[[Lego Adaptation Game]] [[Rock Band]]'' tour mode starts with this.
== [[Web Animation]] ==▼
▲== Web Animation ==
* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' does this twice in a Strong Bad Email about who gets to check emails after Strong Bad retires. Also briefly seen in "haircut" when Strong Bad is trying to find someone with hair to cut.
* ''[[Bowser's
* [[
== [[Web
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]: Oracle for Hire''
** Miranda Deegan is [
** And let us not forget Dominic's [
* In ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'', they almost start with one of these, where Misho and Marena are looking to round out their posse.
* Seen in an early ''[[Patchwork Champions]]'' strip, when Lucky and Timebender were looking to fill out their ranks.
* ''[http://www.agameoffools.com A Game of Fools]'' has [https://web.archive.org/web/20090813210547/http://www.agameoffools.com/comic_56.html Sylvester] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20090925111512/http://www.agameoffools.com/comic_57.html Joey's] equally terrible attemps at finding jobs during the Slopbucket arc.
* In ''[[Las Lindas]]',' Mora and Taffy [http://laslindas.katbox.net/index.php?strip_id=226 go through one of these] when on a series of blind dates.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150412144620/http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=563 Semi-example] in ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]''
* ''[[Flaky Pastry]]'' starts out this way, with Marelle and Nitrine looking for another roommate to help them pay the rent. All but one of the rejected housemates become recurring side-characters later on, too.
* Implied to have happened before Sabrina got her first job in ''[[Sabrina Online]]''.
* ''[[Brawl in the Family]]'' gives us [http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=1007 a couple] [https://web.archive.org/web/20101229183759/http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=1541 of strips] regarding brawlers who would make bad bunkmates, with Dedede as the "interviewer" (though it bears mentioning that the guy's usually [https://web.archive.org/web/20101229141853/http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=1092 rather easily impressed] when it comes to interviewing people).
* Reverse example in [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213203349/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/149 this] ''[[Loserz]]'' strip, where Ben and Eric ask out various
* ''[[Subnormality]]'' gives us the [http://www.viruscomix.com/page549.html Dating (russian) roulette]: Six speed dates in a row, you ''have'' to settle on ONE mandatory date without seeing the others after you make your choice or being allowed to pick someone you already rejected. Hope you don't land on ''the bullet!''
▲* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' prequel ''On the Origin of PCs'', there's one when Roy tries hiring for the Order, but there's a subversion: he's basically looking for anybody, and almost everybody refuses.
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* The ''[[Kate Modern]]'' episode "Skittle Yourself" featured Charlie going through one of these. Might be a subversion, since she ended up hiring Lee, who wasn't exactly perfect, but was better than the other idiots who showed up.
* ''[[The Guild]]'', in season three, sees Codex seeking someone to replace Tinkerballa. None of the applicants measure up to the exacting standard of not being completely creepy or frightening. With the threat of Riley possibly joining the guild, Codex hastily recruits Clara's husband, a stupendously poor choice from the group's perspective.
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* The computer-oriented website ''The Daily WTF'' has a section titled [http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx Tales from the interview] for both terrible interviewees and terrible interviewers.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* ''[[
▲== Western Animation ==
▲* ''[[Cat Dog]]'' episode "CatDogPig" had one of these, the applicants included a hulking, thuggish bull and a shifty looking chicken with pockets stuffed full of junk who tried to assure Cat "I am [[Most Definitely Not a Villain|most definitely]] ''not'' a kleptomaniac".
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''
** Mr Burns does it a couple of times.
** Also the montage of Be Sharpes auditions to replace Chief Wiggum.
* ''[[Dexter's
* One ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon which has Porky Pig handling a Talent Agency revolves around this.
* ''[[Batman: The
* ''[[King of the Hill]]''
** One of these in the episode "Junkie Business", when Hank has to hire an accessories associate for the propane dealership. A highlight includes a man who has been on welfare for every Democratic presidency except Clinton and Truman. When an absolutely ideal candidate, who happens to be a rather attractive woman, does apply, uptight Hank passes her over and unwittingly hires the titular junkie instead.
** Double subverted in "Bill Gathers Moss", where Bill looks for a roommate with the guys' help. After two terrible applicants, the third is a former [[Playboy|Playmate of the Month]] who is cheerful, pleasant, and seems to take a shine to
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''
** Played straight when the [[Weird Trade Union|Guild of Calamitous Intent]] approves the application of Dr. Orpheus (and team) for an [[Arch Enemy]].
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* ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'', when screenwriters pitch world domination plans.
* ''[[Futurama]]'' has a variation where Fry and Bender go apartment-hunting; it also manages to play with the trope by having the last apartment they view be practically perfect, but they reject it anyway because it's in [[Joisey|New Jersey]].
* In the pilot episode of ''[[
* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' when Rocko was interviewing assistants for the comic book shop. Given the surreal nature of the show, this quickly degenerates beyond the usual weirdos and has an alien snapping its claws, a worm crawling across the table, giant dentures, and a hovering face made of eggs and bacon.
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' turns one of these montages into a song with the Mix-and-Mingle Machine in "Cheer Up, Candace".
* Once in ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' when [[Big Bad|Drago]] needed new henchmen (having fired the [[Goldfish Poop Gang|The Dark Hand gang]]). Naturally, [[Terrible Trio|Strikemaster Ice and co.]] end up being the last interviewees and wipe the floor with all of the previous ones.
* On ''[[Jimmy Two-
* ''[[My Little Pony:
{{quote|
This one's too old
He clearly has a terrible cold
'''Sick Stallion:''' Achoo!
'''Apple Bloom:''' This guy's too silly
He's way too uptight
'''Uptight pony:''' I say!
'''Sweetie Belle:''' Well nothing's wrong with this one
He seems alright
'''Scootaloo:''' His girlfriend sure thinks so. }}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Montages]]
▲[[Category:Echo Chamber]]
| |||