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** Although in Mr. Lodge's case, it's often more that Archie is trying to hang around with Veronica, rather than Mr. Lodge himself.
** A straighter example is [[He-Man Woman Hater|Jughead]] and [[Abhorrent Admirer|Ethel]].
* "You will not find [[The Phantom (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|The Phantom]]; he will find you." - Old Jungle Saying
* If [[Batman]] gets on someone's case, there is ''no'' shaking him. Well, there was that one guy, but he had to go through three clubs and two subways.
** And when he came back home Batman was waiting for him there.
* The ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]'' graphic novel ''PSmIth'' has fun with this one. A man shows up at the bar with a gun, ready to shoot the bartender. He is defeated, and thrown into the "sleep room". Then it happens again. And again. After thirteen times, the robot that's been taking the man to the sleep room complains that he can't do it again {{spoiler|because the room is full. Further investigation shows that thirteen identical clones with a [[Hive Mind]] have all tried to kill the bartender}}.
* In the [[Tintin (Comic Book)]] comics, Captain Haddock can never escape opera singer Bianca Castafiore. If she doesn't show up in person to plague his life, a Tibetan porter or a Middle Eastern trader will be listening to her singing the Jewel Song on the radio at ear-splitting volume. Cue cursing from Haddock.
* The squid in ''[[De Cape Etet Dede Crocs]]''.
 
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** {{spoiler|Of course, this is subverted in the third movie, when they end up saving all of Andy's toys from the incinerator, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head repeat this line to them.}}
* No teleportation, but in ''What About Bob?'' Richard Dreyfuss' character cannot escape Bill Murray's character.
* ''[[Weekend At Bernies (Film)|Weekend Atat Bernies]]''
* Played for laughs masquerading as horror with the doll in ''Doom House''.
* The film ''Malicious'' is an example of the "horror" variation of this trope. Bonus points for featuring [[Fan Service|Molly Ringwald naked in it]].
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** Let us not forget Romilda Vane, she of the love potion which, by sequence of events, very nearly {{spoiler|got Ron killed.}}
* Appears in Joseph Heller's classic novel ''[[Catch-22]]''. Yossarian spends much of the second half of the book trying to escape Nately's Whore, going to such lengths as to take her up in a plane, fly over Italy, strap a parachute to her back and kick her out (over German held territory), only to return to Pianosa and find she's already waiting for him.
* The early [[Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Light Fantastic|The Light Fantastic]]'' has an extremely elderly wizard preparing an elaborate method of escaping [[The Grim Reaper|Death]]. The last step is climbing into a tiny '''airtight''' box and locking it from the inside. Just as he settles down, he hears a voice in his ear: {{smallcaps| Dark in here, isn't it?}}
** [[Don't Explain the Joke|Locking oneself into a small airtight box would tend to lead to immediate suffocation and death.]]
** Inverted with the Igors, who stay out of your way most of the time but appear behind you right when you need them.
*** In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', an employer of an inquiring turn of mind stands in front of a bear trap and calls for his Igor. He hears the bear trap go off, then turns around to see an uninjured Igor holding the sprung trap. Igor tells him this isn't the first time, for him or for any Igor; one of his uncles was employed by a man who liked to stand with his back to a pit of spikes when he made the call. Then one day he forgot it was there. Talk about laugh.
** In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', [[Lovable Rogue|Moist von Lipwig]] finds that he is being relentlessly and cheerfully pursued by Mr. Pump, his parole officer. Mr. Pump, being a golem, has a definite advantage over Moist in that he [[Implacable Man|never needs to eat, rest, or even breathe]].
** Also shows up in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Guards Guards|Guards Guards]]'' which has the villain at the end of the book futilely fleeing from the supposedly imprisoned Vetinari.
* Wednesday at the beginning of ''[[American Gods (Literature)|American Gods]]''.
* No matter how much the [[No Name Given|nameless protagonist]] of ''[[Green Eggs and Ham]]'' protests and runs, Sam-I-Am will ''always'' be just around the corner to attempt to get him to try the eponymous dish...
* "The cat that kept coming back" was an important plot point in the [[Jeeves and Wooster (Literaturenovel)|Jeeves and Wooster]] novel ''Aunts Aren't Gentlemen''.
* In [[O. Henry]]'s "The Ransom of Red Chief", one of the kidnappers, Bill, gets so fed up with the titular kidnapee he tries to send the boy home. As he's reporting this to his partner Sam, the kid has unbeknownst to him snuck up behind him, and Sam gently points this out to Bill, after checking to see if there's any history of heart disease in his family.
 
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** Actually, the Muppet Show sketch was an almost entirely different song, though it had much the same theme.
** The little yellow muppet that sings "You are my sunshine" in the famous "Hugga Wugga" sketch pulls this trick off.
* Played for horror in the ''[[Tales Fromfrom the Crypt]]'' episode "Loved to Death." In the episode, the main character gives a love potion to beautiful woman who won't give him the time of day. It works far too well. Eventually {{spoiler|he kills himself to escape, and on the escalator to Heaven, finds her right behind him, now hideously mangled because she killed herself}}.
* ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'': Two episodes have Ned facing this from his [[Mad Love|mad]] [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] Missy.
** Also, there's one other episode where Missy's cheating off of Moze, and when the other girl moves her paper so Missy can't see it, Missy's instantly on the other side of her and continues to copy the answers.
* A rather literal instance of this happened in the [[Pilot]] episode of ''[[Early Edition (TV)|Early Edition]]'', when Gary, trying to evade the newspaper-bringing cat, left town and went to a very remote area. The cat had no problem at all finding him and delivering his paper.
* An episode of ''[[HancocksHancock's Half Hour]]'' has Hancock trying to entertain a group of fellow passengers on a train, and predictably alienating them instead. To avoid meeting them on the return journey he takes the (slower) bus, only to find that they've all had the same idea.
* A ''[[Mr. Show]]'' sketch has two old friends/acquaintances say their heartfelt goodbyes after meeting each other for a goodbye drink... only to keep bumping into each other as they stop off to perform various errands on their way home, to their increasing irritation. {{spoiler|Things get really surreal when one of them expects the other to show up, is surprised when he doesn't, panics and begins to check the sites of their previous accidental encounters in increasing hysteria, only to learn the other one has died at some point during the night.}}
* In [[Flash Forward 2009|Flash Forward]], an oddly [[Played for Drama|dramatic example]], Dr. Benford has a vision of the future in which she's having an affair with another man, who turns out to be the father of a boy under her treatment. To try to avoid this, she transfers the boy to another department, but he's promptly transferred back. (episode "Black Swan")
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* This was used by [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]] in a fake audition tape shown at the Correspondent's Dinner, featuring Helen Thomas in a Droopy-like role, pursuing Colbert after asking an [[Armor-Piercing Question]].
* On ''[[The West Wing]]'', after the president's entourage is shot at while leaving a public event, C.J. realizes her life was saved by someone who pulled her to the ground. She eventually figures out it's Sam and asks why he didn't tell her, and he invokes this in his response:
{{quote| '''Sam:''' I didn't want you to feel beholden to me. I didn't want it to be like an episode of ''[[I DreamofDream of Jeannie]]'', where now [[I Owe You My Life|you've gotta save my life]], and the [[Timey-Wimey Ball|time-space continuum]], and you have to [[Hello, Nurse!|follow me around with coconut oil and hot towels]]...<br />
'''C.J.:''' Coconut oil?<br />
'''Sam:''' I'm just saying.<br />
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* The country music song "What'll You Do About Me" (which has been recorded by [[Randy Travis]], Steve Earle, Doug Supernaw and others) features the narrator having a Cowboy And The Lady-esque one-night stand and becoming a stalker afterwards. Sample lyrics: "You can change your number, you can change your name, you can ride like hell on a midnight train. That's all right, mama, that's okay, but what'll you do about me?"
** [[Nickelback]] sings a similar song, "Follow You Home", where the stalked girl rigs a car without brakes and buries the stalker to try and escape, among other things.
* The novelty song ''Little Blue Man'' in which a woman is continuously stalked by a [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Little Blue Man]] who professes his love for her. Finally she drops him off a building in desperation, only to have him return one last time to announce that he doesn't love her anymore.
* Paul Dehn's poem ''[http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiRAVOONMS.html Mrs. Ravoon]'', memorably set to music by Tom Mastin. "You are too much with me, late and soon."
* "You'll never get rid of the *boom-boom-boom* no matter what you do!"
** This song is ''The Thing'', by Phil Harris (the singer who voiced Baloo and Little John in Disney's ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' and ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'')
* Jonathan Coulton's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTSkWnKs9rM "Creepy Doll"].
* [[Alexander Rybak]]'s song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sfh2u8cgU "OAH"] has Alexander stalking a girl everywhere, while singing "I love you o-aah". The fact that everyone else than the girl gleefully sings and dances along doesn't help her at all.
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** A similarly-themed cartoon (''Draftee Daffy'') has Daffy trying to evade "The Little Man from the Draft Board", who even follows him into Hell.
** Subverted in the [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] short "Tortoise Beats Hare." {{spoiler|it ''wasn't'' the original tortoise that kept inexplicably escaping Bugs' methods of leaving him behind. It was a series of identical tortoises which the first one bribed to [[Mind Screw|screw with him]].}}
** Pepe LePew. No matter where [[That Poor Cat]] goes, Pepe is [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|there to hold her in his arms]].
** That red hairy monster was also quite persistent in following Bugs in that one cartoon.
*** Oh, you mean [[Fluffy the Terrible|Gossamer!]]
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** Of course, there often ''was'' more than one of him.
** The short ''[[Northwest Hounded Police]]'' is pretty much nothing but this trope.
* The Warner siblings on ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' are fond of doing this as well. Apparently, they can even bi-locate (stand in two positions at the same time in the same room).
** They meet their match in the short ''[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3qPPZnX13Yc Chairman of the Bored]'', in the form of Francis "Pip" Pumphandle, who follows them home and only leaves when his monotonous anecdote is complete. At the end they decide they actually miss him, and chase after him, wanting to hear more of his stories.
* Happened in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' -- Bart and Lisa escape from Mr Burns through a laundry chute, only to find him waiting for them when they hit the ground. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when Bart incredulously points out that it's physically impossible for Burns to have arrived first.
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** And in a Treehouse of Horror ep., with Homer threatened by a psychotic Krusty doll; Homer drops the doll into a [[Bottomless Pit]], but it comes back by [[Cape Fear|riding back home under the car]].
** In yet another episode, Homer finally starts to like Flanders... to the points that their roles end up getting reversed and Flanders tries as hard as he can to get Homer off his back. It doesn't work.
* In ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'', the titular character actually so annoys his attempted murderer, the Tattletale Strangler, that he locks himself in prison to get away from SpongeBob.
* A [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'', where Garfield will often send the annoyingly-cute Nermal off to Abu Dhabi, but he will find his way back into Garfield's house just seconds later.
** Also in the newspaper comics as well.
* ''[[DextersDexter's Laboratory]]'' had a pretty standard version of this one in the episode "The Continuum of Cartoon Fools", in which Deedee repeatedly found ways to get into Dexter's Lab, and only by figuring out the obvious entrance Deedee could use every time to get inside (the secret book case entrance) could Dexter seal her off once and for all. The kicker? {{spoiler|He locked himself out of the lab. He then spends [[Overly Long Gag|the last thirty seconds or so of the cartoon]] going on a tirade about how he's no better than "that crazy coyote or that stupid duck".}}
* The robin in ''[[wikipedia:Krypto the Superdog|Krypto the Superdog]]'', whose desire to be Bat-Hound's partner drives the normally implacable Caped Canine to hide in Krypto's spaceship with the lights out.
* In an episode of ''[[Recess]]'', a kid follows the Recess gang around, causing them bad luck. They do everything they can to lose him, but he always seems to catch up somehow, invariably greeted with sheer disbelief by the troupe. In one of their more extreme plans to get rid of him, Vince boots a ball all the way to China and tells the kid to retrieve it. The gang are momentarily relieved that he's finally gone, until he inexplicably returns from China ''a few seconds later'', complete with a hat and a bowl of Chinese food.
* In the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Perry Lays an Egg", Perry the Platypus discovers Dr. Doofensmirtz's latest scheme is simply to ridicule [[Interspecies Romance|the whale who stole one of his old girlfriends]], and promptly turns around with an annoyed look on his face. Dr. Doofensmirtz has to chase Perry down in this manner and demand Perry thwart his [[Poke the Poodle|"evil scheme"]]. "I just insulted the macaroni and cheese recipe of a whale! How is that not evil?"
* Lampshaded in an episode of ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', where Shake, Frylock and Meatwad attempt to rid themselves of a murderous ventriloquists' dummy, only for it to reappear every time they look away. Their final attempt to get rid of it involves Shake burning it with a flame thrower while Frylock and Meatwad watch several surveillance monitors looking in every direction. The dummy then appears from above in a parachute.
* One of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'''s [[Star Wars]] skits involves [[Alien Scrappy|Jar-Jar Binks]] visiting Darth Vader. Vader tries to shoo him away before finally [[Thrown Out the Airlock|tossing him out the air lock.]] Vader sleeps peacefully that night...until Jar-Jar appears, somehow learning [[Spirit Advisor|the blue shiny trick.]] Without need to eat or sleep, Jar-Jar [[Fate Worse Than Death|can hang with Vader all day, any day! YAAAY!]]
* The Oscar nominated [[National Film Board of Canada]] [[The Cat Came Back (Filmfilm)|short]] [[Captain Obvious|obviously]] called ''[[The Cat Came Back (Filmfilm)|The Cat Came Back]]'' from 1988 is a hilarious 7 minutes of this trope.
* Bing the chameleon from ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'' is very persistent once he decides you're his friend.
* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' had Heloise, who just wanted to read her book, being pestered by Jimmy and Beezy, who were having a contest to see who could make the most annoying sound.
* Happens to Rainbow Dash at the start of the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Griffon the Brush-Off", where Rainbow tries to avoid Pinkie Pie, only for Pinkie to follow her all across Ponyville.
** Pinkie does it to Dash again in "Party of One", while trying to find out why her friends are skipping one of her parties and why they're keeping it a secret.
** In one case, Pinkie is happily bouncing along at a casual pace, as she usually does. In the other, she's wildly chasing Dash and matching her (considerable) speed. ''Both methods are equally effective.''
*** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] (like most everything Pinkie Pie does) when Rainbow Dash hides inside the bell of the town bell-tower. As she's clinging to the dark inside of the bell, [[By the Lights of Their Eyes|the bell's clapper opens its eyes.]] Turns out, Pinkie somehow replaced the bell clapper and then pretended to be it! (How she hangs there despite not having any fingers or hands is never explained.)
** In "A Friend in Deed", Pinkie gives Cranky Doodle Donkey this treatment when she chases him around Ponyville trying to get him to accept her apology for damaging his scrap-book. This includes the likes of putting on a beaver costume and actually chewing down a tree, and replacing a statue of Princess Celestia.
* [[The Three Caballeros (Disney)|The Aracuan Bird]] in many of his appearances, especially if [[Donald Duck]] is trying to get away from him.
* ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'' has this with Irma, who is constantly hounded by a boy, Marvin, who has a massive crush on her (which she pretends not to appreciate as time wears on).
* ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' had this when Hayley and Jeff trying to flee from Roger attempting to take the bag of money Stan gave to Jeff. Their attempts fail when Roger is right there where they're hiding. The escape ends in the Great Wall of China with Roger finally got the money, but almost all was spent from the escape.
 
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