What Are You in For?: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A stock line whenever a prison is involved, often with [[I Always Wanted to Say That|I Always Wanted To Say That]] thrown in for good measure. Either one of the main characters will ask this to somebody else, or one of the 'locals' will ask the main cast. If the question is posed to the main cast, we often won't hear the reply, since ''we'' already know what went before, and it's probably [[You Do NOT Want to Know|far too bizarre to explain]], anyway.

 

A [[Dead Horse Trope]] more often [[Lampshaded|lampshaded]] and [[Subverted|subverted]] than played straight.

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L336cJMYkuM This] classic Serta commercial (which also contains the [[Mattress Tag Gag]]).

 

 

* In a ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' parody of ''The Longest Yard'' (first version), this results in a long list of murders, ending with [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"and strangling a tractor"]].

* Krage asks this question at the end of [http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/6278952.html this] [[Lighter and Softer|Marvel Adventures]] comic.

 

 

* ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Film)|Ferris Buellers Day Off]]'':<br />[-'''[[Charlie Sheen|Boy]] [[Retroactive Recognition|in Police Station]]:''' Drugs?<br />'''Jeannie:''' No thank you, I'm straight.<br />'''Boy:''' I mean, are you here for drugs?<br />'''Jeannie:''' Why are you here?<br />'''Boy:''' Drugs.-]

* The live-action ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers]]'' movie had this on a helicopter:<br />[-'''Maggie:''' What'd they get you for?<br />'''Sam:''' Bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?-]

* In [[Tenth Kingdom]], Tony is technically arrested for being found in the Queen's cell (wearing handcuffs) when everybody awoke to find her gone. When asked though, he says that he was arrested for a bank robbery. Which is technically true, he was arrested on Earth for the robbery before fleeing through the magic mirror.

 

 

* In ''[[Bloodsucking Fiends (Literature)|Bloodsucking Fiends]]'' by [[Christopher Moore]], the protagonist, Tommy, is in jail. He asks his cell mate what he's in for, and the man replies 'copyright infringement', which he admits isn't really the sort of offense they put you in jail for. Ripping a lawyer's arms out of their sockets, however, is.

* Winston muses that a question like this is essentially moot in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. There is only one crime the Party cares about, so the answer is always thoughtcrime.

* In the second part of ''[[The Stranger]]'', when Meursault is first put into prison, a few people ask him what he's in for. "Killing an Arab." Guess what kind of people are mostly in that prison.

 

 

* ''[[Monk (TV)|Monk]]'' once went to prison on an undercover mission. His cellmate quickly noticed that he was obviously unused to prison and didn't seem like a criminal type. When he asked [[What Are You in For]], Monk improvised and said "Embezzlement."

* An episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'' has Elliot and Carla arrested for soliciting a male prostitute (they wanted to do a favor for a female patient who didn't want to die a virgin). At the station, Elliot asks people going in what they're in for and brags that they're in for prostitution. Carla tells her to stop enjoying it so much.

* ''[[Friends]]'' - Chandler says this to a couple of girls while he's going to talk to Phoebe's policeman boyfriend. He thinks it's funny, they don't.

 

 

{{quote| And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they ''all'' [[Even Evil Has Standards|moved away from me on the bench there]]...}}

** Then he adds "And 'Disturbing the Peace'," and all the criminals move back and become friends with him.

 

 

* As alluded to in the explanatory section, Wade from ''[[US Acres]]'' steps on a rake, sending him into a musical number, followed by a short trial sentencing him to 9999 years in prison. Once there, two inmates brag about their crimes. When Wade sheepishly admits his, the other two pull on the bars, terrified of sharing a cell with such a psychopath.

** Similar to this, in a comic strip this troper saw, two criminals are bragging about their crimes, when their third cellmate says that he's in for beating up Santa, causing the other two to cower in a corner.

** In another strip, the [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] decides to rent to firm's unused cubicles to the state - as cells for prisoners. Cue the criminal asking Dilbert what he's in for.

* In one ''[[Bloom County]]'' strip, Opus ends up in jail, and learns that his new cellmate is in for "strangling Oakland." And no, it's not a colorful sports metaphor. {{spoiler|[[Don't Explain the Joke|It means he strangled each and every single person in Oakland.]]}}

 

== Stand Up Comedy ==

* [[Brian Regan]] discusses this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWKO6vSnyAQ here].

* Chris Rock tries to sound as tough as possible to the other inmates when he's in for "driving too slow". In another stand-up, a white-collar criminal says he's in for embezzling funds, and his fellow inmate replies that he's in for stealing 48 pairs of socks.

{{quote| "My feet was feelin' ''good!"''}}

 

== Theater ==

* ''[[Madea]] Goes To Jail''. Well the titular character's cellmate already knows why she's there.

* In the second ''[[Bottom|Bottom Live]]'' stage show:

'''Eddie:'''(exasperated) ''Removing penises!'' }}

 

 

* In [http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-08-16 this] ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' strip.

** And [http://www.cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20040312 this] ''[[Ctrl Alt Del|Control-Alt-Delete]]'' strip.

* The title character of Rosa sardonically asks her dead skeleton cellmate, Ol' Gil, [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2007-05-14 this question].

 

 

* ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]'':<br />[-'''Homer:''' What are you in for?<br />'''[[Captivity Harmonica|Harmonica-playing Con:]]''' Atmosphere.-]

* In the episode ''[[Spongebob SquarePants|Spongebob Meets The Strangler]]'';