History Main / CreatorCareerSelfDeprecation

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "A Glitch is a Glitch" (done entirely in 3D CGI by guest animator David O'Reilly), Finn gets tired of trying to do animation on a computer, and complains "I don't have the patience for this animation junk. Whoever does this must have no life whatsoever." Then he [[AuthorPowers inexplicably punches himself in the face]].

* Andy from ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'' is another example. There was even an episode dedicated to the fact that Andy was broke, couldn't get any of his cartoons published, couldn't even get anyone to ''understand'' his cartoons, and was working a dead-end job that barely even put food on the table.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Mabel has a fear of StopMotion movie monsters, and Stan tries to explain to her that they're just the work of an animator, whom he calls an "anti-social shut-in". (Bear in mind that Stan is voiced by the show's creator, an animator himself.) When they do meet the Creator/RayHarryhausen-like animator, they discover that [[spoiler:he used black magic to make his creatures come to life, meaning he eventually gave up on actually animating them, and has become enslaved by his creations.]]

* Stephen Pastis, the cartoonist responsible for ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'', sometimes [[AuthorAvatar inserts himself into the strip]] as a 40-year old smoking loser cartoonist who [[{{ButtMonkey}} often gets abused by the other characters]], especially Rat. See [[http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2010/11/21 this strip]] for an example.

* Creator/AlanMoore's run on ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'' includes the character of Billy Friday, not just a comic book writer but specifically an egotistical English writer of American superhero comics with a penchant for DarkerAndEdgier revamps of old characters. Although for some Billy Friday is more of a parody of Creator/GrantMorrison than a self-parody of himself.

** There's also Liz Lemon, who is basically TinaFey but with a crappy love life and no respect from her peers. The other writers in the show are depicted as frat boys with the maturity of 12-year-olds.

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* In [[http://www.ladiesinwaitingcomic.co.uk/comic/3316a/ this]] ''Webcomic/LadiesInWaiting'' strip, Zoë tries to think of a future career that requires no effort. She comes up with "a cartoonist".

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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the creator of ''TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' is betrayed and turned into a ''bum'', though a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, eventually. The guy who does the ripping off, Roger Myers Jr., although extremely successful, is shown to be amoral, cruel to his employees (insulting them and [[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity sacking them on a whim]]) and utterly uninterested in the quality of the series as long as ratings and profits are high. The writers are all from Ivy League universities, which gives them attitudes of superiority but are often idle about their work. Other famous "artists" are near universally egotists or hacks, such as [[HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight Krusty]].

* Egoraptor portrays himself as a SmallNameBigEgo in the ''AwesomeSeries''. In ''WebAnimation/GirlchanInParadise'', his AuthorAvatar is ''extremely lazy''[[note]]his stage background is a single line representing the horizon[[/note]], he is defeated as easily as most other members of the QuirkyMinibossSquad, and he gets the worst beating of any character in the series.

* In [[http://www.ladiesinwaitingcomic.co.uk/comic/3316a/ this]] ''Webcomic/LadiesInWaiting'' strip, Zoë tries to think of an idea for a future career that requires no effort. She comes up with "a cartoonist".

* Creator/AlanMoore's run on ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'' includes the character of Billy Friday, not just a comic book writer but specifically an egotistical English writer of American superhero comics with a penchant for DarkerAndEdgier revamps of old characters.

* Izumi Tsubaki is an established shoujo manga artist and in ''Manga/GekkanShoujoNozakiKun'' she takes light-hearted jabs at her own profession. Nozaki making all his male characters [[OnlySixFaces look alike]] pokes fun at her own tendency to reuse the same characters designs in her manga, with Nozaki's character design itself being one that shows up prominently in ''Manga/OresamaTeacher'' and ''Magic Touch''.

* Jon Arbuckle, {{Garfield}}'s owner. Over time, the loser aspect completely overshadowed the fact that he even had a job. In fact, the only times Jon was mentioned as being a cartoonist were in [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1978/ga780619.gif the first strip]], [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1984/ga841203.gif these]] [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1984/ga841204.gif two]] strips that began the Christmas 1984 {{Story Arc}}, and [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2010/ga100502.gif this]] 2010 {{Sunday Strip}}.
* Stephen Pastis, the cartoonist responsible for ''PearlsBeforeSwine'', sometimes [[AuthorAvatar inserts himself into the strip]] as a 40-year old smoking loser cartoonist who [[{{ButtMonkey}} often gets abused by the other characters]], especially Rat. See [[http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2010/11/21 this strip]] for an example.

* Darby Connley was portrayed as an '''extreme''' one of these in [[http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6782/168/1600/getfuzzy21831960060417.gif these]][[http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6782/168/1600/getfuzzy2006106560419.gif three]] [[http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6782/168/1600/getfuzzy2006043053222.gif strips]] of his own ''{{Get Fuzzy}}''.

Compare AcceptableTargets, TakeThatMe, WriteWhatYouKnow and especially WritersSuck.

** ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' does the same for LarryDavid's career, with the added bonus that Larry says that it his character is very similar to his real life, just that he is slightly less awkward in social situations.
*** In overlap, Creator/JasonAlexander said he could not get a good handle on his Seinfeld character, George, until he realized that LarryDavid had been subconsciously mocking himself.

* Kaitlyn Hu of newspaper-style ''WebComic/{{Precocious}}'' is an aspiring daily cartoonist, which more often than not only comes up to make jokes about [[http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2012/03/30 what a bad]] [[http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/copperroad/2012/01/16 idea it is.]]

BonusPoints if the loser cartoonist [[TerribleArtist can't draw]], the writer [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue has an obviously Mary-Sue version of him/herself]], or some other type of StylisticSuck. These characters may also be prone to extreme WritersBlock, which can justify the times that they aren't working/don't have a job.

* On ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Chuck Shirley, pen name "Carver Edlund" after directors and producers of the show, is a loser prophet and a writer. Then again, the last episode of the fifth season implies that he could actually be God, so...

*** In overlap, JasonAlexander said he could not get a good handle on his Seinfeld character, George, until he realized that LarryDavid had been subconsciously mocking himself.

* IsaacAsimov loved this trope; the "George and Azazel" stories almost always start with George dismissing his writer friend's career. (And said writer is Asimov himself.)

* AlanMoore's run on ''{{Supreme}}'' includes the character of Billy Friday, not just a comic book writer but specifically an egotistical English writer of American superhero comics with a penchant for DarkerAndEdgier revamps of old characters.

* Being the MetaGuy that he is, {{Phelous}} regularly cracks jokes about being a hack reviewer prone to overusing running gags and pointless cameos. He even reviewed [[MortalKomedy his own web series]] once.

The author wants to portray their character as a loser, but doesn't want to offend people in any particular occupation. So they make the character's occupation their own. This allows for a lot of SelfDeprecatingHumor, which is probably the whole point. It also means that the parody will be much better informed than one from someone [[ShallowParody who knows less about the profession]] - being on the inside means they include anecdotes and details that others in scientists or teachers or priests or whatever will find greater recognition and (hopefully) humour in.