History Main / DamnedByFaintPraise

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': When Héctor and Miguel learn he's the latter's long-lost great-great-grandfather, Héctor laments that he's a pretty poor excuse for one. When Miguel tries to reassure him that two seconds ago he thought he was related to a murderer and Héctor is a total upgrade by comparison, Héctor is, unsurprisingly, not convinced.

%%* The "Still a better love story than Literature/{{Twilight}}" meme falls into this trope, as it's used by Twilight's hatedom on love stories that they find less than impressive.

* An old ''[[Franchise/TheDCU DC Adventures]]'' sourcebook featured profiles of various Golden Age characters, with added commentary by supervillain [[StupidJetpackHitler Captain Nazi]]. Mr. America's profile declares [[WhipItGood "perhaps his most impressive talent is his unrivaled mastery of the bullwhip,"]] to which Captain Nazi responds by simply repeating the words sarcastically--after all, claiming to be a BadassNormal on the basis of being an ImprobableWeaponUser in an era where guns and superpowers exist is pretty sad.

* Tourists in Japan who can hold basic conversations in Japanese may be complimented with "nihongo jouzu!" (translated: "Your Japanese is good!") The stereotype is that this is a backhanded compliment given only to people with a flawed grasp of the language; the ones who are fully fluent won't be complimented in the same way, and it has an unintended air of condescension to the self-aware. It's sometimes said among people learning Japanese as a second language that you know your Japanese is actually decent when the Japanese ''stop'' complimenting it.

Compare DamnedByAFoolsPraise and TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou. See also WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency, SoOkayItsAverage, NotLikeOtherGirls, and YouAreACreditToYourRace. Contrast with StealthInsult, which also damns people through "praise" - in that case, though, the praise is illusionary rather than merely weak. SarcasmMode is also a sister trope. Those who confuse faint praise with actual praise will claim that ItsNotSupposedToWinOscars.

* A meta-example involving both of the above strips: ''Calvin and Hobbes'' creator Bill Watterson once "complimented" the ''Garfield'' strip as "[[StrictlyFormula consistent]]."

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': When Martellus usurps the throne of the Storm King from his cousin Tarvek (mostly by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority killing anyone who tries to take it from him]]), numerous factions scheme to put Tarvek back in power. Nobody really has any idea what kind of king Tarvek would be or expects anything particularly impressive from him, but everyone agrees he can't possibly be worse than Martellus.

[[/folder]]

* One review of [[Music/PinkFloyd Pink Floyd's]] album ''Music/{{Ummagumma}}'' (acknowledged even by the band itself as being part of its DorkAge) called it "an admirable record to fall asleep to."

-->In its ''“good”'' history, ''Oklahoma can boast [[{{Theatre/Oklahoma}} being the basis of]] a [[Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein Rogers and Hammerstein]] musical and the home of Oral Roberts University' '''. But if Oklahomans were to purge all their local stories which reflect “what is bad about America”, their history pages would be [[UnPerson wiped as white as a Tulsa klansman’s hood]].

Related to many InsultTropes; can be the result of a ComplimentBackfire. May take the form of an OverlyNarrowSuperlative or a TriviallyObvious statement. May also, in a [[FuneralTropes funeral]] setting, result from NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead if the deceased is [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing not particularly missed]]. The FourPointScale may result in this, as high scores are given to things that are just okay so that fans see a [[EightPointEight 7 or 8]] as a "bad" score. SecondPlaceIsForLosers is also related, as a second place trophy by definition means you didn't do as good as the first place winner.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', Okajima reassures [[UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}} Kayano]] that "someday, somewhere" her body type will be considered desirable.
* ''Manga/BloomIntoYou'':
** Sayaka's ex-girlfriend meets up with her by chance, and apologizes for getting Sayaka interested in girls and hopes she's back to normal (i.e. heterosexual), since she believes that their relationship is [[GayRomanticPhase merely a phase]]. Sayaka, while upset by the older girl's apology because she's still a lesbian, [[StealthInsult tells the other girl that she doesn't know how she ever developed feelings for her in the first place]], and says that "Still... I suppose I'm grateful to you- in a way."
** A more comedic example happens in a bonus section included in Volume 7, in which the cast's grades in five different subjects are shown in a pentagon graph, along with comments on their strengths and weaknesses. Akari, who [[BookDumb is the worst student in the cast]], is said to be "decent at biology."
* A subversion occurs in chapter 17 of ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', when Marcille says Laios' sister Falin said good things about him when they were in school together. Cue a flash-back thought bubble of Falin telling Marcille that "he does a fantastic impression of a dog!" It seems to a one-off joke at the time, [[ChekhovsSkill but later]] [[spoiler: he uses his dog impressions to intimidate a shapeshifter into revealing itself, frightens off a pack of dire wolves, and when rescuing Marcille from the grip of nightmares, his dream-form is a dog (a majestic wolf from his perspective, a dopey mutt from Marcille's perspective)]].
* In ''Manga/DoujinWork'', when Najimi shows Tsuyuri and Justice her first story, the first thing they compliment is the quality of the paper.
* Chapter 164 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' opens up with Fujiwara complaining how she hasn't been getting any respect from the other members of the student council lately, and Iino tries to cheer her up by saying "I haven't lost my respect for you ''yet'', Fujiwara-senpai!"[[note]]The official manga localization has Iino say, "I still respect you, Fujiwara," which doesn't cheer Fujiwara up as much as Iino hoped, but doesn't carry the backhanded connotations associated with this trope.[[/note]]
-->'''Fujiwara:''' Yet?
* In ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', after Einhart easily defeats Vivio in their first sparring match, Vivio asks if she thought she did poorly. Einhart replies that Vivio did well for someone who does not take Strike Arts seriously. Vivio gets Einhart's drift and asks for a rematch after she's had time to prepare herself enough to make a better showing.
* A chapter of the ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' manga has Choromatsu start off comforting a pair of ugly girls who were insulted on Valentine's Day with an apology for it stinging more than it ''usually'' does.
* In ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'', Tanya, who hates German food, but has [[ItMakesSenseInContext the misfortune of being reincarnated in an alternate WWI era Germany]], tells a general she's dining with that the fresh and hot German cuisine she's being served causes her to remember, her time on the front-lines "fondly." As in she would rather be eating cold army rations than the high-end slop she's being served. Though luckily, the general and the other officers present take it as a sincere compliment.
* In ''Manga/SilverSpoon'', when Yugo looks at Aki's grades, the only thing he finds to say is that she is better than [[BookDumb Tokiwa]]. It doesn't do much to cheer her up.
* ''Manga/TheUselessSenpaiAndTheTalentedKouhai'' has Hiromi Tsukioka (the kouhai, who's TheAce at basketball) tell Shiori Ochiai (the senpai, [[HighHopesZeroTalent who likes playing, but is terrible]]) the following when Tsukioka sees Ochiai trying to skip out on practice after some bullying from her kouhai. That said, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Tsukioka]] says what she does because she doesn't want Ochiai to give up on the team.
-->'''Tsukioka''': When I asked the teacher what your strong point is, senpai, she went silent for five minutes. Then she said that your strong point is that [[HighHopesZeroTalent you]] [[{{Determinator}} never skip practice.]]\\
'''Ochiai''': [[LampshadeHanging I'm not happy to hear that at all... Don't I have any other strong points]]?
* In the ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'' anime,[[note]]the original webtoon has a similar bit of dialogue, but it's arranged differently so that it's not this trope[[/note]] in the first episode, Yuri asks Evan to evaluate Bam -- who's technically an Irregular, and they're usually insanely powerful -- for any hidden powers, and all he can say is that he seems agile.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'': In Chapter 15, Makoto comments that Noel's normally LethalChef cooking skills actually did improve from last time... but only because her cooking didn't actually kill anything.
* In ''Fanfic/BleachFanWorks'', Oshikko says that Jolene Meyers' fanfic is "trying to mimic [[TakeThat that shit]] Literature/{{Twilight}}." He then says she's successful, but that isn't exactly hard.
* ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'':
** [[Music/StevieRayVaughan Moon Ray Vaughoof]]'s [[https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/808042155/4987296372 reasoning]] for buying the highly controversial ''[[ShowWithinAShow Cosmic Cataclysm]]'' comic was "Ah like the art". Notably, it was the only compliment he gave due to being an artist himself, despite taking issue with the comic's flanderized portrayal of him and his friends/family as incompetent idiots horrifically killed off by Cosmos for the sake of plot.
** This happened in one notable occasion when Prince Blueblood was tasked with overseeing his birth parents' funerals -- he couldn't be openly honest about [[AbusiveParents his parents]] because funerals required proper decorum, so he made adoring and reverent speeches for each parent that ironically exposed their worst flaws. Those who caught on were greatly amused to the point where a few, like Luna, [[LaughThemselvesSick quickly collapsed laughing]].
* ''Fanfic/TheConcubineMoChronicles'': Wei Wuxian expects for the new Grand Chancellor to be more righteous than his predecessors. Since Wen Ruohan murdered the former Emperor before causing a CivilWar out of unbridled ambition and Jin Guangshan was an unrepentant lecher who thought bribery was the answer to everything, it's not as hard a condition to fulfill as it seems.
* ''Fanfic/EverybodysGottaLeaveSometime'': As the gang is saying their goodbyes to [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]], Violet praises Charlie by telling that, all things considered, he is kind of a nice guy.
-->'''Violet:''' Yeah. For a round-headed kid with no potential at all, you're kind of a nice guy. Kind of, I mean.\\
'''[[NoRespectGuy Charlie Brown]]:''' ''[awed]'' [[SincerityMode Gee, girls, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.]]
* ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11751164/ Fate/Desiderantes Affectibus]]'': [[Anime/FateZero Waver Velvet]] attempts to mourn Kayneth, his old magic teacher, without describing his magic (due to the {{Masquerade}}). His teacher was a SmugSnake par excellence and they hated each other, making this rather difficult. Eventually, he settles on "his teachings have had a great impact on my life"--which is MetaphoricallyTrue, as Waver entered a deadly magical war solely because he hated Kayneth and his teachings immensely and wanted to prove him wrong.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5450400/5/The-Kiss The Kiss]]'':
-->'''Harry:''' Oh man, I forgot all about classes. Excuse me while I go find Neville or Dean and see what I missed. You think Ron will help me with my homework?\\
'''Ginny:''' I thought you wanted to pass? Get the twins to help you, instead.\\
'''Mrs. Weasley:''' Ginny! Show your brother some support. He might not be the student Bill was, or the athlete Charlie was, or a scholar like Percy... at least he's quieter than the twins.
* ''Fanfic/AManOfIron'': When civil war breaks out in Westeros, Jonos Bracken initially supports [[SmugSnake Renly]], but later clarifies it was only because he was "the best of a bad lot," with the alternatives being[[KnightTemplar Stannis]] and [[TheCaligula Joffrey]].
* ''Fanfic/MyDarkKing'': Inverted; Supreme King Judai claims to be "a fair bit weaker" than the Crimson Dragon. The Crimson Dragon is a 5,000-year-old Mesoamerican deity that regularly matches and exceeds entities of world-destroying power, so the fact that Judai is even ''comparable'' is practically a BadassBoast.
* An unusual example from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' fanfic ''A New Dawn''. Gideon Grey is trying to help Dawn Bellwether to reform herself, and at one point he asks her to say something nice. Her response is, "For a fox, you're... not as ugly as Judy's boyfriend," (referring to Nick). It seems like a clear invoking of this trope... except that Nick is slimmer and would normally be considered more traditionally attractive than Gideon. This actually serves as a hint that Dawn is beginning to fall for Gideon, even if she herself has yet to realize it.
* ''Fanfic/ThePeaceNotPromised'': Lily shows off the domestic spells she's been learning by making lunch. Severus, being the serious and socially awkward fellow that he is, evaluates it as, "You're not a terrible cook," and then immediately realises how that sounds and fumbles for words to patch it up. Lily is a match for him, though, responding that he can be really adorable, "Not in the puppies and kittens way, of course. More like if a Boggart decided to give up its day job and try its hand at being human."
* ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'': Rei resorts to this to critique a drawing of her. It works because the artist is only three.
-->"How you like it?" she eventually ended Rei's wondering.\\
Taken aback, the teen didn't answer immediately. Being honest was likely to hurt the girl's feelings, and Rei didn't want that. But wouldn't she also do the same by lying to her?\\
"The... shade of blue is well chosen," she eventually settled for.
* ''Fanfic/TheStalkingZukoSeries'': Teo says that sea prunes are not the worst thing he's eaten, and considering that he's had to eat grass as a refugee, this isn't saying much.
* In ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'', this trope is explicitly referenced by Stoick when Jonna (a lesbian) thanks him for not even trying to talk her into sleeping with him as a precondition of service. Stoick accepts the compliment in spirit it was given (honestly complimentary), but is a bit irked at being compared with "one of those men." Of course, Jonna brought it up as a lead-in for her next topic—her need for an heir for her clan. After giving Stoick, ahem, ''right of first refusal,'' Stoick does a SpitTake, turns her down, and beats a hasty retreat. Gobber finds the whole thing hysterical.
* ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'': District 2 Victor Ares introduces Haymitch and Chaff by saying, "They ain't bad folk when their sober, which is never."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the Literature/{{Boojumverse}}, Christian Cultists are known for being eager to speak well of everyone. Thus, when the only praise they can give Station Master Lee is to say that she doesn't actively persecute them, Izrael knows that Lee must be a very terrible Station Master indeed.
* In ''Literature/TheCaineMutiny'', the protagonist, Willie Keith, is horrified to find that he has been rated as "Above average" (meaning generally useless, despite it [[FourPointScale actually being a 3/5 rating]]) on his service testimonial. Lt. Commander [=DeVriess=] adds that Keith "[...] seems to have the potential for becoming a capable officer [...]."[[labelnote:*]]I'm back-translating from Swedish here, maybe someone could provide the exact quote[[/labelnote]] It doesn't take a genius to realize that he is being disparaged.
* For lack of anything better to say, Jack Ryback from [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike Nelson's]] ''Death Rat!'' at one point earnestly praises his literary agent as "the most well-groomed man I've ever met."
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', Agnes Nitt is tired of being described as having "a wonderful personality and good hair", as if that were all there was to her.
** In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' Captain Carrot is writing home and struggles to find something positive to say about Nobby, eventually settling for "is still Nobby, only more than he was."
** Similarly in ''Literature/MenAtArms'', when discussing who might be promoted to captain of the guard, Carrot says he's too inexperienced, Colon absolutely doesn't want the job and Nobby... "is more suited in his current role" is the description he eventually settles on.
** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', Vetinari tells Leonard of Quirm to tell [[ThoseTwoGuys Colon and Nobby]] they've been selected for his top-secret mission to Klatch because of their "special qualities." While Colon thinks of it as an honor (though he's actually scared out of his mind the whole time) Nobby's the one who figures that this trope is in play. "What's so special about 'special qualities'? ''Limpets'' have special qualities."
* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': Dante starts a conversation with his guide by referring to him as "My master, you who can defeat all things except for those tenacious demons who tried to block us at the entryway," reminding his master of a damning failure in a conversation that has nothing to do with that.
* ''Literature/TheDrownedCities'': Mahlia informs soldier-boy Ocho that she saved his life because "you act almost human," in contrast to his even more sadistic comrades.
* In one ''Literature/ElephantAndPiggie'' book, Piggie plays the trumpet for Gerald but the sounds she makes on it are so horrifically screechy and discordant that they can in no way be described as "music". When she asks Gerald what he thought, he tactfully says that her trumpet is loud and shiny and that she holds it very well.
* ''Literature/{{Emma}}'': Emma really resents Mrs. Elton. Her close friends know about her opinion and they quite agree because Mrs. Elton is really obnoxious. However, Emma doesn't want other people to know about it, so she might mention that Mrs. Elton is "very pleasant and very elegantly dressed."
* {{Trope Namer|s}} is ''Epistle to Doctor Arbuthnot'' by Creator/AlexanderPope:
-->Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, \\
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; \\
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, \\
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
* ''Literature/TheGreatBrain:'' In ''Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse,'' Will throws an overly elaborate funeral for a dead {{Prospector}} as a lark, only to be disturbed when no one can think of a eulogy to give the dead man besides that he bathed before visiting the local brothel (unlike most prospectors).
* In ''Literature/TheHalfMadeWorld'', the Engines of the Line clearly do not believe in unduly flattering their minions. At one point they authorize a character's FieldPromotion on the grounds that he is "not significantly less adequate" than the man he's replacing.
* The tie-in book for ''Series/FistOfFun'' includes a spoof academic article that accuses the hymn ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' of doing this to God himself in its last lines:
-->He gave us eyes to see them, and lips that we might tell\\
How great is God Almighty, who has made all things well.
** "Well", it insists, is an insulting understatement, and suggests this alternative:
-->He gave us eyes to see them, and then he made elastic\\
How great is God Almighty, who has made all things fantastic.
* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'':
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'': After Sirius Black and Remus Lupin reveal that Ron's pet rat Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, the man who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, Pettigrew tries to beg Ron for mercy on the grounds that "I was your rat... I was a good pet." Sirius retorts, "If you make a better rat than human, it's not much to boast about, Peter."
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': This is how Hestia Jones, the witch who helped to take the Dursleys to their safe house, reacted when Dudley told Harry that he wasn't "a waste of space." However, Harry had to tell her that this was the best thing he'd ever said to Harry and was his way of saying anything appreciative to Harry.
* In ''Literature/TheIliad'', and many other Greek poems, most of the characters are given "epithets", descriptors that refer to their titles, feats, or skills. For instance, Agamemnon is referred to as "brilliant Agamemnon", "wide-ruling Agamemnon", or "Agamemnon son of Atreus". In general, you can tell how important or skilled a character is supposed to be by the kind of epithets they receive -- characters like Achilles or Hector get a new and impressive one pretty much every time they're mentioned, while lesser characters tend to have only a few epithets that border on TriviallyObvious. Paris, though, is probably the biggest example of this trope, as his two epithets are "son of Priam" and "godlike" (meaning he looks like a god) -- even though they're compliments, they're basically saying that being Priam's son and looking pretty are the only things Paris has ever accomplished. On the other hand, many of Agamemnon's listed epithets can be just snark (especially those voiced by Achilles) because Agamemnon was often shown as speaking and/or behaving exactly the opposite of those epithets (i.e. in a mean, petty or dumb manner) either just before or shortly after being thus addressed. There can be genuine praise, conventional salutations or hidden sarcasm embedded in how those characters (and the poem reciter) may address each character.
* Played for drama with a hint of tragedy in ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Komarr]]'', when Ekaterin defends her emotionally and verbally abusive husband with "He never hit me." Lampshaded when Miles, listening to this, fervently hopes that ''his'' wife will have better things to say about him.
* Reversed by Creator/DorothyLSayers in ''[[Literature/LordPeterWimsey Murder Must Advertise]]''. At one point, describing one character's comments on another, our detective protagonist Lord Peter uses the phrase "...praise him with faint damns."
* ''Literature/MuchAdoAboutGrubstake'': Discussed but subverted with Lacey Bernaise's status as "the epitome of femininity in [[DyingTown Grubstake.]]" Taking in Lacey's frilly wardrobe, Arley observes this "normally wouldn't have been saying all that much, [[GirlyGirl except that in Lacey's case, it was]]."
* The victim in the sci-fi murder mystery ''Literature/TheNakedSun'', Dr. Rikaine Delmarre, is consistently praised by those who knew him as "a good Solarian" (Solaria being the planet on which the story is set). What the audience comes to realize is, while his devotion to civic duty was indeed above reproach, that's the only good thing anyone can think to say about him. In truth, [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole a lot of people actively hated him]].
* ''Literature/TheNameOfTheRose'': During a conference when they're surrounded by monks and church dignitaries, William credits the Inquisitor Bernard Gui with the biggest decision of his (William's) life. This is a compliment to everyone but Bernard and William's student Adso, who both know William's biggest decision was ''leaving'' the Inquisition...
* In ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'' Door sees Richard's old girlfriend, and looking for something nice to say comes up with "She's very... clean."
* In Creator/JaneYolen's historical novel ''Queen's Own Fool'', when Queen Mary is about to marry Darnley, she asks her friends' opinion of him. They don't want to upset her by pointing out that Darnley is a {{Jerkass}}, so they dodge the issue by praising his other qualities.
%%* ''Literature/RedDwarf'': The Least Worst Scripts.
* At the beginning of ''Literature/ReservedForTheCat'', Ninette Dupond is chosen to fill in for the star, La Augustine (who has sprained her ankle) for a matinee production of the ballet ''La Sylphide''. She has done a good job, but the following day, she and the other ''sujets'' (soloists) are reading the reviews and most of them are about the star's injury and her performance rated only, "''Sujet'' Ninette Dupond was called upon to replace the ''etoile'' and managed a credible, if sometimes naïve, interpretation." One of the other ''sujets'' laughs and comments, "You are damned with faint praise, Ninette." (It's the one good review from ''La Figaro'', the newspaper thought to be for artists and thinkers, that causes trouble for Ninette.)
* ''Secret War: Spies, Codes and Guerillas 1939-1945'' by Creator/MaxHastings contains an inversion: he is generally unimpressed by the wartime spooks but describes the British secret services as "the least ineffective in the world."
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Sansa is unable to think of any honest compliments for young king Joffrey except that he is "comely." It's pretty much the only good thing about him.
** The only honest compliment that Ned can give Robert about his reign was that he was a better king than [[TheCaligula his predecessor]].
** Griff says that Ser Rolly Duckfield is a "solid" man, but disagrees with him being raised to the Kingsguard. He worries that, at this rate, the illustrious order will be filled with men "each more blindingly adequate than the last."
* In [[Literature/HilaryTamar The Sibyl in Her Grave]], Daphne knits Maurice a sweater as a Christmas gift. Julia, a notorious klutz, diplomatically says, "It is not for me to speak disparagingly of Daphne's skill at knitting, as it is undoubtedly greater than mine."
* ''The Sprightly Companion'', a musical instruction book published by Henry Playford in 1695, describes the oboe as 'not much inferior to the Trumpet.'
* In ''Literature/WolfHall'', after Thomas Cromwell returns from a trip he tells his wife Liz that she's sweeter to look at than Cardinal Wolsey was. She laughs and tells him "that's the smallest compliment a woman ever received", which he jokes is a shame because he was working on it the whole way home.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Liz explains that whenever Jenna performs in a horrible production she always finds some small point to legitimately compliment so that it can seem like she enjoyed it. When she tries it in "The Rural Juror", however, Jenna describes it as Liz being mocking by highlighting some small point. [[RashomonStyle There are two sets of flashbacks in the episode, one from each of their perspectives]]; Liz's depicts her as attempting to be kind, while Jenna's emphasizes the condescension and insulting aspect.
* In season one of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' Angel and Wesley describe Cordelia's acting as having "good projection" and said that she had "taken the role and made it her own."
* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Leonard and Penny pull this on themselves while trying to write a Christmas letter. As they try to list their accomplishments over the previous year, they end up with items like "still married" and "still employed."
* ''Series/BigWolfOnCampus'' episode "That Swamp Thing You Do!", possibly combined with StealthInsult:
-->'''Tommy:''' So, what did you think of my acting skills?\\
'''Merton:''' I think you combined the articulation of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger with the emotional range of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme.\\
'''Tommy:''' Thanks, man!
* An episode of ''Series/BlackBooks'' has Manny, suddenly missing his job at the bookshop, trying to find a nice thing to say about the place. He eventually concludes that there was no love, freedom, or largeness of heart, but "I was not contractually obligated to have sex with foreign businessmen, and that's not nothing!"
* On ''Series/TheBlacklist'' when Reddington tried to convince the judge to allow Glen on his jury, his argument amounted to saying that none of Glen's obvious flaws meant he couldn't be a juror.
-->'''Judge:''' I'm not sure if you're damning him with faint praise or praising him with faint damnation.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Willow's excited to hear that since Angel came to our fair shores about eighty years ago, there are no reports of him hunting ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E7Angel Angel]]"). She reads this as proof that he is a ''good'' vampire. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, 10 being someone who's killing and maiming every night, and 1 being someone who's... not."
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E12ProphecyGirl Prophecy Girl]] ", Xander takes the plunge and asks out Buffy. She's at a loss for words. "Well, you're not laughing, so that's a good start."
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E3SchoolHard School Hard]]", Joyce wonders what Buffy's teachers will have to say about her scholastic performance. "Well," Buffy declares, "I think they'll all agree that I always bring a pen to class, ready to absorb the knowledge."
** Willow congratulates Buffy from moving on from Angel... then makes the mistake of asking the Scoobies if they approve of the new guy, Scott. "He didn't try to slit our throats or anything," quips Cordelia. "It's progress." ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick Faith, Hope, and Trick]]")
** Buffy concedes that she's not popular. But she's not exactly '''un'''popular! ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E5Homecoming Homecoming]]")
--->'''Buffy:''' A ''lot'' of people came to my Welcome Home party.\\
'''Willow:''' But they were eaten by zombies.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E18Earshot Earshot]]", Hogan feigns excitement at Percy's improved verbal skills. "I actually heard him complete a sentence," he tells Willow. "It had a clause and everything."
** At a pep rally in the same episode, Oz muses that the cheerleaders' spelling has improved.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E22GraduationDayPart2 Graduation Day pt. 2]]", Snyder congratulates the Class of '99, saying that they were "more or less adequate."
* An episode of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has the Trinity Killer receive faint praise from his family on Thanksgiving. He catches on, which goes poorly for his family.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]", River arguably gives one about the Doctor. The army captain asks her "Do you trust this man?" She replies, "I absolutely trust him." "He's not some kind of madman?" In the ''exact'' same tone as before: "... I absolutely trust him." He catches on, though, and warns her that he doesn't like it.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor The Night of the Doctor]]" the Eighth Doctor tries to convince Cass that he's not one of those Time Lords, who have wrought destruction upon the universe during the Time War, by saying that he's "one of the nice ones." This doesn't work, and she chooses to die rather than trust him. He refuses to leave her side and dies too.
* ''Series/FawltyTowers'': Major Gowen appears to leap to the defence of the hotel when a dissatisfied customer is chewing out Basil Fawlty.
-->'''Mr. Hamilton:''' What I'm suggesting is that this place is the crummiest, shoddiest, worst-run hotel in the whole of Western Europe!\\
'''Major:''' [[BigNo NO!]] No, I won't have that! There's a place in Eastbourne...
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': When Carl is asked to testify during an in-school "court session" about Steve's destructive tendencies, the only positive thing he can say is, "... I still have my health!"
* From an early episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
-->'''Frasier:''' Niles, you're a good brother and a credit to the psychiatric profession.\\
'''Niles:''' You're a good brother too.
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'':
** In one, Ashley is afraid that she won't make any friends at her new school. Phil says that she has a great personality. Her response? "Great! Now I'm ugly."
** In another episode, the characters are arguing over who is Phillip Banks' favorite child and will inherit his fortune. In the end, Phillip tells each one that he loves them equally and the reason why. When he gets to Hilary, he can't think of anything better than "Nice earrings!"
** PlayedForDrama in "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse," where Will's [[DisappearedDad deadbeat dad]] comes back into his life, then leaves just as quickly after getting Will's hopes up that he'd changed his ways. As he angrily processes his father's actions, Will says, "[[SuppressedRage Why should I be mad?]] At least he said goodbye this time."
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
** The characters argue over what faint praise they could offer Joey's awful T.V. show: "The lighting was O.K."
** Ross promises to play rugby. Rachel reassured him that he was the toughest ''paleontologist'' that she knew.
** In "The One With The Butt," the friends struggle to give Joey's play faint praise before Chandler breaks the ice by bluntly declaring it "awful."
** A review for Joey's newest play begins by saying that while his performance was "uneven" it wasn't the ''worst'' part of the production. Joey is actually pleased to hear this and asks if he can keep the newspaper containing the review.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Catelyn agrees for one of Lord Walder Frey's daughters to marry her son Robb. She relays that Lord Walder said that several of them would be suitable for marriage. When asked to describe them she starts "One was..." and stops, apparently unable to think of a compliment and settling for confirming she's "suitable."
** Jaime Lannister ends up being forced to undergo an extremely painful surgical procedure in order to prevent an infection from spreading. For extra creepiness, the doctor presiding over this treatment is Qyburn, [[MadDoctor a mildly-psychotic Maester]] stripped of his rank and chain of study for [[MadScientist immoral experimentation]]. Fortunately, the treatment works, and Jaime eventually compliments him on being "far better at this sort of work than Grand Maester Pycelle." He actually meant this as a genuine compliment, but Qyburn clearly doesn't think much of his [[TheyCalledMeMad former colleagues among the Maesters]] and even less of the [[YesMan admittedly corrupt]] Grand Maester, and only replies: "Faint praise, my Lord."
** Shae mentions in "What Is Dead May Never Die" that every man she cooks for compliments what a good whore she is.
** In "Mockingbird", Jaime praises Tyrion's epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from the previous episode as something all of King's Landing will be talking about for ''days'' to come. He's furious that Tyrion, by giving this speech and demanding a trial by combat, derailed Jame and Tywin's plans to have Tyrion sent to the Night's Watch in exchange for Jaime leaving the Kingsguard to inherit Casterly Rock.
** After Tywin's death, Loras has to give his condolences to Cersei and he painfully struggles to say something nice about her father. He finally calls the deceased lord 'a force to be reckoned with', then pauses for a moment, then rephrases it, then pauses again and finally repeats the original phrase. While the moment is awkward, the departed would find the words highly praising because that's precisely the image Tywin cultivated and relished.
** Varys notes that the main thing Robert had to recommend was that he wasn't as bad as Aerys II and Joffrey, being neither mad nor cruel. He simply didn't want to be king.
** When Jaime and Bronn are tasked by King Tommen to aid House Frey in retaking Riverrun, they arrive and end up witnessing a pittance of a siege, prompting Bronn to remark that the Frey besiegers need to be taught how to dig trenches. Jaime agrees and suggests Bronn should do it, much to the latter's annoyance, justifying as that Bronn has better instincts than anyone in the Lannister army. Bronn's response?
--->'''Bronn:''' That's like saying I have a bigger cock than anyone in the Unsullied army. [[note]] To be clear, the Unsullied are castrated as young boys and don't have cocks.[[/note]]
*** Considering Tywin's irritation with his generals in season 2 in the War of the Five Kings in the campaign against Robb, Bronn may be right.
** During the Long Night, Sansa remarks to Tyrion that out of all her husbands, he was the best of them. While Tyrion is touched by the statement, he also notes that she is comparing him to [[TheCaligula Joffrey Baratheon]] and Ramsay Bolton, who were rather monstrous individuals who would be easier to be better people than others. In particular, Tyrion is the only one of Sansa's husbands who neither raped Sansa(Ramsay) nor threatened to do so(Joffrey).
* ''Series/{{GLOW 2017}}'': After Ruth directs an opening sequence for the show, cameraman Russell hits on her by saying she has a "decent eye." Ruth makes a sarcastic comment about the faintness of the praise.
* The main premise of an ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' episode: Carly's webshow lands a sponsorship from a new type of wonder shoe. When the shoe fails to deliver, the team piles on "faint praise" to fulfill the contract without lying to their fans.
* In the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode, "The Gang Dines Out", Mac forces Dennis to say something nice to him. This is the best Dennis could come up with:
-->'''Dennis:''' ...Your hair looks small.
* In ''Series/TheITCrowd'', the main characters go to see ''Gay! A Gay Musical''. When they see the poster, the review blurbs consist of "The audience applauded", "More than tolerable" and "Not as long as some musicals."
* In ''Series/{{Jessie}}'', while seeing a horrible performance by officer Petey and being asked for an opinion. Zuri says that he is a "better actor than [[PoliceAreUseless policeman]]."
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Irish criminal Elliot "Grotto" Grote is killed by the Punisher despite Nelson & Murdock's best efforts to protect him. [[LonelyFuneral Only]] [[OfficialCouple Matt Murdock, Karen Page]] and Foggy Nelson show up for his funeral. Father Lantom doesn't sugarcoat Grotto's life or attempt to avoid [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead speaking ill of him]]. The most positive thing he can say about Grotto is that he went to and donated to the church with whatever loose change he had on hand and explains to Matt afterward that if they ignore his criminal past, there was no learning from it.
** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Trish tried to become a pop singer at one point, with a song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCR9Z4dq9x0 "I Want Your Cray Cray"]]. The one good thing Jessica has to say about [[StylisticSuck this terrible song and its equally terrible music video]] is that it takes the ''It's Patsy'' theme song out of her head.
* ''Series/MrShow'':
** In one sketch, the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRLzrxnNwuI attempts to bolster their public image with an ad campaign]] reminding the public that they're not serial killers. When presented at the Awards for Advertising American Ads, it wins the award for Best Improved Image. The audience is so disgusted with the pro-NAMBLA PSA that even a member of NAMBLA takes offense.
** Some of the vox pops reviewing ''Coupon: The Movie'' include "We saw the shit out of it!" and "It was a movie!"
* The opening of ''Franchise/TheMuppets Go to the Movies'' includes hilariously-vague faux reviews saying things like "One of the T.V. programs ever made" and "Even better than that."
* In an episode of ''Series/MurphyBrown'', Frank, Murphy, and Jim attend the premiere of a movie made by Corky's husband, and come out having utterly hated it. Frank then tells Murphy and Jim that in these circumstances he usually complements the movie's cinematography. Phil then walks in:
-->'''Phil:''' So how was the movie?\\
'''Frank:''' The cinematography was excellent!\\
'''Phil:''' ...that bad, huh?
* ''Series/MyFamily'': In one episode, Susan is trying to put a positive spin on her relationships with all her children while being undercut by {{Description Cut}}s of the kids acting exactly the opposite of how she's described them. After describing Michael as her "rock" and Janey as her "angel", she comes to Nick, a LazyBum who's spent his entire life moving from ZanyScheme to ZanyScheme...and after a significantly longer pause, all she can manage is, "He's our eldest."
-->'''Ben:''' He's a pillock.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'':
** "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E07TheLandThatTimeForgot The Land That Time Forgot]]":
--->'''Jonah:''' This is my fourth-favorite submarine movie.\\
'''Servo:''' Really?\\
'''Jonah:''' Well, I only know of three others, so it's also my least favorite submarine movie.
** In the episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E21MonsterAGoGo Monster A-Go-Go]]", Joel tries to get the Bots to come up with good things to say about [[Film/MonsterAGoGo the movie]]. They come up with "you couldn't hear some of the bad dialogue" and "at least nobody involved went on to do anything else".
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries:'' Following the murder of RecurringCharacter Roger Newsome, a DirtyCoward and UpperClassTwit (followed by a prolonged OfCorpseHesAlive deception to draw out the killer), there are only two good things Murdoch can think to tell the reporters about him when they ask. First, that Roger's last words were spent trying to deliver a message which cracked the case once it was understood. Second, that when he dined with Roger (which happened during the period Roger was dead but they were pretending he wasn't) the man had excellent table manners.
* In ''Series/TheNanny'' episode "Deep Throat", C.C. wants Maxwell to be her date at a sorority reunion:
-->'''C.C.:''' ''[enthusiastically]'' I just can't wait to show you off to all my old friends, ''[becoming embittered]'' with their handsome doctor husbands and their 2.5 perfect children they juggled while earning multiple [=PhDs=]...\\
'''Maxwell:''' C.C., there's no need to be jealous. You have a successful career and, uh... a successful career.\\
'''Niles:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Yes, how do you balance them both]]?
* In ''Series/{{Newsradio}}'', a whole episode is devoted to the news staff getting angry over a review describing their station as "adequate." When Jimmy James hears about it, he admits that the reviewer is on his payroll and he wrote the review himself, believing that "adequate" is a good compliment.
* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Model Teacher", a Snap magazine reporter "compliments" Miss Brooks' clothes: "That's a very nice suit... One can tell at a glance that it's worn you for years."
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': Inverted when Ron moves [[NiceGirl Anne]] to tears by matter-of-factly telling her that interacting with her had not always been entirely unpleasant. This is due to Ron being extraordinarily spare in his praise.
* In ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', after being informed that she's been cold to the Rangers, K turns to each in term, gives them ([[NoSocialSkills incredibly awkward and unintentionally backhanded]], but well-meaning) compliments, calls them by name (which she previously hadn't done much), and gives them an (equally awkward) hug. Then she turns to Ziggy, the one character most likely to accept this, and all she does is nod and say "You too, Series Operator Green," and walk off. Ziggy is outright insulted by this. [[spoiler:Implied to be a subversion, at least in intent; she actually seems to have a crush on Ziggy and has no idea how to express it.]]
* ''Series/RedDwarf:'' When an amnesiac Lister asks Kryten to describe something laudable about himself, Kryten pauses for a moment, and states that Lister ''sometimes'' turns his underpants inside out, allowing him to go without washing them for another few months.
* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'': [[MyBelovedSmother Beverly]] used this trope often. When Roseanne disapproves of her daughter moving into a trailer park, she intentionally sends Beverly in with the directions to "[[ComplimentBackfire be as nice as possible]]."
-->'''Beverly:''' Well, it must be nice being able to vacuum the entire home without having to change outlets.
* ''Series/SchittsCreek'': During an audition, Alexis touts her "critically reviewed" reality show ''A Little Bit Alexis''.
* ''Series/SixFeetUnder'': Russell, Claire's then soon-to-be boyfriend, complains to Claire that nobody ever considers him "hot." At best he gets "cute", and it doesn't help that most people think he's gay, and he's constantly hit on by guys.
* Of Oliver's production of ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' in ''Series/SlingsAndArrows'', the janitor diplomatically says, "The production values are very high." And they are; it's just a shame that half the actors are crap and the blocking means you can't actually hear the delivery of the good ones. In the audience, the minister of culture is listening to the hockey game on a portable radio -- and in the tech booth, the stage manager and ''Oliver himself'' are watching it on TV.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]" has Picard changing the past and not getting involved in the fight that caused him to need to get his heart replaced with an artificial one. Without that brush with death driving him, [[ForWantOfANail he became a Lieutenant Junior Grade paper pusher instead of a legendary starship captain]]. When he goes to Troi and Riker asking about his performance, they end up falling into this.
--->'''Riker:''' You're a good worker, reliable... punctual.
** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E18TheChase The Chase]]", Picard's old archaeology professor describes one of his papers as "informative", to which Picard himself replies "[[LampshadeHanging Damning with faint praise]]."
** {{Inverted}} in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E23Sarek Sarek]]." After Vulcan Ambassador Sarek has reviewed Captain Picard's service record, he deems it "satisfactory." Picard is pleased, recognizing this as high praise coming from a Vulcan.
** Faint praise is considered a grave insult in Klingon culture as it implies the recipient is too weak to handle criticism. In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E17SinsOfTheFather Sins of the Father]]", visiting Klingon officer Kurn [[DrillSergeantNasty berates]] most of the crew but is dismissively polite towards Worf, resulting in a confrontation. It turns out this was a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if Worf, raised by humans, is still [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Klingon]] enough to avenge the insult.
* ''Series/{{Succession}}'': When people make cracks about Shiv's unexceptional boyfriend Tom, she defensively protests, "He's a nice guy!" On their wedding night, her toast to him is limited to, "You're a great guy and I like hanging out with you."
* In ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'', Teacher Chuck Noblet to protagonist Jerri Blank's stepmother Sara: "Jerri certainly is one our of students."
* Former ''Series/TopGear'' host Jeremy Clarkson lampshaded this trope reviewing a minivan. "This is a Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that's much to shout about. That's like saying ‘Oh good, I've got syphilis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases!'"

[[folder:Music]]
* ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'':
** The band bills itself as [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk duo]].
** "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" is all about this. The speaker hits on a girl by telling her that she's the most beautiful girl in the "whole wide room" and that when she's walking down a street, she'd probably be among the top three hottest girls on the street (depending on the street).
* One review of [[Music/PinkFloyd Pink Floyd's]] album ''Music/{{Ummagumma}}'' (acknowledged even by the band itself as being part of its DorkAge) called it "an admirable record to fall asleep to."
* The Music/{{Soundgarden}} album "Ultramega Ok." (The band were dissatisfied with the production but happy with the songs themselves)
* In their stage performances, veteran Irish folk group Music/TheDubliners would often credit their late member Barney as being "probably the best banjo player in the whole of the Dubliners."
* Keith Moon, Music/TheWho's {{Cloudcuckoolander}} drummer, once made the bold claim that he was "the best Keith Moon-type drummer in the world."
* On at least one of his album covers, Music/TomLehrer cheerfully included lines from a brutal series of newspaper reviews, ending with the ''Oakland Tribune''[='s=] "Plays the piano acceptably."
* In the ''Music/WeirdAlYankovic'' album ''Music/PolkaParty'', the song "Good Enough For Now" is all about this. His momentary lover is described as "pretty good", "above average", "the woman that he's (not really) always dreamed of", and he doesn't plan to leave her... until "something better comes along".

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* A RunningGag in the podcast ''Podcast/BehindTheBastards'' is that whatever products and services the ad break is about to shill for probably ''haven't'' been involved with the subject of this week's episode, which tends to involve 'schenanigans' like genocide, terrorism, torture, shameless exploitation of slave labour, running violent cults, running police states, {{False Flag Operation}}s, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lying about one's resume]]...
%%* From an episode of the Dread Central Podcast regarding ''Film/TheApparition'':
%%-->'''Matt Fini:''' I asked a friend of mine in LA if I should bother go seeing it and he said "Eh. It's well-meaning."
* ''Podcast/InterstitialActualPlay'':
** It crops up when the party encounter Merlin in Twilight Town. He thinks the dropout from Yen Sid's class is Edith rather than Criss, and Criss defends her by claiming that she doesn't have nearly the potential Yen Sid looks for in a student and would never be taught by him.
** Again near the end of the first season. While trying to brag about his companions, Criss gives impressive images of Edith and Roxanne and then implies the most interesting thing about Marche is that he can drive a car.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/MickFoley tells a story in one of his books about Wrestling/OwenHart's feud with Wrestling/DanSevern. Evidently, when Mick asked Owen how his match went with Severn, Owen replied with "He's a nice guy." When Mick repeated the question, Owen responded again with "He's a nice guy."

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/CabinPressure'':
** Martin responds to Arthur's Christmas gift with "Thank you, Arthur, it's just what I... least expected."
** Douglas gives Martin a job reference stating that "other than myself, there is no one at MJN whose skills as a pilot I rate higher." [[OddlySmallOrganization They're MJN's only two pilots.]]
** [[ThePollyanna Arthur]] thinks pretty much everyone is, in his words, "brilliant", so when he's asked to describe his father and the best he can come up with is "he's all right", Martin's immediate reaction is "God, he must be awful!" Later in the same episode, Carolyn greets Arthur's father (her ex-husband) with "Hello, Gordon. How necessary to see you."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* An old ''[[Franchise/TheDCU DC Adventures]]'' sourcebook featured profiles of various Golden Age characters, with added commentary by supervillain [[StupidJetpackHitler Captain Nazi]]. Mr. America's profile declares [[WhipItGood "perhaps his most impressive talent is his unrivaled mastery of the bullwhip,"]] to which Captain Nazi responds by simply repeating the words sarcastically--after all, claiming to be a BadassNormal on the basis of being an ImprobableWeaponUser in an era where guns and superpowers exist is pretty sad.
* An infamous [[JokeItem Community Chest Card]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' will inform you, "You have won second prize in a beauty contest!" This dubious distinction will award you a whopping $11. Although in some newer versions of the game, [[{{Nerf}} you only get $10]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In a guide (fanmade or official) for a character seen as a TierInducedScrappy or JokeCharacter, a common refrain is "good in the right hands." Sometimes this means the character has some hidden trick or high skill floor, to make them DifficultButAwesome or a LethalJokeCharacter - but more often, it means "this character can only be played proficiently if the user is already really good at the game, at which point playing as this character is basically a SelfImposedChallenge."
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', the ''Rafiq'' in charge of the Assassin Bureau in Damascus will tell Altaïr that he deeply envies him. Well, except for the fact that his arrogance got Altaïr stripped of his rank and equipment and got him stabbed in the gut, and every other Assassin hates his guts now.... or rather, are able to ''openly'' hate his guts now.
* Shows up during one of the MultipleEndings of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3}}'' when [[LoveFreak Flonne]] is pressed to find something good to say about [[RoyalBrat Laharl]]. Flonne, after some hesitation, manages to say that she could like [[ItsAllAboutMe how everything revolves around him]], [[ManChild how he has the heart of a young boy]], and how [[{{Pride}} sticks to his beliefs even when it causes people to get hurt]]. Laharl is altogether less than pleased.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', The Warden is offered a vote on how to dispense with a magical criminal responsible for poisoning a nobleman. The Warden can give a response like "He did agree to help us... though he didn't have much choice", to which the Arl calls the trope out by name.
* This little ditty from [=IGN's=] review of the horrendous budget game ''Extreme [=PaintBrawl=] 2'': "There is one good thing I can say about Extreme [=PaintBrawl=] 2: it doesn't cause cancer, bursitis, or scurvy -- at least according to the Surgeon General."
* There is a rare {{inver|tedTrope}}sion of the trope in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. Gigi's, an NPC in the Goldsmith's Guild, initial criticism of the player's work ("Not fit to make a chamberpot" "an affront to the gods themselves") is so ridiculously over-the-top that "I've seen worse" is treated as high praise.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'''s character bios list Karis, an overbearing and easily-annoyed {{Tsundere}}, as the "most levelheaded" of the starting three characters. This speaks volumes ([[HeroicMime or not]]) about Matthew, ''the hero''.
* ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'': In ''Beautiful Katamari'', if the King of All Cosmos isn't impressed with your rolling results, but still turns it into a star, he'll observe "At least it doesn't take up much space..." Of course, he doesn't shy away from ''straight insults'', either...
** The [[ReplacementGoldfish RoboKing]] in ''Katamari Forever'' is even better at this, in part thanks to his [[HeroicSelfDeprecation tendency to]] [[ItsAllMyFault blame himself]].
* The Disciple, from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', will give you a laundry list of complaints he has with the Jedi if you ask him: they're arrogant, they're out of touch, and [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels their greatest Knights keep on falling to the dark side]]. But he ''will'' concede that people are wrong to conflate them with the Sith, and they do have symbolic value. He supposes.
* In ''Mutant Football League'', if the Leaveland Burns manage to eke out a win, "Brickhead" Mulligan will congratulate them on how, "...for one glorious night, they weren't the worst."
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series:
** In ''VideoGame/Persona4'':
*** Kanji does his best to not insult Yukiko's cooking. He ends up with "[[ItTastesLikeFeet It tastes really... boneless?]]", then notes "It's pretty impressive that you put so many ingredients into a dish and it came out tasting like nothing." Granted, it apparently turned out slightly better than Chie or Rise's cooking, the latter of which causes Yukiko to pass out after a single bite.
*** Yukiko possibly unintentionally does this when she remarks that [[BookDumb Chie gets above average grades in the subjects she doesn't fail.]]
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', near the end of Haru's Confidant, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Takakura]], [[spoiler:the new president of Okumura Foods after her father's death]] asks her what she thinks about her fiancé, Sugimura. Haru, still a bit guarded around Takakura, politely describes Sugimura as "an intelligent man," but says she has no interest in being his wife. In reality, Haru had previously called Sugimura a "creep," and had decided to steal her father's heart so she wouldn't have to go through with the ArrangedMarriage with Sugimura.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonVietnameseCrystal'', the second gym leader, oddly enough, does this to ''himself'' when he says, "IF IT'S WORM ELF, I'M NOT DEFEATED BY EVERYONE."[[note]]The original line, through the filter of BlindIdiotTranslation, is " I never lose when it comes to bug Pokémon!"[[/note]]
** Later in the same game, a trainer in the Fighting Gym declares that, "OUR FIGHTERS ARE NOT TERRIBLE!"
* The introduction to ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'' explains that you are currently living in an apartment that has four walls, a roof and isn't on fire. Also there are no cockroaches because they have higher standards.
** In ''Shadowrun: Dragonfall'', if you accept a particular assassination job, choose to spare the target, then have a change of heart and kill him anyway when the client's goons show up to check on you, you'll receive your payment along with a note from the client that your performance was "satisfactory"... and that you shouldn't expect to receive any more contracts from them.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', Pearl asks Marina to tell the viewers about Inkblot Art Academy, but all Marina can come up with is "It's a place that exists." They later admit that they can't badmouth the Academy on-air because it's one of their sponsors.
* Towards the end of ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'', BigBad Konrad claims he's not a madman by telling the [[PlayerCharacter Captain Walker]] "I assure you, I'm as sane as you are Captain." As the tone of voice, not to mention [[SanitySlippage the previous several hours of the game]], suggests, this is not intended as a reassurance. [[spoiler:Not long after, you find that Konrad was DeadAllAlong, and Captain Walker was talking to a figment of his imagination so he could deny that [[VillainProtagonist "The only villain here is you, Walker."]] "Konrad" was indeed as sane as Captain Walker.]]
* The demo for ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' features a "compliments room", where pushing the button will earn you a shallow compliment from the narrator. He's only able to praise the player's ability to eat uranium, then place them in the top 5000 of people playing the demo at this exact moment, before running out of nice things to say.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' has a moment of Alvin and Milla discussing her getting some training in her swordsmanship in, though she is less than adequate at fighting at this point. Cue Alvin giving her faint praise.
--> '''Alvin:''' If nothing else, you know how to swing the pointy end.
* Played for laughs in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' regarding the engineering profession which at high levels allows characters to "make fantastic devices and explosives that very often work as intended."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
%%* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM tourism ad parody]] describes UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} this way:
%%-->It could be worse though, at least we're not Detroit!
* ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'':
** He has only one good thing to say about ''VideoGame/{{Back to the Future|1989}}'': at least it fits in a toaster.
** For even more horrendous games like ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'', the closest he could get to complimenting it is to say it's almost half as bad as ''VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHyde''.
** Even on ''Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' itself, the nicest thing he is able to say about it is that, for what it is, it's at least a finished and functional game, unlike unfinished "things" like ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing'' and ''VideoGame/HongKong97''.
** When he plays the Creator/LJNToys adaptation of ''Film/{{Alien3}}'', in spite of all its flaws and who made it, he admits that [[SoOkayItsAverage it's at least playable, as much as the film is at least watchable]]. He then takes that to mean it's actually a good adaptation, as they perfectly captured the flawed mediocrity of the film they were adapting.
** When reviewing the [[PortingDisaster butchered N64 port]] of ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}'', he declares that the only positive thing he can say about it in relation to other racing games is that the racers move, putting it above ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing''.
* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'':
** After watching Wonder Woman brutally take down a suspect and take his blood without the legal right to in [[Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot the 2011 pilot]], Linkara says, "At least she used a sterile needle."
** In his review of "The Culling" arc, he notes that Rose Wilson and Caitlin Fairchild pass the UsefulNotes/BechdelTest during their DesignatedGirlFight. "So I guess there's another positive we can give to this idiotic story."
* ''WebVideo/TheAutobiographyOfJaneEyre'': When Jane asks Mr. Rochester's personal assistant Grace Poole about their boss, specifically what he is like and whether he is easy to work for or if he is generally liked, Grace starts talking about his company and family. She also says that he's... ''a man''. Eventually, she manages to say he's great, but it doesn't sound too convincing. But one thing was really nice — Mr. Rochester is a dog-lover.
* A number of video games featured in ''WebVideo/GamesDoneQuick''[='=]s Awful Games Block have been described as fun games to play...if you're speedrunning. In other words, playing the game ''completely differently'' from how it was intended to be played.
* Creator/BishopBarron's Youtube review of ''Film/LastDaysInTheDesert'' opens with him praising the movie for a massive accomplishment: managing to make the most captivating human in all of history, [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Jesus Christ]], "colossally dull."
* CBS News online made a [[https://www.cbsnews.com/video/judging-the-franklin-pierce-presidency-one-of-the-worst/ whole video]] doing this to UsefulNotes/FranklinPierce. When the host asked a historian about the good things Pierce did in office, the historian broke down in laughter. Then it's mentioned that perforation was added to postage stamps during his administration and that farmers had access to guano. Another historian claims, when asked about whether Pierce was one of the worst presidents, that while Pierce will never be considered one of the best Presidents, he wasn't a terrible ''person'' (not saying anything about his actual competence). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6i0bsZEmIE A similar one]] talking about UsefulNotes/JamesBuchanan has the narrator claiming that the people who now mind his estate have a more positive view of him than most... as in, one of them labels him as only the ''second'' worst President of all time.
* WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob has a moment after one of the many cheap {{Gorn}} scenes of ''Film/ViolentShit III: Infantry of Doom'':
-->'''Snob:''' "Well, at least it's not CG gore..." ''[winces visibly]'' "What a fucking sad state we're in when modern-day computer-infested horror films could learn something from '''THE ''VIOLENT SHIT'' MOVIES!'''"
* ''WebVideo/CinematicExcrement'':
** In his review of ''Kiara the Brave'' (a direct-to-video mockbuster of ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''), he states that the animation looks great... when compared to the animated sequence in ''UHF''.
** The Smeghead considers Poison Ivy to be the best villain in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''...while also noting how her competition is an obnoxiously exaggerated DumbMuscle character and a comically underdeveloped character with a penchant for horrible puns.
* ''WebVideo/Civvie11'' notes that ''VideoGame/RedneckRampage Rides Again'' is the best sequel to a game made on the Build Engine... the competition being ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' and ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen''. Still, the praise is fairly genuine (he describes it as a flawed-but-playable game [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel that does a lot to fix the original]]), making it more of a StealthInsult to the latter two that they ''couldn't'' beat the sequel to ''Redneck Rampage''.
* In ''WebVideo/CounterMonkey'' episode "TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}: The Code", Spoony begins to describe a break-in that goes horribly wrong thanks to StupidCrooks shenanigans:
-->'''Spoony:''' So they start off and-- and thank God they went at night! At least they got one thing right.
* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': in the second campaign, Veth describes the villainous Lucien thusly:
-->'''Veth:''' He's not ''all'' bad - he has good oral hygiene.
* The ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOxFbQRQHSU&feature=related So They Say]]" features numerous characters praising [[SmugSuper Captain Hammer]] and his relationship with [[WideEyedIdealist Penny]]. When it's her turn to describe him, she says "I guess he's pretty okay."
* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkfQhEe4if0 Part 7]] of ''WebVideo/DumbLawyerQuotesIRLButInAceAttorney'', an attorney, played by [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Phoenix Wright]], lists a defendant's many transgressions then sheepishly says, "On the positive side... he has a certificate for exemplary umpire duties in the softball league."
* ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'':
** When they are struggling to find one, just ''one'' nice thing to say about ''VideoGame/ZeldasAdventure'', this is eventually what they come up with after 8 whole episodes:
--->'''Arin:''' You know, I got to give this game credit. It fucking... it ''is.''\\
'''Danny:''' It ''is'' a game.\\
'''Arin:''' It exists.\\
'''Danny:''' It is real, and you can't take that away from it. Alright, you know what? [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Next time on Game Grumps!]]\\
'''Arin:''' [[CallingYourNausea I'm gonna barf]].
** And to add to that, when ''Zelda's Adventure'' was ''so bad'' they decided to just give up and play extra ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' which Arin begins praising in comparison. While Dan feels he finds the game charming in spite of its flaws, the stuff Arin praises in comparison to ''Zelda's Adventure'' are the absolute rock-bottom most basic elements something needs to even be considered a video game (though he ''does'' admit he loves the way the beach stage they're on is beautiful):
--->'''Arin:''' It's got gameplay, and goals, and feedback. There are clear motives and things are happening.
** During their stream of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', Hannah and Dan force Arin to say one nice thing about the game every time he complains about it. Most of his "nice" things are this, where he'll make a scathing critique about how he feels the controls are [[{{Waggle}} frustratingly broken, gimmicky, and unresponsive]], and then praise some small or irrelevant aspect of the game like a nice texture, or liking how the cursor rotates.
* The ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' episode for ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' accuses Creator/ChristopherNolan of three recurring problems in his films- 1)Overbaked plots, 2)[[FlatCharacter Underdeveloped characters]] and 3)All-white leads. It then shows the black [[NoNameGiven Protagonist]], and says the this time, Nolan was able to solve ''[[TakeThat one]]'' of those problems.
* WebVideo/IHateEverything in his review of ''Film/CoolCatSavesTheKids'' said it was "the greatest thing he's ever seen."
-->'''IHE''': Notice how I called it a 'thing', though, because I'm not sure it can be classified as a movie.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl4pjEbEydE An episode]] of ''WebVideo/LasagnaCat'' makes this into a RunningGag with the two live-action ''Film/{{Garfield}}'' movies, by using selected [[QuoteMine quotes]] from various reviews of said movies, both by professional critics and random internet users, starting with backhanded compliments, then moving on to more bland statements, before finally going into ones that border on downright bizarre.
-->"No one can accuse ''Garfield: The Movie'' of infidelity to its source: it faithfully conveys the [consistency] of Creator/JimDavis's cartoon."\\
-- '''Ben Kenigsberg''', ''Voice''\\
"Garfield is a cat who says funny things."\\
-- '''A.O. Scott''', ''New York Times''\\
"I loved the garfield cartoons and now I see it if it was in real life !!! I cant wait to see!!!"\\
-- '''[=NowCDDude=]''', Amazon.com\\
-->"Runtime: 78 minutes"
-- Website/IMDb[=.com=]
* ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'':
** Jim's second look at Digital Homicide's ''Deadly Profits'' has them pointing out the one or two extremely minor details that were changed for the better (such a boss fight having its exploitation fixed) and that the game itself was worth buying due to the $1 sale the developers were promoting.
** "It's... ''fine''." Jim's go-to phrase for "Jimpressions" when reviewing games that they consider average fare.
* When ''WebVideo/JonTron'' is playing various ''Toys/{{Barbie}}'' games and being thoroughly unimpressed by how shallow and vapid the gameplay is, the ''highest'' praise he's able to give the UsefulNotes/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}} ''Barbie'' game is "at least it's not about getting ready for a date with Ken"
* ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'':
** Lizzie isn't too pleased to hear that Darcy considers her "decent enough"... His lack of social skills and tact is really astounding, considering how witty and pretty Lizzie actually is.
** Lizzie challenges her incredibly kind sister Jane to say ''something'' nice about Darcy. The only thing she can give? "He's so... ah. Eeh. He's um- no, no no... He's tall."
--->'''Lizzie:''' Okay! For the record, when the nicest thing ''Jane Bennet'' has to say about you is "tall", you have personality problems.
** It happens again when Caroline is trying to describe Darcy, also asked by Lizzie. And Caroline actually ''likes'' Darcy. Her struggle may not have been in finding something to praise about him, but in figuring out how to praise him without making it obvious she likes him. Either way, she never ends up spitting anything out, so the effect is the same.
* When Maple Leaf {{LetsPlay}}s ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', he tells Olive Branch that "the game itself is fine. The ''game'' itself is fine" and "very acceptable." (The story, and the ways that the story interacts with the game, however...)
* Crossing over with BitingTheHandHumor, ''VideoGame/MoveOrDie'' developer Mental Checkpoint released [[https://youtu.be/mlh24BnhKmo a video]] criticising the predatory tactics [[AllegedlyFreeGame free-to-play mobile games]] use to hook players in and fleece them out of their money... sponsored by the free-to-play mobile game ''Raid: Shadow Legends''. The video features an EnforcedPlug for the game which conspicuously avoids saying anything about the developers' business practices or monetisation strategies; considering the subject of the video, you'd expect he'd offer some praise for these things if they were in any way ethical, so the fact he doesn't tells you everything you need to know.
* An {{inverted|Trope}} version of this trope is {{discussed|Trope}} in ''Film/TheLegendOfHercules'' (2014) episode of ''WebVideo/MidnightScreenings'', in which Creator/{{Brad|Jones}} and Brian overhear two men talking about the film after seeing it. The first man unfavorably compares the film to the show ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'', stating how "much better" the show is, before adding at the end that the movie was still "pretty fucking good, though."
-->'''Brad:''' He liked it! He just had to shit on it first.
* In [[Creator/BobChipman Moviebob]]'s review of Music/RobZombie's ''Film/HalloweenII2009'', he says that it's the best ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' film since Creator/JohnCarpenter's original, though he admits that given the standards of all the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' movies released in between, that's not saying much. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that he enjoyed the film anyway in spite of its flaws.
* ''WebVideo/MoviesWithMikey'''s analysis of ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' concludes that it's not as bad as people make it out to be, and is a fun, harmless action flick...But it also shows how ''Franchise/StarWars'' has lost all artistic integrity, and retroactively ''undoes'' the artistic integrity it once had, to the point where Mikey firmly takes back when he said ''Star Wars'' was important to our culture, and that he has no intention of covering the franchise ever again (alongside the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'').
* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick'':
** The Nostalgia Chick labels ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' the best of the "dragon" movies, and acknowledges that it isn't saying much.
** While reviewing ''Film/MenInBlackII'', she complains that ItsTheSameNowItSucks, and says that ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' of all sequels tried something different.
--->'''The Chick:''' ...I'm making a positive comparison to ''Transformers 2''. That's like making a positive comparison to backne.
** When rating the Disney sequels, she admits that she can't quite make a "best" list since, as "best implies 'good' or 'warrants existing.'" Instead, she makes a list of the "Least Awful." She does the same thing later when rating female superhero movies.[[note]]This was made ca. 2014, before ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' gave us a legitimately good one.[[/note]]
** Likewise in her review of ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'' she calls ''WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho'' the "least awful" Creator/DrSeuss movie, and notes that, like the best of Chris Meledandri's movies, it's "[[SoOkayItsAverage okay]]."
** From her ''Film/SisterAct'' review: "Well, 'funny' is a strong word, as neither movie [is] particularly funny. They're ''easy to watch.'' [[TriviallyObvious They will hold your gaze for ninety minutes]]." At the end, she sums things up by saying that "they're not funny, but they're ''fun!''"
* From the TGWTG files: ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic''
** From his review of ''Film/{{Steel}}'' when describing the casting choice of Shaquille O'Neal:
--->'''Critic:''' But give him some credit, though.... He's tall.
** He does some lampshading of this during his review of ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'':
--->'''Critic:''' Greatest adequately satisfying movie of all time! And I liked it, too.
** In one that he even feels a bit ashamed: as much as he hates ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'', Creator/JimCarrey's performance is better than Creator/MikeMyers in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat''.
** In his review of ''Film/YogiBear'', he gives the film credit where it's due: "it's short."
** PlayedForLaughs at the end of his review of ''Film/{{Casper}}'' when the titular ghost has given up on his film being good or terrifying, and tries to settle for [[BileFascination so bad that it's scary]]. The Critic rebukes this admitting that, while it's not good, it's certainly not god-awful and actually has some good qualities and genuine effort put into it. Casper doesn't take it well.
--->'''Casper:''' Well. Wasn't so bad it was scary?\\
'''Critic:''' Actually it wasn't even that. I mean, granted it is a bad movie, but it's nowhere near terrible. The sets are kind of creative, the CGI is fun. And even though it doesn't really work, you can tell that creators were at least trying to create something good. There was actual effort put onto it. It's kind of like the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Ninja Turtles movie]]. It's not really good but could have been hell of a lot worse. Especially considering the subject matter. So, I have to give them credit for at least trying.\\
'''Casper:''' That's it! I'm tired of leaving no lasting impact on the creative media. But I will leave a lasting impact on your balls!
* ''WebVideo/OutsideXbox'' has an episode in which host Luke is served a cocktail recreated from a recipe in ''VideoGame/Hitman2016''. His verdict on it was: "If you added poison to it, it wouldn't ruin the taste."
* Creator/CTPhipps and Blog/TheUnitedFederationOfCharles more or less run on this. You can tell when he really hates a game by the almost-passive aggressive way he brings up the minor-minor details which he liked.
* PlayedForLaughs on ''WebVideo/{{Phelous}}'s'' review of ''VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories'' when he comments on how the game changes the personalities of its characters based on how you play, and follows with a number of alternate Phelouses who each have different opinions. One, the pretentious art critic version of him, has only this to say:
-->In my expert opinion, Silent Hill Shattered Memories is a game.\\
''({{Beat}})''\\
That came out on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}.\\
''({{Beat}})''\\
In December of 2009.
* In WebVideo/RosssGameDungeon, Ross will often say of games that are merely tedious, mediocre, forgettable, and/or not awful to play that he'd play them if he was in prison with nothing better to do.
* Frequently used in WebVideo/Rank10YGO's archetype reviews, often combining it with OverlyNarrowSuperlative. An early one was "Well, it sure can give [[JokeCharacter Shapesnatch Turbo]] a run for its money!" or handing The Empress the honorable title of "better than Magician", but one of the most common is some variant of "[[OverlyNarrowSuperlative If you were playing this card]] in [[{{Scrub}} a rundown locals]] [[PowerCreep about five years ago]] against a six-year-old [[TierInducedScrappy Genex player]], then it should help you out."
* WebVideo/ScottTheWoz uses this often:
** His ''Shovelware Variety Hour'' videos involve this frequently, including acclaiming ''Carnival Games: Mini-Golf'' as "''beyond'' playable", and referring to ''Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball'' as "the best pirate game on our list today" ([[OverlyNarrowSuperlative it's one of two]]).
** In ''New Super Mario Bros. | What's New Is Old'', the last thing Scott had to say in the review was that "the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series aren't '''bad''' games," followed by a half minute of silence.
** His quick introduction of Creator/{{Sega}} for E3 2000:
--->''"Sega. You know, the company with the name?"''
* ''WebVideo/ScreenRantPitchMeetings'' makes frequent use of this in a couple of their {{Running Gag}}s to dunk on movies or characters that are unimpressive:
-->Well, that was definitely a movie!\\
I remember him! He was in the first movie!
* WebVideo/{{Shad|iversity}} in his [[https://youtu.be/MKTG2BPmUn4 review of]] ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. One of his few positive comments is that the film "made [him] feel positive emotions… twice."
* Creator/{{Tobuscus}}' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1pfDquA65c "2nd Hottest Girl"]] is a parody love song about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The ''second'' most attractive girl on a web reality show. The joke, of course, is that the singer doesn't realize that he's insulting her.
* WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows's review of "Turn Up the Music" is actually 90% just a rant about how much Todd hates Chris Brown [[DomesticAbuse as a]] [[NeverMyFault person]]. Partway through he remembers that he's supposed to be reviewing the song, and says that yeah, it's okay, before moving on to more hate.
-->'''Todd:''' As a singer, Chris Brown is a really good dancer.
* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony.'' In the episode "The Pet Games", the caption writer comes up with a variety of subtitles for [[TheDitz Rainbow Dash]]. These alternate between overt insults like "Professional Idiot", and more subtle insults like "Knows Her Own Name" and "Smartest Mare in Her Family" (in ''UFP'', Dash is an only child and an orphan).
* ''WebVideo/VampireReviews'' has a Top 10 Positive Things About ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' video. Most of the examples fall under this trope, including things like "SoBadItsGood" and "[[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furries]] got a reprieve as the internet found someone else to make fun of."
* The "What Your Favorite Ship Says About You" videos by [=Eldena Doubleca5t=] tend to describe particularly unpopular straight ships with the words "You are heterosexual": the intended meaning being that the pairing in question has nothing else to appeal to people aside from being a straight ship [[HetIsEw in a queer-dominated fandom.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Nicked by a Name", after Brain gives the other soccer teammates cool nicknames, when Arthur presses him for a nickname, Brain comes up with Average Arthur.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** After seeing an absolutely horrendous meta episode play about them in "The Ember Island Players": "The effects were decent." Ironically, the episode aired not too far apart from the film ''Film/TheLastAirbender'', causing people to use the same faint praise to describe ''it''.
** In "The Fire Bending Masters," Aang tells Zuko that "I don't care what the others say, you're pretty smart." Zuko looks happy about the praise for a moment... then realizes what it implies.
** One of the final scenes in the series finale has Sokka drawing a picture of the entire team, and [[TerribleArtist failing miserably]]. Everyone except Sokka shares a laugh after Toph says she thinks said picture is "perfect"... which isn't saying much, considering that she's ''blind''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]] tries to give a RousingSpeech to a prison full of criminals. She starts with "most of you aren't stupid".
-->'''[[Characters/AntManHeroes The Wasp]]:''' ''That'll'' win them over.
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': In the episode "Free Churro", [=BoJack=] has to give [[spoiler:a eulogy about his dead mother Beatrice]]. However, he struggles to find even a single nice thing to say about her, resorting to TriviallyObvious statements of fact or just making stories up when he isn't outright insulting her.
* An old Creator/CartoonNetwork bumper parodying ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' sees Lex Luthor trying to restore order at a Legion of Doom meeting:
-->'''Cheetah:''' What we need are a few items to help us in our ''purrrrrfect'' plan to stop the Super Friends!\\
'''Luthor:''' Cheetah, you have razor sharp claws! Brainiac, your mind games are deadly! Scarecrow, y-you're made of straw! What more do you need?!
* ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'': In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E4GarbageBallet Garbage Ballet]]", when Birdie tries praising the pottery on Esposito's desk:
-->'''Birdie:''' Sir, not only are you a gentleman, you are an exceptional potter.\\
'''Esposito:''' Oh, I didn't make that. I made this.\\
''(Esposito takes out a less-impressive pot)''\\
'''Birdie:''' Well, you are a gentleman.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' episode "Gone With The Wind", which dealt with the sudden death of Cleveland's much-reviled ex-wife Loretta, took this trope [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]]. The pastor officiating at Loretta's funeral opens the eulogy by saying that he never knew her personally, but if he'd been told anything about her beforehand, it apparently wasn't pretty, because the best he can do is ''list the accomplishments of other women who happened to share her name.''
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}:''
-->'''Jake:''' ''(on Daria's school photo)'' Wow, that's really sharp focus!
** Also in the episode "Too Cute": everybody is gushing about a minor character's new nose job, which Quinn politely says is "cute." Everybody acts as though this minor praise is a tremendous insult.
** Daria responds to a less-than-inspiring reading from Shakespeare with "Creator/LaurenceOlivier, in his present state[[labelnote:*]]dead[[/labelnote]], could not have done better."
** In an aversion, [=DeMartino=]'s comment that Daria is "making me want to kill myself a little less than the processed sausages who call themselves your classmates!" was actually a show of affection by his standards.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** A CutawayGag "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie Stewie Kills Lois]]" had Music/RingoStarr showing the rest of Music/TheBeatles a song he had just written. Their response? "Very good! We'll put this right on the fridge, right here where everyone can see it."
** When Brian made Stewie say something nice about Creator/DiabloCody, he said, "I . . . envy the tattoo artist who had that huge canvas of arm fat to work with."
** In "Coma Guy", Peter makes his family do embarrassing things to earn his forgiveness, which includes telling Creator/TimothyOlyphant how much they like him in ''Series/SantaClaritaDiet'' (and ''only'' that show). To get them started, Peter says "I like your hair".
--->'''Lois:''' Well, now I've got nothing!
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Whenever the [[NoodleIncident accomplishments]] of Zapp Brannigan are listed, they're usually something that sounds both pathetically easy and morally repugnant. To whit: a carpet bombing of Eden 7, a "bloody triumph" against the pacifists of the Gandhi Nebula, and single-handedly defeating the Retiree People of the Assisted Living Nebula. This is to instantly show that Zapp's [[GeneralFailure tactical skills]] are only matched by his [[GeneralRipper morality]]. One particularly cringe-worthy "accomplishment" is shutting down a rampaging group of Kill-Bots, which sound impressive, until he goes on to tell you he did it by [[WeHaveReserves throwing wave after wave of his men at them]], overflowing the robots' kill-counters and causing them to explode.
** In the Christmas episode, Leela sings of the toy-making Neptunians, "You did the best you could I guess, and some of these gorillas are okay...." The Neptunians, not used to even this much, cheer, "Hooray! We're adequate!"
** During the presidential election episode, Nixon's head is asked if he would steal candy from a baby. A visibly flustered and stammering Nixon equivocates, then states he would certainly never hurt a child. [[note]] The lie detectors determine he's even lying about that too. [[/note]]
* WesternAnimation/{{Garfield|AndFriends}} once pointed out that when your boss tries to set you up with his daughter, the more praise for things like her personality, the fatter she is.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy," [[NiceGuy Goofy]] decides to give [[{{Jerkass}} Pete]] a compliment. The compliment in question is "Pete's a swell kinda guy, once you get past his personality!" What makes this even funnier is that Goofy himself believes this is a meaningful compliment.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "A Tale of Two Stans", the principal of Stan's high school compares Stan [[spoiler:and his twin brother]] to his parents thusly; [[spoiler:"You have two boys. One is very gifted, and the other is sitting outside this room and his name is Stanley."]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'' Reagan reunites with her team, telling them things she likes about all of them. Unfortunately for Myc the only thing she can think of is that he makes everyone else look better by comparison.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill has so little in common with his son Bobby he has difficulty even ''faintly'' praising him. When Bobby is suffering from feelings of extreme stress, Peggy tells Hank to compliment him, then when Hank is speechless, she has to provide him with one; "He has nice hair." Which Hank only proceeds to turn into even ''fainter'' praise.
-->'''Hank:''' Your mother likes your hair.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** This happens in "Lesson Zero." Twilight Sparkle, [[SanitySlippage (literally) madly desperate]] to find a friendship problem for her weekly report to Princess Celestia, tries to ''make'' a problem by getting the Cutie Mark Crusaders to fight over her favorite childhood toy, Smarty Pants. The Crusaders aren't interested in the ratty old doll, however, but are trying to be polite about it. When pressed to compliment it, the only thing Sweetie Belle can come up with is "Um, I really like her... mane?"
*** This comment is later played for laughs later in the episode, when Sweetie Belle says it with complete sincerity and excitement, albeit under a hypnotic spell that makes her (And others) obsessed with the doll.
*** As they're wont to do, the fandom has turned this into a meme, and it's now the stock response when you're commenting on someone's poorly designed pony OC.
** Happens again in ''Read it and Weep'', where the only thing Rarity can think of to comfort the just-hospitalized Rainbow Dash is that the hospital gowns match the curtains.
** "Suited for Success" has this happen a number of times. First, when Rarity reveals the dresses she made for the other five, they can't think of anything better to say than "it's something." Later, when Rarity has Fluttershy in her dress and asks what she thinks she says "it's...nice" and similar until Rarity browbeats Fluttershy into telling the truth. Finally, when their revised dresses are shown to them, Rarity's best compliment on the new designs is "I'm happy that you're happy."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' episode "T.K.O.", after K.O. has a sub-par day compared to Enid and Rad:
-->'''K.O.''': Why can't I be strong like Rad and Enid? And how could I call myself a hero when I can't even shoot a power fist when I need it?\\
'''Enid''': Hey, power isn't everything, brush-head. You've got your own heroic qualities, like ... being cute! At least you're cute.
** Shortly afterward, when Mr. Gar commends the heroes:
--->'''Mr. Gar''': Good work, employees! I'll now praise your acts of heroism one by one: Enid, very impressive foot-eye coordination, as always; Rad, well done saving that small child with your finger beam. Great improvements from you both!\\
'''Rad''': Yes!\\
'''Mr. Gar''': K.O.! ''(eagerly awaiting what Mr. Gar has to say about him)'' Ehh, uh... good hustle out there, now get this cleaned up.\\
'''K.O.:''' ''(dejected as Mr. Gar hands him the broom)'' Oh.
* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'': In the episode "Horror of the Haunted Hairpiece", the pizzeria owner offers Shaggy and Scooby free samples of his breadsticks ([[DontExplainTheJoke literally, they're sticks]]), and Scooby says that they were "crunchy."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch ''Ebert and Roper at the Movies'' (where Roper is replaced by Creator/MNightShyamalan after Roper comes down with a case of who-gives-a-[bleep]), the ''only'' movie Creator/RogerEbert isn't openly scathing in reviewing falls under this trope:
-->'''Roger Ebert:''' ''Rudy'' was about a man who overcomes obstacles to fulfill his dream of playing football. ''Rudy II'' is about 90 minutes long.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "The Fatlands", Bloaty and Squirmy are in the middle of a CowboyEpisode when they run into some bandits, who decide to show off the half-assed "dancing" act they've been working on. Not wanting to provoke the bandits any further, Bloaty and Squirmy describe the act as "interesting", but the bandits immediately see through their "back-handed compliment" and decide to go ahead and drag them into the desert and shoot them dead.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In the pilot ChristmasEpisode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E1SimpsonsRoastingOnAnOpenFire Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire]]", Marge is penning a letter to be included in the family's Christmas cards. Talking about the kids, she writes, "Maggie is walking by herself, Lisa got straight [=As=], and Bart... we love Bart."
** A similar thing happens in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E11OneFishTwoFishBlowfishBlueFish One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish]]." When Homer goes to see his children sleeping for (what he thinks is) the last time, he tells Maggie to "stay as sweet as you are", tells Lisa "I know you'll make me proud" and after hesitating a moment he tells Bart "I like your sheets."
** [[RuleOfThree With Bart again]], in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]]", after realizing how much she's changed by trying to impress the women at a posh club, she decides she doesn't like how she's turning out and that she likes Homer's in-your-face humanity, she likes the way Lisa always speaks her mind and she likes Bart's... {{Beat}} "...I like Bart!"
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E14TheItchyAndScratchyAndPoochieShow The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show]]", after showing his friends and family the "Poochie" which he's voice acting for, Homer's guests all leave muttering incoherently and Carl says "You should be very proud, Homer... you have a wonderful home."
** Also, in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E9RealtyBites Realty Bites]]", when Marge becomes a real estate agent, Lionel Hutz sits her down to teach her the jargon.
--->'''Hutz:''' There's ''(ominous)'' the truth (''shakes head in disapproval''), and there's ''(smiling)'' "The Truth!" Lemme show you. ''(opens a brochure)''\\
'''Marge:''' It's awfully small.\\
'''Hutz:''' I'd say it's awfully ... cozy.\\
'''Marge:''' That's dilapidated.\\
'''Hutz:''' Rustic.\\
'''Marge:''' That house is on fire!\\
'''Hutz:''' Motivated seller!
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E10GrampaVsSexualInadequacy Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy]]", Grandpa Simpson apologizes to Homer for horribly insulting him. The best compliment he can come up with? "I was always proud... that you weren't a short man."
** Done to the point of StealthInsult in "Thursdays With Abie" when Homer describes why he loves aquatic parks:
--->'''Homer:''' I love coming to aquatic parks! Sure they have less rides than amusement parks, less fish than aquariums, but the parking is ample!
** In "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", Homer sees a commercial for Krusty Burger's new Ribwich, which is made of "[[TriviallyObvious letter-graded meat]]" that Krusty caps off saying "I don't mind the taste!" (Which may actually be high praise coming from someone who ''hates'' Krusty Burgers).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' subverts this when Aunt May tries to set [[TheHero Peter]] up with [[Characters/MarvelComicsMaryJaneWatson Mary Jane Watson]], saying she has "a wonderful personality." Peter shudders, quite certain it means she's ugly, and the phrase "wonderful personality" becomes a RunningGag. [[HeadTurningBeauty Then Peter actually meets her]]. [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike The Green Goblin says the same]] of the Master Planner when discussing New York's crime bosses [[BrickJoke one season later]].
* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', [[{{Geek}} Beth]] has to come up with a haiku highlighting one of [[AlphaBitch Heather's]] positive attributes. The first line is "[[TriviallyObvious Heather has ten toes]]," and the rest summarizes how that makes swimming easier.
[[/folder]]

---> '''Arin:''' You know, I got to give this game credit. It fucking... it ''is.''
---> '''Danny:''' It ''is'' a game.
---> '''Arin:''' It exists.
---> '''Danny:''' It is real, and you can't take that away from it. Alright, you know what? [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Next time on Game Grumps!]]
---> '''Arin:''' [[CallingYourNausea I'm gonna barf]].

---> '''Arin:''' It's got gameplay, and goals, and feedback. There are clear motives and things are happening.

-->"No one can accuse ''Garfield: The Movie'' of infidelity to its source: it faithfully conveys the [consistency] of Creator/JimDavis's cartoon."
--->-- '''Ben Kenigsberg''', ''Voice''
-->"Garfield is a cat who says funny things."
--->-- '''A.O. Scott''', ''New York Times''
-->"I loved the garfield cartoons and now I see it if it was in real life !!! I cant wait to see!!!"
--->-- '''[=NowCDDude=]''', Amazon.com

--->-- Website/IMDb[=.com=]

---> '''Casper:''' Well. Wasn't so bad it was scary?
---> '''Critic:''' Actually it wasn't even that. I mean, granted it is a bad movie, but it's nowhere near terrible. The sets are kind of creative, the CGI is fun. And even though it doesn't really work, you can tell that creators were at least trying to create something good. There was actual effort put onto it. It's kind of like the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Ninja Turtles movie]]. It's not really good but could have been hell of a lot worse. Especially considering the subject matter. So, I have to give them credit for at least trying.
---> '''Casper:''' That's it! I'm tired of leaving no lasting impact on the creative media. But I will leave a lasting impact on your balls!

--> In my expert opinion, Silent Hill Shattered Memories is a game.
--> ({{Beat}})
--> That came out on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}.
--> ({{Beat}})
--> In December of 2009.

--> Well, that was definitely a movie!
--> I remember him! He was in the first movie!

* WebVideo/{{Shad|iversity}} in his [[https://youtu.be/MKTG2BPmUn4 review of]] ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. One of his few positive comments is that the film "made [him] feel positive emotions… twice."

* CBS News online made a [[https://www.cbsnews.com/video/judging-the-franklin-pierce-presidency-one-of-the-worst/ whole video]] doing this to UsefulNotes/FranklinPierce. When the host asked a historian about the good things Pierce did in office, the historian broke down in laughter. Then it's mentioned that perforation was added to postage stamps during his administration and that farmers had access to guano. Another historian claims, when asked about whether Pierce was one of the worst presidents, that while Pierce will never be considered one of the best Presidents, he wasn't a terrible ''person'' (not saying anything about his actual competence). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6i0bsZEmIE A similar one]] talking about UsefulNotes/JamesBuchanan has the narrator claiming that the people who now mind his estate have a more positive view of him than most... as in, one of them labels him as only the ''second'' worst President of all time.
* Crossing over with BitingTheHandHumor, ''VideoGame/MoveOrDie'' developer Mental Checkpoint released [[https://youtu.be/mlh24BnhKmo a video]] criticising the predatory tactics [[AllegedlyFreeGame free-to-play mobile games]] use to hook players in and fleece them out of their money... sponsored by the free-to-play mobile game ''Raid: Shadow Legends''. The video features an EnforcedPlug for the game which conspicuously avoids saying anything about the developers' business practices or monetisation strategies; considering the subject of the video, you'd expect he'd offer some praise for these things if they were in any way ethical, so the fact he doesn't tells you everything you need to know.

--> '''[[Characters/AntManHeroes The Wasp]]:''' ''That'll'' win them over.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In the pilot ChristmasEpisode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E1SimpsonsRoastingOnAnOpenFire Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire]]", Marge is penning a letter to be included in the family's Christmas cards. Talking about the kids, she writes, "Maggie is walking by herself, Lisa got straight [=As=], and Bart... we love Bart."
** A similar thing happens in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E11OneFishTwoFishBlowfishBlueFish One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish]]." When Homer goes to see his children sleeping for (what he thinks is) the last time, he tells Maggie to "stay as sweet as you are", tells Lisa "I know you'll make me proud" and after hesitating a moment he tells Bart "I like your sheets."
** [[RuleOfThree With Bart again]], in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]]", after realizing how much she's changed by trying to impress the women at a posh club, she decides she doesn't like how she's turning out and that she likes Homer's in-your-face humanity, she likes the way Lisa always speaks her mind and she likes Bart's... {{Beat}} "...I like Bart!"
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E14TheItchyAndScratchyAndPoochieShow The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show]]", after showing his friends and family the "Poochie" which he's voice acting for, Homer's guests all leave muttering incoherently and Carl says "You should be very proud, Homer... you have a wonderful home."
** Also, in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E9RealtyBites Realty Bites]]", when Marge becomes a real estate agent, Lionel Hutz sits her down to teach her the jargon.
--->'''Hutz:''' There's ''(ominous)'' the truth (''shakes head in disapproval''), and there's ''(smiling)'' "The Truth!" Lemme show you. ''(opens a brochure)''\\
'''Marge:''' It's awfully small.\\
'''Hutz:''' I'd say it's awfully ... cozy.\\
'''Marge:''' That's dilapidated.\\
'''Hutz:''' Rustic.\\
'''Marge:''' That house is on fire!\\
'''Hutz:''' Motivated seller!
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E10GrampaVsSexualInadequacy Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy]]", Grandpa Simpson apologizes to Homer for horribly insulting him. The best compliment he can come up with? "I was always proud... that you weren't a short man."
** Done to the point of StealthInsult in "Thursdays With Abie" when Homer describes why he loves aquatic parks:
---> '''Homer:''' I love coming to aquatic parks! Sure they have less rides than amusement parks, less fish than aquariums, but the parking is ample!
** In "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", Homer sees a commercial for Krusty Burger's new Ribwich, which is made of "[[TriviallyObvious letter-graded meat]]" that Krusty caps off saying "I don't mind the taste!" (Which may actually be high praise coming from someone who ''hates'' Krusty Burgers).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Nicked by a Name", after Brain gives the other soccer teammates cool nicknames, when Arthur presses him for a nickname, Brain comes up with Average Arthur.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' episode "T.K.O.", after K.O. has a sub-par day compared to Enid and Rad:
-->'''K.O.''': Why can't I be strong like Rad and Enid? And how could I call myself a hero when I can't even shoot a power fist when I need it?\\
'''Enid''': Hey, power isn't everything, brush-head. You've got your own heroic qualities, like ... being cute! At least you're cute.
** Shortly afterward, when Mr. Gar commends the heroes:
--->'''Mr. Gar''': Good work, employees! I'll now praise your acts of heroism one by one: Enid, very impressive foot-eye coordination, as always; Rad, well done saving that small child with your finger beam. Great improvements from you both!\\
'''Rad''': Yes!\\
'''Mr. Gar''': K.O.! [''eagerly awaiting what Mr. Gar has to say about him''] Ehh, uh... good hustle out there, now get this cleaned up.\\
'''K.O.''' [''dejected as Mr. Gar hands him the broom'']: Oh.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** A CutawayGag "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie Stewie Kills Lois]]" had Music/RingoStarr showing the rest of Music/TheBeatles a song he had just written. Their response? "Very good! We'll put this right on the fridge, right here where everyone can see it."
** When Brian made Stewie say something nice about Creator/DiabloCody, he said, "I . . . envy the tattoo artist who had that huge canvas of arm fat to work with."
** In "Coma Guy", Peter makes his family do embarrassing things to earn his forgiveness, which includes telling Creator/TimothyOlyphant how much they like him in ''Series/SantaClaritaDiet'' (and ''only'' that show). To get them started, Peter says "I like your hair".
--->'''Lois:''' Well, now I've got nothing!

* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', [[{{Geek}} Beth]] has to come up with a haiku highlighting one of [[AlphaBitch Heather's]] positive attributes. The first line is "[[TriviallyObvious Heather has ten toes]]," and the rest summarizes how that makes swimming easier.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' subverts this when Aunt May tries to set [[TheHero Peter]] up with [[Characters/MarvelComicsMaryJaneWatson Mary Jane Watson]], saying she has "a wonderful personality." Peter shudders, quite certain it means she's ugly, and the phrase "wonderful personality" becomes a RunningGag. [[HeadTurningBeauty Then Peter actually meets her]]. [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike The Green Goblin says the same]] of the Master Planner when discussing New York's crime bosses [[BrickJoke one season later.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': After seeing an absolutely horrendous meta episode play about them in "The Ember Island Players": "The effects were decent." Ironically, the episode aired not too far apart from the film ''Film/TheLastAirbender'', causing people to use the same faint praise to describe ''it''.
** In "The Fire Bending Masters," Aang tells Zuko that "I don't care what the others say, you're pretty smart." Zuko looks happy about the praise for a moment... then realizes what it implies.
** One of the final scenes in the series finale has Sokka drawing a picture of the entire team, and [[TerribleArtist failing miserably]]. Everyone except Sokka shares a laugh after Toph says she thinks said picture is "perfect"... which isn't saying much, considering that she's ''blind''.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** This happens in "Lesson Zero." Twilight Sparkle, [[SanitySlippage (literally) madly desperate]] to find a friendship problem for her weekly report to Princess Celestia, tries to ''make'' a problem by getting the Cutie Mark Crusaders to fight over her favorite childhood toy, Smarty Pants. The Crusaders aren't interested in the ratty old doll, however, but are trying to be polite about it. When pressed to compliment it, the only thing Sweetie Belle can come up with is "Um, I really like her... mane?"
*** This comment is later played for laughs later in the episode, when Sweetie Belle says it with complete sincerity and excitement, albeit under a hypnotic spell that makes her (And others) obsessed with the doll.
*** As they're wont to do, the fandom has turned this into a meme, and it's now the stock response when you're commenting on someone's poorly designed pony OC.
** Happens again in ''Read it and Weep'', where the only thing Rarity can think of to comfort the just-hospitalized Rainbow Dash is that the hospital gowns match the curtains.
** "Suited for Success" has this happen a number of times. First, when Rarity reveals the dresses she made for the other five, they can't think of anything better to say than "it's something." Later, when Rarity has Fluttershy in her dress and asks what she thinks she says "it's...nice" and similar until Rarity browbeats Fluttershy into telling the truth. Finally, when their revised dresses are shown to them, Rarity's best compliment on the new designs is "I'm happy that you're happy."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch ''Ebert and Roper at the Movies'' (where Roper is replaced by Creator/MNightShyamalan after Roper comes down with a case of who-gives-a-[bleep]), the ''only'' movie Creator/RogerEbert isn't openly scathing in reviewing falls under this trope:
-->'''Roger Ebert:''' ''Rudy'' was about a man who overcomes obstacles to fulfill his dream of playing football. ''Rudy II'' is about 90 minutes long.
* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'': In the episode "Horror of the Haunted Hairpiece", the pizzeria owner offers Shaggy and Scooby free samples of his breadsticks ([[DontExplainTheJoke literally, they're sticks]]), and Scooby says that they were "crunchy."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy," [[NiceGuy Goofy]] decides to give [[{{Jerkass}} Pete]] a compliment. The compliment in question is "Pete's a swell kinda guy, once you get past his personality!" What makes this even funnier is that Goofy himself believes this is a meaningful compliment.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill has so little in common with his son Bobby he has difficulty even ''faintly'' praising him. When Bobby is suffering from feelings of extreme stress, Peggy tells Hank to compliment him, then when Hank is speechless, she has to provide him with one; "He has nice hair." Which Hank only proceeds to turn into even ''fainter'' praise.
-->'''Hank:''' Your mother likes your hair.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "A Tale of Two Stans", the principal of Stan's high school compares Stan [[spoiler: and his twin brother]] to his parents thusly; [[spoiler: "You have two boys. One is very gifted, and the other is sitting outside this room and his name is Stanley."]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "The Fatlands", Bloaty and Squirmy are in the middle of a CowboyEpisode when they run into some bandits, who decide to show off the half-assed "dancing" act they've been working on. Not wanting to provoke the bandits any further, Bloaty and Squirmy describe the act as "interesting", but the bandits immediately see through their "back-handed compliment" and decide to go ahead and drag them into the desert and shoot them dead.
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': In the episode "Free Churro", [=BoJack=] has to give [[spoiler: a eulogy about his dead mother Beatrice]]. However, he struggles to find even a single nice thing to say about her, resorting to TriviallyObvious statements of fact or just making stories up when he isn't outright insulting her.
* ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'': In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E4GarbageBallet Garbage Ballet]]", when Birdie tries praising the pottery on Esposito's desk:
-->'''Birdie:''' Sir, not only are you a gentleman, you are an exceptional potter.\\
'''Esposito:''' Oh, I didn't make that. I made this.\\
''(Esposito takes out a less-impressive pot)''\\
'''Birdie:''' Well, you are a gentleman.

* An old Creator/CartoonNetwork bumper parodying ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' sees Lex Luthor trying to restore order at a Legion of Doom meeting:
-->'''Cheetah:''' What we need are a few items to help us in our ''purrrrrfect'' plan to stop the Super Friends!\\
'''Luthor:''' Cheetah, you have razor sharp claws! Brainiac, your mind games are deadly! Scarecrow, y-you're made of straw! What more do you need?!

--> '''Little Caesars:''' It's hot and it's ready!
--> '''Customer:''' Is it good?
--> '''Little Caesars:''' It's '''HOT!''' And it's '''READY!'''

* In ''Manga/DoujinWork'', when Najimi shows Tsuyuri and Justice her first story, the first thing they compliment is the quality of the paper.
* In ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', after Einhart easily defeats Vivio in their first sparring match, Vivio asks if she thought she did poorly. Einhart replies that Vivio did well for someone who does not take Strike Arts seriously. Vivio gets Einhart's drift and asks for a rematch after she's had time to prepare herself enough to make a better showing.
* In ''Manga/SilverSpoon'', when Yugo looks at Aki's grades, the only thing he finds to say is that she is better than [[BookDumb Tokiwa]]. It doesn't do much to cheer her up.

* In ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'', Tanya, who hates German food, but has [[ItMakesSenseInContext the misfortune of being reincarnated in an alternate WWI era Germany]], tells a general she's dining with that the fresh and hot German cuisine she's being served causes her to remember, her time on the front-lines "fondly." As in she would rather be eating cold army rations than the high-end slop she's being served. Though luckily, the general and the other officers present take it as a sincere compliment.
* ''Manga/TheUselessSenpaiAndTheTalentedKouhai'' has Hiromi Tsukioka (the kouhai, who's TheAce at basketball) tell Shiori Ochiai (the senpai, [[HighHopesZeroTalent who likes playing, but is terrible]]) the following when Tsukioka sees Ochiai trying to skip out on practice after some bullying from her kouhai. That said, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Tsukioka]] says what she does because she doesn't want Ochiai to give up on the team.
-->'''Tsukioka''': When I asked the teacher what your strong point is, senpai, she went silent for five minutes. Then she said that your strong point is that [[HighHopesZeroTalent you]] [[{{Determinator}} never skip practice.]]\\
'''Ochiai''': [[LampshadeHanging I'm not happy to hear that at all... Don't I have any other strong points]]?
* A chapter of the ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' manga has Choromatsu start off comforting a pair of ugly girls who were insulted on Valentine's Day with an apology for it stinging more than it ''usually'' does.
* A subversion occurs in chapter 17 of ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', when Marcille says Laios' sister Falin said good things about him when they were in school together. Cue a flash-back thought bubble of Falin telling Marcille that "he does a fantastic impression of a dog!" It seems to a one-off joke at the time, [[ChekhovsSkill but later]] [[spoiler: he uses his dog impressions to intimidate a shapeshifter into revealing itself, frightens off a pack of dire wolves, and when rescuing Marcille from the grip of nightmares, his dream-form is a dog (a majestic wolf from his perspective, a dopey mutt from Marcille's perspective)]].

* In ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'', at the PrematureEulogy for Steve Dallas, Portnoy pompously begins a speech "about the finer qualities of our good, deceased friend." After two {{Beat Panel}}s, Opus (who in the previous strip makes a quixotic effort to NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead) suggests, "He could spit forty feet." Portnoy quickly and loudly wraps the speech up: "For which we loved him like a brother. Good night."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'': Eric is presented with a large, extremely gaudy statue of himself and raises his eyebrow, less than pleased, while his dog Max snarls at the statue in complete disapproval.
-->'''Eric:''' Uh, gee, Grim. It's uh... it's... it's really something.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', where Kuzco insults a row of girls with offhand remarks, most of which are directly insulting, but to the final one he says, in very sarcastic tones, "Let me guess, you have a great personality?" Even better is the fact that ''they all look identical''. The fact that the other girls have to physically restrain the last one to keep her from attacking Kuzco shows that she's well aware it wasn't a compliment.

* The trailer for ''WesternAnimation/BebesKids'' ends with the line "It's animation..." Gives you an idea of the overall quality if this is the best they can say about it. To be fair it's actually supposed to be "it's animation... with an attitude" but a technical glitch caused it to cut off. This was later fixed, but most (including WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic who popularized the glitched version) would agree the original glitched trailer [[NeverTrustATrailer was a lot more accurate than the fixed one]].

* In Creator/RobertAltman's ''Film/{{Popeye}}'', Olive Oyl sings "He's Large," which is faint praise for her fiancé Bluto. The only positives she can come up with are his large stature and the fact that "he's mine." Her friends giggle, "You can have him!"

* Apparently the best that whoever designed the DVD case for ''Film/BeverlyHillsChihuahua'' could come up with was "The Greatest Chihuahua Movie of All Time." [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative Considering that the only real competition for that title are the sequels, that's not a difficult feat.]]
* In ''Film/{{Chaplin}}'', Charlie admits that he's marrying his [[TheDitz very young lover]] because [[TheBabyTrap he thinks she's carrying his child]]. When he insists "she's really not that bad", his friend quips [[SarcasmMode "Spoken like a man madly in love."]]

* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', Tom has an idea for a fad toy he calls the "Jump to Conclusions Mat." Peter flat out tells him it's a terrible idea. Later on in the film, Tom is showing off a finished prototype of the mat. Peter, trying to be kind, says "It's... exactly as you described."
* ''Film/DanceOfTheDead'': An accidental version. While they're surrounded by zombies, [[DumbBlonde Gwen]] finds out [[LovableNerd Steven]] had wanted to go to prom that afternoon. Steven says that he chickened out due to believing she would have said no and Gwen replies (with an earnest smile) that if it was a choice between being at prom with him and being chased by zombies, she would have chosen him. Steven takes it in the spirit it was meant rather than how it came out.
* In ''Film/PoorPrettyEddie'', Liz's opinion on Eddie's off-key singing is "It's better than lots that I've heard before."

%%* ''Literature/RedDwarf'': The Least Worst Scripts.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': This is how Hestia Jones, the witch who helped to take the Dursleys to their safe house, reacted when Dudley told Harry that he wasn't "a waste of space." However, Harry had to tell her that this was the best thing he'd ever said to Harry and was his way of saying anything appreciative to Harry.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'': After Sirius Black and Remus Lupin reveal that Ron's pet rat Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, the man who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, Pettigrew tries to beg Ron for mercy on the grounds that "I was your rat… I was a good pet." Sirius retorts, "If you make a better rat than human, it's not much to boast about, Peter."

* A RunningGag in the podcast ''Podcast/BehindTheBastards'' is that whatever products and services the ad break is about to shill for probably ''haven't'' been involved with the subject of this week's episode, which tends to involve 'schenanigans' like genocide, terrorism, torture, shameless exploitation of slave labour, running violent cults, running police states, {{False Flag Operation}}s, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lying about one's resume]]...
%%* From an episode of the Dread Central Podcast regarding ''Film/TheApparition'':
%%-->'''Matt Fini:''' I asked a friend of mine in LA if I should bother go seeing it and he said "Eh. It's well-meaning."

* An old ''[[Franchise/TheDCU DC Adventures]]'' sourcebook featured profiles of various Golden Age characters, with added commentary by supervillain [[StupidJetpackHitler Captain Nazi]]. Mr. America's profile declares [[WhipItGood "perhaps his most impressive talent is his unrivaled mastery of the bullwhip,"]] to which Captain Nazi responds by simply repeating the words sarcastically--after all, claiming to be a BadassNormal on the basis of being an ImprobableWeaponUser in an era where guns and superpowers exist is pretty sad.

* ''Theatre/{{Ruddigore}}'':
** Robin is talking to Rose about Richard, beginning by saying he'll "stand up for Dick through thick and thin!" However, every single thing Robin says about Richard, although masquerading as a compliment, is, in fact, nothing of the kind.
** When Rose asks Robin whether Richard is like most sailors in that he is "worldly", he says, "And what then? Admit that Dick is not a steady character and that when he's excited he uses language that would make your hair curl. Grant that -- he does. It's the truth, and I'm not going to deny it. But look at his good qualities. He's as nimble as a pony, and his hornpipe is the talk of the Fleet!"
** When Rose asks if Richard drinks, Robin says, "Well, suppose he does, and I don't say he don't, for rum's his bane, and ever has been. He does drink -- I won't deny it. But what of that? Look at his arms -- tattooed to the shoulder!"
** Finally, when Rose wonders whether Richard would cheat on her while he was away on a sailing voyage, Robin says, "Granted--granted--and I don't say that Dick isn't as bad as any of 'em. You are, you know you are, you dog! [[ReallyGetsAround a devil of a fellow--a regular out-and-out Lothario]]! But what then? You can't have everything, and a better hand at turning-in a dead-eye don't walk a deck! And what an accomplishment that is in a family man!"

* In ''Theatre/TrialByJury'' the Judge's ex-wife is described by her father as being able to pass for forty-three, in the dusk, with the light behind her.

* An excerpt from Veronica's diary in ''Theatre/{{Heathers}}'':
-->''Kurt Kelly. Quarterback. He is the smartest guy on the football team, which is kind of like being the tallest dwarf.''
* ''Theatre/MrPuntilaAndHisManMatti'': After Puntila, while drunk, has said about the attaché, fiancé of his daughter Eva, [[InVinoVeritas that he "isn't a man"]], Eva defends the attaché in conversation with Matti as "an intelligent and kind man whom you can't judge by his appearance, or by what he says or what he does."

* In ''[[VideoGame/KatamariDamacy Beautiful Katamari]]'', if the King of All Cosmos isn't impressed with your rolling results, but still turns it into a star, he'll observe "At least it doesn't take up much space..." Of course, he doesn't shy away from ''straight insults'', either...
** The [[ReplacementGoldfish RoboKing]] in ''Katamari Forever'' is even better at this, in part thanks to his [[HeroicSelfDeprecation tendency to]] [[ItsAllMyFault blame himself]].

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonVietnameseCrystal'', the second gym leader, oddly enough, does this to ''himself'' when he says, "IF IT'S WORM ELF, I'M NOT DEFEATED BY EVERYONE."[[note]]The original line, through the filter of BlindIdiotTranslation, is " I never lose when it comes to bug Pokémon!"[[/note]]
** Later in the same game, a trainer in the Fighting Gym declares that, "OUR FIGHTERS ARE NOT TERRIBLE!"

* The introduction to ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'' explains that you are currently living in an apartment that has four walls, a roof and isn't on fire. Also there are no cockroaches because they have higher standards.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' has a moment of Alvin and Milla discussing her getting some training in her swordsmanship in, though she is less than adequate at fighting at this point. Cue Alvin giving her faint praise.
--> '''Alvin:''' If nothing else, you know how to swing the pointy end.
* This little ditty from [=IGN's=] review of the horrendous budget game ''Extreme [=PaintBrawl=] 2'': "There is one good thing I can say about Extreme [=PaintBrawl=] 2: it doesn't cause cancer, bursitis, or scurvy -- at least according to the Surgeon General."
* Played for laughs in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' regarding the engineering profession which at high levels allows characters to "make fantastic devices and explosives that very often work as intended."
* There is a rare {{inver|tedTrope}}sion of the trope in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. Gigi's, an NPC in the Goldsmith's Guild, initial criticism of the player's work ("Not fit to make a chamberpot" "an affront to the gods themselves") is so ridiculously over-the-top that "I've seen worse" is treated as high praise.
* Shows up during one of the MultipleEndings of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3}}'' when [[LoveFreak Flonne]] is pressed to find something good to say about [[RoyalBrat Laharl]]. Flonne, after some hesitation, manages to say that she could like [[ItsAllAboutMe how everything revolves around him]], [[ManChild how he has the heart of a young boy]], and how [[{{Pride}} sticks to his beliefs even when it causes people to get hurt]]. Laharl is altogether less than pleased.
* In ''[[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Shadowrun: Dragonfall]]'', if you accept a particular assassination job, choose to spare the target, then have a change of heart and kill him anyway when the client's goons show up to check on you, you'll receive your payment along with a note from the client that your performance was "satisfactory"... and that you shouldn't expect to receive any more contracts from them.
* The demo for ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' features a "compliments room", where pushing the button will earn you a shallow compliment from the narrator. He's only able to praise the player's ability to eat uranium, then place them in the top 5000 of people playing the demo at this exact moment, before running out of nice things to say.
* In a guide (fanmade or official) for a character seen as a TierInducedScrappy or JokeCharacter, a common refrain is "good in the right hands." Sometimes this means the character has some hidden trick or high skill floor, to make them DifficultButAwesome or a LethalJokeCharacter - but more often, it means "this character can only be played proficiently if the user is already really good at the game, at which point playing as this character is basically a SelfImposedChallenge."

* In ''Mutant Football League'', if the Leaveland Burns manage to eke out a win, "Brickhead" Mulligan will congratulate them on how, "...for one glorious night, they weren't the worst."

* In ''VisualNovel/ShinyDays'' Sekai tries to defend her work ability by saying she didn't break a plate one day recently. She's so bad that when Setsuna takes over for her she manages to be a far better employee almost instantly despite her poor social skills and initial problems, eventually earning even the praise of difficult customer Manami Katsura.

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' inverts this neatly with [[http://xkcd.com/607/ the UNIX 2038 problem.]]
** [[http://xkcd.com/802/ Online Communities 2]] does this with its AltText by way of OverlyNarrowSuperlative.

--> But unlike Gushers which serve many practical purposes like inducing vomiting and simulating the experience of eating plump insects, these things are totally useless!

* The Elusive Dr. Bowman of ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' [[InvertedTrope inverts this.]] He remarks that the Ecosystems Unlimited chief at his facility is "Dumber than [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann von Neumann,"]] and that he can't think more than five moves ahead in chess. Given that the former was one of the most brilliant men of the twentieth century, and the latter is well beyond most amateur Chess players, most humans would take those as backhanded compliments. Of course, given the doctor is a brilliant Neurologist and AI specialist, it's possible he still ''means'' them as insults.
* In ''Webcomic/CinemaSnobReviewsFrozen'' (a fan comic where ''WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob'' reviews ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''), Snob says that ''Film/{{Dogs}}'' is still a step up from a zombie confederate film (which he considers some of the worst films he ever reviewed).
* In one ''Webcomic/DumbRWBY'' comic (later turned into a ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' skit), Weiss is writing to her sister about Ruby. However, because Ruby is, in order, using a chicken on her scythe to play with her PreciousPuppy and eating a cookie through her nose, all Weiss can say is that Ruby's "Interesting" and "A person." This would explain Winter's "How appropriately underwhelming" remark when she met Ruby in the series' Volume 3.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
** Soon Kim's final appraisal of Miko's deeds as "You have done... adequately. By destroying my Gate, you have ensured it can no longer be used for evil purposes. You have fulfilled your oath to defend this one gate... technically." As Miko considered her deeds to be the carrying-out of a divine higher destiny to save the world, it's pretty obvious this wasn't what she expected... and as they were the result of paranoid delusions and directly led to the BigBad escaping, it's similarly obvious that Soon is trying to be as nice as possible about it.
** When Crystal and Haley first met each other, the nicest things they could say about each other were insincere compliments about the other's boots and haircut, respectively. [[HateAtFirstSIght The two have wanted to kill each other literally from the moment they first met]].
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': When Martellus usurps the throne of the Storm King from his cousin Tarvek (mostly by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority killing anyone who tries to take it from him]]), numerous factions scheme to put Tarvek back in power. Nobody really has any idea what kind of king Tarvek would be or expects anything particularly impressive from him, but everyone agrees he can't possibly be worse than Martellus.
-->'''Agatha:''' Am I the only one who actually ''likes'' Tarvek?\\
'''Krosp:''' ''I'' like him. [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame He thinks like a cat]]!

* In ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'', after Ki recalls how her former fiancé Sam had apologized for [[spoiler:[[AttemptedRape trying to rape]] her]], she says, "I'll give him credit for seeming sincere," but mentions that she couldn't forgive him and that she called off the engagement.

** In "Mockingbird", Jaime praises Tyrion's epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from the previous episode as something all of King's Landing will be talking about for ''days'' to come.

** During the Long Night, Sansa remarks to Tyrion that out of all her husbands he was the best of them. While Tyrion is touched by the statement, he also notes that she is comparing him to [[TheCaligula Joffrey Baratheon]] and Ramsay Bolton, who were rather monstrous individuals who would be easier to be better people than others.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has Soon Kim's final appraisal of Miko's deeds as "You have done... adequately. By destroying my Gate, you have ensured it can no longer be used for evil purposes. You have fulfilled your oath to defend this one gate... technically." As Miko considered her deeds to be the carrying-out of a divine higher destiny to save the world, it's pretty obvious this wasn't what she expected... and as they were the result of paranoid delusions and directly led to the BigBad escaping, it's similarly obvious that Soon is trying to be as nice as possible about it.

** Played with in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E23Sarek Sarek]]." After the Vulcan Sarek has reviewed Picard's history, he deems Picard's Starfleet service record "satisfactory." Picard is pleased, recognizing this as high praise coming from a Vulcan.