History Main / EpicFail

* ''ComicBook/TheSanctuaryTree': At the beginning of the story, Donald Duck ends up being late on a date with Daisy because he was running away from a fat female guard, for fishing in a prohibited place. Daisy broke up with Donald and he buys a love potion to try to get her back. Donald is following Daisy when she decides to take a boat trip on the lake. He swims behind her... and somehow, swims in circles, and consequently ends up in the same female guard's boat instead of Daisy's, and it is the guard who ends up drinking the love potion and falling in love with Donald. And then Daisy catches the two hugging and kissing, and furious, ends the dating once and for all, leaving the unlucky Donald alone with the guard.

* As Caesar's fleet approaches Britain in the opening of ''[[WesternAnimation/AsterixInBritain]]'', a signalman gets mad at a very annoying seagull and starts waving his signal flags wildly trying to get rid of it. What follows is the accidental self-destruction of a large chunk of the fleet as well as a {{Facepalm}} from Caesar accompanied by an exasperated "I came, I saw, and ''I don't believe my eyes''."

* As Caesar's fleet approaches Britain in the opening of ''[[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix in Britain]]'', a signalman gets mad at a very annoying seagull and starts waving his signal flags wildly trying to get rid of it. What follows is the accidental self-destruction of a large chunk of the fleet as well as a {{Facepalm}} from Caesar accompanied by an exasperated "I came, I saw, and ''I don't believe my eyes''."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Mulan is getting ready for her first meeting with the matchmaker. It starts badly, then gets progressively worse. It involves [[NoodleImplements a renegade cricket, some badly placed ink, a teapot]], and [[KillItWithFire fire]].

* EpicFail/ComicBooks
* EpicFail/ComicStrips

* [[EpicFail/AnimatedFilms Films -- Animation]]

* EpicFail/{{Literature}}

* EpicFail/TabletopGames

* EpicFail/WebAnimation

* EpicFail/WebOriginal

[[folder:Jokes]]
* Many creative ways of insulting someone's intelligence involve failure at tasks even though it's actually hard to fail at them even if you try. For example "can't pour water out of a boot even if there are instructions written on the heel" or "threw a rock at the ground and missed". Often coincide with YourMom jokes.

[[folder:Manhua]]
* Most of the gags in ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'' run on this. For instance, one comic has Master Q trying to hammer a nail into a wall to hang a picture... only to accidentally knock a hole through it. A ''man-sized'' hole.

[[folder:Music]]
* ''Music/KidsPraise'': The eighth album is a typical 90s baseball story, except that the kids' first game has them lose to their rivals by over 40 points without scoring a single run themselves.
* Music/{{Nickelback}}'s "Get 'Em Up", a single from ''No Fixed Address'', is about a BankRobbery that is foiled before it begins because the would-be robbers [[StupidCrooks forget that banks close on Sunday]]. They're quickly caught by the police.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic:
** In "Genius In France", he claims to have gotten a negative number on his [=SATs=].
** His "I Lost On Jeopardy" also counts as two other contestants mop the floor with him on the show. Al doesn't even get a copy of the home game.
* Creator/DannyKaye's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmCOYS_9bIM Dodgers song]] is from the the [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} Los Angeles Dodgers']] perspective, but the bottom of the ninth inning is Epic Fail from the San Francisco Giants' perspective. The Dodgers are up to bat and the Giants lead 4-0. Two consecutive fielding errors land Maury Wills and then Jim Gilliam on base. Jimmy Davis gets a single, as does Tommy Davis (bringing Wills home). Then a third fielding error with implied major confusion turns Big Frank Howard's apparent sacrifice bunt into another four runs, and the Dodgers win it 5-4.
* ''Music/NinjaSexParty'': In the song "[[https://youtu.be/a5abgDBQHPk Dragon Slayer]]", Danny Sexbang is chatting up a girl at a party and trying to get her to go out with him by telling ridiculous tales about himself, such as claiming that he slew a dragon. In the end, the girl decides to go home with everyone ''except'' Dan.
-->'''Danny:''' Oh, I see you've chosen the football player... and the scientist... and apparently the weightlifter as well... and the ''dragon''... and Ninja Brian... [[spoiler:and the ''Manticore?'' He wasn't even in this song!]]
* The traditional Irish folk ballad [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ootDvfgFrmw "Lily the Pink"]] can be summed up with this trope, as everyone who tries her "medicinal compound" ends up with worse problems than they started with.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* At the climax of season two in ''Podcast/AcquisitionsIncorporated'', Binwin and Jim are down and the party is barely alive. Omin, as a final resort, tries to use an encounter power. [[CriticalFailure And proceeds to roll a one.]] With some divine intervention from Aeofel, he gains a re-roll and tries to attack again. And then rolls another one.
* The entire reign of the Roman emperor Didius Julianus, as portrayed in ''Podcast/TotalusRankium'' (and their historical sources). Julianus purchased the Imperial title from the Praetorian Guard, who had just murdered his predecessor, and spent his short reign panicking as the general Septimius Severus marched on the capital to take it off his hands. Several {{Zany Scheme}}s (including, but not limited to attempting to train circus elephants to fight and hiring magicians to curse Severus) utterly failed, and Julianus was killed only two months into his reign. AndThereWasMuchRejoicing.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'':
** In the Edgar Bergen episode, Gonzo the Great wrestles a brick blindfolded...and ''loses''.
** In the Nancy Walker episode, Kermit is home sick, so Fozzie is in charge; he proceeds to nearly blow the theater up, then delays the next act until the audience leaves - almost - and then messes up the introductions in a way that somehow causes "At the Dance" and "Veterinarian's Hospital" to go on ''at the same time''. [[FromBadToWorse And this is just before the first commercial break...]]
** In the Loretta Lynn episode, the Muppets try to perform a song titled [=''The Rhyming Song''=]. Almost ''none'' of the lyrics they sing rhyme, and when they do, they rhyme [=''song''=] with [=''song''=].
** In the Lynda Carter episode, in honor of Lynda's "Wonder Woman" character, Scooter and some of the other Muppets are inspired to take a correspondence course on "How to Be a Superhero." Scooter reads a chapter of the instruction manual, ''Invincibility Made Easy'', that teaches about learning how to fly. After stating that all they need to do is believe that they can fly, Scooter encourages Gonzo, Link, Fozzie, and Lew Zealand to "step off the ladder and float to the ceiling.'' Cue all four Muppets falling flat on the ground.
** Professor Bunsen Honeydew has Epic Fails all the time, much to the regret of his hapless assistant Beaker. In [[Recap/TheMuppetShowS3E18 one episode]], his fireproof paper proved even more flammable than regular paper, but even worse, his invention of flammable water ([[NowYouTellMe used by Beaker when he tried to put it out]]) [[FromBadToWorse worked perfectly]].
** Possibly the most epic fail of all was the one where the cast turned the show into a BirthdayEpisode for Kermit. Not only was it ''not'' Kermit's birthday, it was about ''four months'' later. (Not even close.)
* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** In a Season 5 episode, Big Bird joins the adults for a game of hide and seek; he isn't good at hiding, so he becomes the seeker instead. However, once Big Bird finishes the count, he somehow ends up falling fast asleep, leaving the adults to continue without him.
*** You think that's bad, a later episode has just him and Elmo playing hide-and-seek, and Big Bird takes someone's suggestion to look "everywhere" '''literally'''. Resulting in Big Bird managing to somehow walk '''all the way to Alaska and back'''....'''''on foot!''''' Note that Sesame Street is part of '''New York City!''' One can only imagine how Elmo and Gabi[[note]]Gabi having found Elmo's hiding place first and decided to keep him company[[/note]] aren't both dead of starvation by the time they're finally found.
** Episode 1416 begins with Olivia and David building a new desk to surprise Luis as a renovation for the Fix-It Shop. They take the parts outside to build, Big Bird realizes this makes another surprise for the builders -- after Luis arrives, the two realize since they built the desk outside, they are unable to bring it ''inside''.
** In Episode 1650, Big Bird hosts a "Meet Mr. Snuffleupagus" party as one of his many plans to get the adults to meet Snuffy and prove he's not imaginary; while everyone he invited does come to the party, he realizes he forgot to invite one important guest: Snuffy himself.

[[folder:Radio]]
* CBS Sports' weekday radio broadcast ''The D.A. Show'', hosted by Damon Amendolara (9 AM - 12 Noon ET), always ends with the "Epic Fail," spotlighting the worst call-in of the morning.
* In ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'' after General Assistance Department's ends up with surplus of 75 pence, Sir Gregory demands that it must be lost or else there will be budget cuts. An attempt at getting rid of it ends up [[spoiler:with the surplus of 800 000 000 pounds.]]
* ''Radio/TheNavyLark'' gives us [[BeyondTheImpossible an example of epically failing trying to fail]]. Captain Povey was stuck with his mother-in-law for the weekend, when he desperately wanted to go out with the rest of the unit to a pub. So he "arranges" for Sub-Lieutenant [[CaptainCrash Phillips]] to take HMS Troutbridge out for a run, with the confidence that Phillips will inevitably crash the ship, giving Povey the excuse he needs to escape. For once, Phillips can't hit anything, even with the rest of the crew trying to help by sabotaging the steering. He ends up circling another destroyer 42 times flawlessly. Then, Povey's mother-in-law gets laid up with the flu, and he is free to go. THEN, and only then, does Phillips manage to crash the ship.
* [[https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/61/fiasco This radio segment]] from ''Radio/ThisAmericanLife'' is about a production of ''Theatre/PeterPan'' that becomes an utter fiasco in which the flying apparatus smacks the actors into the furniture, and Captain Hook's hook flies off his arm and hits an old woman in the stomach. By the end of the evening, firemen have arrived and all the normal boundaries between audience and actors have completely dissolved, with many in the audience hoping the performance gets even worse as it wouldn't be as fun otherwise.
* ''Radio/BleakExpectations:'' At the beginning of series 3, Pip Bin is abducted and tortured for a prolonged period by Mr. Benevolent, and his loved ones make no real effort to save him (Harry Biscuit does try to invent a means of saving him, but suffers "a touch of the old inventor's block"). Pip is utterly incredulous when he learns that Benevolent has in fact been torturing him inside Bin's very own home, in a room his sister had been using day-in, day-out the entire time. And, as Harry admits, they could ''hear him'' screaming for help.

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* During the battle royale in RolePlay/YuGiOhEastAcademy, Marcus screws up his entire strategy ''twice'' by misreading his own cards.
* ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'' has many such events, the first notable one being the reapers. A massive army of them gets summoned, what happens? The godmodder mind controls them into changing sides. It isn't the worst offender either.
** It turns into this for the godmodder later on, and everyone gets a slice of the action with the Glitch.
** The Virus in game 2. Seems like a great idea, it gives the [=AG=]s a fair boost... and then gains self-awareness. And decides it wants to kill everything.
** And then there's ninjatwist's Blood Pact charge, also from the second game. It would allow the godmodder a heal of 1 HP for dealing 150,000 damage to his own side and giving the player in question a permanent +1 bonus to his charges. This was done after [[TooDumbToLive the Game Master told him it wouldn't work and during Act Four, where the godmodder was invincible to attacks and capable of summoning and attacking that in one turn]]. It says something when the Game Master not only instantly gave a player a fourth action to kill him, but ''allowed everyone else to do so'', marking the first time in the ''entire series'' a player was directly attackable outside of summoning themselves.
* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?183080-Journeys-on-the-TARDIS-3-It-Really-Is-Bigger-on-the-Inside-(Game-Thread) this sadly truncated Doctor Who-themed Mafia game]], the Weeping Angels come off ''very'' badly. How badly? The only player to die was ''their most powerful player''. Their attempt to kill one player got busted because said player turned out to be ''the Doctor''. Attempts to get in close with said player (who they didn't know was the Doctor) to bust open a potential good guy network killed the aforementioned most powerful player. Ouch.
* In [[https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ohja&page=1?NobodysHomes-RotRL-Campaign NobodysHome's]] run of the ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' Adventure Path Rise of the Runelords, two natural ones and a CriticalFailure deck resulted in Tsuto Kaijitsu knocking himself out with his own Stunning Fist and provoking opportunity attacks from the [=PC=]s. The group ended up painting Tsuto's miniature silver and giving it as an award to the worst fail of the session. Some recipients include:
** [[ThatOneBoss Xanesha]] blinding herself, swinging the CurbStompBattle the other way.
** Two ghouls biting each other instead of their living prey.
** Halek the barbarian knocking himself out, forcing the bard to risk his own life to pull him to safety. Honorable mention to the four trolls who botched their attempt to hide so badly the GM decided they'd covered their heads with fungus thinking "If I can't see you, you can't see me!"
** A trio of annis hags blowing their saves and concentration checks when [[PlayingWithFire Hi's Fireball]] interrupted their Forcecage.
** A zombie literally knocking another zombie's head off.
** A stone giant fighting in a ritual challenge accidentally hitting the spectating paladin. Twice. The giant now had to fight the paladin and was promptly [[CurbStompBattle smote to death]].
** A Hound of Lamashtu tripping itself and hindering its two packmates, to the point where the bard could fight all three and win on his own.
** A player laughing so hard at a reveal that he fell out of his chair.
** A lich's right-hand zombie horribly failing a save-or-die, which scared the lich so badly he didn't dare confront the party.
** A lamia running through a Blade Barrier, then knocking herself back through it.
* In the first season of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', Vex is trying to retrieve a diamond at the bottom of a cliff, and enlists Keyleth's help. Due to a series of comically bad choices, Keyleth just dives from the top of the cliff, only barely missing the sheer edge. She turns into a goldfish, thinking it will somehow guide her towards the water. It does not, and Keyleth ends up splatting into the ground for 363 damage. For reference, this was more than double her maximum starting HP, which instantly killed Keyleth with NoSavingThrow.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', almost everything Henry says and does tends to fall under this. He thinks the "Ivy League" is a gardening competition, "boy-boy stuff" is stuff that guys like to do, and "cirrhosis of the liver" will turn his liver into a cloud.
* Can come up with the second guitar lessons that the protagonist of ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'' gives to the title character. He gives Melody an instrumental piece to play, and the player can select the difficulty. If he picks a "hard" piece, Melody will completely bomb at playing it, notwithstanding that she has been playing guitar since childhood.