History Main / ExplosiveStupidity

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': In the Juliet Prowse episode, during the Cowboy Sketch, Kid Fozzie attempts to hold up a saloon with... an apple.
-->'''Fozzie:''' I'm a desperate bear, ready for desperate measures. ''[Whips out an apple with a burning stem.]''\\
'''Rowlf:''' Oh, no!\\
'''Bartender:''' It's an apple!\\
'''Fozzie:''' Yes, and the fuse is lit. ''[Does DoubleTake]'' The fuse is ''lit?!''\\
''[He tosses the apple. BOOM! Once the smoke clears, Rowlf goes back to playing his piano.]''\\
'''Rowlf:''' And that's how it was, the day Kid Fozzie came into town.
[[/folder]]

* An example involving gasoline instead of explosives: A man in Iowa killed two women and decided to set fire to the apartment where it happened to cover it up. [[TooDumbToLive For some reason]], he thought it was a good idea to light up a cigarette while pouring gasoline through the apartment. Predictably, he dropped the cigarette and not only suffered severe burns in the ensuing blaze, he left behind both his glasses and the cigarette, which allowed the police to link him to the murders.

%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1514429869022582300
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%

-->'''Henry:''' What the -? ([[CurseCutShort grenade explodes]], [[KilledMidSentence taking Henry with it]])
-->'''[[HaveANiceDeath FAIL Screen]]:''' [[FlatWhat Uhh…]] [[SarcasmFailure I don’t even know what to say about that one.]]

--> ... Peterson bid this world goodbye with a loud bang, a puff of smoke, and one far-reaching unidentifiable mess."

* ''Webcomic/{{Concerned}}'' has [[http://www.screencuisine.net/hlcomic/index.php?date=2006-01-16 Frohman's first encounter with snipers]].

-->'''Maxim 26:''' Fire-and-Forget is fine, so long as you never ''actually'' forget.
-->'''Maxim 61:''' Don't bring big grenades into small rooms.

-->'''Octagon:''' You just take the pin out [[AmbiguousSyntax and throw it.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter blows his fingers off before he finishes naming a firework
-->''I took 10 M80s and stuck 'em together. I call it Peter Griffin's Bunker Busting Mega Ultra Super....*BOOM*''

-->'''King Koopa:''' Stop! You're not supposed to go off till Christmas– '''[[StuffBlowingUp KABOOM!]]''' —[[AshFace morning.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5r2t5K5s-k Terrorists try to set up a roadside bomb, not knowing they're being watched by an AC-130 gunship which is getting ready to blow them sky-high. Until the bomb blows up unintentionally.]] "Oh! Never mind", says the pilot.

->''"Yah, zis is an example of smartness here. I have said that zis is ze quick fuse. Huh? And zis ''is'' ze quick fuse." (double take) ''"Ze quick fuse???" (''The building blows up.'')

* In ''Film/InventionForDestruction'', Jana lights a fire in a brazier on the gun deck of the ship next to a barrel of gunpowder so she can dry and iron her clothes. the pirate captain tells her off for her stupidity as he douses the brazier.

* An example involving gasoline instead of explosives: A man in Iowa killed two women and decided to set fire to the apartment to cover it up. [[TooDumbToLive For some reason]], he thought it was a good idea to light up a cigarette while pouring gasoline through the apartment. Predictably, he dropped the cigarette and not only suffered severe burns in the ensuing blaze, he left behind both his glasses and the cigarette, which allowed the police to link him to the murders.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' has one of these in the ChristmasEpisode. When King Koopa steals the gifts, a stowaway Oogtar unwraps one to reveal a lit [[ActionBomb Bob-omb]], and hands it to Koopa in a panic. Instead of throwing the explosive away like anyone with the basest of survival instincts, he did this:

** It is also given to explain the absence of Leslie "Smoke" Peterson in the second game. "Smoke" was an a good bomb man, but also a compulsive prankster who tended to short-fuse his bombs for shits and giggles. Then, one day, he was distracted by a pebble in his boot, and...

* ''Darwinia'' has this if you upgrade the Darwinians to the maximum level or when you don't upgrade the grenades at all and use them yourself. Thanks to how the physics is calculated, any grenades the tiny green men throw will usually either bounce or roll to one of your squads if you position them carelessly, or right back into the crowd that threw them.

* ''[[VideoGame/Darwinia Darwinia]]'' has this if you upgrade the Darwinians to the maximum level or when you don't upgrade the grenades at all and use them yourself. Thanks to how the physics is calculated, any grenades the tiny green men throw will usually either bounce or roll to one of your squads if you position them carelessly, or right back into the crowd that threw them.

* ''[[VideoGame/Darwinia]]'' has this if you upgrade the Darwinians to the maximum level or when you don't upgrade the grenades at all and use them yourself. Thanks to how the physics is calculated, any grenades the tiny green men throw will usually either bounce or roll to one of your squads if you position them carelessly, or right back into the crowd that threw them.

* ''VideoGame/Darwinia'' has this if you upgrade the Darwinians to the maximum level or when you don't upgrade the grenades at all and use them yourself. Thanks to how the physics is calculated, any grenades the tiny green men throw will usually either bounce or roll to one of your squads if you position them carelessly, or right back into the crowd that threw them.

* ''[[Videogame/Darwinia]]'' has this if you upgrade the Darwinians to the maximum level or when you don't upgrade the grenades at all and use them yourself. Thanks to how the physics is calculated, any grenades the tiny green men throw will usually either bounce or roll to one of your squads if you position them carelessly, or right back into the crowd that threw them.

* ''Videogame/Darwinia'' has this if you upgrade the Darwinians to the maximum level or when you don't upgrade the grenades at all and use them yourself. Thanks to how the physics is calculated, any grenades the tiny green men throw will usually either bounce or roll to one of your squads if you position them carelessly, or right back into the crowd that threw them.

* In ''Film/FreshMeat'', so-called 'explosives expert' Johnny drops the dynamite he is planning on using to blow open the doors of Ritchie's prison van. He picks it up with the same hand he is holding his cigarette and accidentally lights the fuse. He then drops it again and winds up kicking it under the van in an attempt to get rid of it.

* In ''Film/FreshMeat'', so-called 'explosives expert' drops the dynamite he is planning on using to blow open the doors of Ritchie's prison van. He picks it up with the same hand he is holding his cigarette and accidentally lights the fuse. He then drops it again and winds up kicking it under the van in an attempt to get rid of it.

** A pair of terrorists tried to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_plot_against_the_Thomas_Jefferson_Cultural_Center blow up the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center in Manila in 1991]]. They tried to set the bomb in the middle of the night, intending it to detonate during the following day, but - while using a lighter right next to the explosives in order to examine the timer - Ahmed J. Ahmed accidentally wound the timer ''backwards'' instead of forwards and set the device off prematurely, which killed him instantly. Surprisingly, his co-conspirator Sa'ad Kahim survived - albeit dazed and covered in the remains of Ahmed - and was caught at a local hospital. Apparently not realising that the man talking to him was investigating the blast, he handed him a slip of paper which had the Iraqi Embassy's telephone number on it. The Iraqi consul, whose card Kahim had in his pocket, was subsequently expelled from the Philippines.

** A pair of terrorists once tried to blow up the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center in Manila in 1991. They tried to set the bomb in the middle of the night, using a device rigged with a digital reader to count down the time. They armed it, but forgot what they set the time to. They check the time on the highly volatile explosives with a zippo lighter...but this is not what makes them fall under this trope. What makes them fall into this trope is that they set the bomb down upside down, and suddenly realized that when they set the bomb for five minutes they actually set it for ''[[OhCrap five seconds]]''. Surprisingly, one of the bombers actually survived and was caught in a local hospital.