History Main / GiftedlyBad

* Comedian and song and dance man Archie Rice in Creator/JohnOsborne's ''Theatre/TheEntertainer''. His act and material is terrible. He seems to know it to, but he's determined to keep on performing at any cost to himself and others because it's all he knows how to do and the only thing that gets him through the day.

Giftedly Bad refers to someone, typically an artist, who plies his trade with intense passion, infinite drive, supreme self-confidence, and absolutely no talent whatsoever. If they are actors, they're melodramatic [[LargeHam hams]]; if they are singers, they [[DreadfulMusician warble and screech]]; if they are poets, they're masters of the PainfulRhyme. In general, their work will have what one person associated with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Bad_Art Museum of Bad Art]] (an exhibition of this trope in visual media) has called the "''Oh my God'' factor" (as in, ''Oh my God, what do they think they're doing?'')

A giftedly bad artist often sees some level of severe CriticalBacklash; he treats this criticism with SelectiveObliviousness and continues working undeterred, believing all his critics to be wrong and misguided. He'll occasionally throw out a TakeThatCritics and tell them he'll be VindicatedByHistory. It's not all bad, though; a giftedly bad artist could also be considered SoBadItsGood, and thus become as celebrated and revered as a genuinely talented artist, but only out of the kick people get out of seeing an earnest and enthusiastic artist producing utter crap.

It's also a surprisingly common trope in RealLife, thanks to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect Dunning-Kruger effect]], which states that the skills necessary for being good at something are also necessary for assessing one's talent at something. This means that someone who's ''really'' untalented doesn't know enough to know how untalented he is, and he thus believes himself to be better than he really is.

Related tropes include HighHopesZeroTalent (the artist is aware of how bad he is but keeps trying nonetheless); SmallNameBigEgo (who overestimates himself in every other aspect of his life); MuseAbuse (where an artist exploits people in his real life for inspiration); BunglingInventor and TerribleArtist (natch); and BileFascination (explaining why people are so interested in the Giftedly Bad).

* The artist must be objectively, ''universally'' bad -- so don't add an example just because you personally think he's bad
* The artist must be totally deluded into believing he's really good -- so don't add an example of an artist who's just bad

* Giant/Big G from ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' is not only a DreadfulMusician but also a Dreadful Painter and Chef. His songs are so terrible they are legitimately {{Brown Note}}s. When the world turned into a world without sound, just ''looking'' at its lyrics is enough to nauseate people and in one of the movies, they were able to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu knock out a group of sirens and a demon whale]] from sheer horribleness. Of course, this doesn't stop him from setting up his own concerts, which he practically forces others to attend, no one dares to point this out to his face as he's TheBully.

* Destruction from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' spends his days making new recipes, paintings, and sculptures, all of which are mediocre at best. This might be because he's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of destruction.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* Jack from ''Series/WillAndGrace'' practically lives and breathes this trope, mostly because he's incredibly wrapped up in himself and has to be the center of attention.

* Creator/MarkTwain went on at considerable length to describe just how awful he thought James Fenimore Cooper's works were in ''Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffences''.

-->-- '''Stephen Pile''' on William [=McGonagall=]

* The TropeNamer (quoted above) is a piece of criticism regarding William [=McGonagall=]'s poetry. Virtually everyone agrees that [=McGonagall=] was the worst English-language poet of the 19th century (a century full of bad poets), if not of all time, at least among those who actually published their work professionally.

* An essay by Creator/IsaacAsimov mentioned a correspondent of his that Asimov described as "an unappreciated national treasure," because on every issue the man was so (as Asimov put it) ''mastodonically wrong'' that Asimov felt that on matters of public policy, a sound approach would be to first find out this man's opinion and then [[AntiAdvice do the exact opposite]].

* Squidward Tentacles from ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' is not as good at music as he thinks he is. He does have his moments though. The trope is zig-zagged depending on [[RuleOfFunny whether it would be funnier]], at the moment, if Squidward were an unappreciated talent or Giftedly Bad.

* ''Film/BillandTedFaceTheMusic'' reveals that 2.5 decades of attempting to write a world-saving hit have turned Wyld Stallions into this. Their attempt at a romantic first-dance song for Ted's brother's wedding involves a theremin, bagpipes, and throat-singing.

* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Yukiko, Chie, and Rise have the utmost confidence in their cooking schools and are seemingly oblivious to the fact that they're [[LethalChef absolutely horrible at it]], no matter how many times they're told as such and how many times their meals have made the others sick. Yosuke even lampshades it in ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', outright asking them ''how'' they haven't realized how badly they suck at cooking.

* Inverted with Uncle Tommy in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework''. He ''knows'' that his playing and singing sucks, and to him, that’s part of the sound. And the crowds... they don’t care.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' gives us Cave Johnson, CEO of Aperture Science, a man with great enthusiasm, vision, and commitment to [[AC:[[ForScience Science!]]]], but next to no common sense, much less business acumen. Inventions include Repulsion Gel, which allows objects to bounce off of it without losing any momentum, thereby enabling a perpetual motion machine. It was originally marketed as a dietary aid replacing pudding so that the food would bounce right out of people's stomachs. Aperture's most famous invention is the Handheld Portal Device that can create wormholes and is powered in part by a miniature black hole. Johnson's original intent for it was to be used for shower curtains. It goes without saying that either of these inventions could have changed the world, but Aperture instead became obsessed with trying to get them to function in their original roles, and became trapped in an endless cycle of cube and button-based testing.

* The title character in ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane''. To be sure, her dancing is okay, but her acting is rubbish, and her singing is awful. The fact that what we get from the height of her career is her singing a StylisticSuck Glurge-y song doesn't help.

* Fanfic/AfterTheJungleSeries (by Creator/Flowerprincess11) combines this with WaitingForABreak for Olga Sherman (née Pataki), the older sister of Helga Shortman (née Pataki). Apparently when Helga was a sophomore in high school (when Olga would've been in her mid/late-20s), Olga decided to quit her teaching career and move to New York City to pursue a career as an actress. Despite being TheAce (and having plenty of viable talents and achievements), Olga proves to be no good at acting and fails to make it big as an actress[[note]]The few roles that Olga ''is'' able to get are in (very) off-Broadway style shows[[/note]], but ultimately refuses to give up on her "pipe dream" (as Helga calls it). Even by the time that Olga's well into her 40s[[note]]And at this point, ''a '''lot''''' has happened: 1.) Both of the Pataki-sisters have gotten married and had kids of their own (Olga has two kids while Helga has three kids), 2.) Olga's been forced to go back to working as a teacher (she's now a 5th-grade teacher at P.S. 118) to help support her family--especially since her husband has trouble holding down a job and is often switching employment (leaving Olga as the sole breadwinner at times), 3.) Olga's kids (who're twins) are in middle school while Helga's two oldest children are both students at P.S. 118 (one's a 4th-grader in Mr. Simmons' class while the other's a Kindergartener)[[/note]], she's ''still'' trying to achieve her dream of becoming an actress, apparently convinced that she's a star just waiting to be discovered.

* Tim Taylor from ''Series/HomeImprovement'' is a Giftedly Bad handyman. His problem lies in his never keeping things simple; everything he does has to be "improved". There's a reason TimTaylorTechnology was named after him. His show ''Tool Time'' consists mostly of Tim trying to soup something up and failing spectacularly (while his HyperCompetentSidekick Al provides actual useful repair tips). Not only does Tim think he's a home improvement genius, he thinks he's mrore popular than RealLife well-known handyman Bob Vila. It's established that Tim is ''capable'' of repairing things properly; he just doesn't want to. He's also got a couple of remarkable accidental achievements this way, like launching a barbecue grill into geosynchronous orbit.

* In ''Film/ArizonaDream'', Paul raves about acting throughout the movie and gives impromptu renditions of whatever he's watching on TV, but the only two times we actually see him perform are bombs. The first time, he hops on stage at the cinema and starts acting along with the characters in front of the screen, only to everyone to boo him and throw popcorn at him. The second is at a talent show where he attempts Cary Grant's cornfield scene from ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''; all the judges [[HoldUpYourScore rate him a "1"]].

* The Poetic Fiend in the ''Literature/GrailQuest'' series, encountered once a book, is a horrifically bad poet, yet convinced he's the best of the best. However, it's in the player's interest to always praise his work, since the Fiend is also a nigh-unstoppable vampire who can kill an adult ''TyrannosaurusRex'' with one bite. His poetry can also be useful to you as a weapon; in the last book, he teaches you a cringingly bad poem that will neutralise instant-death powers used on you.

* One of the most memorable scenes from Creator/{{Moliere}}'s ''Le Misanthrope'' comes when Alceste, the title misanthrope, thrashes the poetry of Oronte, an obsequious nobleman who desperately wants to be his friend. Alceste finds Oronte's poetry cloying, pretentious and devoid of meaning, and even says it is "meant to be taken to the cabinet" -- [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar "cabinet" having a secondary meaning of "outhouse" in 17th century French.]] He then responds with a poem he finds of high quality, a simple medieval country ballad.

* Miia in ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'' is a LethalChef, full stop. She doesn't realize this because lamia only have a fraction of the taste buds that humans do so she can't taste how awful her own cooking is. The smell alone has sometimes caused normal humans who've tried to eat her cooking to lose consciousness.
* Giant/Big G from ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' is not only a DreadfulMusician but also a Dreadful Painter and Chef. His songs are so terrible they are legitimately {{Brown Note}}s. When the world turned into a world without sound, just ''looking'' at its lyrics is enough to nauseate people and in one of the movies, they were able to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu knock out a group of sirens and a demon whale]] from sheer horribleness. Of course, this doesn't stop him from setting up his own concerts, which he practically forces others to attend, no one dares to point this out to his face as he's TheBully.

* ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye reveals that ''Megatron'' of all people was an aspiring poet before he became a revolutionary / terrorist / dictator / TheAtoner. A horrible one. After defeating Impactor, the Autobot used the last of his strength to scratch "No More Poetry" on the ground. When Swerve needed an idea to bring business back to his bar after a competitor opened up, he hired Megatron to perform his poetry...at the competitor's. The customers fled in horror back to Swerve's.

* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac''

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'': Yukiko, Chie, and Rise have the utmost confidence in their cooking schools and are seemingly oblivious to the fact that they're [[LethalChef absolutely horrible at it]], no matter how many times they're told as such and how many times their meals have made the others sick. Yosuke even lampshades it in ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', outright asking them ''how'' they haven't realized how badly they suck at cooking.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Bloody Stupid Johnson embodies this trope. He was such a [[BunglingInventor poor architect and inventor]] that people commissioned him just to see what he'd come up with. Indeed, it became something of a status symbol to own something designed by BS Johnson. His genius was that the final product was brilliant, often in some way ''completely unrelated'' to the original intent. Some of his creations warped time and space, such as his terrace rows and an omnitemporal mail sorting machine containing circles where pi equals 3. His particular specialty is the [[DoubleEntendre Johnson Organ]], which actually plays music as intended (although with strange voices like "farm animals" and "young ladies screaming"); his most famous example there is the Great Organ at Unseen University, which includes a 128-foot long "Earthquake pipe" and is so complicated that only the Librarian (who's an orangutan) has enough flexibility to play it.

* ''Theater/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'': The Phantom has shades of this with [[ShowWithinAShow ''Don Juan Triumphant.'']] It can't be ''that'' good if he has to terrorize the opera's cast into performing it. (Indeed, it only ''gets'' produced as part of a BatmanGambit to smoke him out.)