History Main / NewhartPhonecall

* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': Played usually straight. If you could actually hear both sides of the conversation it would be a very tedious affair. "The Captain went out for a stroll in the garden, and should be back by 2:00." "The Captain went out for a stroll in the garden, and should be back by 2:00?" Late in ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'', at the reunion of the drug cartel, TheDragon initially averts it in his phone call with the leader, but lapses back into it when he learns there is an impostor. In the animated version, it's inverted.

** In contrast, in "[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Death & the Family]]", we hear Lana's side of her call to Perry explaining why she must take a leave of absence... and yes, she would like keeping her job.

* ''{{FanFic/Anglerfish}}'': Tim overhears Jason's half of the conversation when Jason calls Bruce, but isn't really paying attention because he's half asleep. It also doesn't click for him right away that Jason has decided to act like he's abducted Tim in order to make the other Bats panic, just to ensure there's unneeded but entertaining drama.

* On ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'', Taissa has one with her bank in "Saints" in which she tries to convince them to allow her to withdraw $50,000 for her and Simone's joint bank account without Simone's signature. She complains that she shouldn't need her wife's signature to make a withdraw of any amount, but the response she gets is obviously not to her satisfaction and she hangs up.

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In ''Pleasant Goat Fun Class: The Earth Carnival'' episode 16, Miss Earth gets a phone call informing her that Miss Rainforest, who is suppose to watch over the carnival's rainforest attraction, hasn't returned. Miss Earth is clearly heard reacting in surprise, but the person on the other end of the phone isn't audible.

* Referred to on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' when Mike refers to an uneventful scene of a man talking on the phone as "the unfunny half of a Bob Newhart routine''.

** In a ''Franchise/StarWars'' sketch, Palpatine is on the phone with Vader when Vader tells him that the Death Star blew up. Palpatine gets angry with Vader, making him cry over losing Padmé.

* In the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' fic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/3928030/chapters/8798104 "Loaded Bones,"]] Bakura rings Marik to find out whether his SuperPoweredEvilSide is having him on about having used their shared body to have sex with Marik. Marik's side of the conversation isn't given, but is implied by Bakura's (mainly flustered) responses.
* The premise of [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4398614 No More Phones in the Grocery Store]] is that the unnamed viewpoint character was doing some shopping and overheard one side of a very odd phone call.

* Bob Newhart had a lot of routines using this, perhaps the most memorable of which is his ''[[Film/KingKong1933 King Kong]]'' routine, in which a security guard at the Empire State Building's first night on the job is interrupted by the ape's ascent. Listen to it [[http://youtu.be/h7Oh1SI9lbs here]]. Interestingly, when he was first starting out Newhart was actually part of a more standard double act with a coworker at the advertising agency where he worked who would play the person on the other side of call, with the routine being a more traditional back-and-forth. When this person eventually decided to not to pursue comedy, instead of finding a replacement Newhart simply decided to keep his side of the conversations and let the audience imagine the other side.

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* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': In the ''StarWars'' episode, Palpatine is on the phone with Vader when Vader tells him that the Death Star blew up. Palpatine gets angry with Vader, making him cry over losing Padmé.

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': In the ''StarWars'' episode, Palpatine is on the phone with Vader when Vader tells him that the Death Star blew up. Palpatine is angry with Vader and makes Vader cry over losing Padmé.

* Used on occasion in ''Series/LeCoeurASesRaisons'', always with some kind of twist. One in particular has Criquette exaggerating the RepeatSoTheAudienceCanHear trop to its most extreme before revealing the receiver she used was a shoe, while another one has Brett repeatedly thanking Lewis over the phone when he was in fact talking to Ashley.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comics play this trope horrendously straight. If you could actually hear both sides of the conversation it would be a very tedious affair. "The Captain went out for a stroll in the garden, and should be back by 2:00." "The Captain went out for a stroll in the garden, and should be back by 2:00?" Late in ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'', at the KKK-like reunion of the drug cartel, TheDragon initially averts it in his phone call with the leader, but lapses back into it when he learns there is an impostor. In the animated version, it's inverted.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* Bob Newhart had a lot of routines using this, perhaps the most memorable of which is his ''[[Film/KingKong1933 King Kong]]'' routine, in which a security guard at the Empire State Building's first night on the job is interrupted by the ape's ascent. Listen to it [[http://youtu.be/h7Oh1SI9lbs here]].

Alternatively, both halves of the conversation may be heard, per se, but from the audience's perspective, the words being spoken [[TheVoice by the person on the other end of the line]] come through as comically sped-up babbling or some other form of [[TheUnintelligible unintelligible gobbledygook]] (sometimes done to hide [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar really vulgar language]]). If the audience eventually gets to hear both headlines of the phone call, it may lead to OnceMoreWithClarity.

[[folder:Radio]]
* A RunningGag on ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly''. Whenever Fibber would make a telephone call, he would get sidetracked by a conversation with the operator ("Is that you, Myrt? How's every little thing, Myrt?") and would never get connected to whomever he was calling. Myrt's half of the conversation was left to the listener's imagination.

--->'''UsefulNotes/BillClinton:''' (places a "Vote UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton" yard sign then calls her on his cell phone) Alright honey that's the last one. What's next? [...] Twenty-five more?! What the hell did I do to you?! [...] Oh you're never gonna let [[LoveForgivesAllButLust that]] go, are you?

'''Marge:''' Hello? Oh, hello, Principle Skinner. No, Bart has never been to Hong Kong. Goodnight.\\

Alternatively, both halves of the conversation may be heard, per se, but from the audience's perspective, the words being spoken [[TheVoice by the person on the other end of the line]] come through as comically sped-up babbling or some other form of [[TheUnintelligible unintelligible gobbledygook]] (sometimes done to hide [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar really vulgar language]]).

--->'''UsefulNotes/BillClinton:''' (places a "Vote UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton" yard sign then calls her on his cell phone) Alright honey that's the last one. What's next? [...] Twenty-five more?! What the hell did I do to you?! [...] Oh you're never gonna let [[YourCheatingHeart that]] go, are you?

* Twitch streamers responding to chat messages can come across like this when watching recorded streams without a chat overlay, or if the chat is moving too fast to keep up. Assuming they don't get into the habit of [[SoWhatYouAreSayingIs reading the entire message out]] before replying.