History Main / UnderStrangeManagement

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Most of the employees of [=ISIS=] must have been recruited from the loony bin. Malory Archer runs the place as an AlphaBitch: she's a BadBoss with no patience, no sympathy, and no scruples. Her son Sterling is an alcoholic {{Jerkass}} that happens to excel at combat, but not much else. Kreiger is a MadScientist on the payroll, Pam Poovey is an ActionGirl with enough body mass to steamroller opponents, and Cheryl Tunt is a ditzy heiress that tags along just for fun. Poor Cyril Figgis is the OnlySaneMan, and Lana Kane is the OnlySaneWoman. Eventually, their collective incompetence results in the FBI shutting them down, whereupon they take to cocaine trafficking instead, then reform into their old roles under the Figgis Agency, before finally taking up their old jobs as spies, albeit under a new name.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', who are [[PhraseCatcher "a little bit young to be" doing whatever they're doing on any given day]] have run several businesses and organizations over their many adventures, from a diner to a ski resort to a cartoon studio. Because Phineas and Ferb are hypercompetent geniuses, these businesses are always successful initially. However, due to the nature of the show, they always vanish before the episode is over.

* ''Series/SpinCity'': Paul is notoriously stingy with money and wins the grand prize on an in-universe episode of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''. What does he do next? Open a patriotic America-themed restaurant knowing full well its a high risk industry and he doesn't know what he's doing.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Dr Drakken once owned a muffin company. It was more successful than the original evil plan. But he recognised the success and was going to cancel the original plan. %%not sure what this entry means

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': When Captain Holt was in the Witness Protection Program, C.J. took over the precinct. C.J. is nice and well-intentioned, but incredibly dumb. It took him years to finish the NYPD academy (which is supposed to take nine months), and he only got promoted because he [[AccidentalHero accidentally busted a major drug ring]] [[IdiotHero through sheer dumb luck]]. He managed to lose an entire brick of heroin in the precinct.
--> '''Boyle''': [[LampshadeHanging But surely before they promoted you, someone spoke to you and . . . heard you speak]].
--> '''C.J.''': [[HandWave Presumably]].

* The ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series has this premise. After Wario saw in a TV ad how much money you can make with Video Games, he founds his own Video Game company. However, he doesn't have any idea how to and falls asleep. His friends (or you in ''VideoGame/WarioWareDIY'') are now tasked with creating games for him. D.I.Y. in particular showed that he really has no idea how to make video games.

* ''Series/SpinCity'' Paul is notoriously stingy with money and wins the grand prize on an in-universe episode of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''. What does he do next? Open a patriotic America-themed restaurant knowing full well its a high risk industry and he doesn't know what he's doing.

* This is how Speedy Gonzalez ended up running his pizza place in ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow''. Years ago, the pizzeria was owned by CoolOldGuy Mr Girardi, who eventually decided to retire and move away. Bugs Bunny didn't want his favourite hangout spot to close down, so he bought the place. Of course, he couldn't run it on his own and had to ask Daffy for help. After Bugs named him "Commander-in-Chief of Pizza Operations to get him on board, Daffy started to take the job a little too seriously. They ended up hiring Marvin the Martian, Pete Puma, and their friend Porky, and their first day running the restaurant was such a disaster that the local Chinese restaurant sent them a gift basket to thank them for all the customers their awful service had sent their way. Speedy called Bugs out on the decision to buy the restaurant like this since he never wanted to run a restaurant and his "I want a place to hang out with my friends" problem could be fixed by converting his garage. Bugs didn't convert his garage, but he wised up: He locked Daffy, Marvin, and Pete in the fridge so they wouldn't get in anyone's way, and let Speedy take care of all the work since he was fast enough, responsible enough, and genuinely passionate about making people happy and being surrounded with cheese all day. Eventually, the only decision that made sense was to give the restaurant over to Speedy.

* In ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseMysteriesOfThePast'', the heroes, who are essentially police InternalAffairs end up running a telephone company when they discover that it's a scam and try to salvage it so that all the locals who invested in it won't lose their money.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Dr Drakken once owned a muffin company. It was more successful than the original evil plan. But he recognised the success and was going to cancel the original plan.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E3HomerTheMoe "Homer the Moe"]]: Moe goes off for a few days leaving Homer in charge of the bar.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* Series/{{Frasier}} and Niles (two psychiatrists with no experience in the restaurant business) take over a restaurant-- and their father later recounts it as the craziest blunder they ever make.

* There may be no stranger management anywhere than [[Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale Night Vale Community Radio]]. Station management - which is only ever referred ''as'' [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep station management]] - is never described directly but heavily implied to be some form of terrifying gestalt entity. It mainly lurks in its extradimensional hellscape "office", emerging only to devour problematic employees (like when they ask for a raise) and go on dates with its romantic partner, Night Vale's city council - a likewise terrifying gestalt entity.

* During the first season of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Giovanni leaves Jessie and James in charge of the Viridian City Gym while he goes out. It ends about as well as you'd expect.

** Moe isn't confident the bar is in good hands, but he leaves anyway. Before he gets two steps away, there's a huge explosion. When Moe rushes back in, Homer looks at him nonchalantly and says, "I thought you had to go."''

'''Homer:''' No, Moe, you've got it all wrong. People buy beer from you.\\
Moe isn't confident the bar is in good hands, but he leaves anyway. Before he gets two steps away, there's a huge explosion. When Moe rushes back in, Homer looks at him nonchalantly and says, "I thought you had to go."''

'''Homer:''' No, Moe, you've got it all wrong. People buy beer from you.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', who are [[PhraseCatcher "a little big young to be" doing whatever they're doing on any given day]] have run several businesses and organizations over their many adventures, from a diner to a ski resort to a cartoon studio. Because Phineas and Ferb are hypercompetent geniuses, these businesses are always successful initially. However, due to the nature of the show, they always vanish before the episode is over.

-->'''Moe:''' ... and if anyone wants potato chips or anything fancy, tell him to go to Hell.
-->'''Homer:''' Can do. Now, don't you worry about a thing. ''gleefully turns on a beer tap, spilling the beer onto the floor''
-->'''Moe:''' ''shuts off the tap'' Hey, what are you doing? I gotta pay for that!
-->'''Homer:''' No, Moe, you've got it all wrong. People buy beer from you.//
--> Moe isn't confident the bar is in good hands, but he leaves anyway. Before he gets two steps away, there's a huge explosion. When Moe rushes back in, Homer looks at him nonchalantly and says, "I thought you had to go."''

In real life, businesses and organizations are usually run by qualified people. In fiction, that isn't always the case. Sometimes someone ends up in charge of an organization despite being blatantly unqualified or unexpected. Maybe a group of cheerleaders are running the local library, or a biker gang has to serve as the local fire department.

There's a lot of ways this can happen. Maybe [[InadequateInheritor someone]] inherited a business from a more qualified relative. Maybe villain is running a fake business as part of an evil plan, but it [[FakeRealTurn ends up becoming more real than they intended.]] Perhaps the ClosestThingWeGot isn't all that close. Or maybe it's just a ZanyScheme gone completely off the rails. No matter how it happens, expect things to go hilariously wrong. In an ongoing series, things will usually go back to normal by next episode.

* In ''Film/SmallTimeCrooks'', a group of criminals rent TheConvenientStoreNextDoor to a bank, and run a cookie shop as a front while they try to tunnel into the vault. While the tunneling operation is a failure, the cookies are an unexpected hit, and the gang tries to make a career of it. Amusingly, a career arsonist ends up as the fire safety inspector.

* On ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Ted and Barney convinced the owner of [=McLaren's=] not to close early and let them lock up. They open the bar for a couple of hotties they had been trying to hook up earlier and a few of their friends... the entire Arizona Tech marching band. Oh, and they break a few glasses imitating Creator/TomCruise in ''Film/{{Cocktail}}''.

* In ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseMysteriesOfThePast'', the heroes, who are essentialy police InternalAffairs end up running a telephone company when they discover that it's a scam and try to salvage it so that all the locals who invested in it won't lose their money.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Most of the employees of [=ISIS=] must have been recruited from the loony bin. Malory Archer runs the place as an AlphaBitch: she's a BadBoss with no patience, no sympathy and no scruples. Her son, Sterling, is an alcoholic {{Jerkass}} that happens to excel at combat, but not much else. Kreiger is a MadScientist on the payroll, Pam Poovey is an ActionGirl with enough body mass to steamroller opponents, and Cheryl Tunt is a ditzy heiress that tags along just for fun. Poor Cyril Figgis is the OnlySaneMan, and Lana Kane is the OnlySaneWoman. Eventually, their collective incompetence results in the FBI shutting them down, whereupon they take to cocaine trafficking instead, then reform into their old roles under the Figgis Agency, before finally taking up their old jobs as spies, albeit under a new name.

* This is how Speedy Gonzalez ended up running his pizza place in ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow''. Years ago, the pizzeria was owned by CoolOldGuy Mr Girardi, who eventually decided to retire and move away. Bugs Bunny didn't want his favourite hangout spot to close down, so he bought the place. Of course, he couldn't run it on his own and had to ask Daffy for help. After Bugs named him "Commander-in-Chief of Pizza Operations to get him on board, Daffy started to take the job a little too seriously. They ended up hiring Marvin the Martian, Pete Puma and their friend Porky, and their first day running the restaurant was such a disaster that the local Chinese restaurant sent them a gift basket to thank them for all the costumers their awful service had sent their way. Speedy called Bugs out on the decision to buy the restaurant like this, since he never wanted to run a restaurant and his "I want a place to hang out with my friends" problem could be fixed by converting his garage. Bugs didn't convert his garage, but he wised up: He locked Daffy, Marvin and Pete in the fridge so they wouldn't get in anyone's way, and let Speedy take care of all the work since he was fast enough, responsible enough, and genuinely passionate about making people happy and being surrounded with cheese all day. Eventually, the only decision that made sense was to give the restaurant over to Speedy.

* ''WesternAnimation/TigNSeek'': The Department of Lost and Found is run by a simple minded antropomorphic dog who inherited it from his father. His main employee is an 8-year-old kid who looks for missing things, and his assistant is a cat who alternates between GadgeteerGenius and ApatheticPet. The rest of the staff consists of a rabbit with an eyepatch who is remodeling things seemingly at random and a mild-mannered fuzzy-headed monster who seems to be the OnlySaneMan.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Most of the employees of [=ISIS=] must have been recruited from the loony bin. Malory Archer runs the place as an AlphaBitch: she's a BadBoss with no patience, no sympathy and no scruples. Her son, Sterling, is an alcoholic {{Jerkass}} that happens to excel at melee combat, but not much else. Kreiger is a MadScientist on the payroll, Pam Poovey is an ActionGirl with enough body mass to steamroller opponents, and Cheryl Tunt is a ditzy heiress that tags along just for fun. Poor Cyril Figgis is the OnlySaneMan, and Lana Kane is the OnlySaneWoman. Eventually, their collective incompetence results in the FBI shutting them down, whereupon they take to cocaine trafficking instead, then reform into their old roles under the Figgis Agency.

* * ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': After Gray Mann takes over Mann Co. and fires the mercs, Pyro becomes the successful CEO of an engineering company, despite being an insane pyromaniac who sees the world as a SugarBowl and fire as beautiful rainbows, never takes off their gas mask, and speaks in an unintelligible "Mmmmph-mmmmph-mmmmph" at all times.

!!Note: This page was recently sent back to TLP per [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16806578010.74023500& TRS decision]], and is currently sponsored by @/CompletelyNormalGuy.

Indices: ComedyTropes, OccupationTropes, FishOutOfWater

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