History Series / DrakeAndJosh

** In one episode, their friend Thorton is having a massive birthday party, complete with gift bags that have cellphones in them, and Drake and Josh are invited...until Thorton catches Drake making out with his girlfriend unknowingly. Drake and Josh are officially uninvited, and in desperation, they give him Drake's autographed ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' record as a present... and he still doesn't let them into the party. So they pull off an elaborate scheme to crash it... just to get the record back and ditch.

* DownerEnding: "Peruvian Puff Pepper," "The Wedding" (hilariously), "Tree House," and "Theater Thug." In fact, ''Most'' episodes contain downer endings, leaving very few that end on a high note for Drake & Josh -- some of those being "The Affair" and "Dance Contest." Even the series finale doesn't end on the best of notes, the final scene being yet another fight between the boys.

* InformedAttractiveness. A bit [[ZigzaggedTrope zigzagged]]. While Drake is meant to be the better-looking ChickMagnet in comparison to Josh, this is played more straight in earlier seasons, when Josh was more of a chubby, goofy dork. However in later seasons, Josh not only loses a great deal of weight and becomes better-built, but he becomes more down-to-earth while retaining his lovably dorky personality. Despite this, he is somehow less lucky with girls than his brother Drake, who, while not bad-looking, is relatively shorter and scrawnier than his brother, and not only shows blatant irresponsibility several times, but a [[TookALevelInDumbass sharp decline in common sense as the series goes on]].

*** The [[PoliceAreUseless police]] and other folks are this as well since they're also never seen punished for thinking he's the thug and letting the real bad guy getaway.

--> '''Megan:''' The contract says, whoever caves must dye his hair pink." You both caved, so you both have to do it.

* DiagonalBilling: Averted. In the first two seasons, Josh Peck was billed first, and in the second two seasons, Drake Bell was billed first.

* ProductionForeshadowing: In the episode "Really Big Shrimp," one of the marquees at The Premiere theater reads ''Now She's Carly'' (referring to Megan's actress Creator/Miranda Cosgrove, who would later go on to play the titular character of {{Series/iCarly}}).

** There are also plenty of fangirls who feel this way about Josh.

** Another one in "Megan's First Kiss," Drake and Josh threaten to rough up Corey after his two-timing nature had been exposed to Megan. Cue scene later in their residence, Megan is seen propping up her brothers who are all badly bruised and beaten up, both pummeled down by Corey who happened to be well-versed in martial arts.

* StandardizedSitcomHousing: The main house and the boys' room follow this

--> '''Josh:''' Oh, I didn't say he was saving my butt! I said Drake was... (realizes he can't think of anything else) shaving my butt...

* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: In "Believe Me, Brother," Megan pulls a prank on Drake and Josh by splicing Drake's music video with embarrassing footage of him and Josh. However, she also accidentally adds in video evidence of Drake's girlfriend attempting to cheat on him with Josh, revealing that Josh had told the truth about her the entire time and that she had been trying to tear the two of them apart. As a result, the two of them are ultimately grateful that Megan's prank happened, so they don't tell on her, half because they're grateful, and half because the mere fact that her plan backfired and helped them is punishment enough for her. While Megan was surprised by this, she gets over it off, saying "there's always next time".

* OverreactingAirportSecurity: In ''Drake & Josh Go Hollywood'', Drake and Josh put their sister Megan on the wrong plane. After they discover this, the two attempts to run onto the plane and get her out before it takes off. They are stopped by security. Afterward, the boys are released and one of the officers tells them that they take airport security "very seriously," to which Josh voices his concern on whether or not the strip search was really necessary.

* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: In "Believe Me, Brother," Megan pulls a prank on Drake and Josh by splicing Drake's music video with embarrassing footage of him and Josh. However, she also accidentally adds in video evidence of Drake's girlfriend attempting to cheat on him with Josh, revealing that Josh had told the truth about her the entire time and that she had been trying to tear the two of them apart. As a result, the two of them are ultimately grateful that Megan's prank happened, so they don't tell on her, half because they're grateful, and a half because the mere fact that her plan backfired and helped them is punishment enough for her. While Megan was surprised by this, she gets over it off, saying "there's always next time".

* ArtisticLicenseMusic: Humorously averted when Megan strums Drake's brand new autographed Stratocaster for it to make only a quiet sound to her confusion. Josh then demonstrates that it needs to be plugged into an amp for it to sound right. [[spoiler: Said amp bursts into flames when turned on, [[ArtisticLicensePhysics while somehow causing the guitar to burst into flames as well.]]]]

* TheBet: The episode "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Bet]]" had Drake and Josh betting they could quit their bad habits longer than the other. In this case, Drake's addiction to junk food and Josh's addiction to video games. The episode also has their parents making a bet on which boy would cave in first: Audrey bets Josh would win, and Walter bets Drake would win. Because they both cave, the entire family except Megan has to dye their hair pink, [[spoiler: though Drake decides to wear a pink wig]].

** Josh begins one episode by trying to make an egg disappear, in the process ruining Drake's chances with a cheerleader. Then at the end of the episode, [[spoiler: he pulls the egg out from behind Drake's ear]].

* ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: The entire plot of "The Bet." Drake and Josh bet that whoever caves in from their respective vices (eating junk food and playing video games) must dye his hair pink. Megan secretly suggested to each of them to sabotage the other to win. In their sadistic attempt for the other to cave in, Josh sets up their room into a Willy Wonka-style candy land while Drake plays Josh's Gamesphere right before his eyes. It ended up both of them caving in and losing the bet. [[spoiler: But Drake manages to weasel out of it by wearing a wig]].

* CourtroomEpisode: "Honor Council" has Drake being framed for somehow getting the English teacher, Mrs. Hayfer's car inside her classroom. So Josh defends Drake and has him attend an honor council to exonerate the latter. However, Mindy Crenshaw, Josh's rival, becomes the opponent to find whatever dirt she could use to convince the jury that Drake is guilty. She almost wins, [[spoiler: until Josh shows her a copy of her report card showing that she got a B in Mrs. Hayfer's class, thus causing Mindy to retaliate by putting Mrs. Hayfer's car in the classroom and framing Drake for the crime, all for terminating her perfect 4.0-grade point average]].

** Mindy Crenshaw [[spoiler: parked Mrs. Hafer's car in the middle of her classroom and framed Drake]]. Then she became the prosecutor on the trial and managed to not only almost convince everyone Drake did it, but also to humiliate Josh. The offense? Her grades were a perfect 4.0 until Mrs. Hayfer dared to give her a B. Oh, and she hates Drake and Josh. And she's nuts. Yeah, Creator/DanSchneider is fond of this trope.

* EngineeredHeroics: Played straight, but then {{Subverted|Trope}} in the episode "Who's Got Game?" Drake accidentally let it slip that Carly, a girl he was dating, was part of a competition between him and his brother to see who could date the most girls...only he liked her. One of his several attempts to show her that he's "honest" involves Craig and Eric to make it seem like he found one of their wallets and returned it to them. Carly sees through this and walks off...and then one of the nerds comes back and asks Drake if he stole his mom's credit card from the wallet. [[spoiler: He did]].

** There was also the time when Mindy framed Drake for putting their teacher's car in her classroom. Drake was likely going to lose until Megan decided to help. She even said she couldn't stand to see him sad, scared and upset like he was [[spoiler: unless she caused it]].
** In "Josh Runs into Oprah," she bakes Josh a birthday cake, which Josh believes is poisoned. Megan sincerely counters that she wouldn't give him something that would make him sick on his birthday. [[spoiler: [[ExactWords She didn't say it wouldn't explode]]]].

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Officer Gilbert's excuse for wanting to keep Drake and Josh from satisfying Mary Alice and her foster family is due to an incident he had when he got a chimpanzee for Christmas as he wanted, but then it destroyed their tree and presents and escaped. He hated Christmas ever since. As Josh points out in the letter, the chimpanzee was an adult and too much for the then young Gilbert to handle. The one Drake and Josh send him is a baby and is much more passive]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HeelFaceTurn: Officer Gilbert in the Christmas movie when [[spoiler: Drake and Josh send him a letter with the present he wanted as a kid telling him that he shouldn't hate Christmas just because he was ruined]].

* HumiliatingWager: Drake and Josh are addicted to eating junk food[=/=]playing video games, respectively, and each contractually makes a bet that they could go without their respective addictions longer than the other one, with their parents getting in on the betting action. The loser would have to [[LastSecondWordSwap die/dye...... their hair]] {{pink|MeansFeminine}}. [[spoiler: Both Drake and Josh crack at the same moment, meaning they ''both'' lost (along with both parents), so all of them end up with pink hair]].

** The theater thug is also this, due to everybody thinking Josh is the theater thug and beating him up. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode the real thug shows up, but gets knocked out. When the police arrive, they arrest Josh thinking he's the thug, while the real one gets away]].

* RashomonStyle: The episode "Foam Finger" depicts [[UnreliableNarrator Drake and Josh]] recounting their first fight differently on who is the instigator. [[spoiler: Turns out that it was a [[EnfantTerrible toddler-aged Megan]]]].