Ask A Stupid Question / Live-Action TV

"Is this the page for live-action TV?"
"No, it's the page for black-and-white newsreels. Clearly."

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• Used epically in an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, after Dick learned his girlfriend slept with his nemesis Dr. Strudwick once.
  Dick: I can't get his face out of my mind!
  Nina: Strudwick's?
  Dick: [serene voice] No, Nina, little Davey Tenant, the boy down the block. You see, ever since Davey was three years old, he's wanted more than anything to see a real professional baseball game. He wished the biggest wish his little heart could muster. But his dad was laid off and couldn't afford the tickets. Well, one day last week, little Davey was outside playing ball like he always does, and who should walk up the block, tall as a building, but home run king Mark McGwire. To see little Davey's face light up as McGwire handed him four seats on the first base line, well, it's something that I will never forget. [pause] YES, STRUDWICK'S! DON'T ASK STUPID QUESTIONS!
• Annika (2021): In the last episode of the first season, Annika and Tyrone chase a suspect who works in an Indian cuisine restaurant. When the suspect runs, Annika snarks on why does the suspect always run.
• Babylon 5: A courier comes to G'kar, interrupting him once again about to start his interrupted dinner.
  Courier: Are you ambassador G'kar?
  G'kar: This is ambassador G'Kar's quarters. This is ambassador G'Kar's table. This is ambassador G'Kar's dinner. Which part of this progression escapes you?
• The Big Bang Theory: Howard (who works for NASA) calls the gang over during one of his own dates, and works to get the girl out of the way. Once she's out of earshot, he finally explains the problem.
  Howard: I got the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch.
  Sheldon: ...Where?
  Howard: On a dusty highway just outside Bakersfield... Where do you think? On Mars!
  • Another great Howard example is when he pretends to have absent-mindedly eaten a granola bar with peanuts (to which he’s allergic) in order to get Leonard out of the apartment as part of a birthday surprise:
    Howard: Don’t yell at me, I need to go to the emergency room!
    Leonard: Now?!
    Howard: No, after my tongue has swollen TO THE SIZE OF A BRISKET!!
• Blackadder:
  • Subverted in "Dish and Dishonesty" where the person receiving an actual answer assumes he's gotten this type of response.
    Vincent Hanna: Well, can you at least tell me one thing? What does the 'S' in his name stand for?
    Blackadder: Sod off. ^note It was established earlier that Baldrick thinks this is his name due to the other kids saying it when he introduced himself. "Hi, my name's Baldrick." "Yes, we know. Sod off, Baldrick."
    Vincent Hanna: Well. I guess it's none of my business, really.
  • Straight example in Blackadder Goes Forth:
    George: If we should happen to tread on a mine sir, what do we do?
    Blackadder: Well the normal procedure, Lieutenant, is to jump two hundred feet into the air and scatter yourself over a wide area.
• In the Blue Bloods episode "Leap of Faith", Danny Reagan thinks some small town detectives could've been more thorough with their investigation of the death of the first Mrs. Bines.
  Danny: And where was Mister Bines during all this?
  Detective: Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. He was at the arsenic store.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In one episode, Dawn finds her sister sitting on her bed, reading a magazine and asks:
    Dawn: What are you doing?
    Buffy: Playing soccer.
  • In the episode "When She Was Bad":
    Xander: Hey, did you guys hear that Cibo Matto is going to be at the Bronze tonight?
    Willow: Cibo Matto? They're playing?
    Xander: No, Will, they're going to be clog dancing.
    Willow: Cibo Matto can clog dance?
  • In "Welcome to the Hellmouth", Joyce asks if Buffy's going out to a nightclub.
    Joyce: Oh. Will there be boys there?
    Buffy: No, Mom. It's a nun club.
  • In "The Harvest", Harmony asks Cordelia if they're going to the Bronze tonight. "No," Cordy snorts, "we're going to the other cool place in Sunnydale." Harmony seems to struggle with that conundrum.
  • In "The Wish", Cordelia, oblivious to the fact that Xander's a vampire in this alternate reality, tells him that they need to find Buffy pronto.
    Vampire!Xander: (warily) ...Buffy. The Slayer?
    Cordelia: No! Buffy the dog-faced girl!
  • Buffy and Angel are about to attack the Master's vampire factory. "What's the plan?", Angel asks. Without looking at him, Buffy holds up a stake: "Don't fall on this."
  • Cordy gets another one in "Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight":
    Harmony: (reading a chocolate Cordelia plans to hand out for May Queen votes) "C for Cordelia?"
    Cordelia: "No, C for Wilma, little brain."
• Bull: In "Never Saw the Sign":
  Bull: Can you print all this out?
  Cable: On paper?
  Bull: No, on banana leaves.
• El Chavo del ocho: Used as a Running Gag:
  • Whenever Quico gets asked if his mom is home, he invariably replies "¿De parte de quién?" (Roughly meaning "Who should I say is calling?")
  • El Chavo does it as well quite often. For instance, the episode "El pastel de la Bruja". La Chilindrina points to the cake on Doña Cleotilde's window:
  Chavo: Is that a cake?
  Chilindrina: No, it's a motorbike.
• From Corner Gas when Brent walks into Oscar and Emma's living room while they're putting up Christmas decorations:
  Brent: Whoa, what are you doing?
  Emma: We're building a Haunted House for Halloween.
• In Dinosaurs episode "What Sexual Harris Meant", Earl comes home early because someone died at work.
  Fran: Oh my goodness, what happened??
  Earl: Fran, we push down trees for a living. You figure it out!
• Doctor Who:
  • "The Empty Child": When speaking of her younger brother, Nancy says he was out alone in an air raid. When the Doctor asks what happened, her response is simple.
    Nancy: In the middle of an air raid? What'd you think happened?
  • "Bad Wolf": Jack attempts to enter a locked room, and one of the technicians protests.
    Technician: You're not allowed in there, Archive Six is out of bounds!
    Jack: [holds up guns] Do I look like an out of bounds kinda guy?
  • "The Runaway Bride": When an extremely shouty ginger in a wedding dress shows up in the TARDIS while it's in deep space, it takes the Doctor a while to catch up.
    The Doctor: What're you dressed like that for?
    Donna: I'm going tenpin bowling. WHY DO YOU THINK, DUMBO?! I was halfway up the aisle!
  • "The Shakespeare Code":
    Martha: [after the Doctor compares their situation to Back to the Future] The film?
    The Doctor: No, the novelization. Yes, the film!
  • "Forest of the Dead": The Doctor is trying to figure out what could have caused interference with the sonic screwdriver. Someone points out that it's getting dark outside.
    The Doctor: It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark.
  • "Journey's End":
    • This:
      Martha: If I use [the Osterhagen Key], they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart.
      The Doctor: Who invented that!? [Beat] Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose...
    • And, near the end:
      Jackie: I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy.
      Metacrisis Doctor: Ah! Brilliant. What'd you call him?
      Jackie: Doctor.
      Metacrisis Doctor: Really?
      Jackie: No, you plum. He's called Tony.
  • "Amy's Choice":
    Dream Lord: If you die in the dream world, you wake up in reality. […] Ask me what happens if you die in reality.
    Rory: What happens?
    Dream Lord: You die, stupid; that's why it's called reality.
  • "Let's Kill Hitler":
    Rory: Okay, I'm trapped inside a giant robot replica of my wife. I'm really trying not to see this as a metaphor.
    Amy: How can we be in here? How do we fit?
    Rory: Miniaturization Ray.
    Amy: How would you know that?
    Rory: Well, there was a ray, and we were miniaturized...
  • A Distress Call is coming from the "Asylum of the Daleks".
    The Doctor: Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them? [Daleks are silent] …he asked the Daleks.
  • In "The Rings of Akhaten", after "Grandfather" wakes up:
    Clara: You're going to fight it, aren't you?
    The Doctor: Regrettably, yes, I think I may be about to do that.
    Clara: It's really big.
    The Doctor: I've seen bigger.
    Clara: Really?
    The Doctor: Are you joking? It's massive!
  • From "Robot of Sherwood":
    Robin: And now what?
    The Doctor: First, a blacksmith's forge.
    Robin: So as to remove our chains?
    The Doctor: No, so I can knock up an ornamental plant stand.
  • In "Time Heist", Clara asks Psi why he would choose to forget everyone he ever loved. Psi, obviously, does not remember why he made that choice.
  • "The Woman Who Fell to Earth":
    Yaz: You don't know your own name?
    The Doctor: Of course I know it! I just can't remember it.
  • "The Ghost Monument": Upon finding a mysterious tent in the middle of the desert:
    The Doctor: Do you two know what that is?
    [Beat]
    Epzo: A tent.
  • "It Takes You Away":
    Yaz: So why did you make the bear traps?
    Erik: Because there are bears?
• In Drake & Josh:
  • Josh takes a trip to a store called "Guitar World" to replace Drake's old one that caught on fire.
    Josh: Do you sell guitars?
    Store Clerk: Here? [looks around the store] At "Guitar World?" Gee, I don't know.
    Josh: Okay, Sarcastic!
  • There's when Josh accidentally ran over Oprah Winfrey, his celebrity crush, on his birthday.
    Josh: This is my worst birthday ever!
    Drake: Why, cause you ran over Oprah?
    Josh: No, cause it's a little humid- YES, CAUSE I RAN OVER OPRAH!
  • Ironically, Josh does this to Drake in at least one episode.
    Josh: Did you do something to my brownies?!
    Drake: Oh sure, Josh! I live to destroy baked goods!
• Family Matters: We get this little exchange after Harriet loses her job at the paper.
  Carl: Edward, your mother was just fired.
  Eddie: From her job?
  Carl: No! From a cannon!
• Farscape
  • In "The Flax", Aeryn Sun gets her foot trapped under some debris, so tells John Crichton to pass her an axe, and when he asks why she says it's to cut her foot off. It says a lot about Aeryn that Crichton doesn't realise she's joking at first.
  • In "Crackers Don't Matter", Chiana is sitting in the mess hall, stuffing her face with crackers. D'argo strolls in and asks what she's doing.
    Chiana: I'm having sex with three Hynerian donkeys. What does it look like?
• A classic from the Fawlty Towers episode "Basil the Rat" when Basil, who's just been up on the hotel roof dealing with the two dead pigeons the health inspector found in the water tank, does his best to cope with his overbearing and micro-managing wife:
  Sybil: Did you put the lid back on the tank, Basil?
  Basil: Yes, that's why I've been on the roof the last 20 minutes, dear.
  Sybil: And you took the pigeons out?
  Basil: No, I left them in, they're nearly done.
• The Flash (2014): Season 2 brings us this exchange:
  Wells: Go get the wand.
  Cisco: The one I made for the Weather Wizard?
  Wells: No, the one you made for the Harry Potter convention. Of course the one for the Wizard!
  Cisco: How do you know about Harry Potter convention?
• From the Frasier episode, "Martin Does it His Way":
  Frasier: Roz, that was quite a flattering description. Just out of curiosity, were you just helping that lady with her fantasy, or do you really see me that way?
  Roz: You really don't know, do you? Frasier, I am so attracted to you. I always have been. Your looks, your voice, you don't know how many times I've wanted to strip naked and hurl myself at that glass partition like a bug on a windshield.
  Frasier: Are you through?
  Roz: (bopping him on the head) Well, ask a stupid question!
  • "The Episode with Woody" has an example similar to Blackadder before, where the character thinks he's being given this kind of answer, though Frasier is serious.
    Woody: [referring to a Mexican restaurant's name] I know a little Spanish, "dos" means "two", but what does "burro" mean?
    Frasier: The same thing it means in English, "jackass".
    Woody: Well, geez, I'm sorry I asked.
• Friends: Chandler enjoys this trope immensely.
  • After calling his Girl of the Week:
    Chandler: I got her machine.
    Joey: Her answering machine?
    Chandler: No, interestingly enough, her leaf blower picked up.
  • During the first Thanksgiving episode.
    Chandler: The most unbelievable thing has happened. Underdog has gotten away.
    Joey: The balloon?
    Chandler: No, no, the actual cartoon character. Of course the balloon.
  • When they're playing poker and Rachel wants to leave:
    Chandler: Rach, Rach, we gotta settle.
    Rachel: Settle what?
    Chandler: The Jamestown colony of Virginia. You see, King George is giving us the land so...
  • In a deleted scene, where Rachel calls everyone over to see Emma crawling for the first time, and Chandler arrives with shaving cream on his face:
    Joey: Shaving?
    Chandler: No, rabies.
  • Joey meets up with Chandler, who is waiting for a cab:
    Joey: Is she here yet?
    Chandler: Yeah, she brought the invisible cab. Hop in.
  • After Ross and Rachel break up and the gang feels awkward around them:
    (knock on the door)
    Chandler: Oh that’s great, with my luck, that’s gonna be him.
    Phoebe: Him? Him, Ross?
    Chandler: Nope, hymn 253, His Eyes Are On The Sparrow!
  • Asking if anyone knows a good tailor:
    Joey: You need some clothes altered?
    Chandler: No, no, I'm just looking for a man to draw on me with chalk.
  • Showing a picture of his summer camp girlfriend to Monica:
    Monica: Did you break up with her?
    Chandler: No, we're still together.
  • When his romantic partner is called away for work in the middle of a tryst:
    Joanna: What are you doing?
    Chandler: I'm getting dressed.
    Joanna: Why?
    Chandler: When I walk outside naked, people throw garbage at me.
  • A rare Ross example, when Susan lets him in to take back a skull Carol has borrowed from his museum:
    Susan: What's it look like?
    Ross: Kinda like a big face without skin.
  • And an even rarer Joey example:
    Joey: Pheebs? You think it would be okay if I asked out your sister?
    Phoebe: Why? Why would you wanna do that? Why?
    Joey: So that, if we went out on a date, she'd be there.
• Full House:
  • In "Knock Yourself Out", the doctor asks Uncle Jesse what's coming out after Jesse mentions Michelle's nose is running. Jesse chides him for this question.
    Jesse: What's coming out of it? Diet soda.
  • Averted in "Room For One More?", where Joey answers D.J.'s question with Sincerity Mode. He does carry out a tone of irritation, but it's only because of Kimmy.
    D.J.: [regarding Joey's pain] Oh, is it your back?
    Joey: Yes, and my hand. Kimmy's standing on it. Gibbler!
    Kimmy: [stepping back and away from Joey's hand] What a whiner.
• Gilmore Girls: Paris steps into a building soaking wet, and another student asks her if it's raining.
  Paris: No, it's National Baptism Day. Tie your tubes, idiot.
• The Golden Girls
  • Dorothy is made of this kind of sarcasm.
    Dorothy: Have you ever given a eulogy?
    Rose: You mean at a funeral?
    Dorothy: No, Rose, at a pie-eating contest!
  • Another:
    Dorothy: (referring to her and her boyfriend) We...experimented.
    Rose: With what?
    Dorothy: Sulfur dioxide, Rose.
  • In a Christmas Episode, to save money on gifts, Dorothy suggested they draw names out of a hat instead of everybody buying for everybody else. Rose didn't like the idea.
    Rose: If we drew names out of a hat, whose names would they be?
    Dorothy: The Oak Ridge Boys, Rose.
  • One memorable incident has Rose give it back.
    Dorothy: [seeing Rose coming out of her room with a bucket in each hand] Oh Rose. Is your roof leaking too?
    Rose: No Dorothy. I just finished milking the cow I keep in my closet. Gee with only three hours sleep I can be as bitchy as you!
  • Another Dorothy moment:
    Dorothy: It's dirty dancing, just like in that movie.
    Rose: What movie?
    Dorothy: Lawrence of Arabia, Rose.
    • As a bit of background, this particular example might seem more justified as time goes on and newer viewers are less likely to be familiar with the movie Dirty Dancing, but it was a household word at the time the joke was made.
  • Rose, God bless her, tries to subvert this at one point, but fails. Dorothy and Blanche return home, and Dorothy is carrying what is most obviously a pizza box.
    Blanche: We brought dinner!
    Rose: Oooh, what did you get?
    Dorothy: A bucket of chicken. I hope you like it extra flat and crispy.
    Blanche: It's a pizza Rose.
    Rose: I knew that! I meant what kind did you get?
    Blanche: Did you really, Rose?
    Rose: No...but I thought I could cover!
  • Once majorly lampshaded:
    Rose: Can I ask a dumb question?
    Dorothy: Better than anyone I know.
  • And once anticipated:
    Rose: You know what I think?
    Blanche: That reindeer really know how to fly?
• In Good Omens (2019), Aziraphale's attempt at small talk upon unexpectedly seeing Crowley falls flat:
  Aziraphale: Well, fancy running into you in here! Still a demon, then?
  Crowley: What kind of stupid question's that, still a demon? What else am I gonna be, an aardvark?
• House
  • The title character is of course a repeat offender:
    Cuddy: (Chase and Cameron are) sleeping together?
    House: If by "sleeping together" you mean "having sex in the janitor's closet".
    Cuddy: Here?
    House: No, the janitor's closet at the local high school. Go Tigercats!
  • And in "House Divided", when he comes into the O.R. wearing Cool Shades and holding a boombox playing "Fight the Power":
    Foreman: What are you doing?
    House: What does it look like I'm doing? I'm fighting the power.
  • In "Euphoria":
    House: There's a bullet in his head.
    Cameron: He was shot?!
    House: No, somebody threw it at him.
  • With House and Wilson this can become a form of Snark-to-Snark Combat, as seen in "Unfaithful":
  House: If she [Cuddy] invited you to a ceremonial lynching, would you go?
  Wilson: It would depend on what she was serving.
• House of Anubis: When Victor is padlocking the attic door, Trudy comes up and asks...
  Trudy: What are you doing?
  Victor: Baking a cake. What does it look like I'm doing?
• iCarly
  • In "iQuit iCarly", Spencer enters singing and dancing with joy:
    Spencer: I won the boat! I won the boat! I won the boooat!
    Carly: You won the boat?
    Spencer: No. Yes!
  • In iMoveOut, the gang wants revenge on the business rivals that destroyed their studio.
    Sam: They hit us? Then we hit them back, harder! That's the Seattle way.
    Freddie: So we should trash their studio?
    Sam: No, Freddie, we should rub ourselves with mustard and sing show tunes.
  • And also this:
    Carly: iCarly.
    Freddie: Our webshow?
    Sam: No, our potato farm!
  • And this:
    Carly: What's the temperature in here?
    Spencer: Seventy-two!
    Carly: Turn the heat up to ninety!
    Spencer: Ninety degrees?
    Sam: No, ninety pickles! Yes ninety degrees!
  • And this:
    Carly: What is up?
    Sam: Nevel.
    Spencer: Papperman?
    Sam: No, Nevel Van Hooder Schmoozin.
• In The Jack Benny Program, Jack can't get a busy receptionist to talk to him, so he calls her from one of the other phones on her desk. She says Mr. Lewis isn't available, but she can have him call Jack back...
  Receptionist: Are you at home, or are in you in Palm Springs?
  Jack: I'm in Stockholm! Smorgasbord, 8321!
• A category on Jeopardy! is "Stupid Answers". The correct response appears, unaltered, in the clue itself — although that does not mean it is always obvious. For example:
  Clue: In 1985 Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" premiered on Broadway at this theater.
  Correct Response: What is the Neil Simon Theater?
• In Last Tango in Halifax, when Celia confronts her daughter Caroline about her relationship with a woman:
  Caroline: I'd like you, both of you, to meet... Kate.
  Celia: Is that her name?
  Caroline: No, she's called Zanzibar Buck Buck McFate. I just call her Kate for short, it's easier.
  • Subverted moments later:
  Caroline: She's called Kate McKenzie. She's nice, she's kind, she's thoughtful, she's-
  Celia: Is she Scottish?
  Caroline: No, she's Nigerian. (Beat) No, I mean she is Nigerian, that wasn't me being sarcastic.
• Invoked by serial killer Greg Yates in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; the sarcastic answer in this case is actually the correct answer, but the killer knows the person he's talking to will read it as this trope since it's so ridiculous.
  Trucker: There's something moving around in the back.
  Yates: Oh, good, she's still alive. Don't you just hate it when you kidnap a girl, and she won't stop kicking the back of your seat? (Beat, laughs) It's my dog, man.
• Mimpi Metropolitan: In episode 41, Alan is told that the nurse that he saw last night is not a suster ngesot ghost. He asks the now-obviously-human nurse what she is then. "Kunti" is the answer that he get.
• The Mole: In Celebrity Mole: Yucatan, one of the games had the players answer a series of questions taken from elementary school textbooks. At one point, the host, Ahmad Rashad, had this exchange with Dennis Rodman:
  Rashad: On what continent would you find the South Pole?
  Rodman: We have to name it?
  Rashad: (sarcastically) No, you just have to think it and I'll read your mind!
• The Muppet Show: In the unaired version of the pilot, we get this exchange between Kermit and Fozzie.
  Kermit: (into the intercom) Muppet Players on stage, please! Muppet Players on stage!
  Fozzie: Oh! Oh, oh, oh! Am I... Am I a Muppet Player?
  Kermit: Uh, no, you're a Radio City Rockette.
  Fozzie: Oh...
  Kermit: OF COURSE YOU'RE A MUPPET PLAYER!
• Mystery Science Theater 3000:
  • From "The Magic Sword":
    Lodac: I am Lodac!
    Sir Branton: The sorcerer?
    Joel: No, the pre-merchant tank mixer! Of course he's a sorcerer!
  • From "The Day The Earth Froze":
    Louhi: Annikki. So she's Ilmarinen's sister.
    Crow: No way, I thought she was Jody Koslak's brother!
• NCIS: None of the photographs were picked up by Abby's facial recognition software.
  McGee: You ran all the faces?
  Abby: No. Halfway through, I was just like "screw this!" and I quit.
• Night Court: During a black-out in which several pregnant women have gone into labor, Judge Harry Stone gives directions to everyone else to deal with the crisis.
  Harry: Any questions?
  Random bum: Why is the sky blue?
  Harry: Because if it was green, we wouldn't know when to stop mowing!
  • In the episode "Walk Away, Renee", Bull falls for Renee who turns out to be a prostitute. At the end of the episode, Renee breaks down completely as she's moved by Bull's kindness to her even after he learned the truth.
    Harry: Is she okay, Bull? [Bull gives Harry a Death Glare] I've been meaning to get that brainscan.
• On Nip/Tuck, as Dr. Christian Troy asks an extremely large-breasted woman the standard question the doctors ask their potential patients:
  Troy: Tell me what you don't like about yourself.
  Woman: [deadpans] My nose.
  [she and Troy both crack up at this]
  Woman: Ask a Stupid Question..., doctor, Get a Stupid Answer. ^note  For added bonus, the entire conversation takes place in SPANISH (with subtitles)
• Our Miss Brooks: Miss Brooks sometimes resorts to this trope.
• Paper Girls: When the girls ask how Future!Erin found them, she scoffs, "this is Stoney Stream, not Manhattan."
• Red Dwarf:
  • From the very first episode:
    Rimmer: Lister, is that a cigarette you're smoking?
    Lister: No, it's a chicken.
  • In Series 8 Lister and Rimmer get thrown into lockup where they meet a mad old prisoner clutching his pet sparrow.
    Prisoner: They call me...Birdman.
    Lister: Oh. (Beat) Why's that?
    Rimmer: Because he really likes instant custard, why d'you think?!
• This was one of the reason why pit reporter Jayne Middlemiss was considered a Replacement Scrappy to Philippa Forrester in Series 7 of Robot Wars, as she had a bad habit of going up to teams standing next to a robot with a huge flipping ramp, fierce-looking flywheel, or other incredibly-obvious weapon mounted on it and asking them "So what does it do?" Fortunately for her, the contestants were too polite to answer with something like "Mows the lawn, takes care of the children and makes julienne fries".
• Sanford and Son. Lamont is setting up an airline ticket purchase.
  Fred: Are we going on an airplane?
  Lamont: No, on a frisbee!
• Sherlock:
  • In "A Study in Pink", after the police find a dead woman who has scratched "RACHE" into the floorboards with her fingernails:
    Lestrade: So she was writing 'Rachel'?
    Sherlock: No, she was writing an angry note in GERMAN! Of COURSE she was writing 'Rachel'!
  • To those who've read the original Sherlock Holmes story upon which this episode is based (A Study in Scarlet), this is a hilariously subversive application of the trope: the police believe they have to look for a "Rachel", before Holmes points out that "Rache" is German for "Revenge", which is the major plot point.
• Star Trek
  • In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Arsenal of Freedom", a hologram of the late Captain Rice blows its cover with a stupid question, which Riker responds to appropriately:
    "Rice": Tell me about your ship, Riker. It's the Enterprise, isn't it?
    Riker: No... the name of my ship is the... Lollipop.
    • Inverted, however, as Riker realises he's not the real Rice, and doesn't want to give away information that would compromise the Enterprise.
  • In the otherwise serious Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Duet", Kira is interrogating a Cardassian who claims to have been employed at an infamous prison camp as a filing clerk.
    Kira: You know I never heard of a filing clerk becoming an instructor at a military academy.
    Marritza: Until now.
    Kira: What did you teach?
    Marritza: Believe it or not, filing.
  • Averted in the Star Trek: Picard episode "The Bounty", when Riker in particular is taken aback at Worf's new habit of meditating.
    Worf: The most advantageous battle stance is being one within oneself.
    Riker: Seriously?
    Worf: I just said it.
• Teen Wolf: When Scott and Stiles try to tell Jackson that Lydia might be turning into a werewolf, his response warrants this reaction from Stiles.
  Jackson: Turning?
  Scott: Yeah, turning.
  Jackson: Into?
  Stiles: A unicorn. What do you think, dumbass?
• That '70s Show: When Eric tells the guys about his plan to propose to Donna, they make him wear the helmet that they make each other wear whenever one of them (almost always Kelso) demonstrates that they're Too Dumb to Live.
  Eric: Why do I have to wear the Stupid-Helmet?
  Hyde: Because you're stupid!
• In season 14, episode 5 of Top Gear, the presenters are tasked with creating motorhomes from ordinary cars. Jeremy's presentation for this challenge was a car with a two-story tower block built on the back. The three of them go camping out in a windy field, and predictably, Jeremy's tower block car is knocked over. Then this exchange happens the next morning:
  James: Oh, god. Is that just the wind that did that?
  Jeremy: No, a big giant came.
• This happens a few times in Two and a Half Men. Once in "Hey, I Can Pee Outside In The Dark":
  Judith: I think he needs to see someone.
  Alan: What, you mean a shrink?
  Judith: No, Alan, I mean like a blacksmith.
  • Another in "Above Exalted Cyclops":
    Charlie: Explain it to me, Alan. Help me understand.
    Alan: You mean Rose?
    Charlie: No, I mean the internal combustion engine- yes, Rose!
  • And a third in "For The Sake of the Child":
    Alan: (talking about Chelsea's father) So he had a bad hip?
    Charlie: No, Alan, he has a bad tooth, but he went to the wrong doctor.
    Alan: You don't have to be snide.
    Charlie: You don't have to ask dumbass questions!
    Jake: He didn't ask me anything.
• Victorious: In "Wi-Fi In the Sky", while Tori is talking to Sinjin over webcam:
  Sinjin: Are you on a plane?
  Tori: Yeah, I'm on a plane.
  Sinjin: And they have Wi-Fi?
  Tori: No, Sinjin. I have the world's longest internet cable hanging out the window.
• Wellington Paranormal: Only slightly averted. While stopped in the McDonald's drive-through O'Leary asks the girl at the window which way the zombie cops' car went.
  Drive-through girl: That way. -points towards the exit- This is a drive-through.
• The West Wing
  • Repeatedly on , mainly by C.J. in response to moronic press questions, but everyone else as well:
    Mandy: Who was the last president to commute a [death] sentence?
    Josh: Lincoln.
    Mandy: (surprised) Abraham?
    Josh: No, Burt Lincoln.
  • In the above case, it's played with; Mandy immediately defends herself by pointing out that she was clearly just reacting in surprise at how long it had been since such an event had occurred, not genuinely asking for clarification as to the name of the president, and Josh's snideness was unnecessary.
  • And another:
    C.J.: There's an article I want you to read in The New Yorker.
    Josh: What's it about?
    C.J.: Smallpox.
    Josh: The disease?
    C.J.: No, the dessert topping, Josh. Yes, the disease!
  • And another one from "The Portland Trip":
    Ainsley: I cannot turn the heat down.
    Donna: Have you tried?
    Ainsley: No, I just looked at the thermostat and got discouraged!
  • Played for drama in "Noel"; at one point, an American military pilot has experienced a nervous breakdown and gone rogue, flying his plane across the Sierra Madre and not responding to orders to land. President Bartlet asks whether there's a way to bring the plane down without shooting it down, but freely and openly admits that he knows it's a silly question and the answer's almost certainly "no"; he's just asking anyway because he clearly doesn't relish the thought of having to order that an American pilot be shot down by other American pilots and wants to make absolutely certain that there's no other way if the situation comes to it.
  • Subverted when the administration is preparing for military action in Kazahkstan. During a discussion of logistics, the President asks "what will they wear?" Everyone looks a bit incredulous and the Secretary of Defense replies "I think green and brown are still the favorites." Bartlet then points out that they'll be invading a brutally cold country in November, and the American military hasn't fought in a cold environment in a long while, so it's valid to ask how prepared they are for the weather. It's pretty clear that the commanders hadn't really considered this.
• The Wire: Herc, a cop, is annoyed by the fashions of the local street kids and mockingly asks one where he can get one of those cool hats with the sideways brims. Oblivious to the irony of the question, the kid patiently explains that it's a regular hat simply turned sideways. The flummoxed Herc has no response.
• Woops: In one episode, the group harvests some squash that has been mutated by radiation.
  Alice: Does anybody know how long it takes mutant squash to ripen?
  Fred: (deadpan) Three days. (looks at other characters and rolls his eyes.)
• In the comedy panel show Would I Lie to You?, Armando Ianucci's story was that, "I once had to abandon my car in a safari park after a baboon climbed in through the sunroof, lay down on the back seat and went to sleep." Regular David Mitchell followed suit with a obvious question.
  David: Right, where in the safari park was the car?
  Rob: (sarcastically) In the lion enclosure.
  • During the ensuing shouting match with Rob (the host), David maintained that the question wasn't stupid, since the baboon may have escaped.
  • Played with by many contestants, but particularly regular Lee Mack. Often, Lee will treat a question that is actually perfectly reasonable as if it were a stupid one, partly for the purposes of humour but also as a deflection tactic to try and avoid having to answer the question if it's a tricky one.

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