House Amnesia

Father: Get out of my house!
Son: But this is my house, father.
Father: Then get out of your house!

— Traditional joke

A character angrily orders someone to leave the house, only to be reminded that the house they're in belongs to the other person. Alternately, a character announces that they are leaving, and either before reaching the door or (more often) after leaving and coming back through the door says something to the effect of, "Wait a minute. This is my house." (Sometimes followed up by some variation on "You guys get out!")

Compare The Exit Is That Way. For broader examples of evictions, see Forced from Their Home.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Azumanga Daioh, construction noise drives Yukari to Minamo's house. Once there, she immediately commandeers the bed and discovers an oddly-shaped fancy pillow. Upon learning that it cost 10000 yen:
  Yukari: You damn bourgeois! Get Out!!
  Minamo: And go where?

Comedy

• Jeff Foxworthy warns against doing this during an argument with your spouse, especially if you're not carrying your keys.
  Foxworthy: They did a study — 85% of all homeless people are people who got pissed and walked out without their keys. You can't get back in. And if you're the one who walked out, you will be the one apologizing. [knocks] "I'm an asshole. Unlock the door." [knocks] "It's raining. Come on."

Comic Books

• Archie Comics: Archie and Moose are arguing after a card game. Moose picks Archie up, throws him out, and slams the door. Archie furiously pounds at the door.
  Archie: Moose, you can't throw me out!
  Moose: Duh, give me one good reason why I can't!
  Archie: Because this is my house!
  Moose: (walking down the street, baffled) Duh, that is a good reason!
• Hawkeye: A light-hearted example in Hawkeye (2012), as Clint's argument over the best Bruce in rock music gets him kicked out by his teenage protege. Kicked out of his own apartment. In the building he owns.
• The Punisher: In one issue Frank is investigating a pair of cops and meets with his police contact Soap. Soap tells him in no uncertain terms that while he'll help him take down criminals if he does anything to harm either cop he will do everything he can to bring Frank down. Soap tries to dramatically leave, but Frank calmly reminds him that they're meeting in his car.

Comic Strips

• The Lockhorns: One panel featured Leroy and Loretta walking outside, with Loretta saying, “This is the first time we've been thrown out of a party at our own house.”
• Peanuts:
  • Violet throws Charlie Brown out of the house, tossing his coat and hat out afterward, telling him she doesn't want him there anymore. He starts to leave, then develops a look of dawning comprehension, goes back to the door, and rings the doorbell. When she answers the door and snottily asks him what he wants, he says, "This is MY house!"
  • After Lucy breaks off her (non-existent and imaginary) relationship with Schroeder, she goes to his house and knocks on the door just to ask him why he won't stop hanging around her house.
    Lucy: It's amazing how stupid you can be when you're in love.
  • The same storyline had this variation:
    Lucy: Now that you and I are through, Schroeder, I'm returning all the gifts I was going to give you.
    Schroeder: ... Thank you?
    Lucy: That didn't even make sense!
  • A very early strip has a variant where Charlie Brown tries to prevent Snoopy from following him home until Patty ^note The original, not Peppermint Patty points out that Snoopy also lives that way. (Yes, he didn't own Snoopy very early in the strip.)

Films — Animation

• A variant in Lilo & Stitch:
  Nani: GO TO YOUR ROOOOOM!
  Lilo: I'M ALREADY IN MY ROOM!
• In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Puss throws a wild party and encounters the Governor, with him inviting the Governor to join the fun as "Mi casa es su casa". Unfortunately, Puss seemed to have forgotten he was having the party in the Governor's mansion, leading the frustrated man to yell "No, su casa es mi casa!".

Films — Live-Action

• In Adam's Rib, two arguing characters wind up in each other's apartment by mistake.
• In K-9, James Belushi tries to throw his girlfriend out of her own house.
• Keeping the Faith:
  Anna: Well, you're gonna regret it even more when you realize that I'm walking out this door and I'm never coming back!
  [she storms out; a moment's pause later, she storms back in]
  Anna: This is my house. You get out.
• Happens in Look Who's Talking, when James and Molly are having an argument:
  James: "...NOW, GET OUT!"
  Molly: "I LIVE HERE!"
  James: "I KNOW THAT!!" *stammers, leaves*
• A variation at the end of Roxanne. When CD and Roxanne are having a big argument after she discovers he's the one who wrote the love letters, they end up on her porch:
  Roxanne: Get out! Just get out!
  CD: Wait a second, I am out! You get in!
• This happens in Salaam E Ishq. Young man and his fiancée are having a fight, as he didn't show up to the engagement party (commitment-phobic) and she's come by to return all of his gifts. He ends up storming out of the house in fury, and a moment later knocks on the door, as she looks on, knowing he'll have to come right back.
  "Um, sorry, this is my house."
• A much more serious example: In Sling Blade, Doyle, being his usual mean self, is even more so when drunk. He orders his band, Karl, and Vaughan out of his girlfriend's house, and there is no humor in this interchange:
  Vaughan Cunningham: It's not your house, Doyle, it's Linda's.
  Doyle: I'll whip the dog shit out of you, Vaughan. I will fucking kill you if you talk to me again!
• In The Tender Trap, Julie storms out after an argument with Charlie before remembering it was her apartment, walking back in and telling him to Get Out!.
• In Titanic: Rose tells Jack that she is leaving, and then turns back and says "I don't have to leave! This is my part of the ship. You leave!"
• In Transylvania 6-5000, Jack and Gil have an argument in Jack's hotel room. Jack announces that he is going out to keep an appointment and tells Gil to get some sleep. Gil lies down on the bed to do so, and as Jack is going through the door he realises what is going on and adds "And get out of my room!".

Literature

• In Bleak House, Mr. Guppy's mother does this to Esther and Mr. Jarndyce, forgetting that she and her son are visiting them in their own home.

Live-Action TV

• Sort of used in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy and Spike are arguing. Buffy doesn't forget it's her house, but when Spike refuses to leave she angrily says she will. Then it turns out neither can leave because of a vengeance demon's curse.
• Bunk'd: Summer Camp version happens in one episode when Gwen is angry with Matteo and, after talking in Grizzly Cabin, Gwen tells Matteo to leave. Matteo turns to leave but then tells her that Grizzly is his cabin. Gwen then gets into her scary mode and yells at him, making him run out.
• The Checkout: The "Opportunity Knocking" segment in Series 5, Ep. 12 deals with multi-level marketing schemes. At the end of the segment, after how these schemes really work has been explained, everyone gets up and leaves the product party, including the hostess:
  Guest: But this is your house!
  Hostess: You keep it!
• In an episode of Family Matters, Eddie dates the daughter of the owner of a chain of restaurants, a franchise of which he happens to work with. When he finds out, in Eddie's house, he immediately fires Eddie and then has an argument with his daughter about her dating habits. Eddie tries to interject.
  Owner: You're fired! What are you still doing here?!
  Eddie: This is my house. I live here.
  Owner: Oh. Right.
• In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Philip decides to run for judge against Carl Robertson, his former mentor, as he had become corrupt and senile in his old age. When Robertson comes over to the Banks' house to seek Philip's help because he found out someone is running against him. Philip tells him again that he is the one running against him. Judge Robertson then angrily demands that Philip get out of his house, despite them being in Philip's house, followed by stomping upstairs. To top it all off, as Robertson is played by Sherman Hemsley, he drops an Actor Allusion as he does so.
  Judge Robertson: LIONEL, SHOW HIM THE DOOR!
• Friends:
  • This happens during one of Ross and Rachel's (many) arguments.
    Ross: What are you doing?
    Rachel: I'm storming out.
    Ross: Rach, this is your apartment.
    Rachel: Yeah, well, that's how mad I am!
  • In "The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant", the gang is fighting over an expensive concert, so Ross, Chandler, and Monica decide to go without the rest of the group, and promptly leave the apartment... only for Monica to come back, noting that the concert isn't for another six hours.
  • In one episode, during which Phoebe is staying at Ross's, Ross comes home to find her giving a man a massage in his living room. When Ross complains about it, Phones chides him for barging in and being rude while she's with a client, forgetting that it's Ross's apartment.
  • In "The One with the Tea Leaves", Rachel asks Chandler to leave the room so she and Joey can talk in private even though they're in Chandler and Monica's apartment at the time.
    Chandler: I'm sorry, you're kicking me out of my own living room?
    Rachel: Yeah.
    Chandler: I'll be in there. [heads to his bedroom]
• On Gilmore Girls, Rory is annoyed that every time she bumps into her ex-boyfriend who's in town, she's the one who hurried off awkwardly. After all, she announces, this is her town. The next time she bumps into said ex?
  Rory: I'm leaving first!
• Grey's Anatomy: Meredith's house is very important to the series, and to her, since she's been living in it for over 30 years. Even after she sells it to Alex, she still turns up in the middle of the night and orders his girlfriend out of bed so she can talk something through with him.
  Alex: You can't break into my house and wake me up to talk, and then tell me to shut up!
• In the House episode "House Divided", Dr. Wilson leaves the wild bachelor party that House is throwing for Dr. Chase and attempts to walk home. He's too drunk to remember that the party is being held at his home.
• iCarly: When Carly and Sam have an argument over a boy in Carly's apartment, Carly gets fed up and walks out ... only to return and kick Sam out instead.
• Married... with Children: A three-part episode featured the Bundys (minus Buck) going to England. There, Al gets in a fight with a man named Igor, and Kelly was heard telling Igor to get back to England.
• An episode of M*A*S*H featured a variant of this involving Henry's office. After a heated conversation, Henry stormed angrily out of his office - leaving Hawkeye and Trapper there by themselves - before coming back in and saying, "What am I doing? This is my office! You guys get out!"
• Mimpi Metropolitan: In episode 61, Bambang tells Alexi and Juna, then Alan, then himself to get out of the dorm when he is out of things to say against Alexi and Juna suggesting he and Melani should break up, even though they all live there.
• Happened in episode of Monk. An actor hired to play Monk in a movie lost his mind and became convinced that he was Monk, leading to a scene where he asked Monk to leave, despite the fact that it was Monk's house. Monk complied.
• In one episode of The Munsters, when Herman accidentally ruins the present he and Grandpa made for Eddie's birthday, Grandpa gets so mad at him that he orders him to leave the house. Herman takes offense, saying that he was the one who always paid the bills, but Grandpa reminds him that when Herman first bought the house, Grandpa was the one who put down the down payment, so he owned half the house. This resulted in a This Is My Side plot as Herman gave Grandpa exactly what he wanted.
• In one episode of NCIS, Abby, when visiting Ducky's lab, at one point tells Ducky and Gibbs to get out of her lab so she can process evidence, only to realize three seconds late that she's not in her lab.
  Abby: All right, I need you all to get out so I can get to work. Major Mass Spectrometer is gonna throw a fit... This isn't my lab... I'll go now.
• The first Christmas special of One Foot in the Grave features a scene in which Victor accidentally locks himself out of the house at the same time that Margret lets the neighbor's father-in-law, a vicar, in through the back door. The vicar picks up one of Victor's magazines and then answers the door when Victor tries to get back inside. As a result of past experiences, Victor assumes that the vicar is trying to sell him the magazine and gives him some money for it before pushing the vicar back inside and locking himself out of the house again. It takes a few seconds for him to realize what he has done and that he should have been the one on the inside.
• Seinfeld dances around this with Kramer angrily declaring, "Well, I think one of us should leave!" to Jerry while he's at Jerry's apartment. The two then stare at each other for a moment of uncomfortable silence before the scene cuts away.
  • While George and Mike Moffit are having a drawn out argument over a curbside parking space outside of Jerry's apartment with Jerry being upset at Mike Moffit when Kramer tells him that he called Jerry a phony.
    George: I'm not going if he's going.
    Mike: Well I'm going.
    Jerry: Well if he's going then I'm not going.
    Newman: But it's your house.
    Jerry: I still don't have to go.
• Star Trek: Enterprise. Trip and T'Pol discover they're Mindlink Mates when they suddenly appear in each other's daydream, despite being on different starships. T'Pol curtly asks Trip to go away. Trip responds, "This is my daydream. You go away."
• Frequently played with on Stella, so much so that an entire episode is devoted to this single joke.
• Used in an episode of That '70s Show, when Red is talking to Leo, who has come over to the Foremans' house to explain Hyde's situation. When they finish talking, Leo lays out on the couch and tells Red to get out. Needless to say, Red didn't react kindly.
• Ted Lasso: After Nate begins acting like a Jerkass and openly insults Colin in front of the other players at training, Coach Beard confronts Nate in his office and tells him to apologize to Colin and do better. Nate agrees and leaves the room, only to immediately remember they were in his office. He walks back in and is shocked to find Beard has vanished.
• In the Top Gear Botswana special, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond try to prank James May by leaving a cow's head in his tent, hoping it'll attract the wildlife. They then get pinned in said tent as a hippo waits outside. As they wonder if it's better to take a chance with the hippo or stay in the tent with the head, Richard Hammond realises, they're actually stuck with the cow's head in his tent.
• Happened a couple of times on The West Wing (with offices rather than houses, because of the workaholic cast of characters).

Visual Novels

• A scene in Katawa Shoujo has Rin get angry at Hisao and tell him to Get Out!...but Hisao points out they're in his dorm room, so she storms off. A different path has a similar argument occur in Rin's studio, so that excuse doesn't apply and Hisao leaves instead. Neither scene is Played for Laughs (the latter is her Bad End).

Web Animation

• In the 82nd episode of Bonus Stage, Joel and Phil get in a heated fight, ending with Joel demanding that Phil get out of his house. Cut to the door slamming in Joel's face and Joel remembering that Phil owns the house. "Oh, right."
• Homestar Runner: In the Strong Bad Email "flashback", Homestar wonders if Strong Bad's house is his own. Strong Bad says that if he did live there, he'd have "fewer non-broken bones, and more crushed spirits".
• Inverted in an episode of I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC; rather than leaving his own house in an argument...
  Batman: What are you doing?
  Iron Man: Oh, like you care. I'm drowning my sorrows in alcohol. What does it look like I'm doing?
  Batman: No, I mean what are you doing in my house?

Web Comics

• The Best Gamepiece Photocomic features a parody Omniscient Council of Vagueness staying in Martin and Val's apartment (for some reason) who at one point make enough noise that Martin can't sleep. When he tries to get them to reschedule their meeting, they get unreasonably enraged and (after he unintentionally talks them down from trying to kill him) try to kick him out of his own apartment.
• An after-the-fact example in Questionable Content: After Meena and Dave broke up, neither moved out of their apartment. Meena tells her new date Steve that this was Dave's responsibility, even though she had moved in with him.
  Dave: Wait, why was I supposed to move out? This is my apartment!
  Meena: If one of us was going to move out, it'd have to be you. It's not right to leave a girl homeless on such short notice.
• Sluggy Freelance: Riff literally kicks Torg out for close-enough-to-dating his ex-girlfriend later that night. Of course, Riff was briefly afflicted with Apartment Amnesia...

Web Original

• One Not Always Right story has a variation: a woman tries to tell her partner that he's Exiled to the Couch, but they don't actually live together.

Web Videos

• In one of several Establishing Character Moments in the first episode of Gayle, a book club discussion gets personal when Gayle's rival brings up the time she faked her own death to have an Edible Arrangement sent to her house.
  Gayle: ...You watch your mouth in my house, Bonnie.
  Linda: ...Uh, it's Bonnie's house, Gayle.
• In The Review Must Go On, Doug Walker attempts to throw off The Nostalgia Critic's constant interference by clicking to different websites. He gets to a review by Todd in the Shadows in which the Nostalgia Critic crashes and this exchange occurs.
  Todd: What the hell are you doing in my video?
  Nostalgia Critic: Oh piss off, Alfred Hitchcock!
  Todd: Get the hell out!
  Nostalgia Critic: You get the hell out!
  Todd: I live here.
  Nostalgia Critic: You know what, bite me, Hamburglar! [gets cut off by Doug clicking off the video]

Western Animation

• Played for Laughs like everything else in Animaniacs.
  Yakko: If you don't want any cookies, then just leave.
  Albert Einstein: I'm not going to leave. This is my house.
  Yakko: All right then, you leave.
  Albert Einstein: Fine!
• Bob's Burgers: In "The Silence of the Louise", Louise visits the house of her Stalker without a Crush Millie Frock, and is disturbed to find Millie's bedroom is an almost-exact replica of her own. Louise snaps at Millie to "get out of my room!", only for Millie to gleefully remind her that they're not in Louise's room.
• A variation occurs in the Danny Phantom episode "The Ultimate Enemy": Jazz is attempting to help Danny study for a major test, but he's frustrated by the whole thing. When his Ghost Sense is subsequently triggered, he plays up his anger and yells for her to "get out of my room!" so he can discretely take care of the ghost. Jazz points out that they're in the kitchen, but upon spotting the ghost behind him and knowing that Danny doesn't want her aware of his powers, decides to play along and pretends that she's annoyed by his attitude, leaving while saying she doesn't want to see him or anything he does in the next several minutes.
• An inversion with DuckTales (2017): Scrooge McDuck had Castle McDuck rebuilt for his parents to move into after he moved to Duckburg, so when his father tells him to go to his room, he replies with a baffled "I never lived here!"
• Variant in Futurama where the Grand Midwife says, "I will now take my leave. I live here, so I won't actually be going anywhere, but you don't have to talk to me anymore." She then stands completely stock still for the rest of the scene, without moving or interacting with the others.
• Goof Troop:
  • In the second part of the pilot, Goofy and Pete have an argument during a party. Goofy then tells Max they're leaving, only to remember that the party was at their house, and instead kicks Pete and his family out.
  • Near the end of the Christmas Episode, when everyone is taking shelter in a cave during a snowstorm, they encounter the bear they've been running into throughout the whole episode. Fed up, Peg tells the bear to go back where it came from, only for P.J to meekly tell her that they're in his cave.
• A variation from Harvey Beaks: trying to distract a shopkeeper, Harvey asks, "Do you come here often?" The shopkeeper replies that it's his shop.
• King of the Hill: In "The Perils Of Polling", Luanne was singing a protest song and putting a Communist party sign in her yard when Dale told her to go home. She responds "okay" and simply entered the house.
• Inversion in The Looney Tunes Show:
  Walter: Go to Your Room!
  Lola: I don't even live here anymore.
  Walter: Well, go to your old room that your mother turned into a scrapbooking room!
• From The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "Sweet 'N Sour", the girls are being ostracized for targeting a trio of very cute animal criminals.
  Man: Go home, Powerpuff Girls!
  Bubbles: We are home, doodoo brain!
• The Simpsons:
  • Subverted in "The Cartridge Family", when Homer is kicked out of the NRA for Reckless Gun Usage at a meeting he's hosting in his house and he ends up sitting on the curb outside for the next four hours.
  • In "Lisa Gets An 'A'", after Ralph Wiggum delivers Lisa's homework when she's sick, he asks if this is his house.
  • During "In Marge We Trust", after learning why Homer's face is on a box of dish detergent from Japan:
    Homer: Well, it was a good ride while it lasted. C'mon, kids. Let's go home.
    Bart: We are home.
    Homer: That was fast.
  • And from the same episode, when the family plus Reverend Lovejoy go to a gas station to try to find information on the missing Ned Flanders:
    Homer: Thanks for swinging by the house, Reverend.
  • The episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home" had a variation on this trope. Homer believes (rightly) that the family is embarrassingly dysfunctional, and Marge believes they're no worse than any other family. To settle the argument, Homer takes the family to go spy on the neighbors. After nearly getting killed by a man with a shotgun, they peek into yet another house.
    Bart: Whoa, look at this place. What a dump.
    Homer: That's what you think. I just trampled this poor sap's flower bed.
    Marge: Homer, this is OUR house.
    Homer: D'oh!
  • In "Weekend At Burnsie's", when Homer is stoned from his medicinal marijuana: "WE HAVE A KITCHEN?!"
  • Another variation had Moe telling Lisa to go home in "Lisa The Skeptic".
    Moe: Go home, science girl!
    Lisa: I am home.
    Moe: Good, stay there.
  • Slight variation with Grampa in "Itchy And Scratchy: The Movie", after an incident with Bart broke his false teeth:
    Grampa: [Mumbles incoherently while trying to straighten out his teeth]
    Homer: If you don't start making sense we're gonna put you in a home.
    Grampa: [finally gets teeth straight] You already put me in a home!
    Homer: Then we'll put you in the crooked home we saw on 60 Minutes!
    Grampa: [contrite] I'll be good.
  • In "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" in the Simpson home:
    Grampa: My roof, my rules!
    Homer: Oh, why did I borrow that roof from him?
  • Another variation in "Helter Shelter" when termites infest the house, causing Homer, on the toilet, to fall through the ceiling into the kitchen.
    Homer: (seeing Marge and Bart) Hey!! Get out, I'm in here! (beat) Oh.
  • "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" features a unique variation of "Personality Amnesia". Homer begged Fat Tony for help saving Marge's floundering pretzel business, and when Tony comes to collect on the debt, Homer acts shocked and outraged that the Mafia only helped him because they expected something in return ("Oh, Fat Tony! I will say good day to you, sir!"). This actually succeeds in shaming the Mafioso into leaving, but the "Hey, wait a minute!" realization hits a few moments after the door closes.
• The second variety was used in an episode of The Weekenders after Tino's friends came to his house to show him a slideshow of his faults.
• In the Sonic Boom episode "Buster", Sticks refuses to get rid of her new robot dog Buster, so her friends are ready to walk out on her, only for Tails to stop himself and say, "Wait ... this is my house."
• In the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Hungry Larry", Mr. Diaz asks Janna and Star to go home, while Marco reminds him that Star lives with them.
• Lord Hater achieves this IN SPACE! in Wander over Yonder after reformed villain Major Threat boards the Skullship and proceeds to kill him with kindness:
  Hater: FINE! You can't keep us prisoner! We're leaving! Come on, Peepers!
  Peepers: Sir, he never actually took us prisoner. Also, technically, this is our ship.
  Hater: (knocking him down) Shut up! I know that!
• Perhaps the strangest example of all from The X's when the family get into an argument with the house's A.I. computer:
  Mr. X: Get out of our house.
  Home Base: I am your house!

---