Pair the Dumb Ones

You are a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of being stupid together.

— What Your Favorite Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Ship Says About You, on Josuke and Okuyasu from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

If a show features two dumb or ditzy characters, there are high chances they will be paired together in a romantic relationship, often for comedic reasons or because Strange Minds Think Alike.

Sometimes it happens because the token dumb character needs a love interest, so why not introduce a possible love interest who is just as dumb or even dumber than them? Very often, the two token idiots are minor characters who are just there to form a funny Beta Couple. Sometimes it may happen that they break up very soon because they are Too Much Alike.

Sub-Trope of Birds of a Feather. The obvious inversion is Pair the Smart Ones.

Examples:

Comic Books

• Kayko & Kokosh: When Oferma meets Zaćmica, she is so surprised that someone "more stupid than she" can exist that she falls madly in love with him. Zaćmica spends the rest of the story flirting with Oferma who never seems to grasp her intentions but remains nice to her, while she overinterprets random things as romantic gestures and is satisfy with their relationship. Given that both characters play roles of Minion with an F in Evil and are manchildren, they actually have a lot in common, and in their own quirky way, their "chemistry" comes off as cute, charming, and oddly believable.

Disney

• Clarabelle Cow is a secondary Disney protagonist who began in the Classic Disney Shorts and from there moved on to various animated movies, series, games, and the Mickey Mouse Comic Universe. She's portrayed as a ditzy, clumsy, gossip-loving bumbler with something of an exaggerated sense of her own intelligence. She's also been portrayed with two potential boyfriends, both of them qualifying for this trope!
  • Clarabelle's classic boyfriend is the even more minor Horace Horsecollar, a strong but dimwitted Know-Nothing Know-It-All Attention Whore with a massive ego. He debuted alongside her in the Classic Disney Shorts and their relationship became firmly established in the Mickey Mouse Comic Universe, which even saw them get engaged in one story (although that was quickly forgotten). Although Clarabelle/Goofy became increasingly popular after the 2000s, Clarabelle/Horace remains prominent, and if Horace shows up in anything, he'll usually be presented as Clarabelle's boyfriend.
  • Clarabelly's alternative boyfriend is Goofy, who... well, he's Goofy; no elaboration required. The idea of Clara and Goofy as a couple first appeared in the classic short "The Band Concert", where the two of them flirt, and would be brought up in some comics in the late 1960s. But it was in the 2000s, when Clara finally returned to screen, that the two would be paired up romantically, starting with the animated film Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, where Goofy would fall in love with her and seduce her... as she's trying to tie him to an anchor and throw him in the sea. She becomes Goofy's lover at the end of the classic Goofy short "How To Be A Spy", and is portrayed as his girlfriend in the series "House of Mouse", "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures".

Films — Live-Action

• In Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, The Ditz Brick gets paired with Chani, a Ditzy Secretary whom he meets at GNN. They even get married in the film's end.
• The Godfather: In Part II, dimwitted Fredo is married to Hollywood actress Deanna, a slutty Dumb Blonde who is completely ignorant of wedding traditions and etiquette.

Literature

• Matilda: Matilda's parents are both ignorant and shallow people who take pride in their Anti-Intellectualism, to the point that they hate their smart daughter because she loves reading books.
• Confessions of Georgia Nicolson: While almost all the characters from this series are stupid or extremely weird, the two biggest Cloudcuckoolanders are Rosie and her Funny Foreigner boyfriend Sven.
• A Shipper on Deck variant occurs in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Cimorene starts by sending the dim-witted Prince Therandil to rescue the air-headed Princess Keredwel, and then goes on to pair other knights and princes with captive princesses, mostly to keep said knights and princes from trying to rescue her.

Live-Action TV

• On The Amanda Show, recurring sketch "The Girls' Room" featured Debbie, whose dimwitted actions include buying hammers instead of candy for a student council election, forgetting her own name, and buying a dozen eggs for a birthday present...then keeping one because "he's so cute." Another recurring sketch, "Totally Kyle," had the title character, a Surfer Dude who told long, pointless stories about his various stupid activities (such as complaining of his eyes stinging in the shower, then revealing he wasn't closing them when he shampooed his hair). When a crossover occurred with Kyle appearing in the Girls' Room Talent Show, they took an immediate shine to each other. That sketch even ended with Sheila preparing to give Kyle a swirlie as she did to everyone who bothered her, and Debbie asking if she could do it this time instead... only for the other girls to open the stall door and find them passionately making out.
• Austin & Ally: Dez is a complete idiot, and quite weird. He ends up with the equally strange Brainless Beauty Carrie. Their lack of intelligence causes them to go through a lengthy separation due to them each believing the other broke up with them. It requires a third party to explain they didn't.
• The Big Bang Theory: Zack, a Kindhearted Simpleton who used to date Penny, returns in Season 12 and he's married to a woman who is just as much an airhead as him.
• Cheers: Woody, who is equal parts Cloud Cuckoo Lander and Kindhearted Simpleton, marries Kelly, who is almost exactly the same. On an episode of Frasier, Frasier is pleasantly surprised to learn that their son is smart.
• Community: Britta and Troy, although they end up Better as Friends.
• Degrassi Junior High: The only stable couple from this show and the sequel series Degrassi High is bubbly airhead Alexa and her Satellite Love Interest Simon, a foolish and easily confused Pretty Boy who only appears to follow her around. They even end up married in the movie.
• Family Matters pairs Maxine and Waldo as the Beta Couple. Now, while Max is more of a lazy, irresponsible teenager (in contrast to her best friend, Laura) Waldo does things like attending school during summer break. As in, he forgot about vacation and simply sat around waiting in empty classrooms for two months.
• Friends:
  • Subverted. With Chandler and Monica married and Ross and Rachel in a Will They or Won't They? situation, many fans clamored for The Ditz Joey and Cloudcuckoolander Phoebe to get together. Matt Le Blanc and Lisa Kudrow pitched the idea as well. While they are often jokingly flirty with each other, they always remain Platonic Life-Partners and Phoebe gets married to Mike Hannigan in the final season.
  • Although Rachel isn't actually stupid, the last few episodes of season 9 play up her ditzy, superficial, and Book Dumb traits much more than usual (making her quite a bit Out of Character) so that she could be paired with Joey. In particular, "The One in Barbados" has Joey and Rachel hooking up because of this trope, to contrast the Pair the Smart Ones of Ross and Charlie. After her breakup with Joey, Rachel goes back to reasonably intelligent.
• Glee: After breaking up with Santana in season 4, Brittany, the show's Brainless Beauty, started dating Sam, another Brainless Beauty, for a while.
• Good Luck Charlie: PJ is the family Ditz. His eventual girlfriend Skyler is an even bigger ditz.
• The Good Place: Zigzagged. While Jason is literally Too Dumb to Live, his girlfriend Janet is The Omniscient, knowing everything. That said, Janet is also frequently inept at social cues and generally cheerful at inappropriate times due to her programming to always be positive.
• House of Anubis: Brainless Beauty Amber and Dumb Jock Mick are a couple at the beginning of the series; however, despite sharing their ditzy personalities, they still end up breaking up when they realize they have no common interests.
• Last Man Standing: Ditzy middle daughter Mandy dates and later marries Mike's Kindhearted Simpleton employee Kyle. They are very Happily Married and genuinely enjoy one another's company.
• Malcolm in the Middle: In the episode "Stupid Girl", Malcolm has a crush on Brainless Beauty Alison. Following the advice of his dumb brother Reese, he tries to turn off his brain when he's around her. They try to date but it doesn't work out; by the end of the episode, Alison starts dating Reese himself and they get along perfectly.
• Martin: Cole is the idiot of the group. In the final season, he ends up with Shanise, who is even dumber than him.
• In The Nanny, Val, Fran's airheaded best friend, had an even-less successful love life than her. It's not until the penultimate episode that she hooks up with recurring character Fred, who is just as loopy as her.
• One Tree Hill: In high school, Dumb Blonde cheerleader Bevin never interacts with Tim (Nathan's dimwitted sidekick in early episodes). But after the four-year time skip, it's revealed they are married.
• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: In the first season, Upper-Class Twit London dates the dumb lifeguard Lance for a few episodes. The smart Maddie used to have a crush on Lance too, before realizing he was a waste of time.
• That '70s Show:
  • In early seasons, there's Kelso and Jackie, both being ditzy, shallow, and obsessed with their physical appearance.
  • Invoked by Hyde when Kelso hooks up with Eric's slutty sister Laurie.
    Hyde: No offense, Mrs. Forman, but those two could make the dumbest babies ever.
  • Donna's parents are not very bright, being a Bumbling Dad and a Brainless Beauty.
• The Vicar of Dibley: Alice Tinker is not only stupid but at times struggles to tell reality from fiction. She ends up with Upper-Class Twit Hugo Horton, who is just a little more sensible and rational than her. The two end up Happily Married with lots of children. Geraldine outright lampshades how perfect they are for each other, as they both have the intellect of a cactus and are stupid even by Dibley standards.

Western Animation

• Classic Disney Shorts: Whilst in her earliest cartoons she was presented as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, as she'd continue to be in the Mickey Mouse Comic Universe, Clarabelle Cow began to be portrayed as a love interest of Goofy after she returned to the animated screen in the 2000s — though she may also appear with her traditional boyfriend as well. As in the comics, Clarabelle is clumsy and The Ditz, but believes herself to be smarter than she really is, whilst Goofy is... well, Goofy.
• Daria: Kevin, the Dumb Jock, and Brittany, the Dumb Blonde cheerleader. Even if they often cheat on each other, they are in a relationship from the beginning to the end of the show.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: A one-sided example: May (the dumbest of the Kankers) has a crush on Ed (the dumbest of the Eds) and in the Eds/Kankers interactions, she's usually paired with him.
  • Shockingly, though, the trope was subverted in "Hanky Panky Hullabaloo," the Valentine's Day two-parter. There, she was paired with the ultra-brainy Edd instead. It makes more sense if you think about it, though: Double D is also the most compassionate of the Eds, and May is similarly the kindest of her sisters (in fact, their interest in each other starts when Double D, seeing May brokenhearted over Ed ignoring her, offers her a valentine to cheer her up). The writers also helped by giving May some Hidden Depths; it turns out she has surprising skill in chemistry, which she attributes to the various homemade beauty products she's created.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Timmy's parents are both dimwitted and clueless, with the mom being only slightly smarter.
• Futurama: One episode focuses on Fry dating the ditzy Amy, and how easily they bond because of their similarities. They break up later in the same episode, although they remain Amicable Exes and still occasionally bond over their foolishness.
• King of the Hill: Dumb Blonde Luanne eventually marries Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt, possibly the single-most stereotypical redneck in the show. He's lazy, uneducated, and completely lacking in common sense, to the point he literally gets most of his worldly information from television, and so unskilled that his primary source of income was Frivolous Lawsuits. Despite being an idiot, though, he does genuinely love Luanne and their daughter Gracie and does try to improve himself for their sake.
• The Loud House: Leni is pretty dumb and has a crush on a boy named Chaz, who, while not as dumb as her, is still not the sharpest tool in the shed. However, this does not seem to have worked out, as Leni has been shown later on in the series to like other boys.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): Another one-sided example: Bubbles (The Ditz of the Powerpuff Girls) has some Ship Tease with Boomer (the dumbest of the Rowdyruff Boys) and thinks he's cute.
• Total Drama:
  • Tyler, a klutzy Dumb Jock, is paired with Lindsay, a Brainless Beauty and Dumb Blonde. They are also the only couple from the first season who have not broken up at any single point in the series or faced any serious threats to their relationship (despite the fact Lindsay was unable to remember who Tyler was for almost two seasons).
  • Owen, a Fat Idiot, also gets paired with Izzy, a Cloudcuckoolander Genki Girl. Ironically, they broke up when Izzy became smart from a head injury.

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