Plucky Comic Relief

"You know, whenever I'm with you I can't help but feel like a fool for taking things so seriously."

— Kati Mannequin on The Immortal Patrick Colasour, Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer

A character whose primary role in the show is to relieve tension with oddball and/or hysterical, buffoonish antics. They have a job to do, but they don't get into the thick of things and can stay somewhat detached. Since their purpose is to relieve tension, they almost always have immunity to dying when compared to the other characters. A guaranteed sign that the series is suffering from Cerebus Syndrome or that things are just going to go to Hell from here is to see whether this character either dies, leaves/is left behind or has a complete and utter meltdown, no matter how deserved.

This trope is also known as the "comic relief" and in The Team trope it is known as the Funny Guy. Within The Team they serve the same purpose as in the cast ensemble but this is specifically for the in-universe team members instead of the show's audience. If they can fight, they're likely to be a Fighting Clown.

The term comes from Sam Rockwell's "Guy Fleegman" character in the movie Galaxy Quest (who, in a non-genre blind example of Lampshade Hanging, is afraid that he is only a Red Shirt, until another character suggests that maybe he is instead the "plucky comic relief"), which of course is spoofing the television show Star Trek.

In some cases, similar to Pointy-Haired Boss. Many sidekicks fit this description, as well. See Amusing Alien for otherworldly characters whose only purpose is comedy. See The Face for where they have a purpose greater than comedy. Compare Cloudcuckoolander (whereas the humor comes out of sheer eccentricities rather than just being comical, and it can sometimes go hand in hand with each other).

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Animal Land, llamas being plucky comedy reliefs seems to be their entire species schtick.
• Sasha Brauss of Attack on Titan. In a series set in a near hopeless war against towering, man eating monsters, she's the resident goofball, with an appetite about as big as the Colossal Titan.
  • Connie runs a close second behind her, and is often paired with Sasha for comic moments. In a series where named characters die in handfuls every arc, they were also planned to be killed as the series progressed, but were spared by their popularity and editor warnings.
  • Hanji Zoe, considering how she is an eccentric Mad Scientist and has an unhealthy appreciation for Titans. But as the series continues, we are reminded just why she is a Squad Leader and senior officer in the Survey Corps.
  • However, after getting dangerous they all lose this as their primary characteristic. Especially Hange.
• Isaac and Miria, the very, very out-of-it Outlaw Couple of Baccano!. They also miraculously avoid injury beyond paper-cut level on a regular basis in a show with a violence rating and body count of a typical Quentin Tarantino film. The lone exception to this is one heavily-bleeding cut Isaac acquires on his while saving Czeslaw, which reveals their less-than-mortal nature to the boy when it immediately stitches itself up.
• Berserk: Puck and Isidro apparently exist in part to keep the work from collapsing under its own cynicism during the darker stretches of the series.
• CLANNAD: Sunohara Youhei, Expy of Jun Kitagawa.
• Helen from Claymore: the sole humorous character in this very dark series. Indulging in everything from over-eating to Hypocritical Humor, including a Boke and Tsukkomi Routine with uber-stoic Deneve and on one memorable occasion actually getting drunk.
• Code Geass features a Britannia comic relief, Rivalz Cardemonde and a Japanese comic relief, Shinichiro Tamaki. Lelouch can confirm that; he's been around both of 'em. Rivalz' friend Lelouch Lamperouge by day, Tamaki's idol Zero by night.
• Darker than Black:
  • The Clueless Detective duo. They tend to only be involved with whatever Spy Versus Spy craziness is going on tangentially and accidentally, and their Non-Standard Character Design and use of anime effects like Cross-Popping Veins and Blue with Shock in a show that mostly uses a more realistic style makes it clear that they aren't to be taken seriously.
  • Saito of the Japanese police. He's kind of like Matsuda in that he's a member of a special taskforce with a tendency toward humorous bumbling (Saito has twice been shown using his own name when undercover), and his unrequited crush on Kirihara is played for laughs. He's also something of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, which makes sense, as he's a muggle who has regularly been up against super-powered sociopaths and has survived.
• Death Note:
  • Matsuda. Until the last episode.
  • Misa Amane. Indeed she and Matsuda were the only characters who used most of the "sillier" anime tropes, like puffy cheeks, Face Faults and, at one point, repeatedly hitting Light on the chest (complete with Looney Toons-esque sound effects).
  • Ryuk. He makes off-hand humorous comments that usually involve apples even during the most serious scenes, and almost always chuckles loudly at any new plot or character development that occurs.
• Digimon:
  • Gomamon from Digimon Adventure.
  • Bokomon and Neemon in Digimon Frontier.
  • Digimon Fusion has a villain version in Blastmon.
• Dragon Ball: Because of the light-hearted and humorous nature of the show, especially since it started as a gag series, every character, including many of the villains, have funny moments.
  • Krillin is given this role in pretty much every Dragon Ball Z Movie he is in, the most famous case of him playing this role was in the Super Android 13 movie where he was beaten up by Chi-Chi, clonked his head twice, had hot coffee spilled on his head, had his face fried by a stray energy bolt, had a large pile of snow dumped on him, had Vegeta sent flying into him, slipped and skidded past the main villain when he was about to attack him and was humiliated in the hospital.
  Krillin:"Why do these things always happen to me?"
  • Mr. Satan/Hercule is mostly treated as a joke, and his main purpose is to act like a grandiose idiot, get beaten up by villains, and be the Fake Ultimate Hero. However, he does prove to be useful on several occasions thanks to, essentially, being very good at PR. Despite being comic relief who wouldn't last five seconds in any major fight, he's notable for both managing to contribute to saving the universe from Majin Buu and being the only character to survive the entirety of Dragon Ball Z without dying once.
• Bat in Fist of the North Star was the plucky comic relief sidekick until the Time Skip, where he Took a Level in Badass.
• Jackie Gudelhian from Future GPX Cyber Formula serves as this in the series. He often gets into fights with his partner and rival Heinel, which is often a major source of comedy in the series.
• Smith from Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin who evolves into a Cool Old Guy in Ginga Densetsu Weed. GB, a Lovable Coward, follows in his footsteps in said sequel.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has at least one for each part (save Phantom Blood).
  • Battle Tendency: The JoJo of this part, Joseph Joestar himself also works as the comic relief, showing a lot of hot-headed and careless behavior that leads him to awkward situations such as when he playfully greeted an immortal who just slaughtered a bunch of Nazis.
  • Stardust Crusaders: Several, the already mentioned Joseph Joestar getting in awkward situations. Jean Pierre Polnareff, a Frenchman who has bathroom problems and more than once finds himself in a life or death situation that involves a toilet. Also, Hol Horse, a servant of Dio who pursues the party. At first serious business, later comic relief.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable: Okuyasu Nijimura is a school delinquent that claims not to be a smart person, and demonstrates it numerous times.
  • Golden Wind: Narancia Ghirga who, despite being two years older than the main character, displays a very childish behavior that matches his appearance. Also Guido Mista when the number 4 is involved.
  • Stone Ocean: Foo Fighters, being a bunch of plankton taking the form of a girl, thinks that prison is a fun place. Narciso Annasui who later becomes the main comic relief as being madly in love with Jolyne, he is not afraid to express it in front of her despite her general disinterest or obliviousness.
  • Steel Ball Run: The deuteragonist Gyro Zeppeli, when he's not busy being the serious cool guy spends his time planning bad jokes and songs that Johnny really finds clever.
  • JoJolion: Joshu, with his Butt-Monkey status, serves as a source of comic relief throughout the story.
• Jujutsu Kaisen: Panda often serves as the main comic relief amongst the cast, finding some way to make fun of the situation.
• Played with in the "Film Noir" episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Getting shot turns you into a chibified comic relief character. Pluckyness varies.
• Shiro Kabuto from Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger. Although he is smarter than he looks and he can be an Badass Adorable, he often provides comic relief, or by pulling Too Dumb to Live stunts or by being a Deadpan Snarker and the voice of reason.
  • Boss and the remainder of The Team Normal also were Plucky Comic Relief characters. Boss even lampshaded is in one Great Mazinger, wondering why he must be the Plucky Comic Relief.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, this is Patrick Colasour's primary role. Every battle he's in, he gets shot down, usually by a Gundam, yet unlike most other characters, he survives every time, earning him the nickname "The Immortal Colasour". And he's considered the best pilot in Europe!
  • He's also loyal to a fault, as shown when the UN-Armed Forces abandons him in the middle of the Taklamakan Desert after his AEU Enact was shot down and everyone assumed he was dead. He still returned to the base as if nothing had happened a few days later.
• Minoru Mineta from My Hero Academia is literally a Plucky Comic Relief, as in, his powers revolve around plucking sticky berries from his hair.
  • Kaminari Denki and Mina Ashido tend to get the most spotlight during lighthearted situations, as their personalities are often used to lift up the spirits of the group.
• Shiho from My-Otome. Though some of her antics are usually the cause of (or contribute to) the problem of the day in early episodes, she becomes surprisingly effective near the end, while retaining her goofy madness.
  • Shiho being this is rather odd, as her original My-HiME incarnation was a serious, plot-relevant, and much darker character, with little-to-no comedic moments.
• Naoki from NANA fits this trope particularly well: Despite all the drama that goes on in the series, he is oddly immune to it and (in present time) seemingly oblivious. The writer herself admits that he was written to round out the two rival bands in the story — in essence, he's a throwaway character with no real backstory — but he usually ends up being used as Mr. Exposition in side stories.
• Misato Katsuragi, her pet Pen-Pen, and Asuka Langley Soryu in the otherwise quite dark anime Neon Genesis Evangelion count as this. Pen-Pen considerably more than Misato and Asuka, it has to be said. When Pen-Pen leaves, you know that the series has given up on plucky comic antics altogether and has now completely moved into depressing territory.
• Naruto:
  • Rock Lee and Might Guy, without a doubt.
  • Tobi also played this role in the Akatsuki at least until he is revealed to be THE Big Bad, Obito Uchiha.
• This is a very interesting case with Pokémon: The Series as there is actually tends to be a comic relief character per series. However, Team Rocket is this overall throughout the series considering they're Affably Evil and always wind up on the receiving end of Ash and his friend's abuse. They play this role even more whenever a much more threatening evil organization is a threat at the time and Team Rocket themselves would often assist Ash and company. This is actually subverted for the first half of the Black & White anime where they Took a Level in Badass and rarely "blasted off again" whenever their plans are foiled. However, they dropped back to their status once Team Plasma was dealt with.
  • On the subject of the other reoccurring Plucky Comic Relief would definitely be Brock. His constant flirting with women has constantly resulting in him getting his ear pulled or even attacked by his very own Pokemon! If it's neither of those, there are the rare times the women outright reject Brock on the spot.
  • Also, this trope actually plays for one of Ash's or his traveling companion's Pokemon as there tends to be a specific Pokemon of the group that serves as this.
• Uzura in Princess Tutu spends much of the second season filling this role, although she has a few plot-important moments towards the end and is never quite able to stay completely detached from the action.
• Sailor Chibi Moon in the '90s Sailor Moon anime. Her Pink Sugar Heart Attack rarely worked, and it was pathetically weak. This is in contrast to the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal where it actually does work well on a regular basis.
• Shaman King gives us Chocolove, who pretty much tries to invoke this because he wants to be a comedian. Ironically, his humor comes from the fact that his jokes aren't funny. He's also fairly useful, unlike some other examples.
• In the last episode of Slayers NEXT, Lina concludes that the only reason Martina survived the confrontation with the Big Bad was because she is the Plucky Comic Relief character.
• Tokyo Ghoul has several, all of which become serious once the tragic final arc begins.
  • Enji Koma, the goofy-looking head waiter of Anteiku. He's primarily there as a Butt-Monkey, getting no respect from his peers as he waxes nostalgic about his glory days. He comes out of retirement, proving to be a Death Seeker out to atone for his bloody past. It is left unclear whether or not he died during the last stand at V14.
  • Seidou Takizawa, the easily-excited and jealous junior Investigator. He spends most of the series getting picked on, embarrassing himself while drunk, or otherwise being the Butt-Monkey around the office. He has up performing a Heroic Sacrifice, and is presumed dead after being maimed by Noro. The sequel, however, reveals him to have survived as a deranged Half-Ghoul.
• When he's not being a badass, or the resident Butt-Monkey (yes, he's actually both), Jun Manjoume of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX tends to be this, especially when it comes to his hilarious crush on Asuka or when his spirit partners are involved.

Asian Animation

• In Happy Heroes, Little M. provides a lot of the comedy for most of the scenes that feature him and Big M., often by way of Little M. doing or saying something weird or taking one of Big M.'s commands too literally.

Comic Books

• Archie Comics: Reggie Mantle, the most comedic and magnificent jock in Riverdale.
• Stephanie Brown fills this role in Batgirl (2000). The issues where she appears are almost always much more lighthearted, and she provides most of the humor in the book.
• Star Trek: Early Voyages: Captain Pike's yeoman and close friend Dermot Cusack, an Irishman with a well known and well deserved reputation as a rogue, is the Plucky Comic Relief for the first three issues, until he is killed by Talza on Rigel VII in "Nor Iron Bars a Cage".
• Wonder Woman Vol 1: Golden Age Etta Candy was a prankster and Boisterous Bruiser whose quips and violence was most always played for laughs, though not the character herself which was rather impressive for a short overweight comic relief character in the 1940s.
• Green Lantern (1941): Doiby Dickles is actually often fairly stalwart for a comic relief sidekick. He still has to ask Alan what things like being called a "moron" means, the answer to which gets him riled up enough to go deck the criminal who'd called him such.
• Tangle the Lemur from Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) is a hammy and easily-excited Thrill Seeker with a tendency to make adorably goofy faces. Barring her rare moments of bitterness and the five issues she spends infected with Dr. Eggman's Metal Virus, just about every scene she's in is comedy gold.

Fan Works

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Jackson Barnes is still this among Monarch's G-Team, like in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
• Mukrezar is a soulless, murderous bastard. He completely wiped out all life on a continent, is an unrepentant torturer who apparently finds screams of the tormented 'soothing', and is also a terrible cook. Despite this, he is an amazingly quirky and charismatic leader, and usually gets an 'episode' every other chapter or so. As the humorous element.
• Axel fills this role in Keyblade Masters, even though he's introduced late in the story. He also performs this duty in the sequel series, Sentinels of Chaos.
• In The Story of Apollo, Daphne and Luca: An Italian Tragedy, Carlos' mischievous personality and his constant comical meddling in other people's business in order to obtain some juicy gossip give a more carefree and lighthearted note to the story, which is quite dramatic and emotionally deep.

Films — Animation

• Disney Animated Canon usually have one. And so do all of the movies that copy their formulas.
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Dopey, who's kind of like a tiny Harpo Marx.
  • Bambi: Thumper
  • Cinderella: The mice, mainly Jacque and Octavius/Gus
  • Peter Pan: Mr. Smee
  • Sleeping Beauty: The Three Good Fairies and the two kings on certain occasions.
  • The Aristocats: Napoleon and Lafayette.
  • The Fox and the Hound: Dinky and Boomer.
  • The Black Cauldron: Gurgi and Fflewddur Fflam.
  • Oliver & Company: Tito.
  • The Little Mermaid: Flounder and Scuttle.
  • Aladdin: Genie, who is very plot-relevant.
  • The Lion King: Timon and Pumbaa.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Hugo, Victor and Laverne.
  • Hercules: Pain and Panic.
  • Mulan: Mushu, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po
  • Tarzan: Terk and Tantor
  • The Emperor's New Groove: Kronk
  • Treasure Planet: Delbert Doppler, Morph and B.E.N.
  • Brother Bear: Rutt and Tuke
  • The Princess and the Frog: Louis and Charlotte.
  • Frozen: Olaf and Sven. Olaf is the more prominent of the two, although he adds some quite heartfelt and "deep" moments to the movie. Sven's facial emotions are quite hilarious, but his few lines voiced by Kristoff provoke laughs.
  • Raya and the Last Dragon: Sisu
  • Encanto: Bruno
• Devon and Cornwall, and to an extent, the Griffon and Bladebeak in Quest for Camelot.
• Bobby in A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie. Notably the only one of the youths present in both movies with no visible conflict with a parent figure, almost everything he says and does is some sort of dumb joke. He takes very few things seriously, is an Attention Whore, a Cloudcuckoolander, and more-or-less a Perpetual Smiler, and is considered to be weird (among friends) or annoying (with Beret Girl and the Gammas). He's also the one to give Max an emotionally-charged Rousing Speech.
• As serious as The Secret of NIMH was in tone, there was a certain crow that happens to be the comic relief. And that crow in particular is Jeremy.
• Humphrey from Alpha and Omega serves as the snappy one-liner of the movie. he is usually seen hanging out with his other omega buddies and is shown to try to cheer up an alpha named Kate, whom he likes to be with.
  • Justified in that this is stated to be the role of the Omegas in the pack; to break up fights and keep everyone's spirits up.
• Up:
  • Dug the dog is hilarious, and plucky doesn't even begin to describe him.
  • Not to mention the overly-enthusiastic Russell.

Films — Live-Action

• Lampshaded in Galaxy Quest. Guy fears for the entire film that he is destined to die, as his character on the show, Crewman #6, was a typical Red Shirt that died in the first act of his only episode. Fred eventually calms his fear by suggesting Guy is actually this trope. (And towards the end of the film, just before the in-universe Reset Button gets pushed, Guy is indeed the only crew-member who hasn't been killed.)
  • Fred himself also qualifies by spending most of the film oblivious to, or at least unreasonably calm about, the ostensible dangers they're going through. The original cut depicted him as a stoner, but this element was downplayed to receive a family-friendly rating. The remaining hints are enough to act as a Parental Bonus.
• Godzilla:
  • The Return of Godzilla:
    • The Bum, played by Tetsuya Takeda. He has a variety of funny antics and lines in the Japanese cut, the New World cut, and the International dub, arguably because of the HK dubber's hammy performance.
  1985: "Don't act like a big shot hick, you just got to town! If you wanna hang around with me you need to learn some manners!"
  HK dub: "Ach! What's the big idea! Get away from me Godzilla! You wanna see the way us city folks live?! What's wrong with ya?!"

  • Kamijo, Maki's photographer, who never speaks a line in 1985.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Monarch has two. Among the key brass, a lot of Rick Stanton's role not involving exposition or Techno Babble is to make jokes to lighten the mood, whilst Jackson Barnes is the goofiest member of Monarch's military G-Team.
  • Godzilla vs. Kong: Inverted by the three-man Team Godzilla. Madison Russell is basically the Only Sane Woman of them, while Hayes the Conspiracy Theorist and Josh the nerdy Cowardly Lion can both be quite goofy in their own ways.
• Independence Day: Resurgence: Floyd Rosenberg, the nerdy federal controller immersed in a war against aliens. Dr. Okun, the Absent-Minded Professor, who forgets that he has no pants on.
• The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit:
  • All principle Dwarves (except Thorin and Balin) are prone to this in some ways through both of the trilogies. Whereas Gimli is the sole Dwarf who gradually fell into this trope in the original, the Dwarves in Thorin's Company all have strange quirks that make them unique. Even Dáin gets in on it with his surprisingly foul mouth. That's not to say they won't back out from a fight if pushed, though.
  • Pippin and Merry in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Pippin's humor is the one thing that keeps himself and his friends going throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
• Mandalay: Mrs. Peters, a fellow passenger on the ferry boat, is the main supplier of comical scenes. Her interactions with her husband, as they are an old, married couple, are hilarious in a light-hearted sense — she's the one doing the talking, only pausing to get confirmation from Mr. Peters who, in turn, is resigned to not quite catch what his wife is saying.
• X-Men Film Series:
  • Nightcrawler provides some of the more amusing moments in X2: X-Men United and X-Men: Apocalypse.
  • Banshee is the most fun character in X-Men: First Class.
  • Quicksilver is a source of comedy in X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse.
  • As referenced by the opening credits of Deadpool (2016), Weasel's narrative purpose is comedy.
  • Downplayed with Professor X in X-Men: Apocalypse because he's predominantly a dramatic character, but writer Simon Kinberg reveals in his commentary that Charles was deliberately used to lighten up the mood of the first act.
    Kinberg: I tried to get a lot of humour into the movie whenever it was appropriate, and James [McAvoy] is a really good comedic actor, so there was a lot of good Xavier moments.
• Sergeant Paine is this in The Third Man.
• Last Action Hero. Lampshaded by Genre Savvy Danny Madigan, who had been operating on the assumption that he was one of the Main Characters.
  Danny: ...I'm the comedy sidekick. Oh, shit! I'm the comedy sidekick! This isn't going to work!
• In Cinderella (2015), Lizards Footmen are like that in the film.
• Aside from being The Lancer to Tom Cody's The Hero, Billy Fish filled this role for the scene where he refuses to give Ben Gunn the money. Tom manages to convince Billy, which follows with the latter complaining under his breath. And should we mention that Billy is played by Rick Moranis, an actual comedian?
• The Largo brothers, Pavi and Luigi, fill this role in Repo! The Genetic Opera. In a movie like Repo, the comic relief duo is made up of a murderer and a rapist...
• Jack, the main character of Big Trouble in Little China, falls squarely into this category, although he thinks he's the hero.
  • He does have a climactic moment of heroism when he personally kills the evil tyrannical overlord who, like the Queen song, wants to live forever.
• J. Jonah Jameson and his assistant Hoffman in the Spider-Man Trilogy. Also Peter's landlord and his daughter.
• C-3PO and R2-D2 in Star Wars. This is the intended role of Jar Jar Binks in the prequel movies, but he proved so insufferable that George Lucas heavily cut down his screentime until he had a mere cameo in Revenge of the Sith.
• C-3P0 and R2-D2 were allegedly inspired by Tahei and Matashichi from The Hidden Fortress, who provided levity to a serious situation with their sinful shenanigans.
• Sam Rockwell actually used the term himself when describing his role as Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2.
• Riley from National Treasure is this in spades. He is rarely seen taking a situation seriously, even when in immediate danger.
• Pavel Chekov increasingly takes on this role in the Star Trek films, the height of this occurring during the fourth movie.
• The Eye Creatures has the Peeping Tom Air Force guys, who manage to both avoid having any plot relevance or give their actions any actual humor or other, non-repulsive qualities.
• Tuco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly might qualify, given that most, if not all of the humorous moments in the film involve him in one form or another. Unlike most examples, Tuco is the protagonist instead of a side character.
• Heihachi from Seven Samurai intended to fill this role to boost morale and provide levity for this dark and grave situation of bandits raiding their village. However, it's Kikuchiyo, a later addition to the script, who fills this role better and becomes The Heart as well. Feeble villager Yohei filled this role as well, before becoming a Sacrificial Lion
• Darcy in Thor and Thor: The Dark World. She's a fish out of water among the other scientists (she's a political scientist, as opposed to astrophysicists Drs. Jane Foster and Erik Selvig), and so she primarily makes snarky remarks. Even when she does something like taser Thor, she maintains her snarkiness (upon Jane and Erik's shocked reactions; "What? He was freaking me out!").
• Jake in Support Your Local Sheriff is described as "the town character" to his face, and its hinted that when before he became a Sheriff's deputy he was the town drunk. Even he sees the ironic humor in that kind of promotion, and remarks upon it constantly. This was actually actor Jack Elam's first comedic role (for most of his prior career he'd been playing villains), and his wonderfully funny performance typecast him as a comedic actor for the rest of his life. Not that he complained much about the change.
• The ghosts, Stuart and Cyrus in The Frighteners. They wanted to haunt a house so Frank might "exorcise" it.
• Help!: Ringo, sometimes aided and abetted by George.
• Twilight Zone: The Movie: In "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", the little girl with the W. C. Fields doll takes great delight in mocking John Valentine and takes everything in her stride, even when all of the adults around her are panicking. She maintains her composure right up until Valentine shoots open the window so that he can kill the gremlin.
• Destination Moon: When one of the original crew falls ill, Flight Engineer Joe Sweeney is reluctantly convinced to come along as radio operator. His general lack of enthusiasm for the project is a Running Gag, but he turns out to be a Cowardly Lion, volunteering himself to die in a Cold Equation without even being asked. As per usual for this trope, the other crewmen think up a way to avoid this.

Literature

• Animorphs: Marco starts out as the team smartass, especially given that he's the one member of the team who wants nothing to do the fight against the Yeerk invasion. However, as the series continues and the war starts to wear on the team, Marco becomes progressively more cynical and calculating — to the point that his Sad Clown antics barely seem to be keeping him sane.
• The Brothers Karamazov: Madame Khokhlakov's role is to provide lighthearted, trivial discussion versus everything else that goes on in the story. She is eternally cheerful and will talk you to death. Dostoevsky used her to insult his critics at the time by having her agree with their works.
• Discworld:
  • A casual reading of the Witches novels would suggest that Nanny Ogg's job is to keep bringing the funny, while Granny Weatherwax and Magrat get all the achievements. And this is the case, but what's not always apparent is that this is exactly how she likes things, and if she wanted to be Granny, she easily could be.
  • In the Watch novels, the role is filled by the Watch's most senior and least effective coppers, dim-witted Sergeant Colon and kleptomaniac Gonk Corporal Nobbs.
• The Dragon Hoard: Prince Sillius plays this role among the questing princes.
• Five Weeks in a Balloon: Joe doesn't treat anything too seriously and cracks jokes nearly constantly. A lot of his humor revolves around mock-naivety.
  • The same author's From the Earth to the Moon has Michel Ardan in a similar role, balancing the other two serious protagonists with his laid back attitude.
• Harry Potter:
  • Fred and George. As the series gets Darker and Edgier, one loses an ear and the other dies.
  • Ron Weasley also fills this role within the main trio, and he's an even earlier gauge of the series' impending dark turn: as early as book four, his general status as Chew Toy produces some moments of unexpectedly bitter resentment. By book seven, he's primed for a complete meltdown.
• The Hearts We Sold: James takes this role In-Universe, taking it upon himself to crack jokes in awkward or tense situations. This is important for two reasons: first, it makes James seem approachable and trustworthy to newcomers, and second, it keeps everyone from going insane due to stress.
• In Desert And Wilderness: Kali, mostly due to Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle — he seems much more serious among his own people.
• A Symphony of Eternity: We have Commodore Dalius Augustus, he's his fleet's resident comedian, but that doesn't stop him from being a badass sentient velociraptor alien who is well versed in fleet warfare and has a sweet tooth! He's best friends with the resident Starscream.
• Teen Power Inc.: Tom is written to be more goofy than his friends due to his moments of immaturity and some of the silly sketches he draws.
• The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Small Man. His Lovable Coward ways, gambling, and womanizing will be more irritating than funny, but he will still manage to help save the world in some small way.
• The Twilight Saga: Jacob is the funniest character in the book. And probably the only one.
• Warrior Cats: Graystripe is only in the first book to lighten the mood. However, his role greatly increases in later books.
• Wars of the Realm: the angel Ral, described in the books' character list as Validus' "awkward and funny friend." He purposefully asks to be reassigned under Validus' command, even though the assignments are far more dangerous, because he's tired of being around "people who never smile" (speaking of the Russians). At one point, he even gives Arphaz a bad case of constipation just to get him out of the way.
• Watership Down: Bluebell, the comedian rabbit, serves as a comic relief not only to the readers, but also is an in-story tension breaker. Keehar the seagull serves the purpose in the film adaptation.

Live-Action TV

• The 100: Jasper and Monty filled this role in Season 1. When they got involved in a more intense and dramatic storyline for Season 2, Wick stepped up as the main funny guy (with a knack for making other characters more snarky whenever they're around him). Murphy also starts to fill this role late in Season 2, serving as the Deadpan Snarker towards Jaha's messianic zeal.
• Arrow: Felicity Smoak went from one-off episode guest appearance to essentially the female lead thanks to her awkward quips and the actress's comic timing. (Though she also acts as The Smart Guy). As the show started off rather sober in tone without a resident funny guy her handful of scenes significantly lightened the mood (she actually managing to get a smile out of Oliver) and she was brought on as a regular. In an unusual case she's become Oliver's main Love Interest while also remaining the Plucky Comic Relief.
• Babylon 5: This was Vir's role early in the series, until Character Development began kicking in during Season 2.
• Band of Brothers:
  • It's resident master of parody George Luz. Considering the series is set in WWII, he has some elements of the Sad Clown.
  • His friend Perconte also qualifies, and so does "Skip" Muck.
• Boy Meets World: Eric started off as the Chick Magnet but when that role was taken over by Shawn he became this. And then things just got weird...
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Xander and later Andrew. Though the writing is uniformly witty enough that all characters get their day in the Plucky Comic Relief sun.
  • This is true with all Joss Whedon shows, but there is still one or two characters in each series who do virtually nothing but be funny, in addition to fulfilling their role in the cast. In chronological order: Lorne on Angel, Wash on Firefly, and Topher on Dollhouse.
  • Lampshaded:
    Kaylee Did Zoe seem a little, er, funny to you at breakfast?
    Wash C'mon Kaylee. We all know I'm the funny one.
  • Deconstructed Trope with Lorne: the toll that being the Comic Relief takes on him by the fifth season is seriously rough.
  • Harmony, however, remains her airheaded, self-absorbed self throughout.
• CSI: Greg Sanders, the DNA specialist, was originally an excellent example of this trope. Later in the series he has several serious character arcs. He also becomes one of the most experienced CSIs on the team. His role has been taken over by Hodges and the supporting Lab Rats.
• Doctor Who: Earned a Lampshade Hanging in the episode The Unicorn And The Wasp, when the Doctor calls Donna "The plucky young woman who helps me out":
  Donna: 'The plucky young woman who helps me out'?
  The Doctor: No policewomen in 1926.
  Donna: I'll pluck you in a minute!
• Emergency!: Chet Kelly. Station 51's resident practical joker and Vitriolic Best Buds with Gage.
• The Flying Nun: Sister Sisto. In the pilot it was explained that she is studying English sayings in preparation for her eventually teaching in the United States. From that point on her running joke was to say something like "We need to get on the circle!" to immediately be corrected by one of the others "Uh, that's 'ball', Sister."
• Game of Thrones:
  • Tyrion Lannister can lighten up any scene, even the most violent ones (his bludgeoning a man to death with his shield easily counts as one of his most badass and amusing scenes in the series.) He also bucks the trend in that he is neither dim-witted nor genuinely concerned for anyone around him.
  • Oh, he's plenty concerned for others. He just doesn't show it often.
• Brittany S. Pierce from Glee served as this for at least most of the first two seasons 2
• In Glue, the role is fulfilled by Rob and Annie. The latter is a straighter example since she has no character arc of her own.
• Harper's Island: In this murder mystery, Cal and Chloe provide much-needed wacky romance hijinx between all the deaths. They even have a short breather episode after the head spade incident when they try to retrieve Chloe's engagement ring. When they both die in episode 11 of 13, it's a sign that there won't be any more funny bits thence onwards.
• Crosetti and Lewis from Homicide: Life on the Street were frequently used for comic relief to prevent the show from getting too dark. Crosetti's quirky personality and Lewis's sardonic, devil-may-care attitude made them into a quintessential duo, and they would frequently show up in otherwise extremely dark episodes to provide some levity. Since they were very likeable and well-written characters, and they easily lended themselves to more dramatic storylines, so they weren't totally out of place.
• M*A*S*H: Klinger so seldom got into the dramatic plots of the episodes that his Sarcasm Failure was more effective than Hawkeye's ("Mail Call Three", "Period of Adjustment", "Death Takes a Holiday").
  • In latter seasons, occasional character Sergeant Rizzo took on this role—his main job being to goof off, sleep, and tell quirky stories about his home in Louisiana.
• Monk: Randy Disher. His quirky antics and wild theories really give a nice dose of humor in the show. Still he is semi-competent and is always in the right place when he's needed.
• Mr. Lucky: Andamo plays this role. Even when being held hostage by a murderer with an itchy trigger finger, he keeps trying to make light of the situation.
• The O.C.: Taylor Townsend. She was a welcome relief from the sometimes overpowering angst of the penultimate season. Usually her wackiness was paired with Seth and Summer's in the aforementioned season to provide comic drama, if such a thing exists.
• Power Rangers has had a share of these characters throughout its many seasons.
  • The best known examples are off course Bulk and Skull from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. A Fat and Skinny duo of Butt Monkeys who constantly try out schemes for their own gain, only for said schemes to backfire. Usually this results in slapstick humor. The duo was apparently so popular, that a stand alone series was planned for them in which they ran a hotel. This was the reason why the characters got turned into chimpanzees for the first half of Power Rangers Turbo. But ultimately, the higher ups decided such a series would not work, causing the actors to return to Power Rangers.
  • Joel Rawlings of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue is this. Most of the humor of this series derives from his failed attempts to get dates with a female scientist or trying to skip training.
  • Power Rangers Ninja Storm: While the villains in this season are pretty lighthearted and comedic to begin with, villainesses Marah and Kapri fit this trope, as their main purpose seems to be playing the role of spoiled brats to their uncle Lothor.
  • Power Rangers: Dino Thunder has Devin and Cassidy. They are frequently compared to Bulk and Skull, but play a much more subdued role compared to them. Cassidy and Devin start out as an Alpha Bitch and her lackey, who, like Bulk and Skull, try out schemes for their own gain, only for them to backfire. But later on, they grow out of these stereotypes and this role and develop distinct personalities.
  • Power Rangers Operation Overdrive features Norg the Yeti. He is a dimwitted Yeti who lived in the cave one of the main villains decided to take as his base.
  • Power Rangers RPM: Ziggy Grover, the green ranger, fits this trope pretty well. His only task in this team seems to be being the victim of as many accidents as possible.
• Primeval: Connor Temple initially provides some comic relief with his nerdiness and Cowardly Lion behavior, but as the show becomes more serious, so does he.
• Psych:
  • Shawn Spencer has the distinction of being the main character AND the Plucky Comic Relief. Deconstructed Trope in "An Evening with Mr. Yang," when it's revealed that Shawn needs the Plucky Comic Relief in order to distance himself from the things he has to deal with. When Shawn's mother is kidnapped by the serial killer and Shawn suffers a Heroic BSoD, Gus steps forward to take over the Plucky Comic Relief, much to the confusion of everyone around them.
  • Woody The Coroner, a Cloudcuckoolander who is there to say and do funny, and sometimes wildly inappropriate, things. In the seventh season premiere ("Santabarbaratown 2"), Woody's the one who provides most of the comic relief because Shawn 's father has just been shot and the situation is too serious for him to make jokes.
• Punky Brewster: Allen Anderson was the show's comic relief, although his failure to learn CPR in "Cherie Lifesaver" left him sobered because it nearly took Cherie's life (she was trapped in a disused refrigerator and was found unconscious. Punky and Margaux used CPR learned at school to save her.)
• Revolution: Aaron Pittman. He says some pretty funny things, like in "The Children's Crusade", when he compares the group of kids they find to Children of the Corn, and annoying little Ewoks from Star Wars.
• Sadakatsiz: Mrs. Cavidan is a total gossip who always digs for and reacts to juicy details in the most melodramatic manner possible. She gasps loudly, speculates wild scenarios, and exaggerates stuff shamelessly while remaining reasonably close to the truth. Her behavior is either hilarious, lightens up the mood, or causes some minor Mood Whiplash both out and In-Universe. Characters laugh at her antics, get annoyed at her in a way that's funny, or, like doctor Asya and Gönül, roast her à la Deadpan Snarker. Cavidan takes it all in good spirits.
• Star Trek: Picard: Elnor's main role in "Stardust City Rag" is to provide levity; all of his lines are lighthearted and they poke fun at his naïveté. He also has funny moments in subsequent episodes.
• Supernatural:
  • Sam and Dean are both quite quippy, but Dean almost always has a one-liner ready for every situation that the brothers find themselves in.
  • The archangel Gabriel is widely considered the funniest character on the show, especially when compared to his brothers Michael or Raphael.
  • Kevin Tran is mostly this among the heroes, although things can still get very dark and serious when it comes to Crowley or the bombshell that's been dropped on his life.
  • Among the Special Children who develop Psychic Powers, Andy Gallagher's reaction to developing the ability to project images into people's heads is to torment a Jerkass by making him think about gay porn.
• Super Sentai: There are a few of these, including Goggle Yellow, Beet Buster, and Kyoryu Black.
• Ultraman's Mitsuhiro Ide is the most comedic member of Science Patrol. However, he also does double duty as The Smart Guy of the team, and some episodes reveal his surprisingly complex views towards his job, such as him expressing reluctance towards killing Jamila in Episode 23 or feeling Science Patrol is useless compared to Ultraman in Episode 37.
• The Witcher (2019): Episodes where Jaskier appears are usually more lighthearted, and he tries his best to lighten the mood and cheer Geralt up when he can.
• Wizards of Waverly Place: Max, whose dialogue consists of nothing but bad one-liners.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Joxer (the Mighty). No matter how hard or how often he tries to be The Lancer, the Anti-Hero, or the Villain Protagonist, poor man.
  Joxer: Now listen, I'm fierce, and I have a lust for blood. As a matter of fact, if a couple of days go by and I haven't shed some blood, I get very depressed. Blood and me go together like a horse and chariot! I once bathed in a tub of blood! My nickname is Bloody Joxer!
  Xena: If you like blood so much? Keep talking.
• The X-Files: The Lone Gunmen. This did not save them from a random and contrived death in the last season, in an otherwise comedic episode.

Professional Wrestling

• Exotico tag team turned stable, The Christopher Street Connection, were the original plucky comic relief on the Ring of Honor shows. They got beat up a lot but always managed to come back smiling. Sometimes they feuded with baby faces but they were never worse than Tweeners themselves. Some later examples include Paul London, Spanky, Colt Cabana, Delirious and El Generico, though ROH has a tendency to turn many of them Darker and Edgier, even if only for an angle. Jimmy Jacobs is one who proved not so plucky and remained a problem child after he found out love doesn't redeem till his final days in the company.
• In Progress Wrestling there's Eddie Dennis, although he's more than capable of holding his own in a fight.

Puppet Shows

• Pili Fantasy: War of Dragons: Chin Chia-hsien and Yin Shih-jen, with a Laurel and Hardy type of slapstick. Notwithstanding, both have a fairly big impact on the plot by way of sharing messages, manipulating enemies of the Tiger Generals, and otherwise being good allies.

Tabletop Games

• In Magic: The Gathering, Squee from the Weatherlight Saga. For example, the flavor text for Fool's Tome. More generally, goblins typically fill such a role. There was a Running Gag where goblins that could destroy things had a profession related to whatever it was they were destroying - Goblin Gardener destroyed lands, Goblin Medic dealt damage to creatures, and so on.
• Goblins in Pathfinder, in a disturbing sort of way. Dangerously stupid, Big Eaters, Ugly Cute, Psychopathic Manchildren, canonically so distractable that they pause in the middle of combat to raid the refreshments, and fond of singing little songs about eating people. They also serve as Butt Monkeys in a lot of official art. Getting pwned by a flumph◊. Demonstrating status effects.◊
• The Orks serve this function in Warhammer 40,000 as a race of psychopathic manchildren with a healthy dose of Crosses the Line Twice.
  • Their Fantasy Counterparts fill a similar role in the game, but seeing as the setting is notably less grimdark, they are obviously not the only race that fills this role. The Skaven are a good example of this, due to them being both Stupid Evil and Laughably Evil with their Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and all. Add to that hamster wheels with lasers, and it should be pretty clear that they fit into this spot too.

Theater

• Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, who was written in specifically as "the Clown." His life offstage is referred to (he's got a family and a mistress), but onstage he's mostly there to give overdramatic monologues, spew puns and complain about how converting Jews to Christianity will raise the price of pork. Gratiano qualifies, too.
• Sir Ké in La Légende du Roi Arthur whose questions are a source of bemusement and irritation for Merlin but commedy gold to the audience.

Toys

• BIONICLE:
  • This seems to be the most common personality type for Toa of Air, as seen with Lewa, Matau and Kongu. Each is a Deadpan Snarker and a bit of a klutz who provide many of the funny moments throughout the story. Kongu actually invokes this trope because of Lewa, having been a rather serious Matoran before the Toa Nuva of Air showed him how to lift spirits with a little humour.
  • Pohatu, one of the less serious Toa Nuva alongside Lewa, also has a poignant sense of humor, though this is a secondary trait compared to his friendliness.

Video Games

• Carol Reed Mysteries: The janitor. Most of the time he isn't connected to the cases, he's mainly there to make the player laugh every once in a while.
• Darkest Dungeon: The Jester naturally fills this role as he makes several wisecracks now and then. This trope then becomes Deconstructed if he gains an affliction as he truly begins to see the hopelessness of the situation and his jokes (what little are left) begin to take a very spiteful and hateful tone that begin to stress out other party members instead of cheering them up.
• Dark Souls has Siegmeyer, a bumbling knight who became Undead and ventured to Lordran for one last adventure. The player runs into him in various situations, where he's nearly always in quite a pickle.
• Double Homework: Henry can always be counted on to get a laugh out of the player due to his surreal stupidity and complete cluelessness.
• Dragon Age: Origins: Alistair is an interesting case in that he is also well aware of how dreadful the situation is and what all is at stake, and is very competent when the situation calls for it.
• Fate/Grand Order: If a Servant is introduced in a gag/jokey event (particularly the Gudaguda, Summer, Halloween and Christmas events), chances are they're this. Even if some of them can be serious, they're often underscored with their more funny behavior and/or being the butt of jokes. Many of those Servants are variants of existing, non-gag Servants, and they're played in more lighthearted ways. Despite all that, most of them are powerful fighters in their own right.
• God of War (PS4): Downplayed but Atreus as the Deuteragonist plays this role for some levity throughout the game. These moments aren't merely played for comedy's sake but to also provide Kratos opportunities to mellow out and develop his fatherly instincts. This is best demonstrated when Kratos decides to finally reveal to Atreus his divine heritage, only to be surprised when the first thing Atreus asks is if he can transform into an animal.
• Goodbye Volcano High provides a deconstructed example. Sage plays this role throughout the game; out of everyone in Fang's inner circle, he's the most lighthearted and cheerful, often exchanging humorous banter with Stella and lightening the mood. But as revealed in his secret scene with Fang in episode 4, he behaves like this in part because being a feminine trans man, he can't deal with people being uncomfortable around him, so he tries acting this way to put people at ease. But in doing so, he worries that nobody takes him seriously, especially regarding his gender and career ambitions.
• Guilty Gear: Axl Low, the sweet-hearted British time-traveller has very few ties with any of the characters or occurring conflicts of the story and is really just there to lighten the mood, between his banter with Sol Badguy and his flirting with I-no. His even lampshades this if he falls victim to Faust's Kanchou move.
• Love of Magic: Discussed; when trying to convince Dylan that he's not going to die, MC tells him that "Humorous sidekicks are immortal." However, Dylan isn't really an example himself; if anyone is, it's Molly.
• The Black Baron (stop starin') from MadWorld is an overly stereotypical pimp who acts as a living demonstration for all the minigames, and every moment he appears is a moment of hilarity. Even when it turns out he's the Final Boss, his reactions and stagger animations are so goofy that you can't help but laugh through all of it. His Anarchy Reigns counterpart The Blacker Baron reprises the role, and arguably fits it better since he's the walking moment of funny in a game that is usually quite serious, unlike Madworld which just a hilarious game all around.
• Mafia:
  • If it wasn't for Joe Barbaro, Mafia II would be an even darker game than it already is.
  • Due to his eccentric nature, John Donovan could be considered the comical relief of Mafia III.
• Mass Effect: Joker takes the role first as a Disabled Snarker but eventually becomes a straight example as he loosens up around the crew and learns he does not have to constantly prove himself like he did in flight school because of his disease. He becomes a Plucky Comic Relief character almost exclusively with only occasional moments of snarkiness by the second game.
• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code: Fubuki Clockford is a Cloudcuckoolander and a Clueless Detective who constantly says non-sequiturs because she's the token Idiot Hero of the main cast.
• Persona 4: Although Teddie is this, every other character in the Investigation Team fulfill this role at some point or another in the game. Yosuke also relates to this trope, although really more towards the beginning and before Character Development takes hold.
• Pillars of Eternity: Hiravias. With the possible exception of the Player Character, only Edér matches him in the frequency of the jokes. And while Edér's jests tend to be Gallows Humor or otherwise bleak, Hiravias' jokes tend to be dirty, lewd, and absurd.
• Portal 2 subverts this with Wheatley, a moronic personality core who escorts the player through the early areas of the game and, with your help, attempts to engineer a coup against GLaDOS. The subversion comes when Wheatley, upon successfully replacing GLaDOS in the Enrichment Center mainframe, goes into full A God Am I mode and becomes the Big Bad of the game. Portal 2 has fairly equal distribution of comedy, but Portal 1 arguably has GLaDOS carrying all the comic responsibility. However, this can probably be excused as she is the only speaking character.
• Princess Evangile: Konomi Yanase is pretty much the only main character who's scenes almost completely consist of comedic moments, with nary a tragic backstory or tearjerking moment in-between.
• Uncle from Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2, a drunken old man who often complains about his terminal lumbago.
• Spirit Hunter: NG: Maruhashi's ineffectualness combined with his earnest devotion to Seiji makes for some light-hearted moments. In the Kubitarou case, this makes his death all the more depressing.
• Since Divergent Character Evolution turned him into a Lovable Coward, Luigi tends to fill this role in the Super Mario Bros. games, especially in the Mario & Luigi series.
• Dion from Tears to Tiara 2, with his cowardness and every-failing quest to get girls.
• Telepath Tactics: Pungeon Master Gavrielle manages to remain chipper throughout the whole campaign even if her brother dies. (She doesn't take the death itself well, though).
• Undertale: While all characters are funny in their own right, Sans and Papyrus, two skeleton brothers and the main NPC's of Snowdin, are definitely the game's primary comic relief. They're constantly teasing eachother, the puzzles they set up all fail to stop you in hilarious ways, and Sans keeps making really bad puns, which Papyrus keeps getting annoyed at. But, given that Undertale is a Deconstructor Fleet, their funny personalities are likely just there to hide their personal issues. Papyrus uses his loud, confident personality to hide his low self-esteem, while Sans uses his jokey, laid-back demeanor to hide his depression. Also, doing a Genocide Run leads Papyrus to try and reform you with kindness, and Sans to give you the hardest bossfight in the entire game, during which he reveals his knowledge of timelines and your ability to save, load and reset.

Web Comics

• Homestuck's Wayward Vagabond. Ironic, when you consider his backstory.
  • Gamzee Makara is also this. Well, until he's not.
• Questionable Content: Pintsize (alone or teamed up with Winslow).
• Rain: Rudy Strongwell is the most overtly comedic member in the main cast and at first seems to be there just to provide the comic laughs with his sassy and energetic Camp Gay attitude. This is Deconstructed once we get to know more about him, as we find out that his humorous tendancies and jokes are really just a way for him to cope with being descriminated against by his parents and certain classmates for his sexuality.

Web Original

• Atop the Fourth Wall: The Movie: Linkara specifically assigns the role of "comic relief" to The Cinema Snob when he realizes that he has absolutely nothing for him to do onboard Comicron-1. The Snob takes to this quite well, spending most of the film getting into wacky antics and making light-hearted quips.
• DSBT InsaniT: Andy loves being the jokester of the group, and making jokes is pretty much all he does.
• Escape the Night: In the first season, which was generally Darker and Edgier then other seasons, Timothy and GloZell are a big source of comedy. In the first few episodes, GloZell was the main source, but after she Took a Level in Jerkass, Timothy took over the role.
• The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air): Julian the Janitor desperately wants to take on the role of a wacky, drop-in character in the eponymous radio Variety Show that broadcasts where he works. His engineered attempts to be Pushed in Front of the Audience don't help, as his personal Interactive Narrator points out:
  Julian: All those old radio shows like Jack Benny, they all had these crazy characters who'd come crashing in, and everybody would laugh, and...and applaud.
  Narrator: Yes, but those things were planned, those people were actors, they were-
  Julian: I know...funny.
• SMG4: While yes, this show is a comedy, with the recent Cerebus Syndrome the series has faced, Swag and Chris have been this, specifically in the Anime and Genesis arcs.
• A lot of them in the Whateley Universe. The junior high mages known as 'the three little witches', Go-Go (a speedster who used to go by 'Quickie' until she found out why everyone was laughing), Generator. Oh God, Generator. Wacky comic relief in other people's stories, horrifyingly effective hero in her own stories. There are school armbands that identify the pacifists (who won't fight back if they're bullied so you're supposed to leave them alone) and the Ultraviolents (Exactly What It Says on the Tin). Only Generator wears both. Not at the same time; that would be silly. She flips a coin every morning.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Sokka is this, while also being The Smart Guy and The Field Leader. Also, Momo's role is usually to lighten things up.
  • Bolin takes on this role in The Legend of Korra as well as being The Big Guy.
• The Fairly OddParents!: While it's hard to find a character who isn't comic relief, Cosmo is hands-down the most deserving of the title.
• Gravity Falls: Soos, on occasion. "Need an amiable sidekick?"
• Jane and the Dragon: Jester, because it is quite literally his job. As such, he can still be serious when he wants to.
• Justice League: The Flash. Considering his death sparked a totalitarian dictatorship in another universe and nearly caused the apocalypse in the regular one, his angstlessness plays a very important role in keeping the Justice League from going off the deep end.
• Kim Possible: Ron Stoppable, while also being one of The Heroes of the show, though he's typically in a sidekick role.
• Looney Tunes: In the classic cartoon "Drip-Along Daffy", Daffy Duck is the supposed western hero, while Porky Pig is explicitly called the "comedy relief", dressed in a Gabby-Hayes sidekick outfit. As is the standard, Porky is leagues more competent than Daffy, and ends up defeating the villain and being appointed sheriff. Meanwhile, Daffy goes into trash collecting.
  • Porky's character from Daffy's Duck Dodgers cartoon and series, Eager Young Space Cadet, is also supposed to be this.
• The Loud House: Luan basically invokes it. She is an aspiring comedian who is always cracking jokes.
• Storm Hawks: Out of the main cast, Finn's antics are the most likely to be Played for Laughs.
• Teen Titans (2003): Beast Boy. Oh-so-very-much. Now with 100% more lampshade!
  Beast Boy: [being dragged into the dark] What did I tell you? Funny guy goes fiiiiirst!
• Titan Maximum: Parodied, where it's stated that each military squad are required to consist of one of these. The one shown is woefully aware that he's unfunny since he originally just wanted a desk job.

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