Characters who are oblivious to their own descriptions in Live-Action TV series.
- In 'Allo 'Allo!, very camp Camp Gay Lieutenant Gruber reads out the resistance's leaflet mocking the members of the German military staff. Present company includes Colonel von Strohm who is well-fed.Lieutenant Gruber: "We will show that fat pig colonel, and that queer lieutenant..." — whoever can that be?
- In The Andy Griffith Show, Barney overhears Andy and Aunt Bea talking about a particularly irritating Know-Nothing Know-It-All. They look horrified when Barney walks into the room, only for him to agree that people like that are annoying.
- Band of Brothers: After Lt. Spiers becomes the new CO of Easy Company, Lipton tells him that the men don't care about the rumors about him, they're just happy to have a real leader for the first time since Winters was promoted. Spiers tells Lipton that they did have one. This leader made sure the men were ready and in fighting shape, helped raise moral and discouraged anything that would hinder it. Lipton is confused and Spiers has to outright tell Lipton he is talking about him.
- Batman (1966): When a TV show host asks Batman and Robin if they know anyone unusual — namely someone who wears a costume, has a dual identity, or has a notable purpose — for him to interview, they say that Gotham City doesn't have anyone like that besides a few prison inmates, apologize for being unable to help, and go on their way.
- Best Friends Whenever: In the episode "When Shelby Met Cyd", Naldo doesn't realize that Shelby is describing him as Cyd's fourth-grade crush, including wearing hats and Cyd punching him in the arm to shush him.
- In a Birds of a Feather skit for Comic Relief, Tracy has hired two cleaners, who turn out to be French and Saunders doing near-perfect Sharon and Tracy impressions. Tracy's reaction to them is a contemptious "South Londoners!"
- In the Blackadder II episode "Beer", after Lord Percy has made several inept attempts at conversation with Lord and Lady Whiteadder (including "A vow of silence, now, that's quite an interesting thing. Tell me about it.") Lord Whiteadder complements Edmund on his jester. Percy looks round in confusion for the jester.
- Breaking Bad: In "Cat's in the Bag...", Skyler looks at Jesse's website, and sees "MILFs" listed among his "general interests".Skyler: MILFs? What the hell is a MILF?
- Doctor Who:
- "The Eleventh Hour": The newly-regenerated Eleventh Doctor witnesses the Monster of the Week transform into a perfect likeness of himself, and remarks "That's rubbish, who's that supposed to be?" Justified, as he doesn't know what he looks like at that point.
- "The Pandorica Opens": The Doctor tells us of the legend of the being trapped inside the Pandorica: "There was a goblin. Or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it — one day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world." The Doctor doesn't seem to realize that sounds exactly what his enemies would describe him as...
- A similar example to the above happens in "The God Complex", although it's Played With as at the end of the description, the Doctor pauses and realizes what happened and then adds "I wasn't talking about myself." (Or, the Minotaur clarifies that it wasn't talking about itself, and the Doctor only realises when he translates that bit.)
- "Deep Breath": The Doctor, prompted by Clara to describe the sort of person who places a cryptic ad in the paper as a lunch invitation, says such a person is an "egomaniac, needy game-player". Clara thinks he's describing himself, and is shocked to realise he thinks she placed the ad.
- "Twice Upon a Time": The First Doctor explains that one thing that factored into his leaving Gallifrey was to try and answer why good always prevailed over evil when, objectively, evil should typically win because Being Good Sucks. Bill Potts suggests the idea that it could be because of a single bloke running around, helping where he can and maintaining the good in the universe as a result. The Doctor dismisses this as a fairy tale.
- Frasier: Happens a lot:
- In Season 3's "Martin Does It His Way", Frasier is trying to write a eulogy for his despised late aunt that is both complimentary and sincere:Martin: Good luck! She was nothing but a crabby, tight-fisted old pain. All she ever did was sit around that house day after day watching TV. She kept that same old cruddy furniture all her life.
[He settles into his tattered armchair in front of the television, prompting a look from both Frasier and Niles.]
Martin: What? - In Season 6's "How To Bury A Millionaire":Daphne: You know, it's funny how much Eddie misses that bird of Dr. Crane's. This morning a pigeon landed on the terrace, Eddie jumped up excited, ran over and started barking at it!
Frasier: Oh, yes he does that all the time.
Daphne: No, no, this was a different sort of bark, like, "You're not my bird! Don't fly over here and get my hopes up like that, you're not my bird!" It was silly and sad at the same time, you know?
Frasier: Firsthand. - Also in Season 6's "Dr. Nora":Niles: I just finished his book on the victims of obsessive-compulsive disorder. [wiping down his chair] Poor, tic-ridden devils!
- In Season 3's "Martin Does It His Way", Frasier is trying to write a eulogy for his despised late aunt that is both complimentary and sincere:
- Friends:
- Monica's mother Judy constantly belittles or undermines everything Monica says and does. When Judy's own mother dies she starts talking about how often Nana criticised her while she was growing up but remains completely oblivious to the fact that she's now treating Monica the exact same way.Judy: Do you know what it's like to grow up with someone who who is critical of every single thing you say?
Monica: (Beat) I can imagine.
Judy: I'm telling you, it's a wonder your mother turned out to be the positive, life-affirming person that she is.
Monica: That is a wonder.- Judy seems to have caught on to this at the end of the episode, when she stops herself from criticizing Monica and compliments her instead, much to her visible relief. Damn shame she couldn't have remembered that lesson for the rest of the show...
- Rachel starts dating a guy named Russ, who is an exact duplicate of Ross. Not only does Ross not see the resemblance, but he also starts going on about all his annoying habits, not realizing that they apply to him too.Ross: And it takes him, what, like, like, I don't know, uh, hello, a week to get out a sentence?
Chandler: Yeah, it's annoying, isn't it?
Ross: [after hesitating for a long while] ...Yeah!
- Monica's mother Judy constantly belittles or undermines everything Monica says and does. When Judy's own mother dies she starts talking about how often Nana criticised her while she was growing up but remains completely oblivious to the fact that she's now treating Monica the exact same way.
- In Full House, Stephanie gripes about having to work with the class Jerkass on a project and DJ tells her that sometimes people can seem annoying at first, but once you get to know them you discover their other, better sides. She's clearly referring to Kimmy, but Kimmy demands to know if DJ has any other friends she's not telling her about.
- In Game of Thrones, a protester claims the King is being manipulated by a "twisted demon monkey". The crowd laughs, and Tyrion is amused by the protester's imagination until Bronn points out that Tyrion is the monkey.
- In one episode of The Golden Girls, the girls learn that their new neighbors are jewel fences and decide to help the cops capture them by going to their place for dinner and planting a bug. After they return home, they all take turns eavesdropping on the criminals:Rose: (wearing scarlet) They keep talking about "the bubblehead in the red dress"—could that be code?
- The Good Place: In a long group conversation with Michael, Eleanor describes herself, Chidi, Tahani and Jason as, respectively, "an Arizona dirtbag, a human turtleneck, a narcissistic monster, and literally the dumbest person I've ever met." Jason then looks around expectantly and asks "...And who am I? Describe me now!"
- House of the Dragon:
- Daemon Targaryen, younger brother of King Viserys Targaryen, calls Otto Hightower a second son, grasping for power since he won't inherit anything. This despite that he's also a second son whose been angsting about his place in succession.Daemon: I see Otto Hightower for what he is. [...] A second son who stands to inherit nothing he doesn't seize for himself.
- Viserys proposed a match between his daughter Rhaenyra and Jason Lannister.Rhaenyra: He's arrogant and self-serious.
Viserys: Well, I thought you might have that in common.
- Daemon Targaryen, younger brother of King Viserys Targaryen, calls Otto Hightower a second son, grasping for power since he won't inherit anything. This despite that he's also a second son whose been angsting about his place in succession.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Mac and Dennis are trying to gently kick Charlie off their team. Charlie describes himself as the team wildcard, and they point out that a wildcard isn't really a good thing, and that their team really doesn't need a third member who just gets in the way and makes random decisions. Charlie enthusiastically agrees that they should kick that guy off the team, whoever he is.
- The Muppet Show: In the Spike Milligan episode, an entire segment consists of Milligan alternately doing wacky, incoherent things and inflicting slapstick on the newscaster. At the end of it:Newscaster: A newsman was attacked today by a mad English comic!
Milligan: Really? We must go and find him! (knocks the newscaster unconscious with a hammer and runs off) - Played for extreme laughs in the episode "Lost And Found" of NCIS, when the team is responsible for a 12 year old boy who is, in every respect, a miniature version of Tony, a fact that is screamingly obvious to everyone except Tony.
- From The Office (US):
- Phyllis is flashed by a pervert in the parking lot. Pam is asked to draw up a description of the man in order to make wanted posters; she blows it off and just draws Dwight with a mustache instead and asks him to put the posters up. Dwight does so enthusiastically, even mentioning happily that he wants the "pervert" to be caught.
- Michael, after being put off by Andy's weird behavior, says of him, "I don't understand how someone can have so little self-awareness."
- After finding half a joint in the parking lot, Dwight starts interrogating the other employees, beginning with Kevin:Dwight: Let's go over some symptoms of marijuana use, shall we? You tell me who this sounds like. Slow moving. Inattentive. Dull. Constantly snacking. Shows a lack of motivation.
[Long pause]
Kevin: ...heeeeeey...
- Psych: In one episode, Shawn and Gus are hanging at a playground in an attempt to covertly interview some nannies. After a while, Buzz shows up and awkwardly informs them that the police got a call about “two creepy dudes” loitering at the playground. It takes them a minute to get the hint.Gus: Really? I haven’t seen anything, but I’ll keep my eyes open.
Shawn: We’ve just been here hanging out in bushes. - A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017): Mr. Poe unironically talks about how his book about Count Olaf features various "well-meaning but ineffectual authority figures who help him intentionally or unintentionally along the way."
- In Sherlock there's a variation in that the description is of what effect his actions had:Mycroft: The terrorist cells have been informed that we know about the bomb. We can't fool them now. We've lost everything. One fragment of one e-mail, and months and years of planning... finished.
Sherlock: [to self] Your MOD man.
Mycroft: That's all it takes. One lonely, naïve man, desperate to show off. And a woman clever enough to make him feel special.
Sherlock: You should screen your defence people more carefully.
Mycroft: I'm not talking about the MOD man, Sherlock, I'm talking about you! - Star Trek: The Original Series: In "Shore Leave", Captain Kirk initially decides to stay on the ship. Spock tells him about an unnamed member of the crew who refuses to take rest time even though his performance and demeanor are being impaired by stress and fatigue. Kirk orders that this crewman will go on shore leave, only for Spock to reveal that he's describing Kirk himself.
- In Veep, Selina blames President Hughes's failed presidency on his chief of staff and senior strategist, who she describes as a "burnt-out loser" and "conniving robot," respectively. Her own staff, burnt-out loser Mike and conniving robot Dan, nod quickly and agree.
- In The Wire, it's subverted when detective Jimmy McNulty is at the FBI getting a profile on the "serial murderer" that he faked all the evidence for that basically describes McNulty himself to perfection. He's visibly unnerved by the accuracy of the description but makes an effort to hide it.
