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Basic Trope: The one character who perceives the world to be insane.

  • Straight: Brad Gunther's friends are an ADHD-afflicted school girl, a nerd dealing in haphazard experiments, a muscle-bound twit, and a loud, boisterous teenage beauty queen. All the while, he's the only one who seems to notice their antics are a little off-kilter.
  • Exaggerated:
  • Downplayed:
    • Brad is part of a duo, serving as the Straight Man to a Wise Guy.
    • Brad is a Ridiculously Average Guy in a group of Cloudcuckoolanders.
    • Only Sane by Comparison: Brad put in any other situation he'd be the weird guy, but with how the rest of the cast acts, he's the only sane man by default.
    • The friend group as a whole act as down to earth and/or mature people but Brad is the only one that hasn't succumbed to a Not So Above It All moment while the rest have done a few immature and/or crazy moments.
    • Brad, while usually the most "normal" guy in the group, still has his own baggage and issues that surface from time to time, it's just that he usually manages to handle them better than the others.
  • Justified:
    • His friends are trying to put on The Masquerade, and don't want him to blow it.
    • They weren't always this nuts; they became close friends when they were more normal, and Brad refused to leave them just because they started acting a bit weird.
    • Occasionally Brad finds his friends a little weird, but he's so afraid of being alone that it doesn't really matter to him.
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted:
  • Double Subverted:
    • ...But he's on to something.
    • But he only did so to keep from going crazy continuing to argue.
    • Or so he thought. He soon realizes they're still crazy, just in a different way.
  • Parodied:
    • Everyone but Brad has genuine psychiatric disorders; the ADHD schoolgirl is also an autistic cloudcackoolander who communicates through vague references, the nerd behaves like a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran (complete with references to being in 'nam, despite obviously being far too young for that), the musclebound twit speaks to the voices in his head, and the beauty queen is under the impression that the demons going around stabbing everyone "just need a hug". Brad only stays with them because he's in school to become a psychiatrist and thinks it's good practice.
    • Alternatively, Brad acts as the Only Sane Man to his split personalities, Bob and Ted.
  • Zig Zagged:
    • Brad is the Only Sane Man when the team is fighting crime, keeping his cool while his buddies panic. However, Laura (being the Token Female) is the Only Sane Woman when Ms. Fanservice walks past, sending all the guys, including Brad, into a frenzy. And when the group goes to see The Only Sane Men in concert, the baton is passed to Joe, as he's the only one in the gang who isn't hopelessly obsessed with the band.
    • Brad tries to serve as the Voice of Reason when it comes to more extremes matters, but has his Not So Above It All moments. However, whether his friends know it or not, he does display some of their antics whenever they're not around and out of touch with reality moments. But compared to them, he is more down-to-earth with reality.
  • Averted:
    • Everyone is portrayed to be relatively normal. Or at least two people.
    • Alternatively: Everyone is completely crazy.
  • Enforced:
    • "We need some sane person in this show; otherwise, no normal person would relate."
    • Alternatively: "We need to throw in a sane guy to highlight and to react to the insanity of the rest of the cast."
  • Lampshaded:
    • "It's like I'm the only normal person around here!"
    • "Please. If I wasn't around, who'd point out how dumb you were acting?"
  • Invoked: Brad tries to find some insane friends. So he can laugh at their wacky antics and make snarky remarks about them.
  • Exploited: Brad uses his insane friends to make himself look better by comparison.
  • Defied:
  • Discussed: "Brad, why on earth do you hang out with those weirdos?"
  • Conversed: "Is it me or is Brad the only normal person there?"
  • Deconstructed:
  • Reconstructed:

Back to Only Sane Man, before the rest of these nutcases infect you.

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