Web Video / Dhar Mann

"We're not just telling stories, we're changing lives!"

Dhar Mann is a YouTube channel founded by the American entrepreneur of the same name that is among the top 100 rated channels on aggregator Social Blade, with some 6 billion views as of the end of 2021.

The main content of the channel is a series of five to fifteen minute short films produced by the appropriately-named Dhar Mann Studios. Described by the New York Times as "timely narratives about police-calling Karens and COVID-19 hoarders told in the fashion of 1980s after-school specials," the videos are mainly simple moral tales meant to impart a moral lesson on the viewer — at least ostensibly. As the Mann himself says at the end of every video: "we're not just telling stories, we're changing lives!".

His channel can be reached here.

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Troper ADDS AN EXAMPLE TO THIS PAGE, They Live To Regret It:

• A Birthday, Not a Break: Some of the videos have the main character have a birthday coming up, only to do something that not only gets them in trouble but also ruins their birthday (I.E. Kid Steals Mom's Card for Roblox and Kid Changes his Grades by Hacking).
• Absurdly Divided School: In some videos. We have the normal "popular vs. unpopular" and "rich vs. poor" plots, but a couple of videos separates the students by their age (i.e., "cool sophomores" don't want to associate with "loser freshmen").
• Abusive Parents: Emotionally abusive parents have been the villains of a few videos, with one video focusing on a father learning about the effect his past physical abuse of his daughter has affected her. Videos about adopted children will often have parental abuse appear in their backstory.
• Adults Are Useless: Often appears in the videos featuring school bullies, with the teachers either never being around to witness the bullying or barely doing anything to stop it.
• Aesop Amnesia: Usually not present, but regular child character Mikey seems to forget the lesson he's taught in every video, even if it's referenced that he'll get caught again. It's usually regarding trying to get out of something school-related. And it seems this quality has rubbed off onto many other people: Mikey's friend Jay, notorious pranksters Frank "The Prankster" and Ken, Babysitter from Hell Kristen...
  • Another recurring character, Nelson, falls into this. In the video "TikToker Uses Nerd for Views", Nelson seemingly forgets the lesson he learned during his debut episode "Nerd throws a Party Behind Parents' Back" where he turns on his best friend to get popular.
• The Alcoholic: As can be expected with any Dhar Mann villains, but the most notable example is Tara in "Entitled Influencer gets canceled." She is an Instagram Influencer whose content covers beauty products. However, she soon develops a drinking problem to the point of bragging about her personal life on social media and badmouthing some of her sponsers to which even one of them was starting to get annoyed with her antics. Although her viewership and following declined, it doesn't stop her from constantly posting drunk stories on Instagram. It's only after her boyfriend leaves her and she gets evicted that she finally turns her life around and decides to get a job and quit drinking.
• Alliterative Name: The insults most of the bully characters give the nerd or unpopular characters are usually this. Examples include Dorky Dave, Nerdy Nelson, Noah the Nerd, Beth the Bum, Bald Beth, Leon the Loser, Homeless Heather, Goodwill Gordon, Jordan the Janitor, and Four Eyes Fawaz.
• All There in the Script: Some characters' names are never mentioned in the episode, only revealed in the credits.
• Alpha Bitch: A very common villain type in Dhar Mann videos. If a Dhar Mann video is set in a high school, expect one to appear, usually with a Girl Posse by her side.
• Always Someone Better: The main premise of "Nerd Cheats To Win School Valedictorian". The titular nerd, Emily, tries to outsmart her rival Julie by hindering her chances of passing classes and even frames her for plagiarism. Emily gets caught in the end and of course doesn't graduate.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Big Bro Has To Say Yes for 48 Hours. Prior to taking the final exam, Mikey takes another photo of the answer sheet (after Jayden made him delete the other one) and refuses to delete it for his brother's sake. He Graduates but whether he actually got away with cheating or had second thoughts about cheating and deleted the photo is never explained. (though during the graduation, two students had to return their diplomas for cheating one of whom was another Mike)
  • Male Patient Humiliates Female Doctor. Whether Bob Cook actually survived his potentially fatal surgery with Dr. Williams (who has never done surgery before in his life and is a bit clumsy) is never revealed as the video ends before he is proceeded on.
• Anti-Education Mama: One Dhar Mann episode puts a racial spin on this trope.
  (Scene: Elliot sees his son Jerome doing his homework at the dinner table).
  Elliot: You listenin' to white people's business again?
  Jerome: I'm just trying to learn, is all.
  Elliot: Learning is going to get you strung up on a tree.
  Elliot's wife: Elliot! Please, now.
  Elliot: Do you know what's going on in Mississippi right now? Same thing can happen here!
  Elliot: Son, you're a smart boy, but you're the wrong colour.
  Jerome: A black man can't be a banker?
  Elliot: A black man can't even be a man right now! It's just the way it is with our kind.

[[/folder]]

• As Himself: Aside from a few instances where he played a character, if Dhar Mann appears in a video, expect him to do this. Also always done for the collaborators who are featured in the videos they appear in.
  • The Dhar Mann actors themselves have done this in a few videos as well.
• Babysitter from Hell: Recurring character Kristen an antagonist in a couple stories fits this character type perfectly. In her first appearance alone, she knowingly broke the house rules that were told to her, cheated on two guys she brought over to the house, didn't let the boy she was looking after eat anything, took away his iPad, bought drugs with the money that was given to her to buy food and also drank alcohol at the house.
• Bad Boss: A common villain type on Dhar Mann, usually in the form of bosses who frequently demean one of their employees (the protagonist) and mocks them for their dreams of wanting to pursue another career or own their own business/company.
• Be Yourself: What Mr. Feast learns to do after he decides to not copy Mr. Beast at the end of "Mr. Feast Runs Out Of Money."
• Big Brother Bully: Appears as the villain of a few videos. Dhar Mann regular Sophia Chicorelli Verna has played the gender-inverted version of this trope in "Sister Ashamed of her Disabled Brother" and "Big Sister Hates Her Little Sister."
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Isaiah from "Kids Pick On 11 Year-Old Genius Kid" initially does a good job in masking his true, volatile personality and sinister business from everyone but Ashley and Jerry, the latter of whom is ultimately the one that brings him down.
  • The rather smug con woman Delaney from "Pregnant Lady Kicked Out Of House" poses as a homeless pregnant woman named Emily to trick others into letting her bunk with them and freeload as much as possible, where Krista (one of her victims) learns too late about her true colors. Fortunately, she and her detective friend Jamie ensure that Krista is her last victim.
• Black-and-White Morality: The protagonists are generally soft-hearted paragons, the antagonists are usually belligerent bullies who harass them at every turn until they're reduced in status to the point of groveling to the protagonists for mercy and favors, which are always granted.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad:
  • Subverted in "Controlling Girlfriend Gets Dumped." Raji (the titular girlfriend) sets up her father Samir to be this trope while preparing to introduce her boyfriend John to him. It initially appears he will be this when he seems to object to John calling him by his first name... only for Samir to reveal he's joking. He then turns out to be a perfectly reasonable man, with his geniality even inspiring John to finally stand up to Raji.
  • Played straight in some episodes, such as with Nicole's father from "Employee Fakes Death To Skip Work", who angrily tells the titular employee Jacob to stay away from his daughter after the latter's lies were revealed to them, and then firing him immediately after.
• Brand X (or Bland-Name Product): The Dhar Mann name is occasionally fictitiously used for several media services including TV sports, movie studios, and so on.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Elliot from "Mean Lady Destroys Gender Reveal." He's introduced playing in the kitchen despite being told to stay out of there so the caterers could work and later blackmails Patty (the titular lady/the main caterer) into giving him the money she got for her services in exchange for keeping quiet about her popping the balloon that was meant to be used for the gender reveal event. He also notably stays quiet as Patty blames her innocent employee Tamika for ruining the party and publicly berates and fires her, only telling the truth once his grandmother and mother were already onto Patty's lies. Interestingly, he never gets punished for any of this.
• The Bully: What the protagonists will inevitably come up against; adults, teenagers and/or kids who will happily disparage, harass or threaten them. In fact, one character named Billy was outright referred to as "Bully" in his two episodes.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Mikey... No matter how bad the deed he does is, he is always tailed by a large amount of Laser-Guided Karma, such as losing thanks to outside interferences ("Student CHEATS On His EXAM", "Kid FAKES SICK NOTE to Skip Class"), falling victim to a terrifying prank to get scared straight ("Kid FAKES ALLERGIC REACTION")...
  • Kristen from "Evil House Sitter Destroys Home", as well, considering how she still lost despite all the fixings she tried to do.
  • Benny from "Kid Won't Show Mom Report Card", got grounded, scolded in front of a teacher, and got his crush stolen by his little brother all on the same day.
• Call-Back: In "Kid Flattens Mom's Tire To Skip Test", Jay's brother Isaac says "don't you remember what happened when Mikey tried that?" which is calling back to "Kid Fakes Sick To Skip Class", where recurring character and Jay's best friend Mikey tried to fake sick to skip one of his tests at school.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Thanks to the Arc Words of "What Happens In The Dark, Always Comes To Light," any secrets, lies, or naughty behaviors by anyone, especially if it's a particularly bad one, is ALWAYS going to be revealed and exposed to everyone in the end, one way or another. Regardless if they're an antagonist or not.
  • Unless, you're Elliot from "Mean Lady Destroys Gender Reveal" that is... then blackmailing someone and later exposing them for kicks might as well be easy to get away with (although his target is at fault for giving into his demands due to her perfectionism instead of just explaining things to his parents).
• The Cameo: Many YouTube and Twitch stars have made appearances in Dhar Mann's videos, such as SSSniperWolf and FaZe Rug.
• Celebrity Paradox: The videos acknowledge the existence of Dhar Mann and his channel in-universe, with the protagonists often being fans and wearing merchandise such as shirts and hats.
• Character Catchphrase: Loads and loads among videos, including:
  • "That's what I thought!" (after the opponent cannot speak)
  • "Save it!" (when not wanting to hear anything from them)
  • "You see..." (before exposition), coupled with "So you see..." (at the end)
  • "So what's it going to be?" (Usually to a villain who has the choice of either righting their wrongs or being punished)
  • "(As) a wise person once told me... (insert lesson)"
  • Signing Off Catchphrase by the Mann himself: "Hey Dhar Mann fam, so you see, we're not just telling stories, we're changing lives! And when you share my videos, you're helping to change lives too!"
• Cheater Gets Cheated On:
  • Gold Digger Dumps Broke Boyfriend, Then Regrets Her Decision | Dhar Mann: Bella is frustrated at her boyfriend, John, for being poor, so she carries out an affair with a rich man, Estephan, who spoils her with fancy gifts. John is heartbroken when she reveals this while rejecting his marriage proposal. Bella believes that her and Estephan are meant to be, but months later, she catches him cheating on her with another girl.
  • Husband Abandons Overweight Wife, Then Lives to Regret The Decision He Made | Dhar Mann: Jesse abandons his wife, Vanessa, for being overweight, and cheats on her with one of his clients at his gym job. When Jesse catches his new girl being intimate with another man, he spirals into depression and starts binge eating, ironically becoming obese himself.
  • Husband Gets Side Chick Pregnant, What Wife Does Will Shock You | Dhar Mann: Brandon and his wife, Jamie, are unable to have children. Jamie frequently blames herself for it and laments that she will never be a mother. Brandon then admits to getting another woman, Liza, pregnant, saying that he can't be with someone who is infertile. When Brandon and Liza's baby is born, a DNA test confirms that he isn't Brandon's child — which means all along, it was Brandon who was infertile, not Jamie. Two years later, Brandon happens to run into Jamie, who has since moved on and is pregnant by her new partner.
  • Gold Digger Cheats On Husband With Boss, She Lives To Regret Her Decision | Dhar Mann: Leanne cheats on her husband, Mark, with his boss, Scott. Her rationale for this when he finds out is that Scott is wealthier and can buy her more material objects, like shoes and purses, that she desires. Later, Leanne catches Scott being intimate with another woman, and becomes distraught.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Dhar Mann's videos that focus around an antagonist cheating on a test or some other kind of schoolwork invariably carry this message. It's explored with particular frequency during the Mikey arcs.
• Chekhov's Gun: 11-Year-Old Arrested At School. Jay's mouse trap and toy snake he used to scare his principal and steal his permanent records ends up Becoming instrumental in stopping a robbery at a diner.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Nina from "Jealous Girl Accuses Guy of Flirting" is this towards her boyfriend Kyle.
• Contrived Coincidence: Appears in plenty of videos, often in the form of a loved one of the villain experiencing the exact same kind of harassment they were just inflicting on the protagonist or because of sheer coincidence causing a Villain Protagonist's scheme to fall apart on them.
• Cool Big Bro: Owen, Mikey's older brother, attempts to be this.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In "Older Bro Blackmails His Sister", the siblings' mother outright tells them near the end about how the two could've avoided the whole drama of the episode had they both been honest with her about their bad test grades instead of resorting to hiding them and using blackmail.
• Cranky Landlord: If a character lives in a cheap apartment, don't be surprised to learn that they have money problems, barely pay rent, have a dickish landlord, you know the usual.
• Darker and Edgier: Dhar Mann's first feature film, "Girl Finds Out She's Adopted," could be considered this in comparison to his other videos. The drama is much more visceral than his regular videos and the story comes as close to realistically depicting drug abuse as a Dhar Mann video has ever come.
• Dawson Casting: invokedThe premise of "Adult Wants To Stay As a Kid Forever", with former child star Brent Jacobson having been playing the 10-year-old protagonist of the show "My Dog Ate My Homework" from 12 to 18 years old. After the show is cancelled, he tries to invoke this by auditioning for child roles, but ends up getting rejected every time until he eventually realizes he needs to branch out and becomes more of a teen actor.
• Demoted to Extra: SSSniperWolf usually had large appearances in the videos with her name in the title, but in her appearance in "Spoiled Girl Demands Car for Birthday", she only had two lines of dialogue in total and didn't effect the plot at all even though her name was still used in the title.
• Department of Child Disservices: Averted in "Teacher Kicks Mom Out of School." When Mrs. Thompson calls CPS on young guardian Quinn, you might suspect the social worker will be as quick to judge as Emmy's teacher and decide Quinn is unfit to raise the girl. Instead, she proves to be completely reasonable, telling Mrs. Thompson that Quinn is taking great care of Emmy and that her case will likely be closed quickly.
  • Played straight in "Teacher CALLS Child Services On BAD PARENT" where the social worker straight up assumes that Bobby and Ocean helping Ernest in the garden is manual labor, twisting Ernest's words in a bad way by claiming that "just starting" to have income means no income at all and automatically assuming that Ocean stirring a pot of mac and cheese is dangerous even though the fire was out.
• Dirty Cop: Cole from "Cop Plants Drugs on Innocent Man," who plants a dangerous drug on a homeless man to reap the benefits and try and get a promotion. It's also later revealed that he's the kingpin they were looking for.
• Dirty Coward: Various antagonists in the videos show themselves to be this, such as the ones who immediately take off when the police arrive, leaving behind the protagonist (or deuteragonist in some cases) to take the fall for their actions.
• Does Not Like Spam: Derek, a spoiled rich kid in a video about him not tipping a pizza boy, despises pineapple on pizza, up to the point to calling people that like it sociopaths.
• A Dog Ate My Homework: The famous excuse is the main plot of "KID Says DOG ATE His HOMEWORK, He Lives To Regret It", where Dakota lies that his dog devoured his homework, with him then faking a fainting for good measure. Naturally, the inevitable ensues once he's found out via Batman Gambit.
• Downer Ending: If an antagonist is also the main focus of an episode, or a protagonist happens to do at least one wrong thing, expect everything to go downhill for them once they get caught. Various Villain Protagonists, chiefly Mikey, have learned this the hard way.
  • One notable straightforward example is "Dorky Kid Gets Revenge On Hot Guy". The main character Chase tries to get the lead role in a school play by pretending to date the female lead Julie under his friends' advice, while also dealing with his gold digging girlfriend Madison and his father's wishes for him to play baseball instead. Over the video, Chase actually begins to legitimately bond with and develop feelings for Julie as she helps him with his acting, but it all comes crashing down on opening night when his friends end up spilling the beans about him using her to get into the show, leaving her upset and heartbroken. Chase tries to apologize and confess his feelings for her on-stage but she just furiously walks away. In the end, Chase tries one last time to apologize (and also reveals he finally broke up with Madison) but Julie still doesn't forgive him and even shares the news that he is out of the play.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty:
  • The new teacher, Mr. Smiley, in "Kid Makes Teacher Quit Job" is an example of one, complete with military music playing every time he's on screen.
  • Sergeant Stokes from "Mom Sends Bad Kid to Military School" is also this, and unlike Mr. Smiley, is an actual drill sergeant.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The earliest videos were more experimental in format, mixing the now-famous scripted episodes with videos that simply involved Dhar Mann himself giving an inspirational speech, sometimes accompanied by animation or stock footage. Early video titles were also often statements directed at the viewer rather than a description of the video's inciting incident, which is easily observable as some of these old videos have received updated thumbnails with new titles that reflect the current format. For examples, "If Someone Broke Your Trust, Watch This" is now "Guy Breaks Girl's Trust From Lying", while "This Poor Woman Is Trying To See Her Daughter On Her Birthday" is now "Man Upset At Doctor For Being Late".
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Almost, all the episodes end this way, if the main character isn't a naughty kid/teenager or a jerkass.
  • However, if an antagonist (who's also the main character) does end up changing the error of their ways and learns their lesson by the end, then they'll possibly get a happy ending as well.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • The protagonist that kidnaps a dog because she really wants it is rewarded with a free puppy from the kidnapped dog's owners.
  • This is sometimes the fate of Dhar Mann villains, regardless of how horrifically nasty they were to the protagonist prior to this, though is averted in other videos.
  • Nelson after easily betraying his friends to be popular twice, is easily forgiven by Kent, despite so easily turning on him just to be popular and unlike his first appearance, doesn't have the excuse of being pressured to turn on his friend. A little amount of fame is enough to have Nelson switch over badly. Even saying "I don't need you" to Kent, despite this the latter still forgives him.
• Easily-Overheard Conversation: Subverted whenever it involves the villain talking to their friend about whatever scheme they're pulling off even when people are either standing around or passing by without stopping to even listen. Played straight in other videos when the plot demands it most.
• Edutainment Show: The series starts out as a typical life lessons channel, only to delve into this eventually when sitcom and soap opera-like elements begin to appear, alongside a Continuity of sorts, when characters from past videos start appearing in more than one episode. Furthermore, the episodes are progressively getting longer as well.
  • At this point, the series could now pass off as a Dramedy web series with life lessons elements.
• Embarrassing First Name: Mr. Feast's first name was revealed to be Timmy.
• Everyone Has Standards: Jerry from "Kids Pick On 11-Year-Old Genius Kid" may be a Jerk Jock willing to beat up an 11-year-old for embarrassing him, but he rejects his friends' offer to help him cheat in order to raise his GPA enough to play in the upcoming ball game and later turns Isaiah in for running the cheating business.
• Extreme Doormat: Dhar Mann villains will often repeatedly target their harassment victims or even go out of their way to be mean to them. More times than not, though, their victims will put up little resistance and make no real attempt to retaliate or call them out.
  • Sometimes, though, the victims will actually seek their own revenge later on against their attackers, especially if it's a prankster that's messing with them.
• False Reassurance: After Devon is made new shop manager of Chris' Car Repairs over him, Leroy threatens to quit unless he's made manager himself. The owner tells him that it wouldn't be necessary. Due to how he tried to scam a customer, namely his daughter and shop's namesake, he tells him he's fired.
• Fan Boy:
  • Many videos have the character proclaiming Dhar Mann as their idol.
  • In one video, the main character's Black Best Friend, Eliza, is seen with Marvel posters on the inside of her locker door. The specific issues are Marvel's Voices and Spiderman Double Trouble.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: One of these often appear as the antagonists of videos where the protagonist is dissuaded or shamed for aspiring to follow an unconventional career path. Interestingly, this trope is more often seen in its gender-inverted form. More times than not, these stories conclude with the parent having a Heel–Face Turn.
• Female Misogynist: The villains of Dhar Mann's anti-sexism videos are sometimes female. The mother from "Mom Forces Girl to Play with Barbies" is a famous example, with others including Principal Adams from "Student is Suspended for Dress Code" and the mother from "Mom Won't Let Girl Be a Mechanic."
• Fostering for Profit: The villain of "Evil Foster Care Mother Mistreats Kid" is very upfront about how she only became a foster parent for the money. She frankly tells her foster daughter Rayna so and even admits it to her social worker.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In "Kids Pick on 11-Year-Old Genius Kid," the Isaiah's Academic Services flyer lists "Cheating Tips From Real Experts," "Join a Network of Cheaters" and "Tips on Sneaking Out of Class."
• Freudian Excuse: Some villains act nasty because of problems in their own lives, such as having a loved one suffering from a deadly ailment or having self esteem issues. At the end, they end up changing their ways after they either receive the help they need or someone sympathizes with them.
• Gainax Ending: "Kids Rob a Toy Store on Christmas" ends with Noah and Sophie being magically teleported out of the orphanage by their friend and aspiring magician, Linus.
• Gamer Chick: The recurring character Sam AKA PsychoMantis, who first has to overcome pressure from her mother and the local school bully who both contend that "girls can't be gamers." She becomes a successful streamer alongside her idol SSSniperWolf.
• Gay Aesop: Has been the subject of a few videos since Dhar Mann decided to create LGBTQ+ content.
• "Gender-Normative Parent" Plot: Has appeared as the plot for a few videos. "Mom Forces Girl to Play with Barbies" is the most well-known example. "Kids Make Fun of Boy Ballerina" could be described as a condensed version of Billy Elliot (this trope's former namesake).
• Gene Hunting: In Dhar Mann's first feature film, "Girl Finds Out She's Adopted," the titular girl (Sabrina) starts searching for her biological parents after learning she was adopted. She's able to track them both down, but is heartbroken to learn that her father is in prison, her mother is a drug addict living in a grimy apartment, and neither of them really want anything to do with her.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In one video, the main character is seen talking to someone named "CockRockBoy" on Discord. So much for those claims of his videos being "family-friendly". To be fair, there are several videos with family-unfriendly moments, with videos that have a great amount of bloodshed, visible puke, feces, and mature themes such as drug abuse and child abuse, things that even a PG-13 rating wouldn’t allow, and this is even before the channel started releasing videos that are explicitly labeled as being PG-13. It seems that the only thing that will give a video a PG-13 rating is if it has at least two of those aforementioned things.
• Gold Digger: Several villains are people that will date someone rich just for an easy pass in life or date someone and demand expensive gifts without putting in any work in life. It often ends badly for them in the long run, as their greed and shallowness end up going too far.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Every Dhar Mann video involving pregnancy thus far has consistently depicted abortion in a negative light, with pregnant characters being horrified at the very mention of it and those who suggest/demand they have one being portrayed as thoroughly awful people.
• Good Parents: A lot of protagonists whose parents aren't the antagonists have loving parents that try and help them with whatever problem the video is about.
• Graying Morality: Subtle at first, but as the series goes on many of the heroes start making bad decisions themselves and/or actually take revenge on their harassers instead of being a doormat. Also, some of the villains and bullies are shown to have some conscience or manners, or are merely just naughty kids, who can sometimes be well-behaved.
  • The students in the school either laugh and join in on the victims being bullied or defend them against the villains. Sometimes, they do both in the very same episode.
• Gross Gum Gag: In "Thief Steals From the Wrong Guy," one of the thief's many karmic punishments is that he steps on a recently chewed wad of gum, a payback for having stolen a pack of gum earlier in the story. The camera cuts to a shot of it stuck to his shoe to emphasize how gross it is.
• Halfway Plot Switch: "Kids Makes Fun of Boy Ballerina" is initially Dhar Mann's take on Billy Elliot (a boy aspires to be a ballet dancer, much to the chagrin of his father) before the son being bullied by an Alpha Bitch auditioning for the same ballet troupe becomes the focus of the video.
• Hate Sink: Several antagonists are completely insufferable with no redeeming qualities; they never change their ways and only exist to cause conflict and make the audience root for whomever they're antagonizing.
  • One example would be a sleazy boss who tries to sexually harass and seduce his young assistant, only for the boss to get arrested, lose everything, and the assistant to get back at him with his own words.
  • Tina in "Single Mom is Shamed By Soccer Mom" is a good example. When the single mother explains why her son doesn't have a father in his life, she responds by laughing in her face and continues to insist the child will amount to nothing without a father. By the end of the video, even after the single mom's son has scored the winning goal in the soccer game and won the school speech competition, Tina never apologizes.
  • Coach Toolan in "Gymnast forced to starve herself" is a coach of a gymnastics team where the only goal in her mind is to score first place. She treats Emma like garbage and forces her and the other girls to literally eat NOTHING. Toolan even scolds them (especially Emma) for gaining even the slightest of weight from so much as a banana and forces them to do extra exercises for good measure, not giving a damn about their health. Toolan even threatens Emma by having her scholarship revoked when she protests that it's against her doctor's orders. When Emma relents, Toolan responds with a sadistic "Atta girl". It isn't until the end when she gets her Just Desserts from one of the showcase judges who will report her to her superiors. As for Toolan's team, they join the opposing team (with a coach who actually cares for their well-being) to get something to eat.
  • Gertrude Renee in "Teacher rejects disabled artist" is an art teacher who constantly belittles her students and often dismisses Donny's Parkinson's disease as him doing a poor job at art. She is also implied to be very ignorant of her son's passion for basketball and couldn't care less even when he made MVP. When she tries to sell one of her paintings in an art gallery, Donny accidentally spills sauce on it, causing Renee to expel both him and Frida while still insulting the former's disease. Even when Donny becomes successful thanks to his style of art, Renee never apologizes and still dismisses his talent. She later gets fired thanks to her poor treatment of her students and her terrible ratings.
  • Trey in "Businessman Won't Serve to Lesbians" is a bakery who is known to be homophic towards the LGBTQ couples. He treats Kristen like dirt and has a strong hatred and dismissive views towards the other women. Trey verbally abuses Kristen for supporting the LGBTQ community and even threatens to fire her from the bakery (although the latter states that she quits). Later on, Trey's business went downhill due to his homophobia. He still helds a grudge towards the couples and his attitude remains the same, not even caring that his business went down. He later quits his job and possibly became homeless due to his poor treatment towards the couples.
  • Garrett's Parents in "17-Year Old Billionaire Gets Bullied" are a rich couple that absolutely regretted giving birth to their son and always choose their own hobbies over him with the mother even blaming Garret for ruining her modeling career. They even indirectly nearly drive him to suicide (in which he changes his mind out of fear). When he comes home after his suicide attempt, they're more annoyed at the fact that he even came home rather than being concerned where he is. Even when Garrett manages to make friends at the end and turn his life around, his parents never apologize and, while surprised that he has friends, still don't care about this change.
  • Eva in "Evil Stepmom Mistreats Her Stepdaughter" is the abusive and overbearing stepmother of Lizzie Rossi, who she forces to do chores around the house and work a no-pay job at her father's own restaurant with no break while also favoring her two biological daughters over Lizzie, leaving her at their mercy a lot of the time. This isn't even mentioning her workplace abuse and her absolutely sadistic punishment of Lizzie simply because she went to the masquerade with a boy both her daughters liked. However, her worst action yet was when it was revealed that she deliberately hid Lizzie's dad's will from her just so she could take over Dharla's (the restaurant) and even ripping up the will in an attempt to cover up the evidence before her arrest.
  • Alastor Emerson in "Dad Favors One Son Over The Others" is a father of three who tries to raise his sons into fighting champions just because he failed to become one when he was younger and absolutely takes no nonsense from any member of his family, even his wife who is also scared of him. He pushed his son Gabriel so hard to the point where he straight up refused to go to the hospital despite coughing up blood out of fear that Alastor would think lesser of him, leading to his death. He also dismisses Tristan's passion for music and even smashes his guitar during Gabriel's funeral and later berating him for not being a fighter like his other two sons, leading Tristan to kill himself from overdosing on painkillers. Even during both son's funerals, Alastor shows no remorse for their deaths, worried more about the lost futures they set up rather than their deaths and even forbids his wife and remaining son, Marcus from crying, stating "Emersons don't cry". During Marcus's next game, when he gets knocked down, he thinks back on both of his brothers lives and knocks down his opponent and beats him up in hopes of getting disqualified to spite his father as revenge. While being scolded, Marcus, finally having enough of his father's delusions of fame, stands up to him and finally renounces his passion for fighting, intending to live a new life with his girlfriend Harley and has two young boys. Even ten years later, Alastor still thinks Marcus is being too soft on his two sons and still thinks they should become sports stars, showing that after all that time, he still hasn't learned his lesson.
• Heel–Face Turn: Some of the antagonists at the end of the videos, often via a one-minute speech on the protagonist's backstory.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: in "Kids Laugh At Boy With No Friends," the bully mercilessly makes fun of an outcast child who is unable to find a partner for a class presentation about friendship, only to end up without a partner of his own.
• Hollywood Law: Omnipresent. LegalEagle, a real lawyer, discusses one particularly ridiculous series of examples from "Prosecutor Sends Innocent Black Man to Jail" here.
  • The trial is held without a jury, which is unusual for a criminal felony case (it would require that the defendant waive his constitutional right to be tried by a jury, which doesn't often happen). It also makes no sense, given that a jury of 12 peers gives Robert a far higher chance of getting a fair verdict. The judge also has the power to simply declare the verdict at an arbitrary time. In reality, they can only do this at the end of the case, after both sides have presented evidence and made closing statements. The video leaves it unclear when it's happening or what's going on exactly (no witnesses are shown, it's just the prosecutor, defendant and judge talking).
  • Robert spoke out of turn numerous times without the judge reprimanding him, when the defendant(s) are only allowed to speak when on the witness stand. If the defendant is not on the stand and wants to make an objection, they must speak to their lawyer and let the lawyer make it for them.
  • The defence attorney is absurdly incompetent to the point where he would likely qualify as negligent. The two main sticking points are that he couldn't find any evidence (which the assistant DA doesn't have a hard time doing when he isn't even obligated to do so) despite the simplicity of the case, and his client's perfect alibi (being in another state at the time of the crime at a ball game), and that he only objects to the prosecutor's blatant racism (something that should be grounds for a mistrial) after the assistant DA brings his evidence to the judge. The client would have the grounds to sue his lawyer for ineffective assistance of counsel given how his guilty verdict is virtually entirely because of his lawyer's uselessness, and this would also be grounds for appeal (the verdict in such a case would likely be reversed due to that alone, though it can be a high bar). A Real Life judge, aware of this, would likely rebuke his lawyer and arrange to have a competent one appointed, knowing its reversible (judges don't like their rulings reversed).
    • Robert is shown to have used his credit card in LA, which the prosecutor has but the defense somehow doesn’t. This is outright ridiculous considering that this would probably be the first piece of evidence Robert’s attorney would have looked for to defend him.
  • The prosecutor is motivated to get a guilty verdict at all costs because he is gunning for a promotion, despite the case (assault with a deadly weapon) being about as mundane as felonies go and would likely not get any recognition that would be useful for a promotion.
  • The prosecutor calls himself "DA Graham" and also have an assistant, suggesting he is a First Assistant District Attorney. It's very unlikely the District Attorney would try any cases personally, let alone such a minor case like assault with a deadly weapon (that's what Assistant District Attorneys do). This makes it unclear what position he's looking for too, if he's the District Attorney (governor maybe)? In any case a "promotion" at that point would require him being elected, which again winning the very minor case here wouldn't do.
  • The sentencing hearing is the day after the trial, something that would be very unlikely today due to the size of court backlogs.
  • The subpoena for the LA video evidence would expose many other people to the evidence, making it much harder for the DA to try and cover it up (a Brady violation, which in this context would also likely be grounds for the conviction to be overturned). While an unfortunate reality that it is all too easy for a prosecutor to find evidence and bury it, the prosecutor’s assistant collects a virtual mountain of exculpatory evidence and argues with him to turn it over rather than simply notifying the defense attorney or sending the evidence their way. An assistant DA likely wouldn't have easy access to facial recognition either. He also wouldn't be able to get it so fast (nor the LA videos overall), as this is shown to happen the same day or the next after the conviction.
  • The crime is portrayed as a federal one carrying a 25-year minimum sentence. Assault with a deadly weapon here would really be a state crime, which in Philadelphia carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, with a more typical sentence for a first time offender being less than 6 years. Even if this were a federal case (like attacking a federal employee), assault with a deadly weapon carries 20 years maximum in the US Code.
  • Vacating the conviction would require a far more formal process than what is portrayed in the video. Also, the judge improperly claims the charges are "dropped" here (which implies before a verdict is given).
  • When his scheme is uncovered, the judge has the prosecutor arrested on the spot for obstruction of justice. In the real world, the matter would likely instead be referred to the prosecutor's bar council, with criminal discovery done later if he was found to have committed any crimes, not just ethical misconduct, which could see him get disbarred (a briefly seen news article near the end says he was jailed).
• How We Got Here: Some videos start off like this whether the traditional way by starting in the middle and rewinding back a few hours or so (I.E. From Drug Addict to Billion Dollar Empire) or in the form of a "So You See" Flashback (I.E. Mean Girls Leak Teen's Diary In School and Evil Mom Gets The Custody Of The Child).
• Humiliation Conga: The antagonists at the end of every video where they don't change their ways end up suffering.
• Informed Ability:
  • Allison Day is described as a famous TikToker that is very talented and full of creative ideas. However, when shown her ways of creating videos, most of her content is average at best.
  • Similarly, Kent from "TikToker Uses Nerd For Views" is repeatedly hailed as a "comedic genius," even though every TikTok video we see him and his friend Nelson make is a variant of the same unfunny joke.
  • Divya from "Straight "A" Student Drops Out Of College" is described as a very talented comedian, but most of the jokes we see her make seem rather generic or feel like inside jokes of some sort.
  • Krissy from "Singer Fat Shamed by Producer" is hailed as an incredibly gifted singer, to the point where she even ends up winning an award. But from what we hear of her through her initial audition, her voice is actually rather pitchy. It almost feels like they made her no-talent counterpart Jesse Hollywood Tone-Deaf in order to make Krissy look better by comparison.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Most of Dhar Mann's videos about disabilities have this tone to them. It's usually the non-disabled people around them that takes action when people discriminates against them and rarely the disabled people themselves.
• Insufferable Genius: Isaiah from "Kids Pick On 11-Year-Old Genius Kid". He's an eleven-year-old high school student who is condescending towards his classmate Jerry and even his own teacher. He's ultimately humbled after Jerry exposes him for the cheating business he's running.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Sam/Psycho Mantis is friends with the 29-year-old SSSniperWolf, who acts as a sort of mentor to her. While their interactions are meant to be seen as charming, some of them, such as them being at dinner together, come off as more creepy than intended.
• Jerkass: The villains of the videos are always insufferable to an extreme degree. And some continue to be antagonistic until they receive their comeuppance.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • The titular boss from "Evil Boss Mistreats his Worker." While he's definitely a jerk for degrading Benny's ambitions, he's not without reason to be upset at Benny. He was showing a co-worker one of his videos while on the job and mouthed off to his boss when he was told to get back to work.
  • While he was being needlessly mean to Ali, Brandon in "Shy Kid Gets Humiliated At School" did make some good points that would actually help him become a gamer, such as having a good personality and actually playing games on camera if he wants to make videos and become successful. Since it was only after gaining the confidence to start livestreaming his games that Ali sees any success, the story inadvertently proves Brandon's harsh criticisms right.
  • While Kimmy's mother in "Mom Puts One Child Over Other" is wrong to harshly dismiss her artist aspirations without giving them a chance, she is right that her daughter should make some more time for schoolwork, as Kimmy's barely passing grades could severely limit her options if her desired career choice doesn't pan out. However, the fact that the mother doesn't actually do anything to help Kimmy in school except berate her and try to bar her from working on her designs undermines this.
• Jerk Jock: Several of them have been the antagonists of videos. Usually, they play football.
• Lack of Empathy: A quality often seen in Dhar Mann antagonists, often in regards to them scoffing at the protagonist's tragic backstory or their upset response to being harassed by the antagonist.
  • Miss Karen from "Teacher Accuses Student of Doing Drugs" is a notable example due to how the video doesn't really address this aspect of her character. Upon suspecting despondent student Marcus of doing drugs, her reaction is to scold and humiliate him in front of the entire class rather than offer any support or ask that he seek out help. Even if she had been right about Marcus doing drugs, her cruel treatment of Marcus is exactly how a teacher shouldn't respond to finding out a student has a drug problem. There's also her rather dismissive response to being told about Marcus's father having recently abandoned him.
• Large Ham:
  • Katherine Norland sometimes plays sympathetic or background characters, but she really goes all-in when she portrays evil "Karens".
  • If Michael Vaccaro plays a role in a video, expect him to be the most over-the-top out of the entire cast, especially when he's playing a villain.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The antagonists that don't have a Heel–Face Turn at the end will always be punished for their crimes. Some examples include getting fired for discriminating against someone, getting in trouble at school for cheating, or getting arrested for trying to scam the wrong person.
• Lazy Bum: Several antagonists are this, refusing to get a job or help around the house for loved ones. However, they normally turn things around when they're forced to do some work and start to change their ways. A recurring character named Mikey is a lazy kid who always tries to cheat through school and would rather play video games all the time.
• Liar Revealed: This channel uses this trope to death. So much so that it would hog up the entire page.
• Love Triangle: Occasionally appears as a main conflict from time to time throughout the series. This usually ends with the Love Interest obviously choosing the protagonists. Examples include:
  • Carly and Jessica vying for Lucas's attention in "Girl Fakes Who She Is For A Guy." This results in Carly copying Jessica's girly mannerisms despite her being a tomboy because she believes that's what Lucas wants, when he clearly likes her for who she is.
  • Frank and Blake competing over who has the most TikTok followers in order to impress Lisa before asking her to the school's upcoming dance in "TikToker Risks Life For Views". This culminates in both being hospitalized near the end of the episode. Lisa ultimately chooses Frank, as unlike Blake, he gets his act together.
• Loving Details: A common theme in videos about romantic relationships is that being attentive enough to know your partner's likes and interests proves your love for them. This is especially prominent in Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor situations, where the Rich Suitor will just spend money on their partner to show off while the Poor Suitor actually takes care to know what they want.
• Mall Santa: A man named Chris plays one in "Elf Backstabs Santa Claus".
• Manchild: Brent, the titular man from "Adult Wants To Stay As a Kid Forever", who is an 18-year-old man who wants to act like he's 10 years old all the time, due to the success of his TV shows when he was 10 years old.
• Negative Continuity: No video seems to be following any sort of Continuity or practically any universe. Even ones that follow a certain character such as Mikey and Jay have events that come and go and sometimes never get mentioned again such as when Mikey pulled the fire alarm and got arrested. He does get arrested later on though that serves a point in an arc.
• Never Trust a Title: While not to the same degree as the copycat channels imitating him, some of the titles on Dhar Mann's videos don't accurately reflect the stories.
  • "Girl Forces Sister Not To Speak" is the biggest example of this. The actual story is about the titular girl wanting to have a pet so she proves so by pet-sitting her friend's guinea pig, only it backfires because she was too irresponsible for it. The title, in a way, only comes into play halfway through the episode when she loses said pet, and forces her sister not to tell their mom about it, but not to completely stop talking though. And even then she wasn't as harsh when telling her sister to keep quiet like the title implies, merely reminding her the rules of the Sister Code to convince her not to.
  • "Chef Kicks Out Homeless Customer" is another big example. Giovanni is not a chef, he's only the owner, and he never actually kicks the supposedly homeless man out of his restaurant, he only says that if the person he thought was the health inspector wasn't there, he would've kicked him out.
  • Similarly, there's "Boss Fires Autistic Employee." While the manager of the restaurant does try to convince the owner to fire Carson under the belief that he's unfit to work there because of his disability, he never goes through with it and is never even established as being in a position to do so.
  • Ironically, "Angry Coach Threatens to Cut Player" has the inverse problem. The coach in question actually goes through with cutting Trent and Michael from the team. Furthermore, his decision isn't based in anger, but is instead a cold business decision.
  • You'd think "Teacher Kicks Mom Out of School" was about a teacher getting a pregnant teen or a teenage mother kicked out of school. Instead, it's about a teacher shaming and calling CPS on one of her student's 21-year-old guardian on the basis of thinking she's too young to be fit to raise a child. Plus, the "mom" part is inaccurate due to Quinn being Emmy's sister, having taken guardianship of her after their father died. The closest the title gets to being accurate is when Mrs. Thompson aggressively dismisses Quinn after the two get into a fight over Quinn bringing Emmy fast food for a field trip.
  • "Kids Pick On 11-Year-Old Genius Kid" makes it sound as if Isaiah (the titular kid) were the victim of repeated bullying by his peers. In truth, he's only ever hassled by Jerry, whose friends even stop him from beating up Isaiah in retaliation for humiliating him in class. Somewhat averted with the video's original title, "Teen Fights 11-Year-Old Genius Kid." What's more, Isaiah is ultimately the antagonist of the video, seeing as how he charges struggling students money to help them cheat in their classes and attempted to throw Jerry under the bus after he turned him in to the principal.
  • "Pregnant Lady Kicked Out Of House" follows the above example as well: the "pregnant lady" in question is actually a freeloading con artist who manipulates the real protagonist Krista into letting her stay with her and causing as much trouble as possible.
  • "Guy Uses Plus Sized Girl For Cash" has the titular guy, Jack, use his rich girlfriend Angela for her money, with her body type not factoring into the plot beyond Jack and his friends making some crude remarks about Angela's weight.
  • "Rich Girl Rejects Skater Boy" makes it sound like the titular girl is a Rich Bitch who rejects a skater for being poor when the girl actually likes him and it's her friends and boyfriend who are discouraging her from talking to the skater.
  • In "TikTok Famous Teen Kicked Out of Club," Allison Day is stated to be 21 years old, despite the title referring to her as a teen.
  • While the title for "Daughter Won't Listen to Parents" is technically accurate, it makes it seem like the video will be about a Bratty Teenage Daughter giving her parents trouble and learning a lesson in the end. Instead, it's about an aspiring teenage contortionist (played by real-life contortionist Sofie Dossi) auditioning for America's Got Talent despite her parents forbidding her from doing so—ostensibly because she has a test that same day, but mostly because they don't approve of her career ambitions.
  • "Evil Grandma Takes Kids from Parents" seems like it'll be about alcoholic grandmother Jenny kidnapping her granddaughters after their parents decide she can't see them anymore because of her addiction. In reality, Jenny is a tertiary character at best, with the true kidnapper is Mary, Kayla and Berkeley's paternal grandmother. What's more, she didn't kidnap them so much as bring them to her house to make them a meal after being repeatedly barred from seeing them by their mother.
  • Occasionally, some Dhar Mann videos are initially uploaded with a false title that is only later updated to a more accurate one. "Kid Fakes Fainting to Skip Test", for instance, doesn't even involve a test. The titular kid, Dakota, pretends to faint to avoid having to do litter duty, but the main plotline of the video revolves around him lying that his dog ate his homework, wherein his mother and professional vets pretend that that was actually the case and the dog needs life-or-death surgery. The video has since been renamed with the more accurate title "Kid Says Dog Ate His Homework".
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer for "Teacher with Dwarfism is Made Fun Of" makes it appear the main conflict will be the titular teacher being bullied by her unruly students. While the kids do make a few mildly disparaging remarks about Daisy when she first arrives, they quickly warm up to her. Her main harasser of the video is fellow teacher Sally, who mostly criticizes her for her unconventional teaching methods rather than for her height.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The chef in "Famous Chef Catches Cook Cheating On Show" is clearly based on Gordon Ramsay.
• No Ending: Kid Flattens Tire To Skip Test ends with Jay and his mother and brother making it to school where the schedule was changed since everyone was late due to an accident on the freeway and Jay's mother's car getting a flat tire blocked the only way to school. Jay's teacher then reached for the pliers that Jay used to flatten the tire. His mother angrily yells his name, but the video abruptly ends before she can even give him a piece of her mind.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Shown at the end of "Kid Completes 100 Dares in 24 Hours, What Happens Is Shocking." Bruno nearly gives Nate a beating for what Nate did to him and his parents, but goes after Colin instead after finding out that Colin persuaded Nate to do those things to Bruno and his parents.
• Not Me This Time: In "Streamer Pranked on Live Stream," Jayden and his friends immediately think Mikey is responsible for sabotaging their chances of winning a Minecraft competition. However, Mikey is quickly able to prove his innocence and helps Jayden unmask the true culprit: Hannah. It still doesn't give him a completely happy ending though.
• Perpetual Smiler: Dhar Mann almost always has the exact same smile on his face, whether he's playing a character or giving the video's outro.
• Phony Psychic: Oliver in "Kid Gets First PlayStation 6," who scams his classmates after calling out his mom for having been "scammed" by a psychic in the mall. He makes "predictions" based on his own lies, random sights, and things he has heard the principal say; forging his classmate Justin's handwriting to a girl, faking an A on another classmate's test when he actually got a D, and ordering pizza with his mom's credit card (and forging her signature). He's eventually exposed and made to refund all his victims, while his brother Teddy is rewarded with the titular console.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The antagonists in many earlier videos, such as the duology about parents adopting children of a different race.
• Product Placement: Not often, but it sometimes happens. Usually through things like people wearing Dhar Mann merch or using his app. In one video, an advertisement for Dhar Mann's wife's Tik Tok was shown.
• Post-Support Regret: Jay usually goes along with, helps, and supports Mikey's schemes whenever they're together. However, by "Streamer Gets Caught Cheating", he starts to wonder why he (and their friend Derek) even hang out with Mikey in the first place and actively refuses to get involved. Especially after they find out about Mikey using Jayden's gaming skills for views and fame from the same episode. The many number of times Jay got in trouble from following Mikey's advice definitely helps.
• Pushover Parents: If a Dhar Mann video centers around a spoiled child, expect their parent/parents to be this. It takes the kids doing something blatantly wrong in front of them for the parent(s) to wise up (if ever).
• Rags to Riches: A stock plot in the videos, usually complemented by...
• Riches to Rags: The default fate of the jerkasses who looked down upon the protagonists.
• Ripped from the Headlines:
  • The events of Prosecutor Sends Innocent Black Man To Jail, Lives To Regret It | Dhar Mann is based on the Real Life case of Juan Catalan. Catalan, who was accused of murder, couldn't back up his alibi of being at a Dodger game and was arrested. His lawyer learned that Curb Your Enthusiasm was filming that day^note Specifically, scenes for Season 4 Episode 6: "The Car Pool Lane". and requested the B-roll footage. It proved that his client was at the game and led to a dismissal of all charges. Netflix has a documentary on the incident, Long Shot (2017).
  • "Movie Star Slaps Host at Award Show" is a direct reference to when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars that had taken place months prior.
• Reverse Cerebus Syndrome: Later episodes have a lot more comedic moments and scenes to it compared to the videos in the past. This is especially seen in videos involving the character Mikey or whenever actor Shaun Dixon has a lead role in one. To a lesser extent, the prank topic videos have an undertone of comedy as well. That being said, the series still continues to tackle serious topics and themes and have emotional storylines embedded into it.
• Rule of Three: Sometimes used. Usually the antagonist will object to three things the protagonist does which will then lead to narration from Dhar Mann himself where the protagonist turns their life around.
• The Runaway:
  • "14-Year-Old Runs Away From Home" has Sarah attempt to do this to get away from her parents' strict rules, only to change her mind later on after another girl who also ran away from home tells Sarah about her experiences while living on the streets, making Sarah realise that it's not as good as it sounds.
  • Brandon from "Son Rejects Adopted Brother" also makes plans to run away after finding out about his parents' plans to adopt a child. He changes his mind after an old friend who has a new adopted brother tells him how the experience isn't as terrible as he thinks it would be, and can actually be quite fun.
  • Dhar Mann's feature film "Girl Finds Out She's Adopted" focuses on a girl named Sabrina who runs away from home after finding out she's adopted, intent on finding her birth parents and living with them from now on. But after finding out that her father is in prison and that her mother is a drug addict who wants nothing to do with her, Sabrina changes her mind and goes back to her adoptive parents.
• Running Gag: Mikey is always trying to find new ways to get out of doing a test.
• Sadist Teacher: A couple have appeared as Dhar Mann villains.
  • One noteworthy example would be the titular teacher from "P.E. Teacher Fat Shames a Student," who openly body shames Gordon and encourages his other students to do the same.
  • There's also been a sadist principal in "Student is Suspended for Dress Code".
• Self-Deprecation: Dhar has joked about himself and the reception of his videos sometimes. One notable video is where he had one of his actors make fun of his speech impediment and other minor things like bad acting, editing and so on.
• Scary Black Man: Mr Smiley is the opposite of his name in every single way. He is a Sadist Teacher who if someone even pulls a harmless prank on him he acts with violence and even makes them do hundreds of laps for hours straight!
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: In "Older Bro Blackmails His Sister", the plot is that both siblings have failed their tests and try to hide them from their mother so they can go to a concert with, as the title suggests, the older brother blackmailing his sister. It turns out in the end that everyone in their class ended up failing because the teachers accidentally made the test too hard and passed everyone by default, rendering everything that happened meaningless.
• Shout-Out: In "Teen Caught Sneaking Into A Party", when Peter Disguises himself as DJ Crazy Train to get into the titular party, and getting off a call with his crush Ariel (while still disguised as DJ Crazy Train), he dances to what looks like the Bully Maguire dance.
• Stalker with a Crush: Andy and Jennifer from "Jealous Guy Stalks Ex Girlfriend" and "Crazy Ex Kidnaps New Girlfriend", respectively, qualify as this.
• Stalker without a Crush: Mrs. Brownell from "Students Break Into The School" spends the episode stalking three of her students out of a belief that they're plotting to deface the school as part of a senior prank. Despite being exposed in the end, said students aren't perturbed at all by Mrs. Brownell's obsessive attempt to get them into trouble (even trying to have them arrested after they showed they weren't up to anything criminal) and the principal doesn't give her a word of reprimand for her unprofessional behavior.
• Social Services Does Not Exist: In "Mom Uses Child For Followers," Kathy is exposed for using her daughter Mandy for social media fame after some bystanders record her shaming a crying Mandy into doing a Tik Tok dance. Despite the video later on going viral, social services never comes to investigate what the average CPS agent would see as a case of child abuse.
• Supporting Protagonist: Some of the later episodes shine more focus to the antagonists themselves than the heroes.
• Surprisingly Happy Ending: "Kids Ruin Mom's Job Interview" seems to be a typical ending for Mikey as he's getting punished for ruining his mom's titular interview and had just found out that his best friend Jay's moving to a new school, separating the two anyway. However, his mom ends up getting and passing a second interview and he ends up moving into the same school as Jay, with the two happily reconnecting in the end.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: From "Principal Suspends Smart Student": Just because you have a Freudian Excuse for your actions, doesn't mean that you can get away unpunished.
• Take That, Critics!: Dhar has produced several videos depicting critics of his videos as jerkass trolls, both via fictional proxies and by directly using clips from various YouTubers in said videos.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After several videos of Mikey getting punished, "Kid Sneaks Candy Into Movie Theater" ends with him about to enjoy a movie with Dhar Mann while his brother Owen, the real antagonist, bears the brunt of Laser-Guided Karma. That Mikey was the relatively reasonable one for once (he kept trying to convince Owen to give up their scheme before they could get caught) helped.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: One video focuses on this subject. A short guy's girlfriend leaves him because his height is embarrassing, and he later partners with an even taller woman who doesn't mind it, because "it's what's on the inside that counts." The fact that he happens to be very rich by then while his ex is destitute probably helps.
  • A few months later, another video was released exploring the same trope, only gender inverted: a short guy dumps his tall girlfriend due to having a problem with her height. For the most part, the story plays out the same as that of the first video.
• Toilet Humour:
  • The roommate prankster episode featuring Ben Azelart opens up with Azelart's character pranking one of his roommates by putting Nutella and Nesquik in the toilet, freaking her out.
  • The "Roommate Won't Buy Groceries", episode ends with the protagonist getting back at her lazy roommate by putting laxatives in the orange juice as one of the ways to teach them a lesson. This gives the roommate horrible diarrhea. To top it off, she seemingly didn't bother to buy toilet paper for a good measure.
    • Funnily enough, Mair Mulroney stars in both episodes.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: In her first few videos, Allison Day (a famous TikTok star in the Dhar Mann universe/Addison Rae expy) is depicted as a driven and relatively smart young woman. But in the 2-part video "Guy Uses TikToker for Followers," Allison suddenly becomes too naïve and lovestruck to realize her old high school crush Kevin is just using her to get online fame. The fact that Kevin makes his intentions ridiculously transparent makes Allison look even dumber for taking so long to realize it.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Frank from "TikTok Prankster Goes Too Far, He Instantly Regrets It", tying into Aesop Amnesia. While he was a jerk in his debut, it's implied he had respect for authority figures, as he limits his pranks to a group of students and is horrified when Principal Steven inadvertently falls for one of his pranks^note which was arranged by his angry victims as payback. That's not the case by his second appearance, where he happily targets anyone within his vicinity, student or not, with his new accomplice Blake, as Mrs. Jay and the above-mentioned principal learned the hard way.
  • Priya's mom from "Indian Girl Told She's Too Dark Skinned" is very supportive of her daughter acting in a play and encourages her. However, in the pair's next appearance in "Mom Forces Daughter To Marry Rich," her mom is shown inexplicably not supportive of her new app-making idea and as the title states, forces her into dating a coworker's son because he's rich and she wants her to be a more traditional Indian girl. She comes around once Priya successfully proves her point by becoming rich and successful from her app. In hindsight, Priya's mom preventing her from accepting a date with one of her play co-stars in "Indian Girl Told She's Too Dark Skinned" could've been intended as Foreshadowing.
  • Mikey in "Kid Fakes Broken Arm to Skip Test" where its shown that his influence caused Jay to be a copy of him, and when Jay gets in trouble laughs at his friend being scolded and drug away by his mom. Granted Mikey also gets punished. This is subverted later in "Streamer Gets Caught Cheating" where he actively tries to talk Mikey out of his latest scheme, to of course, no avail. This continues in "Kid Pulls Fire Alarm to Skip Test," which sees Mikey's troublemaking segue into him committing an actual crime.
  • Nelson in "TikToker Uses Nerd for Views" because he easily betrays his friend to be popular again and is a lot more far gone when he is.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As of "Streamer is Caught Cheating," Mikey's friend Jay has become more mature and has started calling Mikey out on his schemes as opposed to going along with them like he did before. He even goes as far to question his friendship with him. In "Kid Pulls Fire Alarm to Skip Test," Jay even notes how he's regretful of the previous schemes he did under Mikey's influence.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Mikey is this to Jay, as the former encourages the latter to skip school, and fake a broken arm to get out of a test in two episodes. Both are also shown bullying Jay's younger brother at the beginning of the latter episode. Subverted after "Streamer is Caught Cheating," as Jay has begun shifting from encouraging/replicating Mikey's behavior to attempting to dissuade him from continuing with his troublemaking ways.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Not for one specific character, but spaghetti seems to show up in a lot of the videos.
  • Donuts, and to a lesser extent, hot dogs show up as plot points in multiple episodes as well.
  • Cupcakes are slowly becoming a popular food to use in later storylines.
• Trauma Conga Line: Maya, the titular birth mom from "Adopted Girl Meets Birth Mom," is revealed to have gone through this as a result of getting pregnant as a teenager. First, she's forced to leave school, with her last day seeing her be mocked by her classmates and harshly judged by an unsympathetic teacher. Then, she's further criticized by her mother before the woman disowns her, forcing Maya to walk home and saying she doesn't care if she ends up homeless. Then, she goes to her boyfriend desperately pleading for help and a place to stay, only to find out he's cheating on her and wants nothing to do with her or their unborn child. This all motivates her to make the difficult decision of giving her daughter up for adoption.
• Turn the Other Cheek: The preferred method of many Dhar Mann protagonists for dealing with harassment or prejudice.
• The Unfavorite: Kimmy compared to her sister Michelle in "Mom Puts One Child Over Other". The latter is praised by their mom for having good grades while the former is degraded for not doing well in school and is told to not bother with her artist dreams.^note Come to think of it, that would explain some her meanness in the Valentine's Day episode alongside Raji.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The antagonists of the videos with the message "you should appreciate what you have". A lot of the time, they are either spoiled children shown rejecting a gift to emphasize how spoiled they are or bosses not appreciating what their employees do and firing them, only to have it blow up in their face later on.
• Useless Bystander Parent: If a video's antagonist is a parent who isn't single, they'll often have a partner who objects to their rotten behavior, only to do little to nothing to actually put a stop to said behavior. The father from "Mom Uses Child For Followers" is an egregious example. While he tells his wife Kathy not to force their daughter to do Tik Tok videos, she goes about doing so anyways and makes no secret of it. Rather than intervene, he simply sits back and lets Kathy continue to exploit their daughter, only giving her a talking-to after she's already been exposed online for mistreating her daughter.
• Villain Protagonist: A lot of later episodes have the antagonists as the main characters themselves. Though, some of them are merely naughty kids or teenagers, with only a few being adults. Some examples include the videos focusing on Mikey and/or Jay, Kristen (from "Evil House Sitter Destroys Home"), Derek (from "Rich Kid Won't Tip Pizza Boy"), and Tasha (from "Spoiled Girl Keeps Disobeying The Law") and Madison (from "Rich Girl Mistreats Roommate").
• We Used to Be Friends: Zara and Libby from "Student Destroys Girl's Dress" were stated to be friends in the past, with Libby insulting Zara's designs repeatedly throughout the episode. This causes Zara to think that Libby's purposely sabotaging her dress for the competition.
  • In the end, it's revealed that Zara's other friend Sloane was the one sabotaging her all along due to jealousy. Thus, after realizing Libby wouldn't go that far, the two become friends again after Zara offers Libby the prize money to help with her financial issues.
• Wham Line: In "Handyman Tries to Scam Woman", the dishonest handyman desperately tries to explain how or why bacon grease got in the drain. At first, we think that Marge, the homeowner, is at fault, knowing how grease tends to clog drains. However, she soon tells the handyman, "This is a vegetarian household", putting the entire video in a new perspective and revealing the handyman's dishonesty.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Bella from "Instagram Influencer Gets Exposed" is last seen walking away with her visibly abusive sugar daddy, with the couple who witnessed the man screaming at Bella doing nothing to help her. But since the video's message is about one of the woman's Instagram followers learning not to believe everything she sees online and appreciate everything she does have with her loving boyfriend, there's no follow-up on what becomes of her.
  • Now recurring character Nelson's friend Arthur from "Nerd Throws Party Behind Parents Back" is never mentioned or notified in either of Nelson's recurring appearances "Nerds Get Revenge on Bullies" and "TikToker Uses Nerd for Views" respectively. With the latter being especially jarring as Nelson apparently has a new best friend and Arthur is seemingly just thrown away despite it being the same character as before. Not helping in that it feels like a separate story entirely featuring the same character, inconsistent with some of Dhar Mann's other recurring characters.
  • Jayden, Mikey's younger brother has been absent and not mentioned in any videos with Mikey past "Student with Tourettes is Made Fun of" in "Kid Fakes Note to Skip test" he is replaced, and afterwards the focus is on Jay and Mikey. Though Instagram would reveal this is a case of Real Life Writes the Plot, as the actor was busy with life and obvious scheduling conflicts. Subverted later, as Jayden finally returns in "Streamer Gets Caught Cheating".
  • Isaac, Jay's younger brother hasn't been seen or mentioned since "Kid Fakes Broken Arm to Skip Test".
  • Derek, Jay and Mikey's best friend as of the new series Jay & Mikey. He is replaced by Noah, their new apparent best friend who was never seen prior, and isn't seen or mentioned by anyone. It could be explained that because of the events of "Kids Cheat Mr. Beast for $10000 Dollars" where Mikey screws Derek over by not letting him take part in going to see Dhar Mann and Mr. Beast that he stopped associating with them entirely, especially as both Jay and Mikey were willing to split the prize without him. Derek also became rich as of that video, so it is likely he moved away (he is shown to be closer to Jay so he might still hang out with him, only time will tell).
  • Eddie, Mikey's friend and rival has never been seen or mentioned after "Kid Steals The First Ever PLAYSTATION 6, He Lives To Regret It". Although he was sent to Juvenile for stealing a PS 6, it may seem possible that he was suspended or either transferred to another school.
  • Blake, Frank's best friend. He is replaced by Hunter who was never seen or mentioned. It may be possible that he got suspended, expelled or switch schools. There might be a possible chance that Blake and Frank would both reunite, but time will soon tell.
• Would Hurt a Child: Jerry from "Kids Pick On 11-Year-Old Genius Kid" is ready to beat up 11-year-old Isaiah for humiliating him in class. It's only because of his friends holding him back that he doesn't.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
  • Kristen attempts this in “Evil Babysitter Mistreats Kid”. It would have worked had Elijah not recorded everything on his smart watch, and she ends up fired and arrested.
  • Angela from “Gold Digger sues Her Rich Husband” also attempts this in an effort to steal all of her husband's money in their divorce. Had his lawyer not shown up at the last second, Angela would’ve won.
• White-Dwarf Starlet: Brent, from "Adult wants to stay as a Kid Forever"; gained major stardom from the 2 TV shows he starred on, and believes that he's still a great star at 18 years old.
• Whole-Plot Reference: There are plenty of Dhar Mann videos where the plot is a basic rehash of the story of another popular piece of media. Examples include:
  • "Nerd Shames Girl's Bad Grammar" (Legally Blonde)
  • "Rival Gangs Face Off in School" (The Karate Kid/Cobra Kai)
  • "Dad Dresses as Nanny to See His Kids" (Mrs. Doubtfire)
  • "Adult Must Go Back to 5th Grade" (Billy Madison)
  • "Kid is Left Home Alone on Christmas" (Home Alone)
  • "Spoiled Kid Won't Sit in Economy" (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)
  • "Rich Man Can't Stand Christmas" (A Christmas Carol)
  • STUDENTS Find Out Teacher Is KUNG FU MASTER, What Happens Next Is Shocking (Big Brother (2018))
  • Poor Siblings SHARE SHOES for SCHOOL, What Happens Next Is Shocking (Children of Heaven)
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Twofold. Hooray! Kristen finally got the mess cleaned up and the damages repaired in "Evil House Sitter Destroys Home, What Happens Is Shocking". Too bad one of the partygoers showed up just after she got paid and inadvertently ratted her out, resulting in the couple she was house-sitting for revoking her pay and kicking her out, ruining her chance for a trip to Mexico. Luckily, the dude offers her his ex-girlfriend's spot... which he ruins by throwing up on the plane due to tequila, resulting in both of them being ejected from the flight.
  • In "Girls Get Revenge On Prankster", after Gwen and Kaitlin use his scam tricks against him, costing Eddie his essay, and admitting to his mom about failing class, it seems that Eddie has learned his lesson after all those setbacks and would be still able to enjoy his upcoming birthday at Universal Studios. Unfortunately, his teacher comes in and exposes him to his mom for copying a classmate's homework, who is then revealed to have snitched on him as the teacher also reveals to her about his schemes and pranks that he's been doing throughout the episode. As a result, Eddie gets grounded and scolded, and is no longer able to do anything on his birthday, having to now spend it locked up in his room.
  • In "Kid Makes Teacher Quit Job", Elliot finally learns his lesson after having to endure Mr. Smiley as a substitute teacher, makes up with and gets tutoring lessons with Mr. Jasper, and gets an "A" on his test, excited to show his mom the grades. Unfortunately, he still gets in trouble for pranking Mr. Smiley, and gets grounded and dragged by the ear by his mom while other students laugh at him. Interestingly enough, both Elliot and Eddie from the above video are portrayed by the same actor.
• You Are Fat: Many a Dhar Mann video has centered on an anti-fat shaming message. Inverted in the case of a video focusing on a model being shamed by a photographer for being too skinny.

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"Hey Dhar Mann fam, so you see, we're not just adding tropes, we're ruining lives!"