"Funny Aneurysm" Moment cleanup

True. I think it was because the CEO ran out of money or something.

Sorry to barge in. I just found this thread and thought on checking some examples myself in the Western Animation page. But I don't know if I should just cut them right away, or run them here first.

• Sponge Bob
  • One episode, SpongeBob shouts "Holy Oil Spill!" as Mermaid Man's rivals appear. ^note For those who don't understand, in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon incident, the largest oil spill in history, killed 11 workers, cost BP over $4 billion, and caused massive harm to nature in the surrounding area. (Maybe an example, although oil Spills have always been a problem for the enviroment, I don't see any relation with this specific one.)
  • In an earlier episode where SpongeBob and Patrick steal a balloon, it pops and they panic. Patrick says this little gem right here. A few months after the episode aired, 9/11 and the anthrax letters occurred:
    Patrick: "We're not talking about some dumb mail fraud scheme or a hijacking here! WE STOLE A BALLOON!" (It may be an example, but seems like a stretch.)
  • Sandy Cheeks has become one after a hurricane bearing her name tore through New Jersey. (Many people are named Sandy, that should be cut)
  • In "SpongeBob vs. The Big One", The Flying Dutchmen gets sent Davy Jones' Locker. It then shows him sitting in a locker full of Gym socks with the musician Davy Jones (of Monkees fame) standing next to him, taunting him. Considering who Davy Jones is in both maritime mythology and Pirates of the Caribbean, the Visual Pun becomes much darker after Davy Jones' death in 2012. (Seems like an example of "actor simply died".)

• Rugrats
  • In "The Santa Experience", Angelica meets a shopping mall Santa and one item she tells him she wants is a "911 working emergency stethoscope kit", pronouncing "911" as 'Nine-Eleven'. (Admittely, I don't know how common is that pronuntiation for 911, but seems like it should be cut.)

• Animaniacs
  • There's a running gag about Dot going gaga for Mel Gibson, similar in the ways her brothers react when they are around an attractive woman. Nowadays, though, given Gibson's past remarks towards the Jews and minorities. (Regardless on your opinion on Gibson, the joke is she falling for a handsome man (which she does many times in the show), should be cut?).
  • The end of the Presidents song has the Warners considering who will succeed Bill Clinton as president before flying off in a jet plane. A year into his tenure, Clinton's successor would end up seeing four commercial airliners be involved in the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. (A plane appears in a show before 9/11, should be cut)

• One episode of Muppet Babies (1984), "Scooter's Uncommon Cold," had a "Fantastic Voyage" Plot in which the babies imagined themselves going inside a sick Scooter's body and learned about the immune system by seeing how Scooter's was working to make him well. Richard Hunt, the puppeteer who performed Scooter in the original Muppet Show and movies, basing the character on his own teenage self, died of AIDS (i.e. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in 1992. (An actor not even related with the specific show at hand dies)

• PAW Patrol is one show that itself could now count as this trope due to this news story involving something you'd rather not think about involving dogs, which makes the premise of the show a bit cringe-worthy. However, the basic premise remains; it's a family-friendly show (it's a superhero show with animals!). (Um...I don't know Paw Patrol, but that seems like a stretch)

• In the American Dad! episode "Fartbreak Hotel" ^note When Roger passes toxic gas and the family spends a week at a hotel, Francine imagines herself 10 years into the future and runs into Hector Elizondo who tells Francine that he has been in three Garry Marshall movies since the last time Francine stayed at that hotel, the episode aired five years before the real Garry Marshall died at age 81. (The person simply died.)

Those are the examples I could make a judgement. I apologize if it is too long.

The Paw Patrol example is stretching it. I mean, it's not intended for humor, and people believing that they are dogs has nothing to do with the premise. I don't think humans are even in the show. Also, if the example is true, there are a lot of pieces of entertainment with anthropomorphic dogs.

There are plenty of humans in PAW Patrol. That said, nuke that example in particular with vengeance.

Edited by Brainulator9 on Jul 6th 2019 at 6:11:22 AM

Alright, gone. Any comment on the other examples?

First Animanics example:

It's just "character likes person who, in the future, did bad thing". Delete.

Second Animanics example:

Agree with your comment. Cut.

For the Spongebob examples, the first one is just "character says 'oil spill'", second one is "character says 'hijacking'", third one is "character is named Sandy", fourth one is "someone died both in the show and IRL". None of them have a strong connection between the in-universe and real-world events, not every time the words "oil spill" and "hijacking" have been said before the Deepwater Horizon spill or 9/11 are a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment.

Deleted those examples as well.

Any comment on the other examples?

For the Rugrats example, I don't think many people pronounce "911" as "nine eleven" when it comes to "things people use in emergencies". But, the pronunciation of "911" is not a joke (or at least not the main joke), so cut.

Speaking of 911, we have this example from YMMV.Timon And Pumbaa:

This doesn't apply because I don't think planes crashed into the Empire State Building.

^ Besides, the crashes were not caused by a missing light. Yeah, it should be cut.

I found this in Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

• In the "Apocalypse 2012" episode, while discussing the idea that a brown dwarf star will destroy the world in 2012, they cut to Penn & Teller going up to Gary Coleman and asking if he's planning on destroying the world in 2012. He says yes. Coleman died unexpectedly in 2010.
• Penn has told of his original pitch to the executives, which came 2 weeks after 9/11. As a part of it, he said that although he himself wasn't psychic, he could reasonably predict that within 6 months, psychic John Edward would announce a broadcast where he would channel the spirits of those who died in 9/11. It only took 3 months for Edward to do that, and the execs were impressed enough to greenlight the show.

The later might apply, but the former doesn't seem to show any relation besides Coleman dying before 2012.

Edited by ElBuenCuate on May 12th 2019 at 11:50:30 AM

the first one definitely doesn't apply, and i dont think the second does either, although for different reasons. it's not a funny aneurysm because penn stated something he expected to happen and that thing did, in fact, happen. it didn't become any darker than it already was; penn just happened to be right.

that definitely seems to be an example of something. maybe I Knew It!? but it's not a funny aneurysm.

Found this example on YMMV.James Patterson:

This doesn't count because just because something terrible happened in a comedian's hometown, doesn't mean that the jokes the comedian made stopped being funny.

As far as I remember, there was a hurricane in one of the I Funny books, but that was much later than Hurricane Sandy.

Cut.

Repeating from the "Is This An Example?" thread:

YMMV.Pokemon The Bridged Series:

• "Funny Aneurysm" Moment:
  • The song “My ‘Bridged Friends”, and indeed the entirety of the main trio’s relationship becomes this when you learn that Mike(Ash) was constantly abusing Jesse(Misty) for years, and is currently doing the same to Jerry(Brock).
  • On a related note, the running gag of Ash calling Misty crazy takes a darker turn after Jesse exposed Mike. When he outted him as an abuser, one of Mike's listed offenses was gaslighting him to the rest of Team Four Star so that they'd take his side.

The first entry doesn't establish a link between what happened in the fiction and what allegedly happened in Real Life. The connection in the second one strikes me as rather tenuous.

Also, the wording strikes me as less than neutral. If the entry is to be kept at all, words like "exposed" and "outed" should be replaced with words like "accused." We're not here to presume guilt or innocence in what happened in the creators' private lives.

Edited by HighCrate on Jun 23rd 2019 at 8:50:40 AM

More examples of "Funny Aneurysm" Moment that probably don't meet the criteria:

YMMV.Monty Pythons Flying Circus:

Seems like "Creator was in Work X, then died." Also, why does this example have a pothole to Music.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? I mean, this example's about the sketch called "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", not the man himself!

Observe this board game from the 1970s, branded with BP's logo, all about managing an offshore oil rig.

The song choice for the anniversary, the board game, and the phrase "blowing up (one's) phone" were not made with the purpose to be funny.

I agree, they should be cut for the reasons you described.

I might defend the board game, since while not funny, it's supposed to be fun. My issue is that, as currently written, it is a ZCE.

I have a general question I've been meaning to ask: this thread is primarily for "Funny Aneurysm" Moment cleanup, but can people also get help with the related Hilarious in Hindsight and Harsher in Hindsight?

They seem to have a lot of the same issues/reasons for misuse and don't have dedicated cleanup threads of their own. Do I've been wondering if they could be added to this thread or if created a new thread just for them would be there better route.

I think those pages are big enough that probably a separate thread should be dedicated to them.

I found this example in Will Rogers

• "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: In 1930, he remarked: "When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is going to read: 'I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like.' I am so proud of that I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come to my grave you will find me sitting there, proudly reading it." Sadly, his death came 5 years later; on August 19, 1935, he was killed in a plane crash with Wiley Post near Point Barrow, Alaska Territory, and the aircraft plunged into a lagoon, losing its right wing, and both Rogers and Post died after the plane inverted in the shallow end of the lagoon.

I really think it should be cut, since I fail to see any relation between he talking about his own epitaph and the plane crash.

Yeah, it's the classic "Creator appeared in Word X, joked about his death, then died."

Well, you see, at the time of the joke quoted, everyone naturally assumed he was literally immortal, so....

I also have noted that there are many examples in Hilarious in Hindsight that include "this could also be a Funny Aneurysm Moment..." which, in my opinion, is adding unnecesary potholes.

What should be done with those examples. This also makes me double think the idea of including cleaning efforts for that trope as well.

I'm working on a TRS thread for Heartwarming in Hindsight, "Funny Aneurysm" Moment, Hilarious in Hindsight, and Harsher in Hindsight.

I'll post a notice here when it's created and unlocked.