Bait and Switch: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|People who are offended when I breastfeed in public need to STFU. What I'm doing is natural and strengthens the bond between me and my dog.

 

A type of joke where a character leads the audience or other characters into thinking he or she is going to say or do something, but says or does something unexpected.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Common in [[Ephraim Kishon]]'s stories. For example, if he describes the Sabras. (An Israeli cactus fruit, or an Israeli born in the country.) "On the outer side, very prickly, but on the inside, completely inedible."

* Christopher Paolini's ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]''. Early on, there are flashes of a dream sequence that show an elven ship, two figures taller than six more that are holding hands, and two dragons flying into the sky. Early speculation figured it'd be Eragon and Arya sailing away, as Eragon was foretold to leave Alagaesia by Angela. However, at the end of Inheritance, {{spoiler|Eragon leaves, but Arya doesn't. The romance everyone thought was going to happen ends up not happening and more than a few readers were completely flabbergasted by this twist.}}

 

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* One of the more brilliant examples is from the sketch comedy ''[[The Kids in The Hall]]'', in which two characters start the "[[Who's on First?|who's on first]]" skit, but before long one of them realises what's going on and explains at length what the names of the players are and what bases they're playing.

{{quote|'''Chalmers:''' Well, Seymour, it seems we've put together a baseball team, and I was wondering; who's on first?

'''Skinner:''' Yes, not the pronoun, but rather a player with the unlikely name of 'Who', is on first!

'''Chalmers:''' Well, that's just great, Seymour. We've been out here six seconds and you've already [[Don't Explain the Joke|managed to blow the routine]]! }}

* There's a great example in the ''[[Father Ted]]'' Christmas Special: ''A Christmassy Ted''. Father Ted states he wants a nice normal Christmas with no excitement or unexpected interruptions whatsoever. There's an awkward lengthy pause, and then the doorbell rings. An abandoned baby has been left on the doorstep, causing Ted to start. Then a woman appears out of the darkness, picks up the baby and asks, "Is this Mrs. O'Reilly's house?" and Ted directs her next door. On returning indoors he says to Dougal, "Can you imagine how funny it would have been if it had been an abandoned baby? We'd have had real laughs getting into all sorts of scrapes." Dougal replies: "Well, no Ted, it wouldn't have been that funny."

* One of the many [[Catch Phrase]]s on ''[[Get Smart]]'' was the "Would you believe [improbable statement]?" routine, which almost invariably ended with Max being [[Verbal Backspace|beaten down]] to something far more plausible than his opening line. At one point, he claims that "One of our agents was lost in the Pentagon for five days, would you believe it? Five days!" After the obligatory I-find-that-very-hard-to-believe... he begins attempting to remember on which day he entered the Pentagon. Of course, Max is a [[Genius Ditz]] of the first order, so...

** And then the movie ''Get Smart Again'' pulled a Bait and Switch on that very gag: At the end, Max tells 99 "I love you more than the whole world. Would you believe it?" To which wife 99 replies "I believe it!"

{{quote|"King Juan Carlos of Spain has caused outrage among animal rights campaigners and recession-hit Spaniards by paying £27,000 to hunt elephants in Botswana. Facing rapid extinction and plagued by inbreeding, the Spanish royal family have ruled for centuries."}}

 

* At the very end of the original album track of [[Steve Martin]]'s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMAXuZOw_DY?t=196 "Grandmother's Song"], he tells the audience, "You guys are going to be on a record." After the audience reacts with cheers and applause, he adds, "Maybe, someday. Not mine, of course."

 

* Harrison's [http://nedroid.com/2011/04/secret-origins/ Origin Story] in ''[[Nedroid]]''. In fact, all of the origin stories are great for the baits and the switches.

* ''[[Cyanide & Happiness]]'' loves these. For example, [http://explosm.net/comics/2731/ that scene] from ''[[The Godfather]]'' so easily turned more disturbing.

* ''[[Sandra and Woo]]'' [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/01/11/0128-the-most-precious-thing/ here] with Sandra. And then [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2011/09/05/0305-cuddling/ with Woo].

* ''[[Wondermark]]'' has a sneaky street solicitor in [http://wondermark.com/533/ #533; In which Public Opinion is leveraged].

'''Teddy''' (on the floor and holding his heart) haff… haff… haff…

'''Alchemy''': Teddy?}}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

{{quote|'''Circe''': I want something from you that's ''very'' precious. Something you've worked ''very'' hard to conceal. Something when gone, you can never reclaim. Something... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}57zFkL9GSZA soul-shattering.]}}

* In ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'', Daffy tries his hand at inventing. His speech indicates he's invented a time machine... but he's invented a suitcase.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' has this in a [[Cutaway Gag]] where a Japanese man in Japan gets a parking ticket and then gets splashed by a car with mud, wondering [[Tempting Fate|how his day could get any worse]]. The man looks up and sees something falling on him from the sky and he utters "[[Oh Crap|Oh...my...God!]]" The gag is dated on the same year [[World War Two|that the United States bombed Japan]] but instead of a bomb falling on the man, it's just a rabid baboon.

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[The Emperor's New School]]''. Kuzco claims to have the perfect way to get into a store he's been kicked out of. Cut to a llama with a head and feet that look suspiciously like Kuzco's walking into the store. Kuzco then jumps out from offscreen and attacks the guard. Kuzco then stops the show and says, "You're probably wondering what that llama that looked just like me had to do with my plan. Absolutely nothing."