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Overly Polite Pals
- 113 statements
- 21 feature instances
- 19 referencing feature instances
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Known in the entertainment industry as the Alphonse and Gaston Routine (named after the "Alphonse and Gaston" comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper), this is a comedy trope from the days of vaudeville. It's when two characters are overly polite to each other, often in a bumbling way and almost always done comically. Often these two will be of a lower class but wish to dress and act in an upper-class manner and therefore take things to extremes. Often one will offer the other his arm if they are walking somewhere together, especially someplace fancy. Almost Always Male, occasionally with Homoerotic Subtext. Often this routine involves a door or gate the pair will need to walk through, each of them insisting the other goes first (and eventually they both do simultaneously, and collide). The resulting deadlock is sometimes called a Canadian Standoff. This can also often lead to long lines of increasingly impatient and irritable people forming behind both characters who start urging them to get on with it. Occasionally the intent will be that neither really wants to proceed first, or at all, wanting his partner to endure whatever horrors might lie beyond the door first. Since the comic strip originated in 1901 and was quickly also picked up in vaudeville routines, this trope is Older Than Television. In modern times, however, this has become a bit of a Forgotten Trope, though it still occasionally crops up. Compare Politeness Judo, where this is being done as part of a passive-aggressive fight. May involve Outhumbling Each Other. Bantering Baddie Buddies often combine this with being Faux Affably Evil. See also Japanese Politeness and Courteous Canadian. Inverted Trope of Vitriolic Best Buds. |
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Dropped link to OlderThanRadio: Not an Item - CAT | |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_157d69d5 | type |
Overly Polite Pals | |
| Overly Polite Pals / int_157d69d5 | comment |
Chip 'n Dale (the first animated shorts, not on the ReTooled Series, where they acted more like Vitriolic Best Buds), act this way towards each other, always praising each other, and trying to give the other the opportunity do first whatever mischievous act they were up to. | |
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| Chip 'n Dale | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_1e123f98 | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_1e123f98 | comment |
Achille Talon has one where both continuously insist the other go first, but here the stalemate goes on until they're both late, leading to a Big Ball of Violence. Amusingly, this came about after Achille read a book on etiquette, and it turns out the other guy was the author. | |
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Baloo and Kit have one of these moments in one episode of TaleSpin. | |
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| TaleSpin | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_1f72b18d | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_1f72b18d | comment |
Tom, Jerry and Butch the dog do the routine in the 1948 short, The Truce Hurts. | |
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| TomAndJerry | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_34fd3cf6 | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_34fd3cf6 | comment |
In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode, "Multiple Meats", Shake splits Meatwad in half with a sword. The two Meatwad halves survive, and pull this routine going into the front door of the house - for several seasons (as we see sun, rain, leaves and snow fall while they continue "after you"-ing each other), driving both Shake and Frylock crazy. | |
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Diamonds Are Forever: Bantering Baddie Buddies Wint and Kidd are always very formal to each other, calling each other "Mr. Wint" and "Mr. Kidd" as they drop snarky comments after each murder. | |
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| Diamonds Are Forever | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_48657003 | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_48657003 | comment |
A non-comedic use is found in The Initiate Brother. Due to the high value placed on politeness and courtesy, it's common for people to be this with their friends (or even non-friends). Lord Shonto sometimes gets tired of it, especially when there are more important things to be doing. | |
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| The Initiate Brother | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_4da7528e | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_4da7528e | comment |
This was Brother and Sister Bear's plan for dealing with Mama Bear's Politeness Plan in The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners. Instead of just being polite, they tried being super polite in an attempt to annoy Mama Bear by acting so over-the-top polite that she'd get fed up and call the whole Politeness Plan off. It backfired because, instead of annoying Mama, they ended up forgetting the whole "super polite" part and ended up starting to be regular polite without thinking about it. | |
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| The Berenstain Bears | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_4efed37e | comment |
Robin Hood (1973) has Robin and Little John doing this when they reach a log over a stream. They then proceed to both go first, knock each other off and fall in the water. | |
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| Robin Hood (1973) | hasFeature |
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On Mutts, Mooch and Earl do this over a cream puff that Mooch found on the ground. They eventually take too long and the Guard Dog eats it instead. | |
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| Mutts (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_6658d35c | comment |
Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot behave in somewhat of an Alphonse and Gaston manner, both deciding they should leave at the end of each act but neither one moving, apparently waiting for the other to act first. (A homoerotic subtext is also implied in the play.) | |
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| Waiting for Godot (Theatre) | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_72262aee | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_72262aee | comment |
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Aang and Sokka act like this briefly in the episode "The City of Walls and Secrets", as they are trying (and failing) to behave like high society folk. In the end they bash their heads together from a contest to see who could bow better and end up on the ground with a headache. Aang ends up under the curtain he was using as a robe. Toph says the two would be lucky to pass as busboys. | |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_7ad62e34 | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_7ad62e34 | comment |
Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton were sometimes this to each other in The Honeymooners... until Ralph would lose his cool, anyway. | |
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| The Honeymooners | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_82439e64 | comment |
The "Double Date" episode of The Office (US), Dwight and Andy perform this routine for differing motives based in politeness. | |
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| The Office (US) | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_89726260 | comment |
Gaston Lagaffe has a strip where Fantasio encourages Gaston to be more polite. This leads to a major traffic jam when he and another car driver refuse to go first into a street, blocking up every car behind them. | |
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| Gaston Lagaffe (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_b1c94339 | comment |
One story in Mr. Midshipman Hornblower has Midshipmen Hornblower and Kennedy going through a variation as Kennedy relays a message to Hornblower that the Captain needs to speak to him. The two take turns addressing each other formally and bowing politely in jest (it's midway through a very uneventful watch), and they only cut it short when one of the Lieutenants notices. | |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_b78ae0b5 | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_b78ae0b5 | comment |
The Blues Brothers: Jake and Elwood invoke this trope when they go into Mr. Fabulous' restaurant, taking each other's arms. | |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_d46cc708 | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_d46cc708 | comment |
Spoofed in Ed, Edd n Eddy, where Kevin and Eddy do this routine while going somewhere, but they say "after you" while slamming the other into the ground in front of them. | |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_e0fcfdea | type |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_e0fcfdea | comment |
In The Avengers (1960s), Mr. Steed and Mrs. Peel were often overly-polite to each other, in a very flirtatious way. | |
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| The Avengers (1960s) | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_e5c6748d | type |
Overly Polite Pals | |
| Overly Polite Pals / int_e5c6748d | comment |
The Three Stooges often did an overly-bumbling version of this whenever they wish to attempt to blend in with high society. | |
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| The Three Stooges | hasFeature |
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| Overly Polite Pals / int_ea4f62db | comment |
Family Guy: The "Even Couple". | |
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