...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Simple Country Lawyer
- 159 statements
- 29 feature instances
- 38 referencing feature instances
| Simple Country Lawyer | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | label |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | page |
SimpleCountryLawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | comment |
The legal counsel who starts off his closing argument with some variation of "now, I may not be a big-city lawyer...", and then tries to win the jury over with an appeal to emotion and his folksy charm. He's almost always a Southern Gentleman with a thick Foghorn Leghorn drawl, dressed in a white suit with a Waistcoat of Style (may be a Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit). Something of a Dead Horse Trope nowadays, although it still gets played straight occasionally. Deconstructions may have the lawyer display Obfuscating Stupidity or using a Chewbacca Defense. Parodies will usually be a Shout-Out to Matlock, but occasionally to Jimmy Stewart or Atticus Finch. This can swerve in a number of directions when the persona hides a Southern-Fried Genius who proceeds to put the big city lawyer to shame with superior legal knowledge and skill. The Trope Namer is Sam J. Ervin, a Democratic senator from North Carolina, who was fond of using this phrase when he was part of the team to investigate whether Republican senator Joseph McCarthy should be censured by the Senate, and later in his career when he served on the Senate Watergate Committee to investigate the break-in at the Washington D.C. Democratic National Headquarters, located in the Watergate Office Complex. |
|
| Simple Country Lawyer | fetched |
2024-02-07T16:46:12Z | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | parsed |
2024-02-07T16:46:12Z | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to AncientRome: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to NotProven: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to Parodied: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to PlayedForLaughs: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to StrawmanPolitical: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to UrExample: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | processingComment |
Dropped link to exaggeratedtrope: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Simple Country Lawyer | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_15d4c845 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_15d4c845 | comment |
Lincoln: Despite being the President, Lincoln still projects this vibe, and often tells stories from his lawyer days. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_15d4c845 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_15d4c845 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Lincoln | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_15d4c845 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_261c8d3f | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons: Played for Laughs in "Viva Ned Flanders", complete with Homer grabbing his suspenders like a countryman: The Evolution vs. Creationism episode "The Monkey Suit" has a fat, southern Simple Country Lawyer. |
|
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_261c8d3f | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_2e621178 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_2e621178 | comment |
The Good Wife introduced a pretty blonde variant with recurring antagonist Nancy Crozier, a young attorney fresh from law school. In actuality, she was a ruthless bitch, but she loved claiming to juries and opposing attorneys that she was "just a simple girl from Michigan" who was inexperienced with city life and sophisticated business dealings, which annoyed Alicia every time they crossed swords. One time, Alicia beat her by getting her own fresh-from-law-school girl who was even cuter to sit second chair, to a Death Glare from Nancy. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_2e621178 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_2e621178 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Good Wife | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_2e621178 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_309df9ea | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_309df9ea | comment |
A gag in one episode of Atop the Fourth Wall has Linkara as Galactus trying this in the court of the Living Tribunal. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_309df9ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_309df9ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_309df9ea | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_455e3038 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_455e3038 | comment |
Jewel Crawford, Miss Liz's divorce attorney on King of the Hill. It's more natural than most other examples given the show is set in Texas, and Jewel's accent and mannerisms aren't that different from his client and her ex-husband. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_455e3038 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_455e3038 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| King of the Hill | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_455e3038 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_47ac2646 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_47ac2646 | comment |
I Love You Phillip Morris has a court scene that plays into this trope to the hilt - when the real lawyer accuses the sham of treating the proceedings "like an episode of Matlock," he launches into the "plain-spoken man" speech. The judge's reaction? "Good point." | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_47ac2646 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_47ac2646 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| I Love You Phillip Morris | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_47ac2646 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_48376174 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_48376174 | comment |
A journalistic equivalent occurs in Power of the Press. Ulysses Bradford describes himself as a "simple country newspaper publisher" when introducing himself to the senior staff of The New York Gazette, just before he lays down the law about what the new editorial policy of the paper is going to be. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_48376174 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_48376174 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Power of the Press | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_48376174 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_4ca7cf84 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_4ca7cf84 | comment |
A humanoid chicken who calls himself "just a simple hyperchicken from a backwoods asteroid". His name is generally treated as "The Hyper-Chicken", but according to a deleted scene from Into the Wild Green Yonder, said chicken's name is "Matcluck". Despite this trope, he holds an on-screen perfect record of two successful defenses and two successful prosecutions, having been representation for Planet Express staff, the planet Earth, and the Democratic Order of Planets. He managed to negotiate a sweet deal for Bender while under arrest himself, "awaitin' trial for that there incompetence." in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz". One of those insanity defenses was simply saying "Well for starters, they hired me as their lawyer". | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_4ca7cf84 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_4ca7cf84 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Matlock | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_4ca7cf84 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_546876cb | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_546876cb | comment |
Done by Knuckles in Sonic Boom. He oversteps by explicitly noting that he's doing it to relate to the stupid jury. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_546876cb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_546876cb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sonic Boom | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_546876cb | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_60515a97 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_60515a97 | comment |
In a Fans! alternate future, Stu explains his role as half of the law firm of Smit & Jackson: | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_60515a97 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_60515a97 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fans! (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_60515a97 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_69ef13c0 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_69ef13c0 | comment |
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: Jim Williams' lawyer Sonny Seiler presents himself as this, though he relies as much on actual solid courtroom arguments in his successful bid to get his client acquitted as he does on the emotions. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_69ef13c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_69ef13c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_69ef13c0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_6ab76f31 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_6ab76f31 | comment |
Jim Trotter III from My Cousin Vinny is something of an inversion, as the "Simple Country Lawyer" has more education and experience than the Big City Lawyer (Vinny). | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_6ab76f31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_6ab76f31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| My Cousin Vinny | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_6ab76f31 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_7c60fb0f | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_7c60fb0f | comment |
In one issue of The Simpsons, Homer does this while representing himself in one comic. His whole opening statement is "I'm not a fancy big-city lawyer." He explains that that's all he learned from watching Matlock with his father. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_7c60fb0f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_7c60fb0f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Simpsons (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_7c60fb0f | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_81692f99 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_81692f99 | comment |
Star Trek: In The Original Series Doctor McCoy would describe himself from time to time as a "country doctor." In the episode "The Deadly Years" it turns into an Insult Backfire when McCoy tried to describe himself as such to Spock. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_81692f99 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_81692f99 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_81692f99 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_93df96 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_93df96 | comment |
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch was a well-educated man who abhorred the opinions of his neighbors, but incompetent parodies or portrayals presume he is supposed to be this trope. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_93df96 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_93df96 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_93df96 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_976efc02 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_976efc02 | comment |
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The host segments of episode 815 (Agent for H.A.R.M.) have Mike being put on trial for inadvertently destroying several planets. His defense attorney is Professor Bobo, who manages to evoke the trope perfectly, down to the white suit and Southern drawl, despite being a gorilla. Bobo also directly references the "panties" spiel from Anatomy of a Murder. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_976efc02 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_976efc02 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_976efc02 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_97ce01ba | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_97ce01ba | comment |
Bee Movie: Layton T. Montgomery (voiced by John Goodman) is a caricatured send-up of the trope. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_97ce01ba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_97ce01ba | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bee Movie | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_97ce01ba | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_9a0cb5f4 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_9a0cb5f4 | comment |
Bob's Burgers: In "A Few 'Gurt Men", Gene adopts the persona of a country lawyer while serving as prosecutor in Wagstaff Middle School's mock trial club. The jury gets annoyed and confused by his bad accent and nonsensical "folksy" sayings and get him to stop. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_9a0cb5f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_9a0cb5f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bob's Burgers | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_9a0cb5f4 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a183d57f | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a183d57f | comment |
Futurama: A humanoid chicken who calls himself "just a simple hyperchicken from a backwoods asteroid". His name is generally treated as "The Hyper-Chicken", but according to a deleted scene from Into the Wild Green Yonder, said chicken's name is "Matcluck". Despite this trope, he holds an on-screen perfect record of two successful defenses and two successful prosecutions, having been representation for Planet Express staff, the planet Earth, and the Democratic Order of Planets. He managed to negotiate a sweet deal for Bender while under arrest himself, "awaitin' trial for that there incompetence." in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz". One of those insanity defenses was simply saying "Well for starters, they hired me as their lawyer". One-shot character Oldman Waterfall (of the recurring Waterfall family) makes the above chicken look like a regular city slicker in comparison. Despite this, he was very socially liberal (and in a way that was positively portrayed, unlike the rest of his Strawman Political family). He also argued for the validity of bisexual polygamist marriage... and Satanic funerals. "A Clockwork Origin" has Bender attempt to invoke this trope while defending the Professor on charges of claiming Creationism to the species of robots who he caused to evolve (It Makes Sense in Context). The prosecution objects to Bender wearing redundant suspenders when he has no pants. |
|
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a183d57f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a183d57f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Futurama | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_a183d57f | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a4420d22 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a4420d22 | comment |
The Venture Bros.' has Tiny Attorney, a weird cross between Matlock and Cuato from Total Recall (1990). He has lines like "I may just be a growth on the stomach of an inbred simpleton, but...", and actually says "I'm just a simple country lawyer" at one point. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a4420d22 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_a4420d22 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Venture Bros. | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_a4420d22 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_b0fc9724 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_b0fc9724 | comment |
Saturday Night Live: The SNL writers pushed the trope to its limits by introducing the simplest, countriest attorney possible: Cirroc, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, who didn't let being a literal Neanderthal stop him and loved deploying this tactic during his legal arguments: Their impersonation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions claims to be this trope too. Of course the gag being that given Sessions' very thick southern accent, Senator Allen Franken has a hard time figuring out if Sessions is claiming to be this or a "Simple Country Liar". |
|
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_b0fc9724 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_b0fc9724 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Saturday Night Live | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_b0fc9724 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_cb32d0d5 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_cb32d0d5 | comment |
Disenchantment: When representing Princess Bean during her trial in the Season 1 finale, Luci the demon — who is often assumed to be a talking cat — begins his speech by saying "Now, I'm just a simple country cat..." while forming suspenders out of his body; and insults the intelligence of the judge and jury involved. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_cb32d0d5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_cb32d0d5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Disenchantment | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_cb32d0d5 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ce51981d | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ce51981d | comment |
Invoked in an episode of Workaholics Adam channels this while in small-claims court, speaking in an exaggerated southern accent so heavy the judge couldn't understand him while wearing a light pastel suit. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ce51981d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ce51981d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Workaholics | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_ce51981d | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d037526e | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d037526e | comment |
The Agony Booth: Now, Mr. Mendo's not one of those big-city lawyers, but it seems to him that there's a huge plot-hole in Rae Dawn Chong's back-story! | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d037526e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d037526e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Agony Booth (Website) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_d037526e | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d45ec5e7 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d45ec5e7 | comment |
Inherit the Wind: In this fictionalized portrayal of the 1925 Scopes Trial, Matthew Harrison Brady - modeled on real-life politician William Jennings Bryan - is presented as very much this. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d45ec5e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d45ec5e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Inherit the Wind (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_d45ec5e7 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d4fe0006 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d4fe0006 | comment |
Ed: Ed's first opponent in Stuckeyville tries this, white suit, comically broad accent and all. The judge laughs him out of the courtroom. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d4fe0006 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_d4fe0006 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Ed | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_d4fe0006 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f0d6862 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f0d6862 | comment |
Inverted on Green Acres with Oliver Wendell Douglas, who was born into a rich family and grew up in New York City, attending and graduating from Harvard. He eventually follows his passion of owning and operating his own farm in Hooterville and still practices law every now and then in the greater Hooterville-Pixley region. Catastrophic results sometimes ensue whenever he tries to help the neighbors and his efforts backfire. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f0d6862 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f0d6862 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Green Acres | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_f0d6862 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f981bbf2 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f981bbf2 | comment |
Bennett the Sage puts on a white shirt, suspenders, and accent of a simple country lawyer to point out a blatant contradiction in the anime he's reviewing. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f981bbf2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_f981bbf2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bennett the Sage (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_f981bbf2 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ff4e1b34 | type |
Simple Country Lawyer | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ff4e1b34 | comment |
In one episode of Dharma & Greg, the titular couple amuse themselves by pretending to be Southerners. When the real Southerner they befriend turns out to be a judge, Greg (who actually is a big city lawyer who went to Harvard) finds himself acting out the simple country lawyer trope in the courtroom to maintain the charade. | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ff4e1b34 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Simple Country Lawyer / int_ff4e1b34 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dharma & Greg | hasFeature |
Simple Country Lawyer / int_ff4e1b34 |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.