Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Hilarious Table

 The Hilarious Table
type
FeatureClass
 The Hilarious Table
label
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table
page
TheHilariousTable
 The Hilarious Table
comment
Often a writer will feel the need to show that a group is getting on really well. One way to do this is to have them sit around over dinner or some other private social gathering and just talk, tell jokes and stories, and so on.
One common shorthand for this is to have the whole group sit or stand around, just laughing, often in a really over-the-top way and generally with no actual laughter heard (though it may Fade In at the end just before somebody says something), while the camera pans about. This can be incorporated into a montage of clinking glasses and little snippets of conversation, but this trope is mainly about a slightly rarer variant where the group just sits around laughing hysterically at nothing. This generally comes over as extremely forced and may incorporate an "Oh, you!" hand gesture or two. The fact that we are, essentially, seeing a group of people pretending to split their sides at some joke we haven't heard at all, and are essentially falling out of their chairs with laughter, can be more than a bit unsettling or mood-breaking for some viewers, who wonder what could possibly be so funny. They may end up sardonically thinking, "What a funny table / hearth-rug / fireplace that must be!". Often ends with two people moving away from the group, possibly to the sofa or fireside, for some cheesy romantic pap-talk or a heart-to heart.
Note: This is not about people sitting around a table laughing at a joke, it's any group of people (sitting or standing) around laughing at NOTHING to which the audience is privy as a way of showing that they are getting on, particularly when it is very over the top.
Compare: Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic. Typically an example of Contagious Laughter and often a feature of the "Everybody Laughs" Ending. May be a result of a particularly Orphaned Punchline.
 The Hilarious Table
fetched
2023-06-05T16:59:00Z
 The Hilarious Table
parsed
2023-06-05T16:59:00Z
 The Hilarious Table
processingComment
Dropped link to TheOtherWiki: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 The Hilarious Table
processingUnknown
TheOtherWiki
 The Hilarious Table
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Hilarious Table / int_222c2051
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_222c2051
comment
Chuck did this with quite a bit of regularity. Examples include Season 5 Episode 8: "Chuck vs. the Baby", where the cast sit around laughing at naught. Afterward, Sarah and the baby in question go sit on the sofa for a heart-to-heart.
 The Hilarious Table / int_222c2051
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_222c2051
featureConfidence
1.0
 Chuck
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_222c2051
 The Hilarious Table / int_32318e9a
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_32318e9a
comment
The intro to Roseanne ends with the Conners sitting at the dinner table, laughing at nothing.
 The Hilarious Table / int_32318e9a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_32318e9a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Roseanne
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_32318e9a
 The Hilarious Table / int_46518682
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_46518682
comment
Sesame Street had a guitarist singing "It's Funny", about how people laugh differently. At the end, he's surrounded by a crowd of guffawing people.
 The Hilarious Table / int_46518682
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_46518682
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sesame Street
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_46518682
 The Hilarious Table / int_5755b96a
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_5755b96a
comment
In The Order of the Stick, after the group have been arrested by Miko, then spend some time in a cell, they're taken to their trial by Hinjo, who turns out to be a Reasonable Authority Figure, and it cuts to them laughing at this trope as he's leading them to the courtroom.
 The Hilarious Table / int_5755b96a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_5755b96a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_5755b96a
 The Hilarious Table / int_881fc8ff
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_881fc8ff
comment
A Hat in Time turns this trope into a platforming obstacle. The tables full of C.A.W Agents are constantly telling bits of jokes, and they can't see you while they're laughing; since they're in a stealth-themed level, this is something you'll need to exploit to get around. Since we only hear bits of their jokes, it ends up being this trope.
 The Hilarious Table / int_881fc8ff
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_881fc8ff
featureConfidence
1.0
 A Hat in Time (Video Game)
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_881fc8ff
 The Hilarious Table / int_c487221e
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_c487221e
comment
At the beginning of Men in Black, after K uses the neuraliser on J, the scene cuts to K laughing at a table in a diner with J (explaining the memory loss as being due to drinking). Since the idea was to fool J, it's also an in-universe invoked example.
 The Hilarious Table / int_c487221e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_c487221e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Men in Black
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_c487221e
 The Hilarious Table / int_d6429f40
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_d6429f40
comment
Invoked in a Bizarro panel, in which a table of non-hilarious people is sitting quietly around a table at a restaurant with a card that says "Reserved", observing a table of hilarious people some distance away, and one of them says, "I wonder what the sign on their table says?"
 The Hilarious Table / int_d6429f40
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_d6429f40
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bizarro (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_d6429f40
 The Hilarious Table / int_eee6d82a
type
The Hilarious Table
 The Hilarious Table / int_eee6d82a
comment
In A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever, a parody of Oscar Bait movies, the beginning scene has Wealthy, Successful Protagonist at a dinner with everyone saying "Laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh", establishing that the protagonist is indeed successful at life.
 The Hilarious Table / int_eee6d82a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hilarious Table / int_eee6d82a
featureConfidence
1.0
 A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever (Web Video)
hasFeature
The Hilarious Table / int_eee6d82a

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Hilarious Table
processingCategory2
Family Tropes
 The Hilarious Table
processingCategory2
Happiness Tropes
 The Hilarious Table
processingCategory2
Laughter Tropes
 The Hilarious Table
processingCategory2
Narrative Devices
 The Legend of Frenchie King / int_256325fa
type
The Hilarious Table
 Pachinko / int_256325fa
type
The Hilarious Table
 Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide / int_256325fa
type
The Hilarious Table
 Soy Luna / int_256325fa
type
The Hilarious Table
 A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever (Web Video) / int_256325fa
type
The Hilarious Table