< ICarly

ICarly/Tropes A-E


A

  • Above the Influence: iSaved Your Life features something similar to this trope, but not with Drugs/Alcohol. Freddie realizes that Carly is probably only in love with him because he saved her life, so he tells Carly they should wait a while, and see if she still has feelings for him later.
  • AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: Carly (and everyone else) repeatedly say "Yaki-MUH," as in "I'm not moving to Yaki-MUH." It's actually pronounced "Yakih-MAH." Apparently this was done deliberately.
  • Accidentally Accurate: In iStakeout, Freddie tells his mother he doesn't want to take his shirt off because he's afraid of 'cloudburn' (he actually didn't want her to see a tattoo he got). It is actually very possible to get burned on a cloudy day.
    • And then she shows up later, having found some "cloudblock" . . .
  • Accidental Pervert: In iLost My Mind Spencer runs out into the hall, pantsless, calling after Carly to bring back some more olive oil. There he is met with an old lady, a child, and a nun. The old lady pepper sprays him.
  • Acting for Two: In the episode iTwins, Jennette McCurdy plays the roles of both Sam and Melanie Puckett, identical twins who are polar opposites.
  • Actor Allusion: Tons, since the actors/actresses have also been cast in earlier Dan Schneider shows.
    • Miranda Cosgrove who played Megan in Drake and Josh had an episode or two where Megan held her own webshow. Furthermore, in the show's near-end special, one of the Premiere Galleria's feature films was titled Now She's Carly, a Shout-Out of Miranda's role in her upcoming show.
      • iBloop alludes to Miranda's previous role when Drake Bell randomly appeared on set, and addressed her as Megan, before asking where Josh & their parents were, and who Mrs. Benson was.
      • In iGet Pranky, Carly watches Megan's Revenge on TV (to learn how to prank) and wonders why Megan is so good at pranking.
    • Nathan Kress, who plays Carly's leading man, had a guest role in the aforementioned show where he hits on Megan (played by Cosgrove) to no avail. Dan Schneider liked his performance very much that Nathan's scene was cut from the episode and was immediately cast as the male lead for Miranda's new show, iCarly. Guess how Nathan's role began on the show.
    • The character of Sam Puckett is based off Jennette McCurdy's guest role in Zoey 101 where she also played Trisha Kirby a very mean girl. While Trisha doesn't appear as violent as Sam, she is definitely as deliquent, lazy and precocious as Sam, and how pushy she comes off as and she also failed a grade. It could be said that she is a form of an Ascended Extra, except its a different show and character.
    • Jerry Trainor, who plays Carly's older brother Spencer had various goldfish as pets, which seems to allude to this short film
    • Jeremy Rowley played the little crazy hat man who served as a distraction from big hairy moles on The Amanda Show. He now plays Lewbert.
    • Victoria Justice's guest star in iFight Shelby Marx is alluded to in iParty With Victorious when Sam points out Victoria Justice's character, Tori Vega's, similarity to Shelby Marx.
  • A-Cup Angst: Referenced a few times with Carly, as seen in some other examples down the page.
  • Adam Westing: Miranda Cosgrove in iBloop.
  • Adaptation Decay: iCarly Saves TV involved the webshow being bought to produce for television. By the end of the episode, Freddie the producer had quit working on the show completely, they added a zany mascot, the Deadpan Snarker sidekick was fired too, and when the lead quit, she was replaced by a sitcom family, and they changed the title. Yet the network considered it the same show, despite not even being In Name Only.
  • Adorkable: Freddie. Carly even created a new word to describe him, "cukey" (cute and geeky).
  • Adored by the Network: Nickelodeon airs this show mulitple times daily, and gives it very good treatment, even more so than the other Nickelodeon shows. Along with the many merchandise and magazine attention the show gets, it is received as Nick's flagship show. iCarly even got a fifth season, which is unheard of for Nickelodeon or Disney channel.
  • Advertised Extra: Yes Jack Black was in "iStart A Fanwar" but it was more about Creddie vs Seddie while he just gave Spencer something to do.
  • Adult Child: Spencer is a sculptor for a living, often making whimsical and sometimes weird sculptures that usually end up catching on fire or exploding before being perfected. He loves light-up socks, has a pet goldfish (that he often forgets to feed, resulting in another pet goldfish), and once went to law school for three days.
    • Carly even calls him an adult child ("manchild") in iLove You.
  • Adults Are Useless: Heavily lampshaded in the series. Each adult has his or her own brand of eccentricity.
    • Subverted by Principal Franklin, who's competent, if overly lenient, and occasionally by Spencer.
  • An Aesop: Dan Schneider finally got not-so-subtle in iStart a Fan War by using Carly to declare the Word of God intention to focus on comedy. When combined with earlier statements by the trio than none of them are dating each other, this episode could be seen as a Ship Sinking of the various main pairings, although it could just be an attempt to invoke a 'cease fire' in the online fandom.
  • Aesop Amnesia: Most of the time the characters don't even get past the end of the episode where they learn their lesson before forgetting it or deliberately ignoring it.
    • iPromise Not To Tell: Sam uses the unattended computer of Principal Franklin to change the grade that Carly and Freddie got in a history class. At the end of the episode after revealing the truth, she accepts her punishment of 6 weeks detention, saying "she needs to learn her lesson". Principal Franklin walks out of the room, and Sam changes her detention.
    • Nevel in iPity The Nevel. He spends the entire episode learning to be a better person after ending up on the internet insulting a little girl. At the end of the episode he does the exact same thing that he just learned not to do.
    • iDate Sam & Freddie ends with Carly delivering the aesop to Sam and Freddie that they need to sort out their own problems or they shouldn't date. The very next episode iCan't Take It ends with Carly sorting out another Sam and Freddie problem so they can keep dating, with the only difference in the situations being that even though Sam was the one who sabotaged his camp application, Carly was the one who told Mrs. Benson and Gibby about it.
  • Affably Evil: Nevel Papperman.
  • Air Vent Passageway: Spencer attempts to escape this way in iGo to Japan and fails miserably since it leads out to another vent of the same room.
  • All Animation Is Disney: People magazine once identified Miranda Cosgrove as one of Disney's child stars.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys:
    • The central plot of iDate a Bad Boy. Griffin is a delinquent who stole the motorcycle that Carly bought for Spencer. After having a short Slap Slap Kiss incident, Carly falls in love with him much to Spencer's chagrin and Freddie's jealousy. Carly and Sam even gush at the fact that Griffin is full of scars and he punched a hole on the wall due to anger. But all of his bad boy rep went downhill when Carly discovered his deep obsession over plush toys.
    • Gender Flip in iMake Sam Girlier. Sam asks Carly to teach her how to behave like a real girl to catch the attention of her eye-candy Pete. While Sam does a good work in behaving "girly", Carly gets attacked by a bully which triggered Sam's Unstoppable Rage. Unfortunately, Pete saw how Sam wrestled with the bully, but it turns out he likes a girl "who kisses well and can break an arm if she wants to."
    • The Les Yay variant between Carly and Sam.
  • Alliterative Name: Spencer Shay, Gibby Gibson and Chuck Chambers.
    • Gibby's real name, however, is Orenthal.
  • All Men Are Perverts: For a kids show, the main cast of males each have their moments, given that all 3 of them are also stepping on Chick Magnet territory. Spencer is already a quirky Handsome Lech since season 1, Gibby has the makings of a pimp, and Freddie is becoming quite versed from watching the Animal Channel.
  • Alternate Company Equivalent: to Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire, despite that the two shows are years apart from each other. Almost everything is a bit similar, excluding the Shipping Wars Lizzie doesn't have.
  • Amazing Freaking Grace: Carly is quoted on the trope page due to her performance of this in iPie, where she stalls for time at a wake by singing.

"Hey! Here's a fun song to sing when people die!"

  • Amusing Injuries: After the failed attempt to prank Spencer, Gibby asks "Did you hear my ribs crack?"
    • In iCan't Take It:

Gibby: She [Sam] dislocated my breastbone!

  • Anchored Ship: Carly and Freddie, at the end of iSaved Your Life because Freddie can't be sure of Carly's true feelings for him. It hasn't had a Ship Sinking scene since, it's just never been followed through on at all or even referenced again.
    • iLove You ends the Sam/Freddie relationship arc with them breaking up. Despite the litany of issues the arc and Sam and Freddie themselves brought up with them being in a relationship, it's still not a total sinking. It could be because it's the show-runner's way of maintaining the status quo and avoiding the risk of Jumping the Shark that could otherwise happen with a blatant Ship Sinking or a canon relationship happening.
    • Since at least one of these pairings can't happen, and possibly both, either of these moments could end up being Ship Sinking if the show ends with no further development from one/both pairings.
      • Word of God via Freddie's actor has confirmed they left things open with Creddie in case they wanted to revisit them.
  • Angrish: Spencer's reaction when he gets home, only to see Carly and Griffin now in full lip-to-lip contact.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Carly does one of these as Freddie starts to believe that she only likes him because he saved her life. It doesn't work, and Freddie breaks up with her, despite Freddie having loved Carly since the day he met her.
  • Anticipatory Breath Spray: Nevel, in his first appearance.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "Made of a super-soft, thick luxurious fabric of some sort, the Sack comes in: rash red, mucus green, pus yellow and blue."
    • And in iOMG, Gibby asks what science has ever done for them. Carly says, "Artificial sweetners...man on the moon...liquid soap...".
  • Artistic License: Biology:

    Spencer: "Do girls have bladders?"

      Carly: "Do butts have muscles?"

        • Maurice the Chicken. Called a male name. Makes rooster sounds. Is actually a hen, a female.
      • Artistic License Geography: Carly's grandfather claims that it took ninety minutes to drive from Yakima to Seattle. If he added two to two-and-a-half hours more to that, then it would be more accurate.
      • Ascended Extra: Gibby/Noah Munck. He was originally intended for only a few lines and a couple gags with him not wearing a shirt, but they loved him so much that by the 4th season, he's listed among the main cast!
        • T-Bo, also formerly a minor character, has been promoted a reoccurring character. While not credited as part of the main cast, he's still heavily featured in the opening as of season 5!
      • Ascended Fan: In 2010, Jane Lynch revealed in an interview that she was a fan of the show. Less than a month later, she was cast to play Sam's mom.
      • Ascended Meme: Again, iStart A Fan War using the Creddie and Seddie pairing names.
      • As Himself: Jerry Trainor in iBloop.
      • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Krustacia in "iSell Penny Tees" wasn't speaking Uzbek, but Russian. For that matter, her actress was Russian, too.
        • Freddie's random Spanish usually consists of legitimate Spanish words; although sometimes, as in iBeat The Heat ("tubos yellos") or iBelieve in Bigfoot ("El Foot-ah Gigantico") they are just Spanish-sounding nonsense and often without context.
      • Ask a Stupid Question and Sam will answer you.
        • In iHatch Chicks:

      Carly: What's the temperature in here?
      Spencer: Seventy-two!
      Carly: Turn the heat up to ninety!
      Spencer: Ninety degrees?
      Sam: No, ninety pickles! Yes ninety degrees!

        • In iPity The Nevel:

      Spencer: Papperman?
      Sam: No, Nevel Van Hooter-Schmoozen.

        • In iParty With Victorious:

      Freddie: The famous Kenan Thompson?
      Sam: No, Kenan Thompson, the butt doctor!

        • Carly also tends to answer Sam like this, particularly in iFence.

      Carly: (her phone is between her cheek and her shoulder) You know whats even weirder? The Dorfmens are coming and Spencer's not back yet!
      Sam: Did you try calling him?
      Carly: No Sam, I'm just keeping my cellphone warm here between my cheek and my shoulder!

      Freddie: "Yeah, way to go Sam. You just ruined iCarly's 50th Web Show Spectac--ooh, popcorn!"

      • Author Appeal: Lampshaded, "Ha! More duct tape. I think this is like the third episode in a row that features the use of duct tape. No, the writers are not obsessed with duct tape. It's just a coincidence."
        • Bunnies. Dan Schneider owned a pet bunny himself named Cookie (which also appeared in iFight Shelby Marx). Ginger Fox has a pet bunny, while Sam once owned a bunny named Fluffles.
        • Names. The female characters all have normal names that you could walk down the street with. Male characters, on the other hand, tend to have some sort of Embarrassing First Name (Fredward, Lewbert, and Gibby, which Cornelius is an Embarrassing Middle Name; his embarrasing first name, Orenthal, was revealed in iStill Psycho), with the sole refugee being Spencer.
      • Author Filibuster: A non-moral example from Dan Schneider, who uses iStart A Fan War to portray Shipping and shippers in a bad light, then finally stops the show so Carly can tell them that the point of the show is comedy, not who is dating who. It comes off as extremely condescending, and it caused a storm of criticism. A lot of which had to do with the fact the episode wasn't very funny.
      • Ax Crazy:
        • Nora in iPsycho. She also held a medieval hatchet and a Nixon Mask that scared off the trio back to their incarceration.
        • iStill Psycho has her show up again. Not only is she even worse than before, it's revealed her parents are every bit as crazy as she is!

      B

      • Badass: Mrs. Benson. Do NOT underestimate the Fencin' Bensons.
      • Badass Adorable: Sam, a petite blonde, can kick anyone's butt. To an extent, Gibby's little bro Guppy also qualifies.
      • Bad Bad Acting: The store clerk's home-made pirate movies (possible Shout-Out of Blockblister). Also mercilessly lampooned on the webshow's fake movie trailers.
      • Bad Liar: The Shays. Also Spencer's subplot in iRocked the Vote.
      • Barbie Doll Anatomy: iCarly Awards, when one of the titular statuette dolls is shown skirtless.
      • Base Breaker: . An in-universe example is Sam in iBelieve In Bigfoot. Well, technically it's Bigfoot, but Sam does the actual base breaking, when the student body are having a number of civilized discussions about Bigfoot.

      Sam: Raise your hand if you think Bigfoot is real.
      <Half of the students raise their hand>
      Sam: Now everybody who thinks Bigfoot is not real, raise your hand.
      <The other half of the students raise their hand>
      Sam: Okay, about half & half. That means half of you are stupid. Discuss!
      <The students all burst into arguments with one another.>

        • Sam again, this time in iStart A Fanwar

      <After being asked if Carly & Freddie are dating, and the response leading to being asked if Sam & Freddie are dating>
      Sam: It's true - Carly & Freddie are deeply in love.
      <Riot ensues>

        • Creddie vs Seddie comes up in iStart A Fan War in-universe.
      • Better as Friends: Sam and Freddie. At the end of iLove You, they mutually come to the conclusion that they don't work as a couple and forced a romantic connection from a platonic one. They both love each other, but they broke up and remained friends, obviously being Better as Friends at least for now.
      • The Beard: Carly is this in the Christmas episode. Nevel must not want his mother to find out. Or he's hopelessly confused about his sexuality.
        • There is also a minor character who asks Carly to be his girlfriend, and the dialogue seems to imply, by making it because his mother doesn't believe him about something regarding girls or a girlfriend, that this could be the main reason why.
      • Bad Liar: Spencer's flaw that is the subject of the B-plot in iRock The Vote.
      • Bavarian Fire Drill: Spencer pulls this off to get to the vault containing the severed head of a company's founder in iTake On Dingo.
      • Be Careful What You Wish For: The Christmas Episode iChristmas. Carly wishes for Spencer to be normal, and an It's a Wonderful Life homage ensues, ending with Carly more appreciative than ever of her life.
      • Big Blackout: Spencer's sculpture invokes this in iWant A World Record.
      • Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: iBelieve in Bigfoot deals with the title characters trying to prove Bigfoot exists. In the end, he steals their RV!
      • Big OMG: Spencer lets this loose when Sam's boyfriend Jonah ruins his claymation movie in iHate Sam's Boyfriend.
        • Carly, Sam, and Freddie also say this on various occasions.
        • In iGo To Japan, Freddie shouts the three-letter version when pushed out of the airplane by Sam.
        • There's an episode titled iOMG.
          • Although the big reveal actually doesn't have a character say anything, just look shocked, which makes the episode itself, rather than anything anybody says, an embodiment of this trope.
      • Non Sequitur Episode: Well, half an episode, specifically Spencer's subplot in iSpace Out involving the creepy little girl.
      • Brick Joke: In iSpy a Mean Teacher, Spencer mentions breaking up with Connie (his girlfriend) because he learned she juggles for someone else. While the gang is airing their webcast with Ms. Briggs, one of the show's viewers is shown with his new juggler girlfriend, Connie.
      • Broken Streak: iWas A Pageant Girl had Sam breaking the streak of the long-running champ of a beauty contest by putting on an amazing dance number.
      • Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The main Power Trio is exactly this trope, only averted by Freddie's gender.
        • iReunite With Missy evokes this trope alongside Blonde, Brunette, Redhead. Carly and Sam are the beauty and brawn respectively, while Missy qualifies as the brains for staging a devious scheme to reenter into Carly's life.
      • Brutal Honesty: Carly's speech to Sam and Freddie after they snap her patience in regards to their fighting and dragging her into them, telling the both of them exactly what was wrong with their behaviour without bothering to sugar-coat it, and then finishing it by saying they shouldn't be dating at all.
      • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Sam's constant abuse of Freddie might mask certain 'feelings' for him.
        • As of the Seddie arc that started with iOMG it's Zig Zagged all over the shop:
        • Averted Trope: They spend 4 seasons just fighting and bickering. Neither of their kisses is as a result of arguments of tension due to their fighting, although the First Kiss is because of something Sam did to him, but not in the correct 'way' for it to count as this trope. It's also possible that since Sam only very suddenly started acting different once she 'loves' Freddie, that the entire thing is averted if they switch to a less antagonistic romance trope in the future or if they get sunk by something similar to Like Brother and Sister or I Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
        • Discussed Trope: Freddie brings it up a few times, but it's never treated seriously.
        • When they break up in iLove You they discuss that they used to be at each other's throats, but tried forcing that to become a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship and it just doesn't "click".
      • Beneath the Mask: Nevel is a polite, nice kid when within his mom's vicinity, but is a complete Jerkass outside of it.
      • Be Quiet Nudge: Carly to Sam, most especially when Sam quips that Carly made up the Fladoodles yet Mandy still found them.
      • Berserk Button: Despite having an anger management therapist, Sam still has a lot.
        • Never pick on Carly in front of Sam.
        • Never attempt to cut Sam's hair.
        • Never play a prank on Sam, even just to "be even". Mama doesn't play to get even. Mama plays to win.
        • If you offend Carly and she sends Sam to you, be afraid. Be VERY afraid.
        • Calling Spencer's butt flat will provoke this.
      • Better Than a Bare Bulb: The shows writers include lampshades all over the place. Generally in 2 ways:
        • When a main character picks up the Idiot Ball. See iSell Penny Tees, where Carly lampshades her paying the children upfront so they could stop working and move the plot along.
        • When they use common genre tropes.
      • Betty and Veronica: Carly and Sam respectively, with Freddie as Archie.
      • Beware the Nice Ones: Good-natured Gibby can endure being bullied, just don't kidnap his friends nor let him discover you're hitting on his girlfriend.
        • Carly Shay. She is very sassy at times (don't say it to her face, though), but she does have a long temper. To short it out is not a good idea.
          • The focus of iThink They Kissed. Carly's always open to her best friends about her secrets, but when she learns of her best friends' secret that is kept from her, she got "whipped up". In such state, NEVER tell her to calm down.
          • In a similar scene, Freddie tried to calm Carly's spazzing (as she suddenly suffered "space madness" herself) in iSpace Out. Her response? "Shut up, Freddie!" She then smashed the window and dived out of the pod.
          • iSpeed Date. Carly never finished one sentence when her talkative dance partner keeps interrupting her. Ultimately pissed, she manages to drive him away with a long SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up, shut up!
      • Big Bad: The closest the series got to a main villain was Nevel Papperman. iGo To Japan had Kyoko and Yuki, two Japanese web comedians, as the main villains. The one hour special iPsycho had the Ax Crazy Fan Girl Nora Dirshlitt as its Big Bad.
      • Big Brother Instinct: Spencer in regards to Carly; Gibby to his little brother Guppy.
      • Big Brother Is Watching: One of the new policies in iHave My Principals.
      • Big Damn Heroes: Gibby in iPsycho smashes down a door to psycho-fan Nora's house, engages in a long fight scene while his brother Guppy frees the iCarly gang from Nora's sound booth.
      • Big Eater: Sam's own quote in her biography states that "I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first!"
        • She is also an indiscriminate lover of meat, and in the absence of milk, will eat her cereal with root beer.
      • Big No: Spencer beautifully evokes a "Non-Lethal KO" version in iSaved Your Life, complete with Slow Motion Fall and distorted voice effects.

      Spencer: What's that, a lollipop?
      Delivery Man: Yeah, except from where I'm from, we don't call it a lollipop.
      Spencer: What do you call it?
      Delivery Man: SUCKER! (slaps Spencer and dives on the floor)

      (Sam hangs upside down from the doorbeam, blowtube in her mouth ready for the "kill")

      Spencer: NOOOOOOOOOOO! (attempts to draw his blowtube but Sam strikes him with a headshot, claiming victory)

        • Carly also evokes this in iBeat the Heat (again, with distorted vocal effects) when Sabrina blindly tramples on her model of an Utopian City a la Godzilla.
        • In their spoof film Kelly Cooper: Terrible Movie:

      Sam (as Natalie): Do you want to fit in with the popular crowd?
      Carly (as Kelly): I do!
      Natalie: Well, too bad!
      Kelly: NOOOOOOOOOO!

        • Carly again, toward Sam. When the former suggests something criminal, the latter would ask to confirm.

      Carly: Okay Spencer, we're going shoplifting!

      Spencer: Wear a jacket!

      Sam: (excitedly) Are we really going shoplifting?

      Carly: NO!

      • Bilingual Bonus: Whenever Freddie speaks Gratuitous Spanish, chances are the Spanish words he uses are out of context or utterly random.
        • iGo to Japan becomes funnier when you know that the reason the Japanese security guard slapped Spencer is that he called his mother fat.
        • In iGo Nuclear, a bonus joke is that Cal's box containing illegal uranium is actually labeled plutonium in Russian.
        • In iGot a Hot Room, Sam threatens the Italian exchange student that she'll break his leg unless he greets Carly a happy birthday.
        • In iKiss, Carly talks about who her first kiss was with. Sam and Freddie laugh when they hear his last name is "Huebscher," but it's actually a German word meaning "handsome." Bonus points for Carly saying his lips tasted like potato salad.
      • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing : Chuck. He seems like a nice little kid but if you get him grounded, you'll regret it. He also uses his cuteness to take suspicion off of him.
      • Black Comedy: Quite a bunch.

      Spencer: This little piggy went to market... and this little piggy got hit by a truck!"

      Carly: SPENCER!

        • iMove Out: Spencer jokes that their aunt died falling out of a "winder". He quickly amends that the cause of death is a heart attack.
        • iPsycho: The old clown in Nora's birthday party suffered an aneurysm and was transported via a gurney, implied he can't make it through.
        • iBeat the Heat: When the temperature gets too high, the elderly will start to DIE!
        • iGot a Hot Room: Spencer and Carly rejoice the fact that their great-grandmother's watch, destroyed in a fire, got them $80,000 from the insurance company. Then casually comment, "We should have gone to her funeral."
        • iDo: Gibby almost crushes an elderly woman beneath him when reaching for the $5 hanging on a tree. Much moreso when Gibby runs away from the immobile woman who can be thought as dead until she spoke "Do we still get coffee?"
        • iGet Pranky:

      Spencer: What if I don't [sign the contract]?
      Carly: Well then I might sneak into your room tonight and push a pillow over your face until you stop kicking.
      Spencer: That's some pretty dark stuff.

      • Black Comedy Rape: Toned down to be "safe-for-kids".
        • In iPie, Trudy (Mr. Galini's sweaty granddaughter) dragged Spencer to the couch and practically spent the episode repeatedly lip-raping him, leaving the trio in a state of Squick.
        • In iPsycho, Sam forces an unwilling Freddie up against a glass partition so Nora (the girl who is holding them prisoner) can make out with him through the glass. Sam yells "Come and get it!" and Freddie cries out "This is so humiliating!" as he struggles in Sam's grip.
        • Full-blown in iStill Psycho where Nora lip-rapes Freddie on the table. The scene also cuts forward, implying that some time had passed as Sam and Carly are seen eating cake which they aren't doing before while Nora is concentrated on Freddie.
      • Blatant Lies: Sam. It is very obvious to the viewers that she caused a random misdeed and often times turns the blame on the resident Butt Monkey, Freddie. She freely runs away with it... she's Sam!
        • Unless the show ends with no pairings, then the trailer for iStart A Fan War is this, having told the audience that the shipping question would finally be answered.
      • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: In iReunite with Missy, there's blonde Sam, brunette Carly, and redhead Missy.
        • Wendy, a recurring character, can be considered as the show's resident redhead.
      • Blond Guys Are Evil: Wade Collins. He lied about his mother needing surgery to gain public sympathy, was rude and nasty to the iCarly gang when they tried to help him make his own music video, and is a big jerk.
      • Blowing a Raspberry: Not much used in the show, but is taken to adorable effect in iSaved Your Life when Freddie and Carly blow raspberries on each other playfully after they break-up.
      • Brain Bleach: Characters rely on squicked expressions when they see something disgusting.
        • In iHurt Lewbert:

      Freddie: Last night, I slept with my socks on.
      Sam: So?
      Freddie (grins) Just my socks.
      Carly: (rolls eyes)
      Sam: Uuuuuugh... (spits chewed junk food back into packet)

        • In iDate a Bad Boy:

      Sam: Check out this new video I found called Neck Infection.

      Carly: Okay.

      Freddie: Whatever.

      Freddie & Carly: AAAAAAAAAH!

      Carly: Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!!! (Runs away shrieking)

      Freddie: That is horrible!

      Sam: Come on, watch this next part. It's really funny.

      Freddie: (gags) Oh! Oh! Aaaaaah! No! (runs away screaming)

      Spencer: Okay, I've separated your phone calls into three categories. Death threats, from your mother... and death threats from your mother.

      Freddie: Does Baby Spencer love Jerry Trainor?
      Baby Spencer: (also played by Jerry Trainor) What?!
      Freddie: Do you love Jerry Trainor?
      Baby Spencer: Don't say that! You're breaking the fourth wall! Nooooo!

      Freddie: Aw, sometimes it's OK to break the fourth wall.

      Baby Spencer: No! It violates everything I believe in!

      Freddie: Did you know Jerry Trainor is up in the Teen Choice Awards?

      Baby Spencer: Hush! Don't talk about it!

      Freddie: Don't you want everyone to go online and vote for Jerry Trainor?

      Baby Spencer: Baby don't like shameless self-promotion!

      Freddie: Don't you know iCarly is up for lots of Teen Choice Awards?

      Baby Spencer: SHUT UP! I'm so uncomfortable with this in so many levels!

        • In the Parody film The Blowing:

      Sam: How do we save ourselves from this wind?
      Fleck: We don't.
      Sam: But how can we survive?
      Fleck: We can't.
      Sam: But we have time to make this movie?
      Fleck: We won't.
      Sam: Oh.

      • Breakout Character: Gibby, as of season 4 he's finally been Promoted to a Main Character.
      • Brick Joke: In iSpy a Mean Teacher, Spencer mentions breaking up with Connie (his girlfriend) because he learned she juggles for someone else. While the gang is airing their webcast with Ms. Briggs, one of the show's viewers is shown with his new juggler girlfriend, Connie.
        • In iWill Date Freddie Sam asks Valerie over the Blabcam to "Email Freddie the adress of the mental institution [Valeries] locked up in, and [Freddie] will get her there". Seasons later, in iLost my mind where does Sam admit herself because she likes Freddie? Troubled Waters Mental Institiution.
      • Broken Aesop: There are a few ways iGo Nuclear could be considered to have broken the supposed Green Aesop: The first telling Freddie he failed because he imported worms for Portugal, then telling Carly that taking the bus would've been better. When Sam passed for doing nothing, it made it seem like the moral was "Don't bother trying to help the planet, because you are unwittingly doing it wrong anyway."
        • A shocking truth in Real Life is presented in iBeat the Heat. Carly gives An Aesop speech based from her utopian city project contrasting the Old American "neighborhood" life to the hubbub of the people in her loft. The lesson seemed to have sunk in, until all power inside the building gets restored, prompting the residents to leave the loft immediately without giving any form of gratitude. The stunned expressions of the main characters are just priceless.
        • The aesop of iStart a Fanwar, where everyone should concentrate on the show itself because it's only about comedy and not shipping? The very next episode started a 5 part Shipping arc that Dan Schneider himself hyped to the point he was expecting it to break the 12 million viewer record of iSaved Your Life.
      • Broken Base: Entirely averted in-universe, as everybody loves the webshow. Subject to change as the A-plot of an episode, but since Status Quo Is God, they always have growing popularity by the end of the day.
        • Even when they screwed things up with Fred they still don't count, as everyone hated them for causing Fred to stop making his show.
      • Broken Record: In iStill Psycho, the repeated gag of "And ever...and ever...and ever...and ever..."
      • Brother Chuck: Many minor characters have never come back again like the mean popular girl from Nevel's first episode, Tareen, and "Germy" Jeremy.
        • Wendy, a popular minor Ensemble Darkhorse character simply vanished as well after her last appearance in the final episode of Season 2.
          • In iLove You Wendy was referenced as going with Sam to hit golf balls at the soccer team. She doesn't come on screen, so we don't know if it was her or not.
        • Brad has vanished off the face of the earth. It could be conceivable he wouldn't be in iLose My Mind. In iDate Sam & Freddie the trio do a webshow in their usual time and place and he's not there, which would seem to confirm he isn't showing up again.
      • Buffy-Speak: Spencer.
      • Bullying a Dragon: In "iMake Sam Girlier", a freakishly large senior named Jocelyn likes to pick on Sam, who only doesn't beat her up sooner than she does because she's trying to be girly. Considering Sam's reputation around school, Jocelyn probably should've known better.
        • Sam invokes this in "iKiss" when she tells the ones bullying Freddie that if they want to pick on someone, pick on her. She then makes sure they know exactly what picking on her would imply.
      • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Spencer and His Tie get the kids out of the Techfoot contract.
      • The Bus Came Back: Nevel in iPity The Nevel.
      • Butt Monkey: Freddie, Gibby and Spencer; though the latter might be self-inflicted.
        • The show seems not to care about the victimization on Freddie, sometimes even seeming to encourage it i.e. iMeet Fred, with an Aesop that boils down to "Unpopular opinions are bad".
      • But Thou Must!: In iDate a Bad Boy:

      T-Bo: You want some bagels?
      Spencer: ...What?
      T-Bo: We sell bagels now.
      Spencer: Oh, cool, but no, I don't want any bagels. Just two Strawberry Splat smoothies, and--
      T-Bo: Try some bagels.
      Spencer: I don't want any bagels.
      T-Bo: Come on, don't be a jerk.
      Spencer: A jerk? Wha--DUDE, I just want smoothies!
      T-Bo: Whad'ya got against bagels?
      Spencer: ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I'LL TAKE A DOZEN BAGELS TOO! Okay? Here! (pays)
      T-Bo: Thanks. But, the bagels won't be ready for an hour.
      Spencer: GAS BUBBLE!

      C

      • The Cameo: Josh Peck has a very stealthy appearance in iReunite With Missy as a Groovy Smoothie customer in a blonde wig and shades.
        • Daniella Monet was at Nora's party in iPsycho.
        • The minor characters in various episodes (like the MMA doctor in iLook Alike) are iCarly writers themselves.
        • Steve Hoefer, one of Schneider Bakery's resident directors, is the gang's director in iCarly Saves TV.
      • Camp Gay: The Petographers Stuart and Ollie, complete with a cat they named Harmoo.
      • Camp Straight: Nevel.
      • Canada, Eh?: Mostly averted in iToe Fat Cakes. The tour guide has an accent and they talk about weight in kilos but it could be the USA otherwise.
      • Can't You Read the Sign?: Gibby infuriates the museum guard by repeatedly using flash photography with a sign that says otherwise, prompting the guard to evoke the trope. Gibby provokes him with an aerosol string and saying "This is the part where you must chase me."
      • Cash Cow Franchise: So far Nickelodeon seems to be turning it into this, what with all the merchandise.
      • Cassandra Truth: The entire focus of iTwins. Freddie disagrees that Sam really has a twin sister after being pranked twice and since he never saw both Sam and Melanie at the same time. Also, Carly doesn't believe Spencer's accusations of the multitudes of abuse he got from Chuck.
        • In iReunite with Missy, Sam already had an instinct that Missy is deliberately getting rid of her as Carly's best friend but Carly disproves her accusations.
        • In iSpace Out, a little girl finds her way into the apartment, but when Spencer tried to show her to a police officer, she'd hidden somewhere.
        • The ending scenes of iBelieve in Bigfoot strongly implies that Big Foot and the Beavecoon are real, at least in the Schneider-verse
      • The Cast Showoff: Sam/Jennette in iDream of Dance and iWas A Pageant Girl.
        • Carly/Miranda sings an "improv" acapella in iPromote Techfoots, Amazing Freaking Grace in iPie, and her song Shakespeare in iDo.
      • Captain Obvious: Freddie usually, often followed by Sam or Carly glaring at him.
      • Chalk Outline: Tape version used in iTake On Dingo
      • Chain Letter: Freddie gets a chain letter regarding Consuela, a Spanish woman who had died. He must pass it on, or suffer such misfortunes as red socks getting mixed with white shorts, his sandwich getting run over, and his computer shorting out and making weird popping sounds.
        • Subverted though, because Sam caused all that misfortune. Freddie catches her in the act though and gets back at her at the end of the episode.
      • Christmas Episode: Complete with It's a Wonderful Life-based plot and Shout-Out to Peanuts.
      • Clip Show: iBloop
      • Complaining About People Not Liking the Show: In-show example: The world's reaction to Freddie saying that he didn't like Fred videos in iMeet Fred. Mostly due to Fred falsely claiming that he's not going to do his videos anymore because Freddie didn't like them, but even after Fred admitted he just said that for publicity, Sam beats Freddie up for saying that he still didn't like them.
      • The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Freddie in iMeet Fred. The pic of Freddie after he got beaten up by the tennis racquet is even currently the page picture.
      • Consolation World Record: iWant a World Record
      • Covered in Gunge: Nevel, with "guacamole" that resembles good ol' Nickelodeon green slime.
        • Spencer, quite often.
        • In iGo To Japan the trio gets mud splattered on them by a passing truck.
      • Catch Phrase: Carly's "Please, for me?" toward asking Freddie a request.
        • Sam usually calls herself Mama to describe herself or whenever she feels competitive.
        • Recent episodes have Freddie showing a habit of saying random Spanish words, usually as alternatives for saying "goodbye" like "Pantalones!" or "Agua!"
        • Nevel has "You'll rue this day, YOU'LL RUE IT!"
        • Guppy quips "Happy Birthday!". His big bro even lampshades it being his catchphrase.
        • Gibby's "Gibb-eh!" and "I love that!" (Season 4 and 5)
      • Cavalier Consumption: Sam gets a call from her friends telling her they're trapped in a teacher's house. She says something along the lines of "that sucks", picks up an apple and takes a bite.
      • Cerebus Syndrome: iOMG is the first of a five episode 'arc' involving the Sam/Freddie 'romance'. The first promo from the 2nd episode is void of comedy, and instead concentrates on kissing, and Sam wondering if she has 'lost her mind' for liking Freddie.
      • Celebrity Paradox: One of the questions that Sam's mom asks after watching iCarly for the first time is: Victoria Justice looks a lot like that chick Shelby Marx.
        • iGet Pranky has Carly watching the Drake and Josh episode Megan's Revenge. All Carly does is wonder why she's not as good at pranks as "that little girl".
        • In the same episode, Spencer also watches the epsisode The Storm, complete with Crazy Steve yelling "Come on, Dora!"
        • Lampooned by Dan Schneider here: a mock video of him with a Loony Fan who is constantly bothered by the gigantic amount of possible cross-references in the iCarly-Victorious crossover and Dan's previous shows, i.e. Carly may recognize Tori as Shelby Marx; Tori (who is also Lola) might also recognize Carly as Paige Howard or Megan Parker; etc.
      • Character Blog: Part of the extensive tie-in website.
      • Character Development:
        • Gibby: From something of a Ralph Wiggum Expy, rarely seen friend in Season 1 to a hot-chick pimp, the Big Guy of the gang and a major character, and in Season 4 part of the credits.
        • Freddie: From a very nerdy and shy kid to a smart, confident teenager. His feelings for Carly develop from a minor Stalker with a Crush vibe in the first season, into something more mature in Season 2, and then in Season 3 he saves her life, becomes her boyfriend, and then leaves the relationship because he's worried it's not real love on her part. Despite this he retains his feelings all the way up to the end of Season 4, which is when the Wham! Episode iOMG happens and from there who knows.
        • Carly: From yet another Dan Schneider Purity Sue in Season 1, to girl who makes mistakes, is shallow with guys, disobeys Spencer and gets punished for her flaws and becomes a more well rounded person, completely killing the idea of her being a Purity Sue by the time iDate A Bad Boy ends.
        • Sam: Grows up a little in the episode iReunite With Missy, where she actually comes to Freddie and asks for his help.
      • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Played straight, when Federal agents burst in when they hacked the school computer and averted it with the live webcast from detention that doesn't get punished.
        • While the first half of the episode iGot Detention is about the group trying to get in trouble (and failing) what gets Carly in detention is slamming her locker in frustration. As opposed to pulling the fire alarm in the middle of school.
      • Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin': When Carly and Freddie try to get detention for the 50th webshow spectacular.
      • The Chick: The title character of iCarly will rebel against authority if she perceives unfairness in the treatment of her friends and has given her "Why can't we all just get along" speech to a crowd of people at least a couple of times.
      • Chekhov's Gun: Whenever the main characters seek help in searching something, the webshow itself is their main form of problem solver.
        • Spencer's episode-acquired possessions usually join the main plot like the fishing rod, the Proton Cruiser and the mechanical bull.
        • In iHate Sam's Boyfriend, Carly and Freddie hesitantly talk about using the "Wedgie-Bounce" bit for their next show. Sam later improvises their show and uses this to punish her two-timing boyfriend Jonah by the end of the episode.
        • The "School at Sea" contest in iReunite with Missy, which paved the way for Carly to learn of Missy's Villain Ball speech.
        • In iEnrage Gibby, Freddie sets up another camera to examine how two pieces of bread rot in a period of time for the iCarly webcast. At the end of the episode, this camera also provided proof that the incident between Tasha and Freddie was an accident.
        • In iHave a Lovesick Teacher, the titular teacher mentions in the first half of the episode that "Well, the Pear Pod wasn't cheap, but I just got the songs off one of those music-sharing websites." It is not spoken about until the end, when she gets arrested for downloading music illegally.
        • The Mood App in iOMG is a Chekhov's Gun, used in an extremely lazy way to show the audience that Sam likes Freddie without bothering to actually explain why Sam likes Freddie, when Sam started liking Freddie and allows the plot to keep Brad as a Red Herring until the final 'shocking' cliff-hanger moment.
        • The locator chip in Freddie's head introduced in iGo To Japan is a major plot point in iStill Psycho. With no other escape options, the gang resorts to shocking Freddie's head to disable the chip and trigger an alarm that will alert Mrs. Benson to their plight (with Spencer's shock pen from iPrank, which also counts as a Chekhov's Gun).
          • The highly conspicuous swords hanging on the wall of the house can also count.
      • Chekhov's Gunman: Jeremy aka "Germy", a student who always coughs and sneezes is the prime example in Season 1. In iNevel, after Nevel gave iCarly a dishonest review, the trio employs Jeremy to force Nevel to tell the truth, knowing his hate of germs. In iWill Date Freddie, he also appears early in the episode, and later gets recommended by Freddie "who knows tech stuff" as his replacement when he left iCarly.
        • iRue The Day involved Nevel hacking iCarly.com. Earlier in the episode, "Uncle Roger", a member of the military and friend of the Shays' dad said he was staying for a month. Guess who came back at the end of the episode?
        • in iStill Psycho, T-Bo has to stay with Mrs. Benson. When Mrs. Benson finds out Freddie and the girls are in danger, he assists her in a Big Damn Heroes moment.
      • Chekhov's Skill: In Spencer's 3-day stay in law school, he managed to learn some of the most basic knowledge in law also with the help of his law book. His "background" becomes very handy whenever the gang encounters legal matters like in iPromote Techfoots and iOwe You.
        • Sam's unerring ability to pick locks (as much as using a sharpened duck bone) has been of great help to Carly and Freddie (or assault Freddie from his apartment) in a lot of episodes.
        • Gibby's kickboxing. For that alone, do not make him angry. You won't like Gibby when he's angry.
        • Mrs. Benson's fencing history. Not only did it turn up later in iFence to beat up some bullies, she uses her skills to defeat the Ax Crazy Nora and her mother in iStill Psycho.
      • Cliff Hanger: The end of iOMG doesn't outright show what reaction Freddie has to Sam's kiss, and Carly's main reaction to The Reveal. The fifth season resumes right off the events of the episode, making it the actual season finale.
      • Chew Toy: Lewbert is the main example; Freddie in iMeet Fred; Spencer sometimes gets this in iLook Alike and whenever he's with Chuck.
      • Claustrophobia: Carly suffers from this, freaking out after being trapped in small rooms in both iSpace Out and iSam's Mom.
      • Clingy Jealous Girl: Carly displayed this in the hallway scene of the extended iSaved Your Life.
        • Ms. Ackerman (although more than a mere girl) in iHave a Lovesick Teacher.
      • Cloudcuckoolander: Everyone, especially Spencer.

      Spencer: Things haven't gotten better?
      Freddie: They've gotten the opposite of better.
      Spencer: So... worse?
      Freddie: (Stares at Spencer in disbelief) ...Uh-huh.

      • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Intentionally invoked by Freddie to make Sam insult him and lose a bet in iHeart Art.
      • Collective Groan: Done numerous times in iDream of Dance.
      • Comedic Sociopathy: One of the main sources of humor within the show, most especially the abuse Freddie (and Gibby) suffer from Sam; and the rare instances between Carly and Spencer (ex. iLook Alike)
        • Even characters who are generally nice sometimes encourage this behavior—when they're not the target of it and if they feel the target deserves it. Usually as part of the Aesop of the day, or just because it's funny.

      Freddie: I wanna see Sam beat up TV writers!

        • The sequences where Nevel gets angry at a little girl for dropping something of his on accident and yelling at her in iPity the Nevel. While this is a serious situation, a Laugh Track plays over this, so we are expected to laugh over a guy yelling at a girl who is much younger than him.
          • Justified - the audience is expected to laugh about Nevel loses his popularity, not that he's tormenting a little girl.
      • Comic Book Time: Averted in the first and second seasons, with them clearly moving up a grade, as well as the cast clearly entering puberty and growing up. They also explained how their school was a combined Middle and High school as they moved to a grade, that in almost all US education systems, means moving from from a Junior or Middle school, to a new High School.
        • After season 2 however, it gets hazy. It's likely they are now in grade 10, but it's possible the could be still in grade 9, or have moved ahead to grade 11.
      • Comically Missing the Point: When Spencer reports something to Carly, she usually diverts the subject.
        • Spencer finally manages to show video evidence to Carly that Chuck is a horrible kid toward him.

      Carly: (gasps) That lying little beast!
      Spencer: You see?!
      Carly: I know! You gotta start working out!
      Spencer: That's not the point! Chuck is evil, and I want revenge!
      Carly: Wait! I have a plan to get him, trust me. (squeezes Spencer's arm) You really got to start working out.
      Spencer: Stop squishing it!

        • Spencer explains the prank that sent a group of kids to the hospital when Carly notes his grammar.

      Spencer: I didn't know garlic powder stang if it went in your eyes!
      Carly: (laughs) You mean stung.
      Spencer: What?!
      Carly: Well, I think the past tense is sting. It's stung, not stang.
      Spencer: You're missing the point!

        • In Ipity The Nevel's B-plot, Freddie gets attention for a bunch of vampire Fan Girls for his intentionally horrible acting in a parody of popular vampire fads, not seeming to get that he did it to make fun of said fangirls and their favorite things.
      • Common Crossover: Drake and Josh, Victorious and Zoey 101 due to their shared universe.
        • After Sam exits the stage for the first time in iWas a Pageant Girl, one of the off-screen contestants can be heard introducing herself as Quinn Pensky.
        • In the end credits of iGot a Hot Room, Carly, Sam and Freddie all sing the iCarly theme song. Freddie and Sam then sing the chorus of the theme songs of Drake and Josh and Victorious, which leaves Carly utterly perplexed.
        • In iGet Pranky, Carly is obviously watching the Drake and Josh episode Megan's Revenge, where Megan admitted the camera just stunned her pet hamster. Carly even wonders why is the girl this good at pulling pranks, which is also a subtle Actor Allusion.
          • Same episode, Spencer watches the Drake and Josh episode The Storm (where Jerry Trainor's "other" character Crazy Steve yells "Come on, Dora! You're the one with the map!!")
        • In iStart a Fan War, Gavin, Craig, Eric, and Stacey Dilsen cameo in the Creddie fan camp. Gavin even pulls his catchphrase "I got it" while he held the flare that ignited later.
        • Stacey Dilsen appears again as an applying intern in iHire An Idiot. True to her Chew Toy status in Zoey 101, Carly is creeped out by her.
      • The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Freddie when it comes to Sam.
      • Continuity Nod: Despite the show's episodic plots relying on Status Quo Is God, combined by Nickelodeon airing them Out of Order, there are still a lot of elements within the show's universe that call back episodes from previous seasons, i.e. Spencer's sculptures, the hammer (that almost killed Carly) lodged on the wall, and the iCarly iWeb trophy in the studio.
        • iThink They Kissed is a very good example. The interrogation scene between Carly and Freddie recalls plots from a lot of previous episodes: iKiss, iPromise Not To Tell (Carly overpowered Freddie), iSaw Him First (Freddie's voice got lower, as well as being stronger), and iTwins (Freddie still not believing that Melanie really exists).
        • iBeat the Heat guest stars the residents of Bushwell who had appeared in earlier episodes, among whom are Chuck, Griffin, Mr. Klemish, Dr. Dresdin and Lewbert, who even had hilarious dialogues with Mrs. Benson involving their failed relationship.
        • In iPsycho, Spencer tells Gibby that he got kicked out of sleep-away camp, but doesn't say why. In the earlier episode iTwins, he consoles Freddie about the "Clown Day" incident by telling about how the other campers tricked him into thinking it was "Naked Day."
          • When Gibby's mom visits him at the Shay's she quickly declines to stay and say hi to Spencer, whom she had briefly dated in iFix A Pop Star.
        • In iFind Lewbert's Lost Love, Carly and Sam are shown singing Ginger Fox's song, heard in full later in iFix a Popstar.
        • In iParty with Victorious When consoling Carly, Sam says "I brought the butter sock" and pulls the butter sock that was introduced in iTake on Dingo out of her bag.
        • iSam's Mom cements Sam's hatred of the word "panties" as a fact, as well as her "I Love Las Vegas" underwear, the mention of her twin sister, and Carly's claustrophobic freakout.
        • In one episode, Britney Spears Expy Ginger Fox stabs Freddie with a fork. Go back a few years (and across the Nick Verse) and what did Zoey (played by Britney's sis Jamie Lynn) threaten to do to Royal Brat Logan in "Hands on a Blix Van"?
      • Corrupt the Cutie: Averted in iMove Out: Carly was averse to vandalizing the Petographers' studio.
        • Almost averted in iLook Alike:

      Carly (nervously): I don't know if we should do this. Should we do this? I don't know if we should do this.

      • Crap Saccharine World: Everything in the iCarly-verse (and Schneider-verse in that matter) are colorful and jolly, with a cast full of eccentric characters. And then there's SadistTeachers, evil rival celebrities, Jerkass neighbors, all in the name of comedy. Interacting with them is just another normal day for our iCarly gang.
      • Crazy Prepared: Mrs. Benson probably has bought and possessed a care-for-your-child product for ANY occassion and keeps a first-aid kit the size of a luggage bag.
        • After confiscating Sam's blowtube, Carly and Spencer are quite taken aback that Sam kept a spare one ("A good assassin always has backup!") Carly then pats down Sam and finds two more mini blowtube guns hidden inside her socks.
      • Crossover: iParty with Victorious.
        • In "iStart a Fanwar," Eric, Craig, and Gavin from Drake and Josh make an appearance, along with Stacey Dilsen from Zoey 101.
      • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Gibby. If you are his friend who betrays his trust (or someone who dares kidnap his friends), he won't think twice about beating the fudge out of you.
      • Cryptid Episode: There's an episode centering around the the hunt for Bigfoot.
      • Convenient Slow Dance: Firstly, that the Groovy Smoothie was playing slow music just perfect for their Dance of Romance when you'd expect pop or top40 music, and secondly, the fact that the other 12 customers inside all vanished within the space of the 2 minute conversation that caused both their dates to leave.
      • Curb Stomp Battle: Ricky Flame's solution to always win is to wrestle pre-teen boys.
        • Then he finds himself on the receiving end when Sam takes him on.
      • Cuffs Off, Rub Wrists: Spencer after his arrest for causing the worst traffic jam in Seattle history. In an effort to get more viewers, he made a far too bright glowing sign above a major highway. When dropped off at home he requested some lotion for his raw wrists, leading into a little comedic bit with the officer.
      • Cute Bruiser: Sam is widely acknowledged as the toughest kid of either gender at school, has taken down a bully almost twice her size and ripped a chain lock off a door while in pursuit of Freddie in iKiss. She was towing Gibby behind her and wasn't even out of breath.
        • And in a non Unstoppable Rage moment in iCook she wrestles a full grown man to the ground without working up a sweat.
        • Shelby Marx. Freddie calls her "smoking hot".
        • Inverted: Gibby in iEnrage Gibby.

      D

      • Date Rape Averted: played Lighter and Softer as Trey (the nerdy boy from iPear Store) chases Carly and tries to 'kiss her', but is foiled by Spencer.
      • Dating Service Disaster: Spencer, using whynotdateme.com
      • Damned By Faint Praise: Used against the Daka shoe company in iPromote Techfoots when the shoe is a hunk of crap, burns out when used, crashes computers with its wifi, and causes a backlash against their show.
      • Dance of Romance: The climax of iSpeed Date. After Freddie's magician dance partner vanished and Carly drove away her talkative partner, Carly and Freddie admit that they didn't enjoy their respective dances. Since they are the ones left alone in the Groovy Smoothie, Freddie offers to Carly that they deserve a dance "with someone they don't want to kill". Despite refusing at first to be Freddie's partner, Carly enthusiastically agrees. The cashier T-Bo tunes up the music, then Carly and Freddie comfortably share a slow dance.
      • Dawson Casting: Averted with the main cast. However, Griffin, Carly's love interest in iDate A Bad Boy, was played by a 23-year-old and looked like it. The episode involved some heavy make out sessions with the star of the show Miranda Cosgrove, who was 15 when they filmed them. Miranda apparently got to choose which guy they casted.
        • In iPsycho, the girl who keeps the trio hostage looks like a 22-year-old instead of a 16-year-old.
      • Dead Artists Are Better: In iEnrage Gibby, after a newspaper mistakenly prints Spencer's obituary, his art suddenly becomes worth thousands of dollars. Spencer uses this to his advantage.
      • Deadpan Snarker: Each of the main characters had their moments of snarkiness, but Sam and Mrs. Benson are the harshest of the lot.
        • In iGet Pranky:

      Sam: Pranking Gibby doesn't count! You have to prank a real person!
      Carly: Gibby is a real person, and this is a good prank! You'll see.
      (Gibby sees the fish in his locker and joyfully goes home)
      Carly: (dismayed) I kinda got him.
      Sam: You got him dinner.

        • In iSaved Your Life:

      Carly: How is he (Freddie)?
      Mrs. Benson: Broken... damaged... And I see you look fine, isn't that nice?

      • Dean Bitterman: When Mr Howard and Mrs Briggs take over the school during iHave My Principals.
      • Deconstruction: iDate Sam & Freddie and the rest of the Seddie arc shows what happens when Sam and Freddie, two people who continually bicker, fight argue and often act in ways that show they legitimately hate each other start dating. They fight, bicker, argue, piss each other off constantly, drag each other down into fighting harder than the did before, and need Carly to fix their fights even more than usual, to the point Carly snaps and tells them they shouldn't be dating at all. It doesn't get better. The last episode shows them being unable to share an interest of the other without ruining it for the person whose interest it is, that they have no shared interests outside of filming the webshow and that their relationship fades away naturally because they have no reason to see each other for anything but making out. Finally, they both realise their personalities are too different to work in a relationship for more than a few weeks. As Sam and Freddie are a pretty standard Belligerent Sexual Tension ship, it also serves to deconstruct that type of relationship as a whole.
      • Defictionalization: The website from the show itself. A recent addition to its list of merchandise is Sam's Laugh Track remote.
        • Also averted by Schneider's Bakery. All fictional website URL mentioned on the show (and other Dan Schneider shows) redirect to icarly.com
        • A rough list of sites that redirect are: nevelocity.com; thevalerieshow.com (which are websites of their nemesis Nevel and Valerie, who tried to steal Freddie); sampuckett.com; instaboobs.com; whynotdateme.com; spraymychildren.com; aggressiveparenting.com; exerciserox.com (OR exerciserocks.com); and beavecoon.org. icarly.com will not help you with any of these things.
      • Delayed Reaction: Used quite a bunch of times throughout the series, usually by Freddie and Spencer.
        • In iMust Have Locker 239, Freddie negotiates with Sam about getting her half of the locker as Sam mentions that her mom is driving a car to fetch her just after having an eye surgery. Freddie still goes on his negotiation until Sam's statement sinks in.
        • In iHurt Lewbert:

      Carly: Lewbert got hurt, which brought out your mom's motherly instincts.
      Sam: So, what if you... got hurt?
      Freddie: Yeah... (pauses) WHAT?!

      Spencer: What does it feel to lose someone you're close to? It means you've lost someone that you're close to.

      • Depraved Bisexual: Stalker with a Crush Nora from iPsycho. She kisses a girl at her party, as well as demanding a kiss from Freddie.
      • Derailing Love Interests: Used to break up Jonah and Sam in iHate Sam's Girlfriend. They spent 60% of the episode being sickenly sweet to each other, with Sam spending all her time with him. Rather than have Sam and Jonah deal with how that was hurting her friendships and their webshow, Jonah suddenly tries to cheat on Sam with Carly, giving them a quick solution and easy end to their relationship.
      • Determinator: Gunsmoke (and hilariously so). "Nobody's going to touch that boy..."
      • Deus Ex Machina: Freddie's Mood App plot device in iOMG being the biggest example. Its accuracy or how it works was never questioned, and its sole existence is simply paving the way for the 4-episode Sam/Freddie arc.
      • Die for Our Ship: Invoked in iStart a Fan War. While denying having a relationship with Freddie, Carly attempts a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming by pointing out her actual romantic interest. The in-universe Creddie shippers to whom she was preaching take the wrong message from the speech and attack him.
      • Digital Piracy Is Evil: Carly and her friends don't seem to have a problem with it but they use anti-piracy laws to get one of their Sadist Teachers arrested.
      • Directed by Cast Member: Jerry Trainor directs the iApril's Fools episode.
      • Disappeared Dad: Carly/Spencer's father is in the military, Sam and Freddie's are completely absent, never even mentioned.
        • Sam's father's disappearance was finally addressed in "iParty with Victorious":

      Carly: Steven told me I'm one of a kind!
      Sam: Yeah, and my dad once told my mom he was coming back! (Everyone stares at her in horror) ...Moving on.

        • And again in "iLost My Mind", when asked where her father is, Sam yells back, "You tell me!"
      • Discontinuity Nod: Sabrina appeared as a random partygoer in iTwins where Freddie and Melanie dated, and budged Freddie causing him to spill the fruit punch he was holding. In iBeat the Heat, Sabrina appears again and behaved as though she had never seen Freddie before.
      • Disguised in Drag: In iWant My Website Back, Spencer disguises himself as a "busty old woman" and an old man gets the hots for him. Even after Spencer blew up his cover that he is really a man, the old geezer still pursued him to his apartment, willing to "start all over again" as long as Spencer wears back the wig. This subplot is also a potential Homage of the film Some Like It Hot.
      • Disproportionate Retribution: Briggs threatens Freddie to get expelled because of Spencer's presence; Howard gives Gibby triple detention for being "too Gibby" and his smart-ass replies; Devlin marks down Carly's report for being printed on three-holed paper which he hates; Ackerman gives Carly an F for a quiz she never took after Spencer broke up with her. The list goes on...
        • Nevel Papperman. After being refused to be kissed by Carly and soiled on the face with tapenade, the rest of the episodes involving him are plots of his desire to get rid of iCarly.
          • One episode showed a video of him picking up the last jar of a particular brand of pickle in a store. As he's about to put it in his car, a little girl accidentally runs into him with a cart, causing him to drop the jar, which falls on the floor and breaks. He flips, screaming at the little girl and taking a lollipop she had out of her cart, then throws it on the ground, taunting her and screaming at her more as she's crying. The little SOB calls her mother an idiot. The numerous hateful comments the video receives about Nevel are well-deserved.
        • iKiss. In retaliation for Freddie handcuffing her to Gibby, which was in turn all for the endless abuse she had given him, Sam reveals Freddie's embarassing secret, that he's never kissed a girl, to the world on the webshow.
        • Freddie's fate for stating his opinion in iMeet Fred. Seeing someone take that much abuse for dissing the Fred show HAS to count as this.
        • Chuck Chambers. He was breaking a building rule by playing raquetball in the lobby, and Spencer couldn't get him to stop, so he told Chuck's dad, who grounded him for 2 days. Chuck got revenge... By keeping Spencer locked up in a storage cage in the basement (and squirting him with a "suspicious liquid"). And then he's perfectly willing to beat the crap out of Spencer. All for a 2-day grounding over something he wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place.

      Chuck: If I can't watch TV, then NOBODY CAN!

        • The petographers. They destroyed Carly and Sam's studio just because they refused to shut down their pet photography business.
        • In iCan't Take It Freddie got his application to N.E.R.D. camp denied because Sam sabotaged it. Why? Because he didn't know what time it was when she asked him.
      • The Ditz: Carly's role in the Idiot Farm Girl skit. Gibby may also have his moments wherein he is quite slow in the uptake.
        • In-universe example: In iHire an Idiot, Cort is a literal male Brainless Beauty (at least for the girls). And then there's Ashley.
      • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Carly meeting Nevel for the first time is oddly reminiscent of meeting an internet pedophile. Obviously it's toned down for kids, though the flamboyant mannerisms of the character make this hold traces of Unfortunate Implications.
        • Carly and Sam fighting over Freddie in iQuit iCarly was very much like divorcing parents fighting over the affection of their kid.
        • In "iBeat The Heat" Freddie tries to lift Carly onto the kitchen bench. He fails, and ends up making it look like he's having (clothed, obviously) sex with her.
        • Mrs. Benson interrupting their webshow holding a bag which looks identical to a bag of weed and asking Freddie what it was. It turns out to be the asparagus that Freddie didn't eat for dinner, but it's obvious what it was meant to resemble
        • When Carly stopped dating the guy in "iQ" Sam gives Carly the huge fork which she took from the Shays at the beginning of the episode. When Carly asks Sam why is she giving up her beloved fork, Sam pulls out a huge fork. Carly replies " That is comically big." Which, not only reminds us of a body part that can sometimes be comically big,also reminds some of us of what one woman might give her now-lonely girl friend to compensate for not having a boyfriend any more. If you know what I mean? Probably the closest a kid show ever came to making a masturbation joke. And its with females at that
      • Domestic Abuse: Despite entering a relationship, Sam still hits Freddie. It's dismissed by Carly, and she even calls it sweet because Sam now avoids hitting him in the face.
      • Dogged Nice Guy: Freddie in his pursuit of Carly.
      • Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Miranda, aka Carly, sings the theme tune.
      • Door Focus: Carly and Sam get into a fight, which ends when Carly leaves their apartment, slamming the door behind her. A beat passes before Carly opens the door again and tells Sam to get out instead, as the apartment is her house.
      • Double Entendre: Despite being a kids show, the writers can be mercilessly subtle with such dialogues.
      • Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male): Sam towards Freddie. Can be seen as Crossing the Line Twice depending on the intensity and longevity of each individual action.
        • Implied and justified with Carly, Sam and Shelby ganging up on a trapped Nevel at the end of iFight Shelby Marx, given that Nevel caused Shelby to beat Carly to a pulp after he told her Carly had deliberately pushed her grandma down the podium.
        • Freddie's extremely overbearing mother is actually a case of emotional abuse, yet this dynamic is only played for laughs. Many of her behaviors, including purposefully embarrassing him in front of his friends, being overprotective about things like scissors, and implanting a chip in his head so that she can track him are definitely not okay and would easily by classified as child abuse.
        • There are several moments when female-on-male violence is portrayed as bad, such as Miss Ackerman with Spencer (iHave a Lovesick Teacher) and Marta with Lewbert (iFind Lewbert's Lost Love). Even still, they are only played for laughs, which is disappointing considering the long-term trauma it is implied to have caused Lewbert.
        • Sam pushes Freddie into a bike courier, who hits Freddie, who falls onto a fire hydrant and is knocked out with blood pouring from his ears. This wonderful moment of bullying, abuse, and potential brain damage is—according to Freddie—worth the hearing loss because it's when Sam realises that Freddie is cute.
      • Do Wrong Right: The tummy-rub antic of the Shays.

      Carly: You guys are so embarrassing! (beat) If you're gonna do it, do it right!
      (Carly tummy rubs with a siren sound as Spencer and Granddad resume theirs. Sam and Freddie follow suit, to Lewbert's chagrin.)

      • Dream Within a Dream: Spencer's dream about the soup-eating monster in "iDate A Bad Boy."
        • Carly begins with a nice dream, and wakes up when it turns into a nightmare in iMight Switch Schools. She goes back to sleep to "reboot" her good dream. Ooh, watch out, Inception.
      • Drop-In Character: Technically both Bensons, but since Freddie's part of the main threesome, only his mom really fits the trope.
        • Sam as well, and is more of one than Freddie as she lives somewhere that requires a car or bus ride (or presumably a long walk) hardly ever goes home.
        • Lampshaded by Spencer in iParty With Victorious:

      Spencer: Look! Sam and Freddie are here! That's different!

      Carly: She should be here 4 hours ago!
      Ginger Fox: You said 2 o'clock.
      Sam: It's 6 o'clock!
      Ginger Fox: Well, I didn't know if you mean o'clock AM or o'clock PM.
      Sam: You're o'mazingly stupid.
      Ginger Fox: What did she say?

        • Inverted in iHire An Idiot: Cort was a dumb male brunet hired by the girls. Ashley, hired by Freddie, also had dark hair, appeared to be dumb at first but was only playing the part to help Freddie trick the girls into firing Cort.
      • Dumb Muscle: Duke Lubberman in iHatch Chicks.

      Freddie: If we can only find a way to smoothly slide him (Spencer) out of there.
      Duke: Oh, I want a smoothie! (runs away)
      Freddie: Wait, wait! (groans) Tell them to add some intelligence boost!

      E

      • Earn Your Happy Ending: In iGo To Japan. Thanks to the special's Big Bads, the iCarly gang go through hell to get their chance at the iWeb Awards and manage to overcome everything to win.
      • Easily Forgiven: In iCan't Take It, Sam ruins Freddie's chances of getting into an exclusive science camp that would help him get into any college he wants. Because Freddie didn't know what time it was when Sam asked him. Freddie finds out and gets angry, then, after prodding by Carly, forgives her about 2 minutes after and kisses her again to end the episode.
      • Eiffel Tower Effect: Got a late start, it wasn't until the third season that the Space Needle was added to the rotation of Establishing Shots.
      • Elevator School: Ridgeway is a combined Middle and High School, as it was easier than building new sets and casting new teachers when they moved from Grade 8 to Grade 9.
      • Embarrassing First Name: Fredward Benson. No wonder he goes by "Freddie".
        • iStill Psycho reveals that Gibby's name is Orenthal Gibson. His embarrassing middle name, Cornelius, was revealed in iWin A Date.
      • Enemy Mine: In iPity The Nevel, Nevel asks for the iCarlys' help in restoring his reputation.
      • Enfant Terrible: Chuck.
      • Enforced Method Acting: In iTwins, Jerry/Spencer messes with Miranda/Carly's hair and her cries for him to stop was just Miranda doing it on her own, as the entire piece was unscripted.
      • Enter Stage Window: Mandy barged back in the Shay loft to stay there overnight. When Carly asked her how she entered with the door locked, Mandy replied "but not all your windows are."
      • Epic Fail: In multiple episodes, something Spencer is doing bursts into flames, prompting him to lampshade its ridiculousness.
        • iAm Your Biggest Fan: Spencer's police light props on the car seat shorts out and catches fire. Later, he enthusiastically beats on his drum set's cymbal with his drumstick, and the cymbal bursts into flames.

      Spencer: HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!

        • iHurt Lewbert: Spencer simply fixes the bell with a screwdriver. It catches fire in thin air, which he douses with his soda. It lights aflame again shortly.

      Spencer: [exasperated] HOW?!

      • Everyone Can See It: Carly and Freddie. Despite Carly's "he is not my boyfriend" moments with Freddie, a lot of characters assume them as a couple, in addition to the teasing from Sam in iSaved Your Life. Jake thought Carly's nose-kiss to Freddie as them being together, a Japanese receptionist mistook them for a honeymoon couple (when they were only 14), and T-Bo is beaming with pride watching Freddie dance with Carly in the Groovy Smoothie.
        • Jacked up in iStart a Fanwar, where Adam is hesitant to approach Carly because of it, the in-universe blogosphere has sites dedicated to 'Creddie-shipping', and a fan at 'Webicon' shows photos demonstrating that the two of them are always positioning themselves in ways that demonstrate their affection for one another.
      • Evil Brit: Wade Collins in iRocked The Vote.
      • Evil Gloating: Missy does this in iReunite With Missy, allowing Carly to overhear and finally figured out that Missy was trying to get rid of Sam.
      • Evil Twin: Played straight by Sam, and inverted by her twin sister Melanie.
      • Exactly What It Says On The Box: Literal versions: Lewbert's stash of "Deeply Personal Items" and Carly's box of "Inexpensive Meatballs".
        • The overly long titles of the iCarly skits. For titles like "Pathetic Plays: (insert Long Title)", "The Prisoner Who Wanted Some Soup and the Man Who Refused to Give Him Some" and "The Cowboy With a Mustache and the Idiot Farm Girl Who Thought the Mustache Was a Squirrel", guess what the looping plot line of each skit is.
      • Excuse Me, Coming Through:

      Sam: Okay people, unless you're a bowling pin, MOVE!
      (students scramble away)

      • Executive Meddling: Parodied in iCarly Saves TV.
      • Exploding Closet: Used a couple of times:
        • Spencer is going on a camping trip and needs to get his sleeping bag out of the Shays' storage locker in the basement. Guess what happens next.
        • Sam rigs Lewbert's cupboards to bury him with golf balls.
      • Expy:
      Back to ICarly
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