Rant-Inducing Slight

A character who remained calm despite having their patience tried throughout the episode finally explodes into a monologue fury after a minor, inoffensive comment, request or action proves to be the final straw.

This is sometimes what happens to a Pollyanna character when something finally gets through their armor. Often the ranting character is told to get a hold of themselves.

If this happens in front of a group of people, they tend to go down a Long List of held-in grievances. The last one is often very silly.

On occasion, the Rant-Inducing Slight will overlap with Selective Enforcement. Also occasionally, this is one result of Science-Related Memetic Disorder or other such syndromes, where ranting in this way is par for the course.

If this happens in a large political scale, it can look like a Silly Reason for War.

Occasionally combined with Precision F-Strike or Cluster F-Bomb. See Law of Disproportionate Response or Beware the Quiet Ones. Compare Berserk Button, Irrational Hatred and Rage Breaking Point, which this trope can often overlap with, Hair-Trigger Temper, "The Reason You Suck" Speech, and the Wafer-Thin Mint for a physical equivalent. Contrast Disproportionate Reward and Minor Insult Meltdown. See also Going Postal.

This can be an example of Truth in Television. Everyone's had a really bad day at some point and has had to struggle (often unsuccessfully) against exploding over something fairly minor. Both in real life and fiction, the target of the resulting explosion of anger is often someone completely innocent. In these cases, the person had nothing to do with the rest of the stuff that ticked the person off, they just happened to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, setting off a powderkeg of pint up stress and emotion. They may have been Just Trying to Help the person after seeing they've had a bad day. This particular version tends to result in a My God, What Have I Done? moment as the ranter calms down and realizes they chewed out an innocent person.

Examples of Rant-Inducing Slight include:

Anime and Manga

  • Minoru Shiraishi elevates this trope to epic status in one of the final episodes of Lucky Star. The abuse heaped upon him by Akira-sama throughout the entire series at long last proves too much when she flings a bottle of water in his face - water he trekked into the mountains and fought with wild animals to obtain for her.
  • Every episode of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei has the eponymous character come across a certain something that leads to him going into full-on ranting mode before declaring he's in despair because of it.
  • Jagi from Fist of the North Star. "Your ears look like my brother's. DIE!"
  • Edward Elric, of Fullmetal Alchemist, is easily set off by any mention of his height. In his rants, he usually exaggerates the original comment, such as "Who are you calling so small you need a microscope to see him?"
  • Buggy the Clown, from One Piece, becomes extremely upset whenever someone mentions his red, clown-like nose, even to the point that he SHOOTS ONE OF HIS OWN CREW WITH A CANNON because the poor sap said "the robber knows," and Buggy thought he said "the rubber nose."
  • Anna and Uni Puma from Dominion Tank Police are master criminals, and don't you forget it. Never remind them that they started out as "love dolls".
  • Axis Powers Hetalia: Canada is the series' Butt Monkey and woobie, since nobody ever sees him and if they do, they think he's his brother America. Finally, when he gets into an argument with America, he explodes into "The Reason You Suck" Speech for three hours, reducing America to tears. He probably would have continued on if England hadn't taken pity on America and stopped him.
  • Captain-Commander Yamamoto of Bleach remained cool and composed for virtually the entire series, even when he was on the verge of killing his two finest students or giving up an arm in a bid to defeat Aizen. But the instant three of his captains return from battle having lost their captain's haoris, he loses it and begins ranting at them. Their casual dismissal of the haoris as useless, cheap, and not stylish doesn't help.
  • Rei's attempt to give Asuka advice on synching up with her mech has this effect in Neon Genesis Evangelion, prompting Asuka to rant about how much she hates everything in her life, especially Rei.


Comic Books

  • Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is fond of this, although he won't stop at ranting. Case in point: in one story he blows up a cafe because some guy smoking outside called him a pussy. But first he kills certain people inside for reasons like "Stop trying to bring back bell bottoms!"
    • "Your lazy eye disturbs me"
    • Oh, and he hates the word "wacky" and anyone who uses it.
  • In the French comic book Agrippine by Claire Bretecher, the little brother of the protagonist starts to insult her in the worst ways - "Saggy-tits!" - "Whore!" - "Fatass!", but she doesn't even react. Then he says "Agrippine loves Dennis!", and she immediately goes "Why you little...!" on him.


Film

  • Appears in the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride. Stressed out by the mounting costs of his daughter's wedding, George Banks (played by Steve Martin) has a fit that results in incarceration over the fact that hot dogs are sold in packs of eight and hot dog buns are sold in packs of ten.
  • In the horror flick Slither, the town is being taken over by The Virus, but what finally gets the mayor is the fact that "THERE'S NO FUCKIN'. GOD. DAMN. MR. PIBB!"
  • Office Space has Lumburgh taking Milton's favorite stapler, which he reacts to by setting the building on fire.
  • Dramatic example: the "No Wire Hangers!" rant among others from Mommie Dearest.
  • In Airplane! II: The Sequel, passengers barely react to news that the spacecraft is out of control and a tad off course and heading towards the sun, or that there are huge asteroids smashing into the hull. But all hell breaks loose when the stewardess mentions they're out of coffee.
  • Shaun in Shaun of the Dead is almost supernaturally willing to put up with the slobby, selfish and lazy behaviour of his best friend Ed, and will defend Ed to anyone who criticises Ed for these qualities. Then, Shaun has an epiphany, the Dead rise and start to claim the Earth, and Ed makes the mistake of pushing Shaun's tolerance of his self-centred and increasingly reckless behaviour a little too far when he takes a trivial phone call on his mobile and puts everyone at risk:

Shaun: "What am I doing?" What are you doing, you stupid moron?
Ed: Fuck off!
Shaun: You fuck off! Fuck fucking off! I've spent my entire life-- Look at me! I've spent my entire life sticking my neck out for you, and all you ever do is fuck things up! Fuck things up and make me look stupid! Well, I'm not going to let you do it anymore. Not today!!!!

  • In a darker example of this trope from Batman Returns, Selina Kyle returns home after being pushed out of a window by Max Shreck. Dazed and confused, she goes through her normal routine, until a message plays on her answering machine that turns out to be an advertisement for a perfume that mentions a "candlelight staff meeting for two" sold "Exclusively at Shreck's Department Store." This ad proves to be the final straw that makes Selina lose her mind and become Catwoman in a very disturbing destruction sequence.
  • From National Lampoon's Vacation, in all it's F-bomb-having glory:

Clark Griswold (after his family asked him to give up and go home): I think you're all fucked in the head. We're only ten hours from the fucking fun park and you want to bail out. Well I'll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun. We're all gonna have so much fucking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles. You'll be whistling "Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah" out of your assholes! I gotta be crazy; I'm on a pilgrimage to see a moose! Praise Marty Moose! Holy shit!"

    • He gets another one in Christmas Vacation, after finding out his Christmas bonus was a membership to the Jelly of the Month club:

Clark: Hey. If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?

  • Mitch, the new guy from the movie Waiting had constantly been interrupted throughout the film and he suddenly snaps at the end, launching into a long tirade about everything and everyone he had experienced throughout the day, shocking everyone into silence. This and the fact that he then successfully pulled off "The Goat" maneuver in front of the entire room from the "Penis-Showing Game" causes Monty, the social leader of the restaurant staff to gain tremendous respect for him and declares that he is henceforth a Made Man.

The ending scene from Waiting

  • Tropic Thunder: "This is hilarous! Hilarious!"
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: "Wrong, sir! Wrong! Under section 37B of the contract signed by him, it states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void if - and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy - "I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein and herein contained," et cetera, et cetera...'Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum,' et cetera, et cetera...'Memo bis punitor delicatum'! It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks. You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get NOTHING! You lose! Good day sir!"
  • Living in Oblivion. The director, after a string of failed takes for every reason under the sun, finally goes off. The look on the cast and crew's faces is unforgettable. Steve Buscemi ad-libbed it completely, and their shock is genuine.
  • In Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Harold's patience is tried multiple times by his asshole coworkers, racist extreme sports enthusiasts, cops, Neil Patrick Harris, and even his best friend. It's when he finds out that his coworkers had lied about a meeting to make him do all their work that he lashes out at his coworkers and implies to their female companions that the two guys have STDs.
  • Happens twice within minutes of each other in He Died with a Felafel in His Hand in the first dirk goes off bitching about the 'hetero fascist sterility conspiracy' after coming out of the closet only find out that everyone though he was gay to begin with but when he accuses daniel of being a homophobe, Daniel, who has had enough of dealing with all the bullshit thats been sent his way the entire film, delivers with his own rant, which even more hard hitting due to its gradual build up.

Dirk:I'd just like to say that I've got a problem with you all accepting my homosexuality without question. No wonder my suppressed heterosexual side is in a spin all the time. You all thought I was gay even when I was fucking straight!
Daniel:Dirk, we think it's great, man.
Dirk:What's so fucking great about being a poofter, Danny?
Daniel:Nothing, Dirk. Just... finish the bathroom.
Dirk:That's just fucking typical, Daniel. I'd like to declare, I've got a problem with that, too. You want me to put on a fucking pink apron, Danny? You want me to put on the fucking pink washing-up gloves, and lick the boots of the hetero-fascist sterility conspiracy thing? Well, no fucking way, pal! I'm not some mincey fucking queen that'll lick the boots of you hetero fucks! Oh, give the fag some hetero foot massage routine when he comes in -- bullshit! Gay men are dying, Danny. And you want me to clean the bath.
Daniel:Dirk, just forget it, mate.
Dirk:You don't mean that, do you, Danny? What you really mean is, "All you filthy little ass-bandits should be nailed to a tree!" Isn't that so, Danny?
Daniel:Dirk, this newly installed, sophisticated gay radar of yours is picking up shit from the cosmos that just ain't fucking there. I've got my own shit to worry about. I've lived in 49 shared households in what seems like as many years. I've been ripped off, raided, threatened, burned out, shot at, cheated on, scabbed in every one of those years. My beds are foam slabs on the floor, my cupboards are stacks of stolen milk crates! I've lived with tent-dwelling bank clerks, albino moon tanners, nitrous suckers, psycho fucking drama queens, ACID EATERS, MUSHROOM FARMERS, FUCKING BROTHEL CRAWLERS, FRIDGE-PISSERS, HARDCORE SEPARATIST LESBIANS, AND AN OBSCURELY-TITLED JAPANESE GIRL! AND NOW THE BEST FRIEND I'VE EVER HAD IN THE FUCKING WORLD WON'T EVEN FUCKING TALK TO ME! I'M IN A PSYCHO FUCKING NIGHTMARE FROM HELL, AND I'M FUCKING FED UP WITH IT! So I suggest, pal, that you tune in, and chill fucking out.

  • Maverick. The title character is threatened by a gunfighter, is called a card cheat and engages in a fight with a gang without losing his cool, but when his shirt gets a smudge on it he flips out.

All right! My shirt's damaged! Damn! What the hell else bad can happen?

  • At one point during Wild Wild West, West and Gordon are captured by Loveless and put in a square of land surrounded by a very low wire, wearing magnetic collars last seen on a man who got decapitated, and are warned that if they try to escape, they'll end up dead. An impatient West steps over the wire, setting off a machine that releases metal blades, which are attracted to the collars. They manage to escape the blades, but are still without transportation, weapons, or the slightest clue as to where Loveless's base is. Then James asks Gordon how he plans on getting the collars off:

Gordon: Excuse me?
West: Well, that's what you're here for, right? You're the master of this mechanical stuff.
Artemus Gordon: (chuckling maniacally) Oh ho ho, I see. Now I'm the "master of this mechanical stuff." As opposed to five minutes ago, when I was calmly and coolly trying to find an intelligent solution to this very problem. But then something happened. Someone, who will remain nameless... (throws back his head and shouts) JIM WEST! ("Jim West" echoes through the canyon) ...decided to jump over the wire, thereby providing us with that exhilarating romp through the cornfield, and that death-defying leap into the abysmal muck! And here we stand, while that demented maniac hurtling towards our President, with our one and only means of transportation, with Rita as his prisoner, armed with God-knows-what machinery of mass destruction, with the simple intention of overturning our government and taking over the country!
West: Gordon, I think you need to calm down.
Gordon: I can't be calm! Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm the "Master of the Mechanical Stuff"! And I have to help you! You, the master of the stupid stuff! You wanna get your collar off?! I'll get it off! I don't have a gun; otherwise I'd shoot it off! (picks up rock) Here! Here's something in the true Jim West style! I'll just bash it with a rock!
West: Gordon, you don't wanna do that!
Gordon: Oh, but I do!
(He smacks West's collar with the rock. There is a hum, and the two collars are pulled towards each other.)

  • In Roxanne, CD usually just beats up people who make fun of his nose, but when one townie thinks it's pretty funny to call him "bignose," CD goes on a lengthy rant in which he lists twenty alternative insults that are more witty. Then he beats the guy up. This scene is highly remniscent of a similar scene in Cyrano De Bergerac, upon which the film is based.


Literature

  • In Harry Potter, Harry uses an Unforgiveable curse after Amycus Carrow spits at Professor McGonagall. the only other time that Harry used this particular curse, he was provoked by Bellatrix Lestrange openly mocking the death of Sirius Black, the closest thing Harry had to a father, whom she had murdered in front of Harry a few minutes earlier. Harry explains his reasons as simply, "He spat at you."
  • In Joel Turnipseed's Gulf War memoir Baghdad Express, he is driving a truck accompanied by a Kuwaiti (nicknamed "Cigarette") who cannot speak English. This inability causes one of Turnipseed's fellow soldiers to lean through the truck window and start ranting a full-on Cluster S Bomb in a Southern dialect:

Goddamn for'ners! Cain't talk fer shit, cain't work fer shit, ain't worth a shit! Goddamn Corps's gone to shit, war's gone to shit, they don't even shoot real bullets anymore; gotta fly some fake bullets to Bumfuck, Egypt, Goddamn...


Live Action TV

  • In a third season episode of "How I Met Your Mother" called "Dowisetrepla" Marshall freaks out when he finds the peanut butter jar without the lid, adding it to the list of unconsidered things that Ted does. He yells at Ted and communicates to him his determination to move out. Lily confess being the one who did it at the end of his rant.
  • In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray keeps fairly calm about his parents driving their car through his wall, and doesn't even complain when his father practically refuses to pay for the repairs despite the accident being entirely his fault. The replacement wallpaper not matching (by a near imperceptible margin), however, sends him into a screaming fury.
    • Ray does this again in the Christmas portrait episode. He remains relatively calm, if somewhat frustrated when Debra's parents come over, his brother comes in police uniform and pouts about his girlfriend not being there, his mother acting petty about Debra's parents, etc. but then freaks out into a fury when Debra's mother asks if she can change her scarf.
  • Wings: "Joe Blows".
  • Frasier: In the episode "Dark Victory", Frasier has remained resolutely cheerful on his father's birthday despite a city-wide blackout and the fact that the others, who are all consumed with their own problems, seem determined to be miserable and have absolutely no fun at all. When he finally manages to get everyone cheered up, they're so pleased that they decide to go to a party downstairs instead of stay at the party he's organized, and it's only when someone (somewhat hypocritically) tells him not to be a 'party-pooper' because he doesn't want to go that Frasier finally unleashes the rant that has been building up all episode.
    • A later double-episode sees Niles' ex-wife arrested for murdering her boyfriend; she begins to badger Niles incessantly for his help. This displeases Daphne, who being pregnant at that point is exceptionally hormonal to begin with; she eventually forces him to sleep on the sofa. Furthermore, Frasier has given a press-conference in which he's accidentally implied that Niles is an accomplice, so the media are circling them like vultures. All of which Niles accepts with almost Zen-like calm... until he goes to buy a coffee at his regular haunt to find that they've given away the last straw. After Niles has recovered from the following breakdown, which sees him strip naked in public, he takes great delight in telling his ex to get stuffed, but he then gets carried away and tells the rest of his family that they've been as much help to him in this extremely difficult time as a hole in his head. (Although one could argue they were asking for it)
    • Frasier has a lot of moments like these. In one episode, it seems that Niles has adjusted to his new apartment, but when Martin says its the kind of place he'd live in, Niles tearfully shouts "Get me out of this hellhole!". In another episode, Daphne goes into a rage after hearing "You'll thank me later" one too many times (although its understandable on her part, since Frasier was inadvertently trying to turn Daphne's wedding into his ideal wedding).
  • A very unfunny version on In Plain Sight, Mary gets sent through the wringer, including betrayal, kidnapping, and attempted rape. She keeps it together so very well . . . until she's safe, secure, and her car won't start. Then the sobbing and breakdown ensues.
  • Another non-comedic example: In an episode of The King of Queens, Carrie rips into Doug for asking where the scissors are. What makes it not funny is that it happens at the beginning of the episode, so there was nothing strenuous going on; therefore, the scene shows the audience another part of Carrie's Jerkass nature.
    • A better comedic example of this is in the ep "Art House" where Doug tears Arthur a new one over how Arthur basically couldn't live on his own and wanted Doug to support him instead of coming back home.
    • She gets another one in the episode "Steve Moscow". This time, the reason is more understandable (the lazy Russian mold removers were driving her crazy), and Doug makes a very good comeback: "Wow. Either you're mad about something else or I think I want a divorce."
  • There is a part of a 2003 MTV awards ceremony where Gollum/Smeagol went on a rant about how MTV and Peter Jackson suck and how he/they were worthy of the award for best virtual actor/character. 1
  • Dr. Cox of Scrubs, were it not for his talents in medicine, would probably eke out a living on this. His fondness for delivering long, sarcastic and often highly colorful rants to punish slip-ups - like, oh, asking for advice or leaning on a wall - is something for which he's a little bit legendary.
    • Another 'Scrubs' example is when JD has a date with Tasty Coma Wife, in which, as the clip shows, that he's had enough with people ragging on him about going out with a comatose patient's wife... and he flips out.
  • In the Farscape episode "Self Inflicted Wounds Part 2", Stark has been vomited on by Pilot, attacked by the Monster of the Week, backstabbed by visiting aliens that Crichton sides with, trapped aboard a crippled ship, and forced to watch his lover slowly dying- but doesn't truly explode until Jool attempts to complain about her own problems. And the rant that follows isn't funny in the slightest.

Stark: DEAD! ALL OF US, DEAD! My love, DEAD! My dreams, DEAD! You, DEAD! Me, DEAD! You dead! Me dead! You dead! Me dead! You dead! Me dead! Your list is short and unworthy of entry to this ship of horror! Tortured by demons you can never know! Mocked by love that will never be! Oh, you want to cry, young creature? I will show you something that will make you cry forever! (He begins unbuckling his mask and Jool screams.)

    • In the same episode, Pathfinder Neeyala been trying to approach the worsening situation rationally- even when Aeryn slams her against a console and puts a gun to her head. But when Zhaan casually blames her for the disasters aboard Moya, the scientist loses her temper.

Neeyala: What I have done? It is you who have destroyed my life's endeavour whilst I have suffered your probing, your confusions and your smell. Do you not think that my bristles contain enough poison to dispatch you all? Yet, when I fail to overload what are clearly inferior intellects with a drist of needless information, you bring weapons to bear! Kill me if you will; see how you fare on your own!
(An uncomfortable pause.)
Aeryn: Do you feel better?

    • And Rygel has one in "Throne For A Loss." Having been kidnapped and held for ransom by the Tavleks, he spends most of the episode buried up to his waist in mud and being forced to eat out of bowls made from the skulls of previous captives, but remaining fairly hopeful about the situation. Then his cell-mate Jotheb (Future Ruler of the Consortium of Trao) offers to pay his ransom if it doesn't arrive; after Rygel has been re-buried up to his neck in mud, Jotheb explains that his apparently selfless act of compassion was in the hope that Rygel's empire and all six billion of its inhabitants would be absorbed by the Consortium; Rygel promptly bursts out laughing and gives his rant:

Rygel: You multi-throated moron! I don't have any subjects- I was deposed over a hundred cycles ago! Ransom me if you want, but all you'll get is me! My traitorous bastard of a cousin stole my throne and imprisoned me! I escaped with a few other fugitives and they're the only ones who even know I'm here!
Jotheb: Won't they ransom you?
Rygel: They couldn't if they wanted to... and they don't want to because they hate me! (He laughs maniacally)

  • And let us not forget Booth's hilarious breakdown in the first episode of season four after he tried to make a right turn at a red light in England. "I'M GLAD WE HAD A REVOLUTION!" And all of this after dealing with British tea instead of "good" American coffee and a bunch of other things that would certainly drive this troper up the wall long before the red light.
  • Dr. Mcmanus of the British nursing show 'No Angels' was famously volatile and prone to terrific shouting barrages at his staff on occasion, and though he did usually save it for moments that genuinely deserved his ire, there were times his temper got the best of him to say the least.

Bureaucrat(trying to placate Mcmanus who has stormed up and begun ranting): Mr. Mcmanus...
Mcmanus: Doctor! Doctor Mcmanus! I realize the difference between a surgeon and a medical consultant must be difficult for someone who only has a certificate for not being able to find his own cock, with both hands, but please, before I have a fucking aneurysm; Get that car out of my space! (The car did not belong to the bureaucrat, but Mcmanus wanted him to get it clamped or towed or something)

  • This trope practically defines Mark Corrigan in Peep Show.
  • Firefly has Kaylee fly into one such rant when an Alliance officer calls Serenity a "junker."
  • Though it's a bit too serious to be a slight, Lost's Ben Linus verbally blows up very unpredictably a few times when other characters very understandably accuse him of lying or other immoralities. To be fair, each time he gets mad is a time he really is telling the truth for once.
  • During an episode The Thick of It, Malcolm Tucker has been getting progressively irritated with Nicola Murray, but most of his rants have sailed just below the "Unstoppable Rage" line. Then Nicola declines to enter a lift with him on the grounds of claustrophobia.

Well, that's great. That's fucking great, that's another fucking thing right there: not only have you got a fucking bent husband and a fucking daughter that gets taken to school on a fucking sedan chair, you're also fucking MENTAL! Jesus Christ, see you, you're the fucking omnishambles, that's what you are! You're like that coffee machine, you know- "From Bean To Cup, You Fuck Up!"

    • In Nicola's second episode, Malcolm lets her have it again after a very trying day ends with Nicola accidentally blabbing the details of the latest DoSAC scandal to an on-the-record journalist. For good measure, it was because of Nicola's claustrophobia.

FUCK'S SAKE! JESUS... Christ! Well now we've got another... fucking... adjective to add to fuckin' smug and glum, haven't we? Fuckin' RETARDED! Jesus! Do you ever think it would be germane to check who you're talking to? It's a fuckin newspaper office! Not a fuckin' sanatorium for the fuckin' DEAF! Are you so dense? Am I gonna have to run around, slappin' badges on people with a big tick on some and a big cross on others so you know when to shut your gob and when to open it? Jesus Christ... oh but that'd probably confuse you as well, wouldn't it, that'd be to confusin'- you see the cross and go "Oh fuck, X marks the spot! Better tell this person all about the Prime Minister's fuckin' catastrophic erectile dysfunction!" Oh but not to worry, not to worry, you've sent fuckin' Olly over there to deal with it! FUCKIN' OLLY! HE'S A FUCKIN'- HE'S A FUCKIN' KNITTED SCARF, THAT TWAT, HE'S A FUCKIN' BALACLAVA!

    • And again in the fifth episode: during the escalting BBC radio fiasco, Malcolm has been trying to deal with the issue with his usual level of sanity- even enjoying a brief moment of triumph when it's revealed that the Opposition has been recieving donations from a sweatshop... only for the whole thing to come crashing down thanks to Stewart Pearson, the radio producers, and a text from "Tim in Ruislip" informing the listeners that his own party recieves donations from the sweatshop too.

Malcolm: (deathly calm) That's your fucking career over, right? Okay, you're fucking dead. And those three little words, "Tim in Ruislip", are the fucking nails in your coffin, dear. (Mimes hammering) Tim. In. Ruislip. Tim in fuckin' Ruislip. And as for Tim in fucking... FUCKING fucking fucking Ruislip- he's fucking dead as well, that fucking texting coward! Give me his number. What's his fucking number? Give me the fucking number of Tim in Ruislip! If you don't give me his fucking number, do you know what I'm gonna have to do? I'm gonna have to fucking go to fucking Ruislip and fucking snap the thumb and forefinger off of every single person I see who I think resembles the kind of wanker that would be walking around in this day and fucking age with a name like fucking Tim! How do you think that sounds, huh?
Stewart: Quite, quite mad.


  • Rory Williams holds it together thought pretty much everything from the end of the universe to accidentally killing his girlfriend, to dying (repeatedly). But when the Doctor bluntly dismisses aforementioned girlfriend with the line "[she] isn't more important than the whole universe"... Thwack. (Turns out this was a ploy so he could work out if he actually was still Rory. The punch convinced him.)
  • The riffers on Mystery Science Theater 3000 can put up with a lot, but it came to a head during the riffing of Invasion of the Neptune Men. After using Stock Footage of World War II bombing runs, complete with a giant poster of Hitler, Servo (Kevin Murphy) goes ballistic, at first pretending he's watching The Magnificent Ambersons and then singing an angry song about stock footage. This was also basically how the Mystery Science Theater 3000 writers reacted to the scene when they first saw it.
    • It's important to note that it isn't simply a matter of the movie having stock footage; the stock footage was being used to pad-out the running time, so this involved them using the SAME stock footage every five minutes or so.
    • On a lesser scale, there's Joel screaming "Do something!" after a long, pointless scene in Manos: The Hands of Fate.
  • Merlin, the show's namesake, keeps cool throughout most of the episode 2 of season 2, "The Once and Future Queen." Arthur is being stubborn and wants to fake a trip so he can hang out in Camelot in disguise, so Merlin finds a place for him to stay. While he's hiding with Gwen (and being a bit of a jerk to her, Merlin's best friend), he still makes Merlin do all his work. And Merlin has to work double for Gaius since "Arthur's gone". And Merlin has to help Arthur keep his cover, and... and... But he takes it all well. Until Gaius walks in on him having fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion mid-chore and tells him that he can't sit around and do nothing. Merlin explodes. (It's partly comedic because throughout his long rant Merlin has one small piece of hair sticking up adorably.)
  • In Game of Thrones, Robert Baratheon has apparently spent the better part of the last seventeen years belittling his younger brother Renly for not being a "real man" because he hasn't been to war. Eventually Renly snaps and delivers an impressive Reason You Suck Speech.

Robert: Those were the days!
Renly: Which days, exactly? The ones when half of Westeros fought the other half and millions died, or before that when the Mad King slaughtered women and babies because the voices in his head told him they deserved it? Or way before that, when Dragons burnt whole cities to the ground?
Robert: Easy boy, you might be my brother but you're speaking to the king.
Renly: I suppose it was all rather heroic, if you were drunk enough and had some poor Riverland whore to stick your prick into to "make the eight." [Throws his spear down and stalks off]

Stand Up Comedy


Theater

  • Older Than Steam: In Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus this happens to the titular character. The rant-inducing slight is when his servant kills a fly, touching the grief-maddened Titus on a personal level and pushing him to engage in a rather spectacularly irrational soliloquy.
  • In Anyone Can Whistle, Schub's use of the word "loonies" is the trigger for an indignant and lengthy speech by Fay Apple, including several This Is Sparta-type exclamations.
  • Cyrano De Bergerac: "Sir, your nose...your nose is rather large." The character who says this thinks it is quite witty. Cyrano then goes on for about 3 pages explaining what the other guy might have said if he had any actual wit. Then he challenges him to a duel, composes a memorial poem on the spot, recites it as they fight, then runs the guy through.


Video Games

  • In Suikoden V, we got the eccentric Egbert Aethlebald, who will spout very long nonsense of his hatred towards the FILTHY GODWIN DEVILS!!! in just about every time you speak with him. In fact, to recruit him, you have to COMPLETELY hear his whole rant (without fast forward or clicking the 'skip' button when his text is scrolling)... which consists of...

"I've heard that you're taking a stand against that FILTHY DEVIL, Godwin! You're going to BASH him up good?! This is absolutely wonderful news! That insalubrious blackguard Godwin is truly the very SOUL of evil incarnate! His PESTIFEROUS being spreads evil to everything it TOUCHES! Stormfist USED to be mine, I tell you! It RIGHTFULLY belongs to the House of Aethelbald! He TOOK it from me, he TRICKED everyone! FILTHY, FILTHY, DEVIL! No QUARTER or MERCY for the FILTHY DEVIL! BASH HIS EXECRABLEMALEFICENT RANCOROUSDAMNABLEFACE! DEVIL! PERFIDIOUSMISERABLEODIOUSWRESTCH!! GEETAAAAARRRGH!!!"

  • In Brain Dead 13, Dr. Neurosis goes ballistic when Lance calls him "average."
  • At one point in the first game of the Baldur's Gate series, the protagonist may encounter Portalbendarwinden, a crazy old hermit living between Beregost and Nashkel. If you're foolish enough to ask him for advise, the resulting nonsense gives the protagonist the choice to go over the edge:

Ok, I've just about had my FILL of riddle asking, quest assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks, and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength, intelligence, and most of all, patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick or I'm going to take a large blunt object roughly the size of Elminster AND his hat, and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!

    • Naturally, this is a VERY popular quote.
  • Any time Wendy Oldbag of Ace Attorney comes on screen... watch out when she gets mad!
  • Mother Trinity proves that even machines are susceptible to this trope prior to the fight against her. Once she realizes you are [A] a descendant of, [B] a clone of, or [C] the rebel that united your race against her before the Great Blank, she flips her shit pretty damn hard, and the rant is very indicative of how she was just holding her insanity in. This is especially present in Case B, aka the Newman case - she cloned you herself, and you turned out like the original after all.

Webcomics

  • In the storyline that kicked off the interminably long tour storyline in Dominic Deegan, Dominic goes through yet another series of unfortunate events. He's able to keep his cool...until he finds out that his favorite sweets, Mavpel candy, are no longer available in his country. He has an absolutely epic Freak-Out with him rocking back and forth in a corner shrieking. A vision into a possible future if he hadn't gone on vacation strongly implies that the Freak-Out would have caused a widescale Mind Rape around him.

Dominic: Um, let's just say it's a really good thing we're going on vacation.

Hannelore: Stop fighting! You're both right! Marten said something stupid, and Faye took it the wrong way and he didn't mean it and she probably shouldn't drink so much anyway and STOP FRIGGIN' FIGHTING!
(Beat)
Hannelore: Whu..What just happened? Everything went all red and fuzzy.


Western Animation

  • The Simpsons, "Hurricane Neddy": a string of bad luck coupled with good-intentioned but dumb neighbors sends Ned Flanders off the deep end. At least Homer Simpson got off easy by being called the worst person Ned ever met. And if you watch carefully, it looked like the final straw was his glasses breaking.
    • Homer also had a similar one in reaction to Mr. Burns asking "Who the devil are you?" in Who Shot Mr. Burns Part One.
    • "THE TURKEY'S A LITTLE DRY?!"
  • Family Guy, the Christmas episode. Lois remains calm, collected and full of holiday cheer through all the disasters around Christmas. But then... "No...paper...TOOOOOWELS?! AAAAAAAAGH!".

Lois: You all think Christmas just happens? You think all this love and goodwill just falls from the freakin' sky! Well it DOESN'T! It falls outta my Holly-Jolly butt! So you can decorate your own Christmas tree, wrap your own damn presents, and ride a one-horse open sleigh ALL THE WAY TO HELL!

  • Megas XLR, Just about every episode has Coop (or one of the other characters) snapping and launching into a list of grievances they have with their latest enemy. Parodied in episodes where he attempts to construct a list despite not having anything to complain about, and/or just makes things up, then again in the last episode when he gives it to the usual antagonist even though they were working together. After the villain angrily points this out, Coop says "Oh, sorry. Force of habit I guess."
  • Dexter's Laboratory, "Hamhocks & Armlocks": During a stop at a roadside diner, Dad gets on the bad side of a hulking trucker named Earl after accidentally breaking his winning streak at arm wrestling, but Dad refuses to accept Earl's demands for an arm wrestling match, even after Earl trashes the family car. But after Earl lets the diner door shut in Mom's face, It's Personal.

Dad: Earl! You can humiliate me, you can destroy my property...
Mom: Honey?
Dad: But don't ever not hold a door open for a lady, especially my wife!!.

  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, "Where There's A Wilt, There's A Way": Wilt is preparing to watch the big basketball game with Bloo and Mac, but Bloo makes him go out for chips. Wilt's inability to say "no" to any request causes him to constantly get sidetracked by menial tasks, including breaking out of jail (twice!). When Wilt finally gets back with the chips, the game is over, and then Bloo has the gall to stomp the chips into the carpet because they're not salt-and-vinegar flavored. Bloo insists that Wilt likes cleaning up messes, and Wilt's response is to snap and spend about half a minute yelling "NO!" over and over again.
    • And then after he's done, Bloo asks him if he feels better, and then asks him again to get him some chips. Wilt agrees to do so, remembering too late that he meant to say no.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender actually starts when a minor sexist comment from Sokka causes Katara to go on a rant where she destroys a glacier without even noticing it.
    • Aang, the usually happy-go-lucky and cheerful protagonist, goes through this a few times when things get personal. Or just too much, full stop.
  • In Danny Phantom, after spending what seems like months playing "Daddy Dearest" to Danielle, the main character's Opposite Gender Clone, Vlad finally snaps at her when she refuses to obey his orders to overshadow Danny into transforming into his ghostly half for his perfect clone project. In the same episode, he also rants to Danny after he calls him a "fruit loop" for the second time.

Vlad: YOU exist to SERVE ME! JUST. DO. IT!

Daffy: Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers! And gunpowder! And cordite! I'm an elk! Shoot me! Go on!! It's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab. Why don't you shoot me?! It's fiddler crab season!

  • Benson of Regular Show doesn't get REALLY upset at Mordecai and Rigby until after whatever horrible situation they created has been resolved.
  • Powerpuff Girls, "Impeach Fuzz". Fuzzy Lumpkins gets elected mayor, and proceeds to make a mockery of the office and waste the Powerpuff Girls' time by making them help with his chores. Ms. Bellum and the Girls go to the Mayor, who is sitting in the city dump, sulking and feeling unwanted. They list all the reasons the Mayor should try to get back into office, but he brushes them off with "I don't care"... until Ms. Bellum informs him that Fuzzy is wearing the Mayor's favorite hat, at which point the Mayor barges into his old office and ends up challenging Fuzzy to a wrestling match.
  • An episode of King of the Hill has Hank accidentally take another man's wallet, thinking the man was pickpocketing him. Unfortunately that incident was just the latest in a long string of frustrations for the man, who tries to attack Hank with a baseball bat when he comes to return the wallet and apologize. Just to cap it all off, they end up at a Hooters stand-in where Dale is working, and the man accidentally ends up pulling down Dale's shorts, meaning he gets arrested for the attempted assault and sexual harassment.
  • In SpongeBob SquarePants, Spongebob has had this happen to him on multiple occasions, normally when someone has spent the entire episode unknowingly pushing him too far. At least one example involved an (offscreen and impossible to understand, but heavily implied) Cluster F-Bomb. It normally takes a day or more straight of abuse to trigger this, though.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, "The Secret of My Excess": Rarity gets abducted by a dragon (who unbeknowns to her is Spike, whose draconic "hoarding" instinct has gone out of control). Spike does a lot of nasty things under the influence of his greed, but what apparently tears it for Rarity is ruining her fancy new cape in the process.

Rarity: You steal everypony's things, terrorize the town, and use me as a weapon against my own friends! Which, as horrible as it is, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all, but this! (pulls off her ruined cape) This is a crime against fashion!

Real Life

Silly you. You dropped the car keys. Isn't that funny? One would think that if you could spend an afternoon delicately hand-wiping a collection of antique hand-painted commemorative Royal Worcester family dishes, then you could easily lift up a set of crude car keys. Just grab them again and get going.
Mother of [expletive deleted]!! What the [expletive deleted] is wrong with you?! How [expletive deleted] hard is it to [expletive deleted] pick up a [expletive deleted] set of [expletive deleted] keys?! Throw those [expletive deleted] keys across the room! Take that you [expletive deleted] car [expletive deleted] keys!! You can wipe down these stupid [expletive deleted] plates but you can't [expletive deleted] grab some car keys?! Look, all the [expletive deleted] dishes are getting smashed! You're smashing all the [expletive deleted] dishes because you don't [expletive deleted] get to have a [expletive deleted] set of [expletive deleted] dishes! Good! Take that you [expletive deleted] plates. Take that!!

  • Fritz Lang went completely ballistic on the set of Dr. Mabuse the Gambler when an actress who had to appear naked refused to shave off her pubic hair. After he calmed down they just draped some fabric over it instead. This is mentioned by a "Mabuse scholar" in the commentary track for the film.
  • In the penultimate performance of the Gypsy revival, Patti Lupone stopped the show (in the middle of her showstopping number "Rose's Turn") to yell at an audience member who was taking pictures. And then everybody applauded the rant, since most audience members also hate it. No, seriously.
  • A man from San Antonio goes on a shooting rampage, after discovering that the price of beefy crunch burritos at Taco Bell has risen. He can face up to forty years in prison for that.
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