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File:ButtersHumiliation 7863.png

Butters is having a bad day.


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"All my plans, my hopes and dreams. Ruined — ruuuuiiiiiined!"
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It's the end of the episode/StoryArc/series, and the villain's plans have fallen through. Now it's just a matter of dealing with the villain.

Sometimes you want the villain to escape or have the villain realize that his evil ways are wrong and become a good guy, but not this time, usually because it would make for an unsatisfying ending or would just take up too much time. But there's a problem... you can't kill him off. Maybe the censors won't allow it. Maybe he's just not evil enough or what he did isn't deserving of death. Or maybe you just aren't feeling up to bloodshed. Or, of course, he needs to survive for his next Evil Plan.

Enter the Humiliation Conga.

Everything the villain has built up, piece by piece, comes crashing down in front of him. The lovebirds he kept apart pass by him arm-in-arm, the hotel he spent millions building catches fire and burns down, his former Yes-Man steps on his foot, the bum he spat on now has a Rolex (probably the one he himself coveted) and asks him to light his cigar, and the dog he kicked is now laughing at him (or worse). People Come to Gawk at How the Mighty Have Fallen. And here come the cops; turns out the mic was on when he declared his foul intentions.

In the end, the villain realizes he's in very, very dire straits. He's still alive, natch, but that's not all for the good.

The Humiliation Conga is very popular on kid's shows, as it's a way to ensure the villain is good and defeated without getting unduly violent. Compare with Cherry Tapping in Video Games. Heroes may knowingly tailor one as part of a Cruel Mercy punishment for the villain.

Worth note is this isn't always that the villain can't die or doesn't deserve to, often times they could be killed but it just wouldn't be a fitting end for them. As some proponents of Cruel Mercy would say, sometimes death would just be the easy way out and is too good for the villain in question. The audience may be left feeling such a villain didn't get nearly what they deserved. Thus a well crafted Humiliation Conga offers a satifying alternative. The villain is defeated, but they didn't get the quick and easy death. And naturally this makes sense, the more we hate the bad guy, the more we want to see him suffer. (Then again, sometimes the villain is killed at the tail end of his Humiliation Conga, apparently on the reasoning that his degradation won't be complete until he's a rotting corpse.)

Occasionally, a Humiliation Conga may be quite literal, as the protagonists may find it hard to prevent themselves literally dancing with glee at the villain's downfall. If sex or overly affectionate people are involved, it becomes Sexual Karma.

Because of the nature of this trope, a full Spoiler Warning is probably called for.

May also result in a Villainous Breakdown from the villain. Often the main component of a Break the Haughty subplot. But beware - done too gratuitously or drawn out too long, it might actually make people feel sorry for the trounced villain, or worse, effectively make the protagonists of the story the new bad guys.

When it's a single, very humiliating event rather than a series of humiliating events, that's Humble Pie. Compare Trauma Conga Line.

Examples of Humiliation Conga include:


Anime and Manga[]

  • Frieza of Dragonball Z suffers such a fate; after being the Big Bad of the entire Namek arc and beating just about every opponent who comes his way, he is bested when Goku becomes a Super Saiyan. His pride is broken and he is turned into a pathetic wreck, with Goku inflicting all kinds of humiliating injuries upon him, such as battering him down on the head to create a ridiculous, bug-eyed expression and slapping him back and forth in the face. This culminates in him being sliced in half by his own energy disc, and his humiliation is only made worse when he is forced to beg for Goku's sympathy.
    • It all starts when Goku detects Frieza's power level is woefully inadequate and falling fast, so he literally turns his back on Frieza; and it ends with Frieza floating through space, all alone, still alive but weak as a kitten, literally cut to pieces.
    • Before that, though, all those killed by Frieza and his minions are revived, including the Namekians and Porunga. Frieza is able to vocalize his wish, but it has to be done in the Namekian language. Dende fulfills Goku's request and everyone, including Porunga, is transported to Earth. What follows is Goku rubbing that last failure in and Frieza screaming so loud it shatters nearby rocks.
    • Frieza is further humbled when he returns, his missing limbs replaced by mechanical substitutes, and is easily bested by the newly introduced Future Badass Trunks, who turns out to be a Super Saiyan too. Every attack he tosses at the young Super Saiyan is easily deflected before Frieza finds himself once again sliced in two, this time from head to groin, then cut up even further before being blasted into ash. His father King Cold fares no better, getting blasted through the heart after thinking Trunks is nothing without his sword and then vaporized against a mountainside. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Future Badass Trunks.
    • Frieza continues to be humiliated even after death; every time he is met in the afterlife or resurrected, he is easily put in his place by the ever-growing power of the good guys. For instance, in one of the many (non-canon) DBZ movies, after being revived along with all other evil beings, he is defeated with one punch by Gohan.
  • While not as ultra direct as other congas, if you watch closely the scene of the Code Geass Grand Finale where some of Emperor Lelouch's more recent and direct opponents, as well as the kidnapped UFN representatives, are paraded off to be executed in public, with only Nunnally being assured to not die, you'll notice that Schneizel is being subjected to a far more humiliating treatment. He's got Clothing Damage (hell, his clothes are gone, and he's got your classic rags as his "prison uniform", compared to everyone else's relatively neat and clean straitjacket ensembles), appears to have been beaten up during his time in prison and is also chained to his post, which is much larger and prominently displayed than those of all the others being shown off in the parade...
    • A more straight example happens much earlier in the series, and not even to a major villain. When Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald comes out from under Lelouch's Geass control, he's been arrested for treason, has no memory of what he's done to earn it, is offered the equally humiliating choices of being forced to work on an orange farm (as an insult to the "nickname" Zero called him to falsely imply they were allies) or being demoted back to a beginner-level pilot rank, and at least one of his former subordinates is willing to kill him because he's become such an embarrassment. And then, while trying to prove himself worthy of the empire and his former rank, he ends up going up against Kallen in her brand shiny new badass mech, and pays dearly for it. What'd he do to earn all this? Got on Lelouch's bad side by being the one behind Suzaku's scapegoating for the murder of Prince Clovis. The Humiliation Conga ended up being effective for an entirely different reason, as a large mass of the fandom thought it was Disproportionate Retribution, and rocketed "Orange-kun" to the role of Ensemble Darkhorse, assuring his promotion to a major antagonist and later to a simply memorable Heel Face Turn.
    • In the Knightmare of Nunnally manga, a smaller and more comedic conga is dealt to a puppy-kicking Ashford Alpha Bitch and her Girl Posse, when they throw Nunnally off her wheelchair. Nunners's best friend Alice (a girl with Super Speed powers derived from her being injected with C.C's cells stands up for her, steals the bullies's school skirts and leaves their panties exposed.
  • Mizuki's horrible defeat at the hands of Shuusuke Fuji in The Prince of Tennis qualifies as both this and Hoist by His Own Petard. Had Mizuki not manipulated Fuji's brother Yuuta for his own gains, he wouldn't have had Fuji hiding his true skills until Mizuki was 5-0 on top, only to memorably subvert the score to 5-7, give a great "The Reason You Suck" Speech in public to Mizuki and cause his rival's spectacular Villainous Breakdown.
  • In Axis Powers Hetalia, America is forced to apologize to the other countries for the horrendous mess that was the Great Depression. The reactions are different per nation, but as a whole, this is what happens (Hungary, France and Switzerland are particularly NOT pleased). And as icing on the cake... Russia is very pleased since his economy actually grew.
    • Zig-Zagging Trope: On the one hand, America has done something pretty bad and all the other countries are mercilessly letting him have it and blaming him for it all. On the other hand, America's not shown as a villain, just paying for his typical but this time irrational exuberance, and the other countries aren't really punishing him because they're mostly too busy freaking out over their collapsing economies. This being Hetalia, the whole thing is Played For Edutainment. The previous strip in the series displayed America's overproduction and debt accumulation as the cause. This being Hetalia, the whole thing is a roundabout soap opera way of getting Lithuania to end his outsourcing holiday from Russia. This being Hetalia, the Politically-Correct History prevents the depiction of Hoover's actual response which would be best represented by giving the rest of the world a slap in the face, is not mentioned. It's not Ripped from the Headlines, in case you were wondering.
  • This happens a lot to the Team Rocket trio from Pokémon, usually at the end of an episode. It seemed to be a lot more frequent during Kanto, though. This usually would involve them running away from something or someone (Jessie, James, and Meowth being chased by Beedrill became a running gag, though it does happen to the good guys as well). One notable example had them tied to a moving carousel by Ghost Pokémon, who considered it all in good fun to see them get dizzy from nonstop carousel rides.
    • A nonvillainous example happened to Misty over the course of the episode "Pokemon Fashion Flash", when she played a somewhat antagonistic role. She and Ash got into a fight out the virtues of inner beauty VS outer beauty, with Misty on the side of outer beauty. Ash sarcastically dared her to take Psyduck down to the salon (being run by Team Rocket) in order to prove her point, and Misty sincerely agreed to it. But when she got there, Team Rocket assumed she wanted a makeover and so they gave her a ridiculous new outfit and hairstyle, and when Misty actually liked it, they added more by painting random marks on her face, making her appear almost clown-like. Then once she found out it was Team Rocket, they took her hostage and tied her to a chair. And she was still tied to the chair during the climactic fight when Vulpix let out a huge Fire Spin, which completely torched her. To top it all off, Ash reacted to her silly makeover by LAUGHING HIS ASS OFF. So the episode ends with Misty having made an embarrassment of herself and Ash getting the last laugh after all. Sucks to be you, Misty.
  • Grings Kodai, the Big Bad of the Pokémon Zoroark Master of Illusions, gets an exceptionally well deserved one. He got tricked into thinking he's gotten the Time Ripple he wanted the entire movie, tricking him into Evil Gloating which is caught on tape. He then gets the device he needed to absorb the Time Ripple destroyed and is sent running for his life by Zoroark and the Legendary Beasts. The mortally wounded Zoroark uses her illusion powers to send him falling off a stadium balcony and getting knocked out. When he comes too, he's surrounded by pretty much the entire cast and forced to watch as afor mentioned Evil Gloating is broadcasted across the city on the TV network HE created. To put the cherry on top, he's promptly arrested on the spot.
  • Most of the villains in One Piece suffer this. According to Oda, it's more meaningful to prove a man's "way" wrong than to kill them. So what do the Strawhats do to every main antagonist? They beat them to a bloody pulp, crush all their hopes and dreams and let the Marines take care of the rest.
  • In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, it seems like having her watch in horror as a huge beam that scythed through a massive warship zoomed straight towards her wasn't enough for the lovably hateable Smug Snake Quattro. StrikerS Sound Stage X just had to throw this additional bit of humiliation for her.
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 Jail: I've been keeping myself healthy. This transparent prison is unexpectedly comfortable.

Cinque: Uno and Tre are healthy as well.

Jail: They haven't changed at all. Quattro has even gotten a bit fat.

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  • Mahou Sensei Negima: While he isn't really a villain (he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist at worst), Kurt Godel undergoes one of these after he tries to convince Negi to join him. Not only does Negi kick his ass, but each of Negi's True Companions successively uses their abilities to either attack Kurt, or screw him over in some fashion. It's topped off by Kurt's old ally Takamichi showing up and blasting him.
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  Takamichi: "What's the matter Kurt? These youngsters seem to be beating you senseless."

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  • Pretty much anything Juuza of the Clouds does in Fist of the North Star.
  • Father suffers this fate near the end of Fullmetal Alchemist, first, he manages to get Truth, and after a fight, he loses the recent souls he had, then, he tried to make more stones, only for everyone else to fight him and deplete his Philosophers Stone, after he loses Truth, he utterly loses it and tries to kill Ed, who got his arm back due to his brother sacrificing himself, and ultimately loses, and Truth pulls him into the gate after he's beaten.
    • In the Brotherhood anime, Truth then gives him a sorta-heroic Hannibal Lecture, before sealing Father permanently on the far side of the Portal of Truth as he literally screams for mercy.
  • In Sakura Gari, Dr. Katsuragi gets a truly spectacular one as punishment for all his horrible deeds. The boy he whips, rapes and tortures out of jealousy? Masataka burns his face badly by throwing boiling tea on his face, ruining his Tall, Dark and Handsome looks. The man he loves, whom he forced to kill his abusive stepmother when they were kids and the "reason" why he rapes the aforementioned boy? Souma confronts him over the torture of the poor kid, then tricks him into drinking a tea laced with the drugs Katsuragi has used to slowly kill Souma's father (at request of Sakurako, the guy's scorned half-sister), and when the "good doctor" is laying on the floor, he deals him a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech and goes away. The wife that he beats and abuses to terrible degrees? Once they're alone, Asayo he sets him on fire and kills him.
  • In He's Dedicated to Roses, Mi-Mi gets a positively epic one. The girl she's bullied, used, outed, and pretty much been a bitch to the whole series? She takes her destiny in her own hands, goes through a physical and mental transformation and announces that she's not going to take any of that crap anymore and she'll beat up anybody who tries. The delinquent boyfriend she's been manipulating the whole time, got sent to juvenile hall and then dumped? Breaks out, tells everybody that Mi-Mi was the one responsible for his Attempted Rape of the aformentioned girl, burns her forehead, and tells her he'll be looking for her once he's out of juvie; this leads to everyone the the class hating her and spitting on her, and the aforementioned girl not punching her because she feels it wouldn't be worth it. She goes home, ready to tell her parents everything and getting aforementioned girl's parents sent to jail... just in time to see her father being arrested for shady business practices, realizing that her uncle also stopped to be a doormat so he has has told the police everything about them, so they've lost all their money. And the boy she fell in love with, the reason she pulled all this crap? Falls in love with aforementioned girl. She pretty much breaks after all this, and ends up being a shut-in in her uncle's house, not seeing or talking to anyone.
  • Kurata from Digimon Savers gets an EXTREMELY well deserved one. Marcus manages to get ShineGreymon to digivolve to Burst mode, after which Kurata's life goes on a major downwards spiral. His One-Winged Angel form is systematically torn apart around him and he's reduced to begging for his life. Marcus and ShineGreymon then proceed to defeat him with one punch. Not a super flashy Finishing Move, but one punch each. To rub salt in the wound, all his back up plan to destroy the Digital World fails completely and results in his own death. Sure, it made things worse, but all Kurata ever saw was his plan backfire and kill him. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.


Comic Books[]

  • Preacher (Comic Book): Ah, Herr Starr, where do we start? Let's see, when he's introduced, he's already blind in one eye with a nasty scar around it, but as the series goes on, he gets anally raped by a perverted sexual investigator, his left ear shot off, his bald head has a line cut into it that makes it resemble a penis, he loses a leg to a pack of cannibals, and finally has his penis and testicles bitten off by an angry attack dog.
  • Bone: Kingdok goes through a gradual, but nonetheless brutal one as the series progresses. First, he gets his arm cut off by a girl just learning the ways of combat. Then, he gets his tongue ripped out by a giant cat. Later, he is buried alive after an earthquake, though he survives by falling into a series of underground caverns. His superiors decide to use him as a last line of defense for the local Cosmic Keystone. So they put him under mind control and force him to march through the caverns for days on end before he finally reaches the keystone. By then, the once proud warrior king is so broken and humiliated that he deliberately invokes You Killed My Father on one of the protagonists in the hopes that she will kill him. (He had killed her dad well before any of this, he just decided to bring it up then.)
  • In the third issue of Marvel's Siege event, Norman Osborn, one of the Marvel Universe's most dangerous supervillains, who has basically been in charge of U.S. homeland security for a year, gets put through one hell of a conga. First Captain America, the living embodiment of all the principles Norman's betrayed, announces his resurrection by hitting Osborn square in the face with his shield, and then beating him in a one-on-one fight. The president of the United States orders him arrested for treason and has his flying base shot down. Iron Man, whose technology Norman stole to turn himself into the "Iron Patriot," comes back from brain death to shut down Osborn's armor. When the costume falls off, Norman is revealed - on national television - wearing clownish facepaint modeled on his old "Green Goblin" identity. And finally, as he rants about how the fight isn't over, Spider-Man, his oldest enemy, says "Oh, will you shut up?" and decks him.
  • Daredevil: In Born Again, Daredevil's secret identity is sold to the Kingpin, who makes his life living hell. Matt loses his job, gets his credit cards canceled, gets accused of criminal misconduct, gets stabbed and almost killed, and becomes homeless, among other things. He finally turns the tables and manages to start ruining Kingpin's life by revealing that Kingpin sent a madman to destroy Hell's Kitchen.
  • Matt Fraction's approach to writing Iron Man appears to come down to turning his life into this. Tony Stark loses his company, his fortune, his memories, his life, his brilliance, his dignity, his girl, his sobriety and even his legacy in the distant future. It almost seems too much to not be intentional.
  • Garth Ennis penned a two-part story early on in his run on The Punisher where guest star Wolverine gets some particularly brutal treatment. Just one quarter into the story he gets his entire face blown off by the Punisher's shotgun (and spends the rest of it with his adamantium skull showing), he's clubbed and later shot in the crotch, gets a chainsaw taken to his ankles (though manages to kill the guy before they're entirely cut) and then gets crushed by a steam roller at the end of the story. Although Ennis, who's known for having a dislike of costumed superheroes (Superman aside) notably handled previous guest-stars like Daredevil and Spider-Man pretty roughly, what he did to Logan seems particularly overboard.


Fan Fiction[]

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 Tsuruya: That's precious! I'll make sure one of those pictures of you that's being taken down there now is right next to the article about this that'll be in the paper!

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  • Limyaael's The Game of the Gods is a combination of a Humiliation Conga for Morgoth (he also went through three in The Silmarillion itself) with a Deconstruction of a large number of Mary Sues.
  • Jeft in With Strings Attached: First, the Hunter ends up befriending the four rather than fighting them. Then the five of them destroy one of Jeft's pet places of evil, the Plains of Death and its associated Heart of Evil (which is very expensive). Then he sees some of his best and toughest baddies easily and quickly neutralized with no danger to anyone. Then the Hunter manages to throw his mind-controlling BFS over a cliff and escape Jeft's clutches entirely. Finally, Shag and Varx inform him that they've ratted on him to the Dalns gods, prompting an Oh Crap moment and his quick exit from the book.
  • Very blatantly done to Sasuke in "Connecting the Dots", the Naruto/Justice League Crossover. Having just lost an eye in battle with Naruto, Sasuke is taken by the Spectre to Gotham City, where :his chakra is taken away and he is beaten to a pulp by Johnny Rancid and his gangs, until he's forced to beg. Spectre very brazenly says that he does this to teach him humility.
  • Extremely common Shipping fic if the author lacks the guts to kill a character who's "in the way" of their OTP but still wants to make it clear they're a worthless loser no one could ever want.
  • Cori Falls's Pokémon fics eventually do this to Ash Ketchum via having him beaten up, mocked, abandoned by his friends, losing his trainers' license, and devolving into a whiny manchild whose mother has to escort him everywhere or else he'll get beaten up by little kids.


Film[]

  • Most of the villains in the original Batman franchise met pretty ignominious ends, but Max Shreck in Batman Returns probably got it the worst of all; his Conga began when the movie wasn't even close to being over! First, his hand-picked mayoral candidate, Oswald Copplepot (a.k.a. The Penguin) is exposed as a fraud via Engineered Public Confession and pelted with ripe vegetables by a vengeful crowd--a fate that Max himself just barely avoids thanks to getting the hell out of there. Then Penguin, burning with resentment, crashes Max's Christmas Eve costume party and threatens to drag his son Chip down into the sewers and kill him as part of his plan to kill all the first-born sons of Gotham as revenge for his own treatment as a child by his own parents; Max is forced to beg for his son's life and offer to go in his place. So Penguin takes Max hostage and locks him in a giant birdcage in his hideout, telling him that after he makes Shreck watch as the kids Penguin's kidnapped are thrown into a deep puddle of his company's industrial byproducts, Shreck will join them. Max manages to escape by stealing the key to the cage from a monkey (don't ask), but then Catwoman [2] shows up, and things get really bad for the crooked businessman: she snags his leg with her bullwhip, drags him under a lake of icy cold water (which messes up his perfectly coiffed hair), hauls him out by his collar, throws him into a wall, lassos him again when he tries to run away, and finally threatens to slowly bleed him to death as he (futilely) pleads for mercy. Things finally start to look up for Max when Batman intervenes to stop Catwoman, but when Max tries to thank him Batman just stiff-arms him in the face and tells him he's going to jail. Max tries to escape after shooting Batman, but Catwoman (after taking the remaining four bullets of Shreck's gun and surviving) pins him against an exposed fuse box and rams her stun gun down his throat--sending millions of volts through his body and roasting him to death, reducing his to a blackened, steaming, eternally screaming mummy lying on the ground. It's a pretty harsh end, even for a Manipulative Bastard.
  • In Out Cold, the Big Bad is getting ready to transform Bull Mountain into a luxury resort when he discovers his daughter having sex with Pig Pen in a gondola cabin. It all goes downhill from there (pun intended): his presentation is crashed by a rowdy bunch of snowboarders, his employees are pelted by snowballs, one of them gets a boot literally lodged up his ass, and he is eventually thrown into a port-a-potty, which slides violently downhill and ends up in a tree.
  • In the first The Naked Gun movie, villain Vincent Ludwig is bitten, shot with a tranquilizer dart, falls into the parking lot from the upper deck of a baseball stadium, gets run over by a bus, flattened by a steam-roller and then has a marching-band playing Louie Louie tromp over him. Ed Hocken finds it horrifically tragic, since his father died the same way.
    • Nordberg has a lot of bad stuff happen to him in both the first two films. While most performances by O. J. Simpson qualify as Harsher in Hindsight, some consider this oddly satisfying all things considered.
  • At the end of the movie UHF, the Big Bad R.J. Fletcher is in the middle of his Evil Gloating when a street bum buys up the last few shares of Channel 62, allowing them to pay off Uncle Harvey's (the owner's) debt and save the station from Fletcher's takeover. Fletcher threatens to sue Uncle Harvey, who just brushes him off. An FCC official then walks up and reveals that he heard Fletcher's Engineered Public Confession and revokes his station's broadcasting license. Then Pamela the news reporter he had insulted earlier puts a camera on him and reports on his humiliation. Then the bum shows up and thanks Fletcher for giving him the extremely rare and valuable penny that he then sold and used the money to buy the outstanding shares and a Rolex - the same one Fletcher had demanded his son get him earlier in the film; at this point, Fletcher starts crying. Finally an old lady gives Fletcher a knee to the crotch. Fletcher's son then gets tripped and falls face-first in the mud. Weird Al said that he had to restrain himself from having Fletcher's Briefcase Full of Money open over the crowd.
  • The "heroes" of Oceans Thirteen spend the movie executing an elaborate scheme to put Bank, the villain, through a Humiliation Conga line.
  • A Knight's Tale had the Big Bad knocked off his 'high horse' in a joust and he sees the hero and all his friends looking down on him, telling him that he was tried, tested and ultimately fell short. Also a Call Back to what he said to the hero earlier in the movie.
  • The best part of the So Bad It's Good movie Bratz saw the Alpha Bitch (and as far as the girls are concerned the Big Bad) fall into her cake, accidentally push her Girl Posse into the pool and then gets pushed in herself by an elephant. She then complains about how her sixteenth birthday is ruined and gives the Four Girl Posse the name "Bratz."
    • Just to add another layer of ridiculousness, if I recall correctly it's the Libby's second Super Sweet Sixteenth party!
  • A brutal conga is pulled on Albert Spica at the climax of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. To clarify the title, he's the Thief. He's killed his wife's lover by forcing a book down his throat. His wife has the cook glaze the fellow's body and cook it, then forces Albert to eat the corpse - at gunpoint (she tells him to eat the cock, although he ends up taking a piece from the side). He does so, but then vomits. At that point she shoots him. All this occurs in front of an audience full of people he has insulted, assaulted and victimized through the movie, including many of his own former goons.
    • "Try the cock... it's a delicacy. And you know where it's been!"
  • Played straight in A Clockwork Orange after Alex was set free, though it might just have been karmic retribution.
    • Your Mileage May Vary on just how deserved all that punishment was, though. He did volunteer for the Ludovico experiment (failing to heed the warnings of the prison chaplain), although he had no idea what the experience would entail (namely, being conditioned to become violently ill whenever he feels horny, witnesses violence or tries to act violently, and worst of all when he hears his favorite piece of music, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). But he certainly never intended to lose his pet snake, or for his parents to take in a boarder and allow the boarder to rent out Alex's room, and they even consider said boarder as their son. The homeless old Irishman gets a well-deserved Dog Bites Back moment at Alex's expense, but there is particular unfairness to Alex's mistreatment at the hands of a pair of crooked cops: the cops are none other than two of Alex's former thug friends, who were responsible for sending Alex up the river in the first place!
  • In the last of the original Showa Gamera films (1980's Super Monster was 99% clips and stock footage), 1971's Gamera vs. Zigra, the enemy daikaiju is both the tool and the brains of the invading force, and has Gamera and the Humans on the ropes throughout. When the time comes for Round 2, Gamera throws a rock onto Zigra's beak, not only blocking its deadly beam delivery, but causing it to fall face first into the sand. Gamera then plays his 'Bouncy Theme Song' on his fallen enemy's dorsal/spinal plates like a xylophone, and finishes by roasting the poor stupid invader slowly down to nothing. Of course, the creature having a name that sounds like either an extended-disclaimers medication or a trendy drink possibly put Zigra on this path. Mystery Science Theater 3000 note: This was the film Joel & The Bots celebrated as the 'last Gamera film'.
  • Ladyhawke. Two Star-Crossed Lovers (Isabeau and Navarre) separated by an evil curse from a holy man who desired the woman are reunited in the only circumstances that could break the curse. "Look at her! Look at me! Now...look at US!" Then they meet, and touch, and the music swells and then STOPS. She walks to the evil cleric, showing and then dropping the jesses in front of him. He closes his eyes in pain. It's a short conga, though. As she walks from the dais, the evil cleric aims his staff at her like a javelin "...then no man shall!" He's admitted to using black magic (Moral Event Horizon) in front of his entire church and staff, so he's already given up everything and been direly humiliated. What's a little murder? Then, Navarre hurls his sword and impales the Big Bad.
    • Obviously, this scene can't be completed without some bubbling last words and writhing on the sword blade.
  • As the ending of Analyze This was too "soft" on Robert De Niro's character where he went into jail with some dignity, in the beginning of Analyze That, we find him pretending to be a nutcase, singing and humiliating himself, only to run away from the people in jail who want to kill him. Fortunately for him, it pays off, but he doesn't get it much easier when he's back free, with the police on his back, and mobsters either wanting to drag him back into the "business", or just plain kill him. In some way, both movies put him more or less in this trope's situation.
  • Big Fat Liar was built on this trope.
    • Indeed most of the film is Jason and Kaylee pranking Jerkass producer Wolfe into admitting he stole Jason's story and turned it into a movie. When Wolf gets lucky and manages to turn the tables on the two, Wolf's whole production crew, whom he abused, mocked or taken advantage of, come to the kids' rescue and pull off the mother of all humiliations. Its starts with Wolf getting picked up by his chaffer and him acting crazy that Wolfe flags down the next passing car which happens to be driven by Jaleel White (aka Urkel). However Wolfe bails on him too in the middle of the road and calls to be picked up. They send a chopper for him flown by a stuntman to head for the lot. The chopper "malfunctions" forcing the two to skydive (which obviously Wolf has no experience in, especially when he has to hang onto said stuntman as they fall. Say the least he's scared out of his mind). Wolf reaches the lot where Jason confronts him holding his precious stuffed monkey. Wolf gives chase through the lot, at one point getting a wave of water dumped on him by an SFX expert. He eventually corners Jason and gets his monkey back, mocking Jason how he'll never tell the truth about stealing his story. But, surprise, the whole thing was caught on camera (MULTIPLE cameras to be exact) and his Jerkass-ery broadcast to the whole lot including the president of the movie company who he was kissing up too, the press and Jason's parents. He's fired on the spot and the whole lot pretty much abandons him. The movie, Big Fat Liar, which he was trying so hard to sell to the president, forges on without him and becomes a huge success with Jason credited for it's creation. Wolf, meanwhile, is left disgraced and blackballed in the film industry, and forced to work as a party clown...whose first job is to a man he crashed into earlier in the film. The film ends with said man calling his son to "show him your nutcracker!"
  • This happens to the bad guys of the Home Alone films long before they're finally defeated, courtesy of Kevin's rather dangerous booby traps.
  • Same case with Cruella de Vil in the live-action version of One Hundred and One Dalmatians... and its sequel 102 Dalmatians.
  • She's not the villain, but Prudy Perkins suffers through one of these in the western spoof Support Your Local Sheriff; she ends up dripping wet, in her long underwear, in a tree, while the hunky new sheriff hears from a neighbor about the time at the town picnic that Prudy got her hair caught in the crank on the ice-cream maker.
    • But because she's not the villain, and it's not her plans that come crumbling around her (well, except for the sheriff liking her, which happens in the end anyway), it's not this trope, just slapstick comedy.
  • A really drawn-out one occurs in the Adam Sandler comedy Billy Madison. Eric, the Corrupt Corporate Executive who has plotted to usurp ownership of the Madison hotel chain from Billy, begins to suffer a Conga during the "Academic Decathlon" with Billy. He burns a pie in the bake-off competition, much to Billy's amusement. Then, after defeating Billy in a foot race, he is angrily shoved over a bench - and his skimpy gym shorts fly up to reveal his genitalia to all the onlookers. Finally, during the last round of the competition, after being asked an ironic question by the moderator about "Business Ethics," Eric stammers nervously (as Billy's fans in the auditorium loudly boo him) before suffering a Villainous Breakdown in which he pulls a gun and screams: "THAT QUESTION WAS UNFAIR! I DEMAND A NEW QUESTION!" The school principal (who moonlights as a professional wrestler) then storms the stage in his "lucha libre" costume and elbow-drops Eric - but the villain recovers quickly. Laughing maniacally, he tries to shoot Billy's girlfriend just to show what a Complete Monster he's become, but is foiled spectacularly when he is shot in the butt by a lipsticked serial killer. (Don't even ask.) The movie's conclusion shows him bitterly watching Billy's graduation ceremony while wearing bandages, crutches, and some kind of plaster diaper (though it could be argued that his is partly a case of Karma Houdini, since it's never implied that he will be jailed for his criminal deeds).
  • Adam Sandler really loves to put this trope into his movies. It happens again at the climax of Happy Gilmore, when Jerk Jock golf pro Shooter McGavin is defeated in the big tournament by Happy in a stunning upset. He experiences an epic Villainous Breakdown, complete with a Big No and a disgraceful display of poor sportsmanship when he steals Happy's championship jacket. His final scene in the movie shows him desperately trying to don the jacket while running from a large, angry mob; it's heavily implied that he gets beaten to death.
  • Sandler again in Big Daddy, this time with a woman as the victim. Snooty New York City career woman Vanessa (who is really more of a Haughty than a villain) decides that Sonny Koufax (Sandler) would make an irresponsible husband (and she's somewhat justified in thinking so, at least at first) and tells him that she's going away for a while to visit her mother; in reality, she leaves him forever for Sid, a widowed grandfather who supposedly has a "five-year plan." About a year and half later, all his friends take Sonny (now an ambitious lawyer) to a Hooter's restaurant in Staten Island for his birthday....and he is shocked to find Vanessa working there as a waitress! Vanessa freezes in terror as all her former friends ogle her in her skimpy "owl" tank top and orange short-shorts. "What happened to Sid's five-year plan?" asks Sonny. That's when Sid himself looks over at the gang from his place at the grill (where he is working as a short-order cook) and waves to them with a ridiculously stupid grin on his face; Sonny and his friends grin and wave back. Sonny's former foster son, Julian, points to Sid and asks: "Isn't that the guy with the old balls?" - which causes everybody to laugh. Vanessa finally can't stand it anymore, and runs away.
  • Trading Places has this first happen to Louis Winthorpe III. At the end, the Duke brothers.
  • The end of Robin Hood: Men in Tights has King Richard imprison Prince John in the Tower of London, make him part of the tour, and order that all lavatories in the Kingdom be referred to as "Johns."
  • Flesh Gordon deserves a mention for a borderline case: Wang The Perverted and his courtiers engaging in a (naked) literal Humiliation/Gloating Triumph Conga. "FLESH - GORDON - IS - DEAD!" (boomp, boomp...)
  • Living out this trope is a primary function of at least three different generations of Tannens in Back to The Future (two of them ending up in manure), thanks to Marty McFly.
  • A very satisfactory one happens to The Trunchbull in Danny De Vito's version of Matilda.
  • Happens to the egotistical ballet dancer Roberto Volare in Brain Donors during his big premiere, in front of hundreds of spectators.
  • In the 2004 The Punisher movie, when Frank Castle finally confronts Howard Saint he; kills his remaining son, reveals that he tricked Saint into killing his own wife and best friend, shoots him, and ties him up to be dragged by a car into a parking lot filled with explosives in which Saint is set on fire before a being crushed by flaming debris. It says something that shooting him was probably the least painful thing Castle did to him.
  • After his plan to destroy Gotham fails spectacularly, The Joker from The Dark Knight is thrown off a building and lassooed by Batman's batcord, leaving him dangling by the ankle. Magnificent Bastard that he is, The Joker still gets one up on Batman by revealing his Evil Plan.
  • A rare heroic example occurs in Thor where the titular character run over by the same car twice, tasered and sedated. Not to mention being stripped of his powers and stuck in a mortal form. And when he reaches Mjolnir and he was unable to wield it, he goes through a Heroic BSOD. Later, Loki pays him a visit and lying to him that their father was dead and he couldn't return to Asgard, he nearly goes catatonic. However, all of this taught Thor humility and to stop and think about his actions and it was how he became a hero through the abuse he went through.
  • I Really Hate My Job: One of the characters sees working as a waitress as this, comparing it to having to stand up in an airplane and walk down the aisle to use the bathroom, with everyone knowing you're about to void your bowels.
  • Salim in Slumdog Millionaire bullies the other children so his brother gets him back by finding the hottest chili peppers and putting them on a very sensitive area. Salim wakes up in agony and has to run to the shower naked and hose himself down frantically while the other children chant "chillies on his willy!"
  • The latter two-thirds of the film Johnny Handsome is this.
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 Vic Dumask: I s'pose you coulda shot Rafe by now...

John Mitchell: Too easy.

Vic Dumask: No, you wanna take him through the whoooole dance. Mikey'd o' liked that.

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  • Ever After (film): Rodmilla and Marguerite get it in the end.
  • Dean Vernon Wormer, the college town's corrupt Mayor, and Omega House and all their supporters (not to mention more than a few innocent bystanders) get an extravagant collective Conga at the end of Animal House - one of them punched out and knocked off a parade float, another scooped up by a giant papier-mache hand and carried off down the street, another literally trampled by a crowd into a human pancake, a female Omega stripped to her underwear, and another female Omega kidnapped by John "Bluto" Blutarski himself and ultimately coerced into marrying him (although her facial expression at the end implies she found this not so bad after all). Wormer and the Mayor themselves (along with their wives) are catapulted into a pile of rubbish by Delta House's dreaded "Deathmobile," and the Mayor sees his automobile showroom smashed up by part of a runaway float.
    • This results in several hilarious Villainous Breakdowns, including Kevin Bacon's famous "Remain calm. All is well. ALL IS WELL!".
  • In Jumping the Broom, Jason and Sabrina's wedding rehearsal dinner is this. It all starts when Jason's mother Pam takes over the blessing of the food and uses it to insult Sabrina's family. Pam finds out that they're not doing the electric slide or jumping the broom (a tradition dating back to slavery) at the wedding. Sabrina's mother then mentions that her family never were slaves so that's not their history. Then Sabrina's aunt walks in and starts singing "Sexual Healing".
  • The Avengers ends with Loki having his grandiose plans of conquering the Earth thwarted by the titular team, topped off by him getting a thorough beat-down from an irate Hulk who smashes him around like a rag doll and leaves him stunned and whimpering in a crater. He's last seen Bound and Gagged and being escorted by Thor to face judgement in Asgard.


Literature[]

  • Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter was humiliated lots of times, then was set upon by a herd of angry centaurs, almost killed by them, suffered PTSD as a result, and later chased out of Hogwarts by Peeves the Poltergeist hitting her with McGonagall's crutch and a sock full of chalk as the students look on and cheer. She's still somewhat of a Karma Houdini when you consider that she's guilty of torture, attempted assassination, treason (after the Death Eater takeover of the Ministry), and the systematic imprisonment of innocent Muggle-Borns. If not for Word of God, we'd never have found out that she received a life sentence in Azkaban after the events of Deathly Hallows.
  • Happens to the two biggest villains in Animorphs. Visser One is executed via kandrona starvation, though her host is rescued, and Visser Three is sentenced to a hostless imprisonment in a special cell after being forced out of Alloran.
    • In book #9, The Secret, Visser Three, the Big Bad Complete Monster who is not afraid to deal with his adversaries in such manners as decapitation, Torture, and in one case, EATING his adversary, gets one of these. Cassie was completely surrounded by the Visser's Mooks, trapped in a box, and was still boldly claiming to be about to foil the Visser's plan. The Visser orders his mooks to surround her, and kill her. They flip the box open, ready for any number of deadly creatures to come flying out... but see nothing but a skunk in there. The Visser, not knowing what a skunk is, begins mocking her, saying "This is the best you could do?" Cue him and his mooks getting a face full of skunk juice. They run away screaming, clutching their faces. The Visser, in exchange for the "Andalite chemical technology" to get rid of the smell, agrees to let his whole plan go to pot. Ax then tells Visser Three how to get rid of skunk smell... except Ax "forgot" that you use tomato juice to get rid of it, not grape juice. A few days later, cue a very smelly, very angry, and very... purple Visser Three.
  • Mason Verger from Hannibal foolishly shows Hannibal Lecter how to perform auto-erotic asphyxiation. Hannibal gives him a hallucinogenic drug which Verger gratefully accepts. Hannibal is then able to hypnotise Verger into mutilating his face which Hannibal then supposedly feeds to dogs before kicking the stool from underneath Verger, breaking his neck and reducing him to a pathetic, deformed quadroplegic. Hannibal later sends Verger a letter revealing that he actually fed Verger his own face. At the end of the book, Verger's sister whom he has sexually abused, sodomises him with a cattle-prodder then rams an electric eel down his throat until he drowns in his own blood. A horrific end to be sure but a thoroughly deserved one for such a Complete Monster.
  • The Stand by Stephen King is one long Humiliation Conga for its Big Bad, Smug Snake Randall Flagg. He has a Villainous Breakdown if so much as a spy infiltrates his territory, rapidly causing his henchmen to doubt his (supposedly) awesome power, most of which he never actually uses. His technician, the Trashcan Man has a psychotic breakdown and blows up Flagg's nuclear weapons facility, his wife goads him into killing her and by default, his unborn child and his people start deserting him. Later he is mocked by one of his prisoners, loses his cool yet again and his Dragon, Lloyd Henreid nearly turns on him. Later, after capturing the spies, he intends to mutilate them in front of his meagre band of henchmen who are now congregated in his Las Vegas Fortress of solitude. At this point, The Trashcan Man returns from the desert with an Atom Bomb and the terrified Flagg is reduced to pathetically whining at Lloyd Henreid to get rid of it. Just when it seems things can't get any worse for this absolute failure of a villain, the Hand of God (yes you heard me) appears out of no-where and detonates the bomb. Flagg's "empire" is destroyed but he teleports away in the nick of time. He arrives on an island in the Caribbean where he begins gathering followers but ultimately dies an ignominious death in The Dark Tower series when he's eaten by a giant spider.
  • The Count of Monte Cristo: Edmond Dante's revenge plot is a huge Batman Gambit designed to bring this on the three men who wronged him, and it goes off pretty smoothly too. Villefort discovers that his wife is responsible for poisoning his daughter and his ex-wife's parents, for inheritance reasons (before his wife kills herself and her son on being discovered). He is publicly revealed as having attempted murder on his bastard child, said child grew up to appear in front of Villefort accused of grand larceny and fraud and reveals Villefort to his father, and to top it off his own father disinherits him. A mental and Villainous Breakdown follows. As for Danglars, his daughter runs away with her lesbian lover, he is stripped of his wealth (which is what he loves the most), and made to starve for days before being cut loose with only pocket change. And poor Ferdinand has his treacherous dealings published in all the tabloids, is brought to trial by the daughter of his victim,his wife and son leave him in embarassment, and in the end he eats his gun.
  • Peter David's Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Q-in-Law" serves up a deeply satisfying Humiliation Conga to Q when he makes the mistake of humiliating Lwaxana Troi.
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 Riker: "She's really beating the stuffing out of him. What should we do?"

Worf: "Sell tickets, sir."

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  • In Sharon Lee's and Steve Miller's Scout's Progress, Vin Sin chel'Mara, who has made a habit of humiliating — and bankrupting — opponents at cards, is soundly defeated by a noted mathematician, who wins chel'Mara's private spaceship. When his delm learns what Vin Sin chel'Mara has been up to, he orders Vin Sin to spend a minimum of five years working on one of the family holdings, learning about soil mixtures...on a planet where gambling is illegal, to the point where being caught with a deck of cards is worth a year's hard labor, no appeal.
  • In The Chronicles of Narnia:
    • Prince Rabadash's punishment in The Horse and His Boy.
    • Uncle Andrew's experiences with Jadis (and later with the Talking Beasts) in The Magician's Nephew.
  • Waleran Bigod in The Pillars of the Earth. And Remigius.
  • Happens a few times in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Most notable are Zuo Ci's treatment of Cao Cao; Cao Cao's retreat from Chi Bi; and Meng Huo's seven defeats, with him being captured and released each time.
    • Zhung Liang Humiliation Conga's somebody to DEATH. That has to be a first.
  • Happens to just about everyone in James Joyce's Dubliners.
  • In The Robots of Dawn, that's what happens to the main villain at the end - although he did recover after a couple of centuries, if not completely.
  • Disney's Robni Hood: This is the fate that befalls Prince John, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Sir Hiss as punishment for extracting so much taxation from the kingdom. They have to work off all the money that they took from the kingdom's citizens. It's not so bad for Sir Hiss though. He gets to watch whenever Prince John injures himself.
  • That's what Saruman and Wormtongue got - until Saruman decided he should cause some more mess.
  • A protagonist example occurs in the PG Wodehouse story The Metropolitan Touch. To impress his girlfriend, Bingo Little gets overly ambitious in heading the production of the local Christmas play by adding in some stuff he saw in a revue in London. This in itself would have been enough to ruin him, as provincial tastes often differ from those in London. But Smug Snake Rupert Steggles pushes matters further by sabotaging the production. By the time the messy end arrives, Bingo is a pariah reviled by the locals and his girlfriend leaves him for Steggles.
  • In Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen, the second-to-last chapter has Charles Perrone hopelessly slogging through the Everglades, ruing how his former friends all turned against him, especially the ones he had tried and failed to kill. He escapes from his tormentors, only to meet for the first time the last person he'll ever see.


Live Action Television[]

  • ICarly: Sam in iSpeed Date. Insults Freddie about no-one wanting him only to find he had 3 girls ask him. She refuses to ask any boy to the Girl's Choice dance, until Carly convinces her to ask Gibby out because Sam embarrassed her on the webshow. Sam is then rejected by Gibby and Freddie laughs at her. She tries again to have Gibby take her to the dance, only be rejected a second time and he's got a stunning girl at his house already. Sam stumbles back to the Groovy Smoothie, only to find Carly and Freddie slow dancing together, leaving Sam completely and utterly alone.
    • iPity The Nevel has Nevel being hit with this for most of the first half. He's caught on tape screaming his head off at an innocent little girl, making him a hated outcast. As he wonders the streets in dispair, people insult him and it starts raining on him, someone yelling at him that he deserves it. Meanwhile, the iCarly gang are having a "Karma Party" celebrating his downfall.
  • Dr. Cox does a literal Humiliation Conga (or more accurately, a strange form of Irish Jig) when he is once again proven right and Elliot is proven wrong, much to her embarrassment. He redeems himself very, very slightly by delivering An Aesop before mocking her further.
    • This happens to Cox himself in a later episode. After he refuses to give Turk any good assignments, he then ups the ante by sticking him with Lloyd the delivery man, who claims there is something wrong with his arm when he is perfectly fine. He and Turk turf Lloyd back and forth, each trying to get rid of him, until it seems that Turk finally gets him to shut up by giving Lloyd an unnecessary operation. Dr. Kelso seems ready to end Turk's career over this and Carla berates Cox, who realizes he let this go too far and is forced to beg Kelso to show some mercy. But, surprise! The operation never took place, and Carla, Turk and Kelso were conspiring to teach Cox a lesson. They even come out and take a bow.
  • The vampire Spike had this done to him a couple times, both on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and on Angel, and that was long before he did his Heel Face Turn, regained his soul and suffered Badass Decay.
  • The Shield series finale sees Magnificent Bastard/Heroic Sociopath/Cowboy Cop Vic Mackey looking like he's about to ride to glory, Karma Houdini-style, via a deal that he struck for immunity from ALL past crimes. Not so fast! First, he gets into a smug taunting match with best friend-turned-murdering fugitive, Shane. Soon after, Shane kills his pregnant wife and toddler son with poison, before eating his own gun. He leaves a suicide note pretty much blaming Vic for turning him into a criminal, which Claudette gleefully reads to a dumbstruck Vic. And while Vic is still reeling from that, she makes sure he sees the last surviving Strike Team member, Ronnie, get perp-walked past him as he's taking the fall for all the stuff Vic confessed to, because Vic had lied to Ronnie about the immunity deal including him. Told about this only while being handcuffed, Ronnie is not happy and proceeds to unload on Vic with both barrels — in front of pretty much the entire Barn staff — all of which obliterates Vic's rep among the Boys In Blue. But wait — there's more! He also finds out his betrayal of Ronnie was for nothing, because the side deal he'd cut for ex-wife Corrine was redundant: she'd already cut a deal with Claudette to help try and snag Vic, including an order of protection against Vic AND witness relocation. (Bye bye, beloved kids!) And his dream job/consolation prize? Well, that turned out to be a three-year stretch of paper pushing (Courtesy of the slightly corrupt I.C.E agent Vic finessed to get his immunity deal) — which Vic has to follow through on, or his deal is voided and he goes straight to prison — after which the Feds can fire him, and with his sins all public knowledge on all fronts, he will never be able to get a job in law enforcement ever again, denying him the justification that he used to hide from his crimes. In one single episode, Vic is stripped of everything that meant anything to him and is left to choke on it.
  • Atherton Wing suffers one of these at the end of the Firefly episode "Shindig." Not only does Mal kick his ass and then deliver several stabs to him in insult instead of finishing him off in what was supposed to be a Duel to the Death, but Inara, who the whole duel was fought over, invokes the full power of the Companions' Guild in response to Atherton's comment about how he should have "uglied her up" so that she can no longer work as a Companion and has a Black Mark put on him in the client registry, ensuring that no Companion will ever contract with him again. And just to add insult to injury, His Lordship Sir Warrick Harrow tells him, "You'll have to rely on your winning personality to get women. God help you."
  • Basically the entire premise of Leverage. At the end of each episode, the bad guy is humiliated in front of his friends and family, loses his millions, and gets sent to prison for a crime he may or may not have committed.
  • Batman has a great example in "Flop Goes The Joker" when the villain invades Wayne Manor, accidentally finds the Batpoles (thankfully unlabeled at this time), and tries to slide down. Alfred uses the emergency elevator function on the poles to capture the Joker while preventing him from reaching the Batcave. At Batman's amused orders, Alfred sends the Joker screaming up and down repeatedly, enjoying every minute of it.
  • Vengeance Unlimited: Mr. Chapel, as a Vigilante Man, does this to pretty much every one of his marks, and each of their (willing) accomplices.
  • Sonny in the Sonny With a Chance episode Sonny With A Secret. She's accused of stealing twice, accused of plagiarizing on of her ideas, and is framed for telling the press secrets about Chad. And then she's almost killed by a bomb disguised as a cheeseball. Why? Because Penelope is in love with Chad and was jealous of Sonny and Chad's relationship.
  • Jake Ryan learned the hard way not cheat on the woman behind Hannah Montana. While he's wearing bad lederhosen in Hannah's Christmas Special, Miley got Jake to confess to cheating on her on camera. All this while she knocks the stuffing out of him with a sack of props. For the icing on the cake, Robbie Ray stole his clothes, so Jake has to go back to his movie set wearing his lederhosen costume.
  • Colditz provides a truly epic example; one of the later episodes is entirely devoted to giving the show's only real Nazi character, a Smug Snake who's spent the series singing the praises of the Third Reich, an utterly humiliating send-off. First he realises his beloved Reich is actually going to lose the war; he tries vainly and pathetically to cajole the prisoners into testifying that he treated them well; he's sacked from his post; his girlfriend denies she knows him; and after receiving no less than three The Reason You Suck Speeches from both his Officer and a Gentleman superior and his own prisoners, flees ignominiously in a farmers' cart. A rather karmic end, considering the show is normally about the prisoners' own escape attempts.
  • In Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider Ouja gets a more personal one. He finally kills his archenemy Zolda, only to discover that the Zolda he just killed wasn't the one he'd be after, who died peacefully at home during the fight, afterwards he emerges in disarray into the real world, only to find himself cornered by the police and pinned down by snipers who gun him down. While not as humiliating at first, considering his motivations, this is probably the most humiliating end he could ask for.
  • Much of the first season of Babylon 5 involves G'kar and Londo being locked in a downward spiral of mutual humiliations: Londo becomes steadily more bitter because of constant Narn military advances into Centauri space, and G'kar suffers many episodic setbacks due to karmic backlash from being a huge jerk. For the most part Londo's woes, being the underdog, are played for sympathy (but also a fair few laughs), while G'kar's are mostly played for laughs all the time. After Londo becomes a pawn of the Shadows this quickly goes into reverse, with G'kar suffering overhanging humiliation after humiliation. And at that point, it's not funny any more.
  • Tori and friends deliver one to Ryder Daniels, a Manipulative Bastard who gets a kick out of playing with girls' emotions to trick them into helping him get a better grade, then cruelly dumping them when they're no longer of use. When Tori, his lastest victim, finds out, she uses the singing event he wanted to use her to get a good grade in to set one up for him. She tricks him onstage and disables his mic before being joined by his ex-girlfriends in performing "Begging On Your Knees", a "The Villain Sucks" Song she and André wrote just for him. As it's sung, revealing Ryder's manipulative ways to the entire school, Robbie, Beck, and even the teacher hosting the event prevent Ryder from leaving the stage as Sinjinn keeps the spotlight focused right on him. When the song ends and he can finally leave the stage, not only is the entire school cheering his downfall, but another group from the event greet him by singing "You just got burned!" to rub salt in the wound. The icing on top is that this whole thing was 1/3 of his grade in that class and thanks to Tori, he flunked.
  • Big Time Rush: In the Season 1 finale, Hawk, the Big Bad (and his assistant Rebecca), has kidnapped the boys to keep them from appearing at their concert. He then arrives at the Music Box and blows Gustavo and Kelly's cover and reveal that Big Time Rush isn't there, leaving the crowd to boo Gustavo and Kelly and abandon the Music Box, which would end Rocque Records forever. Just when it looks like Gustavo and Kelly have their backs against the wall, the boys arrive to save them, leaving Hawk and Rebecca shocked. Just before the boys win the show back, Hawk tries to stop them again but is faced with Sebastian-his former butler-who blasts him and Rebecca with hot towels to stop them. The boys then proceed to kick off the performance, doing great and saving Rocque Records, ruining Hawk's plan completely, all right in front of him.
  • In the final episode of Survivor: Heroes Versus Villains, Russell Hantz, an Entitled Bastard who had spent most of his time backstabbing his allies and making everyone around him miserable, with next-to-no regard for their feelings, is put through a well-deserved one. First, his remaining ally Parvati says that she would have voted for his hated rival Sandra over him. Then Sandra burns his hat in a Meaningful Echo of his burning of Jaison's socks back in Samoa. That Night 39, the entire jury, Hero and Villain, foe and ally alike, just rips him apart. While some of them shower Sandra with glowing accolades, the rest take him to task for his complete disregard of their feelings. (Ex-finalist Danielle, in particular, points out that he didn't even bother thinking about how to win them over; Candice tacks on a "Reason You Suck" Speech.) The icing on the cake? In front of a live studio audience, he gets zero votes and has to watch Sandra, the person he hand-picked to take to the finals specifically because he believed the jury would look at her and see a total good-for-nothing who'd won before, win a million dollars easily. But it didn't stop there; during the reunion, pre-jury castoff Boston Rob chimed in on his game play and laid down the gauntlet to him. Thus, Redemption Island was born, and Russell was the first one out of his tribe. Guess who went on to the win?
    • In Gabon, resident Jerkass Griefer Randy Bailey went through this in his exit episode. It started with him getting upset because Sugar took his cookie at the reward auction, and deciding to be an even bigger griefer by intentionally pissing off every single person left. How did he plan to get out of it? By using the immunity idol that his ally Bob found on Exile Island, and use at the upcoming Tribal Council, since it was obvious that he was going to be targeted. At Tribal Council, both Sugar and his Arch Enemy Crystal mocked him in their voting confessionals; Crystal even shouted hers loud enough for everyone to hear. It all came to head when he played the immunity idol, only to find out - whoops! - it was a fake that Bob made because Sugar found the real immunity idol very early on. With no way of blocking the votes cast against him, Randy was voted out. But at least he got on the jury and got to issue a Call Back.


Professional Wrestling[]

  • The 11 June 2007 episode of RAW, which Vince McMahon, in a display of just how overblown his ego had become, was dubbed "Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night." Throughout the course of the three-hour special edition, various wrestlers superstars from past and present verbally dismantled the chairman, one after another. At the end of the show, he comes out to address the crowd, while getting unparalleled disgust from the crowd, walks back through the building and catches dirty looks from everyone he passes, only to go out to his limousine...which explodes after he shuts the door. (The explosion was retconned following the Chris Benoit murder-suicide.)
  • At WrestleMania 23, your favorite Corrupt Corporate Executive and mine Vince McMahon was on the receiving end of this during his interactions with Donald Trump. First, his son was beaten up by referee Stone Cold Steve Austin for having the audacity to pose as a second ref; then, Donald Trump tackled him for trying to interfere; then, his wrestler lost the match; THEN, he was caught on camera trying to crawl out of the building; THEN, he was chased down and tossed back in the ring for Austin to beat him up again; and FINALLY, he was strapped into a barber chair and shaved bald. WWE got their money's worth from The Donald on that one.
    • They actually got even more out of it the next night. When Bobby Lashley and Vince were in the ring. Vince is trying to hide his hair (or lack of) under a hat, and when Bobby yanks the hat off his head, Vince repeatedly tries to hide again, under a towel, J.R.'s cowboy hat, The King's crown, the ring apron, and ring announcer Lillian Garcia's skirt. Each time, Bobby simply yanks them away (yes, even Lillian's skirt, giving us a two-for-one of sorts) exposing McMahon's Chrome Dome over and over again.
    • In fact, Vince getting humiliated at Wrestlemania seems to be an annual event.
  • In June 2008, then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge got his own personal conga on Monday Night Raw. After coming to the ring to brag about the recent WWE Draft and his victory at the PPV the night before (which left Raw without a world title), he pulled all the standard Heel tricks to get booed, including having Jim Ross escorted from the building by his personal lackeys. However, when Edge tried to leave, he got jumped by a very pissed-off Batista. Then while he was lying dazed in the ring, newly-drafted-to-Raw CM Punk came down to the ring, cashed in his "Money in the Bank" contract (which allows the holder to challenge a World Champion to a match at any time within a year of winning it), and pinned Edge to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. A well-deserved humiliation to a big frickin' Jerkass as well as a great callback to how Edge famously won his first WWE Championship (in 2006, following a victory by John Cena in an exhausting match, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and took out Cena to win the title) and his first World Heavyweight Championship (in mid-2007, after both an exhausting cage match and a post-match assault by Mark Henry, The Undertaker got smacked down on SmackDown! when Edge cashed in another Money in the Bank contract). Karma never felt so good.
  • John "Bradshaw" Layfield got an agonizingly prolonged Conga during the fall of 2008 and throughout the winter and part of the spring of 2009. It all started in October when Batista rather handily defeated him to become the Number One Contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. JBL confessed to the crowd after the match that his heart hadn't really been in the competition because he was still distraught over losing his fortune in the recent stock market crash. He perked up a bit when he realized that he'd be getting bailout money from Congress, but then witnessed his private limousine being stolen by Cryme Tyme and a crew of Divas and taken for a joyride. A few months later, Shawn Michaels, who had also lost some investments in the crash but wasn't getting a bailout, agreed to become JBL's employee in order to support his family. JBL ordered him to help him win the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble, but things didn't go as planned: after the angry and conflicted Michaels kicked both JBL and Cena in the face and then stormed out of the arena, Cena managed to retain the title; JBL was also unsuccessful in a rematch. Furious, JBL threatened to fire Michaels before challenging him to a match at No Way Out that would either see JBL either buy out Michaels' contract to him with a large lump sum or essentially own the copyright to Shawn's name and likeness depending on the result. But JBL lost this match too, and got slapped in the face by Shawn's wife, Rebecca, as an added humiliation. He would then switch his focus and would set his sights on The Undertaker and his infamous win streak. However, HBK would pin Bradshaw yet again to earn the right to challenge the streak. Determined to go to Wrestlemania as a champion, JBL did manage to defeat CM Punk and win his Intercontinental Championship; he was then booked to face Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania XXV as his challenger. JBL would promise the most dominant victory in WrestleMania history, but Mysterio (whom JBL had always viewed with contempt due to his small size and Mexican heritage) totally embarrassed him by pinning him for the title in a mere 30 seconds! This final straw caused JBL to suffer a complete Villainous Breakdown and scream "I QUIT!" before leaving WWE for good.
    • The true humiliation was that he kept thinking he had this destiny for WrestleMania. First it was to defend/take the World Heavyweight Championship there (hence owning Michaels, who would help him do that). Then it was the Undertaker's streak. Then after he won the Intercontinental title it was the aforementioned "most dominant victory/title defense ever". But in the end, his legacy would be the shortest failed Intercontinental title defense in WrestleMania history. This can also count under some subverted variant of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy as well.
  • Drew Mcintyre had one of these between Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania 26. He lost two matches trying to get into the Money in the Bank Ladder match, both of which were wiped clean by Vince Mcmahon, preserving his undefeated streak. He finally got into the match after defeating a local wrestler, but the next week, he "officially" lost his first match against the Undertaker. Finally, on the last Smack Down! before Wrestlemania, he was in a ten-man tag team match and won the match for his team. Afterwards he mimicked what Dolph Ziggler did a week earlier, pulled a ladder out from under the ring and climb it to symbolically unhook the briefcase which hangs over the ring during matches tying into Money in the Bank prior to Wrestlemania. Midway through his climb, the nine other men in the match tipped over the ladder, causing him to fall, Matt Hardy and Kane, who beat Drew Mcintyre to get into the match, went on to topple the ladder onto Mcintyre, adding even more insult to injury. However, it looks now like he's in a bit of a Villainous Breakdown now after not winning the match and attacked Matt Hardy the Smack Down! after Wrestlemania. It is entirely possible the conga will continue.
    • Oh, it did. At first, everything seemed to be turning around for Drew. He savagely beat up Matt Hardy whenever he got the chance. Teddy Long tried to stop one beating by threatening to first strip him of his title and then suspend him and carrying out both threats when Drew wouldn't let up...but the next week McMahon had overruled both decisions and Drew was back as the Intercontinental Champion. Drew also used his status as McMahon's "Chosen One" to arrange for Long to face him in a match or lose his job. Once Long was in the ring, McIntyre used the threats of both physical violence and termination of his employment (which would mean being unable to financially support his famiily) to make Long get on his knees, declare Drew the "Chosen One", then crawl to the middle of the ring and lie on his back to let Drew pin him after calling him pathetic. But this wouldn't last; after The Nexus hospitalized Vince McMahon, things got bad for Drew and progressed to worse. First, he was forced to defend his title against Kofi Kingston, and lost. Then, he was forced to face a recovered (and pissed) Matt Hardy, and he lost that match too. Immediately following that defeat, Teddy Long appeared on the big screen to inform Drew that his work visa had expired and that he was in the country illegally, before having security physically remove Drew from the premises and take him to be deported over his enraged protests. Drew managed to get his visa issues resolved, but upon his return to the U.S. he still didn't have McMahon to support him. So he publicly kissed up to Teddy, claiming that he realized the way he had treated Teddy had been wrong and to be sorry for it, and telling Teddy he was going to nominate him for the WWE Hall of Fame. Teddy used Drew's desperation to get into the upcoming Smackdown Money In The Bank match to make him get on his knees and beg for the chance. A visibly galled McIntyre did so and was then told to say that Teddy was "the most handsome, debonair, high-class, sharp-dressed and intelligent" and that it was an honor and a privilege to have Teddy Long as his boss. All of which he did while trying to hold an extremely forced smile. Then he was told that he still wasn't in the MITB match.
  • Prissy Jackie Gayda got what some would consider a well-deserved one at WrestleMania XX in 2004. She and Stacy Keibler were booked to face Torrie Wilson and Sable in a Playboy Evening Gown Match; unlike more traditional Evening Gown Matches, this one would begin with the participants willingly removing their gowns and wrestling the match under normal rules in their underwear. Sable, Stacy, and Torrie all obligingly removed their high-heeled shoes and gowns, but Miss Jackie played the role of a shameless cock-tease by slowly taking off each of her shoes....and then slipping back through the ring ropes and trying to leave the arena. Sable and Torrie weren't about to let this happen, though: Sable grabbed Miss Jackie and threw her back into the ring, and she and Torrie proceeded to tear off her white gown and matching long gloves to leave her in her lacy white undies. Then Torrie rolled Jackie up in a pin to win the match for her team, continuing to hold Jackie in the pin for several seconds with her butt pointing up into the air. Then Torrie delivered a spank to Jackie's upper thigh, which was bared by her skimpy white panties. And then Torrie grabbed Jackie's panties and yanked them down (or rather up, since Jackie was basically sitting on her head), exposing her butt crack to the entire world. Only then did Torrie release Miss Jackie from the hold, and the poor lovely hastily covered her coin slot and fled the arena sobbing in humiliation. Oh, and did I mention that this all happened in front of a crowd of 20,000 at Madison Square Garden in New York City - the single most famous forum for professional wrestling in all of world history? It just doesn't get more mortifying than that. (And, just to top things off, Miss Jackie was a Face when this all happened and remained a Face even afterward, which does make what happened to her seem rather unfair.)
    • Of course, YMMV applies on this as well. One actually watching the match wouldn't see that moment as being particularly large within context. It's not like Miss Jackie got pinned immediately and then raped for minutes.
  • Big Show got one at that same event - right at the beginning of the show. He was booked to defend his United States Championship against John Cena (who was still partially a Heel at this point). But first Cena came out dressed in hip-hop gear and led the crowd in a derogatory rap appropriately titled "Big Show Sucks." In the end, Cena won the match and the title by punching the giant in the jaw with a pair of brass knuckles while the referee was distracted and performing an awe-inspiring F-U to get the pin.
  • Molly Holly, again at WrestleMania XX. She vowed that she would submit to having her head shaved if she could not beat Victoria for the Women's Championship - and then, when she lost the match, she reneged on her promise and tried to run away. She was caught, tied to a barber's chair, and shaved bald in front of everyone while screaming in terror. There's no question about it: March 14, 2004, was an unforgettable night for many, and for all the wrong reasons.
    • This was more or less a reenactment of Kurt Angle losing his hair against Edge at Judgment Day 2002, even down to the two players involved having been friends before a Heel Face Turn occurred for the one who would eventually win the day.
  • None other than John Cena himself on the October 4, 2010 episode of Monday Night Raw, where he had to deal with the consequences of having lost a match to Nexus leader Wade Barrett. Not only was Cena forced to become a member of Nexus, he was given a trademark black-and-yellow "N" armband which he was forced to pull onto his arm in the presence of everyone (replacing a trademark "Cenation" purple armband) and compelled to read a statement officially establishing him as a member of Nexus. Then, in a 20-Man Battle Royal for the Number One Contendership to Randy Orton's WWE Championship, Barrett made him eliminate himself from the match, thus making Barrett the winner. And then It Got Worse in the following episode: since the anonymous Raw General Manager (who apparently is biased in favor of Nexus) informed Cena that if he struck Barrett in anger even once, he would be fired from WWE. The Jerkass Barrett exploited this handicap by taunting Cena mercilessly - and then, when John restrained himself from lashing out, called him a coward in front of the whole world, which only made John want to hit Wade more. If WWE's intention is to turn the near-invincible Cena into The Woobie, then they have succeeded spectacularly. This made Cena's own Humiliation Conga of Barrett later on particularly satisfying.
  • Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler at Over The Limit can only be described as this for Michael Cole. Not only did he recieve a Curb Stomp Battle from Lawler, Cole then faces the wrath of WWE Diva Eve representing the entire Diva's Division, who Cole had been verbally assaulting for weeks (Eve in particular), in the form of a Moonsault. Then, it gets worse. Jim Ross then takes his turn, pouring a bottle of his famous barbecue sauce on the prone Cole. Cole then tries to escape and brags that he never really lost and will never kiss Jerry's foot...and it gets EVEN WORSE for him. Bret "The Hitman" Hart cuts off his escape, driving him back to the ring and locking him in the Sharpshooter. As Hart punishes Cole, Jerry takes the opportunity to make Cole kiss his feet (or in a more literal sense, shove his toes into Cole's mouth). Considering Cole's recent behavior to all involved except for Hart (Unless you take account of the bashing of his family, particularly Natalya), this counts as Laser-Guided Karma in it's purest form.
    • Continues next night on RAW when Eve taunts him with her shoe to rub salt in the wound, he gets heavily mocked by the WWE Universe as he comes out to apologize, his overinflated ego having finally been popped like a balloon. Jerry continues to rub more salt in his wounds with memories of the night before. Even when he let's him back to the announce table, Jerry makes it rather clear Cole won't be Easily Forgiven.
    • Continues on Smackdown that Friday. Booker T calls Cole into the ring and once more shows a picture of Cole with Jerry's foot in his mouth. He then proceeds to lead the crowd in a "Kiss My Feet" chant against Cole. Cole was humbled once more.
    • Keeps going when Stone Cold Steve Austin gives him a Stunner and beer bath. Booker T lampshades the Humiliation Conga on the next Smackdown, pointing out that if Cole would keep his mouth shut, most of this wouldn't have happened.
  • Lay-Cool at the 2010 Royal Rumble. They had been bullying Mickie James for weeks about her weight, calling her "Piggie James" and Layla had even dressed up as Mickie in a fat suit. There was a title match between Mickie and Michelle. Mickie won the match and the title in 20 seconds, then all the face divas came down to the ring with a huge cake and Mickie smashed it all over Michelle and Layla. Layla was even stuck in her fat suit.


Theater[]

  • Shylock, in The Merchant of Venice: his daughter elopes with someone he loathes; he lost his case, losing even his rightful loan; and the court threatens to confiscate his property, forcing him to denounce Judaism and take up Christianity.
  • Baron Ochs, in Der Rosenkavalier: first, the cute little chambermaid not only turns out to be a man in disguise, but a man who the Baron hates, and who he knows is the rival for the his fiancee. Then his would-be father-in-law announces that the engagement is off: the Baron loses a beautiful young wife and the sizable dowry she would have brought. His reputation takes a hit: his unsavory character will be known to all and sundry, if the two scandalmongers involved in this plot have anything to say about it. His relative the Marschallin dismisses him coldly, perhaps making it impossible for him to ever enter Viennese society again. And to add insult to injury, he ends up having to cover the bill for the whole experience.
  • Cyrano De Bergerac has various examples:
    • Viscount De Valvert get’s through one in at Act I Scene IV being defeated by Cyrano in a Volleying Insults competition and then in a Sword Fight.
    • De Guiche is subjected to another through Act I to Act IV by Cyrano, Roxane, Captain Carbon and all of the Gascon Cadets.
    • Poor Raguenau is cuckholded, abandoned by his wife Lisa and ruined by his own Fan Dumb between Act II and Act III, so much that he intents a Interrupted Suicide.
    • Acts II through V are this for Cyrano. In Act II, his hope of being loved by Roxana is shattered. At Act III, he wins for Christian Roxanne’s kiss. At Act IV, he’s forced to sacrifice his happiness to honor Christian death. And at Act V, he’s denied the heroic death he always desired and discovers that Moliere stole a scene from him.


Video Games[]

  • Bully's storyline didn't end well for Gary.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations: Dahlia believes that being dead makes her beyond punishment by the living. But when Phoenix reveals that the target of her revenge, missing and presumed dead, is in fact the medium whose body she is currently inhabiting, he and Mia explain in detail how each of her crimes was a failure, and that she has doomed herself to the "ultimate punishment": spending all eternity as a miserable, pathetic loser. In hell.
    • In the last case of the second game, Justice For All, it is revealed that the client is indirectly guilty of the murder, having hired a hitman to do it for him. After proving his guilt, the player (Phoenix) gets to decide the guilty man's fate. Have him declared "Guilty" where he will go to jail, or let him be "Not Guilty" where he will immediately be targeted by the hitman that he tried to use as a scapegoat. Truly a lose-lose situation for the poor guy.
  • Some of the deaths of Roger Wilco involve him getting (even posthumously) humiliated, such as the Two Guys from Andromeda barging in to show a replay of him purposefully inhaling acidic gas, or an alien couple casually looking at Roger's pod disintegrating in the air, and having a discussion that concludes that "there is no intelligent life in space".
  • Suikoden IV has Snowe suffer through a conga that lasts almost the entire game. The start of the game paints him as a daddy's boy and a Dirty Coward that only got to where he is by nepotism. In time, he sells out his own countrymen to avoid having to fight, and tries acting like a "wound" on his arm kept him from helping anyone in an ensuing battle. In truth, he just turned tail and fled. He manages to get away, but runs into the Player Character several more times throughout the game. Each time Snowe is encountered, he's become more of a Jerkass and more increasingly pathetic as it becomes clear that the player is helping far more than Snowe is. The player does have the option to kill Snowe a few of those times, but letting him live seems more like Cruel Mercy. But, if the player keeps letting Snowe go, then by the end of the game, he's eaten a huge slice of Humble Pie and finally sees the error of his ways. Having him in the player's party also unlocks a Game Breaker double team move with Snowe and the player, so it might be worth sparing his sorry hide just for that.
  • In Suikoden V: Lord Barows suffers one of these when his schemes are revealed. After particular battle, his secret allies from an enemy nation think he betrayed them; everyone in the party (and anyone in the world who cares to think about it) now knows he is a traitor and is secretly laughing at him as he stammers humiliatingly transparent congratulations. Then his son bursts in and demands that he use the missing MacGuffin whose theft helped spark the current war, revealing that his father was responsible. Then his daughter betrays him and helps the heroes recover the item, which instantly bonds to the hero despite two years of failed efforts to control it by Barows himself. Then everyone goes from laughing secretly at him to laughing openly at him; all his former allies, one by one, tell him how awful he is and abandon him; his daughter leaves to join the hero, telling her father she hopes she never sees him again; the hero's strategist gives one last parting shot... and then the last person in his manor, his Gentle Giant storage-room guy, runs out at the last minute to abandon him and join the heroes as well. Oh, and his end was really painful too: Sialeeds kills him, and as he is in his dying breath, she told him that with the patheticness of his son, his family is just about ready to plummet into destruction
  • Mega Man 9 does have one of these, however temporary. After being bested again, Dr. Wily begs Mega Man for mercy. Rather than do anything direct, Mega Man calls in Rush, who plays a video projection of the past nine times Wily got his ass handed to him. Seeing yourself grovel at the hero's feet nine times over at the same time is pretty embarrassing.
  • In the first Drakengard game, a really brutal Humiliation Conga is served to Manah in the first ending (the one with the least tragedy, to be clear). When the Big Bad goes as far as to beg the Anti-Hero to kill her, or else she will... do something, you know she has hit rock bottom.
  • Melodia from Baten Kaitos also qualifies. Her plan to resurrect the dead god and become the ruler of the new world fails when the heroes defeat it. Then, her grandfather tells her that she has been manipulated by the said god all along as part of its Evil Plan. She doesn't take this very well and fuses with the dead god. However, when the dead god is finally destroyed, she ends up getting rescued by the hero. While she is not present in the ending, it's implied that she is suffering due to the massive amount of guilt over almost causing the end of the world.
  • In a heroic (at the time, anyway) example, Oersted of Live a Live gets put through one of these in his chapter, courtesy of his childhood friend / Unknown Rival Straybow. To explain the whole thing would make this entry waaaaaayyyy too long, so to summarize it:
    • Princess gets kidnapped, Oersted goes off to save the princess, fails, gets tricked into killing the king, goes back to confront the evil demon and try to save the princess again, finds out that Straybow orchestrated the whole thing cause he wanted to humiliate Oersted, Oersted kicks his ass, princess more or less walks in, declares her love for Straybow, and then kills herself.
      • Oh, and we forgot that he also watches the great hero of the land die, helpless to assist him, and than, he witnesses the heroes right hand assistant die right next to him as well, by the end, everyone who said they believed in him dies. Let's just say, He Doesn't take it well...
    • Understandably, he goes into a Heroic BSOD after all this. Less understandably, he then declares that Humans Are Bastards and turns into a full-fledged Big Bad.
      • A tad more understandable, when you think about the fact that everyone in the kingdom declared that he was the demon when he accidentally killed the king. They tortured the other hero, the one who believed in him, almost to death. They drove him from his home, but Oersted still clung to the words "As long as there is still one person who believes in you." The princess's trust in him was his last hope. And then, well...
  • Appropriately enough, this amounts to what happens during the SNES platformer Road Runner Death Valley Rally, starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Many of Wile E.'s signature traps (including the batsuit, explosives in model airplanes, and catapults) repeatedly backfire on him throughout the game. At the end of every "boss level," though, he really gets it, yet he keeps shooing away the fat lady who would end it all by singing. Culminated in the final level, when the Road Runner destroys the Coyote's Humongous Mecha. Since said battle occurred on the moon, you're treated to the usual "Coyote plummets towards the ground" shot... except he's plummeting towards Earth from orbit. On the way down, he holds up a sign requesting that the game end before he hits. It doesn't. Instead, he lands neck deep in the ground, scant feet from the finish line to the titular race. Then, a truck runs over him, dislodging its cargo of exploding planes and robots. Which naturally all converge on him and explode. The Road Runner then runs up, gives the raspberry, and crosses the finish line. Then, the fat lady is heard singing... and a Shadow of Impending Doom appears over the Coyote. It ends much as you'd expect.
  • In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Sequences 5 through 9 are one long spree of failures for Cesare Borgia: first Ezio murders Cesare's money-man who was his main source of funds, then he deprives Cesare of his French allies and (optionally) his Leonardo da Vinci-designed war machines, kills Cesare's lieutenants and wrests control of Rome away from Cesare, all right under his nose. Cesare then gets a stern talking-to — and attempted poisoning — from his daddy who'd withheld financial support for him and didn't even tell him about the death of his French general, though Rodrigo's attempt at a last solution fatally backfires. Cesare's own sister Lucrezia betrays the location of the Apple of Eden to Ezio, who reaches it first despite Cesare's head start, and then wields it to escape from the Vaticano District, incapacitating quite a few Borgia troops along the way. Several surviving Cardinals put their support behind "Della Rovere" (actually Giuliano della Rovere) for the Papacy after telling Cesare that his family's money is "tainted," even though Cesare had paid for their appointments. After several skirmishes in Roman streets are all lost by Cesare's men, in the final battle for Rome the Assassins openly take to the streets and literally force him outside one of the city gates. Even then Cesare still believes that his army is returning to retake Rome, led by his hitman... but instead, a general forced into his service arrests Cesare at the new Pope's order — complete with a charge of incest — and Cesare is dragged away by Papal Guards who he might have previously commanded. It would be a year or more before he escaped, breaking several bones in the process, and Ezio would finally catch up to him while Cesare was making a last desperate grab at a comeback — not commanding, but commanded by a relative.
  • So far in Adventure Quest Worlds, no villain has actually died, they've just been defeated and left with humiliatingly unpleasant fates.
    • Escherion turned himself into a frog after his powers got inverted by the hero due to his magic being reflected back at him.
    • Vath was carried off to an unknown fate by Stalagbite after the hero destroyed the false Dragon Amulet that he had been using to control him.
    • Kitsune got sealed into a rift leading him back to the Yokai world after the Hanzamune sword was recovered by the hero.
    • Wolfwing was reduced to a pile of dust by an arrow fired by Shadowslayer Z (though the Mystic Wolf Moon began slowly restoring his remains).
    • Discordia was unmasked and revealed to be a fake Chaos Lord controlled by the real Chaos Lord, Kimberly, who eventually had the Chaos Ear Worm in the form of a Chaotic song sung to her by Drakath that got stuck in her head beaten out of her returning her to normal and causing her to join the heroes' cause
    • Ledgermayne was converted by the Supreme Arcane Staff (and Drakath's power) back into the raw mana from which it was made.
    • Maximilian Lionfang was captured after trying to destroy Frostval and remanded to Swordhaven's dungeon.
    • Tibicenas was stripped of all his Djinn power by the leader of all Djinn, the Efreet, before what was left of him was destroyed by the hero.
    • But probably the grandest Conga to date has to go to Noxus at the end of the Shadowfall War. After Vordred is called away by Sally just as he and Noxus are about to finish the heroes off with Gravelyn's own undead army, which Noxus himself first created for her father Sepulchure, Noxus gets knocked right off the Shadowscythe throne by Chuckles, the skeletal minion who was killed by Drakath on his first appearance and is now nothing more than a skull. Chuckles was unaffected by the spell that turned all of Gravelyn's army against her because Noxus didn't create him — he was Gravelyn's first undead minion. Chuckles frees Gravelyn, who wastes no time in taking back control of her army and allowing the heroes through to defeat Noxus. After Noxus is defeated, he gets blasted one in the face by Gravelyn herself when he taunts you on how he cannot be killed. As the Hero and Gravelyn talk about Vordred and the upcoming Arc Attack event, the Hero smacks Noxus down each time he tries to rise again, until Gravelyn gets the idea to give Chuckles a promotion — by swapping his skull with that of Noxus, giving him a new body! Gravelyn promptly delivers a Shout-Out to Hamlet with Noxus' skull, before planning to have it made into a new weapon for her...by Cysero. Tough break, bonehead!
  • In the Redemption mod for Baldur's Gate Throne of Baal, Jon Irenicus goes through one as part of his redemption. Forced to live through the pain of all of his victims in an instant, he is left in the body of a teenager with a fresh soul and nearly all of his magic forgotten and lost. His epilogue isn't any gentler on him: he suffers insomnia, gets sold into slavery and realizes that he can never go back to his homeland even after being given his second chance — he has changed too much. On a more hopeful note, he becomes a better and gentler person, reluctant to use his magic to hurt anyone ever again.
  • Oddly enough, Grolla Seyfarth in Rosenkreuzstilette has to go through a Conga as well, giving her side-game a Downer Beginning. Despite being of a Badass Family who's wielded an Ancestral Weapon for generations, she gets humiliated by the Magnificent Bastard Iris, who first shows off her badass power by attacking and heavily injuring her with a sphere attack and then pulls off a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, making it look like she's an innocent girl being threatened when Sichte walks in, causing her to order Grolla to lower her weapon. But knowing that doing as Sichte ordered could end up causing her own life to be forfeit, Grolla ends up retreating as a result of the humiliation. Tough luck, descendant of Seyfarth!
  • Donkey Kong 64: In a five-part final boss fight, K. Rool is not only beaten he's outright humbled. Highlights include Diddy Kong dropping arena lights onto his head, Tiny Kong shooting him in the foot with arrows sixteen times, and Chunky Kong growing to K. Rool's size and punching him into next week. After it's all said and done, Funky Kong shoots K. Rool in the ass with a rocket launcher, blasting him to the lair of a giant minion he betrayed, who pummels him even more. That'll teach him to try to blow up DK Isles!
  • Mass Effect 2 can be seen as one for Harbinger, as he goes to great lengths to kill Commander Shepard, then hires the Shadow Broker to make sure s/he's dead, the Broker fails to get Shepard's body and Shepard is rebuilt, tougher and better. Then goes on a Suicide Mission, which Shepard survives, killing Harbinger's most useful minions as well as a potential ace up the sleeve(The human reaper). After which, Shepard kills the now Reaper allied Shadow Broker, replacing him with a good friend. Then when some of Harbingers indoctrinated humans capture Shepard and stop him/her from destroying the Mass Relay the Reapers would use to easily travel all over the galaxy, Shepard escapes, kills everyone in his/her way in the entire base and destroys the aforementioned Mass Relay. It culminates when Harbinger uses a hologram to talk with Shepard which he says.
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 Harbinger: Shepard. You have become an annoyance.

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  • Asura's Wrath: Near the last leg of the final battle, Chakravartin the Creator sports his own Sanskrit lettered Action Commands. But after getting hit repeatedly by Asura's barrage, he physically staggers and the action commands start to fail. Asura is just casually pummeling him and countering his attempts to fight back at this point, giving a rather epic and angry speech how he's not going to take anymore shit from anyone that calls himself a god and/or makes his daughter cry. So he takes quite a beating before finally dying.
  • Adachi in Persona 4. When you finally catch up to him, he finally explains himself and his justification...which leads to the entire cast pointing out that he's nothing more than a child in a man's body who can't deal with his own failures and blames other people for his own shortcomings to the point of self-loathing. There's no fear of him anymore, they just want to take him in and get the pest out of their hair. After being beaten by a group of high schoolers, including the cousin of a girl that he tricked someone else into trying to kill, he just ends up becoming a puppet for a greater entity and finds out that he was ultimately just a pawn. By the end, he's broken and admits to everything he did in a more believable way than the actual truth, finally accepting what a terrible human being he is for the first time ever.
  • In Twisted Metal: Head On, Calypso ends up having to grant a wish to Sweet Tooth, who he insults as usual. It is at this point that Sweet Tooth starts to think; Why is he doing all the dirty work for nothing but a wish that will just bite him in the ass anyways? Why not be the guy calling the shots, with the hot women around him on a throne and a squad of armed guards, all while tricking people into mass slaughter for kicks? So, he decides that his wish is to 'Take Calypso's place', which Calypso has no choice but to grant because the way his power works. He ends up in Sweet Tooth's body and the now in charge Needless Kane tells his guards to gun the guy down. Granted you had the ending with Minion in Twisted Metal 2 where he was dragged to Hell, but this particular case just screams twisted irony.
  • Rumble Roses can have a brutal one as these actions can happen in order.
    • A Rose can lose a match via humiliation, much worse against someone they can't stand.
    • Said Rose also could lose the Rose of Roses title belt.
    • If it was a Queen's match the losing Rose must perform an action decided by the winner and wear what the winner wants while doing it, it could include having to clean the swimming pool area while wearing a bikini or rubbing oil on the winner while wearing a bunny suit or even being forced to limbo and the loser falling flat on her butt. The game even shows the reaction of the loser after the action and some of the Roses could show some real mental distress due to the humiliation.


Webcomics[]

  • The "Battle For Barthis" arc of Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire concludes with Dominic telling Serk Brakkis, in exacting detail, how Brakkis's life is about to be ruined. Brakkis then loses his toupee, soils himself when Luna shows him a terrifying illusion, and for the grand finale, gets teleported off to stand trial for his crimes... by the lightning mage known as the Maestro. And given the look on the Maestro's face, it will not be a fun trip.
    • Doubly Subverted when Brakkis is on the verge of manipulating the law into giving him a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card when Celesto Morgan brutally murders him.
  • Tales of the Questor has the "Wild Hunt" arc, where the Unseelie Princeling leads the Wild Hunt after Quentyn. Turns out, that's the last thing he should have done: not only are the Racoonan as a whole gifted with the boon of being forbidden fruit for the Hunt (to the point where the Hunt isn't allowed even in areas where there's Raccoonan living), but Quentyn himself is an extra-special case - he's one of the White Stag's Marked, which means that the princeling has broken two of his race's most important laws. Either of the two alone would make the whole thing an illegal Hunt, but the two together combine to make things far worse for him. Since Quentyn not only won the Hunt - the Rooster did crow, after all - but the Hunt itself was illegal to begin with, the price the princeling has to pay is tripled. Quentyn uses his three boons to first set free every single debtor and bond-slave in the lord's service (which amounts to everyone in his service) and nullify every debt or favour owed to the princeling (leaving him a pauper, since the Sidhe economy works on favours owed). Then he makes the princeling return "everything garnered unlawfully" - Quentyn was aiming for just the children the Unseelie stole, but he gets the duke a ridiculous amount of treasure (although the Genre Savvy duke mentions that he'd be happier without it - that much wealth will only cause trouble sooner or later, after all). His third wish is translated on the forum thus: "Dolan, princeling of the Unseelighe fey...wicked enemy of mortal men...depart now, you and all your house beneath you, harming none...never to hunt this plane again." The result is that the princeling suffers a Villainous Breakdown, literally rending his garments and cursing Quentyn's name, and vowing to wait as long as it takes for him to be legally allowed to seek his revenge on Quentyn (and his children's children's children).
  • Freefall: After Mr. Kornada had been repeatedly very rude to Florence, Sam came up with a Plan B that would thoroughly humiliate him.
  • The Big Bad from Order of the Stick, Xykon, seems to be particularly fond of this trope (though he usually kills his victims in the process anyways). He seems to have a thing for humiliating the paladin O-Chul in particular, starting here.
    • However, in O-Chul's and Vaarsuvius' case, not only did they not break, but also Xykon and Redcloak were the ones on the receiving end.
  • In Sinfest Lil' Evil wants a film with Bad Guys Win and this, ending in a Heroic BSOD.


Web Original[]

  • Whateley Universe example: Don Sebastiano, after ruling the campus for a year, got his comeuppance when his two mindslaves were freed from their magical Mind Rape. He came back from a humiliation and dunking (in the middle of winter in New Hampshire) and thought Cavalier and Skybolt were still victims. The only thing that would have been worse is if all the dorm residents who stood around and watched had thought to get photos. Then, while in the hospital, his fellow Alphas came by and laughed at his medical charts: the lamp base that had to be removed from his lower colon was a big hit.
  • Anti Villian example, in Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog Dr. Horrible just humiliates Captain Hammer thoroughly instead of killing him. It might have been worse than what he was planning, because Captain Hammer has shown himself to be incredibly egotistical and narcissistic, so having everyone pay more attention to Dr. Horrible, his arch-nemesis would be pretty mind-crushing.
  • Red vs. Blue: When Tex is reawakened... She takes on EVERYONE. The battle is thoroughly humiliating for the Reds and Blue. There's a reason that episode is called "This one goes to eleven"...
  • The Nostalgia Critic gets put through one hell of a conga at the end of Kickassia. After getting firebombed in his garden and fleeing for his life (with a girly scream), Critic is cornered in his own base and learns that his subjects have turned against him--and they're being aided by the traitor he had banished. Film Brain, who has been acting as Critic's personal Yes-Man, tells him to his face that he hates his guts, while Phelous uses Critic's habit of stealing his ideas to trick him into literally inviting the team to kick his ass. Ask That Guy shows up, making Critic think he's been reprieved, only to happily leave once he gets in the "cameo appearance" he wanted. The team beats Critic within an inch of his life, stripping him of his presidential hat and his authority, which they then proceed to fight over with his second-in-command (who confesses that she only took the job so she could murder the Critic and claim the presidency for herself). In desperation, Critic threatens to kill himself and everyone else with the dynamite he installed under the base; he dramatically pushes the detonator...and nothing happens, because Cinema Snob disabled the explosives (after his banishment, no less). The team resumes beating Critic to a pulp (ruining his M. Bison costume in the process), and then forces him to return the country to President Kevin Baugh--with the admission that he couldn't handle the job. And after all that, Critic doesn't even get his rocket chair.


Western Animation[]

  • In Frisky Dingo, Big Bad Stan is forced at gunpoint to dance to disco music and shout "Master cylinder!" while wearing nothing but a tall-boy beer can covering his crotch and being pelted with sweatshop-made action figures of himself until he has a heart attack...only to be revived with a defibrillator and the process started anew.
    • "Don't look over here at what I'm doing! You point at it! You celebrate yourself!"
  • The series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender: It wasn't enough for Fire Lord Ozai to be defeated. He could have died with honor. That would have been too easy. Instead, the most powerful firebender in the world was brought to justice by a twelve/thirteen year-old boy. If that wasn't already enough, his firebending was taken away from him forever (which more than one fan has referred to as "Spiritual Castration"). In addition to that, he was openly mocked at while lying limp on the ground from exhaustion by a bunch of kids who blatantly laughed at the fall of everything he had established as a ruler. He tries to retort, only to comically collapse face first, butt in the air, drooling on the floor. Oh, but then — ! To cap it all off, he is greeted in the same prison cell used to contain his brother by the very son he banished from the nation, in a total role reversal. What words does he receive? "You should count yourself lucky the Avatar spared your life." Ouch. That conga line was trucking so fast, one wonders why it didn't result into a train wreck.
    • From the same finale: Azula's mind was slowly broken over the course of a series of betrayals. First her brother, then her two closest "friends", and then finally her father's seeming ostracism. Indeed, the second betrayal was the worst, as Mai absolutely crushed Azula's entire world-view with a single sentence. At the last, when she had beaten her brother in a climactic duel, when she finally had the chance to punish her brother and restore some shred of order to here now chaotic world, she was defeated and humiliated. And who defeated one of the greatest Firebenders? Not a seasoned master of a bending art, who had studied for decades. Not by the Avatar himself. Not by a 12-year-old "Greatest Earthbender in the World." Not even by her own brother, whom she'd just defeated (admittedly by cheating). But by a Southern Water Tribe peasant, who not a year earlier could barely bend a puddle of water. On the day of Sozin's Comet no less, when her firebending was magnified a hundred fold. In the end, Azula was hog-tied to a grating with chains, soaking wet and left to flail around impotently.
  • More or less the entirety of Po and Tai Lung's battle at the climax of Kung Fu Panda is a Humiliation Conga for Tai Lung, who initially dismisses the roly-poly Po as a complete joke...and then the Big Bad Badass spends the next few moments being sat on, hit in the face with woks, having his devastating nerve attack fail utterly and even suffering the indignity of biting his own tail before his defeat. Given Tai Lung's main flaw being his unbridled arrogance, this doubles as a Break the Haughty for Tai Lung, although some fans thought he was humiliated a little too effectively. Others view this as Po's Crowning Moment of Awesome, effortlessly crushing Tai Lung's image as an unstoppable killing machine.
  • The Alpha Bitch, Heather, in Total Drama Island constantly gets humiliated, in some episodes more than others, throughout the series. It all culminated by the end of the series when all of her hair gets shaved off in a razor blade accident, is finally voted off kicking and screaming, and in the very last episode, no one was willing to put up with her anymore due to her cruel treatment of them throughout the show (except Harold). Of course, she arguably had it coming anyway...
    • Minor antagonist, Eva also suffers this in season 1.
    • Season 2's villain Justin isn't safe either. His good looks begin to lose their charming effect on the ladies, and since that's the only thing he's got going for him, he is understandably depressed. The rest of his time on TDA is spent trying unsuccessfully to cope with his decline in beauty. Things start to look up in The Princess Pride, when he falls for Courtney, and she seems to be interested in him too. Only she's not; she was only playing him in order to snag the easy win in the 11th hour. He gets voted off, and finds that no one is terribly sorry to see him go. Worst of all, he gets shoved aside in Season 3 to make room for Ale-"New Justin"-jandro.
    • In the same season, Courtney gets a Humiliation Conga of her own. She fails miserably at every challenge after Rock n' Rule, Beth of all people pulls a fast one on her in Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen, and she eventually gets voted off by her boyfriend. All the while she becomes more and more of a Scrappy.
    • And Total Drama tops itself in World Tour with Alejandro, Blaineley, and Courtney's defeats. This series seems to like making it's antagonists suffer.
  • In the last episode of Clone High, this happens even more literally than the page header suggests. The villain, his plans collapsed and life at an end, convinces everyone to conga. When they do, he sets them up to be cryogenically frozen, subverting the trope utterly.
  • The Australian cartoon series Little Elvis Jones and The Truckstoppers (about a redhaired child prodigy guitarist who was abandoned as a baby on a little town truckstop run by a pair of Elvis fanatics) finished with one of these for series villain W.C. Moore. At the end of the first season, Moore (an ultra-greedy rich guy) discovers that a potential deposit of the mysterious mineral "Berkonium" exists under the town, and over the course of the second series he literally bankrupts himself trying to find it, and ends up losing the last thing of value he has, the deed that allows him to claim the money that the titular band earns, in a game of marbles. He ends up the indentured servant of his own former servant, Duncan, even wearing the same drab uniform... and with the same electric shock-delivering watch strapped to his wrist.
  • Five words: Eric Cartman and Scott Tenorman.
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 Cartman: Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I made you eat your parents!

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    • Cartman FINALLY gets his in the 200 and 201 special. He is kidnapped by the Gingers, publically humiliated by Scott Tenorman this time, and then learns that he's responsible for his own dad's death since Tenorman is his half-brother, meaning that Cartman is half-ginger, something he loathes. All very, very satisfying.
    • Cartman's most hilarious punishment arguably came in the episode "Awesome-O." Eric disguises himself as a robot (complete with a stereotypical "robot voice") and has himself mailed to Butters's house as an early birthday present for Butters - just so he can spy on Butters and learn embarrassing secrets about the boy that he can tell everyone at school. But the plot backfires spectacularly: not only can Cartman not eat or attend to personal hygiene while wearing the robot disguise, and not only does Butters treat him as his personal slave, but he's mistaken for a real robot and eventually captured by a government agency who try to drill him open to find out what's in his electronic brain. And as if all that weren't humiliating enough, he finally accidentally farts in Butters's presence and exposes himself as a human being - and Butters punishes him for his trickery by showing all the kids in the neighborhood a videotape he secretly made of Cartman dressed as Britney Spears and dancing around and singing to a cardboard cut-out of Justin Timberlake ("Oh, Justin, touch my body!"). The episode ends with all the kids laughing hysterically and Cartman sulking among them with a "Curses! Foiled again!" expression on his face.
    • Actually, Cartman suffered this in the very first episode, with a massive satellite dish coming out of his rear.
    • Cartman is treated to yet another spectacular conga in the fifth season episode "Cartmanland". Eric inherits one million dollars and uses the money buy a failing amusement park, fulfilling his dreams not only of having a park all to himself without having to wait in lines, but also having the pleasure of telling other people they can't come to it. In true Cartman fashion, he immediately begins running television ads gloating that no one is allowed to enter his park--especially Stan and Kyle. This prompts Stan and Kyle to try to break in, which in turn forces Cartman hires a security guard to keep out trespassers. However, he can't afford to pay the guard a cash salary[3], so the guard convinces him to open the park's gates to a limited number of guests, reasoning that a few people won't be an inconvenience. In short order, the guests begin ruining Cartman's fun, forming a line in front of the very ride he wants to board. Park expenses continue to pile up, gradually forcing Cartman to admit hundreds to thousands of people a day. The park becomes a major success[4], and soon "Cartmanland" is full of jostling, screaming children (including Kenny, who dies on a roller coaster) and long lines. Disgusted, Cartman sells the park back to its previous owner for his original million dollars. Immediately thereafter, however, IRS agents arrive and take the money to cover all the unpaid taxes on the park (even though Cartman no longer owns it), and to compensate Kenny's parents for a lawsuit on Kenny's death; Cartman ends up not only losing his million dollars, but owing an additional $13,000 to the IRS. In desperation, he tries to buy back the park, but the owner refuses, remarking that only an idiot would sell the park now that it's so successful. Stan and Kyle arrive at the park to see a miserable Cartman throwing rocks at the park gates--and getting maced in the face by the security guard who used to work for him.
  • In almost every episode of Biker Mice From Mars, the Biker Mice level Lawrence Limburger's tower at the end.
  • In The Simpsons two-parter "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", Moe is interrogated by the police while hooked up to a lie detector. After they run out of questions, Moe says he has to go because he has a "hot date" that night. The machine says this is false, and Moe goes through a few progressively downgraded versions of his evening plans before arriving at the truth: he will spend the night at home ogling the models in the Victoria's Secret Sears Catalogue.
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 Moe: Now would you unhook dis already, please?! I don't deserve this kind of shabby treatment! (the machine buzzes)

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    • Nelson Muntz is put through the conga when he laughs at a very tall man in a very small car. First the giant threatens him, bringing him to tears. Then the giant makes him march down the street with his pants around his ankles in front of a huge crowd, the members of whom all laugh at him in the "Haw, haw!" manner Nelson himself always uses. Then he gets squirted with mustard by Bart and Milhouse, who are watching everything happening from a bridge high overhead.
    • In another episode, Principal Skinner gets a triple dose: after Bart makes a weather balloon look like "Big-Butt Skinner", he's punished by having to help Skinner in his late-night stargazing. Skinner runs off to catch the balloon and while he's gone Bart fools with the telescope and sees something. Skinner gets back just in time to hear the local observatory (on his cell phone) saying "Congratulations Bart, you just discovered a comet!" He lets out a Big No...which causes him to release the balloon again. He lets out a Bigger No, and then a paperboy drives by and throws out a newspaper that reads "Prez Sez: School is for Losers!", prompting the Biggest No of all.
    • Bart subjects his father to this a lot in "I Am Furious Yellow", as a source material for his 'Angry Dad' webshow. This prompts Homer to be "Mellow Yellow" with a rather amusing outcome following Bart's trap.
  • This frequently happens to Wile E. Coyote in the Road-Runner cartoons. Example: in Zoom And Bored the Coyote fired a harpoon gun at the Road-Runner, only to have his foot snagged by the harpoon cable. He ended up being dragged behind the harpoon along an asphalt highway, through a drainage tube and across a field of cacti, until the harpoon embedded itself directly above a train-tunnel entrance. As he slowly swung down into the tunnel, the Coyote was pushed out by an oncoming train, with his hands still on the harpoon cable, so he ended up swinging to a cliff above the tunnel. His feet finally on solid ground, a relieved Coyote stood gasping for air, as the Road-Runner appeared behind him, preparing to "beep-beep" the Coyote off of the cliff again!. After a beat, the Road-Runner held up a sign reading, "I just don't have the heart." and zipped off, ending the cartoon.
  • In Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, Grim's arch-rival, The Boogeyman, gets the most epic Humiliation Conga ever when it's revealed that his greatest fear is his inability to scare others.
  • Disney apparently loves using this trope. When they're not in the mood for a Nightmare Fuelerrific Karmic Death.
    • 101 Dalmations sneaks in a classic example: after the Badduns ram her into the ditch, you see Cruella bursting into tears of rage amid the parts of their wrecked vehicles while Jasper snarls "Ah, shaddap!" The scene then changes to Roger and Anita listening to his song "Cruella De Vil" on the radio. After he turns it off, Anita remarks that the song was his "first big hit" which "made more money than [they] had ever dreamed of."
      • It continues in the first part of the 2003 sequel; Cruella's car's been reassembled, but only just enough to still be considered a car. It barely runs anymore, it leaves a trail of parts behind it as she tries to drive it, and finally what's left of it collapses into a heap on top of her. Just to add the final touch to the conga, the first thing to come over the radio when she gets the car to start is..."Cruella De Vil."
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  Cruella: Shut up! (kicks the radio deck) Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! (radio cuts out and falls out of the dashboard) (*groans* *sobs*)

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  • Let's not forget Captain Hook in the animated version of Peter Pan, especially at the climax. ("I'M A CODFISH!")
  • At the end of The Aristocats, the evil butler Edgar while attempting to lock Duchess and her kittens in a crate bound for Timbuktu, is attacked by Thomas O'Malley and his alley cat gang, who then proceed to release Duchess and the kittens from the crate, then shove Edgar into the crate instead, before finally pushing the crate out the door just in time for the movers to come pick it up and take it away.
    • He also suffers one of these every time he encounters Napoleon and Lafayette.
  • There's an infamous Arthur episode called "Arthur's Big Hit" that is pretty much this. Arthur hits D.W. in a fit of rage after she carelessly breaks his model airplane. The aftermath? Arthur ends up grounded for a week and all his friends get mad at him for hitting his sister even when he tries to explain himself, and his parents never found out about the toy plane D.W. destroyed and instead cuddles to her because she's injured. The episode makes this as the worse offense anyone can do to a younger sibling while ignoring the fact that he would have never done it if D.W. had listened to Arthur in the first place. And to add insult to injury, she just got snotty and said the plane was a fragile piece of crap anyways. Broken Aesop indeed.
  • Adventure Time. Either the entirety of Too Young from Lemongrab's perspective, or the cherry on top of it- the Spice-Bombing. Basically, Lemongrab sits down to eat a meal of mashed carrots, which had been lovingly boiled of all flavor. Princess Bubblegum drops extremely spicy serum into the plate. When he eats it, he projectile-vomits all over Peppermint Butler, screams in agony, his face turns bright red, and he accidentally falls from the castle window, still screaming. He falls with a loud "CRUNCH," then proceeds to eat the dirt to soothe his burning mouth. Princess Bubblegum spices the dirt, and he runs screaming through the grass as candy people only look at him with mild curiosity. He jumps to get an apple, but ends of falling and hurting his back. In the tree, Princess Bubblegum tries to spice the apple, but Peppermint Butler actually FALLS INTO LEMONGRAB'S MOUTH, and Lemongrab sucks on his head. And this all happened in less than a minute. And it was epic.
    • It was actually the whole episode, for Lemongrab, that was a humiliation conga. First, he received a note that said "YOU REALLY SMELL LIKE DOG BUNS." Then he was approached by the protagonists, who were dressed up as ghosts, punched in the stomach, and pushed onto the floor. We were then treated to a scene of him crying and coughing on the floor for several seconds. After that, we got the "spice bombing" prank, described above. And after all of that humiliation, Princess Bubblegum (the ruler of the kingdom AND his mom) shouts: "YO, EARL! Hey- you're FIRED, ya BUTT!" He rides off into the sunset on his horse, muttering bitterly to himself, obviously upset by the whole thing.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, "Griffon the Brush-Off": After Pinkie Pie used a joy buzzer on Gilda at a party, the griffon began suspecting that the pony was trying to get back at her. Following a series of pranks she fell victim to, she eventually snapped and yelled at Pinkie. However, Pinkie Pie only threw the party to improve her attitude. Rainbow Dash revealed herself to have set up the pranks, and she didn't even intend them all for Gilda. Gilda just happened to set them all off.
    • Also happens to Twilight when she tries to help Fluttershy wake up the animals in "Winter Wrap-Up". She gets spooked by snakes and bats, chased by bees, and sprayed by skunks.
    • Twilight again in "Feeling Pinkie Keen". Her stubborn refusal to believe in Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie Sense" leads her to getting smacked by opening doors, falling down stairs twice, getting a plethora of heavy items dropped on her, and other Amusing Injuries.
    • A satisfying one happens to Discord, the Big Bad of the first two episodes of season 2. After spending the past two episodes viewing the Mane Cast as no threat at all to him and breaking them emotionally with no effort, they confront him again, with their friendship and the Elements of Harmony renewed... And Discord doesn't know that. He spends the entire confrontation running his mouth and viewing them as no threat at all to him. Twilight and Applejack even tell him, to his face, that their friendship is renewed, but he doesn't believe them because he turned Applejack into a liar before and Twilight already tried this and failed (part of his plan). So he sits smugly on his throne and gives them a free shot, only realizing too late that his entire plan is pretty much imploding right in front of him and the six ponies he'd spent his entire time free viewing as an amusing distraction are about to shove him back into his can. He's turned to stone, this time not even getting the smug laughter he had this time, instead having his Oh Crap expression permenantly ingraved on his face. Oh, and if he was telling the truth about being aware while turned to stone, he witnesses his World of Chaos being washed away by the Elements of Harmony's World-Healing Wave.
    • Another happens to the Alpha Bitch Diamond Tiara, in "Family Appreciation Day" when she makes Applebloom ashamed of her Granny Smith. After her father finds out that his daughter insulted the pony responsible for the family fortune, he makes Diamond Tiara put on a bunny suit and take part in all of the elder Pony's strange rituals for Zap Apples.
      • Later on in "Ponyville Confidential", after she heavily pushed a cruel gossip column written by the Cutie Mark Crusaders and attempted to blackmail them because they wanted to quit, she was stripped of her editor position and demoted to printer. A job with lots of messy ink to further smear the humiliation.
  • American Dad plays with this in "Dope and Faith"; after Stan discovers that his new friend is an atheist, he decides that they must share the same religious beliefs, and tries to convert him by Humiliation Conga. He then proceeds to detonate his house, destroy his business and make his wife a lesbian by brainwashing her, even though he's a really friendly guy.
  • Virtually every episode of Phineas and Ferb ends up this way for perennial Butt Monkey Dr. Doofinshmertz. One carefully-plotted "Inator" after another fails spectacularly, often delivering the Karmic Retribution without Perry the Platypus having to lift a finger.
  • Happens to many of the villains in Rocket Robin Hood but perhaps the finest example is what happens to Dr. Medulla in "The Living Planet" episode finale. After Robin and a team of scientist destroy Medulla's creation, as Medulla and his flunky try to flee, they are blocked by Robin and his friends who have just arrived. When Medulla tries to pull a gun on Robin, the hero easily fells him with a makeshift quarterstaff, then has him and his assistant dangling from the top of a pole to be pestered by a bird pecking on Medulla's bald head while Robin and his companions look on laughing and making jokes at the villain's expense.

Real Life[]

  • This was done to a real-life scammer looking for a Powerbook.
    • Jerking scammers' chains is a subtrope in itself, called "scambaiting." It has an entire internet subculture revolving around it. Here's a summary of what one group is doing.
  • After a woman he'd taken drugs and spent the night with revealed herself to be a prostitute, selling her story to the tabloids, Angus Deayton — the very snarky host of satirical British panel show Have I Got News for You — was put through one of these by team captains and series regulars Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Hislop brought in copies of the tabloid that the story had broke in and liberally quoted from it. Merton went one better and came in wearing a t-shirt with the front page of the tabloid printed on it. Watch the episode here. By the next series, after more and more guests on the show began to bring up the scandal, Deayton's positon became untenable and he was forced to leave.
    • Averted slightly in that he took it all so graciously well, by the end of the show, the audience were more symphathetic than laughing.
  • Voltaire once wrote a paper making fun of a French noble, so the noble once called him out of the house for a private meeting at night. The noble's guards started beating him while the noble watched. When he went back to his house and told everyone what happened, his guests all mocked him. When he challenged the noble to a duel to the death, he was thrown in prison.
  • People often forget that between the 14th and the end of the 17th century, Poland (then an empire with Lithuania) was pretty badass considering they won in conflicts with Prussia, Sweden, Russia, Ottomans etc. Then the 18th century rolled around and Poland has earned a reputation of being the country that everyone invades when the country exists at all. This latter stereotype is pretty much the only thing anybody remembers.
  • This was done to Germany after World War I: They were forced to accept the very humiliating Treaty of Versailles. And look how that turned out. It's worth mentioning however that this was still preferable to those the Austrians and Ottomans had to accept (the Treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon and the Treaties of Sèvres and Lausanne respectively), which completely abolished and dissected their former empires, and some historians argue that it actually resulted in Germany being in a stronger strategic position than before the war.[5] Germany's own aims towards its enemies during the war was also much harsher than anything imposed on them by Versailles, as evidenced by the kind of peace they imposed upon the Russians at Brest-Litovsk. The Versailles Treaty that eventually resulted was essentially a compromise between French revanchism (get back Alsace-Lorraine and remove Germany as a Great Power), British pragmatism (impose hard peace terms but otherwise maintain the balance of power), and American idealism (Wilson's Fourteen Points and the principle of self-determination).
    • Not so much for the Turks and the Treaty of Lausanne. The Turks were already close to throwing the "Young Turks" who had been ruling the Ottoman Empire out on their butts when WWI happened. Led by Mustafa Kemal, the man now known as Ataturk, they revolted against the Treaty of Sèvres, fought a war against the Greeks AND a civil war against the Young Turks, took control of the country, and negotiated the Treaty of Lausanne to reverse many of the losses in the Treaty of Sèvres--taking back 3/4ths of Anatolia as well as Istanbul--and establish Turkey as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire.
    • The Germans themselves inflicted a humiliation conga on Russia with the Treaty Of Brest-Litovsk.
  • Many years later, a different set of Germans (the soccer team) got a literal Humiliation Conga after losing the European Championship of 2008 to Spain.
  • The Spanish themselves in 1898. What started as a messy little insurrection in Cuba got much, much worse after the U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blew up. This led to an astonishingly quick curbstomping by the United States - a country that hadn't been involved in the conflict in the first place, and that hadn't fought a full-scale war in over a generation and whose armed forces were seemingly woefully unprepared for any kind of mobilization. But there's more: as a result of the loss, Spain lost its entire overseas empire (well, except for two very small colonies in Morocco and Equatorial Guinea) at a time in history when overseas colonies were the most visible measure of a European country's might. This was actually a culmination of an even longer conga that had begun centuries earlier: after the defeat of its "Invincible Armada" by the English in 1588, the Spanish Empire had gradually declined from the supreme imperial power of the world to a virtual nonentity that most other countries either ignored or exploited.
  • Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII. Pope St. Gregory VII. The Walk to Canossa. That's all.
    • Inverted in next episode when the emperor return to country. His enemies have support of the pope but ulitmatly loss the civil war. Henry invides the Rome and changes pope.
  • Pu Yi, the last emperor of China's life was this trope, minus the villainous bit triggering it. The high points of his life were where he was a glorified puppet under constant threat of death; it went down further when Mao Zedong seized the country and made him a gardener in the royal gardens, toiling in the gardens he used to own.
  • In the space of about two weeks in late October/early November 2009 Scientology had to deal with being sued for fraud in France, the bizarre suicide of one of their members (who somehow managed to hang and electrocute himself), the defection of Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis (complete with scathing letter: "How can you say disconnection isn't real when that's what you made my wife do one year ago?"), and the third big expose from The St. Petersberg Times. At least one anon gleefully proclaimed it Scientology's "Hell Week(s)".
  • Poor Tiger Woods. If he hadn't crashed into that tree, no one would (probably) know about his mistress 3 7 10 19 affairs and his wife and big sponsors wouldn't have left him and his momma wouldn't be so disappointed in him...
    • Have some Too Soon with your Humiliation.
    • Yes, other than still being worth hundreds of millions of dollars, being the best golfer alive, and having throngs of adoring fans. How humiliating, indeed.
  • Bernie Madoff (pronounced Made-off), the perpetrator of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, is undergoing one of these. Not only was he caught, but all of his possessions are being sold to the people he scammed, he was thrown in prison for 150 years, David Letterman has made a Running Gag of a countdown clock until his sentence ends, and his daughter-in-law is changing her name so that she can't be associated with him.
    • And it looks like he got the crap beaten out of him in prison by a con who may have been an angry investor.
      • And his son committed suicide, apparently out of not being able to deal with the shame that the incident brought his family.
  • John Howard, one of the longest-running Australian Prime Ministers, not only lost the 2007 election in a landslide, but he lost his own seat as well, only the second PM ever to lose both in the same election in Australian history.
    • And just recently someone threw a shoe at him.
  • One of the hardest falls from grace in MMA appears to be one Chael Sonnen — who in the span of mere months went from UFC middleweight challenger, and "hero" to the champion's Hatedom and candidate for Oregon state representative, to dropping his candidacy due to a real estate legal matter, becoming known as a choke artist (tapping to a triangle armbar with two minutes to go), suspended for failing a drug test (due to elevated testosterone levels), using "late puberty due to defective testicles" as an excuse at his suspension appeal hearing, being directly contradicted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission's athletic director (who stated that he'd never approved Sonnen's "testosterone replacement therapy"), and most recently that "real estate legal matter" turning out to be money laundering related mortgage fraud, for which he pled guilty at the beginning of 2011.
  • 2011 playoffs for Vancouver, a Curbstomp match on home ice followed by a riot which tarnishes their reputation on ice and the city? Nothing more humiliating than that. The worst part? This isn't the first time Vancouver has followed a Stanley Cup loss with a riot, so they didn't learn from their last Conga, though the game 7 loss in 1994 was in New York, not Vancouver.
    • The fact it was a curbstomp battle at home ice was extremely embarassing, if someone had found a Canuck, they would have made an example of them and some "advice" on improvement or just leave altogether.
    • Now downgraded to a Trauma Conga Line with not one but two ex-Canucks deaths.
  • In the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union thoroughly beat Nazi Germany in Operation Bagration, but the other Allies were initially skeptical of the Soviet success. So the Soviets implemented Operation Grand Waltz, a literal Humiliation Conga in which they took thousands of captured enemy officers and soldiers and forced them to march down the streets of Moscow. The officers wore their dress uniforms with all their medals, while the soldiers were not allowed to shave. At the tail of the parade was a row of trucks spraying water on the streets to "wash off the trace of Fascism." This Romanesque triumphal parade of captured enemies showed the Allies just how good the Soviets were, and demoralized the Nazis.
  • Former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The rebel forces tracked him to his home town of Sirte where he had gone to make a defiant last stand. After his forces were defeated, the rebels found him hiding in a sewer. They savagely beat him, tore the shirt off his back, dragged him half-naked and half-conscious across the ground and threw him in the back of a truck before driving into the centre of the village. There, he was subjected to further public humiliation and either shot or left to die.
  • Recent real life example: Oracle vs. Google over Java In Android. Oracle went into the court-room paying off PR reps to tout a 6-Billion Dollar payout from Google, and also trying to claim that Application Programming Interface's were capable of being copyrighted. Things didn't really go Oracle's way from the start, with several of their patents getting thrown out as invalid by the patent office; another patent invalidated after the trial started; and the "Oracle Expert Damages Report" getting thrown out not once, but twice, and a third damage report accepted provided Oracle paid Google's legal expenses. As the Trial Ended, the Humiliation Congo started. Not only did Oracle lose on all points of the trial other than statutory damages over 9 lines of code that were never actually shipped in Android... The Judge also called an "Expert Witness" on Oracle's behalf out and opened the door for possible perjury charges. So, lost case, no money, no reward, no confirmation that API's cannot be copyrighted. Complete and total Epic Fail... And then... oh yes... it got worse for Oracle. Oracle now has to pay Google's legal fees... which... is more money than $300,000 Oracle might gain on Statutory damages... if Oracle could actually prove damages. However, there won't be a damages phase to the trial, so Oracle won't be getting any money.
  1. who was taking photos to the girls while they were changing to sell them to the Yakuza
  2. (who has a major vendetta against Shreck because of all the crap she's had to deal with from him as Selina Kyle, up to and including getting pushed out a high-story window because she knew too much about Max's illicit plans for his power plant)
  3. (having used up all his money to buy the park)
  4. due largely to Cartman's initial advertisements on how nobody can enter
  5. before WWI Imperial Germany was the single-strongest continental power, but was kept in check due to the alliance system among the European powers and the powerful Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires on its eastern periphery, which prevented any significant expansion beyond the 1871 borders. When Central and Eastern Europe got broken up into individually weak states these were very vulnerable to renewed German and Russian domination
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