Non Sequitur Thud

"Thank you, Andre. I'll have the veal piccata." —Jim "Washout" Pfaffenbach, after slamming face-first into an ambulance, Hot Shots

A character has suffered an amusing injury, usually of the blunt force to the head variety. Dazed, he will say something really random and Non Sequitur, normally either before going out like a light or after being awakened. It seems that with proper application of blunt trauma, the human skull becomes a radio receiver tuned to a random station somewhere in the world. Three common phrases used are "How Many Fingers? am I holding up?" (helpful bystander), "I don't wanna go to school mommy" and "Anybody get the license number of that truck?" (victim)

A subtrope of Non Sequitur and Parting From Consciousness Words, which also includes the cases where the parting words actually make sense. Overlaps with Intoxication Ensues when caused by drugs or alcohol.

See also: Concussions Get You High

The corresponding situation where a character says something random while regaining consciousness, is Waking Non Sequitur. If a character says something random while unconscious, that's Talking in Your Sleep.

Examples of Non Sequitur Thud include:

Advertising

• One commercial has a football player get hit a little too hard. The coach makes sure his marbles are all there:

Coach: "Where are you?" Player: "New York." Coach: "Who am I?" Player: "The coach." Coach: "And who are you?" Player: (Pauses, then dramatic voice) "I'm Batman". Coach: "Sit down." Player: "You don't understand! I'm Batman!"

• • The player then goes on to act like Batman for the rest of the commercial as the sales pitch is going on.

Anime

• Ranma ½: After hitting his head at the end of an episode, a cross-eyed Ranma says "Say, did anyone catch the number of that truck? Which way did he go? I'm Ranma!"
  • Once when Kuno hit Ranma with his sword he said "I'm a little teapot short and stout".
  • In a similar scene in Ranma Abridged, Ranma said "Expert texpert choking smokers."
• In the Digimon Adventure 02 episode "Guardian Angel", Andromon hits Pegasusmon, causing the latter to de-digivolve and land in TK's arms. When he lands, Patamon says "I'll have two cheeseburgers and a large order of fries".

Comic Books

• In one issue of Donald Duck comics, Donald's nephews cut him loose from a hanging vine that had entangled his leg. Don ends up landing head first on a rock, and as Huey, Dewey, and Louie check on him, he babbles "Yes, Mr. President, I got the license number of that broccoli... it wasn't armed..."
  • Don Rosa's "Incident at McDuck Tower" had Donald fall in a very cartoonish manner from a building, finally landing in a display in a grocery store. As a clerk helps him out he asks "St. Peter... why is heaven full of parsley?"
    • I dunno, that last one makes perfect sense to me...
• In an issue of the Harley And Ivy miniseries, the two infiltrate the set of a movie based on their capers. Harley is unimpressed by the actor playing the Joker, and pummels him. He is then seen babbling "Yoda? ...Dagobah system?". This is a Mythology Gag combined with an Actor Allusion, as in the DCAU the Joker is played by Mark Hamill.
• In the old Super Mario Bros. comic story Mutiny on the Fungi, after getting klonged on the head by an irate former Mook, Bowser stammers "I'll get a job in the morning, Mommy."
• A running gag in DC's 'Mazing Man comics was that whenever the titular character got conked on the head (including one instance when he was stuffed into a Goodwill box) he'd start singing Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits.
  • Which may make the Darkwing Duck gag listed below the World's Most Obscure Shout-Out.
• A common gag in Nodwick when the gang (usually Nodwick himself) sustains head injuries.

Fan Fic

• From Calvin and Hobbes The Series, after the titular duo crash their sled once again:

Hobbes: How much cluck could a good duck cluck if a good duck could cluck good? Calvin: Darkness? It is I, Pajama Sam! I have come to vanquish you!

Film

• Kuzco to Pacha in The Emperors New Groove, after Chicha hits him with a frying pan:

"You have a lovely wife! Both very pretty!"

• In the football movie Little Giants, a kid gets tackled, and mumbles "Did I pass the spelling test?" before losing consciousness.
• In Space Jam, after getting knocked for a loop during the Big Game, Daffy Duck clings to Bupkus and babbles "But Mommy, I don't want to go to school today! I want to stay home and bake cookies with you."
  • Also, earlier in the film, Bugs and Daffy are in "3-D Land" getting Michael's lucky basketball shorts, when Daffy makes a wrong turn while tunneling in Looney Toons fashion toward the Jordan house, resulting in a nasty confrontation with the family dog. A few seconds later, Daffy rings the front doorbell. When Bugs answers it from the inside, Daffy says (not sings) "Twinkle, twinkle, little star!" before passing out.
  • After being incinerated by Bang's fire breath, Foghorn Leghorn says "Did you order original recipe or extra crispy?"
• Near the end of Son of the Pink Panther, one of the bad guys is hit in the head by a falling statue, exclaims "That's it! No more Mr. Nice Guy!"... and promptly falls unconscious.
• Hot Shots features Jon Cryer slamming headfirst into an ambulance door. When he's congratulated for showing up, he says, "Thank you, Andre. I'll have the veal piccata." Splat. Similarly, in the sequel, Charlie Sheen gets one: "That's right, Lindsay, it's 20 minutes past the hour, and now here's the Buckinghams with 'Kind of a Drag'." Thud.
• A rare non-comedic example occurs in Walk the Line. As he loses consciousness after collapsing onstage, Johnny mutters, "Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an occasion" (an old Foghorn Leghorn line).
• Also used non-comedically (or not) in The Happening--the people affected by the neurotoxin do this right before they kill themselves.
  • Arguably the entire premise of Signs is how one of these turns out to be sequitur after all.
• In Oliver and Company, Einstein does this during a diversion by Dodger and his gang. He bumps into Jenny's limo and says, "Go on, Sparky! Find Bumper!"
• Dark Helmet from Spaceballs when he does this after the ship comes out of Ludicrous Speed, and Helmet - who was not restrained in any capacity - gets catapulted forward and smashes his giant helmet-covered head into a computer terminal, smashing it, his helmet, and his glasses. When asked for orders after he got up, he goes, "Well, why don't we take a five minute break? Smoke if you got 'em!" and collapses. It's actually a subversion, since what he was saying made perfect sense, even after the head trauma.
  • Later in the film, while Lone Star and company are lost on the desert planet, Barf gasps "Oh, waiter... Check, Please!!" before collapsing from exhaustion.
• In Fern Gully, Batty (the PTSD bat played by Robin Williams) is ranting against humans when Zack touches his brain implant. He gets a jolt of electricity and says "Price check on prune juice, Bob -- price check on prune juice." Then he's out. In fact, this is a Running Gag in the movie. It becomes a plot point, during the Final Boss battle, he starts to get basic cable, and Zack flicks through until he gets Hamburger Hill.
• A Kid in King Arthur's Court:

Calvin: "Sir Kane! How many fingers am I holding up?" Sir Kane: "Just a little off the top. Keep the sideburns."

• In Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Bob and Mr. Asparagus utter these after their van hits a rock and the air bags deploy in their faces:

Bob: Is this... Heaven? Mr. Asparagus: Smells like... Wisconsin!

• • Not so random: that line is probably an allusion to a scene from Field of Dreams:

Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.

• • The "outtakes" include alternate versions of this scene with even-more-random lines.
• "That rug... really... tied the room together."
  • Though it's hardly a non sequitur in context - more like a Catch Phrase.
• Scary Movie 4 While attempting to save their van from a mob, Tom gets socked in the jaw.

Tom: Don't worry kids, there's no way that they can *whack* build a robot made out of chocolate.

• In Robots, Mr. Bigweld says several odd things after being hit in the head with a telephone.

Bigweld: I'm the prettiest girl at the Harvest Moon Ball! Bigweld: If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!... If you're happy and you know it... Bigweld: Daaaiiisy... Daaaiiiisyyy... give me your answer doooo...

• Q in Tower of Terror, after he receives a shock.

"Good morning!"

• The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother. After receiving a (giant) boot to the groin, Moriarty's unnamed assistant (Roy Kinnear) calls out "Oh taxi!" and collapses.
• In Silent Movie when the studio chief falls victim to an unexpected Slapstick gag, he responds with "Who am I? Where am I? Who ordered the veal cutlet?"
• Unusual variation in Laurel and Hardy's Way Out West, during the singing of "Trail of the Lonesome Pine": Stan shows off singing in a deep baritone, to Ollie's consternation. Ollie gets a mallet from behind the bar and konks Stan-- who switches to a woman's soprano, finishes off the song, then keels over.
  • In Babes in Toyland, the villain konks Stan over the head... Stan looks confused, turns to Ollie, and says "Did he hit me?" Ollie nods, and Stan collapses.
• Averted in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock where Dr. Mccoy was suffering from a Vulcan mind meld. Mccoy was fine during incarceration, but could slip into Spock-mode at any given moment.

Kirk: How many fingers am I holding up? (while making the Vulcan salute) Mccoy: That's not very damn funny!

Literature

• Happens in a chapter of one of Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small books, appropriately titled 'Tilt Silly.' Kel received a massive blow while tilting and winds up giggling to her former, stern training master.

Kel: I know, my lord. You wish I were a boy. But being a girl is more fun. More fun-er? Is that right? Wyldon: Go lie down, Mindelan. You're tilt-silly.

• In nearly every one of the Encyclopedia Brown childrens' books, the tale of Encyclopedia's sidekick, Sally Kimball, pounding some sense into bully Bugs Meany, leaving him muttering "deal the cards." However, Encyclopedia Brown Lends A Hand has it that she left him "muttering about the price of yo-yos in China."
  • Different books have it being different things, but he always has a non-sequitur thud. She beats him up multiple times, and he usually has one each time.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire features this type of behavior from a Muggle as a side-effect of an unusually large amount of magical memory modification: when the main characters are checking out of a campground in August he waves them off with a "Merry Christmas."
• In the seventh book, Captain Underpants lands on his head. When Harold and George rush to his side to see if he's okay, he mutters "Mommy, my train went swimming in the piano."
• Tobias smacks into a window during a mission in one Animorphs book. The rest of the mission is interspersed with his random comments about Clue.

Tobias: "Miss Scarlet? Was it Miss Scarlet with the plum in the professor?"

• In the Star Trek: New Frontier novel "Martyr", Commander Shelby had just been badly injured in a planetside attack, but she's well enough to take over command in a fight. After a crazy (but ingenious) plan to use the local star as a deadly weapon, she congratulates everyone, then stops and yells "Oh look! The colors!" before passing out again.
  • In Imzadi II, written by the same author, who is one of the creators of Space Cases, Lwaxana is stuck and delivers the quote below from that show.
• Late in the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, troll cop Detritus proceeds to blackmail another troll into helping them reassemble a golem by threatening to arrest him (or worse) on drug charges. Detritus knew this because he'd tasted the powder hidden in one of the statues and found it to be Slab: an infamous Troll drug. After said cooperation was assured, he asks another cop, "Did I just lick 'dis?" When told yes, he seemed relieved. "’D hate to believe dis room was really full of giant hairy spide... weeble weeble sclup..." Thud.

Live Action TV

• In one episode of Police Squad!, "The Champ" gets knocked out during a boxing match, and when his manager asks him "How many fingers am I holding up?", The Champ answers "Thursday" and passes out.
• In Veronica Mars, Sheriff Lamb murmurs "I smell bread" just before he passes out after a suspect has hit him with a baseball bat. This example gives the trope a more dramatic and poignant spin: Lamb, a regular series antagonist, is lying in a pool of blood when he mutters the phrase, and later in the episode we find out he has died from his injuries.
  • This comes from the "auras" (hallucinations) that usually precede brain "episodes" such as seizures, aneurysms or, rarely, a stroke. "Smelling toast" is one of the most common olfactory hallucinations and has become a meme of its own. (See this page for more information.) It's possible that a head injury caused just such an event.
  • The line was also used in M*A*S*H... not to mention just about every war movie made before the advent of color film.
    • M*A*S*H also featured an episode where Klinger got nailed in the head and spent several minutes wandering around speaking gibberish in Arabic. (If it was the episode "Dear Sigmund", it's strongly implied that Klinger was only pretending to have a head injury in yet another scheme to get discharged from the Army.)
• In Hogan's Heroes, a scheme to rescue Tiger from the Gestapo nearly goes bad when the Russian man they have playing Himmler hits his head on a pipe and collapses. He abruptly sits up a moment later, salutes, and says, "Long live our glorious leader, the Czar!" before passing out again.
• In Doctor Who, physical trauma (especially post-regenerative stress) often causes the Doctor to get mixed up and refer to former companions and adventures.

The brontosaurus is large and placid... and stupid! Why is a mouse when it spins?

• • After his regeneration into the 10th doctor:

I've got something to say... something I have to tell you... something important, what was it? No hold on, hold on, hold on... Oh! I know! Merry Christmas! *thud*

• • Flesh!Eleven in The Almost People utters a few catchphrases of previous doctors, in their original voices. He also gets them a bit confused

Reverse the Jelly Baby of the Neutron Flow

• Lester in Beakman's World, far to many times to count. Sometimes he even initiates the amusing injury that leads to the thud. For example, hitting himself with a gavel, then yelling "Sustained!" Thud!
• In the Married... with Children episode Cheese, Cues and Blood, Al sells all of his blood to 9 blood banks in order to pay a man because Kelly has started working at the bar, shooting pool. Al spouted much nonsense throughout the rest of the episode, and at one point, Jefferson mentions that the former air-guitared to It's a Small World.

"This pig will self-destruct in 5 seconds!"

• The android Kryten from Red Dwarf has suffered a couple of these. In "White Hole", after being used as a battering ram, he responds "I'm fine thank you, Susan" when Lister asks if he's all right. Later, in Quarantine, he gets a fire-axe embedded in his back, causing him to spout gibberish and ram his head into a convenient pillar in order to fix it:

Kryten: (gibberish) Two and one-half badgers, please -- (gibberish) ...No, that's all right, I'll eat them here. -- (gibberish, bangs his head on the pillar) ...Ah, that's better. Now I can win self-determination for the South Maldivian people!! (additional spluttering and gibberish, bangs his head on the post again)

• In The X-Files episode "Bad Blood," a drugged Mulder briefly regains consciousness and sings a fragment of the theme from Shaft. At least, that's what Scully claims.
  • What really sells this is Mulder's reaction.

Mulder: (indignantly) I. Did. Not.

• In an early episode of The A-Team, Face takes one to the... well, face. When Hannibal asks how many fingers he's holding up, the bleary commando volunteers "Gargh... Blue... TREE!"
• Effy in Skins, immediately upon being shot up with an overdose of (probably) heroin:

"Sometimes I think I was born backwards, you know, came out my mum the wrong way... I hear words go past me backwards. The people I should love, I hate, and the people I hate --" *falls over*

• A non-cranial injury version of this trope occurred during the Babylon 5 episode "Parliament of Dreams", in which Londo Mollari spouts a bunch of nonsense and collapses, being utterly smashed. The scene is also an epic Chewing the Scenery moment for the Centauri ambassador.

'Londo: *To Delenn* Have I ever told you, that you are very cute for a Minbari? *To Garibaldi* And you are cute too, in an annoying sort of way. Everybodys cute. Everybody's cute! Even me... But in purple, I am stunning! *Thud* Vir: Ah! He has become one with his inner self! Garibaldi: He's passed out. Vir: That too.

• Consciously used by the titular ME in Crossing Jordan. Trying to ignore that she'd been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Jordan eventually suffers a seizure at work. When she comes around, Doctor Macy checks her mental status with the 'how many fingers?' test, and Jordan pranks him by slurring "Friiiday!"
• On Home Improvement, Tim Taylor often said "We'll be right back after these messages from Binford" (or some mangling thereof) right before passing out or when awakened, even when not on the set of Tool Time.
• On Space Cases, the android Thelma has been sent over to retrieve a data crystal from another ship with automated defenses, which have fired at her. When the crew expresses the desire to examine it...

Thelma: Excellent idea, Pierre. The corn muffins look scrumptious today! *falls the the floor*

• A scene-long one occurs on Stargate Atlantis when Rodney returns to Atlantis hopped up on the Wraith enzyme. His rant is long and confusing, especially for Weir, who doesn't know any of the context. This quickly turns into a Funny Aneurysm Moment when it's later revealed that he's in serious danger.
• Firefly, after Jayne is drugged:

Jayne: Now we're finishing this deal, and then maybe, maybe we'll come back for those morons... got themselves caught... and you can't change that by getting all... bendy... Wash: All what? Jayne: You got the light, from the console to keep you... lifting you up... they shine like... [starts grabbing at the air] little angels... * THUD* Wash: ...Did he just go crazy and fall asleep? Simon: *regretfully* I told him he should lie down...

• On the Discovery Channel documentary Two Weeks In Hell, a would-be Green Beret became disoriented during an exercise. When asked if he knew where he was, his answer was "Hash browns?" at which point they wisely stuck him in a truck going back to the base's medical station.
• In the first episode of Black Books, Manny accidentally swallows the Little Book of Calm and spends the rest of the day as a Jesus-figure spouting extracts from the book at anyone who'll listen. When he gets punched in the face by a skinhead he jumbles them up;

Manny: Add a drop of lavender to milk. Leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it...

• From Chuck:

Lester: If we come back, I want a raise, perks, the company car, and three kilos of-- [tranquilizer dart] Gluten free biscotti! [Thud!] Jeff: [tranquilizer dart] ...I think my water just broke.[Thud!]

• Glee: April tricks Kurt into drinking cough syrup containing alcohol. When Emma questions him about it, he stares at her and says "Oh, Bambi... I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy!" before throwing up on her shoes. It doesn't help that Emma does look like a scared deer most of the time.
• Criminal Minds has a rare chilling example in later episode. An agent Prentiss worked with before transferring to the BAU checks a peephole in a door. The perspective is from what she sees, which is a man standing nearby. A silenced gunshot is heard, and she says in a dreamy voice, "Grandma brought it... for Christmas" as a drop of blood runs down her forehead just before she falls over, dead.
• In one episode of Seinfeld, Kramer gets kicked in the head by Crazy Joe Davola. He happened to be wearing a helmet at the time, but still ended up with a concussion. The next time we see him, he has one pant leg on, only shaved the right side of his face, and is completely unaware of both. The first real non-sequitur however, is when he yells "YO-YO MA!" in mid-conversation with Jerry and George. After that he answers the phone speaking Italian-sounding gibberish.
• In an episode of Victorious, Tori ends up becoming extremely woozy after giving too much blood, and while trying to perform in the school play ends up speaking gibberish while trying to speak her lines.

Tori: And so I'm not a captain... I'm a... pretty little salmon... (thud)

• In one episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, Andy Travis gets his by some flying debris and is knocked unconscious. The first thing he says to anyone when they bring him around is, "Has anyone seen my dog?" Andy doesn't have a dog.

Professional Wrestling

• Pro Wrestler Ric Flair will often take a few steps and act completely normal, maybe even letting out a "Woooo!" before suddenly collapsing face first after receiving an especially strong hit. Known as the Flair Flop.
• Another funny example came from Perry Saturn. After being clocked in the head with a frying pan in a back-stage vignette, he screamed out, "YAHTZEE! You're welcome!" and went out cold.
  • That was actually his gimmick for quite some time. He also began carrying a mop to the ring with him as his "valet", even choosing it over Terri Runnels.

Video Games

• In Sam and Max: Culture Shock, a trio of hypnotized former child stars, the "Soda Poppers", are causing havoc in Sam and Max's neighborhood, and our heroes have to knock the Soda Poppers unconscious to snap them out of their hypnosis. As each of the Soda Poppers gets KOed, he mumbles his catch phrase from their old show before falling over.
• A recurring line when people are knocked out in the first Discworld video game is "Did anyone get the number of that donkey cart?" This actually plays into a puzzle, as later on in the game you get a donkey arrested by giving a recently KOed assassin its registration.
• In the third Sly Cooper game, after Carmelita shoots Muggshot repeatedly with her Stun Gun, he mumbles, "Mudda, is that you? I'm sorry... I didn't know they were yours.." before toppling unconscious.
• In The Secret of Monkey Island, Guybrush gets shot out of a cannon by the Fabulous Flying Fettuccini Brothers, and promptly flies into a circus tent pole. He slides down upside-down, and the brothers run over to make sure he's okay. Both options for response appear upside down - one is simply him asking where the pot he was using as a helmet went, but other has him randomly ask "I'm Bobbin. Are you my mother?" which is a non-sequitur in game but is a reference to Loom, a previous Lucas Arts game.
  • Although it's not precisely a Non Sequitur Thud, he can ask the same question later on, to be informed that his mother is a duck (yes, another Loom reference). In fact, Guybrush exhibits a marked tendency to rattle off some distinctly nonsensical crap whether he's got a concussion or not.
  • Tales of Monkey Island, shortly before Guybrush dies from a sword to the gut:

"Is that you, mother? I washed my hands..."

• The "Exploding piano" minigame in the Duck Amuck Looney Tunes game has Daffy say a different Non Sequitur Thud every time the piano explodes, including "No more for me thanks, I'm driving" from Rabbit Seasoning below. Others include "And I say he does have to shoot me now" (from the Duck Season! Rabbit Season! sequence in the same cartoon); "There are four lights" (a Shout-Out to Star Trek: The Next Generation) and the ever popular "Check, Please!".
• In Psychonauts, the Comically Serious Sasha Nein has the misfortune of being clonked on the head by one of his own Censors, who believe him to be a dangerous thought. He mumbles dazedly every time he gets clobbered.

"My name is Yon Yonson I live in Wisconsin I work in the lumberyard there..."

• From Mother 3, just before a (rather unnaturally terrifying) maid robot explodes in a small mushroom cloud. The gibberish it spouts in full:

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW SO SEW SO-SO / GREETINGS CHEESE POPSICLE / THE NUMBER YOU HAVE DIALED IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PORK CHOPS / FROM EAST TO WEST IT GOES GOES / BROKEN BROKEN / OH SO SEW BROKEN / *whir* *clank* *clunk*

• In Marathon Infinity when you deactivate Durandal in the level Hang Brain there are some mighty gibberish when you read one of the computer terminals. Go here and scroll down to "Hang Brain (Terminal 1: 1st Message)" to read it.
• Metal Gear Solid 2 gives us the malfunctioning Robo-Colonel and the infamous line "I need scissors, 61!"
  • The full line is one of the weirdest things ever heard.

I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!

• After being short-circuited by Villainous Harlequin Dimentio, malfunctioning mechanical dragon Fracktail from Super Paper Mario tries to reboot his system. It doesn't work out so well:

?BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. I AM ERROR. PRESS ANY KEY TO RESTART. ...SYSTEM NOT FOUND. INSERT INSTALL DISC. DISC NOT FOUND. PLEASE CONFIRM DISC COVER IS CLOSED. READ ERROR. INSERT BOOT DISC AND PRESS ENTER. NO RESPONSE. SYSTEM MAY BE BUSY OR MELTING INTO SLAG. APPLICATION ERROR. SAVE YOUR WORK AND QUIT. YOU LOST EVERYTHING. WAY TO GO, GENIUS. WAITING FOR PROCESSORS. "404 computer hamsters not found." THREAT LEVEL UPGRADED TO JELLY ROLL 1. DETONATION IMMINENT. BEEBLEBLIP! C:/ run query identification C:/ run insult generator C:/ results: go away yeti-lip! CTRL ALT DEL!?

• • It also appears to be a rather beautiful Take That aimed at Nintendo's competitor Microsoft.
• In Beyond Good and Evil, when you first return to IRIS HQ with Double H, he tries to deliver a report of his findings...after spending several days in what appears to be some kind of torture device and in such desperate need of medical attention that you've been given a time limit of less than five minutes. He almost gets there, but rapidly degrades into incoherence before crashing through a banister onto the couch next to the stairs.
• In the Xbox party game Whacked!, each playable character has their own assortment of quotes that the game randomly chooses for them to say when dying or picking up weapons. One of the characters, Otto, is asleep throughout the entire game. When dying, two of his many quotes are "Avenge me, Spartacus!" or "Please, sir, may I have another?". When grabbing a weapon, he might say "Launch the torpedoes!" or "Seize the castle!".
• Punch Out does this in the Wii version with some characters. One example is Great Tiger, who, in the middle of being counted on the mat after being knocked down, will raise himself from the mat, cross-eyed, and interrupt the ref's count to mutter a disjointed sentence in Hindi before collapsing right back down with a dramatic thud.
• In the L.A. Noire case "House of Sticks", Jack Kelso mumbles "So you're still carrying that army .45, Cole" -- an observation wholly irrelevant to the current predicament -- before promptly nose-diving to the carpet.
• House of the Dead: OVERKILL, in the intro to the "Fetid Waters" chapter, starts as the protagonists crash the motorcycle they were riding on at the end of the previous chapter. Washington gets up just fine, but he has to kick G awake, who mumbles "Stop calling me Gwendolyn" before waking up.
• An odd example: In many games featuring Deadpool, such as Marvel Ultimate Alliance or Marvel vs. Capcom upon being taken out the mouthy merc will issue what would seem non-sequiturs to the other characters but make perfect sense to the player by Breaking the Fourth Wall, such as "You pressed the wrong button!"
  • His MUGEN incarnation does the same thing.

"It's like waking up...but in reverse."

Web Animation

• On Homestar Runner, in the Strong Bad email "car", after Strong Bad punches Homestar in the face with his "tricked-out fist", Homestar is seen half-conscious, babbling about pies and pie people.
  • Hard to say for sure, but it may be a shout-out to Weebl and Bob.
• In Episode 79 of Bonus Stage, Phil gets his ass kicked by the new villain. When the equally-battered Joel checks on him, we get treated to...The Bacon Man Song.

Joel: "Who knew that near-death delirium could be so catchy?"

Web Comics

• Haley sings "I'm Henry the 8th, I am, I am..." after receiving a stunning kick in this strip of The Order of the Stick.
  • In another strip, V's Disintegrate spell isn't powerful enough to produce its usual effect when cast on a dragon, at least the first time; instead it's stunned and singing "the wheels on the bus go round and round".
  • Happens to Belkar in this strip:

Belkar: 'mfine. Halfings may only be able to advance to level 8, but I've got Attack Rank G. Guard: That boy got his ass knocked back to Basic!

• This Erfworld strip has an extreme example, when Lord Manpower takes an arrow in the eye and utters his Famous Last Words, "I can taste key lime pie."
  • It takes a rather dark turn when Lord Manpower's Uncroaked corpse still mutters about "pie..."
  • Also, possible Fridge Brilliance, as brain damage can cause synesthesia in some cases.
• In these three strips from Girl Genius, Agatha tells her entire life story after being drugged with a Truth Serum in her wine. She ends the tale with, "And this is simply a lovely torte," and faceplants in her dessert, which is the truth-telling equivalent of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking since it really was a nice torte.
  • This one has a rather long one caused by a dose of Bottled Heroic Resolve, and it doesn't actually involve a thud so much as an easing to the ground and a period of dragging the Reliable Traitor to a conveniently located medical lab (that is actually a Maximum Fun Chamber).
  • Gil also spends some time thinking he's in Paris after being shot and throwing a giant robot. In that order.
  • "I AM THE PRETTIEST FROG IN THE POND" - said by a guy delirious from a fantastic disease.
• Some pretty hilarious ones in The Last Days of Foxhound, such as Mantis' in this comic.
  • Also an earlier one from Ocelot here.
• After everything bad that could happen seems to happen to Dominic Deegan, the Non Sequitur Thud in this strip forms the bridge between his Freak-Out and Heroic BSOD.
• In Looking for Group, Richard spouts the following after getting an axe in his head:

Richard: Good was shot a that. Toast. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!

• In a subversion in Eight Bit Theater, Fighter, resident idiot, gets stabbed in the head and starts talking about stuff that actually has plot relevance. Until he gets stabbed again. (Played straight plenty of other times, though).
  • Given a slight twist in another comic, where Fighter has a knife in his head. Black Mage flicks it one direction, and Fighter starts singing the theme song to the old Captain America cartoon. BM comments to Thief that if you move it the other way, he does the Spider-Man theme.
• In Ctrl+Alt+Del, half of the strips featuring Chef Brian feature this, and the other half is just plain deranged. Also includes a literal Non Sequitur Thud.
• Eddie from Emergency Exit talks like this all the time...and it's eventually revealed that it's because he has a portal in his head. Because he forced it through his own skull to keep the villain from getting it.
• In Three Panel Soul: "Jes, get your damn oatmeal off me!"
• An absolutely epic one occurs in No Need for Bushidowhen Ken attempts to fight the Wu Tang brothers. After being disarmed, Ken gets the crap kicked out of him by the kung-fu brothers, but keeps coming back for more. At first it looks like he's still going to be powered by Unstoppable Rage after getting knocked through two buildings by the brothers, but it turns out he's finally had enough.

Ken: All right! I was just gonna hold back being as you're Cho's friends an' all, but you've seriously pushed the extent of my cheese doodle naturally when I see I'm forgiven, and then you'll see it this time! Brother Tang: ... Excuse me? Ken: Don't you asking of meaning of the words I said. You already knew because kick ass of course not, damnit! *Falling*

• Seen here in Everyday Heroes after a particularly vigorous Hyperspace Mallet attack.
• After ramming a monolith in Turn Signals on a Land Raider, "Jack" the Land Raider Machine Spirit responds to "how's it going?" with "do you have an appointment"
• Played with in this Team Fortress 2 fan comic. The non-sequitor-er in question doesn't pass out, but seeing as he's Demoman, he's probably got enough alcohol in his system to make him immune to head trauma. Somehow.

Demoman: "HaaHaHa! Joke's on th'wall! My face is drunk, so hurt pain doesn't bad me!"

• In Bite Me!, when Lucien (a vampire) gets hit with garlic, he starts babbling things like: "why mother that shade of purple is very becoming on your lizard fork"--though this may have more to do with being drunk of the fumes than head trauma: http://www.bitemecomic.com/?p=538
  • Rather earlier, Claire gets one after saying I Need a Freaking Drink - and drinking a stein of vampire blood.

Web Original

• I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC. After a few too many drinks Iron Man says "Thank you Andre; I'll have the veal picatta," then passes out, falling forward onto his face. And then through the floor; Spider-Man was surprised to discover that Stan's Place has a basement. Presumably this was a Shout-Out to Hot Shots, above.
  • Also Spider-Man's slightly drunken Transformers freak out:

Spider-Man: *To Ironman* Bumblebee! Batman: That's not him. Spider-Man: *To Superman* Optimus! Batman: He's not here. Spider-Man: This isn't my war! Batman: No, it isn't. Spider-Man: But I fear it soon will be. Batman: No, it won't.

• Englishman: After accidentally getting out of his car while it was doing 70 mph on a motorway, Englishman adds: "So I notice, Mr Prime Minister. On behalf of centipedes everywhere I graciously accept this award for services to government corruption" before falling over.
• From Survival of the Fittest: "Mommy? Daddy? Sasquatch? Why is the world all spinny and magnets?"
• As well as straight examples with several characters, AH Dot Com the Series has a variant where perpetual drunkard Grey Wolf will come out with a statement of this type when prompted for a response but not necessarily pass out.
• In Comic Fury Werewolf, Cyborg does this during Game 12 after surviving a Mercenary attack during the night. The resulting post is extremely amusing, as he acts as if he's BSoDing and rapidly fires off votes for all of his suspects, before loading up an emulation of a Yeti upon being given a "baby frog".

Western Animation

• Dennis the Menace UK: "Mmm... Pizza would be great, Mum. *dog impression* Gnasher... you know Dad doesn't like you eating out of his hat..." [Grabs at nothing, claps, makes silly faces while waving hand in front of face, pats grass]
  • And later - [groans] "I'm not well, Mum..."
• The Tick tends to make little sense as-is, but after taking serious blows to the head, he can get even worse. "Fudge! Would anyone like some fudge?"
  • And then there was the time he got hit so hard, he spent the rest of the episode thinking he was "The Duchess".
• In the Looney Tunes short "Rabbit Seasoning" (part of the famous "Hunter Trilogy"), Daffy gets shot in the face after peeking his head out of Bugs's hole to see if Elmer Fudd is "still lurking about". Bugs suggests that Daffy should act as a decoy, and Daffy mumbles, dazedly "No more for me thanks, I'm driving" before falling unconscious.
  • Stupor Duck: Daffy (as a Superman Expy) thinks a mad bomber has just knocked a building down and puts it bck-- not realizing it was slated for demolition.

(angry construction worker stomps up to Daffy) Daffy: Oh, no thanks are necessary, my good man! I was just doing my duty-- PUNCHED IN FACE Daffy: (dazed) ... then the lights went out all over the world...

• • Rabbit Hood: "London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down... falling down, falling down... London Bridge is falling down..."
    • "Got lots of stamina."
  • After being hit on the head in "Falling Hare", Bugs Bunny does a Lennie impersonation, asking the Gremlin "Which way did he go, George?", gets a response - which allows Bugs to collapse in the appropriate direction, saying deliriously "I'm only thwee an' a half years old!".
  • In fact, this is a fairly stable gag in the Warner Brothers cartoons.
  • In one Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon, after the Coyote has been hit by a falling piano, he gets up with a mouth full of piano key "teeth" on which he is able to play a couple of bars of Taps before collapsing.
  • Putting the two together, in "Operation: Rabbit" (a rare Bugs vs. Wile E. pairing), at the start, Wile E. erects a door in front of Bugs's hole to declare his intent to eat him. After spending the episode trying and getting clobbered and blown up, he has just enough energy and sanity to repeat the erect-the-door routine. This time, when Bugs answers, Wile E. goes, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mud." Only then does he collapse.

Bugs: And remember, "mud" spelled backwards is "dum".

• • In "Russian Rhapsody" after the gremlins sabotage Hitler's plane and they drop it on top of him, after they sing a song he pops up out of the ground laughing and says in a goofy voice "Nazies is the cwaziest peoples".
  • Not quite played straight in "Duck Amuck", because it actually makes sense, but not within the context: Daffy quotes Longfellow's The Village Blacksmith after the artist turns his parachute into an anvil.

Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; [the anvil is erased and replaced with a large artillery shell] The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy... [shell explodes when hit] hAaAnDs...

• • In "Deduce, You Say", another Daffy short, this one with Porky Pig, this little exchange takes place, after Daffy, as Dorlock Holmes, gets beaten up by the Shropshire Slasher:

Porky: (as Dr. Watkins) Tell me, Holmes, at what sort of school did you learn to be a detective? Daffy: (dazed) Elementary, my dear Watkins... Elementary...

• In the Disney short The Prince and the Pauper, Goofy, disguised as an executioner, inadvertently knocks out a weasel guard with his axe while trying to save Donald and the Mickey look-a-like. The weasel guard babbles "Thank you, I had a lovely evening" and kisses Goofy before passing out.
• A Goofy Movie had this exchange take place when Goofy and Max were spending a night in the their car:

Goofy: (half-asleep) How many cups of sugar does it take to get to the moon? Max: Uh... three and a half? Goofy: ... *thud* ZZZZZ...

• The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Frankendoodle", when Spongebob and Patrick go to catch "Doodlebob" and end up falling into a pit. While they're down there, Doodlebob drops a wrench on Patrick, and Pat goes "Where's the leak, ma'am?" before falling over. Shortly thereafter, Patrick is hit in the head with a bowling ball, and when Spongebob asks if he's okay, he shouts "Finland!" in response.
  • In "Survival of the Idiots", Patrick is knocked out by Sandy and says "Hot wings", as drumsticks fly around his head.
• Futurama: Bender would get NSTs in the form of folk songs whenever he's exposed to magnets.
• In the Kappa Mikey episode Le Femme Mitsuki, blabbermouth Mikey says "Can I borrow a dollar?" after Mitsuki shocks him with one of her gadgets so that he won't tell anyone about the agency she used to work at.
• Jimmy Neutron: Sheen has just been conked on the head, and Jimmy asks "How many fingers am I holding up?" Sheen replies "November?" before passing out.
  • Also after Carl falls to the ground:

Carl: Flying Metal Chicken. Jimmy: He's delusional! Sheen: (Turns around looks up) Actually, I'm gonna have to go with Carl on this one. (Giant Chicken shaped Yolkian ship appears)

• Shows up in a number of episodes of Ed, Edd n Eddy:

Ed, after being hog-tied by Eddy in An Ed In The Bush: It's a long ball, coach!

• • In fact, many of Ed's lines are non sequiturs since he has the attention span of buttered toast, wandering off into his own thoughts and coming back to reality to say something off-the-wall.
  • Edd, after being in Eddy's Brother's bed-fridge in O-Ed Eleven:

Oh my, look at the time! Gotta go, ta-ta!

• • Eddy has more of those, often mention his granddad.

Eddy: Wait up! That's my waffle...

• • Jimmy, after Jonny's house collapses in Rent-A-Ed: Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
  • Nazz only got one in High Heeled Ed after a fence fell on top of her. All she did after that was laugh.
  • Uuuuuuunnnnncllllle
• Total Drama World Tour: "Why is the purple meatball playing the piano?"
• In The Fairly Oddparents, Chip Skylark faints while mumbling, "Tuesday is applesauce day." Later, he gets sprayed with knockout gas and mutters "The album... comes out July 24th..."
  • The latter gag becomes a bit of a stealth plug when you realize that Chip is voiced by NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick, and the band's album Celebrity really was coming out on July 24th of that year.
• In the Underfist Halloween Special, Billy (called "B"), G (Grim)'s assistant, flings himself against the bullseye on the wall with an invention:

Jeff: Hi, dad! B: I'll have the fried pickles.

• In an episode of Family Guy, a Wall Street trader is on the phone to his company relaying some important information about the state of the financial market and is hit on the head by a stray golf ball causing him to say: "The Fed is going to be lowering rates, so take your money out of T-bills and put it all into [blow to the head, suddenly cross-eyed] Waffles! Tasty waffles with lots of syrup!" Cue a scene of Wall Street traders shouting "waffles!" and then, oddly, Japanese traders going crazy screaming "Waffur!".
  • Peter does this in The Thin White Line when he gets hit with too many tranquilizer darts.

Peter: But I don't wanna feed Grandma bacon while she's in the bathtub! (a few seconds later) Peter: Here, kitty, kitty, kitty... (thud)

• Waspinator, of Beast Wars, gets a long string of this after getting a crate dropped on him:

Waspinator: Waspinator? Negative, negative, I am Shrapnel, Decepticon hero-o-o. Waspinator: Wacko? No, Wonko, Wonko the Sane! Waspinator (after getting blasted): More than meets the eye...*thud*

• Alfred gets one in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series: after a rough landing in the Bat-plane, he mutters "I claim this land for Spain!" as he stumbles out of the cockpit.
  • He also says the same line in the DCAU TV-movie Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.
  • Relatedly, in the Animated Series, there is an episode where Alfred and an old "cousin" (former colleague in the British espionage branch, Alfred used to be a secret agent apparently) are held hostage by terrorists who try to extract two halves of a missile code from them. After being dosed with truth serum, Alfred's colleague gives up his sequence of letters and numbers, but Alfred is able to resist enough to disguise his passcode as Non Sequitur ramblings (it helps that his code is a line of poetry about unicorns).
• In a Pinky and The Brain episode, after getting clobbered, Brain gets windmills circling his head and says "All my thoughts are in Dutch".
  • Another time Pinky gets trampled by a team of racehorses and starts singing "There's baloney in our slacks...", a line from the Animaniacs theme song.
  • "Brain, are you all right?" "Yes, Phaedo, but why are you wearing that llama?"
• The Slappy and Skippy cartoons in Animaniacs featured this quite a lot.

Skippy: (After being hit by a football) Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go? Slappy: ...Time for a little sit down, Skippy.

• • In another after Slappy has been caught in a bus explosion she says to Skippy "Hello Huey, Dewey, and Louie, I haven't seen you since Daisy's Bat Mitzvah".
• In Dog City, the villain Mad Dog (who typically spoke in Tazmanian Devil-style grunts and slobbers) would suddenly begin reciting poetry in a refined voice after any head injuries. In one episode this was even a plot point, as Mad Dog had a tendency to include coded hints about the villain's plans in his recitations.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Coming off a sleep deprivation-induced Mushroom Samba, Aang's friends make a fluffy bed for him, which he loudly interprets as "a bed made of clouds" and another hallucination, and gets chewed out, before thudding.
• South Park: When Chef is talked into punching out Jesus, the latter responds, "Did anyone get the number of that truck?"
  • In a later episode, Stan's mom Sharon, who is concerned that her son killed a few people (it was actually his goldfish) hits Officer Barbrady over the head with a frying pan, prompting the latter to utter "Tennis, anyone?" before losing consciousness.
  • In "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants" in a shout out to "Russian Rhapsody" as mentioned above after getting blown up by a stick of dynamite his teeth play like piano keys and he say "Terrorists is the cwasiest peoples".
• In Dan Vs. Technology, Dan and Chris end up in a car crash on the way to Silicon Valley, making Dan mutter, "It's just my lizards. Rainbows are nature's rainbows."
• In The Penguins of Madagascar episode "Miracle on Ice", Kowalski gets knocked out during a hockey game and starts babbling in an oddly erudite manner, since he's the Cunning Linguist of the group.

"Flibbertigibbit, man! I'm as juxtaposed as the next hamburger!"

• After being flattened in one epsiode, Darkwing Duck once popped up and sang, off-key, "And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson..." before falling back on his face.
• Harold from Hey Arnold usually says "Easy squeezy lemon peezie!" when he gets bumped on the noggin.
• Used occasionally in Jimmy Two-Shoes
• Literally in The Spectacular Spider-Man: one of Mysterio's bats starts saying "Non sequitur" repeatedly after being attacked (though they tend to throw them around anyway).
• Clone High: "Eggs over easy please!"
• Used in the American Dad episode, "Black Mystery Month." After taking a comically long fall through several layers of a rickety staircase, Stan reach the bottom, stands, and groggily states "...And that's where babies come from!"
• The very first episode of Time Squad had this trope. After the Larry 3000 gets pummelled by angry farmers for supposedly being a flesh-eating robot, Otto picks up Larry's head to show that Larry doesn't have teeth and therefore isn't a flesh-eating robot. Larry's NST: "I'm okay to drive. [chuckles drunkenly]: Just help me to the car."
• In The Flintstones episode "Monster Fred" after being hit on the head with a bowling ball Fred says "Duh,can you tell me a story Mommy?"
• In an episode of Garfield and Friends, after Garfield gets hit in the head with a ham, he stumbles around, says "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope," then CLUNK!!!
• After not getting evaporated into space, Duck Dodgers comes into view, singed black and says "Did I miss the Great Pumpkin? Did he leave us any toys?"
• Two or three examples arise in Code Lyoko:
  • ("The Chips are Down") Jeremie: Hey, Ulrich, how are you? [Ulrich tries to snap Jeremie to his senses]* Because I'm not doing so great. [passes out again]
  • ("I'd Rather Not Talk About It") Jim: [to Jeremie] Yeah, uh, sure how's the other guy?

(The next example) Jim: [to Jeremie] Yes, Mr. President. The mission has to go on, whatever it takes. Even if it costs me my stripes.

• Probably one of the few serious examples in the King of the Hill episode "Peggy Hill: The Decline and Fall" when Peggy's parachute fails to open and crashes into a field many feet below. Ehen Hank finds her she deliriously says "Hey hey hey, I'm fine!" before passing out.
• The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, after getting clobbered by some retro movie monster, the title character spouts "Fred Savage, is that you?" then gets clobbered again.
• The Critic: While Jay Sherman is attending a play, a giant bell drops onto his head and rings several times. After rising back up, a frazzled Jay mutters "Mommy, can I wear the jammies with the feet?"
• Happens with some regularity on Jackie Chan Adventures. "Look, Fishies." "What's a Jackie?"
• In The Cleveland Show episode "The Hurricane!", a tree falls on Cleveland and he temporarily thinks he's Walter Cronkite.
• Transformers Prime has a lot of fun with this trope and Agent Fowler when he gets incapacitated. It's happened twice so far, and shows every sign of becoming a running gag.

Miko: On your feet soldier! Fowler: And beavers, and ducks, and walnuts, and grandma! *Thud*

Real Life

• In medicine, doctors or EMTs will assess a patient's mental status by asking four questions: Who are you, where are you, what day is it, and what were you doing (as seen in the Advertising example above). If they answer all four questions appropriately, the patient is alert and oriented times four (A&Ox4). If they answer any of the questions inappropriately, then they have to start looking at reasons for the patient to have an altered mental status (head trauma, shock, blood sugar, drug intoxication, etc). In short, in real life this trope isn't funny at all as it implies that the victim may have brain damage.
• Gangster Dutch Schultz was famously perforated many times by gunfire, especially in the kidneys. When he was laid up in the hospital and dying of his injuries, the cops stopped by to get a statement... and ended up getting what may be the strangest Famous Last Words in history.
  • People who have problems with the urinary tract, including the kidneys, can more easier be mentally compromised in this manner. It's not uncommon for elderly UTI patients to act this way.
• Extremely dark real life case: in 1919 a boxing match took place between Jack Dempsey and champion Jess Willard. Some people though it was a mismatch, as Willard towered over Dempsey and looked twice his size. (Willard stood close to 6'7 and 250 pounds, Dempsey about 6'1 and 185.) And it was a mismatch, but not the way people expected. From the opening bell Dempsey swarmed Willard and delivered the single most vicious, brutal, and ruthless beatdown in boxing history. Willard was knocked down 7 times in the first round alone. (The fight went 3 rounds before being stopped.) Willard's list of injuries read more like the results of a car accident: nose completely smashed, jaw broken in seven places, broken ribs, four teeth knocked out, etc. As Willard was carried from the ring to the hospital, those carrying him heard Willard mutter to himself over and over "I have a farm in Iowa and $100,000 in the bank. I have a farm in Iowa and $100,000 in the bank. I have a farm in Iowa..."
  • Did he actually have a farm in Iowa and $100,000 in the bank? If so, that would more of a Survival Mantra, by trying to hold onto the memory of what he (probably) viewed as important possessions.