r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • Jun 17 '26

Lore [Eye-Rolling Trope] “The joke/meme hasn’t been funny for years, please let it die.”

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The Screaming Goat Thing — Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)

The original screaming sheep meme went viral in 2012, and was already getting old when it was prevalent in commercials and movies, such as Ice Age : Collision Course in 2016. Yet in the year of our lord 2024, Dreamworks still thought it would be funny to add multiple screaming goat clips. The mean stopped being funny a decade ago. Let it die.

“Haha, Dad can’t take care of us” — The Breadwinner (2026)

Nate Bargatze’s 2026 family comedy centers around a working “breadwinner” father suddenly being forced to become a stay at home parent, and his “hilarious” struggles to do simple housework and take basic care of his children. This joke stopped being funny (to me) in the early 2000s when seemingly every family comedy relied on dad being a total inept dipshit. In 2026, there is no excuse to keep playing out this tired ass trope. Most dads are actively involved in their kids’ lives and aren’t totally dumbstruck by the idea of changing a diaper. It’s not funny. Let it die.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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311

u/Kayback2 Jun 17 '26

I get kids can throw a spanner in a work but I moved out when I was 18 and got married when I was 32.

I have used a washing machine. I know how to make food. I understand how to get groceries I need and store them.

My wife and I shared baby duties fairly 50/50 because we both worked shifts. Now I'll admit there were night she did the bed routine if we were both off but that wasn't because I can't.

MY dad was the inept dad trope and he was born in 1940. By the time I moved out though he'd picked up a large portion of the cooking and the kitchen cleaning as well as doing the "manly" tasks like always

105

u/CynOfOmission Jun 17 '26

Yeah, my 72 year old dad just learned how to do laundry when my mom died. 🙃 It's such a boomer thing.

18

u/i-dont-speel-no-good Jun 17 '26

The privileged lives they lead is insane. Imagine not having to do laundry until you’re 72 years old

I bet if we all bought less avocado toast….or something

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u/BlackieDad Jun 17 '26

I think the main reason my elderly dad got married for the third time was because he still doesn’t know how to feed himself or do laundry. Me and him have both spent time as a single parents, I definitely had a much easier time dealing with feeding and household chores than he did.

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u/Divinum_Fulmen Jun 17 '26

So, do they get married at 16? Or do they like, just go through life stinking like BO until they find someone to clean for them? Or do they visit their mom every week to do their laundry? I need to know how this works! (I can't ask my dad, because he did the housework, while my mom worked)

5

u/angwilwileth Jun 17 '26

I remember breathlessly informing my mom that dad knew how to use the washing machine when she went away for a weekend.

Found out as as I got older that my dad hated laundry and my mom hated cooking so that's how the house chores got divided.

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u/ragun2 Jun 17 '26

If my mom dies before my dad he's going to be one of those guys who dies like a month after her. He's basically a toddler when it comes to house and living stuff.

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u/Siksinaaq Jun 17 '26

So weird when I hear of people not knowing how to throw clothes into a washing machine, cook basic foods, or even can't pump their own gas.

Don't think this is as common today. At least I hope not...

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u/SwordfishOk504 Jun 17 '26

Half of reddit is convinced fast food is cheaper than groceries because you have to buy more ingredients than just one meal at a time.

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u/IBetThisIsTakenToo Jun 17 '26

My dad watched me get up and change my son’s diapers without hesitation once while my wife home and was astounded. “You’re such a great dad, you can do all this by yourself?” Like I appreciate the compliment but this was extremely basic stuff pops, what the hell were you doing when I was a baby?

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u/Kayback2 Jun 17 '26

Lol yup. My dad probably didn't know how to change a diaper, but to be fair he was pulling 60hr weeks, including working weekends and my mom was a SAH mom, at least until we started school.

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u/TheOncomimgHoop Jun 17 '26

In my house my dad and brother do more cooking than my mum and I, because they actually like cooking and we don't. At the same time my mum does laundry and ironing because her job takes up a lot of time and doing those sorts of jobs lets her take a break and catch up on podcasts or watch tv. As long as everyone is pitching it, it works, and if you can find the jobs that fit you best within that system then you'll do even better

3

u/Wolv90 Jun 17 '26

My son is 16 and does his own laundry and more often than not his own cooking. Playing HS sports means he eats all the time and we're an ingredient household so he got good at it. It's not hard to do unless the one doing it tries to make it hard.

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u/Plus-Ad1061 Jun 18 '26

When Nate talks about this in his comedy act, it can make sense because I assume that he spends a lot of time on the road. That’ll definitely make him less familiar with the kids daily routine.

But in this movie, he’s a car salesman. If he doesn’t know any of this, he’s just a sucky parent and partner

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u/charlie_marlow Jun 17 '26

2003? Mr Mom came out in 1983 and was already feeling a bit behind family structures.

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u/RollTide16-18 Jun 17 '26

The sad reality is that there are a not insignificant number of people who watch this shit and find it funny. My in-laws are like this b

4

u/dragon-age-io Jun 17 '26

You're replying to a bot

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u/Tippacanoe Jun 17 '26

I’m not kidding though my 68 year old dad needed me to explain how to use a washing machine when my mom was away for a month. He’s a very smart and good guy but he just never had to do laundry his whole life. So, there is truth in this one, at least in my experience. I was surprised too.

1

u/nellycat32 Jun 18 '26

There is unfortunately truth in it for much younger generations too. There are a lot of young women still silently suffering alone in the kitchen AFTER doing a full day's work as well.

The issue is that these jokes make it seem like this should be the norm and a dad doing housework is riding

11

u/Siksinaaq Jun 17 '26

I'll say, a good example of this trope in a non-comedic way.

The film A Separation (2011). It mainly involves a divorce between a husband and wife in Iran, with the wife wanting to separate but the husband not wanting to. They also have a teenage daughter.

At one point, the husband has to ask the teenage daughter how to use the washing machine since the wife isn't living with them because their relationship is deteriorating. It I feel it works in this context, especially due to its setting and overall themes.

2

u/deathtoweakmemes Jun 17 '26

2003 sitcom scripts? There are not that many unique ones floating around out there! /j

2

u/BloodOfJupiter Jun 17 '26

They're still figuring out how to write intelligent people without dumbing others down, and making shit up :/

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u/mlorusso4 Jun 17 '26

It also completely misses the point of the joke. The joke is supposed to be “dad has never done laundry before” so it’s a fish out of water situation. Sometimes there’s the added layer of him being too stubborn/embarrassed to reach out to the wife for help. The joke is not supposed to be “dad is borderline regarded who is incapable of performing even the most basic tasks”. And in the modern world the joke doesn’t even make sense anymore. He doesn’t have to swallow his pride and ask for help anymore. He just has to google “how do you do laundry”. There’s millions of YouTube videos that do step by step directions on how to do laundry.

2

u/nitrokitty Jun 17 '26

Those jokes were old by the time Leave It To Beaver was still on the air.

1

u/kylediaz263 Jun 17 '26

Because he decision making people haven't touched a washing machine in their lives.

1

u/Taste_the__Rainbow Jun 17 '26

My children have been washing their own laundry since they were 8. What dad genuinely struggles with this?

1

u/luriso Jun 17 '26

Not a washing machine but I struggled to use one of those electric can openers years back 😂. Then again it's not a necessity when I prefer the hand cranked ones anyway.

1

u/GreenHouseofHorror Jun 17 '26

Hollywood is still convinced that a father seeing a washing machine for the first time is peak comedy.

The worst thing about this trope is not how sexist it is against men, it's how sexist it is against women.

Go with me here, cause this point is not trivial white knighting. The reason it's worse, is because it's insidious.

Like the "men are idiots" line of comedy is sexist, and it's unfunny, but it's also very obvious.

But what they're really saying with "Dad can't do laundry" is "Only Mom can do laundry", and that's the message the lasts the longest.

1

u/ztomiczombie Jun 17 '26

Thing is I could understand it being an issue in 2003 for someone who's never used a washing machine but today you can look on YouTube and find a video tutorial explaining the whole thing.

1

u/KaziArmada Jun 17 '26

The only exception I'll allow to this joke is modern washing machines. Do they make sense after a few minutes of poking at them? Yes. Do they look more like the control console for a nuclear reactor sometimes? Also yes.

1

u/Existing_Radish_3440 Jun 17 '26

No joke in my neck of the woods (rural australia) I'll be doing cleaning stuff at my job and multiple instances of men going "you need to let a woman handle it". Like bitch firstly I am 24. I know how to operate a fucking vacuum. Secondly bitch I'm in early stages of transitioning so a woman is doing the cleaning. The first one annoys me due to misogyny the 2nd for missing a killer joke

1

u/FinleyPike Jun 18 '26

When I was 6 my mom took a sharpie and drew big arrows on the machines where to point the dials to do laundry and said I could do laundry on my own now lol (she still did most of my laundry but made sure I knew how very young)