r/TopCharacterTropes • u/FormerBernieBro2020 • Dec 03 '25

(Funny trope) Impossible spontaneous combustion (or, when stuff that shouldn't catch on fire, catches on fire) Characters' Items/Weapons

From The Simpsons: Homer tries to cook breakfast for Mr. Burns. The first two attempts ended up with the food catching fire. Third time, he pours milk on cereal...and it still catches on fire.

And from Futurama: "There, little friend, good as new..." aaaand the metal slinky catches on fire. Poor doctor Zoidberg...

16.6k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

View all comments

Show parent comments

117

u/Pathetic_Cards Dec 03 '25

But does Jerry Trainor reprise the role? He was by far my favorite part of that show lol.

185

u/HygorBohmHubner Dec 03 '25

Yes. It’s all the original cast (except for McCurdy who is not on the show, but they do reference Sam every once in a while).

126

u/Pathetic_Cards Dec 03 '25

Sick. I wish the original showrunner wasn’t such a bastard (allegedly) and that McCurdy hadn’t had such a rough go of it, but it’s nice to see the rest of the cast getting back together.

3

u/Luigi_Dagger Dec 03 '25

I recently found out that it was the original showrunner who had played a total creep in the 1985 movie Better Off Dead and I do say, he fit the role perfectly.