While Toilet Humor is common in media for all ages, outright showing bodily products, humorous or not, is often too over the top for censors, whether or not it's for humor. For this reason, many works avoid explicitly showing or referencing urine or feces even when characters are shown to use the bathroom.
This trope comes in several forms:
- A character relieves themselves, but no audible sounds indicating this are heard, save for maybe a flushing toilet and/or a sigh of relief.
- After a character is done relieving themselves (or while relieving themselves for males who are peeing), no visible pee or poop is seen. They might cut to running water instead if a character is peeing.
- A baby uses their diaper, but the contents are not specified.
This trope is not when a character announces they have to go but nothing is shown or heard afterwards, there has to be something to indicate, visually or auditorily, that they actually did it.
Compare and contrast Nobody Poops in which characters using the restroom is simply not mentioned at all.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In episode 10 of The Eden of Grisaia, the only thing shown of Michiru's Potty Failure is a closeup of her relieved face.
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure rarely specifies what Hugtan does in her diaper, save for episode 22 and the Non-Serial Movie. One notable example is episode 2, where it cuts right as Hana puts a fresh diaper on Hugtan after Harry tells her that she needs a diaper change.
- Hello Kitty: The animated episode "Going to the Bathroom" has Hello Kitty wet her pants, and we don't see or hear it; we just hear her scream, and cut to the pants being washed.
- Mistress Kanan is Devilishly Easy: In episode 7, Jeanne runs to the bathroom at the conclusion of a Potty Emergency sequence, but while on the way she suddenly stops, blushes, and sighs in relief as the background shifts to an image of a flowing creek.
- While Ojamajo Doremi usually averts this, there were two instances where this trope was played straight:
- In episode 7, Pop wets herself after failing to reach a park's toilet, but there's no visible puddle or dampness when she gives the washing machine Doremi summons her undies.
- In episode 2 of Dokkan!, Hana-chan yells "Toilet!" to use the bathroom. After she leaves, we cut back to the class, where we learn that she transformed into a witch apprentice to play pranks on the students.
- Sound of the Sky: Kanata's episode-long potty emergency is resolved in this manner. After stumbling to the ground in her attempt to run to the bathroom, she knows that any further movement will mean that it'll be over. Her squadmates, unaware of her plight, eagerly help her back up, and all poor Kanata can do is give a Big "NO!" as the camera pans to a shooting star in the sky.
- Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki: In "The Night Before The Carnival", the episode starts with Tenchi trying to go use the bathroom while Ryoko, overprotective of him after the fight with Kagato, hovers around him. The most we see is Tenchi sitting down before noticing Ryoko peeking through the wall with her phasing powers, but beyond that nothing more.
- Those Who Hunt Elves: In episode 2 of season 2, Junpei finally resolves his Potty Emergency, but we only see him grunting and then looking very relieved, while the chart that was measuring his desperation empties out.
- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: In episode four, Mirai has to poop after eating a cake. After the line for the public toilets is too long, she runs back to Mari who has a disposable toilet. It then cuts to Mari and Yuuki waiting patiently by a bush and then Mirai washing her hands, meaning that she did drop a deuce.
Comic Books
- Dog Man (Dav Pilkey): In the first book, security footage of DogMan taking a dump is shown, but him actually pooping is just out of frame.
Films — Animation
- In Elio, the titular character stops to use a port-a-potty in the first scene after the Distant Prologue, but the only thing that's shown is the door opening and the only thing that's heard is his sigh of relief.
- Up: While in the rainforest, Russell tells Carl that he needs to go. He goes off to do his business and isn't shown again until after he's finished, which is when he meets "Kevin".
- Toy Story 5: Bonnie's soon-to-be friend Blaze is shown exiting the bathroom after flushing, impressing her old potty training toy Smarty Pants.
Films — Live-Action
- Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn spends the entire film trying to get Cassie to expel the priceless diamond she swallowed. Later when the characters are eating Mexican food, Cassie gets up to defecate, with the characters being able to hear her grunting.
- Blue Beetle: While working at Victoria's mansion, Milagro asks Jaime to be lookout while she takes a shit in the fancy bathroom. A few minutes later, the toilet is heard flushing and she walks out with a sigh of relief.
- Daddy Day Care: At the beginning of the movie, Ben goes to the bathroom, but all that's heard is the toilet flushing.
- In Devon's Ghost: Legend of the Bloody Boy, there's a scene where several characters have a conversation in the school restroom while one of the characters spends the entire time on a toilet. However, there are no sound or visual cues to indicate he is using it as intended.
- Dora and the Lost City of Gold: At one point, the main characters run past Sammy while she's defecating in a hole, much to her embarrassment. No actual defecation is seen or heard, but her sigh of relief and her yelling at them to look away indicates that she was filling the hole with a nasty sight.
- You wouldn't expect to find this trope in a James Bond movie, but in The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond seduces a belly dancer who wears in her navel the flattened golden bullet that killed her lover Agent 002, who was murdered by the titular villain while in bed with her. While Bond is getting busy with her, he picks the bullet out with his teeth but accidentally swallows it when they're attacked by goons. He dispatches them and escapes, then hails a cab and asks to go to the nearest pharmacy. In the next scene he's with Q examining the bullet, implying that he'd taken a laxative to "fast track" the bullet out of his body.
Bond: Do you have any idea what it had to go through to get here?!
- Rat Race: Randy's daughter Kimberly has to poop while in the middle of the competition. Unwilling to pull the car over, he has her aim her behind out the window and tells her to push. The film later cuts to Kimberly sitting normally in the car and one of the cops who pulled the family over wiping their windshield, indicating Kimberly did poop, but it landed somewhere very hazardous to other drivers.
- Two Weeks Notice: While in the middle of traffic, Lucy's stomach starts acting up. With no bathroom nearby, George helps her to an RV and asks the family if she can use their bathroom. They agree and Lucy rushes in and sits on the toilet. It then cuts to George and the family as they awkwardly hear her groaning and kicking the walls out of reflex from the "explosions" she releases.
- The Wrecking Crew (2026): When the Yakuza interrupt Jonny Hale mid-piss, we hear his urination but never actually see it.
Literature
- Axtara: There are sporadic references to characters going to use the latrine/privy/middens without the narrative ever going into more detail about it. This is especially notable in Magic and Mischief when Axtara the dragon and Princess Mia the human magically swap species and, among other kinds of Stumbling in the New Form, have to relearn how to use a toilet; we are told of the new preparations they have to make beforehand (Axtara has to remove articles of clothing, while Mia has to lift her new tail), but it never gets more explicit than that.
Live-Action TV
- A Word of St. Paul example in 24: According to Kiefer Sutherland, the Memetic Mutation of "When does Jack Bauer have time to use the bathroom?" was funny enough for him and the show's producers to actually film a scene where Bauer was going to raid an office, but first went to use the bathroom and emerged nine seconds later very much relieved. The scene did not make it to air, however.
- The Brittas Empire:
- In "Stop Thief!", Carole enthusiastically opens up the nappy of her baby son Ben to show Brittas the evidence that points to Ben having eaten a missing £5. The nappy is completely clean-looking even after being opened.
- In "The Stuff of Dreams", Carole tells Helen that the nappy of her infant daughter Emily needs to be changed. She doesn't specify the contents of the nappy, although she makes a wafting motion that suggests that Emily pooped in her nappy. When the camera later briefly cuts to Carole changing the nappy, it is completely clean.
- Kirby Buckets: In "Kirby to the Max," Mandy has to poop and the bathroom is occupied. With no other options, she grabs a mop bucket and runs off screen to do her business. Belinda sees this and comments that Mandy's face is the look of intestinal distress, meaning that Mandy did unleash a fury into the bucket.
Video Games
- Animal Crossing:
- In New Leaf, sitting on any toilet initially will act as a chair, but if you get up, a flushing sound will play.
- In New Horizons: If you eat food and then sit down on a toilet, there is a flushing sound and your energy meter (filled by eating) gradually depletes to 0/10. The game then says "And that takes care of that!"
- Jump King Quest: When escaping the Redfin Prison, the upper half of its Warden is seen through a hole in the background wall, where he's stuck on his personal latrine fighting some bowel problems with all of his might, straining himself in his dialogue and gripping the crumbling wall hard for stability. He can see the player, but is unable to intervene just yet, just futilely orders the player mudman into going back to his cell. The Warden gets up in time for his bossfight.
- Story of Seasons:
- Story of Seasons (2014): Once your house is upgraded enough to have a bathroom, using it restores 10 of your 100 stamina (once per in-game hour), but the only sound heard is running water for washing your hands; once you exit, you'll comment that that felt "great". (If you then try to use it again immediately, you'll say you just went and will go again when "the urge returns.") This is carried over to Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns.
- Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life does the same thing in your upgraded house after you have a partner and kid, with the sound of running water indicating you've washed your hands.
- World of Assassination Trilogy: Frequently subverted, as visible streams of urine can be seen if an NPC goes to the toilet, though some maps play this trope straight, where an NPC can be heard going, yet no stream or sounds are seen or heard, except for some diegetic sighing.
Western Animation
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Nuisance", Gumball pees in a urinal (which is revealed to be part of an art exhibit when the camera zooms out), yet his stream is not visible and no sound effects are heard.
- The Animaniacs episode "Potty Emergency" ends with Wakko finally making it in time to a restroom and sighing in relief with no peeing noises to be heard.
- The Fairly OddParents!: In "Odd Jobs", Timmy's Dad becomes an astronaut, and he mentions that his suit has a built-in toilet that beeps when he uses it. The beeping becomes a minor Running Gag from then on.
- Kindergarten: The Musical: In "Gotta Go", Berti finally runs into the bathroom after holding it for most of the episode, only to state that she didn't make it. We don't get to see the mess, however, as she's behind a door the whole time.
- The Loud House:
- In "Undie Pressure," Lori runs to the bathroom off screen to poop after drinking a six-week-old milkshake. Lisa runs after her to complete her fecal study. All off screen are the sounds of a door opening, Lori screaming in embarrassment and Lisa's being impressed by the amount of feces that just came out of Lori.
- In "Intern for the Worse," Lynn's teammates return to Flip's Food & Fuel after their victory at their sports game to use the bathroom. The last teammate, Margo, walks out later, telling Lincoln and Clyde that she's sorry about the mess she and her team made while defecating.
- In "Tripped!", Lana poops behind a bush and she tells her family to watch their step, but no poop can be seen.
- Muppet Babies (2018): At the end of "Animal and the Little Accident", Animal makes a mad dash to the bathroom, only to say he didn't make it, but he looks completely dry.
- Nina Needs to Go! does the "only a sigh of relief" variant whenever Nina finds a toilet.
- In Rugrats, the episode "Potty Training Spike" has Spike the dog pee on a tree several times, and then Chuckie and his friends do it, but we don't see the pee.
- The Simpsons: In "The Cartridge Family", Homer has a Potty Emergency while waiting for the gun store to open; when it does, he immediately runs off-screen into the bathroom and all we get to hear is "Aah, that's the stuff!" followed by the toilet flushing.
- Stōked: Emma makes it to a bathroom after a Potty Emergency in episode 8. After the scene shifts to an exterior shot of the house, only the sounds of rushing water, a sigh of relief, and the flushing of a toilet can be heard.
- Teen Titans Go!:
- In the episode "Caged Tiger," Beast Boy has a Potty Failure, but we don't hear any peeing noises, only grunts.
- The episode "Serious Business" has a musical number called "The Pee-Pee Dance" that has a moment where Robin wets himself that is shown from the top up.
- In the episode "Monster Squad," Starfire while dressed as a mummy has to poop. It then cuts to her using one of the toilet paper rolls to wipe her butt, meaning she now feels a few pounds lighter.
- The episode "Whodundidit?" has Raven rush to the bathroom in Wayne Manor. All behind a closed door is the sound of an explosion and a green haze making its way from behind the door, meaning Raven excreted something truly demonic.
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies has a scene in which several characters poop in a prop toilet, but we don't hear them go.
- We Bare Bears does this twice. In one episode, Grizz has a Potty Failure, but the only indication of this is the narration and the characters' reactions. And in a short focused on the baby bears where Panda is having a Potty Emergency, the only part of the resulting potty failure shown is his facial expression changing and the woman holding him suddenly becoming grossed out.
- Zig-zagged in Winston's Potty Chair; a few of the characters are specifically shown peeing a few times. Winston wets himself twice, once when he awakens from a dream where he is splashed by a wave at the beach, and again when he is distracted with reading a book about dinosaurs and forgets to use his potty (in the latter, visible pee is even shown). His older brother, Tony, is also shown peeing in a toilet when Winston first tries to use his potty (complete with an audible noise). However, every time Winston or his best friend Molly are shown using a potty or toilet, the contents are neither specified nor shown, and no peeing noises are heard.