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Basic Trope: The witness called to the stand is an animal or an inanimate object.
- Played Straight: Tropey the Wonder Dog is called to the witness stand to testify.
- Exaggerated: The witness in question is a goldfish in a bowl.
- The witness is a water cooler. When asked a question, a bubble comes up through the cooler.
- Downplayed: The witness in question is a talking parrot.
- Inverted: A human being (or in fantasy-type settings, perhaps one of the Fair Folk) is called to testify.
- The lawyers and judge are animals, while the witnesses are all human.
- Justified: Tropey is a Talking Animal or Funny Animal and therefore can speak.
- Tropey is called up by a Bunny Ears Lawyer who doesn't seem to know what he's doing, but actually does.
- Subverted: Bob is called to the witness stand, and brings Tropey up there with him.
- Double Subverted: But Bob is an interpreter for Tropey.
- Deconstructed: This wouldn't hold up in any Real Life courtroom, and is usually done when the lawyer is getting desperate.
- Reconstructed: The lawyer has done his homework, and only calls up material witnesses. Since Tropey is a material witness, and able to speak and reason, the lawyer is justified in calling him up to testify.
- Alternatively, see "Defied"
- Parodied: The witness called to the stand is Mr. Stilton...a wedge of cheese.
- Lampshaded: "I now call Tropey the Wonder Dog as my next witness..."
- Averted: Nothing that isn't human is called up to testify.
- Enforced: "We need to liven up this comedic series' courtroom episode with some Courtroom Antics!"
- Invoked: The case is getting desperate, and Bernie the Attorney's client is facing life in Prison.
- Defied: Bernie knows that no one would take a dog seriously, and that a dog cannot legally testify (even if it does talk), and so calls only relevant human witnesses or experts and hopes for the best.
- Discussed: "Did he just call the dog to testify?!"
- Conversed: "That wouldn't hold up in any court. Well, OK, maybe in Ruritania."
- Played For Laughs: Almost always is.
- Played For Drama: Bernie's client is losing the case badly, despite being innocent; calling up Tropey is a desperate last-ditch tactic to turn the trial around.