Squeeze Toy Aliens: [in unison] You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!
Mr. Potato Head: Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.
[some scenes later, same characters]
Squeeze Toy Aliens: You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!
[Mr. Potato Head awkwardly slinks away]
[some more scenes later]
Squeeze Toy Aliens: You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!
Mr. Potato Head: Would you three just leave me alone?
Mr. Potato Head: Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.
[some scenes later, same characters]
Squeeze Toy Aliens: You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!
[Mr. Potato Head awkwardly slinks away]
[some more scenes later]
Squeeze Toy Aliens: You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!
Mr. Potato Head: Would you three just leave me alone?
When someone does something nice for you, it's only polite to thank them. Some characters, however, take it to the extreme and can't stop thanking their benefactor. Reminding them of their good deed at every turn and even wanting to repay them somehow.
Frequently, the good deed is really just that big of a deal, such as saving someone's life or getting rid of a tyrant. It also can happen that, for the Good Samaritan, it was only a small, inconsequential act of kindness, while for the assisted person, it greatly improved their life.
There are three common takes on this that can overlap. For it to be Played for Laughs as the gratitude is taken to such an absurd degree that it becomes a Running Gag or a heartwarming moment —the latter, especially when either party is someone unaccustomed to the most basic human decency. On the less wholesome end of the spectrum, some characters might use this as an excuse to fuss over someone or have them lower their guard for malicious purposes (see Confound Them with Kindness).
Whether they are humble heroes or just feeling harassed by the excessive gratitude, some characters might end up answering with a short Think Nothing of It. Other recipients, on the other hand, will preen under the attention like overgrown peacocks.
Compare Apologizes a Lot, for characters who are profuse in their apologies rather than in their gratitude. If two people engage in an "endless thanking each other" routine, then you have Overly Polite Pals, those characters who take manners to the extreme. May overlap with I Owe You My Life.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Witch Hat Atelier: Tetia loves being thanked for helping people, so much that she constantly thanks people for thanking her.
Fan Works
World of Warcraft
- Horde Champion: Since she killed the Lich King, Anevay is constantly thanked by Thalassian citizens for avenging them every time she's in elf territory. Something that, considering she is also a blood elf, happens a lot. It's Played for Drama because Anevay feels alienated from her peers who, while genuinely grateful, have stopped seeing her as a person with feelings. She's just their idolized hero, a mere symbol to flaunt in their celebrations.
Films — Animation
- Toy Story 2: Played for Laughs. After Mr. Potato Head saves them from getting thrown out of the pizza truck, the three Squeeze Toy Aliens decide they owe him their life and can't stop thanking him, even unprompted at random scenes later. So much that their Catchphrase lampshades it.
- Wizards: Following the demise of the wicked wizard Blackwolf, and the defeat of his mutant armies, the heroic party prepares to head homeward. Weehawk finds a cowering Larry nearby and hoists Blackwolf's minion by the tail. "Let him go," advises Avatar. "Without his master, he's harmless." Weehawk drops Larry, who scuttles away, bowing and thanking the heroes for leaving him intact. The gratitude doesn't stop until Larry is out of view over a hilltop.
Literature
- Pride and Prejudice: Collins is excessively grateful for any consideration shown to him, especially by his social superiors. He often expresses gratitude to Lady Catherine deBourgh when she's not even in the room. Or in the same county.
Live-Action TV
- The Closer: Brenda has a habit of saying "Thank you" a lot; most scenes she appears in will have her say it at least once or twice, even if the person she is talking to has done nothing to deserve her gratitude.
- Lucifer (2016): In "Family Dinner", when God wants to have a family dinner at Linda's, she starts the evening by saying grace, and quickly realizes that God is actually sitting at the dinner table. She gets nervous and starts thanking God for everything in the universe.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: The show itself harbors this attitude toward its viewership. The credits have a "special thanks" section in which they always honor educators, the fanbase, and the authors of the First Amendment.
- Seinfeld: Discussed and Deconstructed in "The Face Painter". Jerry is thankful about Alec Berg giving hockey tickets to him and some of his friends. However, he refuses to continue doing it every time he interacts with him, which puts him at odds with Alec when he asks if he and his friends can score more tickets.
- Star Trek: Discovery: In "Choose Your Pain ", Mudd repeatedly says "Thank you" when Tyler volunteers himself to get beaten by the Klingons. He changes his tune very quickly when it turns out to be a ruse on Tyler's part so that he and Lorca can escape while leaving Mudd behind.
Music
- Big Science: "Let X=X" has a long list of thanks, some rather unusual.
Theatre
- The Barber of Seville: Played for Laughs. After Count Almaviva pays the musicians he hired to serenade Rosina in the wee hours of the morning, the musicians shower him with loud, lavish thanks, while the Count and his servant Fiorello try in vain to quiet them down and stop them from waking the whole street.
Video Games
- Fate/Grand Order: When Lahmu Siduri sacrifices herself to save the wounded Enkidu, she wishes him well in his life and states that she's really glad that she was able to thank him for everything he's done for their king Gilgamesh. Her last words are a string of "thank you"s.
Lahmu: Ahh— I'm glad. I'm glad, I was, able to, say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank, you—
- Genshin Impact: In her voice line about Fischl, Noelle notes how the Prinzessin thanks her profusely whenever she gives her cookies while Fischl is reading in the library.
- The Lord of the Rings Online: Nona is very grateful to the player for all they have done for her and for taking her world trotting. That she doesn't shy from expressing it often goes to prove that she's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Yo-kai Watch: Introduced in Yo-kai Watch 3, Pergushin is a sentient drum Yo-kai who causes people to thank and compliment others for the most minor things; with his entry in the Mediallium Breaking the Fourth Wall by thanking you for reading the entry. His evolution, the Percrushionists, do the same thing, though only to suck up to people.
Webcomics
- Cyanide and Happiness: In this strip
, a man is dangling from a cliff. Another man comes along and saves him, and the first man begins to loudly and profusely thank his rescuer, declaring that he owes him his life and promising to serve his "Master" loyally. The issue? The man in danger is Black, and his rescuer—who is firmly aware of the Unfortunate Implications of the conversation—is white ("Seriously, don't mention it").
- Pebble and Wren: Pebble will thank inanimate objects when feeling extra thankful.
Web Videos
- Vinesauce: Subverted. GPM_ebooks snatches any opportunity it gets to express gratitude to people and claim it's very thankful for its friends. However, the Twitter bot is very much obsessed with murder, so all this act is just a bunch of Blatant Lies.
Western Animation
- George of the Jungle (2007): Deconstructed and Parodied in 'Don't Thank Me'. Ursula and George start trying to one-up each other in thanking Ape for saving their lives, but it starts to get on Ape's nerves so much (especially when their attempts to thank him inflict severe misfortune onto him) that he actually tries to get away from them. It eventually gets to the point where saying "thank you" causes something bad to happen.
- Looney Tunes Cartoons: In "Duck, Duck, Boom!", Elmer goes duck hunting by feeding Daffy a bomb disguised as bread. An overly thankful Daffy won't stop following him to thank him and keeps trying to repay him all while his stomach is still ticking.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- "Sweet and Elite": Princess Celestia allows Rarity to stay in a big, luxurious room in her castle while she’s visiting Canterlot. Rarity loves the room and she’s so grateful that she thanks the princess several times while kissing her hooves.
- "Baby Cakes": Pinkie Pie is supremely relieved that her friends come to her aid when she realizes babysitting is a lot more difficult than she initially thought. She thanks them thrice and then proceeds to admit the babies don't listen to her and that they have an awful taste in stand-up comedy.
- The Simpsons: In "Puffless", Homer, after going through the trauma of seeing Patty naked in the shower, decides to spare Bart from the same fate by bleaching his eyes. After Bart angrily demands to know why he did that, Homer exclaims "I did that with love, boy!" Patty steps out of the shower, leading Bart to hug Homer while profusely thanking him, to Patty's exasperation.