At times like these, Boo-Boo really regrets helping Yogi to get all those pic-a-nic baskets.
Bunk beds are a type of furniture that's seen as a fun and convenient way to save space and money, and just have a unique place to sleep.
Or so we think.
While the top bunk of such a bed is a place (real or imagined) of excitement, mystique, and prestige, the bottom bunk is supposedly the darkened, forgotten, or lonely place that no one wants to sleep at. Aside from not simply being in an elevated and considerably "better" position, woe be it if they're stuck underneath a heavier person who takes up their already limited space, and even worse if that person is a flatulent Gasshole. Sub-Trope of There Is Only One Bed, as these characters face many of the same struggles with an added vertical dimension.
Although it's often a style of bed for children, adults use them as well, especially on a ship, in the military, or while incarcerated. These settings can be stressful anyway, with Roommate Drama between bunkmates who may dislike each other but have no choice about sharing limited space. The hated lower bunk may be just a part of the user's chagrin.
See also Wacky Waterbed and Murphy's Bed for other trendy but odd places to sleep. For other bedtime-related annoyances, see Sleep Squashing, Clingy Sleepers, and Blanket Tug O' War.
Examples:
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Comedy
- Mike Harding spoke in his stand-up comedy act about "having to tread water in the shallow end" of the lower bunk.
Comic Books
- Mickey Mouse Comic Universe: One story has Mickey and Pete be forced to share a room for a period of time. Mickey is initially fine with taking the bottom bunk, but one panel shows him struggling to sleep because the bunk above him is visibly straining to hold Pete's weight.
- The Punisher: In The Cell, Frank (gives himself up so he) gets sent to Ryker's where he gets a bottom bunk. Frank being Frank, he murders his cellmate to take the top bunk, and thus able to leave once prisoners attempt to kill him and end up attacking the corpse.
Comic Strips
- Curtis: In a series of strips from 2016, Curtis and his younger brother Barry get into an argument over who will get which bunk in their new bunk bed. Atypically, both want the bottom bunk. Curtis ultimately gives in after realizing Barry drank six glasses of water just before bedtime, taking the top just in case his brother wets the bed.
Fan Works
- How about... No! (Miraculous Ladybug): Implied when Adrien and Chloé fight over who gets to claim the top bunk... in Marinette's bedroom.
Aurore: They know this isn't their room, right?
Marinette: [Face Palming] I don't even know anymore. - Travels of the Trifecta!: Inverted in chapter 8, where it mentions that Paul chose the bottom bunk when staying at Conway's house because he felt that Conway would be less likely to act creepy from above compared to below.
Films — Animation
- Monsters University: Mike Wazowski ends up covered in James Sullivan's fur when they get into the bunkbeds and Mike gets the bottom bunk, much to his disgust. This fades later and Mike is shown taking the bottom bunk without any distaste.
- Treasure Planet: Jim Hawkins gets a hammock to sleep in while serving as cabin boy aboard the RLS Legacy. Above him is the hammock of Mister Zopf, an alien gasbag with multiple flaccid outlets. One of Zopf's exhaust tubes dangles near Jim's face, and emits an odorous air stream that awakens Jim.
Films — Live-Action
- Zig-zagged in Black Sheep (1996). When Mike and Steve arrive at the cabin to lay low and keep the latter out of the public eye, Mike immediately calls dibs on the top bunk. This backfires on him when the roof flies off the cabin just in time for hail to start falling. Then it backfires on Steve (who's in the middle of teasing him for picking the top) when the strained, badly-sagging mattress finally gives out and drops Mike's full weight on top of him.
- Home Alone: Kevin's being left behind is partly caused by his taking the attic room after refusing to share a bunk with his cousin, protesting, "He's gonna pee all over me!"
- An Officer and a Gentleman: When arriving at the barracks, Mayo sprints up the stairs ahead of everyone else, gets to their room, and sees that he's supposed to get a bottom bunk (a helmet with his name on it is on the bunk). He switches helmets with one on a top bunk. When the other officer cadets arrive, the one he switched with is not happy to see he's in a bottom bunk.
- The R.M.: Upon returning home after his mission, Jared Phelps is relegated to the bottom bunk in his old room with his Tongan roommate, Tumu, who's much larger than him and accidentally crushes him with the mattress, causing Jared to injure his neck.
- In Slap Her... She's French, after Starla is arrested for disorderly conduct, she ends up in a cell with a burly inmate who takes the top bunk and farts in her face while she's asleep.
- Downplayed in Step Brothers; Brennan and Dale, after becoming best friends, enthusiastically end up assembling their beds to be like bunk beds (in spite of not having the skills or proper equipment to do so) and after Dale jumps on his top bed, it collapses on Brennan. (He was fine though, only receiving a small scrape on his arm).
- In Tango & Cash, after the titular duo is framed for murder and sentenced, Cash winds up with a heavyset and domineering cellmate who takes the top bunk, won't let him use the cell's only toilet, and whose bulk both nearly crushes him as he lies in the bed underneath, but who also passes gas in his face after he tries to move around to get some sleep.
- In the 2005 remake of Yours, Mine, and Ours, Frank's young twin boys are arguing over who gets the top bunk and who gets the bottom bunk in their new room. Frank tries to defuse the argument by pointing out he always preferred the bottom bunk in the Navy, until one boy points out that his brother is a bed wetter, justifying his argument.
Literature
- Alexis Carew: Played for Laughs in HMS Nightingale. Midshipman Roland starts making Double Entendres about whether Alexis's roommate Midshipman Easley prefers the top or bottom bunk, saying "you'll never find me on the bottom, I assure you". Deadpan Snarker Alexis replies, "I'm sorry to hear your repertoire is so limited, sir. Perhaps with more experience, you’ll achieve some versatility". All the other middies promptly bust out laughing.
- In All Quiet on the Western Front Paul recounts one sergeant's attempt to "cure" two bed-wetting soldiers by assigning them to the same bunk bed and alternate bunks. The expectation being that whoever was on the bottom would get dripped on and "convince" the top bunk to stop pissing in his sleep. The result was that they'd alternate sleeping on the ground instead.
- American Girls Collection: In the short story "Princess Caroline and Me", Paige is vacationing with her mom, her stepdad and her stepsister Caroline. They immediately get off on the wrong foot when Caroline claims the top bunk the second they enter the cottage.
- In The Berenstain Bears, Brother and Sister share a bunk bed and Sister has the top bunk. In The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, their fight starts in the morning when Sister accidentally dangles her feet in Brother's face.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: In "Old School", Greg is at summer camp, and he is put in a bunkroom with several other boys. He hopes that he doesn't end up in a bunk under a nebbish boy named Julian Trimble because he fears Julian may wet the bed.
- Justified in The Famous Five book Five Go Off In A Caravan. At first, Anne takes the bottom bunk, but Timmy the dog keeps trying to jump up on to George's bunk, disturbing Anne, so Anne and George swap bunks.
Live-Action TV
- 1000 Ways to Die: In the segment “Bed Buggered”, a nerd finds himself repeatedly “sexiled” by his jock of a roommate. When the nerd finally gets himself a girlfriend, the jock decides to lie on the bottom bunk while they have fun on top. But the couples commotion ends with them falling onto him, causing fatal skull fractures.
- Dad's Army: A minor recurring joke, most notably in "A Soldier's Farewell" is Mainwaring being forced to sleep in the uncomfortable bunk bed in his cramped Anderson bomb shelter in the garden, even on occasions when there isn't an air raid going on due to the demands of his paranoid, neurotic and cold wife Elizabeth. In such situations, Mainwaring always has to sleep in the bottom bunk to his discomfort, whilst his much larger and heavier wife takes the top causing the mattress to sag down considerably making the tiny space even smaller for him.
- Frasier: One episode has Frasier humiliate Niles by talking on his show about "someone" who wet the bed late into childhood, giving the game away while trying to remember a detail by musing, "You'd think I'd remember; I had the bottom bunk..."
- Discussed in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Will tells Uncle Phil not to take the top bunk of a bed from Aunt Vivian when they were visiting his mother back in Philly, citing gravity and all.
- Hey Dude!: In "Ted and Brad Get Handcuffed," the two characters bicker over sleeping arrangements, having to use bunk beds while still cuffed together. Brad didn't want the bottom bunk, however, because sleeping on her back causes her leg to cramp up.
- How I Met Your Mother: When Ted and Marshall were college roommates, this was Inverted: Ted was top bunk and Marshall (due to being tall) was bottom bunk. Ted mentions in the pilot having been around for all of Marshall and Lily's firsts, because "It's physics, Marshall. When the bottom bunk moves, the top bunk moves too." Other flashbacks show the bottom bunk made it easier for Lily and Marshall to do things together, like watching Predator on Valentine's Day.
- Married... with Children:
- One episode inverts this: Al and Peg end up trying out a variety of beds, one of which is a bunk bed. When Al takes the top bunk and gains peace in sleeping away from Peg, his vengeful wife kicks up on the bottom of his bed and sends him plummeting off the bed, through the floor, and onto the living room couch below. To this, Peg then says, "You're right; bunk beds are fun!"
- Discussed in another episode, where Al cites various Would Rather Suffer, including who he would rather sleep in a bunk bed underneath Oprah.
- Monk: In "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever", the gang is hiding out in a cabin in the woods protecting Monk, who witnessed a Mob hit. He and Stottlemeyer have to share a room with bunk beds. After much discussion, Monk agrees to take the bottom bunk and they sleep with their heads at opposite ends. During the night, Stottlemeyer's foot slips off the edge and dangles in front of Monk's face. Monk gently pushes it back up, but it slips off again. This time, he holds his nose for a second, then gets up, removes the sash from his bathrobe, and ties Stottlemeyer's ankle tightly to the top of the bedpost. Monk gets up in the night to look out the window because he hears something. This wakes up the Captain who attempts to get out of bed but falls flat on his face with his tied leg sticking straight up as he screams.
- Inverted in Orange Is the New Black. In "Work That Body for Me" incoming inmate Hapakuka is assigned to be Piper's bunkmate. Piper immediately tries (and fails) to boss her around by telling her she needs to take the top bunk. Hapakuka refuses, using bad knees as an excuse.
- Porridge: Discussed in "A Night In", when Godber is assigned to share a cell with Fletch, in an attempt to soften matters (as Fletch is unhappy to no longer have his own cell) he offers to take the lower bunk, as he knows the top implies dominance. Fletch bluntly lets him know that for exactly that reason he'll be taking the bottom bunk regardless of how he feels on the matter. With the two sharing this arrangement for the rest of the series.
- Red Dwarf: Inverted; the bottom bunk is preferable because it's bigger, and Rimmer gets it because he outranks Lister. In "Me2", Lister's delighted when Rimmer moves out because now he gets the bottom bunk.
Theater
- In the 1938 stage adaptation of Of Mice and Men, George claims the top bunk in the bunkhouse so he's not sleeping underneath the much heavier Lennie, making this trope at least Older Than Television.
- Peter Pan Goes Wrong: Occurs unintentionally in-universe, as when the Darling children (Sandra, Max, and Dennis) try to go to sleep in their three-tier bunk bed, the top two bunks collapse, leaving Max trapped in the middle bunk under Sandra's weight, and Dennis trapped on the bottom under both Sandra's and Max's combined weights.
Annie/Mrs. Darling: And you, sweet John, are you feeling sleepy?Dennis/John: ARGHHHH!
Video Games
- In Paper Mario 64, Luigi writes in his penultimate diary entry that he made a wish upon a shooting star but then attempts to erase the wish he wrote down on account of it being embarrassing though as it happens, it can still be faintly read. It turns out that Luigi's wish was to be able to sleep in the top bunk bed for a change.
Web Animation
- Natural Habitat Shorts: In "Cuckoo Killer
", a young cockatiel is forced to be on the bottom bunk beneath his terrifying brother Robert. Robert is actually a cuckoo who, just like real life, wants to murder his siblings to get all his parents' food and attention. The cockatiel wakes up to Robert removing the screws from the bunk bed frame, with the implication that he'll "accidentally" crush his brother in the night.
Webcomics
- Brawl in the Family: The two Bunkmates strips feature King Dedede bunking with other characters from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and suffering. Both Lucario and Bowser have spikes that pierce the top mattress scaring King Dedede below, Charizard sets the bed on fire, Captain Falcon, yells "FALCON SLEEP" over and over in his sleep, Olimar's Pikmin scare King Dedede and Kirby inhales King Dedede. The Alt Text for the second Bunkmates strip lampshades this and tells Dedede to call dibs on the top bunk next time... which , wouldn't have helped with the other Bunkmates.
- In Wally and Osborne when the two titular protagonists, a polar bear and a penguin respectively, share a bunk bed Wally calls dibs on the top bunk. He wishes Osborne a good night and wonders why his penguin friend doesn't answer... it turns out this is because the top bunk has collapsed, trapping Osborne in the bed.
Western Animation
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: A rare case of this being an Inverted Trope in Shadow of The Bat!, while stuck on the Watchtower, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have a heated argument of who gets to sleep on the top bunk, with the bottom bunk being the preferred bed by both. The arguing leaves them unaware of the Vampired Batman coming for them.
- Family Guy: In "Death Has a Shadow" when Peter and Brian are sent to jail for disrupting the Super Bowl via a blimp, Peter immediately calls the top bunk, jumps on it, and sandwiches Brian below.
- Jackie Chan Adventures: In one episode, Jackie sleeps on the bottom bunk while his friend Tohru sleeps on the top, causing the bed to bend under his weight. Aside from unintentionally bumping his head when he wakes up, Jackie doesn't really suffer from this sleeping arrangement, but one can only imagine what might've happened if the top bunk's supports could no longer handle Tohru's size.
- Kamp Koral: In "Who's Complaining?", Mr. Krabs forces an assignment onto Squidward and threatens to demote him from junior camp counselor if he does not comply. Squidward has a flashback to him sleeping on the bottom bunk, with Patrick sleeping on the underside of the top bunk with a long strand of drool coming from his mouth, about to drip on Squidward.
- Looney Tunes Cartoons: In "Battle of the Bunk", Porky builds a bunk bed for him and Daffy to sleep in. However, both of them want to sleep in the top bunk, and in true Looney Tunes fashion, they spend the entire cartoon fighting over it. After the two build the top all the way to the moon, they settle on sharing the top bunk just for tonight and figuring out who'll get to sleep in it tomorrow night.
- Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart: In the episode, Ultraclops, Badgerclops has to endure having his sleep and privacy disrupted by the antics of Mao Mao and Adorabat from the bottom of their triple bunk bed.
- Phineas and Ferb: In "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!", Phineas and Ferb are sent away to Smile Away Reformatory School when Candace finally succeeds in her goal of busting them. While there, Phineas and Ferb invent the ferris bed, which swaps the positions of each bunk, making trading off easy and fun and gives easy access to the top bunk with the push of a button. Unfortunately for them, the Sergeant is not amused with them and makes them clean the bathroom with toothbrushes as punishment.
- Robot Chicken: A sketch from "Kramer vs. Showgirls" involves two kids getting into a bunk bed, with the smaller kid wisely giving his heavyset friend the bottom bunk. However, in true Robot Chicken fashion, the kid's weight makes the bottom fall up and kill both of them.
- The Simpsons: Downplayed in "Brother from Another Series". After Sideshow Bob and his brother Cecil end up being sent to prison for espionage and attempted murder and wind up in the same cell, they briefly get into a slap fight over who gets the top bunk bed.
- Tiny Toons Looniversity: In the first episode, "Freshman Orien-Toon-tion", when Buster and Plucky share a dorm room, they both call dibs on the top bunk of their bunk bed. They eventually settle on competing to see who can win Bugs Bunny's competition to present the best cartoon gag and get their picture in the Freshman Hall of Fame, with the winner getting the top bunk. In the end, it's Hamton who wins the competition by flooding the auditorium with his tears.
Real Life
- During Metallica's 1986 Master of Puppets tour, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton both wanted the top bunk in the tour bus and settled the dispute by drawing cards. Burton won. Then the tour bus crashed and rolled over in the night, fatally crushing Burton while Hammett survived unharmed.
