Sometimes, a good joke has a great punchline, but none of the characters are witty enough to know it, or a story can't move forward since none of the characters know some crucial skill or fact. What's an author to do? Toss them the Smart Ball! Mind, excessive use of this trope can be considered negatively if an author has to resort to this sort of thing too often, using it essentially as a Deus Ex Machina to get the heroes out of a tight spot or to railroad a plot in a given direction. If it's a comedy though, no one minds thanks to the Rule of Funny. Examples of Smart Ball include: