Banister Slide: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Any comedy whose set includes an elaborate staircase with a long, swooping banister will inevitably require someone to slide down that banister. Such slides are always rear-end first.

 

Half of the time, the slider will [[Oh Crap|not realize until it's too late]] that there's a finial at the very bottom just waiting to [[Groin Attack|hit them in the crotch]]. The other half of the time, either there is no finial (as is the case in the opening to ''[[Wait Till Your Father Gets Home]]'') or it will break off harmlessly when the slider hits it. In either of these cases, the slider then ends up sprawled uninjured on the floor.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Shrek]]'' does this facing forward, and has to deal with the finial problem the hard way. Fortunately, ogres are tough.

'''Audience:''' [[No Indoor Voice|THE BANISTER'S LUCKY!]] }}

* ''[[Sister Act]] II'': Whoopi Goldberg does this dressed as a nun.

 

== Literature ==

* ''The Queen's Museum and Other Fanciful Tales'', short story "The Christmas Truants". The boy Tomtit does one of these while the title characters are trying to escape the castle of a band of robbers.

 

* In ''[[The Tenth Kingdom|The 10th Kingdom]]'', the false Prince Wendell enters his coronation party by jumping on a banister and sliding down into the crowd.

* In ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'', Paul Merton claimed that "sliding down the banister" was the appropriate method before toilet paper was invented. When it was pointed out that this would make the bannister unusable for its intended purpose, he retorted that "of course you had your shit bannister and then you had your hand bannister. You don't see them nowadays because they were all melted down during [[World War Two]] to make Spitfires".

* Red Skelton told a story about his son Richard sliding down the banister. Richard says, "You know that vase with 'Whistler's Mother' on it? The old girl just had a nervous breakdown!" Red goes on to say that Richard told him he wouldn't do that again- "I was going south and I met a splinter going north!"

* On ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', Lorelai pretends to try/actually tries to persuade Rory to slide down the banister at her debutante ball. Rory doesn't do it.

* [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] on ''[[QI]]'' of course. And, of course, plenty of buzzers went off on the mention of the word 'bannister'. Apparently, the correct term is 'balustrade' for the top part, and 'baluster' for the uprights.

'''Phill Jupitus:''' Did you hit yourself on the knob at the end? }}

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Nemo and Flip slide down a very long and winding banister in ''[[Little Nemo]] in Slumberland'', which ends up going in zig-zags, wavy bumps, and cork screws. It was later also done in the movie.

 

 

== Theatre ==

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Moonwalker]]'': Done as an attack animation in the [[Sega Genesis]] port.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The opening sequence to each episode of popular Czech bedtime story ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kZR15n191k&feature=related Mach a Sebestova]'' shows the boy sliding and blinking with his ear to signal turns.

* The opening sequence to the ''[[Dennis the Menace US|Dennis the Menace]]'' cartoon showed Dennis doing this. He may have done it a time or two in the live-action TV series as well.

** In "The Wise-Quacking Duck", [[Daffy Duck]] comes down the banister just fine, but then turns a statue holding a spear so that the tip gets his pursuer.

** In "Napoleon Bunny-parte", [[Bugs Bunny]] is being chased by Napoleon (yes ''[[Napoleon Bonaparte|that]]'' Napoleon) down a banister, while a guard is waiting at the bottom with a bayonet. Bugs gets off early, so it's "Nappy" who gets the point in the end.

** Bart occasionally slides down the banister.

** Homer and Marge comment that [[Mary Poppins|Shary Bobbins]] butt waxed the banister, too.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]