Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!/Live-Action TV
- Fawlty Towers: Basil Fawlty becomes hysterical with panic after hiring a cheaper builder against his wife's wishes who botches the hotel's renovations, so Polly smacks him. Apparently, he realized that's what he needed, because he told her to do it again.
- In another episode, he has her do it to one of the guests, who freaks out upon seeing Basil and Polly lugging a dead guest around. Polly decks the old woman with one punch.
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Basil: Oh... spiffing. Absolutely spiffing. Well done. Two dead, twenty-five to go. |
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- In Lost, Hurley does it to Charlie, who is afraid to die due to Desmond's visions, so he can convince Charlie to help him drive a van. Hurley's exact words were:
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Hurley: Snap out of it! Stop feelin' sorry for yourself 'cause someone said you're gonna die! |
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- Locke (or rather the smoke monster) does this to Claire in the sixth season when she freaks out over Kate raising Aaron.
- Inverted (kinda!) in the third season finale of NCIS as Gibbs regains his composure -- and his memories! -- when Ziva hits herself with his hand. Gibbs being a fan of the Dope Slap, that's exactly why Ziva's amnesia cure worked -- she grabbed Gibbs' wrist and walked him through the Gibbs Slap he delivers to his team members Once an Episode, which helped cue his memories of them.
- Spaced. Whenever Tim flashbacks to his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and goes off on a tirade, Mike is expected to slap him in his face. If Mike's not around, Daisy does it.
- In episode 37 of the original Ultraman, Hayata does this to Ide when the latter suffers a Heroic BSOD, causing him to kill one of the monsters himself by blowing it up piece by piece, and then another at the end of the episode.
- Used in the 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "Nightmare on Dick Street" when Dick is looped out on antidepressants.
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Sally: Dick, exactly what did this psychiatrist do to you? |
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- Subverted in the Heroes flashback episode. Angela's heretofore unknown sister starts having a Superpower Meltdown and Dr. Chandra Suresh, Mohinder's father slaps her in an attempt to calm her down. Her father blasts him with a psychic wave, after which the soldiers mow down everybody in the
interment campsecret government experiment to study powerssanctuary for specials. - In one episode of Frasier, Niles convinces himself that he is now a regular, beer-drinking, pool-shooting guy. Only a brotherly slap from Frasier restores him to his Chardonnay-sipping self.
- In another episode, Niles returns the favour by slapping Frasier out of his frenzy (after he had gone as far as to suggest they'd go into a restaurant they wouldn't need a reservation for.)
- In The Wire, Rawls gives McNulty more of a psychological ego-slap when he BSOD's over a partner being shot. Given the chief's sheer level of Jerkassitude, this actually qualifies as a CMOH.
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Rawls: You, McNulty, are a gaping asshole. I know it, and I'll be fucked if everybody in CID doesn't know it. But, I'll also be fucked if I let you sit here and think you did a single fucking thing to get a fucking police shot. Believe it or not, not everything is about you. Get it into your head, McNulty -- it's not on you... and the motherfucker telling you this, he fucking hates your guts. So you know that if it was your fault, I'd be the first son of a bitch to tell you. |
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- Used in the Seinfeld episode "The Puerto Rican Day", where a parade is obstructing the traffic, and Elaine tries to go through underneath a viewing stand, leading a group of people, but they arrive to a brick wall.
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Elaine: Oh, no! I thought-- |
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- In an episode of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Wayne does this to Carter after the latter has been apprehended by F.R.A.N. the security system.
- Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Dagless punches his female co-worker as opposed to just slapping her, in a rather unsubtle sign of the creator's misogyny.
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Liz: Thanks, Dr. Dagless, I was hysterical. |
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- In the Beeb's new Sketch / Skit / Comedy show "We are Klang!", the Ditz of the group runs in thinking his mum's stolen (makes sense in context), and the big guy slaps him and shouts... You know what, this is easier:
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Big guy: Calm down! (smacks him) |
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- In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Naked Time", Kirk does this to Spock. After several slaps, Spock finally retaliates and sends Kirk flying across the room. It does seem to work though.
- He also attempts it on McCoy, under the influence of the Lotus Eater Machine in The Return of the Archons. This one isn't so successful.
- Also parodied in an episode of News Radio where Beth slaps Bill upon news that Mr. James's air balloon has gone down. Bill says, "No, see, I'm supposed to hit you."
- In another episode this is parodied when Catherine says this to Bill and then slaps him. Bill complains because he was completely calm at the time. Catherine regularly slaps any of the male characters who annoy her.
- Another parody in Blackadder. Baldrick and George are trying frantically to remember who George was supposed to write to, to stop Captain Blackadder's execution, until Baldrick grabs a cricket bat and knocks George over the head with it. George says, "No, it hasn't helped." Then Baldrick says, "No, it has, sir!" as he now remembers.
- The Mighty Boosh has a slight running gag where Howar gets too wrapped up in his emotions, for whatever reason, and someone slaps his sober, whether or not they actually had to.
- Played straight in Battlestar Galactica: Razor, where after the attack on the Pegasus leaves Kendra Shaw in shock and bleeding on the floor with a probable concussion, Cain whacks her mightily across the face and follows it with a stern, "Get up, soldier." She does, her clarity apparently restored.
- In an episode of Night Court, Dan Fielding is freaking out about having inadvertently accepted a bribe; Harry gets him to stop by taking out a water pistol and shooting him.
- Used periodically by Eddie in Bottom whenever Richie is freaking out, although the traditional slap on the face is usually replaced by a solid minute of Eddie pummelling Richie around the head with a blunt instrument.
- Stargate Atlantis has an episode where Bill Nye (yes, that Bill Nye, playing himself) slaps a guest-star scientist who's freaking out and tells him to "man up!"
- Done in The Movie of Kamen Rider Decade where Tsukasa/Decade is BSOD'ing since he turned evil, got betrayed himself and overthrown, and suffered a Deadly Change-of-Heart when he tried to return to his friends. Enter Joji Yuki, A.K.A. Riderman (here played by Gackt), who smacks Tsukasa across the face and reminds him what it is to be a Kamen Rider before facing down an advancing army of monsters with nothing more than an Arm Cannon. Why yes, it is a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
- When Roger Sterling of Mad Men has a heart attack (nearly going Out with a Bang), he keeps mumbling the name of the one-night stand he was with. Don arrives and hears him. Cue Don slapping Roger on the face, growling this:
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Don Draper: Mona! Your wife's name is Mona! |
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- Inverted in Doctor Who with "The Big Bang". The Doctor tells Auton Rory not to bother with Amy, saying:
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The Doctor: Your girlfriend isn't as important as the universe. |
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- It was all a trick to make sure Rory still had his emotions and wasn't controlled by the Big Bad.
- In Cheers, when Frasier goes into a jealous rage over Lilith's wedding shower including a male stripper, Sam tosses a drink in his face. Frasier's stunned response: "Creme de menthe? You couldn't have found some water?"
- Invoked word for word on Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, when Curtis begins freaking out of their lack of marijuana. He shrieks that getting high allowed him to deal with the horrible things they see every week. Without pot, all the blood and gore they see seems so much more bloody and gory and gut-y...
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Todd: (slap) Get a hold of yourself, man! |
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- Played horribly in The Pacific when a Marine has a nightmare in a foxhole one night and begins screaming in terror, which of course could give away their position to the enemy. In desperation, one Marine finally hits him over the head with something, and in the morning they realize that he's dead. Everyone is horrified, especially the one who hit him, but Eugene says it was better him than all of them, and Snafu agrees that it had to be done.
- Played for comedy in an episode of The Goodies. Tim is in hysterics. Graeme lightly slaps him. Tim is silent for about two seconds...and then slaps back much harder, sending Graeme tumbling into a nearby pile of boxes.
- In Kath and Kim...Kath, Kim and Sharon often slip into moments where two of them scream at each other, while the third breaks up the problem. Almost always it's Kim and Sharon arguing with Kath as the peacemaker, though occasionally Kim will scream on her own, calming down when Sharon slaps her.
- Done in a funny way in A.N.T. Farm when their fellow ANT is caught in the wave of passing by high schoolers, Fletcher said that they should save him, only for Olive to say he's gone, complete with a Bright Slap.
- Sort of inversion on Black Books, where Bernard pulls a Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! on the stressed-out Manny by grabbing him, shaking him back and forth and hysterically yelling "CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN!"
- Super Sentai
- Juken Sentai Gekiranger - Near the end of the first training arc, Rio beats Jan, Ran and Retsu so badly that the mentor has to let himself be taken hostage to save them and give them another chance to fight him. Cue the Rangers sitting in the rain, so demoralized they can't even get up...until Miki smacks all of them, one after the other. Near the end of the series, Jan does this to Rio after the latter learns that his entire life has been manipulated by Long.
- Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger - After Don beats himself up due to not being able to save his friends, Navi comes in and slaps him with his robotic wing. Cue Don going in like a badass, complete with long coat, and saving Marvelous.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When Buffy falls into an Angst Coma after Dawn is taken by Glory, his friends try to talk her out of her comatose state gently. Spike gets annoyed and starts shaking and then punches Buffy. When the other Scoobies object, Spike points out that the Slayer's Made of Iron nature means he doesn't have to be delicate.
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- The Twilight Zone TOS episode "Death Ship". When Lieutenant Mason starts to freak out over their bizarre experiences, Captain Ross punches him in the face and knocks him down.
- Back to Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!