Pie in the Face: Difference between revisions

 

 

This [[Practical Joke]] was a staple of silent movie comedies, which came up with most of the variants. Often, a missed throw would result in an [[Escalating War]] pie fight. The all-out pie fight is pretty much a [[Forgotten Trope]] in movies, but still shows up elsewhere.

On TV, the pie is often just whipped cream or shaving cream sprayed into a pie pan, which gives a similar effect while being much cheaper than baking up a whole pie just to throw it.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Suicide Squad]]'' had a [[Running Gag]] subplot about a mysterious attacker pieing their personnel. It was {{spoiler|Captain Boomerang, who'd earlier arranged to attack himself with a boomerang pie to divert suspicion}}.

* British comics such as ''Beano and Dandy'' thrive on this trope, custard pies being the usual ammunition of choice. They can be thrown by hand or with a suitably elaborate [[Bamboo Technology]] device designed for the express purpose of leaving the target [[Covered in Gunge]].

* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] #8''. Gambit: "A plasma rifle 'gainst a boysenberry pie? Can you see the crazed psychopath in this picture?" Naturally, [http://img157.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=02233_X_Men008_ToothandClaw_14_122_222lo.jpg Rogue gets the pie in the face].

 

 

* ''[[The Great Race]]'' has one of, if not the, largest pie fights ever. Including one that's so big, it can't be thrown; it's a huge multi-layer cake, and two different people get knocked into it at two different times.

* ''Bugsy Malone'' is a parody gangster movie with child actors (including a young [[Jodie Foster]]) and used pies instead of handguns. It also had "splurge guns", based on the Thompson submachine gun, with drum magazines that allows rapid pie firing.

* [[Laurel and Hardy]] made money by selling pies to throw in their short film ''Battle of the Century'', which [[Trope Codifier|codified this trope]].

* ''The Shaggy D.A.'', notable for a cigar punching right through the pie.

* ''Going Ape''.

* ''Heartburn''.

* The climactic scene of ''Nanny McPhee'' has this with wedding cake.

* During the carnival at the end of ''[[Grease]]''.

* The [[Tony Hancock]] film ''The Punch and Judy Man'' features a climactic pie fight, but it escalates too quickly to generate the right comic effect.

 

== Literature ==

** Cream pies to the face are an occupational hazard of coming too close to the Fool's Guild.

Blueberry it was. }}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Not surprisingly, pies were also heavily featured in The Family Channel's later ''Family Challenge'', which was from the same producer (Woody Fraser).

* ''Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters'' has a misfired Practical Joke.

* ''[[Moonlighting]]''

* ''[[The Soupy Sales Show]]'' has this as a trademark.

** This was extended to Soupy's appearances on ''TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes''.

* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' has a couple of pie episodes, including "The Diner."

* Many [[Talk Show]] hosts and guests have been pied. Sometimes by themselves.

* ''Captain and Tennille Show'', during Masterjoke Theater sketches, primarily.

* ''[[Route 66]]'', during an episode with Guest Star Soupy Sales.

* ''[[Growing Pains (TV)|Growing Pains]]'', the "20th Anniversary" episode.

* ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' at least twice.

* ''[[The Patty Duke Show]]'', during a modeling photo shoot.

* ''[[Head of the Class]]'', "Make Fun of the Teacher" episode.

* During an election episode in ''[[Salute Your Shorts]]''.

** Once featuring the fire department.

** In an earlier episode (and season), a "organized" pie fight between camp kids and their counselors quickly spiraled into a free-for-all.

* In one gag of the Spanish sketch show ''¡Vaya semanita!'', they are asked to do more intelligent humor, so they decide [[Comically Missing the Point|to pie Stephen Hawking in the face]].

* ''[[Unfabulous]]'', where a classroom presentation on the American Revolution turned into a Boston Cream Pie fight.

* Johnny Carson would often get hit with pies in a recurring ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' sketch theme.

* ''[[Treasure Hunt US]]'', several times.

* During one of the Showcases of Drew Carey's ''[[The Price Is Right]]'', the models hit each other with pies. Near the end of the narration, Rich Fields is hit with a pie, and at the end of the show, Drew himself is hit with a few by the models as well. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1X4k-VqpsQ Here's a clip.] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AslrpLDBxi0&feature=related And here is Rich Fields making sure the showcase winner isn't left out on the fun.]

* ''[[Power Rangers]]''

** [[Those Two Guys|Bulk and Skull]] on ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' frequently received these (Well, typically it was [[Carrying a Cake|cakes]], but the principle is the same).

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDMX2pWVecM A staple] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzStVM8HjAU of Brazilian game show] ''Passa ou Repassa'' (at a certain point, a sound effect was added, making it even funnier). Two contestants put against each other answering a question. Get right, pie the other one. Get wrong, pie in your face. Then come the next two of the team. And due to rotativity, eventually the first two return, allowing for either revenge or getting the opponent even dirtier. (The same [[Speed Round]] was later used on ''Megamatch'' in Venezuela (rerun through out Latin America) and ''[[Fun House|College Mad House]]'' in the USA.

* A Season 14 Detour on ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' had teams pelt each other in the face with pies until they found one with a cherry filling.

 

== Music ==

* Bette Midler's video of "Beast of Burden".

 

 

 

== Puppet Shows ==

* ''[[Sesame Street]]'' during the song "Surprise," with even a brick wall getting pied.

* A Sandy Duncan appearance on ''[[The Muppet Show]]''.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

== Theater ==

* ''[[Monty Python]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSgRkBWNlBo Live at the Hollywood Bowl]''. The sketch in question was originally written by Cleese and Chapman for a 1968 sketch show, ''We Have Ways of Making you Laugh''. (It was of course only one of several recycled sketches the Pythons used on stage, most of the others being from ''At Last the 1948 Show''.)

 

== Theme Parks ==

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Nethack]]'' has a cream pie item, which causes blindness. On the one hand, stealing from shops will result in Keystone Kops showing up to [[Izchaks Wrath|pie you and beat you with rubber hoses until you die]]. On the other hand, pieing something does not count as an attack, and the pie takes up the weapon slot, which makes it very useful for characters attempting the [[Pacifist Run|pacifist conduct]].

* ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'' has these as [[Improvised Weapon|weapons]], though their basic purpose is to [[Healing Shiv|heal]] their targets.

** In the ones with the GX cast at least, you can play a Dodgeball-esque minigame. One of the things you can throw is a Pie. It disables whoever is hit by it for a couple of turns.

** Also in the Third Tag Force Game there's a sandwich throwing minigame. One of the things that needs to be avoided is Pie.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Scary Go Round]]'' Hugo gets hit in the face with an apple pie. It's so hot ([[Elements Do Not Work That Way|one molecule away from magma!]]) that it grievously injures him, forcing him to drop out of the election.

* The humorous comic ''[http://epic.crimsonflagcomic.com/ Epic Battle]'' makes pie fights [[Serious Business]].

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** In "Simple Simpson", Homer becomes the Pieman, a costumed vigilante whose shtick is throwing pies at annoying people.

** This is also the reason Sideshow Bob was selected as Krusty's assistant over his brother Cecil, as Bob's dignity made the take all the funnier.

** In the short ''Quiet Please!'', Tom catches Jerry on the kitchen counter. Jerry asks for a moment to draw up a last will and testament, in which he leaves a custard pie "to Tom, my favorite cat". Reading this, Tom eagerly tells Jerry to "[[Tempting Fate|Lemme have it!]]"

** In ''Solid Serenade'', Jerry hits Tom with ''two'' pies... the former of which has a steam iron hidden inside it.

** [[Bugs Bunny]] repeatedly hits Elmer Fudd with these during a scene in ''Slick Hare''. "Your pie, sir!" Unfortunately for Elmer, he tries to retaliate and hits [[Humphrey Bogart]]. "Why did you hit me in the face with a coconut custard pie with whipped cream?" Bogie asks menacingly.

** Vaudevillians Bugs and Elmer take turns with this in ''What's Up, Doc?''

** In ''Shishkabugs'', Bugs releases a spring-loaded pie into the face of the king, causing royal cook Yosemite Sam to be led away to the dungeon.

** In ''A Hare Grows in Brooklyn'', Bugs pies a dog in the face, then wipes it out while apologizing profusely:

** In ''Leghorn Swoggled'', [[Foghorn Leghorn]] rigs a toy train with a pie and sends it to the front door of the Barnyard Dawg's house, causing the latter to get pelted when he sticks his head out to see what's going on.

** ''Daffy Dilly'' has [[Daffy Duck]] trying to cure a dying millionaire by getting him to laugh. After he achieves this accidentally, by landing in a cake, Daffy is hired as a sort of household jester and ends the cartoon getting repeatedly pelted with cakes and pies. ("It's a living!")

** ''Tree-Cornered Tweety'' has Tweety seeking refuge from Sylvester in one of the food boxes at an automat. Sylvester inserts a coin to get Tweety out, but is instead hit with a pie when the box opens.

** The first of many indignities Candace receives in "Comet Kermillian" when she goes on a picnic with her crush's [[Enfant Terrible]] sister Suzy is a blueberry pie in the face. The others include being locked in an ice cream cart and getting [[Squirrels in My Pants|squirrels in her pants]].

** Candace also gets pelted with pies aplenty in "Let's Take a Quiz".

* Happened several times in one episode of ''[[Clone High]]''. Although with a rather dark twist in that they were actual hot pies fresh from an oven, and that it horribly burned and scalded the face of the screaming victim. Which is played for laughs, of course.

* Jokey Smurf in ''[[The Smurfs]]'' masquerades as the episode's eponymous Masked Pie Smurfer to attack his fellow Smurfs with pies, resulting in an [[Escalating War]].

** In the episode "A Bird in the Hoof", an overexcited Pinkie Pie does this to ''herself'' at a party in honor of a visiting Princess Celestia.

** Earlier in "Over a Barrel", the settler ponies [[Edible Ammunition|fight the buffalo with pies]].

** In "The Best Night Ever", poor Rarity ends up getting hit with a flying layer cake which [[Prince Charmless|Prince Blueblood]] was using her to shield himself from.

* A [[Running Gag]] on ''[[Garfield and Friends]]''. (In the original comic strip too.)

 

== Real Life ==

* Same with University of Calgary's own ESS. '''''[[Oh Crap]].''''' This would be a [[Berserk Button]] had it happened outside of Engineering or if an informal restraining order was never made.

* The Biotic Baking Brigade, a San Francisco-based left-wing activist group, specializes in throwing pies in the faces of those it regards as its political foes.

** As mentioned at the top of this page, Bill Gates suffered a similar fate on a trip to Belgium.

* And then there are the organizations that are dedicated to pieing people. [http://www.entartistes.ca/ Like these people.]

* In recent years, it's become common for a professional baseball player who gets a game-winning hit to be rewarded with a shaving-cream pie to the face from his teammates.

* In the 70s, science fiction critic Charles Platt pied magazine editor Ted White in the face at a convention. Sadly, White didn't see the funny side.

* Since 2010, the [[Furry Fandom]] convention ''Rainfurrest'' has featured the tradition of pieing staff members in the face if their charitable donation goals are reached.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Practical Joke]]