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{{trope}}
[[File:
Two bits!
Probably the most infamous seven beats of music in the modern world, or at least high on the list, this lick appears everywhere. In music, it's a sting to end a piece; in other media, it appears in a joke and/or as a recognition signature, usually a
While the rhythm is flexible, and the words change, it's always the same tune.
{{examples}}
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M27yK34I2d4 "Is It A Break?"] from the ''[[
==
* Used in classic style in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]?'', complete with the demonstration that an animated character ''must,'' simply ''must'', [[Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are|complete the line]] if "two bits" is omitted.▼
▲* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M27yK34I2d4 "Is It A Break?"] from the ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'' soundtrack, the "shave and a haircut" melody can be heard at about 55 seconds in.
== Film ==▼
▲* Used in classic style in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]?'', complete with the demonstration that an animated character ''must,'' simply ''must'', [[Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are|complete the line]] if "two bits" is omitted.
▲* ''[[West Side Story|West Side Story:]]'' "Gee Of-fi-cer Krup-ke, ''Krup You!''"
* Several ''[[Three Stooges]]'' short subject films have them. Usually a stooge (usually [[Too Dumb to Live|Curly]]) would tap something (usually a wall) and get a response from whatever is on the other side ([[Rule of Three|usually some kind of monster]]). They would mirror it perfectly until the "shave and a haircut" part was tapped out. A delay, a "nyuk nyuk", a "two bits" response, and you know the rest.
* ''[[Ace Ventura]]'' used this in the [[Animated Adaptation]]: He suspects he's being followed and does the "Shave and Haircut" on his car, since the other car responded with the two bits, he knows he's being followed.
* Del Griffith clears his throat to this tune in ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles''.
* Used in ''[[Ferris Bueller's
* This tune shows up in ''[[You've Got Mail]]'' at the end of the scene where Joe and Kathleen meet (physically) for the first time.
* In the scene in ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' where Forrest goes on ''Captain Kangaroo'', Forrest has recently played ping-pong in China. As Forrest enters the studio, the (in-movie) band plays a jingle starting with an
* In a scene in ''[[Spy Kids]]'', Juni accidentally handcuffs himself to a metal lunchbox. He walks away from Carmen, trying to shake it off, and the soundtrack drum plays "Shave and a Haircut". Juni responds with "two bits" by smashing the lunchbox into the wall, and the lunchbox rebounds and slams into his head.
* Used in ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Known on ''[[Discworld]]'' as "Shave and a haircut, no legs" being the jingle of the Guild of Barber Surgeons.
** Used as a secret knock ("The <s>Hairdressers</s> Barber-Surgeon's Knock") in ''[[
{{quote|
* According to John McCain's autobiography, Vietnamese people are incapable of tapping out Shave and a Haircut, and he and other American POWs would use it to hail each other through walls.
** It's not so much that they were incapable, but that they were unfamiliar with the Western ditty. One POW would tape "shave and a haircut", and the other would answer with "two bits". If the answer was "shave and a haircut" repeated back to him, the POW would know it was actually his captor trying to get information.
* Shows up in a couple of [[The Dresden Files]] novels. The first time it appears, Harry uses the words "six bits!" as the punchline - perhaps he learned of the gag from the Michelle Shocked example below in Music? Regardless, someone must have corrected him, as in a later book he uses the more common "two bits" version.
▲== Live Action Television ==
* Most Muppet sketches on ''[[Sesame Street]]'' have these.
** The ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'' version of the "Mana-mana" sketch (where the pink... ''things'' have been appearing whenever Kermit says "phenomena") ends with Sandra Bullock's psychiatrist character saying "you should see what happens whenever I say "Shave and a haircut"... Cue a giant furry monster appearing out of nowhere, lounged across her desk: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Mc55P1i9g "Two bits!"]
* A non-humorous, punny example was used on an episode of ''[[Tales
* Mexican viewers are usually amused by its use on American TV, because the Shave and a Haircut in Mexico means "fuck your mother, asshole".
** This has turned into an American [[Urban Legend]] which says that if you honk the tune on your horn in a Mexican neighborhood, you'll likely be shot dead.
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* On ''[[Ghost Hunters]]'', the team is constantly using it to try to get responses from whatever paranormal entity might be lurking in the location of the week. The team member knocks out 'shave and a hair cut' and waits for the entity to knock the 'two bits' response.
* This is the password to get into Santos's secret stem-cell meeting in [[The West Wing]].
* In the ''[[
** In fact, the closed captions for the episode actually read "Knocking 'shave and a haircut'".
* In ''[[
* Played with in an episode of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''. In the movie ''[[The Atomic Brain]]'', the antagonist knocks on a door to find out of two of the girls she hired were in the room. Mike quips "'Shave And A Haircut'! What do we do?"
* [[Victor Borge]] had a comedy bit about the lady who invented the "two bits" part, but without words so it was an unrecognizable couple of notes until the punchline where the phrase was played in full.▼
▲* Victor Borge had a comedy bit about the lady who invented the "two bits" part, but without words so it was an unrecognizable couple of notes until the punchline where the phrase was played in full.
** The [[Smothers Brothers]] did something similar involving church bells that combined to form the tune.
* In nearly every one of his polka medleys, [[Weird Al|"Weird Al" Yankovic]] includes "Shave and a Haircut" right before the final few notes.
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* Forms the theme of the Fugue in D minor from "The Short-Tempered Clavier" by [[PDQ Bach]].
** The first aria of the [[PDQ Bach]] cantata "Blaues Gras" ends with "Rasieren und Haarschneiden, zwei bitte." Which means, of course: "Shave and a haircut, two please."
* Mike Portnoy of [[
* At the end of Michelle Shocked's version of "The Arkansas Traveler"(?) the old man playing the farmer in the dialogue parts ends up flubbing the classic ending, "Shave and a haircut: two bits!" by saying "six bits" instead. [[Throw It In|This is followed by]] his and Michelle's raucous laughter, and the old man muttering the quip, "Six bits?...I'll saw you in half for six bits...."
* It happens at the end of "Unsquare Dance" by ''Dave Brubeck".
* Similarly, [[Ugly Kid Joe]]'s "Everything About You" bursts into this in its final seconds after faking out a different ending entirely.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In a ''[[The Far Side]]'' cartoon, an exasperated conductor informs his orchestra that they will ''not'' be concluding the symphony with "Shave and a Haircut".▼
** In another, police are arresting a group of mobsters, and one of the mobsters complains, "I knew it. I just knew it! 'Shave and a Haircut' [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|was a lousy secret knock]]."
==
* In the ''[[Goon Show]]'' episode "The Great Bank of England Robbery", Neddie, Eccles and Bloodnok are trapped underground. When tapping on the walls and receiving mysterious replies, Eccles taps out the first part and, in the silence that follows, ribs the listeners for expecting the second part, but is interrupted by the *Two Bits!* tap.▼
▲* In a ''[[Far Side]]'' cartoon, an exasperated conductor informs his orchestra that they will ''not'' be concluding the symphony with "Shave and a Haircut".
▲** In another, police are arresting a group of mobsters, and one of the mobsters complains, "I knew it. I just knew it! 'Shave and a Haircut' [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|was a lousy secret knock]]."
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
* In ''[[Half Life]] 2'', Alyx plays this on the buttons of a vending machine, and bangs on it twice for the "two bits" part. It's her way of
▲== Video Games ==
* ''[[
▲* In [[Half Life]] 2, Alyx plays this on the buttons of a vending machine, and bangs on it twice for the "two bits" part. It's her way of signaling to Dr. Kleiner that it's her, and opens the door to the secret lab behind the vending machine.
* In the beginning of ''[[
▲* ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' featured a version of the tune, titled "Rat-a-Tat-Tat, It's . . . Mitsuda!", in its [[Developers Room|toughest ending]]. (Yasunori Mitsuda was the composer.)
* [[Um Jammer Lammy]]: "I Am A Master, and You!", [[Um Jammer]] Lammy's version of the Master Onion stage, eventually evolves into this quite subtly,
▲* In the beginning of ''[[Earthbound]]'', Pokey/Porky knocks on the door in a very annoying fashion. In the middle of the knocks is the classic "Shave and a Haircut".
▲* [[Um Jammer Lammy]]: "I Am A Master, and You!", [[Um Jammer]] Lammy's version of the Master Onion stage, eventually evolves into this quite subtly, eventually--unsurprisingly--finishing off with it.
* The first five notes appear at about 55 seconds into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyv_pc8y7QU&feature=related the stage 2 theme] from ''Mr. Gimmick!''.
* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', sometimes when you honk the first half of this tune using a car horn, other drivers will respond with the rest.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Almost certainly the "musical knock" (and its two-knock response) used by the title character of the [[Reincarnation Fantasy|Isekai]] web novel ''[[Tori Transmigrated]]'' to sound an all-clear for family members that she hid in a large barrel during an attack by pirates.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'', a synthesised version is used right after Mr. Horse delivers his famous "No sir, i didn't like it." line from "Fire Dogs".
* [[Steamboat Willie]] uses this to end the "Turkey in the Straw" sequence.
* Too many ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoons to name right now.
* ''[[
** The end of the theme song to [[Pinky and The Brain]]. "Narf!"
* Used at the end of most ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'' episodes.
* Phil Ken Sebben in ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney
* [[Cute Bruiser|To]][[Little Miss Badass|ph]] of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' knocked on a door this way in the [[Grand Finale]], but instead of ''knocking'' the "bits" part she {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|knocked said steel door down. She then turned it into armor, and used it to defeat multiple superpowered firebenders in a couple seconds]]}}.
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' had it at the end of the Presidents Day assembly's song for "lesser" President.
* Used in the ''[[My Little Pony:
* Played by Owen in the ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' episode "I Triple Dog Dare You" on his freebie bottles.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲* In the ''[[Goon Show]]'' episode "The Great Bank of England Robbery", Neddie, Eccles and Bloodnok are trapped underground. When tapping on the walls and receiving mysterious replies, Eccles taps out the first part and, in the silence that follows, ribs the listeners for expecting the second part, but is interrupted by the *Two Bits!* tap.
▲== Real Life ==
* The Italian one (Ammazza la vecchia col Flit) means "Kill the old woman with DDT!"...!!
* The phrase "hasta la vista, baby" fits the sting almost perfectly.
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* Used at the end of "George and Lil", a 1980s PIF about burglary prevention.
* In Icelandic it's ''Saltkjöt og baunir! Túkall!'' meaning ''Salt mutton and pease pudding! Two crowns!''.
* American
* In Sweden there are two 'lyrics' to this tune. The oldest is "Kvart över elva, halv tolv." "A quarter past eleven, half an hour to twelve." The second is from a 50's commercial for a cough drop. "Hälsan för halsen, Bronsol." "Health for the troath, Bronsol."
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE5PGeh2K9k This] video on making an electronic secret knock detector of course uses it as the secret knock.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Score and Music Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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