Getting the Boot

A sort of scene transition that usually involves a door. Usually done for laughs in animation, where the victim is lifted by the collar (and sometimes the back of his pants), taken outside and then dropped, thrown or kicked into the curb (for extra comedy, the victim can also skid along the ground or land in the garbage). Older works sometimes called this "getting the bum's rush". Can also be done for drama in live-action shows, where the victim is dragged outside by two or more people and thrown into the mud or the pouring rain, or just simply beaten up afterward.

Compare Vaudeville Hook.

Examples of Getting the Boot include:

Anime and Manga

• Keiichi and Belldandy get thrown out of the men's dormitory this way in Ah! My Goddess. Also happens when they are both looking for an apartment in the TV adaptation, complete with bouncing off the pavement.
• A young Chiaki gets thrown out of the music room this way in the Nodame Cantabile anime.
• Combined with a Gilligan Cut, Mio gives Ritsu a Cranial Eruption before booting her off Yui's room in K-On!!

Comic Books

• In Archie Comics, Mr. Lodge does this routinely to Archie and less often to Jughead.

Live Action TV

• A Running Gag in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is Jazz getting thrown out of the Banks' house.
  • One episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air had Jazz piss off Uncle Phil while they were already outside the house. So we get a cut of him being thrown into the house!
  • Another episode involves Will & company getting cursed after he insults a medium. After Jazz and Hilary are caught kissing, Uncle Phil grabs Jazz by the collar and brings him to the front door. Cut to the porch as we see Uncle Phil get sent flying out the door instead. It later turns out it was just a dream... Or Was It a Dream?
• Monty Python's Flying Circus "Cycling Tour" sketch. When Mr. Pither bothers a man in a pub, the man throws him out the front door.
• My Wife and Kids "Letting Go". Micheal Kyle threw his daughter's (Claire) boyfriend, Tony out of the front door after catching him sneaking into the Kyles' house.

Film

• At the beginning of UHF, "Weird Al" Yankovic and Bob get thrown out of Burger World after Al insults the owner, "Large Marge". They go up... then down onto the street.
• Happens to Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) in the first Beverly Hills Cop movie—through a plate-glass window, to boot.
• A rare comedic live-action example happens in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, when Sean Boswell is pushed out of a public bathhouse (half-naked, to boot) by a sumo wrestler.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: After trying to eavesdrop on Jessica Rabbit's dressing room, Eddie Valiant gets thrown out of the Ink and Paint Club into a pile of garbage. Eddie also tries to throw Roger out of his office later on.
• Meet the Robinsons: Bowler Hat Guy is thrown out after a disastrous demonstration of the machine he stole from Louis and tried to pass for his own.
• After making a ruckus inside an ancient cave, Skids and Mudflap get beat up and thrown outside by Bumblebee in Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen.
• After King Théoden gets better, he gets Wormtongue thrown out of Rohan's palace in The Two Towers.
• The Muppet Movie: As Kermit approaches the El Sleazo bar, a man gets thrown out the front door. When Kermit suggests he talk to the owner, he replies "I am the owner."

Video Games

• Happens in Quest for Glory 1 if you drink too much at the tavern (or if you drink just one Troll's Sweat). You pass out, get booted outside, spend the night passed out in the street, and wake up with no money.

Web Comics

• Freefall: This happens to Sam quite often when he's looking for work.
• Order of the Stick: "Summon Boot!"

Western Animation

• During the ending credits of The Flintstones, when Fred takes the family's humongous cat out for the night. The cat then simply jumps into an open window and does the same thing to Fred, locking him out.
• On The Smurfs TV series, Brainy gets tossed out of the village at least Once an Episode. This was done as a "safer" alternative to what happened in the original comics, where he was hit on the head with a mallet, although it would take more violence to toss him far enough to land on the outskirts of the village.
• In episode of Tom and Jerry, Jerry photographed Tom getting a foot planted to his backside!
• In an episode of The Simpsons where Marge is working at Moe's bar, she learns how to do this properly, and enthusiastically shows off the skill to Homer by throwing him out of a doorway in their house.
  • Also, when Moe was in the Beer-tender of the Year competition, one of the contests (which makes up 98% of the score, "making the previous rounds a complete waste") was the "Drunk Toss".
  • Also happens when Patty and Selma break a deal they had with Homer not to tell Marge they lent money to him he lost on a bad investment in exchange for being their lackey. Cut to the two sisters flying out the front door... followed by Marge, who Homer gets back in the house the next moment.
• Numerous Looney Tunes examples. Here are some notable ones:
  • In one Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bugs and a dog take turns kicking each other out of a house. The lady of the house sees them fighting and orders them to stop, but they end up throwing her out into the cold instead.
  • "Kitty Cornered" is all about what happens when Porky takes the cats out for the night when they don't want to go. The cartoon begins with a montage of cats being taken out unceremoniously. At one fancy home, a red carpet is rolled out with a cushion at the end. The butler carries the cat out in a dignified manner... then punts him into the cushion.
  • In "Little Red Riding Rabbit", The Big Bad Wolf gives Red Riding Hood the bum's rush, while Bugs Bunny simultaneously gives him the bum's rush, throwing both out at once.
  • In "Designs for Leaving", Elmer orders a robot that kicks out pesky salesmen, like Daffy.