Spit-Take

(spits out water) "Why is it that I'm always drinking when a scene like that happens?!"
—The Nostalgia Critic (reviewing Milk Money)

A Reaction Shot to an unexpected event that involves spraying food or, more commonly, drink from a character's mouth. In some cases, the character sprays their drink out of their nose instead of their mouth. It can be Truth in Television, as many people can attest. Why surprising news or the punchline of a joke is so often delivered when a character has a full mouth can only be ascribed to Rule of Funny. May also be a reaction to the efforts of a Lethal Chef.

A common Lampshade Hanging for this trope is when a character pauses to take a drink just so he has something to spit out in reaction.

See also: Double Take. Not to be confused with Spit Shake.

Examples of Spit-Take include:

Anime & Manga

  • Bleach
    • Rukia does one in an early episode when asked about her relationship with Ichigo.
    • Yumichika has a moment or so in the manga and anime from his laughing fit.
    • Princess Lurichiyo does one when Ichigo appears in front of her while she's at a tea party.
  • When discussing recent events with Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward spits out the coffee he was drinking when Hawkeye bluntly asks "You love Winry, don't you?", thinking it as plainly obvious and a fact. Ed, however, seemed to think otherwise. Then again, Ed is the king of overblown reactions.
  • In the anime version of Kekkaishi, Masamori teases Yoshimori while he is drinking tea about the latter's feelings for Tokine. Yoshimori promptly does a spit-take right into his cup which ends up splashing vertically, drenching himself in the process.
  • Aisha in Outlaw Star does rather impressive spit-take lasting for a full second across the screen when she sees the rest of the team on TV as hostages of a mad bomber.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima likes these a lot.
    • Negi in particular has a great one after receiving an email containing some... potentially indecent photos of one of his students. For the record, she wanted to hook up with Negi's cousin Nagi (actually Negi magically aged up) so her friends KOed her, dressed her in a Playboy Bunny costume, took pictures, and sent them to Nagi.
    • Evangeline also does a good one at the beginning of book 4, when Asuna correctly guesses she was in love with Nagi Springfield, Negi's father.
    • Another good one for Eva is when Albi... ahem, Colonel Sanders proposes to Negi to be his apprentice. Hilarity ensues and it turns out the Colonel was just trolling Eva; though you have to admit he made some good points on why Negi should be his apprentice....
    • Nodoka also gets a good one after she confesses her feelings to Negi, when Asakura, trying to learn more about the spoilered incident, asks if she slept with Negi.
    • A Mass spit take happens when Feitas transformed back into Fate, adding a rule that forbids being inside recreational facilities after 6 PM... and gives the three girls remedial classes.... cue Mass spit take.
  • Now and Then, Here and There, in the first episode, as part of setting up Shu's generic comedy protagonist home life.
  • In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, both Tsuna and Yamamoto, being shy virgins, do a spit-take when Lambo, after finishing his shower, tells them that "Bianchi, Kyoko, Haru, and I-Pin are bathing... right now in the shower, THERE ARE A LOT OF BOOBIES!!" Worse, Tsuna and Yamamoto were drinking hot tea, which scalds them when they spit it all over themselves.
  • Anita does this with milk in Read or Die the TV. What's funny in the english dub is you can hear a classmate in the distance exclaiming, "That's nasty!"
  • Yoko spits up half a glass of red wine all over Rossiu in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann when one of the Black Sisters asks her if the two little kids they picked up last episode were hers.
  • Ranma ½
    • In the manga, when Tatewaki Kunō informs Nabiki Tendō of his intention to woo the "fiery-haired pigtailed girl" (Ranma's female side, ignoring the truth), she spits out orange juice—right into his face. And she berates him next for making her do this.
    • This conversation occurs when quite a few main characters are discussing a robbery:

Akane: Well, attacking with pantyhose though? That's just weird. (takes a sip from her drink)
Happōsai: If it were your pantyhose, Akane, you could attack me anytime!
Akane: (spit-take) That's disgusting!

  • Okazaki does one in Clannad after Nagisa, who by this point has spent about twenty episodes trying to re-establish her school's theater club, admits that she's never so much as seen an actual play. Better yet, he spits it right into the face of a sleeping bystander.
  • One Piece: Both Luffy and Usopp pull off one of these during the Alabasta arc. After having wandered in the desert without any water for a long period of time, the pair are in a bar where they order several barrels of water for them and the rest of the crew, unaware that sitting right next to them are Captain Smoker and his subordinate Tashigi, two high-ranking Naval officers that they had managed to outrun earlier on. Once the pirates do realize this, however, they effectively spit out two barrels worth of water at the Marine officers.
  • In one episode of Nerima Daikon Brothers, three characters simultaneously spit-take using the ramen they were eating.
  • When Karou visits PANDRA's base in Zettai Karen Children, every PANDRA member does a spit-take as they see her, even one who's eating a popsicle.
  • Happens in the third episode of the Ah! My Goddess anime. A little girl's mother treats Keiichi and Belldandy to lunch at a fast-food joint to thank Keiichi for helping the little girl out in the first episode, when she says, "Hey, mister, is that pretty lady your wife?" Cue spit-take from Keiichi. Then Belldandy (in a beautiful, elaborate goddess outfit, no less) replies with, "No, I am not Mister Keiichi's wife, I am actually--" Cue another spit-take from Keiichi. Belldandy is a goddess for whom Keiichi wished to stay with forever, and to maintain her power, she is forbidden from lying.
  • Hanaukyo Maid Tai
    • First season episode 5. Taro, when Chief Security maid Konoe asks him why he doesn't sleep with Mariel.
    • La Vérité, episode 8. Konoe does one when her assistant Yashima Sanae asks her if she's in love with their master Taro.
  • Dragonball Z has Gohan training with Videl and Goten; during a break they are shown eating some rice. ChiChi then asks when Gohan was planning to marry Videl, which prompts Gohan to spit rice all over Goten.
  • Bakuman｡
    • Moritaka Mashiro spits his coffee all over his manuscripts when his author Akito Takagi tells him that his fiancée's father wants to challenge them to a sparring match in order (which turns out to be a ruse to speak in private about his and Moritaka's uncle's love for Miho's mother) to win his approval for Akito and Kaya to marry.
    • He also gets one early on in the story when Takagi mentions his desire to go meet with an editor. Mashiro then explains that in order to do so, they'll need to bring a work to submit.
  • In the anime version of Chrono Crusade, Sister Kate makes the mistake of taking a sip of tea just before Azmaria declares she wants to be just like Rosette. Cue horrified spit-take.
  • In Star Driver, Wako does this when Sugata asks Takuto if he's had his first kiss.
  • Fairy Tail
    • Natsu and Happy both do particularly epic ones when Gajeel is about to sing on stage.
    • Makarov does one at the end of episode 10 of the anime when he learns one of the S-class mission posters has been taken. Made even funnier with Makarow taking a sip while being told that, then several seconds pass and when he takes another sip, it's then when he performs a spit take. Almost as if he knew it'd happen.
  • In the first episode of Nyan Koi, Jumpei does one when he hears Tama say that the preist is "just a smelly preist who frequents cabaret clubs".
  • Happens to Lina Inverse in Slayers when Gourry points out Lina is eating the bait worms together with the fish.
  • In Cowboy Bebop session #21, "Boogie-Woogie Feng Shui", Jet Black brings to the Bebop the teenage daughter of an old friend after they'd escaped some hitmen. Jet spits out his coffee when Ed asks the girl point-blank if she's his lover.
  • In Toradora!, Ryuji and Taiga do a perfect synchronized spit take when Yusaku shows up with Ami.
  • In Future GPX Cyber Formula 11, Hayato asks Kaga if it's a driver's racing talent when he can't reach Knight Schumacher's time with his Super Asurada AKF-11. This causes Kaga to spit out his coffee.
  • In episode 7 of Mayo Chiki, Jiro does this twice in one scene. The first is when Subaru calls him on his cellphone while he's hanging out with his sister and her two friends, who don't realize Subaru is a girl. She's wondering why he's taking so long buying drinks, and decides to come over to the shop, causing him to spit the water. He warns them not to come into the shop, but then Subaru informs him that they're already there, causing him to spit out some more water, and forcing him to come up with a Paper-Thin Disguise for her.
  • Hikaru does a spit take in chapter 2 of Prism when Megu asks if Hikaru's a lesbian with the question "Do you want to have sex with me?".
  • Zatch Bell: Kyanchome and Umagon go over to a spring of water to drink and quench their thirst after a lot of tough battles. Moments later they see Gash relaxing in it naked (or in trunks in the edited American release). Cue spit take.
  • In Mai-Otome Zwei, Sara Gallagher spits out her tea when she finds out that Arika is one of the hostages in the busjacking.
  • Nisekoi gets a lot of mileage of this trope. It's almost surprising when someone does manage to swallow!
  • In K-On!, Ritsu tells her brother Satoshi not to interrupt her training session with Mio for the school play. Satoshi then asks what her role is, while chugging a soda bottle. He was not prepared for Ritsu's embarrassing response.


Comic Books

  • There's an excellent double example in X-Factor #14. Madrox and Rictor are having a drink and catching up, and Rictor makes Madrox spit out his drink when he jokes about sleeping with Quicksilver; Madrox gets his revenge by mentioning that Shatterstar would be jealous.
  • Wonderfully done in a She Hulk comic where the news of the marriage of She-Hulk and John Jameson causes a dozen characters to do a spit-take. Bonus points because every one of them has a different drink they were spitting out.
  • At one point in Y the Last Man, Yorick hears some surprising news and wishes he had a mouthful of liquid so he could do a spit-take.
  • Star Wars Expanded Universe
    • The arc In the Empire's Service had Wes Janson do one of these when he hears that they're flying against the 181st Imperial Fighter Group. Baron Soontir Fel's unit.
    • The comic one-shot Force Fiction has Yoda doing a spit-take when he learned that Mace Windu planned on giving Qui-Gon's lightsaber to Anakin Skywalker.
  • Stature responding to Reed Richards claiming to know more about Pym Particles than Hank Pym does. (Pym's response, on the other hand, went "It's on, bitch.")
  • XXXenophile has the "squirt through the nose" version when a sexy but innocent girl without social experience asks the main character out of the blue when they will have sex.
  • In Birds of Prey, Huntress can't hold her beer when she hears Lady Blackhawk, a time-displaced WWII pilot who looks like this, complain that no one will honor her senior citizen's discount.
  • In Asterix and the Laurel Wreath, Astérix spits out his food when chief Vitalstatitix announces that they're going to cook a stew with Caesar's laurel wreath as ingredient.


Comic Strips

  • Bloom County: When Mike Binkley tries to wean his father Tom off cigarettes, he first serves him breakfast in bed, then sets up a large poster and narrates: "Here, of course, is a life-size photograph of a cancerous lung. In color." His dad's breakfast ends up all over the blanket.
  • Garfield
    • Garfield and Jon are eating at the diner in one strip when Irma tells them something very unpleasant about what they're eating. Garfield looks at Jon: "Spit take on three..."
    • One was caused by Jon's love life (though the spitting isn't shown).
  • Mafalda proves Miguelito that a newspaper article had nothing to do with chess by asking her mom about it and watching the ensuing spit-take.
  • Baby Blues: Darryl MacPherson once did a spit-take when he learned that Zoe, after paying the coffee vendor the money, allowed the same vendor to keep the change as a tip.
  • Curtis from the comic series of the same name does a spit-take when he learns that his mom is leaving for a parent-teacher conference involving his teacher.


Fan Works

  • There is a dirty fan art (NSFW, so no link) of Toph suggesting to celebrate the victory at the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender with a sex orgy. Iroh spit-takes his tea when she calls "Dibs on the old man."
  • Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
    • Comed-tea is designed so that if there is any near you, you will be drinking it when something shocking or funny happens, causing a spit-take. Harry is bothered for a month trying to figure out how it works.
    • Harry also gets a coughing fit—twice—while trying to drink water when Prof. Quirrel guess he's a Parselmouth.


Films -- Animation

  • Subverted charmingly in Ratatouille by Anton Ego: he pauses to check the label on the bottle of wine he was drinking and apparently decides it's too good to spit out. Zooming in on the label reveals that it is indeed a real wine and way too good to spit out.
  • Gallaxar on Monsters vs. Aliens spits out his tea because it's too hot. Thing is, he drank it through his ear.
  • Brother Bear: While the moose Rutt and Tuke were grazing, they spot Kenai's brother Denahi, who has believed that Kenai was the bear that he thought killed him, and Rutt spits out his ABC grass.
  • Also in the first Balto movie: "I'm not watching the race, I'm running it." (Boris spits out the soap flake he accidentally ate) "You say WHAT?!"
  • Sir Ector does this in The Sword in the Stone when Sir Pellinore tells him that the winner of the New Year's events wins the throne of England.
  • Used in The Great Mouse Detective when drunk henchman Bartholomew calls his boss Ratigan a rat. "What did you call me?!"
  • In Pinocchio, when Pinocchio tells Stromboli that he will come back in the morning after he goes home to his father, Stromboli is drinking a bottle of wine and spits it out when he hears this and starts laughing because of how ridiculous it sounds.
  • In A Goofy Movie, Pete pulls one when he sees Max and Goofy at the concert that he's watching on TV.
  • In Sleeping Beauty, King Hubert pulls one after King Stephan ends up implying that Phillip and Aurora's arranged marriage might not end well.
  • In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo spits his wine when Quasimodo unwittingly says "festival" for the letter F while reviewing his alphabet.
  • Cars: "He did what in his cup?!"
  • Atlantis the Lost Empire: "Now I'd like you to fill up these two beakers."
  • Played for Laughs in Madagascar when Marty gives out seawater to drink...only for him to say that they can't drink it; they have to spit it out. At the end, everyone has a Spit Take-fest.


Films -- Live-Action

  • In The Monster Squad, Sean needs to find a virgin to complete a spell that will seal away the bad guys. So, he asks local cool kid Rudy if he knows any virgins, prompting a spit-take from Rudy. Not much later in the film, Rudy does another spit-take after finding a naked photo of Patrick's sister among the photos on the Monster Squad's camera.
  • A spit-take is surprisingly (or disgustingly) avoided in the second Austin Powers movie, where the agency (?) Austin works for has taken some of Fat Bastard's... err... stool for analysis. Austin spots a pot of what looks like coffee and pours himself a cup. After a bit of conversation...

Austin: Basil, this coffee smells like shit.
(Basil looks at the "pot" Austin got it from, noticing it is labeled Fat Bastard Stool Sample)
Basil: It is shit, Austin.
Austin: Oh, good then it's not just me. (takes a drink, then smacks his lips) It's a bit nutty.

    • In the TV version, Austin spits the stool sample after realizing what's in his cup.
    • For some reason, the stool sample and the coffee pot were right next to each other.
  • The Nickelodeon movie Snow Day uses this slightly differently when the Principal of the school is brushing his teeth over the morning radio announcements of weather-related closings. Everything except the schools are closed, and he laughs smugly... but apparently the radio host has "missed one" and announces that all schools are closed for a snow day—cue toothpaste running down the Principal's chin in shock, anger, and disbelief.
  • Blazing Saddles. The Waco Kid, after Sheriff Bart reads the note from Lili Von Shtupp inviting Bart to her "dwessing woom".
  • The film Dead Man on Campus: "That one's not beer."
  • Happens in Godzilla Final Wars, when one of the guys stationed at Godzilla's Antartic prison hears of Captain Gordon's plan to release Godzilla.
  • Happens to Tom Cruise's character in Minority Report. After getting (very) amateur eyeball replacement surgery, he is left in the "doctor"'s house to recover; seated on the couch, one length of rope leads to the bathroom, the other to the fridge in the kitchen, where he was told a sandwich and some milk awaited him if he got hungry. He finds his way to the kitchen... only to find out there's another sandwich/milk combo in there, and they are disgustingly spoiled. Guess which one he gets his hands on...
  • The Mummy Trilogy
    • Jonathan is getting drunk in the camp battle; Beni runs up and takes a heavy swig of the Glenlivet, and then spit-takes it onto Jonathan as Ardeth Bay rides up behind them.
    • All the characters in the bar do spit-takes when they realise the water has turned to blood.
  • A thug does this in Ichi the Killer when Karen tells him that she once strangled her neighbour's dog.
  • Happens in Hot Fuzz when Danny describes to Nicholas Eve Draper's sexual history.
  • Used several times in Airplane!
    • Hilariously when Elaine is visiting Ted in the hospital Flash Back sequence.
    • In Airplane! 2: The Sequel, Ted does it when the psychiatrist tells him that Elaine is getting married.
  • Spaceballs has Dark Helmet do this in the Mr. Coffee/Mr. Radar scene, although in this case it's not a surprise that causes it but the fact that the coffee is too hot.

Dark Helmet: Hot... too hot!

James: Thank a lot, man. (drinks coffee)
Mollie: Hey, you know, that's breast milk.
(cue spit-take)

  • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has a cute example when Harry and Harmony are in a bar and poking fun at the wannabe movie stars around them. He gets in a good one and she promptly sprays beer right in his face; he just casually dabs it off and keeps talking while she struggles to get her laughter under control.
  • Back to The Future (Part I) has the scene with Marty sitting in a parked car with Lorraine, his future mom. She pulls out a bottle of liquor and takes a drink (both she and Marty are underage at this point), and Marty confiscates it, saying she shouldn't drink, because she might regret it later in life. She calls him a square. He shrugs and takes a swig himself—just as she lights up a cigarette...
    • A much more powerful spit-take happened during an outtake of that same scene. Michael J. Fox was unaware that the prop drink contained real alcohol, and subsequently spilled it all over himself, then burst out laughing.
  • In Kangaroo Jack, when Charlie wakes up with a goose egg on his forhead, Jessie (who punched him) gives him a concoction:

Jessie: Drink this, it'll reduce the swelling.
Charlie: Okay. (drinks, grimaces)
Jessie:' It'll also make your testicles fall off.
Charlie: (vigorous spit-take)
Jessie: I was kidding!
Charlie: Oh, okay. (drinks, grimaces again)
Jessie: It won't reduce the swelling.
Charlie: (even more vigorous spit-take)

  • Dumb and Dumber: Right when an endangered owl was killed by a shooting champagne cork.
  • Five Hundred Days of Summer: "They used to call me anal girl." Cue spit-take from Tom. (For the record, she was really neat and organised.)
  • American Pie: "This one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my pussy."
  • The Big Lebowski: When the Dude learns he's been used as a sperm donor for Maude, he manages to do a double spit take. Somehow.
  • Tightrope (1984). Clint Eastwood's character is driving his daughters to school when the youngest asks out of the blue: "Dad, what's a hard-on?" Cue Clint and his eldest daughter spewing their soft drinks onto the windscreen.
  • Tom Canboro (Gary Busey) does this in the Apocalypse film series movie Tribulation, when he tries to drink bad coffee in the hospital.
  • Mystery Team: "You're the guy who likes squirting milk up his butt!"
  • In Quest for Fire (La Guerre du feu, 1981), the protagonists come upon an abandonned camp from another tribe. Starving, one of the Cro-Magnon finds some leftover bones in the campfire and began eating the scraps of meat clinging to it. Until one of his companion find a human skull amongst the ash, revealing that this was a camp of cannibals. Cue the disgusted caveman spitting out as much as possible.


Literature

  • In the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, Nobby gets told by a cadre of nobles that they want him to become king. Since he's gulping down brandy, smoking a cigar, and sitting in a chair with wheels at the time, the result is a rocket-powered spit-take.
  • Harry Potter
    • In Harry Potter: The morning before the end of the tournament, Hermione sits down to breakfast, opens her newspaper...and spits a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over it in shock. She then insists nothing's wrong.
    • Very non-comedic example in Prisoner of Azkaban—Harry spits out some of his butterbeer when Lupin explains the Dementor's Kiss to him.


Live-Action TV

  • The spit-take was raised to an art-form by The Danny Thomas Show, which is where the term originates. In fact, "doing a Danny Thomas" is a synonym for spit-take in some circles.
  • On one occasion in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Ned borrows a cup of water from a kid passing by in the hall, thanks him, drinks the entire cup, lets out a loud "Aaahhh...", then does a spit-take.
  • During the Castle episode "Nikki Heat", Beckett sprays her coffee when Natalie asks her "Is Castle Gay?"
  • A 2011 commercial for the Hyundai Sonata had a deer doing this when seeing the (off-screen) car drive past.
  • One of Jon Stewart's funnier stock gags on The Daily Show is, after watching a particularly shocking piece of video, to calmly take a sip of his coffee (or, occasionally, something a little stronger) and then do a shocked spit-take.
    • After twelve years, the show finally had a genuine spit-take. But it wasn't Jon—it was Steve Carell, responding to one of Jon's jokes! (For those who missed it, Jon said Steve Carell's success was because he "will f*** Anything That Moves.")
    • Subversion: Jon announces he's going to take a long sip of coffee before a book reveals "shocking" secrets of the 2008 campaign. When it's revealed that John McCain never vetted Sarah Palin before choosing her as his Vice Presidential candidate, Jon just continues easily drinking from his mug.
    • Discussed when he applauds President Obama for taking a drink and not doing a spit-take when the person he was talking to tells him his name is "Dick Swett". He then demonstrates how he would react by replaying the clip with different funny names dubbed over each, spitting out water, cereals, and skittles.
      • He'd later do a spit take with a cup of hot coins.
  • On the Sanford and Son episode "Pops 'N' Pals":

Fred Sanford: (sipping sangria at a Mexican restaurant) Say, what does sangria mean?
Julio: It means "blood".
Fred Sanford: (spews out most of his glass, his face seemingly turned inside-out)

  • Slightly subdued instance on The X-Files, episode "Chinga": Mulder pulls a bottle of orange juice out of his refrigerator (it was the sole occupant) and takes a gulp directly from the bottle, then grimaces and looks at the expiration date. The date is at least four months prior to the original airing of the episode. He spits the juice back into the bottle, and then puts the bottle back in the refrigerator. Understandably, he lives alone.
  • Only Fools and Horses has this:

Raquel: My husband was a policeman.
Del Boy: (chokes on tea)

  • The Golden Girls
    • In one episode, Rose says, "Guess what I did!" Dorothy guesses, "A Danny Thomas spit-take?" When Rose answers in a surprising manner what she really did, Sophia actually does a Danny Thomas spit-take.
    • Another episode had Blanche doing this all over a Russian emmissary. He quiped that back home he has to stand in line for two hours to get half as much.
  • Whose Line Is It Anyway
    • One episode features the audience suggestion drawn from a hat: "Things that will cause a Drew Carey spit-take." Drew poised expectantly with his mug, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie marched onto stage and kissed, Drew spat.
    • A more unexpected example can be found here after a great Colin Mochrie one-liner.
    • Brad Sherwood does this once when Drew announces "1,000 points apiece for keeping it clean" after a particularly vulgar game of Props.
  • Episode 10 of the Korean Drama Full House using tea.
  • Another Korean Series, Oh My Lady: Gae Hwa does this with wine when Ming Woo makes a suggestive comment. Luckily it gave us an excuse for a Shirtless Scene with the leading man.
  • This clip from The Soup.
  • The Blakes Seven episode "Gambit". Avon spits the (ice cream?) he's eating when Vila (who has been drugged) is lead onto the casino stage to play the Klute at speed chess, thereby risking both his life, if he loses, and their substantial winnings.
  • An episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip sees the characters doing spit-takes collectively—and contracting colds as a result.
  • Lisa does one on Saved by the Bell, when Kelly reveals that she has a thing for Screech.
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000
    • An episode features a Steve Reeves film where Hercules loses his memory and Ulysses is trying to get him to remember who he was. In the film, Ulysses gives Hercules a cup of wine and says "You're Hercules." The Bots provide the sound effect of a spit-take.
    • The "Torgo's Pizza" sketch from the Manos episode has a spit-take from the characters when they consider that the pizza, despite being delivered two hours late, is still warm.
    • One Joel sketch was devoted to demonstrating the many forms of the take, from thin streams to sputtered clouds, each with an appropriately shocking line.
  • On an episode of All American Girl, Margaret hears a piece of shocking news, but, being sans anything to spit, calmly walks from the living room into the kitchen, fills a glass of water, walks back to the living room, takes a sip, and determinately spits it out again.
  • In Mock the Week, when the contestants where commenting on how Dara has lost weight: "He's only lost weight because he was on the Irish version of Big Brother set during the potato famine." Cue Dara to take a gulp of water, a Double Take and then spit to the side.
  • Doubled up in Skins during a Two Scenes, One Dialogue bit.

Freddie: (swigs) Jesus, what is this stuff? (swigs again)
JJ: It's Dad's potato moonshine. He went on a "distill anything" course. We use it for weedkiller, mainly.
(Freddie spits; angle on Freddie, JJ, Katie and Emily)
JJ: What's it like?
Katie: (swigs in distance, spits) Eurgh! Shit! Urgh! Fuck! (sniffs, swigs some more)

  • Shotaro Hidari, from Kamen Rider Double, wastes a cup a coffee this way when his (late) boss's daughter comes announcing she's now in charge of his agency... and that she's evicting him.
  • Done by Urataros in Kamen Rider Den-O when he Ryotaro offers to let another Imagin join the team. Made more impressive by the fact that Ura doesn't have an articulated jaw (animated gif here).
  • An episode of The Nanny has C.C doing this all over Gracie when she and Niles announce that "Miss Fine" was pregnant by "Mr. Sheffield". They were actually talking about Gracie's hamsters.
  • Noah's Arc: Noah has a small one when Wade describes a guy he'd sleep with (as a perfect description of Noah).
  • British panel show Would I Lie to You? provided a masterful triple synchronized spit-take from one team at the punchline to one of Angus Deayton's lines.
  • Hannah Montana
    • Miley has to call up Amber to tell her she is going to be on TV with her, but waits until she has a mouthful of food before pressing send.
    • Much later Miley does a spit-take when Lilly announces she's going to tell Oliver that she loves him. Lampshaded by Miley (who had a dry mouth due to too many biscuits) that "at least I can spit now."
  • Parks and Recreation
    • Andy and April are left alone in the office with nothing to do while the rest of the gang goes hunting, and amuse themselves by practicing spit-takes. April is quite good at coming up with fake revelations to make Andy spit ("I'm pregnant...with Josh Groban's baby!") but Andy can't seem to think of anything shocking to say to April, instead just saying boring facts about himself.
    • Ron also gives one when his girlfriend asks him to move to Canada.
  • Wizards of Waverly Place
    • When Alex announces that her uncle Kelbo has agreed to be her Wizard teacher, Kelbo teleports elsewhere to get a drink, drinks it, and THEN spit-takes.
    • All of them did it when Max said, "I`m so relieved that I told Nancy that I'm a wizard."
  • How I Met Your Mother
    • Brilliantly done after Ted reveals he is in the middle of a 57-day dry spell; Barney nonchalantly asks to borrow Ted's water, reaches over the table to get it, before doing a spit-take, exclaiming "57 days!".
      • Barney tends to spray fluids around him like a demented fountain. Fridge Horror may apply when you consider that people who consider how many people he has slept with wouldn't even touch him while wearing space suits.
    • Ted's cousin also does one of these when her son asks her what a "'grinch" is.
    • This is Barney and Ted's reaction to the hilariously innuendo-heavy Robin Sparkles video which contained the line "How's your beaver?"
  • One of the skits on iCarly is "The Spit Take".

Sam: Hey Carly, remember when you asked to put ketchup on your burger?
Carly: Yeah? (grape juice)
Sam: It's actually chicken blood!
(called a spit-take from Carly)

  • Victorious: Tori's sister Trina spits out milk when Robbie kisses her.
  • In the Pilot of Friends, when Monica's date reveals that he's been impotent since his last girlfriend left him, she spits her wine over him in shock.
  • Leverage: In one episode, the gang cons a reporter into covering a fake story about the U.S. water supply being poisoned. When the reporter announces it on the air, a studio employee with a water bottle does a spit-take.
  • Laurel and Hardy: In the episode "Twice Two", Laurel spits his soup after Hardy reveals that he knows about the surprise that Laurel himself (without realising) told him earlier!
  • Will and Grace
    • Grace does one of these when Will matter-of-factly states that he wants to have a baby with her.
    • Will gets one in the final season when Grace blurts out that Karen's ex-husband Stan, who faked his death, is still alive. Made better by the fact that it was a live episode.
  • The Latest Buzz
    • Everyone but Amanda does this upon seeing that Amanda's date looks exactly like Wilder, though it takes Wilder meeting him a couple of times.
    • The show's full of those. In one episode Rebecca, Amanda, Noah and Wilder all spit-take at the same time when Michael announce he had a girlfriend. Twice. And that's just the intro!
  • In The Mighty Boosh, the Crack Fox offers Vince a "goblet" (really a half of a tennis ball) full of wine. Vince asks what sort of wine it is, then takes a sip. The Crack Fox replies "blood from a cat's face". Vince does a spit-take, and the Crack Fox seems quite proud of his joke.
  • Lister does a spit-take on Red Dwarf when he's told that his tea has dog's milk in it.
  • Sue White on Green Wing does a spit-take that goes on for about 10 seconds upon finding out about the sex tape with Guy and his mother. Sue White is completely insane.
  • The Big Bang Theory: Penny does this when she hears that Sheldon and his "not-girlfriend" Amy are considering having a child together.
  • Marlo Thomas, daughter of spit-take expert Danny Thomas, demonstrated the technique on a talk show. The host set up the joke by asking, "Hey, aren't you married to Geraldo?"
  • Done on Monk when Adrian's nemesis Harold is trying to find out the name of Monk's new psychoanalyst. They're waiting for the elevator.

Monk: Okay, fine, fine. His name... is Doctor... (glances at the elevator) Door.
Harold: (follows Monk's look) Doctor Door? Is that the best you could do? I suppose if we were standing over there by that alarm you would have said "Doctor Bell"!

And Natalie does a spit-take all over Harold, because the analyst's name actually is Doctor Bell!
  • Lampshaded on Thirty Rock, when Jenna tells Liz that she wants to have a baby and Liz spits.

Liz: I wasn't even drinking anything!


New Media

  • It's a Running Gag at Fark that posting something sufficiently funny will induce this reaction in whoever sees it, resulting in a drink spit all over the keyboard, ruining it.
  • This is a pretty common phenomenon on many Web Comic forums. One reader [dead link] said that he took to sipping Windex so he could clean his monitor while reading. That forum has had numerous claims of ruined keyboards.
    • Also common in Usenet newsgroups. Some have standard abbreviations to warn readers that a post might lead to keyboard/monitor endangerment.


Pro Wrestling

  • When Triple H was named to switch brands in the WWE's 2004 draft, he immediately spit out the water he was drinking. Since Trips always spits out the contents of his water bottle during his entrance, this probably isn't the only time he's done spit-takes onscreen.
    • It's not. When DX were questioned over running down Stone Cold Steve Austin Road Dogg gave his real name as Dees Nuts, causing Trips to spray out his water as he laughed.
    • During the 2009 Bragging Rights DX promo where they bashed Smackdown's team. Triple H once again spits his water out when Shawn whispers to him, he blurts out what he says right after: "He's banging Vickie Guerrero?!"
  • Then there was "One Night Stand 2005", where Paul Heyman namedrops Matt Hardy in front of Edge—who had recently yoinked Matt's girlfriend Lita (in real life, not kayfabe) -- and Edge spits out the beer he's drinking.
  • When Mick Foley was the commissioner he once told Al Snow that he was giving him a title match. Al responded with "I have a match against The Rock for the WWF Title?!" Cue spit-take from Foley, who proceeded to explain that he was talking about the Hardcore title.


Theater

  • The Drowsy Chaperone has one scene that consists of nothing but Spit Takes. This is due to the framing device is that a Man In A Chair is listening to the soundtrack of his favorite show, and rewinds and plays back that spit take multiple times.
  • The Reduced Shakespeare Company covers Hamlet in their performance, where Ophelia's death scene is some screaming followed by a spit-take in reverse. As a result, when they do the whole play backwards at the end, the spit-take is executed normally - and to hilarious effect.


Video Games

  • In Crash of the Titans, Dr. N. Cortex overdoes it (spit-take, followed by throwing the cup, followed by a second spit-take) and Dr. N. Gin hangs a lampshade on it ("Aw, c'mon! He didn't even have a cup that time!").
  • Sam and Max: Episode 204: Chariots of the Dogs actually requires Sam and Max to get another character to perform a spit-take, so they can use the DNA from his spit. To be fair, that particular character's spit turns out to be a red herring. The spit Sam and Max really need is taken from an envelope.
  • Used to hilarious effect in Persona 4, to illustrate just how mind-bendingly awful a particular batch of curry is, when immediately followed by keeling over sideways onto a picnic bench. Zero to horizontal in .1 seconds.

"Sure enough, one strike."

  • Toontown Online has this as one of the many "Squirt Gag" weapons.
  • The Armor Games' Web Game In3structotank during the introductory sequence. A Red Alert goes off while Dirk Danger is drinking coffee and he spits it out.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has a variation: Solid Snake is about to smoke his cigarette after asking why Liquid wants the original when a duplicate would work just fine (referring to Solid and Liquid's DNA) in regards to hacking the system. When he hears from Naomi that its because they aren't identical to Big Boss, he then chokes on his cigarette smoke.
  • In this trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken, Zangief has two massive spit-takes.


Visual Novels

  • Godot does this often in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations whenever Phoenix discredits one of his witnesses' testimony. Parodied in some cases where Godot will actually go through the motions of receiving his coffee, sniffing it, guzzling it down, and then spitting it out. In one instance Godot took two drinks. It's usually "symbolic" to the progress you've made, too, since Godot will only ever have 17 cups of coffee in one case, meaning if he's just spitting out coffee, he's coming to an end. Or if he's chugging them down, he's coming to an end for his benefit. To emphasize the whole parody he does in the game, it should be pointed out that he was Going Through the Motions in the very first instance of this trope in the game ever.


Web Animation

"STOP THE HUMEN!"


Web Comics

Ghanny: ... and there it is. I'm surprised, but not extravagantly so.


Web Original


Western Animation

  • Kim Possible
    • In the Grand Finale, just as Kim takes a sip of her soda, Ron freaks out. Cue Ron getting it in the kisser.
    • Also, when she learns that during the weekend, she has to meet up with Larry, she ends up spitting out her orange juice and choking.
    • In "Emotion Sickness" Wade calls just as Kim gives Ron a (Moodulator-induced) kiss. He does a spit-take and falls out of his chair.
  • The Simpsons
    • Parodied when Homer checks the price tag on a computer, doesn't react, then pours out a cup of coffee and reads the tag again while drinking it. Cue spit-take.
    • While trying to get Maggie to eat spinach, Homer somehow managed to do a spit-take from the mouth of a sock puppet on his arm.
    • Averted when Marge finds out Apu is cheating on his wife. Homer insists that they tell Krusty, because "that guy's hilarious!" Homer then tells Krusty right as he's drinking a big mug of coffee. Krusty reacts by... swallowing the coffee, and saying "That's sad. All those kids..." Marge later reminds Homer that off-camera, Krusty is "a desperately unhappy man."
    • Homer does this in early episodes when he spits mouthwash on the mirror.
    • Mr. Burns once did a spit-take that was implied to have also drained him of vital bodily fluids and thus dehydrated/seriously wrinkled him which required himself to be sprayed to regain the lost bodily fluids.
    • Subverted in the episode where the family is at a dude ranch. Homer and Bart don't do anything when they find out they're drinking bear urine, but they do the spit-take when they find out they're actually drinking Fresca.
    • Marge done this with wine soon after Janeane Garafolo said "I got my period today" while in the comedy festival.
  • The Adventures of Sam and Max Freelance Police, "Bad Day on the Moon": Sam sees a giant cockroach do a spit-take, and describes it as "the universal sign of surprise and alarm".
  • Parodied several times on The Fairly OddParents.
    • In the No Dialogue Episode "Pipe Down", whenever someone would "say" that a meteor was about to hit Dimmsdale, they would take a sip of coffee just to do the spit-take. For the fairies, they would actually summon a cup of coffee just so they can do the spit-take.
    • The two times Cosmo does it, he spits his coffee all over Wanda. And the second time was after the meteor's been dealt with.
    • It is also used as a running gag in the episode "Dream Goat".
    • Averted (or subverted?) in "Dog Day Afternoon". Wanda and other fairy godmothers are drinking tea and talking about how their godkids wished to switch places with animals; one of the other fairies takes a sip just as Wanda points out the school is doing dissections the day her goddaughter switched places with a frog, but the spit-take doesn't happen.
    • Played straight in A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!: Timmy spits out his Slushee upon hearing Tootie state her name in defiance against the film's villain.
  • Taken to hilarious extremes by Freakazoid! in this scene, where he splurts fifteen times, with an amount of juice probably in excess of what he had imbibed—although there are plenty empty juice containers next to him.
  • Family Guy
    • Peter does this twice on Meg at the dinner table when Brian tells the family that he's dating Shauna, a teacher he met at the PTA.
    • Brian does a spit-take when Peter tells he's gotten a raise when his job at the toy company is taken over by the tobacco company in the episode "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington".
  • Futurama
    • In the episode "Bender Gets Made" after realizing that the ship the Robot Mafia is going to attack is none other than the Planet Express Ship, Bender does a full ten second spit-take after drinking some oil up until the commercial break. On the DVD commentary they say that if they had been able to they would have still had him doing it after coming out of the commercial break.
    • When Dr. Zoidberg does one in "That's Lobstertainment", the water doesn't just come out of his mouth.
    • Bender does a double spit-take in "The Cyber House Rules" by alternating between two glasses that are constantly refilled. After the first spit-take, he picks up the other glass and does a second.
    • Another instance is when Fry, Leela and Bender won a tour of the Slurm factory, only to find out that Slurm's only ingredient is a semi-liquid discharge from the tail of a giant slug queen. There are several exchanges of Fry drinking from a can of Slurm, Leela reminding him what it is, Fry spit-taking, and going right back to drinking (it is highly addictive, after all.)
    • In Mars University:

Gunter: (a talking monkey) But the Professor has been like a father to me!
Leela: But he's not your father. That monkey in the punch bowl is.
(Fry takes a sip of said punch; cue spit-take)

An odd one because Fry didn't have the cup when he was walking back to his dorm.
    • And AGAIN in "A Leela of Her Own" when Fry spits out some "Crushed Rat Whine" into Benders face who spits it back out into Frys face with the same force.
    • ALSO while watching Cop Department:

Leela: Hey Bender, I thought you said you were in this episode.
Bender: Nah, this week I'm on Caught on Tape 3 because of what I did in the coffee pot.
(cue spit-take by Fry)

    • In "The Prisoner of Benda", Bender-in-the-Robo-Hungarian-Emperor's-body does this with jewels.
    • AND AGAIN in "A Clockwork Origin" where The Professor spits out his drink as well as his false teeth. Talk about a show that loves doing spit-takes.
    • A "solid" example. In "Overclockwise", Bender gets very intelligent after Cubert overclocks him.

Bender: There's 3,018 jelly beans in that jar.
Cubert: Oohohoho. Damn, I'm good. (picks up and eat a handful from the jar.)
Bender: I mean 3,018 rat kidneys.
(cue spit-take)

  • The Chowder episode "Chowder's Girlfriend" has a thirty-second-long spit-take that appears to span nearly half a day; Chowder even takes time in the middle of said take to brush his teeth, and the moon and sun in the sky even get into it.
  • In one episode of the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Space Ghost does several spit-takes in a row directly onto the camera lens. The first few are coffee, but the last one is comprised entirely of blood, eliciting gasps of horror from the (nonexistent) studio audience. Whoops.
  • King of the Hill
    • Dale, Bill and Boomhauer do a synchronized spit-take after Hank comes to the realization that the beer they've been drinking has been tainted, and was the cause for their earlier diarrhea and vomiting. When Hank realizes that Peggy knew all along, Bill does this a second time.
    • Hank also subverts this in one episode, almost doing a spit-take, but managing to avoid it. Hank then says, with all seriousness, "You almost made me spit out beer."
    • He does play it straight in an earlier episode, however—he spits beer when he hears Peggy yelling out "VAGINA!" (It Makes Sense in Context.)
    • A minor one when Bill is using his house to rehabilitate alcoholics, he asks his friends nicely that they can't drink in the alley. Dale spits out beer in reaction.
  • In Frisky Dingo, when billionaire idiot Xander Crews hears a surprising piece of news, he says, "Uh... spit-take!?"
  • Looney Tunes
    • In the classic cartoon Ballot Box Bunny, while drinking from a can of carrot juice, Bugs Bunny is listening to mayoral candidate Yosemite Sam give his stump speech:

Yosemite Sam: ... and I'll keep my promise to rid this country of every -- last -- rabbit!
(Bugs spews carrot juice)
Bugs: Last rabbit!?

    • Tortoise Beats Hare. The cartoon starts with Bugs reading the opening credits while eating one of his characteristic carrots. When he reads the title and notices that it is Tortoise Beats Hare... cue spit-take.
  • American Dad
    • Deputy Director Bulloch is talking about the escaped alien (Roger), and what they're planning to do to the person harboring him, causing Stan to repeatedly spit out his piping hot coffee onto people off-screen, indicated by their screaming, until Bulloch says, "Would someone take away Smith's coffee?"
    • Another when Steve said to his friends he's dating an older woman (she's 80).
    • Subverted in another episode where Francine tells Stan that she's become their gay neighbors' surrogate mother as he's pouring himself a beer. She drops the bomb before the beer reaches his lips, so instead he smashes the mug on the desk.
  • Parodied twice in El Tigre. In one episode, Grandpapi is drinking coffee when he hears alarming news. He spit-takes all over Rodolfo, calmly takes another sip, and sprays that all over Rodolfo too. In another episode, Rodolfo performs the excessive, hose-like spray variety, prompting Grandpapi to demand, "Why must you take such big sips?!"
    • Done another time by El Tigre himself in Fool's Goal when he drinks out of a water bottle and does a spit take right in Frida's face.
  • Done as an Overly Long Gag on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. Flapjack and K'nuckles startle the Club for Easily Startled Men, resulting in several seconds of spit-take.
  • In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Tentacle Vision", this trope is subverted when Squidward attempts a spit-take with his coffee after finding a favorite show of his canceled... only to realize that he hadn't actually made his coffee yet. Played straight a moment later when he notices what his show was replaced by.
  • Beavis and Butthead
    • A recurring gag would have Beavis doing a spit-take as a reaction to a horribly bad music video coming on the TV, usually with his regurgitated soda ending up on Butt-Head's face.
    • Also happened when Beavis tried the "near-beer" they had just bought on the episode "Buy Beer".
  • In Billy and Mandy Save Christmas, Billy does this 3 times as Mrs. Claus explains what happened to Santa. He spit-takes when she mentions mending Santa's underwear...

Billy: (spits) Santa has underwear?!

And then she mentions cleaning Santa's spare hat...

Billy: (spits) Santa has a spare hat?!

And then Mrs. Claus mentions she waxed Santa's sleigh...

Billy: (spits) Santa has a sleigh?!

And the gag ends when Mrs. Claus mentions treating Donner's irritable bowels, where Billy calmly sips his cocoa and suggests that the reindeer needs more fiber.
  • In one episode of South Park, Paris Hilton offers to buy Butters from his parents, who refuse. She then tells them she'll pay 200 million for him, causing his father to spit-take his cocoa and ask her to repeat herself. She does, and he spit-takes again, as does his wife.
  • Kowalski keeps doing these as a running gag in the The Penguins of Madagascar episode "Mr. Tux".
  • In the Veggie Tales' version of David and Goliath, one character performs a rather impressive one when David declares he wants to fight Goliath.
  • In an episode of Home Movies, Brendon's mother reacts this way to Brendon asking to go to the library—multiple times. The first time she does it is out of legitimate shock, but then she keeps doing it, seemingly just to annoy Brendon.
  • Done by Samy on Jimmy Two Shoes, when Beezy approaches him wearing a Paper-Thin Disguise of Lucius.
  • Wakfu
    • Done by Ruel in episode 10, all over his friend Calben, from Amalia's yell surprising him.
    • Done be Evangelyne in season 2 episode 2, straight at the "camera", when she hears Sadlygrove's voice in the forest.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, "Nightmares and Daydreams", Aang yells at Toph to stop drinking water and she immediatly spit-takes in surprise, all over Katara (who subsequently waterbends to dry herself). When asked why, Aang explains he just had a dream where they all died because of Toph's Potty Emergency, and thus it's important that she avoids drinking in the future....
  • The Legend of Korra" "A Leaf in the Wind." A White Lotus guard does this right into the face of another when the pro-bending announcer on the radio reveals that Korra is playing in a match.
  • In Batman the Animated Series Bruce pulls one of these when his friend Harvey Dent tells him he's planning on proposing to Pam Isley (not knowing she's evil yet).
  • Done a few times in My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic. Subverted in "A Bird in the Hoof", where upon hearing Princess Celestia has to leave a party on official duty, Twilight Sparkle begins to spit-take, only to shove her hoof in her mouth to stop herself.
  • Alfe in The Problem Solverz does this a lot, mainly when attacking. He also does it after trying the "slightly off" root beer and pizza pancakes in "Fauxboro".
  • In the Fanboy and Chum Chum episode "Fangboy", Dr. Acula does this when Fanboy tells him he's a vampire.
  • In the Arthur episode "Arthur's Underwear," while Arthur was having dinner with his family, his mom asks Arthur how school was that day. He then does a spit-take and starts abruptly laughing before choking, because earlier when Binky Barnes was writing on the board he tried to pick up chalk he accidentially dropped and ended up ripping up his pants, something Arthur found hilarious even after the fact.
  • Rex gets one in the Generator Rex episode "Outpost" upon being told that the drink he is imbibing is made from rice that has passed through the digestive tract of a monkey.
  • Lampshaded on Phineas and Ferb in "Bad Hair Day". Candace cuts her own hair using online how-to videos, ending up in a truly horrendous outcome. Phineas and Ferb walk in and do a spit-take, much to Candace's displeasure...

Phineas: What do you think? We've been working on our spit-takes all morning!
Candace: Yeah yeah, you're hilarious...

  • Recess
    • The Secretary of Education (most likely not Philium Benedict) ends up pulling one of these when he learned that the test scores had sunk even further than before as a result of his cancelling Recess.
    • Ms. Finster herself does a spit take when Gretchen Grundler revealed that she actually finished the Arkansas Achievement Test in less than five minutes.
  • Reef does one (with a mouthful of hot dog) after Lo tells him that he is going vegetarian in Stoked.
  • Superfriends 1973/74 episode "The Androids". Dr. Rebos and his assistant Loco are in their laboratory toasting their mission to stop the U.S. space program. Dr. Rebos spits out what he's drinking as he looks up and sees the Super Friends, who have just entered the room.
  • Acme Looniversity actually offers a Spit Take class.


Real Life

  • "Spit take" is a popular improv comedy game with some troupes. All you need are several players, more bottles of water, and a scene that provides plenty of "surprises". Hilarity Ensues, as well as a pause to clean the stage afterwards.
    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.