...or at least the 20th Century. A few years ago, in the year 2000, I conducted a poll as to what people thought were the greatest pie or cake scenes ever. Since the 20th Century had just ended, many of the pie or cake scenes eligible for the list were still relatively fresh, so to give people time to truly appreciate the greatness of the most recent 20th Century pie or cake scenes, I waited until now to finally release the list of 100 Best Pie Scenes. That, and I was just lazy! Anyway, here is the list for which you all have been waiting so long. To read the details of the pie or cake scene, just click on the title.
"Three's Company"
Jack is supposed to bake a pie for a bake-off competition. But when Chrissy accidentally eats some of the pie, she gets distraught when she finds out what she did to Jack's pie. So she and Janet plot to switch this pie with a store-bought one, meaning that Chrissy has to eat the whole rest of Jack's pie to get rid of the evidence. When the competition takes place, Jack recognizes one of the judges as a baker who, as it turns out, works at the store where Chrissy and Janet got the substitute pie. Afraid that the baker will recognize his own pie, the girls confess to Jack what had happened, and Jack tells Mr. Travers, his cooking school's dean. But Travers won't let Jack pull out of the competition, since the dean wants the trophy so bad. Jack tries to withdraw his pie, anyway, but when Travers tries to pull the pie out of Jack's hand, it accidentally gets thrown into the baker's face. This starts a series of pieings where Mr. and Mrs. Roper, Janet, Chrissy, and finally, Travers, all get pied in hilarious sequences. After Travers gets heavily pied, they go to commercial break, and when they come back, the Ropers are arguing about whose fault it is that they ended up getting so messy. Just as they are about to throw more pies at each other, Jack intervenes. He assures them that it was just one of those things that happened that night, that it wasn't either person's fault. Jack then offers that if was anyone's fault, it was his. Mr. and Mrs. Roper then take their pies, and hit Jack in the face with them, thus giving all the main cast members pies in the face.
The Great Race
The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Maggie Dubois (Natalie wood) are racing from New York to Paris, the long way around, and they're up against the evil Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) and his assistant (Peter Falk). On one stop, Fate discovers he has a look-alike, who just happens to be heir to the local throne. Eventually, they all end up in a bakery, where Fate falls into a giant cake. After picking himself up and out of the cake, he starts throwing pies at those around him, then they start throwing pies, until everybody has been pied or is throwing pies. Somehow, Leslie remains clean the whole time, until Maggie, her face completely covered in pie and blinded by it, too, spins around trying to find her way, and accidentally shoves a pie into Leslie's face. Then all the racers suddenly leave and get back into their cars to resume the race. This scene is considered the biggest pie fight ever conducted in the history of film.
Bugsy Malone
This "baby burlesque" film stars children in adult roles, mostly gangsters and dames in this case. But instead of motorized cars, the gangsters drive pedal-powered cars. And instead of handguns, they use cream pies. And instead of tommy guns, they use "splurge guns", which fire whipped cream faster and farther than regular guns. Every time someone in the film is hit with a pie or a splurge shot, they are considered "whacked". Until the end, that is. The final pie fight gets nearly everyone messy, particularly young star Jodie Foster. The pie fight is immediately followed by all the pied kids singing the film's closing number. Overall, this film uses pie-throwing effectively to move the film along, and provides one of the best pie fights ever in history.
"Brady Bunch" (ep. "Welcome Aboard")
When Cousin Oliver comes to live with the Bradys, he starts to think he's a jinx when bad things happen to all the others. Reluctantly, he joins them on a trip to a Hollywood movie studio. Because Oliver's presence give them a party of nine (Mike couldn't make it due to business), they had enough people to give them the 1,000,000th person ever to tour the movie studio. As a prize, the group got to star in an old-tyme slapstick film, as extras. During the course of the film, many of the film's main actors got pied, but eventually, one-by-one, all those in the Brady party were drawn in to the pie fight, as well. Even Cousin Oliver got messy.
"The Three Stooges", short In the Sweet Pie and Pie
Moe, Larry and Curly are prisoners about to be executed, when they are picked to marry three young women. The women need to get married so that they can qualify for an inheritance. They figure that since their husbands will be executed soon, they can return to their single lives without giving up their inheritance. But the boys are pardoned and released, and when they come home to their wives, the women are stunned. So they devise a plot to get the Stooges in trouble and their marriages annulled. The plan is to hold a high society party with the Stooges in attendance, and when they show up without any class, they'll embarrass everyone there. But when things don't go as smoothly as planned, the women's lawyer bribes one waiter to "accidentally" smash a cake into Moe's face. He does that, and it causes a pie fight in the house. Everything from the famous line, "Somebody get me a pie!", to Curly getting pied repeatedly while trying to throw his own pie at someone, is featured here. A classic short that best represents the pie-throwing side of the Three Stooges.
Laurel and Hardy short Battle of the Century
Laurel plays a boxer, and Hardy his trainer, in this classic short. Hardy takes out an insurance policy on Laurel, and tries to create an accident for Laurel so that Hardy can collect on it. But the plan goes awry, and a pie delivery man slips on the banana peel intended for Laurel, thus causing a pie fight in the streets. Ironically, Laurel and Hardy make the money they were looking for by selling pies for people to throw during the pie fight!
"What Would You Do?" (sorority sister gets pied)
During a game of "Musical Pies", a sorority girl named Jennifer is caught holding the pie as the music stops, but rather than pie herself, she lets fellow her sorority sister Ivy throw the pie. Jennifer begs Ivy not to throw the pie too hard, but when Jennifer gets pied, she gets clobbered! Her face is totally covered in thick whipped cream, as the camera shows her going off to clean up.
"Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters"
Barbara and her sister Louise are tired of youngest sister Irlene playing practical jokes on them, so they call Dial-a-Pie, a service that delivers pies right to people faces, and order a pie for Irlene. But when the delivery man shows up asking for Miss Mandrell, Barbara, having forgotten about this earlier gag, says that she is Miss Mandrell, and gets pied. Louise then says he got the wrong Miss Mandrell, but the pie man think that means Louise was the one, so he pies Louise next. Irlene then sends the show into commercial break, just as her sisters are trying to mess her up with remnants from the pies thrown.
"That Girl"
Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) has just gotten another acting job, this time on TV. She plays a pretty lady who wears a tiara, walks toward the camera, and gets a pie in the face. But after her scene airs, she gets totally embarrassed about it! What's so embarrassing about seeing Marlo Thomas get a pie in the face?
"Moonlighting"
While posing as the wait staff at a high-end international political dinner, Dave and Maddy (Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd) almost get their cover blown. But then things start getting hairy, and a food fight erupts, with foreign dignitaries throwing food at one another as Dave and Maddy look on. The funny part occurs when Dave is talking to Maddy in the middle of the food fight, and then Dave ducks, causing a pie to go into Maddy's face. Then Dave laughs at her, only to get pied himself.
"What Would You Do?" (Twinkie with gravy, or Pie Slide?)
A young, twentysomething woman has to choose to either eat a Twinkie covered in gravy, or go down the Pie Slide. She chooses the slide. After going down the slide and landing in a huge pie, she emerges, all covered in cream, but now she openly wishes she had chosen the Twinkie with gravy. Too late!
"Soupy Sales Show"
It was so hip to be pied on "The Soupy Sales Show" during the 1960's, that Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr., literally begged Soupy to let them on his show to get pied. When they finally get on, they perform a restaurant sketch, which ends up in a massive pie fight where Frank, Sammy, and Soupy really get pied. A high moment is pie-throwing history.
"I Love Lucy" (ep. "The Ballet", Ricky gets pied)
After Lucy learns burlesque comedy in order to gain a spot in Ricky's show, Ethel phones her, saying that he won't need a burlesque comedian in the show after all. But then Lucy finds out that the show will need an extra performer after all. She assumes that means a burlesque comic, but it really means a ballet dancer. As a result of this mix-up, Lucy shows up at the club, dressed as a slapstick comic, and disrupts the show. She thinks she's supposed to perform a bit where she uses various bits of slapstick every time she hears the name "Martha". So when Ricky sings "Martha", as part of his lyrics, Lucy starts squirting people with seltzer, hitting people with a stuffed bag, etc. Finally, the ballet dancers carry Lucy off, but as she's being thrown out, she tosses a pie into Ricky's face just as he's finishing his musical number.
Singin' in the Rain
Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is arguing with Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), while world-famous movie star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is standing by. During the argument, Kathy picks up a cake, and flings it at Don, who ducks. The cake end up going into Lina's face. Lina's reaction to this caking is CLASSIC!
"Love, American Style"
Susan Howard gets pied in a bakery pie fight on this anthology series.
"You Can't Do That on Television" (ep. "Drugs")
This one was very innovative, as it used custard pied in place of drugs, to demonstrate the dangers of addiction. It was very funny, too. At the end, Christine is still saying "no" to the others, who are pressuring her into taking a pie. So all the other kids then force their pies into Christine's face, and the show's credits then roll. This episode was even dubbed a "Pie in the Face Production".
"Mike Douglas Show"
Moe Howard, one of the Three Stooges, is a guest on the program. He and Mike are doing a sketch with Soupy Sales, where Mike plays the Maha Raja. Maha is demonstrating things like rifle shooting and knife throwing with Soupy. Then a girl in a bikini comes out to give Maha a "soft grenade", or cream pie, to toss at a fly on the tip of Soupy's ear. Though the pie hits more than Soupy's ear, the bikini-clad girl beings out more pies for the Maha to throw. But then Moe starts a pie-throwing m�l�e, first by hitting Maha, then by pieing Soupy. When Soupy tries to retaliate, Moe ducks and Maha gets it again. Then Moe pies the girl in the bikini, and then goes towards the audience and pies a woman in the front row. Finally, when Moe complains that he didn't get any pie, the bikini girl pies him right then. Incidentally, the woman from the audience was really Moe's wife, but many viewers didn't know that, and Moe got a lot of angry letters after the show. When Moe was a guest of Mike Douglas again on a later show, they finally explained whom Moe had really pied.
"Happy Days"
Roger Phillips and Chachi are trying to get into the Leopards, Mr. C's exclusive men's club. During initiation, Chachi avoids getting sprayed with seltzer by Potsie, by answering a difficult question correctly. But he still gets a pie in the face from Potsie, and then came the seltzer to clean it off! Later on, Chachi enlists Roger to help him get revenge on Potsie for the initiation, and they stands next to the entrance to Arnold's with pies, waiting for Potsie to come in. But when Fonzie enters, they immediately think it's Potsie, and they try to pie him, but they miss and hit each other instead! Seems like nothing went right in that scheme! (Note: when this scene was being filmed, Scott Baio (Chachi) and Ted McGinley (Roger) departed from the script to play a joke on Henry Winkler (Fonzie). When Fonzie entered, Chachi and Roger, instead of "missing" their target and pie each other, turned and pied the Fonz. A clip of this was shown during a "Happy Days" reunion, and Henry Winkler clearly enjoyed being pied in that clip.)
Anita Bryant press conference
On October 14, 1977, in Des Moines, Iowa, Anita Bryant is explaining her anti-gay rights stance to reporters, when one extreme activist comes up and pies her. After disrupting the proceedings, the activist is apprehended, but Anita and her husband insist that they let him stay. Anita then jokes that at least it was a "fruit" pie, thus showing that she still had a sense of humor, but also some leftover prejudice.
"You Can't Do That on Television" (ep. "Paranormal")
Christina and Lisa, worried that ghosts might be haunting the studio, are standing on the link set, when something flies right by them. Christine asks if that was the snack cart flying by, and when Lisa gets pied, she replies "Yep!" Ross then comes on and says that he's going to do something about it. When Christine comments about how much Ross truly cares, he say that of course he cares, because he wanted to eat that pie himself!
"Fox Kids Bowl '99"
On the weekend of Super Bowl XXXIII, FOX decided to air a flag football game on its FOX Kids network. The game features NFL stars Brett Favre and Jerome Bettis, and a bunch of other stars, and schoolchildren. The losing team would get pied by the winning team, and Favre and Bettis ended up on the losing side. Not only did they get pied, but some of the kids, and even a commentator, all got pied, too. Considering the game was played in outdoors in Chicago during the winter, those pies must have been cold!
"I Love Lucy" (ep. "The Diner")
The Ricardos and Mertzes have bought a diner, but after disagreeing on how to run it, they split it into two sections: "A Little Bit of Cuba" and "A Big Hunk of America". As tension rise even further, Lucy and Ethel threaten to start a food fight, much to the delight of one customer. When Ricky and Fred calm the others down, the women put down their pies, much to the disappointment of the customer, who then picks up the pie and tosses it at Ethel to get her to start up the pie fight again. Soon, everyone behind the counter is getting pied, until they all realize how silly they're being. At that moment, the guy who sold them the diner in the first place comes in to check the progress of his former restaurant. Both the Ricardos and Mertzes agree that they couldn't handle running a diner, so they sell it back to the original owner. He then brags to the customer about how he sells restaurants to people who know nothing about running one, and then makes a profit by buying it back at a lower cost when they can't handle it anymore. The customer is upset at hearing of the owner's scheme, so he pies the owner, thus ending the scene.
"The Monkees"
The group has just been hired to do a kids show entitled "Captain Crocodile", but they quickly learn that they weren't hired to play music. After being dressed in ponchos and plastic head coverings, they are brought out to help the host start the show. Captain Crocodile then yells out "It's time for fun!" four times, and every time he yells this, he pies one of the Monkees, and the kids shout back, "FUN!", until all of the Monkees have been pied. Eventually, the group petitions to have the pieings stop, but by the end of the show, the pies have been replaces with seltzer squirts.
"The View"
On one show from early 1999, one of the subjects talked about is pie throwing, and by the end of that show, Meredith Vieira has come out holding a cream pie in her hand. Everyone on the set is worried that they'll be the one to get pied. But after Barbara Walters and some of the other ladies complain, Meredith calls them all "wusses", and then pies herself! Then she throws confetti onto her pied face, and Barbara goes up and apologizes to Meredith for doubting her.
"What Would You Do?" (girl hold heavy bags, pies friends)
Marc Summers has one girl sitting in the audience hold bags full of groceries for the entire show, and when he comes back, he notices that she held the bags for the entire time, and her girlfriends didn't even offer to help. So as a reward for her diligence, the girl with the grocery bags gets to pie her two friends (at the same time, no less). After they get pied, one of the friends is embarrassed to still have the camera on her while there's pie on her face and in her hair!
"Spin City"
Mike (Michael J. Fox) and Caitlin (Heather Locklear) are arguing during the Mayor's press conference, and after the argument gets quite heated, Caitlin ends up throwing Mike into a huge cake. when Mike gets up to compose himself, he tries to act calm, but end up throwing Caitlin into the cake, too. When the Mayor concludes his press conference, he brings the press into the room with the refreshments, only to find Mike and Caitlin covered in cake.
Mack Sennet short
In one of the earliest recorded pie scenes in history, slapstick pioneer Mabel Normand is seen removing her glasses, only to get pied immediately afterward.
"MMC" ("Mickey Mouse Club")
In a sketch about school-age pie-throwers getting sent to the principal's office for throwing pies, J.C. Chasez, later of *N Sync, plays a principal's assistant who tries to help the kids overcome their urge to throw pies. He starts out by pieing two boys, including a young Ryan Gosling, to show them how it feels to be a victim of pie-throwing. But when the principal's assistant gets to Tammy (played by 13-year-old Christina Aguilera), he finds out that she only throws pies because she comes from a family of clowns. She says that throwing pies is just a way of showing her love, at which point J.C. pies Christina and says, "I love you, too!" Interesting how, throughout the sketch, they talk about the very essence of throwing pies, from the way a pie is made, to the thrill of seeing it fly across the room into a person's face, to the humiliation a person feels when pied. And of course, there's the end scene, when the kids can no longer resist the urge to throw pies, and they all pie J.C. Landmark scene in pie-throwing history.
"Sesame Street"
This was during the performance of the song "Surprise", where they demonstrate how a pie in the face is generally unexpected. At one point, even a brick wall gets pied! And by the end, after most of the people in the video have been pied, a special-effects pie shows up on screen and is "thrown" at the camera, complete with the "splat" sound! Most people born in the 1970's found this to be one of their earliest pie memories.
"I Love Lucy" (ep. "The Ballet", Lucy gets pied)
To try to get into Ricky's show, Lucy hires a burlesque comedian to teach her slapstick comedy. While rehearsing the famous Vaudeville sketch "Slowly I turned...", Lucy get clobbered with a stuffed bag, and squirted with seltzer, but when the comedian brings out a pie to hit her with, she orders him to drop it. When he asks if he should literally drop it, onto the floor, she replies, "No, let me have it!" I think you all know the rest.
NBC promo
During the mid-1980's, there was a promo for NBC featuring a beautiful French model who gets pied in the end. As the French say, oo-la-la!
"Captain and Tennille Show"
Many guest stars willingly pied themselves during the "Masterjoke Theatre" segments, but the pie scene that made this list was the final one of the series. Rich Little was complaining about doing a bit on the show, and ends up starting a pie fight where several folks get creamed. Toni Tennille ends up getting pied, as well; in fact, the only person not pied was the Captain. When everyone notices this, the Captain just replies, "That's the way the pie crumbles!", prompting everyone to pie him good!
"Route 66"
There was one episode which featured guest star Soupy Sales, and a pie fight (of course!).
"What Would You Do?" (people impersonate cartoon characters)
Marc Summers is talking with people at Universal Studios Florida, asking them what impressions they can do of cartoon characters, and he gets some of them to impersonate cartoon characters getting a pie in the face!
"Bewitched"
Samantha's twin cousin, Serena, is causing more trouble, by pretending to be Samantha. So when Darrin finds out, he scolds his wife, thinking she's really Serena, and when she takes a pie out of a box, he pies her with it. Samantha then conjures up another pie, which she smashes into Darrin's face. When she conjures up another pie, Darrin grabs it from her and starts chasing her around the house. He then throws it at her, but hits Endora instead. When Samantha finds out about Serena's mischief, Samantha pies Serena. So in the end, Elizabeth Montgomery, as Samantha, throws a pie across the room and hits Serena, also played by Elizabeth Montgomery! Ah, the magic of TV.
Video for "(You've Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)"
At the beginning of this Beastie Boys video, some nerds plan a party while their parents are away, and one of them even hopes that there's pie at the party. Then during the second verse, some party-crashers come in with some cream pies, and start throwing them around. Some girls get pied, but not Tabitha Soren, future MTV veejay. But Adam from the Beasties gets pied, as does producer Rick Rubin. One final note: the mother getting pied in the end scene really is the mother of one of the guys in the video.
"Brady Bunch" (ep. "The Honeymoon")
In the pilot episode, Mike reluctantly brings the boys' dog Tiger to the wedding, but only if Tiger stays in the car. After the ceremony, Tiger somehow gets free, and starts chasing Fluffy, the girls' cat. The two animals run all around, startling guests and knocking over the table, causing the wedding cake to slide to the edge. When Mike sees this, he rushes over, and saves the cake just in time, but when Carol comes over to hug him, she makes him lose his balance and fall over, bringing the cake down onto him. The wedding turned out just as they had hoped: nice and peaceful!
"You Can't Do That on Television" (ep. "Enemies and Paranoia")
This happened to be one of the five episodes of YCDTOTV that Alanis Morissette was on, and it paid off, in the form of a pie in her face! When the cast hears a rumor that producers of their sister show in the Soviet Union are going to take them over, they start getting worried. But by the end of the show, when the Soviets arrive, they just throw pies in everyone's faces. Seems they had nothing to worry about, after all!
"TISWAS"
Many celebrities were put through pie hell during a (rigged) trivia competition on this British children's show. But perhaps none as endearing as the time Sheena Easton was on. Needless to say, she was pied heavily during the competition, with multi-colored pies thrown by the Phantom Flan Flinger, as host Chris Tarrant stood by and watched.
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
During one bit, a "professor" gives a lecture about "edible missiles", and demonstrates their use. Out of the three guys holding pies, one of them gets pied a lot, and even receives a "foul pie". Fortunately, one of the other pie throwers gets pied once, too. Then, at the end of the sketch, just as John Cleese is about to pie the professor, the professor surprises everyone with a no-look pieing of Cleese.
"What Would You Do?" (boy pies girl over his shoulder)
After winning a maze-and-mirrors game, a teenage boy gets to pie the loser, a teenage girl. But he has to pie her over his shoulder, with the help of a hand-held mirror. So naturally, he cheats and looks over as he pies her, making sure the pie does indeed hit her face. In return, she gets him sent to the Pie Pod, where he gets really messy.
"Dick Van Dyke Show"
Jerry Helper, Rob's next door neighbor, is joking about how "rotten" the Alan Brady Show is. Every time Jerry make a crack like that, he follows it up by saying that he's only kidding. Finally, Rob comes out carrying some dessert, and Jerry warns him that he's about to step on a toy truck in the middle of the floor. Rob assumes that Jerry's kidding again, but when he trips on the toy, the pie gets shoved into Jerry's face.
The Shaggy D.A.
In this live-action Disney movie, JoAnne Worley, Dean Jones, and Keenan Wynn all get into a huge cherry-pie fight. When Keenan gets pied, he is smoking a cigar, and as the pie hits Keenan in the face, the cigar in his mouth punches right through the pie, undisturbed!
"Family Matters" (ep. "Stop in the Name of Love")
Carl and his police partner, Lt. Murtaugh, are arguing at Rachel's Place, the restaurant owned by Laura's aunt Rachel. Urkel tries to intervene by offering them a piece of pie, which leads Murtaugh to throw the pie at Carl, except he misses and gets Urkel instead. Carl then tries to pie his partner, but he, too, misses and gets Urkel. Upset at getting pied yet again, Urkel decides to throw some pie at the two guys, but as he aims, he misses Carl and Murtaugh, and hits Laura with the pie. After seeing how silly things have become, Carl and Murtaugh apologize to one another, and Murtaugh even makes a goodwill gesture, by pieing himself! In response, Carl picks up the last pie, looks right at it, and as a goodwill gesture of his own, pies...Murtaugh!
"Jackie Gleason Show" (Laurel and Hardy bit)
In one Honeymooners sketch, Ed Norton and Ralph Kramden are rehearsing a skit where Norton plays Laurel and Ralph plays Hardy. Ralph is supposed to pie Norton in the skit, but during rehearsal in the Kramden's apartment, Ralph accidentally hits Alice (Audrey Meadows) in the face with the pie. Years later, this pie scene was repeated, but with Sheila MacRae playing Alice and getting the pie.
"Three Stooges Greatest Hits"
At the end of this tribute to Moe, Larry, and Curly, Martin Short and several elegantly-dressed ladies pay one final tribute to the Stooges...with a pie fight! The pies fly so intensely, that even the audience ends up getting into it!
"Arsenio Hall Show"
Bill Cosby is the first guest of the night, and just as he's telling one of his stories, Arsenio picks up a pie and smashes it in bill's face. Arsenio repeats this gag throughout the interview, and Bill just sits there and takes it. Towards the end of the interview, Arsenio asks Bill his opinion of the pie-in-the-face as an art form, and Bill suggests that Arsenio try hitting Bill's bottom with a pie! Then when Arsenio picks up the final pie of the evening, Bill asks, "Is that the last one?", and then pies Arsenio in the face. Amazing that Bill Cosby would be willing to take so many pies, and remain pied for so long on TV!
"Babysitter's Club"
When the girls in the club participate in a school carnival, one of the exhibits is a pie-tossing booth. One of the girls, Maryann, is about to try her hand at pie-throwing, when her rival (Randi Mollo) starts taunting her. So instead of throwing at the pie target, Maryann pies her rival, thus giving her proper comeuppance.
"Saturday Night Live" (Heavy-Wit Championship of the World)
Two comedians, played by Eric Idle and John Belushi, are fighting in a boxing ring for the Heavy-Wit Championship of the World. In Round One, the tell corny jokes to each other, trying to outdo one another. When the bell rings, they rest and gets their "wits" about them; then in Round Two, Idle comes out immediately with a pie to Belushi's face. Belushi then pies Idle right back, and follows it with a bucket of whitewash over the head. Belushi retains the title of Heavy-Wit Champion of the World.
"Growing Pains"
Yes, that "Growing Pains" scene. For their parents' 20th wedding anniversary, the kids decide to throw a surprise party. But you know things are goings to go totally wrong when all the guests turn out to be from their folks' old Christmas list! To avoid the crazy atmosphere, the parents escape their own party, and just in time. When the caterer unveils the dessert tray, full of pies, that's when the pie-flinging begins. Seeing the snotty middle child Carol get pied by brother Mike makes this scene worth watching every time!
"Up All Night"
Like the pieing of Idalis on MTV, this one involved a fan letter asking the host to take a pie in the face. When host Rhonda Shear reads the letter, she seems more than willing to go along. For when she finishes with the letter, she picks up a pie, and hits herself with it!
"Cybill"
Cybill and friend Maryann are attending the outdoor wedding of Maryann's ex-husband and Cybill's rival, played by Morgan Fairchild. To ease the pain of seeing her ex walk down the aisle with another woman, Maryann has conspired with Cybill to notify the press of the wedding, and when one paparazzi helicopter swoops down really low to get a good shot, it blows all the wedding decorations all over the yard. Naturally, Cybill gets blamed by her rival for this, and an exchange of food-throwing begins. After Cybill gets guacamole dip dumped on her head, she picks up a pie, chases Morgan with it, until Cybill's rival falls into a fountain, at which point, Cybills pies Morgan! Then Maryann walks up to her ex and talks to him, then she cakes him really well! The revenge is complete, and very sweet!
"The Tonight Show" (ring-around-the-collar parody)
In one of Johnny Carson's many famous ad parodies, Johnny is being taunted by a woman yelling "Ring-around-the-collar!". But the tables are turned when Johnny sings, "Pie-in-the-faaace!", and pies the woman!
Idalis on MTV
MTV veejay Idalis, in the early days of her stint, is answering some fan mail which asks if she'd be willing to take a pie in the face. She answers by saying that it could never happen, because she wouldn't like it, that no one else would be willing to take part, etc., but just as she's answering, Kurt Loder stops by and says he has something for her. He then pies Idalis, who then swears revenge on Kurt for that stunt. She spends the next few seconds laughing it off, finishing off her on-air segment, and keeping an eye on Kurt as he leaves the set, and then right before the commercial break, runs out after Kurt, with pie still on her face!
"The Three Stooges", short Heavenly Daze
Shemp is dreaming that he's invented a fountain pen that writes in whipped cream. Upon demonstrating his invention with a blender, something goes wrong and whipped cream is sprayed everywhere. A short time later, Shemp wakes up, realizes his bed's on fire (from smoking in bed), and frantically runs around in search of water to cool his burning tuckus. When he finally gets relief, he tells Moe and Larry about his dream, but Moe reacts by pieing Shemp right in the face! "There's your whipped cream!", he yells, after which he hands Shemp a pen. Then Larry hands Shemp a piece of paper and asks him to write something with it. Shemp then dips the pen in the cream and tries to write in it! A fitting end to another Three Stooges short.
"3rd Rock from the Sun"
Dick (John Lithgow) is trying to learn about comedy, and in the process, develops a stand-up comedy act. Unfortunately, most of the jokes are at this colleagues' expense, as Dr. Albright (Jane Curtin) and others will soon find out. The day after hearing his stand-up routine, Albright and co-worker Nina Campbell set up a table full of pies, which Dick thinks are a gift to him for his "wonderful" stand-up comedy. It turns out that the women just want to plaster the pies all over Dick: on his front, his shoulders, his head, and yes, his face! Oh, and there's a "foul pie" that is applied, as well as two on his behind, but of course it wouldn't be a pie scene if not for the two pies smashed in his face!
The Naked Gun
In the movie's opening scene, Norberg, played by O.J. Simpson, is getting ready to make a bust. But when he tries to bust the door open with his foot, he smashes his leg right through the door. Naturally, by the time he gets his leg out and the door opened, the thugs all have their guns ready. When they fire at Norberg, he starts bumping into things, and getting his hand smashed by the window, and burned by the stove, and yes, his face crashes into a cake! I wonder if O.J. ever found the knife for that cake?
"The Late Show with Joan Rivers"
The first ever pieing on the FOX television network occurred on this short-lived late-night talk show. Connie Selleca was a guest on the show, and she was telling Joan about how she loves practical jokes. Later, she gets up, and returns with a box, and upon opening it, she pulls out a pie, and smashes it into Joan's face! At that moment, punk rocker Wendy O. Williams, another guest on that night's show, was in stitches!
"Family Matters" (ep. "Love Triangles")
Laura and Maxine are baking some desserts when it's discovered that Maxine has been going out with Laura's ex-boyfriend. When Laura hears this, she smashes a cake into Maxine's face. Pause for commercial. After the break, Maxine retaliates by caking Laura. Urkel tries to step in, but gets cake on the sides of his head. After the girls cake each other once more, Urkel gets clobbered some more, at which point, he tries to get revenge. But he misses the girls and gets Eddie, who just walked in. Eddie then cakes Urkel good, prompting Urkel to pick up another cake. Unfortunately, this time, he hits Carl in the face with the cake. Carl then clobbers Urkel even more, but this time, when Urkel recovers, he starts an all out cake-throwing frenzy. The scene ends right about then, concluding one of the best cake fights ever done in the history of Hollywood.
Mrs. Doubtfire
Robin Williams is dressed like Mrs. Doubtfire, except for the mask used to make his face look older. To avoid being discovered, he tries to recover the mask, which has fallen out of his bedroom window. Unfortunately, it gets run over by a garbage truck, and so he's stuck in the kitchen without a face. When his houseguest offers to come into the kitchen, Robin desperately looks around for something to disguise himself. When he opens the refrigerator, he finds a cake. Just as the houseguest enters the kitchen, Robin cakes himself and creates a mask to hide his face. The most memorable part is when Robin pops up and says, in an English accent, "HELLUE!", to his now-startled houseguest. Truly a funny scene, and effective in advancing the plot, too.
"New Soupy Sales Show"
Special guest star Alice Cooper is visiting Soupy when a singing bug is discovered at Soupy's place. At first, Alice wants to borrow the bug for his concerts, but after Soupy's giant dog White Fang crushes the bug to death, Alice gets angry. But then he has another brilliant idea. He asks White Fang to join him onstage, and this makes the giant dog rather excited, thinking that he's going to get to sing. But Alice doesn't want White Fang sing, rather, he wants the dog to kill bugs on stage. When White Fang hears this, he gets angry and pies Alice, complete with "exploding pie" sound effects!
Bette Midler's video for "Beast of Burden"
Bette is covering the famous Rolling Stones hit, with Mick Jagger offering her a little assistance on vocals. The plot of the video is that Bette has recently hooked up romantically with Mick, dumping a famous sheik in the process. At the end of the video, the sheik enters, and proceeds to throw a pie right in to Mick's face. Bette thinks this is funny, but then she's the one the sheik pies next!
Going Ape
In this movie about an adopted chimp living in the city, Tony Danza, Danny DeVito, and their female co-star are in an apartment when some laughing gas leaks into the apartment, causing all to become delirious with laughter. Eventually, some pies are thrown, hitting Danny in the face, and other food items are tossed as well. Towards the end of the scene, the woman is holding a pie, and Tony, still tripping over the gas, is trying to convince her not to pie him. But of course, she does it anyway!
"Bob Newhart Show"
Bob is plotting a practical joke on his old friend Cliff "The Peeper", in the form of a pie in the face. When The Peeper comes to visit the Hartleys, he's supposed to walk through the door and receive the pie from Bob. But when Peeper arrives, the first person to come in is his new wife Corrine, and she gets the pie in the face! A few moments later, The Peeper gives Bob a pie in the face as well; apparently, Peeper was planning the same joke all along!
1993 MTV Video Music Awards
Towards the end of the show, Anthony Kiedis and Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, have joined Tony Bennett onstage to present the award for Best Music Video. After the nominees are announced, the two Chili Peppers pie each other unexpectedly, with banana cream pies. All Tony Bennett can do is just watch!
"Gilligan's Island" (ep. "X Marks the Spot")
When the castaways think the island is about to be blown up by a U.S. military bomb, Mary Ann tries to calms some nerves by baking coconut cream pies. Gilligan is enjoying some of these pies when the Skipper walks in with some pies of his own. He offers one to Gilligan, who refuses, since he's so full. The Skipper insists and tries to hand the pie to Gilligan, who gets out of his chair and tries to say "no", but ends up accidentally knocking the pie into the Skipper's face. The Skipper then reacts, "Thanks a lot, Gilligan!", and then hits his little buddy with the pie in his other hand!
Stoogemania
In this film about a man obsessed with the Three Stooges, our hero is in a "stoogeatorium" being rehabilitated, along with several other "stoogeaholics". After the doctors decide that they're cured, they gather all the patients into one room for a little seminar, complete with desserts (that's right, pies!). When watching a video of one of their doctors giving a speech, something goes wrong, and a Three Stooges short ("Disorder in the Court") appears on the television. This riles up all the patients, one of whom picks up a pie and starts a big pie fight! Over the next few minutes, several patients, doctors, and guests are either pied, or pie themselves! Now on the one hand, it's hard to figure out how the doctors were so stupid as to put a whole bunch of cream pies out on a table in a room full of recovering "stoogeaholics", but then again it was a great pie fight. As my good buddy Jeff Kovatchitch would say, it was better than any pie fight the real Stooges ever had except for one!
Dr. Strangelove outtakes
Probably the best pie fight you've never seen. It was supposed to be a part of the famous Stanley Kubrick film about nuclear war, but something went wrong. The pie fight was supposed to represent the serious in-fighting that has tended to occur between the different factions of the Pentagon, but when it came time to shoot the pie fight, those involved seemed to be enjoying themselves too much. Kubrick decided that it was too silly to have an "enjoyable" pie fight in the film; it was supposed to be a "serious" scene. And since they couldn't do another take due to budget restraints, Kubrick decided to edit it out of the film completely. It's too bad the famous director didn't try to do any pie scenes in future films, or we could have had great classics like 2001 Pies-in-a-Face Odyssey, A Clockwork Cream, The Pieing ("Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" SPLAT!), Full Metal Pie Tin, or even Pies Wide Shut!
"The Tonight Show" (diarrhea ad parody)
Johnny is dressed as a nerdy man, who just wants to talk for a minute about...diarrhea. Naturally, he gets pied repeatedly, knocking off his glasses and completely covering his face!
"The Tonight Show" (battery ad parody)
Johnny is dressed as Robert Conrad from those famous "I dare you to knock off this battery" ads. After saying his opening line, he gets pied, but the battery stays put on his shoulder. He then says, "G'wan! I double dare you!", and gets pied again! But the battery stays put!
"Diff'rent Strokes"
On a trip to Universal Studios, the cast gets to make a movie, for fun. It's a silent film that revolves around a bank robbery and subsequent chase, but towards the end, the chase ends up in a bakery, where everyone starts throwing pies at each other. You might think that this sounds similar to the "Brady Bunch" pie scene, which took place on a movie set as well, with the cast members pieing each other there, too. And yes, anyone who's ever seen "Diff'rent Strokes" enough might notice many plots that were "borrowed" from "The Brady Bunch" (faking sickness to meet famous athlete, stealing a goat that's a rival school's mascot, et al), but in all fairness, the Universal Studios pie scene is more authentic than you think. At one time, Universal Hollywood really did have an exhibit where people could make a movie about a bank robbery and chase that ended with a pie fight. All they did on "Diff'rent Strokes" was imitate what happened at Universal Studios in real life!
"Good Times"
Bookman, the building manager, is walking around pretending to be Willona's husband in front of some other people. After the guests leave, Bookman re-enters the room, asking Willona if there's anything else he can do for her. She says, "Hold still," and smashes a butterscotch cake into Bookman's face! As J.J. would say: Dy-no-mite!
"Wheel of Fortune"
At the end of one show, Pat and Vanna are talking, as Vanna picks up a cream pie, used as a prop for one of their prizes. She wonders if she should pie Pat with it, but decides that she really shouldn't. But a second later, she changes her mind and lets Pat have it! But it isn't long before Pat picks up another prop pie, and hits Vanna with it, right in the face! The coverage on both is excellent, and it was pretty surprising that they'd do something like that on their show.
Captain D's ad
In a seafood restaurant commercial, Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island", talks about how the food at Captain D's compares favorably to the food "on the island". But when she starts to talk about coconut cream pies, she gets one right in the face! Though there's no apparent reason for the pieing to occur, it still is well timed and totally unexpected, except, of course, to those who live for pie scenes like this!
Blazing Saddles
Towards the end of this classic Mel Brooks film, the plot has shifted away from the old Western town, and onto the rest of the movie studio where the film was shot! In one room, where actors have gathered to eat, we hear a man in a baker's costume shouting out directions: "Get your pies for the great pie fight!", right before he gets pied! Suddenly, pies start flying, and when the film's bad guy, Headly (Harvey Korman), realizes what's going on, he slips out the door to avoid getting pied, only to be pied by someone on the other side. He come back into the scene, having been pied, and then just runs out of the movie studio to escape the madness!
"You Can't Do That on Television" (ep. "Cosmetics")
Lisa tells Christine that she has a new face cream, so naturally, Christine would like to try it. When asked what the name of the face cream is, Lisa says, "Face Cream Pie!" and then pies Christine. When the pie tin is removed, the crust seems to be fully intact, except for some small eyeholes and a hole for Christine's mouth, as she talks through the pie, threatening to get revenge on Lisa for her little joke. Excellent coverage for Christine's face!
"Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"
Hercules is visiting the parallel universe where everyone's evil twin lives. Evil Hercules is about to kill Good Hercules' best friend, who accidentally crossed over and got mistaken for his own evil double. But before that can happen, a fight begins, and in the process, Evil Xena (Lucy Lawless) gets tossed into a cake and emerges with her face covered. The rest, as they say, is (ancient) history.
"Jackie Gleason Show" (showgirls pie Jackie repeatedly)
Jackie is on stage when several different showgirls come out and smash 15 pies into Jackie's face. Intriguingly, Jackie was one of only two comedians of his day (Milton Berle was the other) to maintain creative control of his TV program from start to finish. I wonder if this scene was Jackie's idea.
"Patty Duke Show"
In one episode, Patty (or is that her identical cousin Kathy?) gets a modeling job for a series of magazine shots, but it's not what she expects it to be. In the process, she gets not only squirted, but drenched as well. And, oh yes, she gets pied, too!
"What Would You Do" (man gargles tunes)
A man has to gargle different songs (yes, gargle), and his family has to guess what songs he's "performing". None of the family members get any right, so the man gets to pie his wife, son, and daughter.
"Parker Lewis Can't Lose"
At the end of one episode, Parker and his two friends put a coin into some carnival machine, and each time, pretty girls kiss the lucky recipient who put the coin in. Later, Parker's bratty sister (Maia Brewton), who's taken all his quarters, sneaks into the machine. But rather than kisses, she gets pie sandwiched. Now why would she put a coin into a machine that gave out female kisses, in the first place? Hmmm....
"What Would You Do" (food-tasting contest)
Three sets of parents are involved in a food tasting contest. The parents are blindfolded, and they're required, with their noses plugged, to guess what they are tasting. Get it right, and their kid gets pied. Get it wrong, and the parent gets pied. In the end, one mother and two kids (a boy and a girl) get pied.
"Saturday Night Live" (Calvin Klein ad parodies)
In a series of commercial parodies, Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a young woman who talks annoyingly to the camera, only to get pied by a "Calvin Klein Cream Pie". The parodies each end with the line, "Calvin Klein Cream Pies, for girls you hate."
"Head of the Class"
For one assignment, the students in Mr. Moore's class have to make fun of the teacher. Vicki, a blonde student, decides to pie Mr. Moore, though some school administrators can't understand why, since they don't know it's just an assignment! When class starts, one other student, Alan, comes in dressed as the teacher, impersonating him as he comes in. Eventually, Alan, still impersonating the teacher, asks Vicki for her assignment, but she hesitates, saying that it's for Mr. Moore. Alan, however, insists that he is Mr. Moore and that she give him her assignment. So naturally, Vicki pies Alan, who then complains to the real teacher, only to hear Mr. Moore say, "Well, you're the teacher...I'd give her an A!"
"What Would You Do" (memory contest)
Two families are involved in a memory contest where they have to identify different exhibits at Universal Studios Florida. When the captain of each team can't remember correctly, a member of his or her family gets pied. Thankfully, the captains of each team have really bad memories!
"Salute Your Shorts"
Two of the girls at camp, Telly and Deanna, are running for office, but neither one seems to want victory. Each one says that the other is more deserving, and eventually, when one girl's sweater sleeve accidentally gets pie all over it, the argument escalates into a pie fight. After a pair of direct pie hits on each girl, they just start throwing pies one after the other, laughing and giggling the entire pie fight. When the last pie is thrown, it flies out of the kitchen and onto the face of "Ugh", the camp counselor. When the girls see that Ugh has been pied, they flee, just as they boys at the camp enter. Naturally, the counselor assumes that the boys made the mess, and he forces them to clean the kitchen, with toothbrushes!
"Cheers"
In a Thanksgiving Day episode, the gang is at Carla's house waiting to have dinner, but the oven they're using to cook the turkey just isn't working. After hours of waiting, everybody gets upset, to the point where they start lobbing food at each other. After a massive food fight, Diane vows revenge on Sam for dragging her into it. A minute later, while Diane is getting dessert in the kitchen, Norm's wife Viera shows up. Naturally everyone is anxious to meet her, but just as she's coming in, Diane throws a pie at Sam, who ducks. The pie ends up in the face of Viera, so once again, viewers do not get to see what Viera really looks like.
"Webster"
During a dream sequence where Webster and his friends are acting out their version of "The Untouchables", the good guys and bad guys encounter each other, with cream pies, a la Bugsy Malone. A traditional old-tyme slapstick pie fight ensues, resulting in the bad guys' surrender.
"The Bozo Show's 25th Anniversary"
At the end of the special 25th Anniversary show for Chicago's Bozo the Clown, there is a huge pie fight that takes place, where all of the main characters get involved, and just as co-hosts Mary Gross and Tim Reid are trying to close the show, they get pied by some of the clowns.
"Out of Control"
Diz tells everyone on the show that it's Dave's birthday, so they all get together and surprise him with a birthday cake. But when they find out that Dave's birthday is next month, Hearn gets angry for having been nice to Dave all day for nothing. When Hearn tries to hit Diz with a piece of cake, he misses and hits Dave square in the face. After seeing the cake on Dave's face, Hearn delivers the show's classic line: "I'm sorry that had to happen, Dave." But Diz gets angry at Hearn for caking Dave, but when she tries to hit Hearn with some cake, she hits Angela in the face with the cake. After that, all the cast members engage in an all-out cake fight, each grabbing pieces of the birthday cake as their weapons.
"The Muppet Show"
Host Sandy Duncan is consoling a life-size Muppet, trying to convince him that he's really not ugly. Later, she tries the same thing with another Muppet of the same size, only this one likes being ugly, thus he's insulted by Sandy's compliments. In retaliation, the Muppet pies Sandy, much to her chagrin!
"Gilligan's Island" (ep. "My Fair Gilligan")
After Gilligan saves Mrs. Howell's life, Mr. Howell "adopts" Gilligan as his son. But there's one problem: Gilligan no longer gets to mingle with his old friends on the island, so he decides he doesn't want to be a Howell. But he doesn't want to hurt the Howells' feelings, so the other castaways devise a plan to make Mr. Howell "reject" his adopted son. At Gilligan's coming-out party, Ginger brings out a coconut cream pie, which Gilligan complains about and threatens to hit Ginger with, at which point Mr. Howell intervenes. Unfortunately, it's Thurston Howell III who gets the pie.
Pepsi ad
During Super Bowl XXVII in January 1993, there was an ad for Pepsi that featured clips of young people doing wild and crazy things. Among them was a girl, dressed in a hot pink shirt, getting pied in an extremely brief clip. If you have this scene on tape and pause it and then advance the tape one frame at a time, you'll notice that the fingernails of the hand that pied the girl are the same color as the shirt she was wearing. And let's face it: hot pink isn't exactly a common color like red or blue or yellow. So it's extremely possible that the girl really pied herself in the commercial. Short of asking the ad's producers if she indeed pied herself, it's an intriguing theory, to say the least.
Addams Family Values
Pugsley and Wednesday are stuck at summer camp, where all the "strange" kids are treated unfairly, even by the camp counselors. So the Addams kids decide to revolt. During a Thanksgiving play, all of the outcasts start fires, shoot arrows everywhere, and even throw pies. The two pies that were thrown on camera hit the wealthy parents of one of the kids. The actors on the receiving end of those pies were Sam McMurray and Harriet Sansom Harris. The scene goes by quickly, so if you blink, you miss the pieings.
"What Would You Do?" (people on the street pie themselves)
Marc Summers is acting as the "man-on-the-street" for a segment where people are given the choice of either pieing themselves or hitting a friend or family member with a pie. Surprisingly, many prefer to pie themselves.
Dunston Checks In
The monkey known as Dunston has practically wrecked the hotel ballroom where manager Jason Alexander is entertaining guests, among them Faye Dunaway, the head of the hotel chain. After she insults him in front of the others, he asks if she's tried the cake, then slaps some bright pink cake into her face. Later, she falls back into the giant cake and gets more of it dropped on her.
"Wild and Crazy Kids"
At the end of one show, Jessica thanks the fire department for helping out with one of their games. One of the firemen says that he's rather disappointed that there weren't any regular occurrences on that day's show. "Like what?", asks Jessica. "Like a PIE in the face!", says the fireman as he pies Jessica hard. Her co-stars, Omar and Donnie, receive other messy treatment, like shaving cream balloons or green slime over the head. Then the fireman who pied Jessica gets pied by one of his co-workers.
"You Can't Do That on Television" (ep. "Crimes and Mysteries")
Someone has kidnapped all the cast members and hidden them away in the school lockers. Turns out the perpetrator was Vanessa, who wanted the whole show to herself. Right before the show ends, she decides to give Doug, who's still in one of the lockers, a little present: a pie in the face!
"You Can't Do That on Television" (ep. "War")
Alasdair is speaking out against war, while Ross insists that war is beneficial. When Ross asks Alasdair what he'd do if attacked, Alasdair replies, "I don't know," and gets slimed. Then he says he'd remain calm. "Just lay me by the still waters...", he says, only to get a bucket of water dumped on him. Alasdair still insists that he cannot be provoked to fight, but then Ross hits him in the face with a pie. After that, Alasdair finally breaks under pressure. "I'm going to kill you!", he exclaims, after getting slimed, watered, and pied in the span of about half a minute.
Heartburn
When Meryl Streep finds out that her husband, Jack Nicholson, is cheating on her, she remains calm about it, until sometime later at a friend's house, where the topic of conversation happens to be...cheating spouses. At that moment, Meryl suddenly snaps and speaks out against her husband, then she goes to the kitchen to bring out the dessert, a cream pie. When she returns to the table, she smashes it into Jack's face. She must have had a lot of nerve, hitting Jack Nicholson in the face with a pie. Not very many people would be able to get away with that!
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