History Main / BananaInTheTailpipe

Hey! Mind outta the gutter, please.

You've got someone on your tail. Could be a cop, [[TheBully the local bully]], or a ''[[ImplacableMan very]]'' [[ImplacableMan persistent]] {{loan shark}}. You could try to slow them down by shoving a banana (or potato, or similar sized object) in the tailpipe or muffler of their car. That way, you could give yourself time to escape and have a good laugh at the victim's expense as their car sputters and churns and fails to go anywhere. If the script calls for it, the car might even [[EveryCarIsAPinto explode]].

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* Also subverted in ''{{Minder}}'', in which a potato was used in this manner to shoot out and smash the window of another car.

* ''Series/MacGyver'': In "A Prisoner of Conscience", Mac stalls the car of the secret police who are tailing him by sticking a potato in the exhaust pipe.

* In the ''{{Spider-Man}}'' game for Playstation, you have to close several smokestacks with covers, to cause an effect "like a banana in a tailpipe". In the sillier What If? mode, the tops of the covers actually have bananas on them.

* In ''TreeFromMyYouth'', Salsa is able to destroy a Pig Mask tank by shoving what is implied to be his own feces in the tailpipe.

* In the first episode of ''Series/DadsArmy'', while having a discussion of how to take on a tank with improvised weapons, Jones suggests plugging the exhaust with spuds (potatoes). Mainwarrign points out that it wouldn't work because tanks have long, thin exhaust pipes. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Jones asks why they can't use long, thin spuds.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', the family car was disabled by a toy rattle in the tailpipe. The family only figured it out after Arthur called ''CarTalk''.

And [[HehHehYouSaidX stop snickering]] already!!

* The TropeNamer here is the film ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'', where Eddie Murphy's character used this technique to foil a group of bumbling police officers. Famous for a notorious editing screwup: the banana he holds is curved, but the one in the tailpipe is straight - they couldn't fit the bent one in the tailpipe. Filming mistakes aside, the movie does, surprisingly, play the trope more accurately than most: Axel uses multiple bananas to ensure an effective obstruction, and there is no fire or explosion.
* In the live-action version of ''Film/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', raccoons put a large nut in the tailpipe of the bad guys' truck. The pressure does shoot the nut out eventually - when the bad guy is examining the tail pipe.

** The same was used much earlier in an episode of ''Series/{{Ironside 1967}}''.

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* There have been advertisements in the past for locking caps that fit over tailpipes to disable them.
* Try stretching an ordinary latex balloon across the pipe. Since it expands, it won't rocket off instantly, giving it time to smother the engine. Then, if you've done everything right, it will pop, making a loud noise and spooking your victim without actually causing damage to the car.
** Similarly, some joke stores sell tailpipe whistles. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin They fit over the pipe and partially obstruct air flow in a way that causes it to make a whistling sound]].
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYRDuOCKr2A The whistles go whoo whoo]]
* Works very well on two-stroke engines. Good luck finding a car with one, though.
* According to General Romeo Dallaire's memoir ''Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda'', some Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers sabotaged their ''own'' armored personnel carriers by sticking rags in the tailpipe so that they could [[DirtyCoward avoid being sent on rescue missions in Kigali once the genocide had started.]]

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* The second case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' featured a car being disabled by - wait for it - [[spoiler:a pair of panties. MAGICAL panties]].

* In Jet Fighters II on iPhone, there's an unlockable Taunt called Banana Plug. It depicts the exhaust of a jet filled with bananas.

** Parodied in the "Trial of the Century" episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries''. Judge Reinhold (the actor, acting as the courtroom judge) is lured away from Dante's trial by Axel Foley, who "needs (his) help!" - and they spend the evening stuffing bananas in people's tailpipes and watching them stall, but the fun ends when the local grocer reveals that he's ran out of bananas. Then Judge Reinhold wakes up ("No! Axel! Come back!"). "I had that dream again!"

* In Season 19 Episode 2 of ''Series/TopGear'', Jeremy and James did this to Richard's Dodge Viper before they raced to the Mexican border.[[note]]The person to finish last would be forced to cross the border into Mexico and do a review of a Mexican supercar for an upcoming segment. The presenters had also made unfortunate comments about said car and Mexicans in general a couple of series previously.[[/note]] Since the car had enormous tailpipes, and two of them at that, they were forced to add more and larger fruits to clog it down. Hammond removed the tailpipe fruit salad before attempting to set off, only to find they'd sabotaged the car in other ways as well.

And [[FreudWasRight stop snickering]] already!!

* Appeared in the short-lived ''Film/AceVentura: Pet Detective'' series.

* Appeared in the short-lived ''AceVentura: Pet Detective'' series.

* There was an episode of the ''Anime/{{Little Lulu}}'' anime where Wilbur's butler was replaced by a [[DrillSergeantNasty stricter butler]] who anticipated all of the tricks that Lulu and the others were going to pull on him. Finally, they come up with a plan to work together to get rid of the mean butler. One of the tricks involved Tubby stuffing a handkerchief in the tailpipe of the limosine, and when the mean butler checked the tailpipe, the handkerchief came loose and he wound up with a face full of smoke and soot from the tailpipe.

* The second case of ''[[ApolloJustice Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]'' featured a car being disabled by - wait for it - [[spoiler:a pair of panties. MAGICAL panties]].

* In the first episode of ''DadsArmy'', while having a discussion of how to take on a tank with improvised weapons, Jones suggests plugging the exhaust with spuds (potatoes). Mainwarrign points out that it wouldn't work because tanks have long, thin exhaust pipes. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Jones asks why they can't use long, thin spuds.]]

* Happened in ''{{Eastenders}}'', with a potato. A man put it in his enemy's car's tailpipe and sniggered as the car sputtered. He stopped laughing when the pressure ejected the potato into his shop window.

* A variation was used in ''PushingDaisies'': the murderer shoved a potato into the tailpipe of Ned's car to fill the car with exhaust and knock out Ned and Emerson during a stakeout.

** The same was used much earlier in an episode of ''Series/{{Ironside}}''.

** Parodied in the "Trial of the Century" episode of ''ClerksTheAnimatedSeries''. Judge Reinhold (the actor, acting as the courtroom judge) is lured away from Dante's trial by Axel Foley, who "needs (his) help!" - and they spend the evening stuffing bananas in people's tailpipes and watching them stall, but the fun ends when the local grocer reveals that he's ran out of bananas. Then Judge Reinhold wakes up ("No! Axel! Come back!"). "I had that dream again!"

* A clear ShoutOut in the super-short-lived ''WesternAnimation/{{Clerks}} the Animated series'': one episode revolved around spoofing courtroom dramas and featured actor Judge Reinhold as...well, an actual judge: the Honorable Judge Reinhold. The episode became a crazy patchwork of dream sequences, usually ending in a CatapultNightmare for the character having the dream. In Reinhold's dream, his final verdict is interrupted by Detective Axel Foley, the lead character of the ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' series, bursting into the courtroom and telling "Billy" he needed his help. (Judge Reinhold played Detective William Rosewood in the 'Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' films). Reinhold eagerly drops his black robe and rushes to Axel's aid. The two spend many happy hours stuffing bananas in tailpipes and laughing as cars malfunction...until the fruit vendor runs out of bananas, at which point it's Reinhold's turn to catapult awake.

* In an episode of ''GoofTroop'', Max and PJ lie to their fathers about joining the baseball team, so they try various methods to keep them from going to the games and finding out the truth. One of those methods is filling Pete's exhaust pipe with cement.

* In a ''WesternAnimation//CodeLyoko'' comic, Odd tries to do this to a bunch of bulldozers pipes. It works as well as one would expect.

* Not in the game itself, but in a ''DiddyKongRacing'' promo video from ''Nintendo Power'', at one point, the host mentions someone stuffed a bag of acorns into the tailpipe of Krunch's plane, with Conker being the primary suspect.