History Main / Swirlie

* The video for Music/{{Maneskin}}'s song "Mammamia" has frontman Damiano David getting killed by his bandmates and [[UnexplainedRecovery suddenly coming back to life each time]]. His first death is from drummer Ethan Torchio giving him a swirlie.

* Rare case in ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh''; the main character get his head dumped in the toilet only to end up in the magical kingdom where he is ruler.

** In another comic, ''Reed'' of all people threatens to do this to Johnny, after Ben's used it.

* When this was used in ''ComicStrip/{{Cathy}},'' it caused [[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111400540.html some controversy]] because it appeared off panel, and the way it was described was as the following: [[AccidentalInnuendo "She's in the ladies room giving a swirley to the copier repairman."]]

* ''Fanfic/DannyPhantomStranded'': In the epilogue of "Sunk", Irving Burns threatens to ban Dash Baxter from Nasty Burger for life if Dash keeps "giving teens swirlys in the bathroom".

* In ''Film/CampNowhere'', Zack and Mud hide their friendship by having Zack pretend to bully Mud in order to maintain his bad boy image. Part of this is having Zack "drag" Mud into the boys' room and Mud sticking his head under the facet to make it look like Zack gave him a swirly.

* The 1967 movie ''Hell's Angels On Wheels'' sees Poet (played by Jack Nickolson) fighting in a bar room brawl. Poet punches one of the bikers so hard, he tripes and lands with his face in a ladies room toilet bowl. Cue Poet grabbing the poor foolby his legs and swerving him around. Wet gurgling sounds follow.

* A film called ''Film/ThePranksters'' shows a male student who verbally stands up to the school bullies being dunked into a bathroom toilet by the bullies' leader and a group of jocks. A apathetic teacher later tells the student afterwards not to provoke them.

* ''Film/SavingSilverman'' has Creator/JackBlack getting one when him and a friend [[spoiler: try to kidnap the evil female lead to fake her death.]] By her no less.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' novel ''Sacrifice'', it's revealed that [[spoiler: young Boba Fett once had a run in with a group of Null-class advanced recon commando clones led by Jaing Skirata who shoved his head down a toilet in order to teach him some manners]].

* ''Series/TheAmandaShow'' had the recurring segment "The Girls' Room" where Sheila, one of the girls hosting, would give one of the guest characters a swirlie, either at the request of the other girls, or because she simply disliked them.

* The episode "Heist School" of ''{{Series/Workaholics}}'' involves Blake getting shoved into a school toilet by some jocks due to a misunderstanding with a female student....After a disguised Adam [[UnwantedAssistance convinces them it's a better option than just beating him to a pulp]].

* "Nothing In This World" by Creator/ParisHilton starts with a groups of jocks dispensing one to the unfortunate protagonist.

* The actor Dirk Bogarde related in his autobiography that this was inflicted on him at Allan Glen School in Glasgow.

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' plays with this as [[EliteMooks Man-O-War]] dunks his own head in the toilet after being deprived of breathable water as non-royal Atlanteans cannot breath surface air.

* In ''Film/RunawayTrain'', Warden Rankin does this to Barstow after Barstow (rightfully) mouths off to him.

* Used in ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron: Ghost in the Machine]]'' as part of the reality-warping tortures that [[RedIsViolent Red Jet]] inflicts on his [[BlueIsHeroic Blue]] counterpart
* In a flashback in the first issue of ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', a GangOfBullies does this to Reed Richards. Ben Grimm ends up going BullyHunter on them in retribution.
** In another comic, ''Reed'' of all people threatens to do this to Johnny, after Ben's used it.

* ''[[Film/TheAssignment1997 The Assignment]]'' (1997). The protagonist is interrogated by a terrorist who shoves his head in a toilet bowl while whacking his kidneys with a pistol. Fortunately his handler saw him get taken in there and follows, leading to [[CampingACrapper another trope]].

--> '''Gadget:''' Be careful in there! That toilet's got quite a flush.

-->'''Dudley''': They flush people's heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall. Want to practice?\\
'''Harry''': No thanks. The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head in it -- it might be sick.\\
''Narration'': At which point Harry ran away before Dudley [[StealthInsult could figure out what Harry had said]].

* The FOX show ''Series/{{Glee}}'' has two notable instances of this trope. The first came from a promotional video for the show in which Puck repeatedly attempts to dunk the flamboyant Kurt's head into the toilet. However, after pretending to negotiate to be dunked in an environmentally-friendly toilet, Kurt [[DumbJock fools Puck]] [[DistractedbytheSexy into thinking a sexy girl]] is in [[HilariousinHindsight the men's room]] before running away, gloating that he'll never let it happen.

* A Season 8 episode of the late ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' had a sketch called "Swirlie Time," in which two bullies gave swirlies to boys coming into and out of the bathroom VIA a hijacked school security camera.
* There was one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' where this was used as an interrogation technique in hopes of rescuing a kidnapped girl.

[[folder:Web Video]]

* Used a couple of times in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''. One notable time is when Francis threatened Timmy, only that Timmy didn't even feel threatened, and Francis ends up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard getting swirlied out of fear]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' where Spinelli is accused of throwing a rock at Randall, her punishment if found guilty is a swirlie.
** The part Spinelli and co. are most worried about is the ostracism and social stigma against having received one, not the swirlie itself. [[spoiler: Ironically, when it's found out that Randall lied at some point during the trial, ''he'' is [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the one who ends up getting the swirlie.]] Since no one apart from Ms. Finster really likes him anyway, the public shaming aspect of the swirlie is a moot point.]]

* The 1967 movie "Hell's Angels On Wheels" sees Poet (played by Jack Nickolson) fighting in a bar room brawl. Poet punches one of the bikers so hard, he tripes and lands with his face in a ladies room toilet bowl. Cue Poet grabbing the poor foolby his legs and swerving him around. Wet gurgling sounds follow.

%%* ''Film/MaxKeeblesBigMove''

* Jack Nicholson in the 1967 movie, "Hell's Angels On Wheels" played as "Poet" and during a bar room brawl he pushes one guy into the lady's restroom. During the fight there, Jack punches causing him to fall backwards into a stall and his head face up in the toilet. Before he can recover Jack picks up his legs and rocks him all around using his head as a toilet brush causing him to making nasty and wet gurgling sounds. 16-minutes in the video at 23 seconds.

* A

* Jimmy from ''Series/TheMick'' is given one by an overprotective father in "The Sleepover" when he's found with what he's told is the man's daughter's phone. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Turns out Jimmy was just trying to return her phone to her and wasn't doing anything shady]].

[[folder: Music Videos]]

* An even squickier example in ''Manga/IchiTheKiller'': in a flashback, a bunch of bullies shove the title character's face in a toilet already full of poop, trying to force him to eat it.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story arc "Heart of Hush", Batman interrogates Scarecrow with a toilet and the electrical wire from the lightbulb in his cell. ''Ouch''.
* In "The Reaching Hand", one of the stories featured in the ''Elseworlds 80-Page Giant'' special, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen suffers a '''fatal''' swirlie. Not PlayedForLaughs in the slightest.
* Used in ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron: Ghost in the Machine]]'' as part of the reality-warping tortures that [[RedIsViolent Red Jet]] inflicts on his [[BlueIsHeroic Blue]] counterpart

* In the wrestling story, ''Hello Again'', Wrestling/MollyHolly gives one to Wrestling/{{Natalya}} during their [=WrestleMania=] hardcore match in the finale.
* ''Fanfic/DannyPhantomStranded'': In the epilogue of "Sunk", Irving Burns threatens to ban Dash Baxter from Nasty Burger for life if Dash keeps "giving teens swirlys in the bathroom".

* The movie ''Film/CharlieBartlett'' depicts two bathroom bullies dunking him into a dirty toilet about ten minutes in, until a teacher walks in and reprimands them.
* A Korean film called ''Ekskul'' is about the constant abuse heaped onto an elementary school child by both students and a deadbeat father to the point where he holds former acquaintances of the school hostage at gunpoint. One of the school scenes has five of the jocks dunk his face deep into what looks like an already-used toilet.

%%* ''Film/MaxKeeblesBigMove''
* ''Film/KillBill'': Elle Driver is subjected to one during her brawl with The Bride and actually has to flush the toilet to save herself from being drowned.

* Film/InspectorGadget is likely the only character to have given ''himself'' a swirlie. This happens in the second live-action movie.
--> '''Gadget:''' Be careful in there! That toilet's got quite a flush.
* In the first ''Film/AustinPowers'' movie, Austin kills mook Paddy O'Brian by swirlie.
* The family comedy ''Film/RainbowTribe'' begins with a boy dunking his younger brother in the toilet while pinning his arm. Their mother witnesses it happening and punctually intervenes.
* ''Film/SavingSilverman'' has Creator/JackBlack getting one when him and a friend [[spoiler: try to kidnap the evil female lead to fake her death.]] By her no less.
* ''Film/SchoolForScoundrels'': The main character is given one by a mean-spirited co-worker during an argument over who is allowed to eat the last cherry danish in the vending machine.
* The main character in ''Film/TheManFromHongKong'' uses this as an interrogation measure to find [[spoiler: the location of a local drug runner.]]. Not only does he find out what he needs to know, he more than degrades the victim.
* Happens to one boy in ''Film/{{If}}''.
* In ''Film/CampNowhere'', Zack and Mud hide their friendship by having Zack pretend to bully Mud in order to maintain his bad boy image. Part of this is having Zack "drag" Mud into the boys' room and Mud sticking his head under the facet to make it look like Zack gave him a swirly.
* ''Film/ForcedVengeance''. Creator/ChuckNorris tries to bump off a GiantMook this way, only to [[TheCanKickedHim get the entire toilet thrown at him]].
* ''[[Film/TheAssignment1997 The Assignment]]'' (1997). The protagonist is interrogated by a terrorist who shoves his head in a toilet bowl while whacking his kidneys with a pistol. Fortunately his handler saw him get taken in there and follows, leading to [[CampingACrapper another trope]].
* ''Film/LAConfidential'' has Bud White dunking District Attorney Leow in the toilet as part of his JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.
* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' plays with this as [[EliteMooks Man-O-War]] dunks his own head in the toilet after being deprived of breathable water as non-royal Atlanteans cannot breath surface air.
* In ''Film/SlaughterHigh'', the bullies are doing this to a naked Marty as the end of a HumiliationConga (and filming it) when they are busted by Coach.
* In ''Film/SkyHigh'', Speed and Lash routinely do this to Ethan. They get their comeuppance towards the end of the film when Ethan does the same to them.
* In ''Film/StarredUp'', Eric pisses off a drug dealer in his wing and he sends round some thugs who attempt to shove Eric's head down his unflushed toilet.

* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series, Tobias mentions that he became friends with Jake because the latter once saved him from a couple of bullies that were about to give him a swirlie.
* In ''The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict'', a prequel book to the ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' books focused on, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Nicholas Benedict]], upon his arrival at his latest OrphanageOfFear, Benedict is warned by a kindly boy named John Cole that there's a GangOfBullies called "The Spiders" who have already heard of his arrival and are planning to subject him to an "initiation," to be held in one of the orphanage's bathrooms. He figures out pretty quickly that this initiation is this trope or something like it, and being a ChildProdigy several orders of magnitude smarter than any gang of bullies, comes up with a plan on the fly to avoid it. When the bullies encounter him alone in an upstairs hallway, he manages to convince them that the orphanage director is on his way back, but he's already heard about the initiation and he's very excited about it. He tells them he'll be waiting for them at the bathroom the next day, with cookies. Of course, he makes enemies of them, since he most certainly does ''not'' arrive with cookies the next day, but as he explains to John, he felt it was worth it because he'd already been the butt of bullying at several past orphanages and wanted to take a stand.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Niles and Frasier talk about how this happened to both of them in prep school - apparently to a chant of, "There goes Crane, down the drain." When the boys that bullied them come to Frasier's apartment to repair his toilet, Niles makes amends with the brother who bullied him, and Frasier gets his own back by sticking the other bully's head in the toilet. At the end of the episode, Martin fixes the toilet himself, and quips to Eddie, "Don't drink that! Some guy just had his head in there!"

* An episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' revolves around the notion of Monk doing a job for who used to be his bully in elementary school. Monk has a flashback to a time when said bully gave him a swirlie in the bathroom, complete with shot of it happening.

* In the third season of the television series ''Series/QueerAsFolk'', one of the main characters gives a swirly to his little nephew, who not only tried to take cash from his wallet, but was also spouting homophobic slurs taught to him (Or so the main character infers) by their grandmother.
* The show ''Series/{{Shameless|US}}'' has Episode 7 beginning with a pair of thugs, (implied to be loan sharks) dunking the main character's head in an already-used toilet. The leader says they would've flushed first if he hadn't tried to run away.
* In an episode of the MTV show ''TheDudesons'', the consequences the two losers had to face for failing one of the challenges was getting their heads (Faces submerged as well) in toilets filled with.....well, you don't wanna know what was in there.
* ''Series/TheAmandaShow'' had the recurring segment "The Girls' Room" where Sheila, one of the girls hosting, would give one of the guest characters a swirlie, either at the request of the other girls, or because she simply disliked them.
* The prison drama ''{{Series/Oz}}'' has a brief one on the first episode. While Dino Ortolani is finishing beating up ManipulativeBastard Ryan O'Reilly, we see him shove his head in the toilet just to add insult to injury.

* The opening scene of the infamous "Guns R' Us" episode of ''Series/PicketFences'' has Matthew on the receiving end of this by some older bullies at school. Later in the episode, he and Zack decide to get revenge on the main bully, which [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horrifically wrong]] [[FromBadToWorse and things rapidly go downhill from there.]]
* ''Series/OneLifeToLive'''s [[https://youtu.be/EugTCebisx4 Blair does this to her husband's mistress Skye]], fed up with her interference in their marriage.

* In ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs,'' there are a couple of opportune instances to drown a triad gangster in his own piss as one of the many, many creative options available in the game's environmental kills.
* This is one way of eliminating targets in the ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'' games.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': One time, when it was the last day of school, a {{Montage}} showed various people/places in the school counting down the last 10 seconds; one of these was Milhouse, as he got one of these courtesy the school bullies. In another episode, we see Jimbo Jones doing this to Bart.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' where Spinelli is accused of throwing a rock at Randall, her punishment if found guilty is a swirlie.
** The part Spinelli and co. are most worried about is the ostracism and social stigma against having received one, not the swirlie itself. [[spoiler: Ironically, when it's found out that Randall lied at some point during the trial, ''he'' is [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the one who ends up getting the swirlie.]] Since no one apart from Ms. Finster really likes him anyway, the public shaming aspect of the swirlie is a moot point.]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' revolves around a team of bullies that continuously impede Bobby's attempts to ask [[LoveInterest Khannie]] out to the school dance throughout the episode. They attempt to give him a swirly in one of the bathroom toilets, with constant protest from Bobby. The act itself isn't shown, but Bobby walking home with wet hair tells the tale.

* In the episode "This is my Jam" of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' Rigby does this to himself on purpose to see if the water could [[spoiler:get the song Summertime Lovin' out of his head.]]
* In the "Crank Call" episode of ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'', the pair constantly call a man by the name of "Harry Sachz" and flush their toilet. Several weeks of this drive him to near insanity, and he ends up thinking the calls are coming from Stuart's house, and that his dad was the culprit. He starts out by shoving his head in the toilet and flushing, asking him if he likes the way it sounds. Take note that he's so pissed that he doesn't just push his head in, he grabs him by the ankles and jams him straight down.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: F.O.U.N.T.A.I.N.", the [[TheDragon Delightful Children]] tried to get information from a student named Leona; she wouldn't talk initially, so since they happened to be in the school girls' room, they told their henchman [[DumbMuscle Lunk]] to [[DiscussedTrope "introduce her to Mr. Swirlie"]]. After he did, they threatened to show her "Mr. Swirlie's downtown office" (which meant [[DisgustingPublicToilet a rather filthy toilet]]) at which point she talked. (This leads to a BrickJoke much later in the episode, where [[spoiler:the heroes find Leona and the villains at the Fountain of Youth; after a fight sequence, the Delightful Children are dumped in it, reducing them to infancy, and Leona calls it "Mr. Swirlie's corporate office".)]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Sterling Archer was subjected to these in ''used'' toilets while at prep school. One particularly brutal incident left him with pneumonia due to the inhaled water and piss. When he runs into the bullies responsible as an adult [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness he loses all his confidence and is reduced to a stammering mess]].

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Swirlie_8301.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Because even the blind can't resist such a prank sometimes.]]

A less-malevolent form of WaterTorture. See also CampingACrapper for other bathroom attacks, and TheCanKickedHim for more serious injuries.

%%* ''Film/SkyHigh2005''

* In {{Film/Sky High}}, Speed and Lash routinely do this to Ethan. They get their comeuppance towards the end of the film when Ethan does the same to them.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Joker's Millions", Batman tortures the newly wealthy Joker's accountant into divulging the clown's whereabouts by sticking the guy's head in an Iceberg Lounge toilet and flushing. Repeatedly. Penguin actually happens upon the scene, originally intending to break into the bathroom to argue the point, but upon hearing the frantic gargling sounds, followed by flushing, he bids a hasty and sheepish exit stage right without a word.