History Main / ThePratfall

The buttocks. The fundament. The behind. The posterior. The sitter-downer. Whatever you call it, it's inherently funny. Falling down and landing on it? Comedy gold!

* In ''Clockwise'', Creator/JohnCleese (playing an uptight overstressed headmaster) gets a car stuck in the mud, and when he gets out, furious, he kicks it, slips, and ends up sitting in the mud himself.

* The Bouncywild enemies in the first ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' game throw out {{Banana Peel}}s that cause Sora to fall on his ass.

->''A pratfall is better than anything.''

* A 2018 ad for Dominoes Pizza features a guy who does a pratfall on snow while carrying a pizza from his car to his house, to promote something they call "pizza insurance".

* In ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', [[LukeMochrieAndTheInners Luke]] pulls off one when he trips [[spoiler:over [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain's wand]] while running from the Cloaks]].

->''"A pratfall is better than anything."''

!! Examples:

->''A pratfall is better than anything.''

[[folder:Film]]

* Silent film stars Creator/LaurelAndHardy were also fond of this trope, so much that it's one of their trademarks.
** There's even a Laurel and Hardy fan magazine called ''Pratfall''.

* Plenty from the toons in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' [[spoiler:and when Judge Doom has one, it's a clue that he's a toon]]. The previously humorless Eddie Valliant does a bunch during his dance to make the weasels DieLaughing.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''FTroop'', Captain Parmenter frequently showed us how it's done by tripping over nearly everything, including rugs, floorboards, hitching posts, and, in one unfortunate instance, the fort well. Ken Berry's dancing talents allowed him to pull them off beautifully, including one instance where Parmenter encounters several obstacles on a stroll through town and not only manages to still land on his feet in the end, but does all of them while distracted by a letter he's reading.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', the famous sequence where Lucy would pull away the football at the last second always resulted in Charlie Brown landing on his backside.
* In ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' and its sequel ''Outland'', Opus would often perform pratfalls out of sheer surprise, as when he got a letter from his long-missing mother.

[[folder:Pinball]]
* Creator/{{Sega}}'s ''Pinball/{{Sapporo}}'' shows several skiiers suffering various pratfalls and tumbles.
[[/folder]]

* One of the few times Bastila shows a sense of humor in ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' involves using the Force to knock Mission over, after insisting (to Mission's questioning) that she's above such things.

-->'''Bart's brain''': She's beautiful! Say something clever.
-->'''Bart''': I fell on my bottom.
-->'''Bart's brain''': D'oh...

-->''[[TheStinger SAKURA]][[BrawlInTheFamily IIIIII]]!''

* The "Pratfall CheatCode" for ''SaintsRow2'' allows players to perform pratfalls and faceplants for their own amusement.

* Expect this to happen to the resident {{Dojikko}} quite often. If she's wearing a skirt once it happens, a PantyShot is often unavoidable.

Subtrope of AmusingInjury and LiteralAssKicking. Compare FacePlant, which is a similar way of going from upright to sprawled very quickly for humor, and the closely related FaceFault.

The humor often comes from the exaggerated nature of the fall, and many physical comedians practice their pratfalls carefully to make sure they are funny enough. (Online lessons are available.) The humor value may also depend on the falling character lands on (or ''in'').

* In the first episode of ''Ben10Omniverse'', we see young Ben defeating an alien named Malware, after which he proceeds to do a celebratory jump with the alien's enhanced jumping abilities, but the Omnitrix's timer runs out and Ben returns to normal form, landing on his butt. He still takes a moment to taunt the fleeing enemy before he starts rubbing his backside.

* Amateur versions are regularly featured on ''AmericasFunniestHomeVideos''.

* The intro to ''TheDickVanDykeShow'' features Dick performing a very tricky full somersault version after tripping over an ottoman.

* Emma and Lori go for a walk in ''[[AuntDimity Aunt Dimity Digs In]]'' and wade in a nearby stream to cool off—until Emma's dog Ham bounds in to join them, causing them to flail for balance and land in the water. At least they got cooled off.

* Used as a game mechanic in ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' -- there's a random chance of pratfalling whenever the control stick is hit, discouraging excessive dashing and pivoting.
** In ''SuperSmashBrosMelee'' there's a score bonus called "Pratfaller" for always landing on your back after being knocked down during a match. Alternatively, always landing face down gives you the "Face Planter" bonus.

* In ''{{Peanuts}}'', the famous sequence where Lucy would pull away the football at the last second always resulted in Charlie Brown landing on his backside.
* In ''BloomCounty'' and its sequel ''Outland'', Opus would often perform pratfalls out of sheer surprise, as when he got a letter from his long-missing mother.

* Expect this to happen to the resident {{Dojikko}} quite often. If she's wearing a skirt, a PantyShot is often unavoidable once it happens.

* Expect this to happen to the resident {{Dojikko}} quite often.