History Main / VaudevilleHook

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', a disguised [[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker]] shows up on stage and starts performing at a stand-up comedy competition -- right as the judges are about to announce the winner. He gets pulled off stage with one of these on the grounds that since he hadn't registered as a participant, he had no business being there. A year later, [[DisproportionateRetribution Joker steals some mind control chips from the Mad Hatter, uses them to turn the judges into third-rate supervillains, and arranges for himself to be the only contestant in that year's competition -- with his henchmen as the new judges]].

* In ''[[Comicbook/JusticeLeagueInternational Justice League America]]'' #s 105-106, part of the ''Comicbook/UnderworldUnleashed'' CrisisCrossover, various costumed assassins, under Neron's influence, have decided to undertake their "ultimate hit", and the League has split up to deal with them. Wisecracking alien sidekick the Yazz stops Chiller killing a singer live on stage and, realising he has an audience, launches into an improv routine about how weird Earth is. When Obsidian sends shadow tendrils to teleport the team back together, the one collecting the Yazz takes the form of a vaudeville hook.

The ''real'' purpose of these hooks was to pull back the curtains at the start of the show in older theaters. Presumably, theatergoers at the time knew what they were for, making it that much funnier to see them being used to yank bad performers. As theater technology evolved, the hooks' original use has been forgotten over time and nowadays they're much better-known for their use in comedy.

* ''Series/Legion2017'': A rather strange example (which is par for the course for the show), Division 3's strike team deployed a "tactical hook" which was a candy-cane looking hook that yanked away an unsuspecting lookout, leaving his tea cup spinning in air.

* Happens to WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck in [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts shorts]] like "Orphans' Benefit" and "Mickey's Amateurs".

* ''VideoGame/TheJackboxPartyPack 6'': In "Joke Boat", the loser of a round will sometimes have their avatar hauled off-stage by a hook.

* In one of Father Justin [=McCarthy=]'s ''Brother Juniper'' comics the title character uses a candle lighter to hook a small dog that wandered into the church.

* ''Series/HappyDays'' At a stage performance, Al gets one of these!

* Played with in Music/BubbleButt. One of the dancers gets yanked off the dancefloor in this manner. But instead of a hook or a cane, it's a hose that comes out of a giant woman's mouth. And it wasn't because the dancer was bad either. In fact she might have been the best one in the video. But it was so that [[spoiler: the giant woman wanted to eat her.]]

* Referenced in ''Webcomic/BasicInstructions'', when Mullet Boss says that his great-aunt was a professional vaudeville "hook-dodger" -- "she started as [[HollywoodToneDeaf a bad singer]], and the act evolved from there".

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* DragQueen Derrick Barry performed at the ''Haters Roast'' Tour (a touring stand-up show featuring former contestants from ''Series/RupaulsDragRace''), filling in for Creator/WillamBelli. Derrick's set went hilariously off the rails due to being '''extremely''' drunk at the time, causing fellow drag queen Trinity Taylor to grab the ''actual stage hook'' from the back to try to pull her offstage. In true Vaudeville fashion, it doesn't work, leading to Derrick's (extremely embarrassed) boyfriend to try to get her offstage, then finally cutting her mic. You can see the CringeComedy in its full glory [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8acYdlbmigE&t=1s here]].
[[/folder]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', a disguised [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Joker]] shows up on stage and starts performing at a stand-up comedy competition -- right as the judges are about to announce the winner. He gets pulled off stage with one of these on the grounds that since he hadn't registered as a participant, he had no business being there. A year later, [[DisproportionateRetribution Joker steals some mind control chips from the Mad Hatter, uses them to turn the judges into third-rate supervillains, and arranges for himself to be the only contestant in that year's competition -- with his henchmen as the new judges]].

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' short ''Hamateur Night'', Egghead gets pulled away by a hook. When he comes back again, two hooks are used. Later, when he comes back a third time, [[RuleOfThree three hooks]] are used, with an extra hook coming in to get his hat.

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In "What's Up, Doc?", Bugs Bunny describes how early in his career, he was hastily chosen to be the understudy for a performer who had fallen ill. When his performance falls flat, Bugs gets yanked offstage with a hook.

* In extras of ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', there's a ''Series/AmericanIdol''-esque singing contest, and [[Disney/PeterPan Captain Hook]], [[JustForPun while singing "Hooked on a Feeling"]], is [[VisualPun removed from the stage in this manner]].

* Doesn't actually happen in ''Disney/{{Moana}}'', but during Tamatoa's VillainSong, while he's fighting Maui, he quips "Ouch! What a terrible performance! Get the hook!" It's also a pun, since Maui's weapon is in fact a giant hook.

* After a series of ads for price comparison website [=GoCompare=], featuring fictitious Italian opera singer [[TheScrappy Gio Compario]][[note]] portrayed by [[FakeNationality Welsh]] tenor Wynne Evans[[/note]] became the UK's most hated advertising campaign, the company [[SelfParody responded]] with [[TakeThatScrappy a series of "vandalised" posters of Gio]]. [[https://cached.imagescaler.hbpl.co.uk/resize/scaleWidth/743/cached.offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/news/OMC/474FC296-D387-FE68-E620C1319BA4AD2C.jpg One of them]], which changes "[=GoCompare=]" to "Go Away", shows Gio about to be dragged away by a large hook.

* Happens to an unfortunate yodeler in ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas!''

* DragQueen Derrick Barry performed at the Haters Roast Tour (a touring stand-up show put on by former contestants from [[Series/RupaulsDragRace]]), filling in for Creator/WillamBelli. Derrick's set went hilariously off the rails due to being '''extremely''' drunk at the time, causing fellow drag queen Trinity Taylor to grab the ''actual stage hook'' from the back to try to pull her offstage. In true Vaudeville fashion, it doesn't work, leading to Derrick's (extremely embarrassed) boyfriend to try to get her offstage, then finally cutting her mic. You can see the CringeComedy in its full glory [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8acYdlbmigE&t=1s here]].

* DragQueen Derrick Berry performed at the Haters Roast Tour (a touring stand-up show put on by former contestants from [[Series/RupaulsDragRace]]), filling in for Creator/WillamBelli. Derrick's set went hilariously off the rails due to being '''extremely''' drunk at the time, causing fellow drag queen Trinity Taylor to grab the ''actual stage hook'' from the back to try to pull her offstage. In true Vaudeville fashion, it doesn't work, leading to Derrick's (extremely embarrassed) boyfriend to try to get her offstage, then finally cutting her mic. You can see the CringeComedy in its full glory [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8acYdlbmigE&t=1s here]].

The ''real'' purpose of these hooks was to pull back the curtains at the start of a show in older theaters. Presumably, theatergoers at the time knew what they were for, making it that much funnier to see them being used this way. As theater technology evolved, the hooks' original use has been forgotten over time and nowadays they're much better-known for their use in comedy.

Real {{Vaudeville}} shows would DropTheCow on bad or overly long acts with [[HooksAndCrooks "the hook", a shepherd's crook]] extended from offstage to pull away the performer. Oftentimes by the neck. But in cartoons, you don't even need to be on a stage to get the hook. Any bad performance can get the hook, even if you're performing on top of a fence -- it just reaches out from BehindTheBlack and drags you offscreen. Wearing a red-and-white vertically striped shirt and a straw boater makes you especially susceptible to this, as does dancing while holding a cane. Spending a while dodging the hook, continuing to perform all the while, before eventually getting snared is a common feature.

* ''Series/Legion'': A rather strange example (which is par for the course for the show), Division 3's strike team deployed a "tactical hook" which was a candy-cane looking hook that yanked away an unsuspecting lookout, leaving his tea cup spinning in air.