History Main / ForgotToMindTheirHead

--> '''Luke:''' I ''am'' ready! Ben, I can be a Jedi! Ben, tell him I'm ready--''(bangs his head on Yoda's low ceiling)''

-->'''George''': (''seeing five dice reading 6 on the table'') Oooh, Yahtzee! (''stands up and bangs his head on a shelf, passes out'')

* In '"Series/TheAddamsFamily'' episode "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor", Lurch bumps his head on the ceiling of Cousin Itt's room more than once (unsurprising, considering he has to stoop nearly double to move around).

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Invoked in a 1973 ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip. Garfield ties himself to a lamp and jumps off the table to [[JumpScare swing into Odie's face]]. The dog jumps and hits his head on the table's underside. Garfield sums the scheme up as complicated but WorthIt.
[[/folder]]

* A variant of this theme happens with chefs and bakers who work with pizza ovens, or bread-baking ovens where the shelves are spaced closely together and the oven is comparatively deep so that the attendent has to reach deep inside it, even with the handy flat spade to get underneath the pizza tray. It is easy to graze your knuckles on a hot surface whist doing this. The natural reaction when burning the back of your hand on the roof or upper shelf of a hot oven is to snatch it away quickly in the opposite direction. Unfortunately if it's a pizza oven, the floor, or the next shelf down, are inches away -- and just as hot. So you then burn the other side of your hand on the floor of the oven and snatch it away in the opposite direction.... Every novice working with this sort of oven does this at least once, to the great amusement of old hands.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]

* ''Disney/PeterPan'': Mr. Darling is introduced searching through his drawers for his missing cufflinks and hitting his head on an open drawer above him.

** During the scene in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' where Gandalf visits Bilbo in his hobbit hole, Gandalf, stooping, accidentally backs into a chandelier (as part of the script). His actor Creator/IanMcKellen then promptly turns and accidentally smacks his head on the roof, [[ThrowItIn an (unscripted) accident so funny that they left it in]].
** In the gag reel for ''Fellowship'', this happens also to the crew. Everyone's sitting inside the hobbit hole listening to directions, then when the meeting ends they all stand up and hit their heads on the roof. Then everyone falls to the floor.

* ''Film/{{Sam}}'', Samantha is hiding under desk with Margaret when her boss Seymour sticks his head under the desk. Samantha sits up suddenly and bangs her head on the underside of the desk.

* This happens twice in ''Film/TheCannonballRun'', both with the characters working on an engine and hitting their heads on the hood. First, it happens to J.J. when Victor mentions..."Him". Later, it happens to Victor when Blake taps him on the back.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS4E20And21TheOrigins "The Origins"]] has Gumball communing with the newly-gotten fish under the kitchen table. It is there that Gumball deduces that the fish is intelligent, at which he jumps for joy. Naturally, Gumball knocks his noggin on the table's underside. When the fish tries to speak to Gumball, the excited kitten is ready to jump for joy again, but this time, dons a helmet before doing so.

** While in Toontown, Eddie bumps his head looking inside Jessica's car, and as ToonPhysics is in effect, he gets CirclingBirdies around his head.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]", Applejack is looking for the obsidian stone Limestone Pie has hidden somewhere in a crystal mine with a low ceiling. She clonks her head from straightening up too fast when Pinkie Pie calls for her attention.

* In the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', this can easily happen to Rantanplan, the stupidest dog in the West. Once, he is taking a nap under a horse watering crate (where Jolly Jumper is drinking), when he hears Luke asks the saloon tenant to feed his horse and give a bone to his dog... and Rantanplan immediately straightens up at the prospect of food and hits his head. Twice.

Generally, this is PlayedForLaughs, so the person has a HardHead and [[AmusingInjuries suffers no serious physical injury]], though they are quite likely to be flustered or embarrassed. As a result, the person may scold the person who interrupted them, or yell at the ringing phone before answering it. This may also be one way to [[ShowDontTell illustrate]] that the character is [[TheKlutz a klutz]]. On the other hand, the gag may be a way to draw attention to whatever was done or said to cause the person to react this way, or to punctuate the person's surprise.

[[quoteright:196:[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tintin_boing.jpg]]]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', this can easily happen to Rantanplan, the stupidest dog in the West. Once, he is taking a nap under a horse watering crate (where Jolly Jumper is drinking), when he hears Luke ask the saloon tenant to feed his horse and give a bone to his dog... and Rantanplan immediately straightens up at the prospect of food and hits his head. Twice.

* ''Septimus Heap'': In ''Queste'', Septimus is so suddenly woken up by Jenna that he does not notice the bunk above and bangs his head on it.

* In ''Film/MaryPoppins'', George Banks is looking in the fireplace for the childrens' notice for a nanny that he threw there (which Mary has just produced). His wife enters and calls his name, causing him to bang his head on the fireplace.

* In ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'' the titular heroine hits her head on the underside of a desk after she bends down to pick up a fallen letter and notices the previously overlooked note on the back.

[[folder: Film - Animated]]
* ''Disney/PeterPan'': Mr. Darling is introduced searching through his drawers for his missing cufflinks and hitting his head on an open drawer above him.

[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action Television]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* A variant of this theme happens with chefs and bakers who work with pizza ovens, or bread-baking ovens where the shelves are spaced closely together and the oven is comparitively deep so that the attendent has to reach deep inside it, even with the handy flat spade to get underneath the pizza tray. It is easy to graze your knuckles on a hot surface whist doing this. The natural reaction when burning the back of your hand on the roof or upper shelf of a hot oven is to snatch it away quickly in the opposite direction. Unfortunately if it's a pizza oven, the floor, or the next shelf down, are inches away--and just as hot. So you then burn the other side of your hand on the floor of the oven and snatch it away in the opposite direction..... Every novice working with this sort of oven does this at least once, to the great amusement of old hands.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** When Eddie is CaughtWithTheirPantsDown with Jessica (It's NotWhatItLooksLike), as he pulls up his pants he bumps his head on Jessica's bosom.
** While in Toontown, Eddie bumps his head looking inside Jessica's car, and as ToonPhysics is in effect, he gets CirclingBirdies around his head.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS4E20And21TheOrigins "The Origins"]] has Gumball communing with the newly-gotten fish under the kitchen table. It is there that Gumball deduces that the fish is intelligent, at which he jumps for joy. Naturally, Gumball knocks his noggin on the table's underside. When the fish tries to speak to Gumball, the excited kitten is ready to jump for joy again, but this time, dons a helmet before doing so.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' has Gumball communing with the newly-gotten fish under the kitchen table. It is there that Gumball deduces that the fish is intelligent, at which he jumps for joy. Naturally, Gumball knocks his noggin on the table's underside. When the fish tries to speak to Gumball, the excited kitten is ready to jump for joy again, but this time, dons a helmet before doing so.