History Main / ThePianoPlayer

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' often features piano players in [[TheWestern western]] gags. One particularly funny example combines this with LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: A desperado appears at the doors of a saloon, and the banjo player nervously remarks to the pianist, "Bad guy coming in, Arnie! Minor key!"

* A George Booth cartoon for ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' had an airline captain being interviewed on the tarmac in front of his plane: "Some nut shot the piano player, but that seemed to be unconnected to the hijacking."

** A story has Luke become friends with one, who has ambitions of one day playing at Symphony Hall. He finally gets his chance but on the day of his performance he gets stage fright and freezes completely. Luke correctly guesses he's used to playing in bars with perpetual brawls going on so he ''barges in on Jolly Jumper and starts firing into the air'' causing the room to descend to utter chaos... and the player to get over his stage fright and start playing. They throw him out, of course, but he managed to live his dream.

* Songwriter Music/PaulWilliams wrote the original music for ''Film/TheMuppetMovie''; he also had a {{cameo}} as the piano player at the "El Sleezo Cafe." In the dive bar/club, there's a sign next to the piano reading "Don't shoot, piano player."

* Captain Hook fills this role in the bar scenes of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' sequels, perhaps as a shout-out to the AffablyEvil version in the Disney movie ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'', or to the original book, where Hook is stated to be an accomplished harpsichord player, despite his disability. It's lampshaded in that, when sent with his men to capture Shrek and co. in the third film, they bring the piano along so he can provide music for the fight scene.

Expect a competent professional musician in white shirtsleeves and slicked hair, often brought in from "out East" for the sole purpose of being able to play the latest popular as well as any classic request. (That doesn't stop them from playing almost the exact same tune in every bar.)

* Music/BillyJoel's "Piano Man" famously relates the point of view of a pianist playing a gig at the local bar as the regular cast of barflies make requests and sing along. All together now: ''"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday..."''

%% * ''[[Music/BillyJoel It's nine o'clock on a Saturday...]]''

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The Piano Player could very well be a large reel of paper, making the piano effectively a large music box.

Expect a competent professional musician in white shirtsleeves and slicked hair, often brought in from "out East" for the sole purpose of being able to play the latest songs as well as any request. (That doesn't stop them from playing almost the exact same tune in every bar.)

However, their character is tied up in the piano and they rarely have any lines, with all questions about the bar being directed to TheBartender.

Outside of the WildWest, a piano player at an upmarket piano bar or lounge plays a grand piano and sings pop, soft rock, and possibly jazz songs for tips from bar patrons. The piano bar performer has a huge repertoire of well-loved classic songs and generally has an easy-going stage demeanor.

[[Folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/Helluva Boss'' Season 1 Episode 4 the pianist on stage keeps playing even after the opera singer gets killed. He even changes the song to fit the fight scene and calmly moves out of the way before the piano gets launched into the air. He doesn't have any lines.
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* A Wild West-era piano-playing zombie appears in ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2''. Naturally, the background music switches to saloon piano while the zombie is on the lawn. He also causes the other zombies to dance and switch what lane they’re on.

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* A ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' story has Luke become friends with one, who has ambitions of one day playing at Symphony Hall. He finally gets his chance but on the day of his performance he gets stage fright and freezes completely. Luke correctly guesses he's used to playing in bars with perpetual brawls going on so he ''barges in on Jolly Jumper and starts firing into the air'' causing the room to descend to utter chaos... and the player to get over his stage fright and start playing. They throw him out, of course, but he managed to live his dream.

* ''[[Music/BillyJoel It's nine o'clock on a Saturday...]]''

* One storyline in the UK ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers Transformers Generation 1]]'' comic features one of these who actually ''is'' a piano. His purpose in the story is to get assaulted by a local bully, prompting our heroes to come to his aid and thus learn a lesson about how they must never sit by when injustice is being done.

* In ''Franchise/{{Anpanman}}'', there's a character named Piano Man, who is a piano player-- and a player piano.