Line #27 Main/PantomimeAnimal


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/AGruesomeTwosome https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gruesometwosomehorse.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Shhh! It's me! I'm the horse's head! [[Creator/JimmyDurante Ha-cha-cha-cha!]]"]]
3
4	->''Nowhere did I describe it as a four-legged beast on loan from Panto-Horses-Are-Us.''
5	-->-- '''Johnny Byrne''', scriptwriter for ''Series/DoctorWho'', "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Warriors of the Deep]]"
6
7	A traditional feature of British Theatre/{{Pantomime}} occasionally also seen elsewhere, the Pantomime Animal is a non-[[TalkingAnimal talking]] animal played by a human actor wearing an animal suit. For obvious reasons this is most often seen on stage; the most common animal given this treatment in pantomime is a horse. Larger quadrupeds (such as horses) may require [[TwoMenOneDress two actors]]. Children or dwarfs, on the other hand, may be needed to play smaller creatures. Though pantomime animals don't talk (at least, [[TheVoiceless they're not supposed to talk]]), they may make appropriate animal noises on cue and often can dance as well -- pantomime is a highly stylised, non-realistic theatrical form where RuleOfFunny is the norm. Having a pantomime animal avoids all the hassle of [[NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals working with real live animals]] -- although sometimes real animals, usually ponies, appear briefly for the effect.
8
9	"The back legs of a pantomime horse" is sometimes used as a byword for an uncomfortable, humiliating job, especially in a show-business context. After all, the actor in that role is invisible to the audience, has to spend all their time bent over and trusting their partner to lead, and has a job which involves keeping their face adjacent to someone else's backside.
10
11	A sub-trope of {{Pantomime}}. See also PeopleInRubberSuits. InUniverse examples can overlap with AnimalDisguise. A human version of this would be TotemPoleTrench; some ''in''human versions include TheWormThatWalks and CombiningMecha.
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	!!!In-universe examples
18
19	[[folder:Comic Books]]
20	* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanNumberOne'': Diana and Etta wear a two-person baby elephant suit while trying to figure out what is killing some circus elephants. Their act almost works, but the other elephants treat them like something odd and they're figured out by the villains.
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
24	* A ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' comic has two pantomime actors arguing. One (whose ass is a good three or four times wider than him) demands to know why he's always the rear end of the horse.
25	* Creator/{{Loriot}} has a subversion - the pantomime horse doing all the impossible gags only possible by two pantomimes is played -- by a horse.
26	* ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'': Don Martin shows a bullfight. The bull in reality are two pantomimes. Of course, this is no gag and is {{exaggerated\|Trope}}: the bullfighter is a bull in a bullfighter costume.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
30	* Pain and Panic briefly dressed up as a female {{Pegasus}} near the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', with the two forming the individual halves of the Pegasus.
31	** Those two do this sort of trick quite often. One time they attempted to do a huge lion, and ended up getting confused on who was doing which half.
32	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame\|Disney}}'': One of the costumes worn at the Feast of Fools is [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} a horse with two rear ends.]]
33	* Shows up at the Mardi Gras party in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''.
34	* In ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'', Sherlock and Juliet disguise themselves as a squirrel so they can move about a park in daylight.
35	* In ''WesternAnimation/TrollsWorldTour'', the two mercenary Yodeller Trolls dress up in this fashion to pose as a centaur-like Country Troll.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
39	* Played with in ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman''. At one point when the dwarves are sneaking into the castle they walk on the other side of a horse that's [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy between them and the guards]].
40	* The two rebels disguised as a cow in ''Film/TopSecret''. One insists on playing the rear end, causing his compatriot to gripe, "Fine, be an asshole!" Ironically, the fake cow is really played by a real one with boots on.
41	* ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' actually did this with an ice cream truck.
42	* ''[[Film/ThePinkPanther1963 The Pink Panther]]'' has two police inspectors undercover in a zebra costume at the costume party meant to ensnare the Phantom. When the Phantom and his nephew make a break for it, they gallop down the street...while everyone else in the chase is in a car.
43	* In ''Film/TheBoldCaballero'', the Commandante holds a bullfight for Isabella's birthday. It at first appears to be a burlesque bullfight with a 'bull' consisting of two men in a costume. However, he later releases a real bull into the ring. The first thing it does is attack the fake bull.
44	* Two [[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]] shorts, "What's the Matador?" and its remake "Sappy Bullfighters," revolve around a gag identical to the one used in ''The Bold Caballero''; Moe and Larry stage a comedy bullfight by dressing up in a costume, with Curly (Joe in the later short) acting as their matador, and end up facing off against the genuine article.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
48	* The Wolf mascot from ''Series/ANTFarm''.
49	* ''Series/CallTheMidwife'': In the series 7 ChristmasEpisode, Trixie and Christopher appear as a pantomime cow when the much-delayed Christmas pantomime is finally stage. Trixie complains that she went to all the trouble of getting her hair done and a manicure when no one can see her.
50	* ''Series/DadsArmy'': In "Operation Kilt", the platoon attempts to use a pantomime cow to sneak up on a highland regiment during a training exercise. Things do not according to plan [[BlackComedyRape when a bull takes an interest]].
51	* In a ''Creator/DaveAllen at Large'' sketch, a German POW camp guard searches the cargo and even the straw in an outgoing wagon thoroughly, to make sure there are no prisoners hiding inside. Not finding anyone, the guard waves the wagon through the gate, failing to notice that it's being pulled by a pantomime horse.
52	* ''Series/TheEdisonTwins'': Tom spends an episode trying to find a horse for a football game as a subplot for an episode's story and finally has to make do with a pantomime horse costume with a partner at the end.
53	* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Tree of Truth", Father Brown and Sid play the Daisy the Cow in the Christmas pantomime.
54	* ''(ding-dong)'' '''''WHO'S THAT AT THE DOOR?!?''''' [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Secretariat]] on ''Series/TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson''.
55	* Parodied with the pantomime horses in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. To say nothing of the pantomime Princess Margaret.
56	* Buttercup the ''Series/{{QI}}'' cow made an appearance at the beginning of the "Groovy" episode to help demonstrate the first question.
57	-->'''Stephen:''' Never, ever in the history of show business has the phrase "Don't milk it, Luv," been more appropriate.
58	* Dobbin the Pantomime Horse in 1980s BBC kids' show ''Series/{{Rentaghost}}'', supposedly an empty costume animated by a misfiring magic spell.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Music Videos]]
62	* The music video for ''Sorry for Party Rocking'' by ''Music/{{LMFAO}}'' features a pantomime zebra performing the Running Man.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Theatre]]
66	* Caroline, the cow in ''Theatre/{{Gypsy}}''. Its front legs belong to Louise.
67	* ''Theatre/ManOfLaMancha'' has a pair of pantomime horses for Don Quixote and Sancho to ride in the ShowWithinAShow.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Webcomics]]
71	* In [[http://www.paradoxspace.com/pones/2 the second page]] of the ''Webcomic/ParadoxSpace'' story "Pones", Hella Jeff tries to get Sweet Bro to be the rear of his horse costume after [[PeripheryDemographic seeing him play]] with a MyLittlePhony toy.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Web Original]]
75	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1545 SCP-1545]], Larry the Loving Llama. Once people get inside the costume, they adopt the personality of Larry, and the person in the back starts dancing with the intention of entertaining people, never stopping until the people inside die or are forcefully removed.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Western Animation]]
79	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "The Fright Stuff", Binky's idea for a prank on Francine and Muffy is illustrated by an [[ImagineSpot imagine spot]] of him and Arthur riding a tandem bicycle underneath a horse costume, with an empty jacket on the back, pretending to be a [[HeadlessHorseman "headless horseguy"]].
80	* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Two For Tina", Jimmy Jr. tries to impress Tina at one point by dressing up in a horse costume with his pal Zeke and singing a song about her.
81	* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and the Gorilla'': Huey, Dewey and Louie put on a three-person gorilla suit (one controlling the head, one controlling the arms and one controlling the legs) to play a prank on Donald.
82	* In the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short\|s}} ''Moose Hunters'', Donald and Goofy don a two-person moose costume (supposedly female, though [[AnimalGenderBender it has antlers]]) to lure a male moose to Mickey.
83	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's On Stage" has Doug Funnie and Roger Klotz having to play Grendle the brave horse in the Bluffington Founders' Day SchoolPlay, which of course they don't enjoy.
84	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
85	** In the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler," Peter skips out on his physical to go eat steaks with his friends. For no particular reason, he insists that he and Brian "fool" Lois by leaving the house dressed in a horse costume. Lois doesn't notice them wearing it, and Brian is very confused.
86	** Also in "The Son Also Draws", a CutawayGag shows Peter and Chris in a horse costume trying to sneak into a county fair while only having to buy one ticket.
87	--->'''Peter''': Uh, one please.
88	--->'''Chris''': ''(Sneezes)''
89	--->'''Ticket Seller''': Wait a second, your ass just sneezed. And horses can't talk. No, no, no no, nothing about this adds up at all!
90	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': In "The Masquerade Ball", Fred and Barney go to the titular masquerade ball in a two person dinosaur costume.
91	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes:''
92	** The ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'' short "WesternAnimation/AGruesomeTwosome" combines this with PaperThinDisguise, when the two cats disguise themselves this way in a very cheap, unrealistic horse costume, as an attempt to catch [[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Tweety Bird]], who decides to [[BeeAfraid put an angry bumblebee in the back of the costume]] and ride the "horse" ala Franchise/TheLoneRanger.
93	** In WesternAnimation/HareConditioned a store manager chases WesternAnimation/BugsBunny through different departments and when they go in and out of a costume department, they're both wearing a horse costume while the manager is ''still'' chasing Bugs.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	!!!Examples of a real-in-universe creature being portrayed using this method:
97
98	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
99	* Invoked by ''Anime/SSSSDynazenon''. The {{Kaiju}} in this anime are intentionally designed as if they were portrayed by PeopleInRubberSuits, and Bullbind is designed as if having two suit actors inside. Fittingly, it requires two [[TheBeastmaster Kaiju Eugenicists]] to control while other kaiju only require one.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
103	* Certain scenes in the extended edition of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' had a pantomime Bill the Pony used in long shots, as it would have been too difficult to travel there with a real animal.
104	* The Rodent of Unusual Size from ''Film/ThePrincessBride''.
105	* ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' took had the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabba_the_Hutt#Production_and_design incredibly]]'' intricate multi-person puppet used for [[StarfishAliens Jabba the Hutt]].
106	* The Pushmi-Pullyu on ''Film/DoctorDolittle'', a llama-like creature with AHeadAtEachEnd.
107	* The 1982 ''wuxia'' fantasy movie ''Film/BuddhasPalm'' features a Main/{{Kirin}} played by two actors in a costume.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
111	* ''Series/SesameStreet'' has Mr. Snuffleupagus and Barkley the dog.
112	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Warriors of the Deep]]", the Myrka, a genetically engineered sea monster, is played by two guys[[note]]in fact, the same two guys who played the horse in ''Rentaghost''. When this came out it put the last nail in the coffin of taking the monster seriously[[/note]] in a costume approximating to a green pantomime horse. It... doesn't really work. Michael Grade would later screen footage of a scene involving the Myrka to justify his axing of the series.
113	* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': Bryan the Spider from "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos The Harvest of Kairos]]". The actor operated the GiantSpider by sitting in the costume backwards, operating the front legs with his feet. Unfortunately, this resulted in a [[NightmareRetardant very slow walk]].
114	* Some quadruped ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' monsters are played by two people in a suit, such as [[Series/UltraMan Dodongo]], [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Paragon]], [[Series/UltramanAce Brocken, Jumbo King]] and [[Series/UltramanGaia Zogu's second form.]] Occasionally suits that have the actors joined side-by-side appear too, with [[Series/UltraMan Pestar]] being the most notable example.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Theatre]]
118	* As noted, common in Theatre/{{Pantomime}}.
119	* The lion in ''Theatre/AndroclesAndTheLion'' is played this way.
120	* Traditionally, Nana the dog in ''Theatre/{{Peter Pan\|1904}}''.
121	* Imogene the Spotted Calf, who replaced Toto in the [[Theatre/TheWizardOfOz1902 original 1902]] stage version of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. No, really.
122	* The elephant and rhinoceros costumes used in the Broadway musical version of ''Theatre/TheLionKing''.
123	* The theatre adaptation of ''Literature/WarHorse'', although it uses a more elaborate rig including a puppeteered head to avoid triggering the "pantomime animal = comedy" connection.
124	* Rainbow the dog from the ''Theatre/SkylineGang'', as well as various other animals.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
128	* Creator/PattyMaloney and Pat Cooper once performed at state fairs costumed as WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle, respectively.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Western Animation]]
132	* George the horse in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "I Had an Accident", who shows up at the end to ride into the sunset with the gorilla when [=SpongeBob=] questions how a gorilla is underwater in the first place.
133	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PantomimeAnimal