Line #105 Main/PianoDrop


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3	%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.
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6	%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1305160764074499100
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8	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/piano_drop.jpg]]
9	[[caption-width-right:250:An umbrella won't save you now!]]
10
11	->''"Just like a Toon to drop a safe on a guy's head."''
12	-->-- '''Lt. Santino''', ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit''
13
14	Pianos are among the largest, and heaviest musical instruments ever created. Typically constructed of wood, they operate by using hammers actuated by the keys to strike metal strings of various thickness and length to produce various notes. A hallmark of classical music, every great composer from Beethoven to Mozart has made use of them...and, inexplicably, in modern slapstick they end up aloft and plunging towards some poor jackass on the ground.
15
16	Basically, in the old days, a piano in your high-rise apartment was a sign of prestige, since not only did the owner have to pay for the piano, but also the equipment and crew to get it ''into'' said high-rise apartment, which could be upwards of hundreds of feet off the street level. Naturally, the best (and back then, ''only'') way to get a whole piano up there was hoisting it aloft with a crane, but this presented the danger of a careless crane operator or faulty sling harness causing the piano to come loose and begin a final plummet to the street below--and anyone between it and said street were [[{{Pun}} flat]] out of luck if they didn't get out of the way.
17
18	Slapstick gags of this nature often feature the piano being lifted via pulley or otherwise perched at a precariously high spot, invariably taking a plunge, almost always on someone/something, often with a resounding "BONG" as it smashes on the ground, sometimes accompanied by a ScreenShake. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity usually ensues]], thanks to AmusingInjuries. A common gag more often seen in cartoons includes the character rising up from within the wreckage with a mouthful of piano keys-like teeth. Bonus points if they start playing by themselves.
19
20	Here is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR3h0oPY1cM compilation]] with a lot of examples.
21
22	AnvilOnHead is a similar gag using an anvil.
23
24	JustForFun/NotToBeConfusedWith ColonyDrop, OrganDrops, or OddOrganUpTop. Closely related to PrecisionCrash.
25
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Advertising]]
32	* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHckyIbJ6nU late-'90s/early-'00s bumper]] for Creator/CartoonNetwork has a piano falling on the word "NEXT", which then [[WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath ascends into heaven]] and reveals what's coming up next.
33	* There's a wonderful [[http://cassies.adbeast.com/2001winners/reels/sr_clarica/index.html commercial for Clarica investment company]] (now merged with Sun Life) in which a woman is sitting at a bus stop. Suddenly, a man at the bus stop across the street looks hectically up at the sky, then madly starts gesticulating, pointing, and yelling, but she can't hear him. Finally, someone else comes along, sees what the man's so freaked out about, [[{{Hammerspace}} pulls out]] a piece of cardboard and a marker draws a [[TalkingWithSigns big up arrow]], and shows it to the woman. She looks up, then dives out of the way an instant before a falling piano crushes the bus stop. The tagline: "There's a lot to be said for clarity."
34	* [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ULCynzSJwjI A mid-2000s commercial]] for Creator/ChuckECheese features a piano falling out of the sky with Chuck E. on it and a mother and daughter unsuccessfully try to stop the fall.
35	-->'''Chuck E.:''' Does a quarter have the power to stop a falling piano? ''(CRASH)'' ...Guess not.
36	* At the end of an "ifidie" ad of Facebook, the piano drops... on [[GrimReaper Death himself]].
37	* In a commercial for Glad garbage bags, a piano breaks loose from the rope used to pull it up to a third-story window. Two workers use a Glad bag to make a fireman's trampoline. The piano completely misses, breaks into a hundred pieces, and the workers use the trash bag to deliver the pieces to the piano's owner. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1n5rurPRH8 "Where do you want the piano?"]]
38	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxig_vskhHU That Nespresso advertisement]] with George Clooney uses this premise. Mocked in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8QljHVn_A this German counter-ad.]]
39	* A 1970s print campaign for New England Life Insurance featured a series of cartoons in which one character, unaware that he was about to suffer some spectacularly calamitous injury, would tell another, "My insurance company? New England Life, of course. Why?" One of these [[http://www.nefapps.nefn.com/portal/irc/timeline/CartoonAd1-lge.JPG featured a falling piano,]] naturally. Other variants included falling trees, rocks, coconuts, etc.
40	* More advertising, this time featuring a piano being pushed upstairs. Part of the PG Tips [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzEBLa3PPk "Chimps" campaign,]] and possibly the most famous ad in Britain.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
44	* The Roachmon brothers, the Digimon that antagonize [[KidHero the Digi-destined]] in an episode of Anime/DigimonAdventure02, has an attack, Yard Sale Bomb, that involves summoning heavy objects from the sky to crush their opponents. It starts with a piano, though it lands on the ground without crushing anyone.
45	-->'''Yolei''': Uh... no, thanks. I don't play.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Audio Plays]]
49	* In one story of the Dutch audio series ''Ome Henk'', taking place on April Fool's, Koos Korswagen thinks dropping a piano from his balcony on the titular character's head is the height of hilarity. [[DisproportionateRetribution Henk disagrees.]]
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Comic Books]]
53	* In a running gag in ''ComicBook/GorskyAndButch'' someone is trying to kill the protagonists with a piano. At one point the attack is shown from the killer's perspective, with a crosshair on the heroes and the number of remaining pianos displayed on the killer's HUD.
54	* [[http://www.comics.org/issue/50182/cover/4/ This cover]] from ''The Adventures of Franchise/{{Superman}}'' #483, which depicts a scene that occurs in the story.
55	%%* Deadpool dies this to Wolverine once.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
59	* A common gag in ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' comics. One, captioned "God's computer", shows God watching some poor schmoe walking under a suspended piano, while His finger hovers over the "Smite" button on the keyboard. Another had an [[CirclingVultures in-flight vulture]] clutching a piano in his claws, about to drop it on a [[ThirstyDesert crawling desert wayfarer]] to keep the guy from reaching a waterhole. A third has another luckless soul puzzling at a piano stool lying smashed on the sidewalk next to him, while of course, the accompanying piano plunges down on him.
60	* One ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' comic (later adapted for the first animated series, as detailed below) has Garfield hiding out in a gigantic, wide-open field to protect himself from the misfortunes that Mondays always bring. [[TemptingFate Just as he's declared that there's no possible way for Monday to get him]], a piano tumbles from the sky.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Fan Works]]
64	* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8186071/73/Harry-Crow Harry Crow]]'' Hermione recalls once wishing that this would happen to Dudley Dursley and his gang. (She was six and a big fan of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' at the time.)
65	* In ''Fanfic/ItGetsWorse'', Coil despairingly wonders what would have happened to him if he hadn't taken the warning from Taylor's power in the form of nine anvils falling in a circle around him. The news reveals the art exhibition they came from also had some antique pianos. One of those pianos later takes out Jack Slash when he tries to take Taylor hostage.
66	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheTwilightChild'':
67	** Weaponised when the main character and Trixie get into a duel, which very quickly ends WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague style. For Trixie.
68	** Happens again much, much later on in the fic when a bored [[JerkassGods Discord]] makes it start raining pianos all over Canterlot.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Films — Animation]]
72	* Possibly alluded to in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'', when Bolt remarks "That's a weird place to put a piano," to distract Mittens so that he can pin her down.
73	* In ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'' Goofy and Max meet a mime who is pretending to haul on a rope; Goofy joins in, miming a pair of shears with which he cuts the rope. A rope-bedecked piano immediately falls onto the mime. Max and Goofy [[EveryoneHatesMimes just walk away whistling as if nothing happened.]]
74	* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' during the "Why Should I Worry" sequence in which a piano is being lifted ''seven stories into the air'' and does not fall, yet [[DisneyAcidSequence Dodger somehow manages to jump off]]. Dodger also plays the piano with his tail while wearing shades, as an ActorAllusion to Music/BillyJoel.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
78	* Subverted and then played for laughs in ''Film/{{A Fish Called Wanda}}'' in which wannabe hitman (and animal lover) Ken has been on a mission to kill an old woman, but has thus far only succeeded in accidentally killing two of her three innocent little Yorkshire terriers instead. In his third effort, he attempts to shoot the pulley system holding a block of stone masonry aloft above a sidewalk, hoping it will crush his intended target: instead, the load predictably misses the old woman and crushes her last dog. Ken is distraught as he attempts to surreptitiously leave the scene but falls into apoplectic laughter when he gets on to the street and learns that the old woman has died of a heart attack after witnessing the death of the last of her pooches.
79	* In ''Film/TheLastCircus'' the protagonist is subjected to this gag as part of the clown act we only see the aftermath of.
80	* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: ''Film/IronMan3'' has not so much a piano drop, as a repulsor-backed piano ''throw.''
81	* The classic Creator/LaurelAndHardy short ''Film/TheMusicBox'' -- except that a pulley is only used briefly, and most of the business revolves around an incredibly long flight of stairs. It is also the TropeCodifier of this trope.
82	* ''Film/ScaryMovie'' has a variant, the piano push (which Ghostface evades, but not the poor grandma down the stairs).
83	* A deleted scene from ''Film/UndercoverBrother'' shows a black man trying to hail a cab. "The Man" (through TheDragon Mr. Feather) prevents this by having an agent shoot out the cab's tire, sending it careening into a storefront. Then [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill for added measure]], a piano drops on the cab.
84	* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Eddie Valiant's brother and partner was murdered by a rogue Toon who dropped a piano on his head. One of the movie's many "barely inconvenient for Toons, lethal for humans" reminders. Unlike most examples, this is not remotely played for laughs. [[spoiler:The killer turns out to be none other than Judge Doom, who gave the same treatment to the guy Roger was accused of murdering.]]
85	* In ''Film/{{Zathura}}'', a Zorgon is crouched on the stairs about to kill Walter and Danny, and then Lisa sends the piano sliding down the stairs to crush it.
86	* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', the "Zombie Kill of the Week" goes to a [[NeverMessWithGranny little old lady]] who sets up a Piano with a pulley on purpose to fall on a zombie.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Jokes]]
90	* What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft? [[{{pun}} A flat miner]].
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Literature]]
94	* This is part of the villain's backstory in the first ''Literature/AlexRider''. Impoverished Lebanese boy Herod Sayle saved two wealthy men from being crushed under a piano. Out of gratitude, they paid for him to be educated in Britain - too bad KidsAreCruel.
95	* In ''The Coincidence Engine'' by Sam Leith it's not a piano from a crane, but a snooker table from a transport heli. (Not much of a difference for the poor sod it landed on.)
96	* Actually done to save the series' main character in ''Pirate King'', a 2011 ''Literature/MaryRussell'' novel by Laurie R. King. [[spoiler:Another character pushes a piano (that had been brought to a rooftop to keep up morale for some kidnapped women) from a somewhat higher roof to a lower one, killing a character who is either the titular Pirate King or his brother. (It's rather unclear which was really in charge.)]]
97	* In ''Once Bitten Twice Shy'' by Jennifer Rardin, this is the peak of a HumiliationConga against an unlucky dude who angered a witches' coven.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
101	* In an episode of ''Series/{{The Avengers\|1960s}}'', John Steed gets pinned under the ''contents'' of a piano, after the piano itself is ReducedToDust by the fleeing villains' secret weapon.
102	* In an episode of ''Series/BrainiacScienceAbuse'', a piano was dropped from a crane, and the sound of the impact was measured at 111dB, comparable to a baby crying. "Rather more satisfying to watch, though," observed presenter Richard Hammond.
103	* The pilot for ''Series/DeadLikeMe''. Witnessing a Graveling commit one of these acts even lets George correctly predict a later fatal accident with a BananaPeel.
104	-->'''George:''' I saw them drop a piano on some chick's head. I don't think they're looking to score points on originality.
105	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature Human Nature]]", one of the signs that there's still some of the Doctor in John Smith is when he sees a piano about to fall on a BabyCarriage. He grabs a kid's cricket ball and sets off a chain reaction that stops the mother seconds before the piano falls. "Lucky." Poetically, the conversation Smith is having with Joan Redfern at the time is about how ordinary people in ordinary situations might act with honour and valour.
106	* In an episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', one of the unflattering drawings in Drake's notebook of his teacher Mrs. Hayfer is of her holding an umbrella as a piano is about to fall on her.
107	* A Piano Drop is the inciting incident in the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "Hero or Hate Crime?" Mac is trying to pick up a lottery ticket from the pavement when a piano suspended by a moving company snaps, sending it hurtling toward him. A panicked Frank shouts "LOOK OUT, FAGGOT!" to draw Mac's attention, and Charlie displays some surprising athleticism to kick him to safety just in time. The rest of the episode is the Gang in arbitration over the lottery ticket and debating the titular question: is Frank a HeroicBystander for alerting everyone of the danger, or a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain by using a slur to do it?
108	* Happened in one episode of ''Series/LondonsBurning'', putting an abrupt end to [[TheKlutz George's]] side job with his brother-in-law's delivery business.
109	* It's more of a piano ''toss'', but the final episode of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' has Finn throw one across the room at an enemy via [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]].
110	* An episode of ''Series/MythBusters'' tested whether a piano dropped in this manner would crash through a roof. A normal piano would breach the roof but would not fall through the supports holding it up (i.e. [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters Busted]]). The hosts had to fill an upright piano with sand before it would punch all the way through.
111	* Happened offscreen on ''Series/NightCourt'' [[spoiler: and killed Dan's assistant Phil. Oddly, his life insurance was set to pay more if he died in this manner.]]
112	* Done to Dean in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' in the course of the GroundhogDayLoop episode. Considering the nature and tone of the series, the piano killing Dean was... unexpected. But [[BlackComedy still]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilarious]].
113	* Whenever a Morris Marina shows up on ''Series/TopGear'', it ''will'' have a piano dropped on it. Even if they've already attached a piano to the roof to try and avert this fate.
114	** The exception being the first one they destroyed, in the "Did the Communists ever make a good car?" segment. That one got [[KillItWithFire set on fire]] and used as a brazier.
115	** Another exception occurs in "The Worst Car in the History of the World". Instead of dropping a piano, they drop ''a Marina'' at James' Fiat Panda.
116	** Jeremy Clarkson's home video "The Most Outrageous Jeremy Clarkson Film In The World... Ever!" features a piano getting dropped on a Porsche 911, a car that Jeremy hates. The piano barely dented the car.
117	--->'''Clarkson:''' So, let's have a look at the scoreline here. 400-weight piano - nil, Porsche 911 - one.
118	* The GrandFinale of ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' ends with two in succession, [[spoiler:killing off both the main character and the show's creator. Why? Well, [[GainaxEnding why not?]]]]
119	* Bam Margera and his crew used a crane to drop a piano that needed disposing on an episode of ''Series/VivaLaBam'' once. Pretty much for the heck of it.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Music]]
123	* Music/TheLovinSpoonful's song "Pow!" (featured prominently in ''Film/WhatsUpTigerLily'') includes the line, "When they're droppin' a piano from the forty-seventh floor, I'm the guy underneath 'em lookin' up..."
124	* Inverted in the song "Right, Said Fred", where Fred and his mates ''can't'' shift a piano. Fred tries to remove the ceiling to lift it out and ends up buried in rubble. The song never actually specifies what they're trying to move -- it's generally assumed to be a piano, but it's left deliberately ambiguous. The {{Claymation}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XX9LX2es4 music video]] explicitly shows a piano.
125	* "Romance Novel" by Music/NinjaSexParty ends with Dan screaming "No, don't throw the piano!" at an incensed Brian. Then we hear the piano crashing onto him.
126	* "Can't Complain" (from his solo album "Mosquitoes") by [[Music/WallOfVoodoo Stan Ridgway]]. The protagonist complains all the time over relative trifles. Until a Steinway flattens him.
127	* "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" by Music/TheWhiteStripes has the line "If you can hear a piano fall you can hear me coming down the hall", meaning that the lover in the song has no excuse for not answering her door for the narrator.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Music Videos]]
131	* Happens in the video for Music/GreenDay's "Walking Contradiction". One of the guys walks past a mover hoisting a piano with a winch and pulley and finds a mirror. He picks it up, uses it to check his face, and shines a beam of sunlight into the mover's eyes. The mover lets go of the rope and the piano crashes to the sidewalk, narrowly missing one of the other band members.
132	* Music/TheLonelyIsland's "YOLO" advises you to wear a suit of armour in case someone drops a piano on you. [[BrickJoke Later in the music video]], one is dropped on an unfortunate victim:
133	--> "And if you think [[MilkmanConspiracy your mailman is a spy]], then [[DisproportionateRetribution DESTROY HIM]]!"
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
137	* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'':
138	** In the Jaye P. Morgan episode, the nameless Newsman [[DeadlineNews reports]] that a charter flight carrying the London Symphony Orchestra was forced to jettison some of the musical instruments -- including, apparently, a piano that falls down on his desk immediately thereafter. Most of his other news reports had similar results.
139	** In the Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge episode, Gonzo attempts to balance a piano over his head and stand in a hammock while reciting the seven times table. After Gonzo messes up by saying "Seven times two is seventeen", he counts on his fingers, letting go of the piano and causing it to fall on him.
140	--->'''Waldorf:''' Well, that act certainly suited Gonzo.\
141	'''Statler:''' It did?\
142	'''Waldorf:''' Yep. Suited him right down to the ground!\
143	(''Statler and Waldorf laugh'')
144	* A piano is dropped on Clifford in the Gary Cahuenga episode of ''Series/MuppetsTonight''. He comes back up wearing pieces of the broken grand piano.
145	* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
146	** In the song "Danger's No Stranger" (the video for which parodies the MusicVideo trend of TheEighties of a rock band playing in a dark alley), someone is dropped like this to go with the lyrics, "And don't walk under a fallin' piano."
147	** An earlier song about danger, performed by Little Jerry and the Monotones, also features the band just dodging a falling piano.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Radio]]
151	* From ''Radio/TheBurkissWay'':
152	-->"At last! Relief for Muggeridge sufferers, with new Burkiss Grand Pianos! Simply haul it up to a fourth-story window, wait for Malcolm Muggeridge to come along..."
153	* In ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' episode "The Case of the Missing CD Plates" Neddie is struck down by a falling piano. Its owners then try to trick him into screwing a Corps Diplomatique plate onto the piano, in order to give it diplomatic immunity against prosecution.
154	* ''[[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook That Mitchell and Webb Sound]]'': One sketch has a man crushed by a falling piano, who then learns he agreed (while on a drunk stag-do) to leave his body to evil, and the man's come to collect.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
158	* A scene in ''Ride/TheCatInTheHat'' ride at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]] gives off the illusion of Thing 1 and Thing 2 tipping a piano onto the riders.
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	[[folder:Video Games]]
162	* One of the possible deaths in ''VideoGame/{{Ann}}''. In the Piano Department, one of the rooms contains a piece of bloodstained sheet music. Interacting with it leads to a piano dropping on the player.
163	* In the Platform/TRS80 TextAdventure game ''Asylum'', if you ever look up, a piano immediately falls on your head and kills you.
164	* Works as a KaizoTrap near the very end of ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'', but it can be avoided if you wait until the last possible moment... which is the right moment to press any button and escape.
165	* One of the heavier weapons in ''VideoGame/CrashTagTeamRacing'' involves throwing a piano on the track, causing an explosion of wood, ebony, and ivory that obliterates all who cross it. The [[TheManyDeathsOfYou Die-O-Rama]] clip "Tickle the Ivories" also has Crash getting flattened by one.
166	* One of the more notable objects in ''VideoGame/CrazyClimber'' that the player has to dodge is a falling piano.
167	* ''VideoGame/{{Hedgewars}}'' has it as one of the top tier weapons, sacrificing a hog to play it as it falls, bouncing several times, and carving a hole into the landscape by way of several explosions.
168	* This is one possible assassination method in the ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' mission "The Murder of Crows", as [[http://youtu.be/dLdm0g3YDBw?t=25s demonstrated here.]]
169	* In the kart-style racing game ''Looney Tunes Space Race'', one of the objects you can inflict on your fellow racers is a piano. It's one of the worst, as not only are you hit by it, you're also stuck under it when a bust of a generic classical music composer falls on it, too.
170	* Added in one of the updates to ''VideoGame/MyTalkingTom'', occasionally by [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential tapping Tom's face three times in quick succession]], you will see Tom get hit with a skyborne piano. The animation differs depending on Tom's age.
171	-->'''Tom:''' Why did I tell you about that? Now you're gonna [[ShmuckBait try it for yourself!!]]
172	* In ''VideoGame/SidAndAlsIncredibleToons'', a piano will smash if it falls from even a very small height.
173	* ''VideoGame/SineMora'' has [[PoisonMushroom the ??? "powerup"]], which [[NonStandardGameOver drops a piano on your ship for an instant game over]].
174	* Peacock in ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' can drop a piano on you, and roughly 20 other items of varying sizes as well.
175	* In ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline'', the Level 6 Drop gag (attack) was a grand piano that the Toon player could drop on an enemy Cog.
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Web Animation]]
179	* ''WebAnimation/{{asdfmovie}}'':
180	** Seen in #4, as part of "The Science Show": [[WhoWritesThisCrap "Whose idea was this?!"]]
181	** Inverted in #5, where a guy falls [[StaircaseTumble down a flight of stairs]] ("Hey Bobby! Play that one about falling down the stairs!") and lands on a piano.
182	* WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls: On the character showcase episode, "Hero of the Month: Wonder Woman", Wonder Woman saves an old lady from a falling piano, but rather than gently lay the piano down, negligently throws it away... and it lands on Cheetah. Cheetah, [[CirclingBirdies seeing stars]], emerges from the rubble [[NonSequiturThud speaking nonsense]] before losing consciousness.
183	* Flippy of ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' does this to himself thanks to his SuperpoweredEvilSide SplitPersonality.
184	* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' has this as what finally does Lyle Lipton in in "C.H.E.R.U.B.".
185	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE186Environment environment]]", Strong Bad tries to drop a "65 mile-per-gallon hybrid piano" on Marzipan and Strong Sad.
186	* Seen twice in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'' ''WebAnimation/ButReallyReallyFast''. After being on the receiving end of Giorno's 7-page Muda, Cioccolata gets flung towards a garbage truck and is crushed by a piano. [[ExaggeratedTrope And then another piano. And then several piano keys]], all of them playing an off-key version of Giorno's "Il Vento d'Oro" theme song. Later, the Passione boss also gets crushed by a piano, along with several cars.
187	* The final sketch of ''WebAnimation/TheLazerCollection 7'' has three of these happen within ''seconds'' of each other.
188	-->'''Dr. Octogonapus:''' I'm sorry! I'm new and I don't have hands!
189	* ''Website/{{Neopets}}'': In the game "Igloo Garage Sale", among the items tossed to the ground occasionally includes a grand piano; having a piano dropped on you will cause an instant GameOver.
190	* The has happened occasionally in ''Creator/SuperMarioGlitchy4'', for example at the beginning of ''Stupid Mario Galaxy''.
191	[[/folder]]
192
193	[[folder:Webcomics]]
194	* In ''Webcomic/TheCartoonChroniclesOfConroyCat'', having a piano dropped on your head and playing the keys right, [[http://dtoons.com/conroy/2011/01/piano-lessons/ is part of his training to become a toon star.]]
195	* ''Webcomic/FreddyFox'': In [[https://www.furaffinity.net/view/13015707/ Showtime 2]], Cathy the cat ends up getting a piano dropped onto her (which, according to the narrator, is more likely than getting set on fire, water damage, or electrocution) as a consequence for not closing a bottle of toxic fluids.
196	* ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': When Stephan tries to ask Stephanie on a date, her answer causes him to have an ImagineSpot-ish thing in which [[https://ozyandmillie.org/archives/comic/ozy-and-millie-2215 he is crushed by a piano]] bearing the words "I just want to be friends."
197	* One ''Webcomic/{{Wondermark}}'' strip explores what happens when you eat those desiccant silica packets found in many packaged snack food. The man in the strip eats the packet in defiance of instructions, and a piano falls on his head.
198	* ''Webcomic/YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic'': One plot arc involves a murder investigation where the victim was killed by a falling harpsichord. [[spoiler:Or so it seems; it's eventually revealed the victim had been covertly stabbed in the eye ''and'' poisoned before the instrument fell on her.]]
199	[[/folder]]
200
201	[[folder:Western Animation]]
202	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In "O Silly Mio", the Warners confront a snooty opera singer for constantly shattering their stained glass windows with her high notes, and she tosses them out of the building and drops a grand piano on them.
203	-->'''Yakko:''' [[ThisMeansWar Of course you know, this means]] ''[[{{Pun}} Warners!]]''
204	* A piano is among the many, many, ''many'' things dropped on the abusive bulldog in the Creator/TexAvery [[WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons cartoon]] "WesternAnimation/BadLuckBlackie."
205	* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'':
206	** This is how The Whip gets defeated in the episode "Cowboy Courage".
207	** Courage also has a piano dropped on him during the episode "Ball of Revenge".
208	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'': When Jay decides to audition to be Siskel's and Ebert's replacement (they had split up), he sings [[TemptingFate "Nothing's gonna stop me now!"]] So an {{anvil\|OnHead}} falls on his head. Then a piano. [[RuleOfThree Then a]] [[SpaceWhale whale.]]
209	* In one episode of Gerry Anderson's stop-motion animated show ''Dick Spanner'', a mobster offers the titular PI "a grand" to drop his current case. The grand in question is a grand piano, which misses Spanner by an inch or so. The piano player who was ''dropped first'' is not so lucky.
210	-->[[PrivateEyeMonologue "Needing tuning; It was flat. So was the piano player. He played that ten-finger rag all the way down. I guess some guys never learn."]]
211	* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Don't Rain on My Ed", on the way to the candy store to get free jawbreakers (which has already been a massive HumiliationConga for the Eds), Eddy miraculously escapes Jimmy's hanging garden falling on him without so much as a scratch... only for Kevin to drop a piano on him.
212	-->'''Kevin:''' [[BrickJoke That's for gobbing all over my bike]], dork!
213	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
214	** In the episode "Untitled Griffin Family History", there's a montage of silent {{Slapstick}} shorts starring Peter's ancestor, Black-Eye Griffin, all of which involve him getting a black eye from various objects, including a falling piano.
215	** This happens to Peter himself in "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing", as predicted by a fortune cookie he got. He emerges out of the piano with key-teeth and says, "Next time you get a fortune cookie, don't open it", and leaves as an AccordionMan.
216	* A piano falling on him is one of the curses Lenny suffers from Fanboy fooling around with the Staff of Chumnubis in the ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' episode "Frosty Mart Dream Vacation".
217	* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'':
218	** Episode 73, "Rainy Day Robot": A robot, advertised as being able to bring about any weather on command, never actually causes rain to fall from the sky (unless it's on the salesman's command), although a number of other things do... including 27 pianos. Though the pianos were invoked by Roy (and Orson's confused brothers parroting him) to get rid of the latter.
219	** In the episode "Monday Misery" this happens to Garfield, just when he was convinced that he was wrong and Monday wasn't out to get him. In "Curse of Klopman" a man who buys the cursed Klopman Diamond from Garfield has this happen to him.
220	** In "Lights, Camera, Garfield!", Garfield is cast as the [[ObviousStuntDouble stunt double]] for Fluffy, a little girl's cat in a movie where bad things happen to him. One of the things that happens to Garfield is a piano falling on him, and he emerges from it with piano keys for teeth.
221	* The indicatively named ''WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel'' short "I Am Cliched" has right after an AnvilOnHead on Weasel, this happen to Baboon, complete with the "keys as teeth" follow-up. Weasel is quick to snark, "oh, now ''that's'' original!".
222	* In the short cartoon ''WesternAnimation/JinxyJenkinsAndLuckyLou'', the eponymous couple goes careening down the streets of San Francisco in an out-of-control ice cream cart, and pass under a bunch of pianos that are dangling from ropes for no apparent reason. Thanks to Jenkins' [[TheJinx extreme bad luck]], the pianos immediately start falling. Thanks to Lou's [[BornLucky extreme good luck]], they not only avoid getting squashed but briefly use the falling pianos as SteppingStonesInTheSky.
223	* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Zatanna telekinetically batters Circe with the entire contents of a fancy restaurant, finishing with the grand piano. She reacts with rising indignation to each piece of furniture. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Except the piano]].
224	-->'''Circe:''' Oh no.
225	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Invoked in one episode, where [[ButtMonkey Stumpy]] tries to prove that [[NoFourthWall he's the show's comic relief]] by dropping a piano on his own head.
226	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
227	** Wile E. Coyote tried dropping one of these on the Road Runner once, with [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption predictable results]].
228	** In "Hare Trimmed", Bugs, in old lady drag, playfully leads suitor Yosemite Sam on a chase through the house, up the steps...where he shoves a piano down into Sam's path.
229	** The Sheriff from "Bunny and Claude (We Rob Carrot Patches)" runs for it to avoid getting hit by a falling piano. He runs all the way out into the desert and ''still'' gets hit.
230	** A mouse does this to Sylvester in "WesternAnimation/CannedFeud", and Sylvester smiles with his key-teeth.
231	* ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'': In "Marvin the Middle Manager", Marvin and Charlotte set up a RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts device that would drop a piano on Charlotte while she pretends to be a butterfly, as part of Marvin's task to kill her given to him by Vendetta. Even though the plan initially goes well, it ends up failing when Vendetta shows up to the scene, much to her dismay. Of course, [[NeverMyFault she doesn't blame herself for it]], as she has a batch of fiends take Marvin away.
232	* This is the only sure way to kill a Sintillian in ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries''.
233	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has Twilight Sparkle failing to heed Pinkie Pie's [[SpiderSense Pinkie Sense]] about falling things in "Feeling Pinkie Keen". Cue a [[FlowerPotDrop flower pot]] falling on her head, followed by [[AnvilOnHead an anvil]], followed by [[EscalatingPunchline a hay wagon, and finally, a piano]]. Pan up to reveal that they fell out of a moving van crewed by pegasi, including (thanks to a last-minute edit) Derpy Hooves.
234	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': In "Sorry, Wrong Slusher", Christopher Robin, Pooh, Piglet and Tigger think they're being attacked by a "slusher" after seeing a slasher movie on television, so they decide to set a trap for the "slusher" by suspending a piano in the air by a rope. The trap goes off on Eeyore.
235	* Near the end of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "Face Off", the cockroaches drop a grand piano on Jack as he and Oggy leave the hospital, [[HereWeGoAgain forcing him to go through the same plastic surgery his cousin endured throughout the episode]].
236	* One of these is set up by [[MadScientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] to catch [[ArchEnemy Perry the Platypus]] in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', revealed with dramatic music -- [[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn played by someone sitting at the piano]]. Perry [[SwissCheeseSecurity walks in the back door]] and avoids the trap entirely.
237	-->'''Doofenshmirtz:''' Oh, I told Nancy to keep the back door locked! ''(Pulls out a tape recorder)'' Note to self: My evil deed for tomorrow? Fire the maid.
238	** In "Lost in Danville" when Phineas and Ferb come across a [[MadeOfIndestructium capsule]] that fell from the sky, their every attempt to open it fails. Phineas resorts to continuously drop pianos on it which doesn't affect it in the slightest.
239	--->'''Phineas:''' I think I'm actually running out of ideas here.
240	--->'''Isabella:''' And pianos.
241	--->'''Baljeet:''' Should I go get a pipe organ?
242	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'':
243	** A short where the Panther makes several attempts to cross a busy street ends with him succeeding by dressing up as a mother cat with kittens, only to end up being crushed by a piano on the other side.
244	** Another Panther cartoon has Big Nose (as a bank robber) getting hit by a player piano after numerous attempts to get rid of a horseshoe which is bringing him bad luck instead of good.
245	* ''WesternAnimation/Presto2008'' from 2008 by Creator/{{Pixar}}, climaxes with the magician Presto falling from a great height toward a hardwood stage below, followed by some prop stars and crescent moon, and one grand piano. If the impact after his fall doesn't kill him, that piano surely will. He is spared this fate by a quick-thinking but truculent rabbit named Alec Azam.
246	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'':
247	** The episode "Teed Off" features various things that launch grand pianos, up to and including ''a KillSat''.
248	** Before that episode, this also happens in "Rocko's Happy Vermin" where Flecko causes a piano to fall directly onto Ed Bighead during a chase.
249	** The anthropomorphic food processor attempts this on Spunky in "Fatal Contraption".
250	** In "Turkey Time", when the citizens of O-Town find out that Rocko has been hiding every turkey in his house, they gather them around and prepare to drop a piano on them, but when Mr. Bighead lets go, the others don't because of the turkeys' PuppyDogEyes. Mr. Bighead loses his mind at this and unintentionally makes the turkeys fly away, and tells them to drop the rope, which they do, and the piano drops on him.
251	* Kenny from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has [[DeathIsCheap died in pretty much]] [[TheyKilledKennyAgain every way imaginable]], so naturally this was one of them.
252	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
253	** In "Fear of a Krabby Patty", [=SpongeBob=] crushes Plankton, who was disguised as a psychiatrist, with a piano during a panic attack. Later, he builds a piano with cards representing various ingredients, and it topples on Plankton as well.
254	** In "The Slumber Party", Pearl and her friends drop a piano on [=SpongeBob=] when he tries to infiltrate her slumber party by pretending to be a piano repairman.
255	** In "Lame and Fortune", one of the Bikini Bottomites gets a fortune saying "You will soon injure your legs". Almost instantly, a grand piano falls from nowhere onto his legs. Turns out he is quite happy about it since it gives him an excuse to skip jury duty.
256	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode "In Search of Ancient Blunders", AdventurerArchaeologist Myra does this to Dumptruck of the Air Pirates to stop him from clobbering Baloo. Since Dumptruck is MadeOfIron, he's just stunned.
257	* In ''Series/ThumbWrestlingFederation'', the character Evil Ira, then a heroic Dextera, used a piano to drop on the head of Evil Sinistra opponent N Fuego, before dropping one on the referee (a finger with googly eyes) "for luck". After this stunt outraged the 'commentators', Ira did a FaceHeelTurn to the side of evil for the next match, to compensate for the insufficient number of evil characters in the semi-finals.
258	* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':
259	** During the "Furrball's unlucky" lyric of the ExpositoryThemeTune, Furrball is minding his own business sniffing a flower and suddenly gets hit by a piano from nowhere. Said piano also happens to break part of the ground when it lands on him.
260	** While not exactly a drop, in the cartoon, "Rear Window Pain" from the episode, "Psychic Fun-omenon Day", Granny is teaching Elmyra how to play the piano, and tosses it at Plucky when she and Elmyra find out he is spying on them.
261	** The cartoon, "C Flat or B Sharp?" from the episode, "Son of Looniversity Daze" involves Buster, Plucky, and Hamton delivering a piano from the Acme Looniversity clock tower to the music hall. The piano falls on Yosemite Sam at the end of the cartoon.
262	** In "Hero Hamton", a piano falls on Hamton during Porky's Prop Class.
263	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "WesternAnimation/HeavenlyPuss", Tom is pulling on a stair rug to try to catch Jerry. He ends up pulling an upright piano down the stairs, which [[SquashedFlat flattens him against the wall]]. Notably, this actually kills him... only for the whole thing to turn out to be [[AllJustADream just a dream]].
264	* The Esther episode of ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' involved a piano drop as part of a plot to assassinate the king.
265	* ''WesternAnimation/FudencioESeusAmigos'': The theme song has a piano instrumental that plays showing an upset Conrado walking across the screen, until a piano played by Baltazar Barata falls on him, and then five clones of Fudêncio pop out from inside the piano to finish the song. This piano drop is also a random punchline in two episodes: "Safeno Bizarro", when Conrado commemorates nothing bad happened to him during the episode due to him being OutOfFocus for most of its duration, and in "Cudi Copo", when Conrado is walking around the street and is suddenly killed by the piano, [[TemptingFate while making fun of a false prophecy an Ouija board did, saying he would be the first to die among his friends]].
266	[[/folder]]
267
268	[[folder:Real Life]]
269	* Every spring since 1972, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology drop an old, irreparable piano from the roof of a dormitory six stories high to celebrate Drop Date, the last date one can drop classes at MIT. The resulting noise has spawned a unit of sound volume, known as the Bruno. A photo of the inaugural piano drop at MIT in 1972 appears on the cover of ambient musician Music/TimHecker's 2011 album ''Ravedeath, 1972''.
270	* Arne Nordheim, honored contemporary composer of the experimental variety, was assigned an "honorary compartment" by the state of Norway for his achievement. This meant he had to move his costly Steinway grand piano from his flat on the fifth floor -- out of the window with a cable and a lift. The cable broke, and the grand piano crashed to the ground. The man behind the wheel was baffled when the composer showed up in the window with this comment: "Did you hear that sound?"
271	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PianoDrop