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[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/Ghostbusters1984 The flowers aren't even standing!]]]]

A white tablecloth. A beautiful placesetting (bonus points for a lot of fine crystal or a vase of fresh flowers). Our Hero takes one corner of the cloth and with a single pull whips the tablecloth off the table, leaving the placesetting undisturbed.

This trick is a good, showy [[ShowDontTell way to demonstrate]] that a character is a stage magician or is otherwise unusually dexterous. (It also demonstrates that the character knows physics -- the dishes and glasses are held in place by inertia.)

And even when this trick fails -- sending flowers, silver, and glass everywhere -- it's still entertaining.

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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Advertising]]
* An advertisement for Stellar Artois has a host do this from a hot air balloon, using gravity as the acting force. The tablecloth becomes a parachute holding a tray with two glasses of the beverage.
* An advertisement for Amazon's Alexa voice-activated system shows a young boy who wants to be a magician doing this with a fully-set dinner table, knocking it to the floor. His mother uses Alexa to call for the pizza order she apparently has on standby at all times.
* An advertisement for Surf washing powder features British comic figures Sharon and Tracy doing this. Sharon piles four cups of Coca-Cola and a fruit plan on the table and prepares to yank away the table cloth. Tracy hurriedly moves the washing powder and stands back. Then Sharon pulls of the trick flawlessly to both their surprise.
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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
%%* A famous scene in the beginning of ''Manga/BlackButler''.
* ''Manga/DriftingClassroom'': In the first chapter, Sho yanks the tablecloth containing his breakfast during his fight with his mother, causing everything to fall to the floor.
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * Asuna does this in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''.
* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', when Anthy's dress disintegrates during a party due to a vicious prank, Utena whips a nearby tablecloth free (sending everything that was on the table flying in the process) and wraps it around her, making it into a new, toga-like dress to replace it.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In one ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' story, a new physics teacher and Riverdale High does this trick to demonstrate the "Objects at rest stay at rest" rule. Lunchlady Miss Beazley, who set up the table, thought the new teacher was about to ruin her work and fainted dead away.
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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'', Rhino pulls a paper place-mat from under a man's food and drink without knocking it over.
** He does this a second time at a picnic during [[CreativeClosingCredits the credits.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'', Charlie Brown tries to incorporate this into a magic act. While practicing the first time everything falls and the second time he pulls the whole table out while the objects stay in mid air for a second. It's only later when he cancels his act and retrieves the table cloth, he does the trope successfully.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', Skinner accidentally does this as he falls into the Seine while chasing Rémy.
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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'' had the comedy version. Venkman tries to whip a table cloth from under a set table and succeeds in sending every item on the table ''except'' the centerpiece crashing to the floor.
-->'''Venkman:''' [[IMeantToDoThat And the flowers are still standing!]]
* ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'': Done successfully by the Grinch when trying to retrieve a tablecloth...[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUwNpsRrRI only to immediately run back to the table and knock everything over himself.]] The table included. Apparently Creator/JimCarrey got it right the very first time and had to improvise, [[ThrowItIn leading to this scene]].
* ''Film/DasBoot'': During the scene in the La Rochelle whorehouse, one crew member tries this. He's so drunk he can barely stand, so needless to say he fails.
* The Jackie Chan film ''Film/ProjectA2'' during a fight against the hatchet wielding pirates.
* ''Film/PromiseHerAnything'': Michele's frantic scramble to conceal all signs of a child in her apartment (her date is arriving and he doesn't know about her son) ends with her whipping off a kid-friendly tablecloth, leaving the vase of flowers in place.
* The Swedish film ''Film/YouTheLiving'' has an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43R1k8vHCh0 epic version]] as part of a dream sequence. The person who attempts it [[EpicFail fails miserably]] and is subsequently [[DisproportionateRetribution sentenced to death]] for the damage caused.
* In ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', Frank N. Furter does this after the song "Eddie's Teddy" to reveal Eddie's unfortunate fate.
* Mr. Grainger attempts this in ''Film/AreYouBeingServed'', but only ends up dragging everything on the table to the floor.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Death does this in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', in which it's a PhlebotinumAnalogy for what the History Monks do -- the table is still laid, but the tablecloth can now be reused. Susan points out that the salt's fallen over and the tablecloth is stained, and Death replies, "YES. AS METAPHORS GO IT IS RATHER GOOD, DON'T YOU THINK?"
* ''Literature/ForestKingdom'': Gleefully averted in the ''Hawk & Fisher'' spinoff series' book 4 (''Wolf in the Fold''), in which Fisher snatches up a tablecloth to cover the naked body of a dead man. The toppling crash of place settings is described in all its destructive glory.
* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Cell}}'', Clay tries this trick when the heroes are looting food from an abandoned restaurant. It sort of works, with all the table's contents staying upright but moving a few inches.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The Series/MythBusters took on a viral video showing this trick being done on a banquet table, with a motorcycle. [[spoiler:It didn't work.]] Note that the video had a much, ''much'' longer tablecloth than most versions of this stunt. It is later shown how [[spoiler:such tricks are frequently fabricated for the camera by using a pane of glass over the tablecloth but under the set and decorations to keep the latter stable as the cloth is yanked out from under both the items on the table and the glass holding them up.]]
* ''Series/TopGear'': Similar to the ''Series/MythBusters'' example, Clarkson tried to emulate the stunt using a Nissan GT-R to pull the tablecloth off. [[spoiler:And, like the [=MythBusters=] example, it didn't work]].
* Captain Awesome did this on ''Series/{{Chuck}}''.
* ''Series/TimeWarp'' did both versions, showing you the secret to achieving both.
* Benny Hill from ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' has done Tablecloth Yank quite a few times and has sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed. In one of the episodes, he also did an inversion of a classic Tablecloth Yank.
* In Granada's ''Series/SherlockHolmes'', Holmes (Jeremy Brett) does this near the end of "The Six Napoleons". See it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=278dN8DZw00 here.]]
* In ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', Sam uses her power to invert the trick to put a tablecloth back under the plates and centerpiece.
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[[folder:Music Videos]]
* The LiteralMusicVideo [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpmYsXZ-sfQ of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"]] makes fun of the trope. (In the original, [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext they're just messing up the table on purpose]].)
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* Willy has to accomplish this in ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfWillyBeamish'', since the tablecloth is a key item. [[spoiler:Doing it while a goblet is still on the table will make it topple over, alerting the residents of the house he's currently sneaking around in.]]
* One of the games in ''VideoGame/WarioWareSmoothMoves'' involves yanking a tablecloth without knocking over the settings.
* ''VideoGame/TheTableclothHour'' is a Japanese arcade game by Taito dedicated to letting players simulate this trick.
* In the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', when you examine a cart with a tea set and cloth on, Kay Faraday will consider doing this. Edgeworth has to talk her out of it.
* During the opening battle scene of ''VideoGame/Bayonetta3'', the title character lands between two tables at a party on a cruise ship. Her opponents land on the tables, and Bayo yanks the tablecloths to trip them up... and gives an amused "Oooh" when she realizes the place settings are still there.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'': All tablecloths in the game series can be yanked by Luigi's vacuum-cleaner.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioParty'': In the Rhythm minigame Clearing the Table, each player has a table topped with a tablecloth of their player color, and a pile of glasses are dropped atop the table in time with the music. When the pile is complete, on the next beat, the players must quickly pull their Joy-Con toward themself to yank the tablecloth out from under the glasses. If they yank with the correct timing, the cloth will come out without disturbing the glasses at all, and that player will earn more points. Players can anticipate the beat they must yank the cloth by noting the rhythm at which the glasses land on each other.
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[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In the animation ''[[VideoGame/DadSeries Dad's Home]]'', the titular Dad successfully pulls this near the end, for no particular reason and on a table that had no reason to be where it was. He also kicks the table over immediately afterwards.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Bender in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Bender Gets Made": This is a double subversion, in that Bender succeeds in performing this trick, but his success was really a failure, since he meant to single-subvert the trope by just pulling everything off the table.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Robin knocks a thug standing on a table off his feet by pulling out the tablecloth. "I love that trick, but I can never make it work."
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', Tigger successfully pulls a cloth off Piglet's table without harming any of the dishes. Then he turns to leave the room:
-->'''Tigger:''' Ha, ha, thought they were all gonna crash, didn't ya? ''[slams the door and the dishes all shatter]''
* Done successfully by Applebloom in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode, "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E12CallOfTheCutie Call of the Cutie]]". She wasn't really trying; she just needed the tablecloth.
* A SpringtimeForHitler example in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', where Angelica has been asked to ruin a grown-ups' dinner party. She yanks the tablecloth, but everything on the table doesn't fall.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Tick Tock Smurfs", Clumsy is told by his fellow Smurfs to clear the table because they're on Brainy's time schedule, and Clumsy does it by yanking the tablecloth, causing food to spill right onto Papa Smurf's face.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon "Please Please Me." Ants invade the boys' picnic, so Ringo grabs the blanket and yanks it off the ground, leaving the settings and fixings undisturbed.
-->'''Ringo:''' Didn't think I could do it, did you?
* One of {{the teaser}}s on ''WesternAnimation/TheAlvinShow,'' set to "The Chipmunk Song", has Alvin doing this, successfully.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', Jose Carioca tries to teach Goofy to be refined and swipes a tablecloth from underneath [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts]]. At the end, Goofy attempts to pull this trick in his own "goofy" fashion.
-->'''Lumiere:''' [[OhCrap Run for your lives!]]
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