Gigantic Gulp

Oh, darn, I forgot to put in the ten pounds of ice.

"45 gallons of bladder bustin' refreshment!"

— Boog, Fanboy and Chum Chum

There's been a bad day at the office, an extra-festive party or so on—a character needs a freaking coffee or a drink. A popular visual gag is to have the character drink from a really big cup. The Gigantic Gulp is any drink that comes in a ridiculously large cup, barrel or bucket, usually with its size grossly exaggerated for comic effect. (Possibly even larger than the machine that dispenses the beverage, if a convenience store or similar place is involved, making it physically impossible.)

Often used in conjunction with the Potty Emergency and Potty Dance tropes; bonus points if the character feeds the liquid directly into his system with an IV tube. For extra irony, make it a diet drink, and note that it's the smallest size the place offers.

Also see Must Have Caffeine, I Need a Freaking Drink, Giant Food, Cup Holders, The Noisy Straw for related tropes.

Not to be confused with Loud Gulp, which is what bystanders seeing a Gigantic Gulp might emit…

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Examples:

Advertising

• In this GEICO ad, their agents need one of these because they're open 24 hours a day.

Anime & Manga

• At the end of Negima! Magister Negi Magi Yue Ayase drinks a magical potion (with spells brewed into it) from a big ass flask (signed: 'For getting serious') before confronting Paio II.

Comic Books

• Asterix: Obelix drinks wine straight from the barrel more than once, and has drunk a whole pot of the magic potion. Him and large containers of drink go way back.
• In one Desperate Dan strip in The Dandy, Big Eater Dan is told by Aunt Aggie he has to go on a diet and can have one sandwich and one glass of "owl-hoot juice". He uses Exact Words to get round this, persuading the local glassblower to make him a tumbler about a meter tall (and the butcher and baker to make a sandwich of similar dimensions).
• In Iron Man: Extremis, Stark's first request after being awakened at 6 AM is, "Coffee. A gallon jug of coffee. And possibly some form of intravenous drip..."
• In a Lil Lotta comic book gag, the title character drinks so much root beer that the soda jerk ends up feeding her straight from the barrel with a hose.
• A Running Gag in Warren Ellis' Nextwave is for Aaron "Machine Man" Stack to declare "My robot brain needs beer." Later in the series, he pulls out a man-sized barrel of something, and plugs it directly into his head with a tube...
• In one issue of The Simpsons, Bart, Lisa, Martin and Milhouse find giant squishee cups the size of children while exploring the Kwik-e-Mart; Squishzilla. Apu later explains that they weren't used because they were so heavy when filled that no one could carry them away. Lisa ends up using it as a makeshift smock.

Comic Strips

• An obscure comic strip called 3D Pete by Mike Fisher once had an arc attempting to explain stellar phenomena (specifically, wormholes), including an explanation that "large and massive objects tend to distort the space around them." To illustrate this, we see the titular character attempting to purchase a "Big Ol' Loada Soda" from a convenience store or concession stand; the panel is drawn to simulate a Fish-Eye Lens. "Whoah! Didn't realize it was so massive!"
• Dilbert: Dilbert begins carrying around a giant coffee cup on his back as a "will to live" substitute. He ends up experiencing Klatchian Coffee as a result.
• FoxTrot:
  • Peter Fox drinks thirty-two-ple espresso when he needs to cram.
  • In another strip, Roger is shown with a gigantic mug that takes multiple pots of coffee to fill. His wife Andy argues that their kids got him that as a joke, only for him to reply "You can't stand to see me so happy."
  • In still another strip, Jason discovers that Fun-Fun Mountain sells 128-ounce Slurpees.
  • In another sequence, Paige drinks some of Peter's "coffee-tea" combination to read a book due the next day. It doesn't occur to her to ask how much of the stuff she ought to drink ("One mug should be plenty.") until she'd had a dozen cups and is thoroughly wired ("Are the words supposed to bounce around the page like this?").
• The July 6, 1986 Garfield strip has Garfield sent by Jon to buy soda from a vending machine. After buying a regular size can of soda, Garfield decides to see what happens when all the money he has is put in the machine at once, then gets crushed by an enormous soda can.
  • In another strip, he starts drinking from a huge cup, after claiming to have cut down to one cup a day.
• Zits
  • A strip has Jeremy bring drinks so big his mom flips out. When she asks why he bought such huge drinks, his response is "Free refills."
  • Another has Pierce order a drink so big he can cannonball into it.
  • Another scene shows Phoebe walking through the halls of the school with a latte nearly as large as she is on a dolly. When asked about it, she replies 'Some days a venti just won't do.'

Film

• The main characters in Bio-Dome are seen drinking Bladder Busters in a few scenes.
• Beldar drinks a giant mai-tai made for him by his wife in Coneheads, before she approaches him in skimpy, sexy lingerie.
• In the first Stinger from Doctor Strange (2016), Thor drops by the Sanctum Sanctorum to speak with Strange about Loki, and Strange welcomes him with a pitcher-sized mug of beer. Which is ever-filling, and which Thor empties in one swallow when the camera momentarily cuts over to Strange.
• In a case of this trope being relative to the buyer's perspective, the other hobbits from The Fellowship of the Ring are floored when Merry returns from the human-run tavern's barkeep with an entire pint of beer. Normal hobbit-sized draughts are apparently measured by the half-pint, if not half-cup.
• All drink cups in the future of Idiocracy are super-sized mugs with bendy straws.
• Silent Movie. After director Mel Funn (Mel Brooks) discovers that the woman he's fallen in love with was ordered to seduce him, he starts drinking again. He ends up buying a giant bottle of whiskey almost as big as he is.

Literature

• In Fungus the Bogeyman, Bogeymen drink slime by the gallon.
• In the Dinosaur Vs book "Dinosaur vs. the Potty", Dinosaur drinks an entire jug of lemonade.
• Aahz from Myth Adventures regularly drinks his booze from bucket-sized vessels. (Chumley and other giant-sized characters do too, but this trope is more applicable with Aahz because he's shorter than many humans.) With the rare exceptions of when he can get food from his homeworld he lives off it.
• Who Wet My Pants: In the morning, Reuben drank an entire jug of lemonade while helping at the stand.

Live-Action TV

• Cougartown has Big Joe, Jules' favorite drinking glass (and his replacement Big Carl, after Joe meets his untimely demise). While on vacation in Hawaii, Jules uses the large candleholders at the hotel as "Big Kimo". Near the end of the third season, Big Carl is broken when Ellie's son Stan throws it. Enter Big Lou.
• Drop the Dead Donkey. Henry Davenport is getting a belated award for his services to television reporting. Realising it's only a PR stunt, he turns up drunk at the ceremony, staggering up to his table holding a huge bottle.
• Jessie The episode "Doll in the Outhouse" has the titular character drinking a 72-ounce cup of Cherry Cola called the "Bladder Burster" in a flashback and unsurprisingly Jessie ends up using a Porta-Potty right after finishing it.
• On Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, to counter FCC director Ajit Pai's big Reese's Pieces mug, John eventually wields a similar mug bigger than his head!
• On NCIS, Perky Goth Abby's Trademark Favorite Food is a large serving of "Caf-Pow". It is usually presented to her in a styrofoam cup roughly the size of a Sonic Route 44. And said cups are available at the dispenser. In one episode Abby is devastated that Gibbs has brought her a mere small, thinking it's a sign that she's screwed up somehow, so she goes into overdrive trying to redeem herself. Gibbs later points out he only brought a small because it was the only size of cup left.
• On Parks and Recreation, the fast food places in Pawnee sell soda in ridiculously large cups, including a gallon-sized one as a Regular size. Their child sized cup is even larger, as its volume is equivalent to that of a small child.
• Silicon Valley: Big Head is usually seen slurping from an enormous plastic cup.
• In one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dr. Bashir mentions that he is feeling tense, so Quark begins to make a "Warp Core Breach", which is a multicolored, bubbling, smoking drink served in a fishbowl. Quark promised that after one sip, the doctor would be relaxed for the next three days.

Music

• The Liar's Bar in The Beautiful South song of the same name sells "rum by the kettle-drum, whisky by the jar". While the size of the jar isn't clear, an orchestral kettle-drum would have a volume of over three litres.

Mythology

• In Norse Mythology, Thor is challenged to drink from a massive drinking horn while staying at the home of the giant Utgard-Loki (no relation to regular Loki). Although his host says his fellow giants can easily drain it within two swigs at most, it takes Thor three gulps just to visibly reduce the amount of liquid inside. It turns out the horn is connected to the oceans themselves, making it impossible to empty. Utgard-Loki had just wanted to screw with Thor, but the fact that Thor managed to drain the planet's sea level by several feet through sheer stubbornness provokes a silent Oh, Crap! from the giant.

Professional Wrestling

• "Double Gulp" drinking cups stretching from the top of their heads to the bottom of their neck have been included in The Canadian Ninjas' ring entrances.

Stand-Up Comedy

• Louie Anderson in Live at the Guthrie:
  Anderson: And convenience-store clerks always talk in the same voice: [mousy voice] "Whaddaya want?" You start talking just like 'em: [imitating the voice] "Wul... whaddaya got?" "Wul... we got Slurpees." "Well, what size ya got?" "Wul... we got this size... [holds fingers an inch and a half apart] ...and then we've got that 55-gallon drum." "Well, what's the difference in price?" "A nickel." So there you are with that barrel. People are looking at you. [pantomimes woman staring weirdly] "WELL, WHAT WOULD YOU DO, LADY? IT WAS A NICKEL DIFFERENCE!"

Video Games

• In Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places), at one point Larry needs to get a 32-gallon Bladder Buster soda. It comes in a cup that's as tall as he is, and takes two minutes of real time to fill it up. It's so huge that Larry starts to wonder how he's going to carry it around...but then he remembers he's in an adventure game and stuffs it in his pocket. (He also doesn't put a lid on it, but he likely doesn't need to.)
• In Love & Pies, Clean Bean Café's quadruple shot latte with extra sugar syrup is twice the size of Esme's head.

Webcomics

• Margaret Browning from College Roomies from Hell!!! has a bucket-sized coffee cup known as "The Browning" and formerly known as "The Suicide". They changed it when she threatened the manager with bodily harm.
• Diesel Sweeties gives us that nefarious villain Soft Drink the Size of a Man's Head. Bladders everywhere, beware!
• It's Walky!'s entire "X-treem mug!" storyline.
  • In the Distant Finale last panel, where an aged Walky and Joyce watch the sun set... the mug can be seen at the edge of the panel.
• Karate Bears Gulp Big.
• In the Print Bonus only strip of Let's Speak English Mary's first meal back in America included a drink in a cup easily twice the size of her ample sized burrito...and that was the small. (Her commentary notes that portion size differences between Japan and America are most noticeable in their drink sizes.)
  Mary: ...I'm definitely back in America.
• Real Life Comics has the "Damn" coming in at 900 oz and fits in regular cup holders.
• Sonichu has a rather interesting variation in the now memetic Oversized Drinking Straw of Fail. Of course, this is thanks to the artstyle rather than the actual container.

Web Original

• During one of the Happy Tree Friends bumpers, Toothy orders a soda at a theater, but gets disappointed by how small it is, before Toothy points at the biggest cup, bigger than him. Then, he tries to drink out of it using a straw, but falls in and drowns.
• When The Nostalgia Critic encounters the "rapping dog" song in Titanic: The Legend Goes On, he grabs for a "bigger" Jagermeister to help him cope with the awfulness... and pulls out a bottle that's roughly three feet tall.
  • And when he reviewed ANOTHER animated Titanic movie with mice, he scrapped that one and had a few helicopters airlift one roughly the size of a house.
    • And when starting his review to the sequel of this one, he looks up at a Jagermeister satellite - too bad Tamara and Malcolm got to it before he could.

Western Animation

• On the famous Animaniacs short "Potty Emergency", Wakko drinks from a huge cup of soda labeled Abyss Boy at the movie theater. No wonder he has to go to the bathroom so bad afterwards.
• In the notorious "Dickesode" episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Shake gets a soda from Wongburger that's literally the same size as him (he's a giant cup). He claims he needs that much soda on a daily basis.
  • Somewhat relatedly, he's also occasionally seen to drink the water out of Carl's pool (with his straw).
• The episode "The Vacation" of Chowder featured one of these - Mung asks Chowder if he's ready to head off to the beach. Chowder says he will be just as soon as he finishes his bottomless soda. It was your average-sized soda cup, but it was very long. He just continued to pull an endlessly long cup out of Hyperspace until Mung got fed up with the joke.
  Mung: [his head grows large] WILL YOU JUST GO?!?!?!!
• On one episode of Family Guy:
  Lois: Brian, you're really enjoying your wine lately.
  Brian: It's only my second glass. [picks up a Big Gulp cup and continues drinking]
• In Fanboy and Chum Chum, this One-Liner from Boog perfectly describes "Cupzilla":
  Boog: 45 gallons of bladder bustin' refreshment!
• Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy ordered a giant cup of punch at a Renaissance fair; it later resulted in a Potty Emergency.
• The Simpsons:
  • Season 12's "The Great Money Caper" features the Simpsons at a restaurant featuring a magic show. Marge is given a Long Island Iced Tea (served in a tall glass). She decides to nurse the drink but ends up drunk.
  • In the episode "A Star is Burns," Barney wins a film contest and swears that he is giving up alcohol. The curtain behind him is then pulled away to reveal is prize: a lifetime supply of Duff beer (in a semi-trailer truck).
    Barney: [tearing away his sleeve] JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!!
  • Then there is Homer's alcoholic exploits in Australia:
    Homer: Hey! Give me one of those famous giant beers I've heard so much about.
    [bartender places a can of beer the size of a keg on the counter, Homer is visibly upset]
    Bartender: Something wrong, yank?
    Homer: No. It's pretty big... I guess.
• In the Spongebob Squarepants episode "April Fool's Day", Spongebob proclaims that he's thirsty, pulls out a huge pitcher of lemonade and says "this is an EXTREME thirst!". He then divides it into what looks like about 50-60 smaller glasses.
• This is Krystal's preferred style of drink in Squidbillies.
• In both the Angela Anaconda short that precedes Digimon: The Movie as well as the episode "Good Seats", which reuses footage from the short, Gina Lash gets a very large drink at the movies. On learning that refills are free, she slurps the whole thing down in seconds, then asks for a refill.
• At the start of Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Beast Boy is drinking a "Mondo Gulp" as the team is flying across the Pacific. When Cyborg and Robin stop to argue which direction to go, Beast Boy is doing the Potty Dance. Fortunately, the whole team had to go shortly after, but BB had to turn into a dog and use the tree.
• Futurama:
  • In "Three Hundred Big Boys", Fry drinks his second cup of coffee out of a giant whale mug.
  • In "Fry Am The Egg Man", Leela and Angus McZongo share a ten-gallon aquarium tank full of whisky.

Real Life

• An example that includes the Trope Namer: 7-11 Double Big Gulp Holds 200% More Than the Average Adult Human's Stomach, a great 64 ounces or a half-gallon of drink.
  • There used to be an X-treme Gulp which was slightly smaller as it held a mighty 53 ounces.
  • There are several stores that sell 7-11's 100 fluid oz insulated mugs and offer a free fill on first purchase and cheaper refills.
  • The next step up is the Team Gulp; it holds a hefty 128 fluid ounces or a full gallon. As the name implies, you're supposed to share that one — but some days you're just that damn thirsty.
  • During their 'Bring Your Own Cup Day' promotions, some rather unusual gigantic gulps can be seen: highlights include a literal toilet, a prosthetic leg, a kiddie pool, a fish tank, a five gallon water jug, and a KFC bucket.
• Primat and Melchizedeck winebottles, they contain 27 and 30 litres — that is 36 to 40 times the amount of a normal bottle.
• In the UK, there's the beloved Sports Direct Mug, which can hold one pint (20 ounces) of fluid for when a normal mug just isn't enough. However, there are other mugs that are even larger, clearly for the moments when you need 100% of your daily caffeine intake.
• In parts of Canada you can buy 3000ml bottles of alcohol called a "Texas Mickey" ironically not available in Texas.
• Similarly, a chetvert (an old Russian style vodka bottle, literally translated as "quarter", as in one quarter of a bucket, which at the time was 12.3 litres or 3.25 US gallons) holds about three liters of the stuff, equal to six normal 0.5L vodka bottles (or five oldschool 0.612L ones). Vodka is no longer bottled in chetverts, and surviving bottles are used mostly for moonshine, which is even stronger stuff.
• For April Fool's 2010, Starbucks introduced the Plenta, a 128-ounce cup for really thirsty drinkers.
  • Then in January 2011, they introduced the Trenta, a 31-ounce cup that holds more than the average capacity of an adult's stomach.
• In contrast to Starbucks, Tim Hortons used to sell a real 64 oz travel mug. The item is no longer sold by the company, however, some can be found on eBay.
• The Lambert's Cafe restaurants (where they throw rolls across the room to you if you ask for one) have very large cups that they put your drinks in.
• A Yard glass is a yard tall, and holds roughly two and a half pints of beer. Though it's not uncommon for someone to down more than two pints, yard glasses are typically reserved for drinking games rather than casual drinking (on top of being huge, they're also very fiddly to drink out of without spilling).
• The website Vat19 sells a glass capable of holding a six-pack of beer. Also available is a glass that can hold an entire bottle of wine (5 glasses will empty a standard box of wine in one go).
• California's Stone Brewing Company is most famous for producing the "Arrogant Bastard Ale", an extremely hoppy American Strong Ale that basically caters to all of the things American beer snobs love (including high alcohol content, intense hoppiness, and dark, rich color and flavor) and everyone else hates (hence the name). Although Arrogant Bastard comes in standard beer sizes, it also a 3-liter bottle of beer that is so big, the company had to invent their own manufacturing machines and complete the bottling process by hand.
• A pizzeria in Baltimore's Inner Harbor food court had this as a gimmick. You could buy a 1-gallon soda (which was basically a small bucket with a straw through the lid) and advertised free refills. By all accounts, a large portion of their business was tourists stopping in for their novelty bucket of soda.
• New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg quite infamously attempted to defy this trope and ban sodas larger than 16 ounces, viewing them as a public health problem and a contributor to obesity. The law was struck down by the courts... but not before getting mercilessly mocked by Jon Stewart and various blogs.
• The Hardees/Carl Jr's fast food chain have made a habit of super-sizing their drink sizes by default for years. What is considered a Regular drink size to them is what nearly every other fast food chain in the industry considers a Large. What they consider a large... well, let's just say that the drink straw only sticks 1/8 of an inch out of the cup lid when you slide it all the way to the bottom.
• Several cantina franchises, such as the Cabo Cantina in Southern California, sell ridiculously oversize margaritas. Cabo Cantinas sell 36 oz "Mega Margs", large enough for several people but single patrons can attempt to drink it themselves.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken sold a mighty 1/2 gallon (64 oz) mug, a plastic cup with a handle. They would donate a portion of the cost to help fund research to cure juvenile diabetes, an action that seems odd at first until you remember that they aren't the ones filling the cups with soda, that would be the customer.
• On the Mediterranean island of Mallorca (and probably other places as well), you could drink sangria from a bucket. That is, usually one person ordered a bucket, and then it came with a number of drinking straws for several people.

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