A Reaction Shot to an unexpected event that involves spraying food or, more commonly, drink from a character's mouth. In some cases, the character sprays their drink out of their nose instead of their mouth. It can be Truth in Television, as many people can attest, though in real life laughter is more likely than shock to induce such a reaction. The non-eating version is generally a "pfft".
Why surprising news or the punchline of a joke is so often delivered when a character has a full mouth can only be ascribed to Rule of Funny. May also be part of an I Ate What? reaction to the efforts of a Lethal Chef.
A common Lampshade Hanging for this trope is when a character pauses to take a drink just so he has something to spit out in reaction.
See also: Double Take, The Take. Not to be confused with Spit Shake.
Examples
open/close all folders
Advertising
A 2011 commercial for the Hyundai Sonata had a deer doing this when seeing the (off-screen) car drive past.
An earlier Australian car ad had a car drop out of the sky and land safely in the front yard just as a bloke raised a can of beer to his lips.
Ichigo when Yoruchi says she's coming into the hot spring with him.
Rukia does one in an early episode when asked about her relationship with Ichigo.
Yumichika has a moment or so in the manga and anime from his laughing fit.
Princess Lurichiyo does one when Ichigo appears in front of her while she's at a tea party.
Ichigo, Renji and Kon when they saw Kirio Hikifune slender form, which is revealed after cooking.
When discussing recent events with Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward spits out the coffee he was drinking when Hawkeye bluntly asks "You love Winry, don't you?", thinking it as plainly obvious and a fact. Ed, however, seemed to think otherwise. Then again, Ed is the king of overblown reactions.
In the anime version of Kekkaishi, Masamori teases Yoshimori while he is drinking tea about the latter's feelings for Tokine. Yoshimori promptly does a spit-take right into his cup which ends up splashing vertically, drenching himself in the process.
Dragon Ball Z has Gohan training with Videl and Goten; during a break they are shown eating some rice. ChiChi then asks when Gohan was planning to marry Videl, which prompts Gohan to spit rice across the table and all over Goten. Goten doesn't even blink, and cheerfully asks if this means Videl's going to be his sister.
In Dragon Ball GT Vegeta has an epic one in the episode Heart of the Prince, when Bulma tells him she can help him become a Super Saiyan 4.
Aisha in Outlaw Star does rather impressive spit-take lasting for a full second across the screen when she sees the rest of the team on TV as hostages of a mad bomber.
Negi in particular has a great one after receiving an email containing some... potentially indecent photos of one of his students. For the record, she wanted to hook up with Negi's cousin Nagi (actually Negi magically aged up) so her friends KOed her, dressed her in a Playboy Bunny costume, took pictures, and sent them to Nagi.
Evangeline also does a good one at the beginning of book 4, when Asuna correctly guesses she was in love with Nagi Springfield, Negi's father.
Another good one for Eva is when Albi... ahem, Colonel Sanders proposes to Negi to be his apprentice. Hilarity ensues and it turns out the Colonel was just trolling Eva; though you have to admit he made some good points on why Negi should be his apprentice....
Nodoka also gets a good one after she confesses her feelings to Negi, when Asakura, trying to learn more about the spoilered incident, asks if she slept with Negi.
Now and Then, Here and There, in the first episode, as part of setting up Shu's generic comedy protagonist home life.
In Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, both Tsuna and Yamamoto, being shy virgins, do a spit-take when Lambo, after finishing his shower, tells them that "Bianchi, Kyoko, Haru, and I-Pin are bathing... right now in the shower, THERE ARE A LOT OF BOOBIES!!" Worse, Tsuna and Yamamoto were drinking hot tea, which scalds them when they spit it all over themselves.
Anita does this with milk in Read or Die the TV. In the English dub is you can hear a classmate in the distance exclaiming, "That's nasty!"
Yoko spits up half a glass of red wine all over Rossiu in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann when one of the Black Sisters asks her if the two little kids they picked up last episode were hers.
In the manga, when Tatewaki Kunō informs Nabiki Tendō of his intention to woo the "fiery-haired pigtailed girl" (Ranma's female side, ignoring the truth), she spits out orange juice — right into his face. And she berates him next for making her do this.
This conversation occurs when quite a few main characters are discussing a robbery:
Akane: Well, attacking with pantyhose though? That's just weird. (takes a sip from her drink) Happōsai: If it were your pantyhose, Akane, you could attack me anytime! Akane:(spit-take) That's disgusting!
Okazaki does one in Clannad after Nagisa, who by this point has spent about twenty episodes trying to re-establish her school's theater club, admits that she's never so much as seen an actual play. Better yet, he spits it right into the face of her father.
One Piece: Both Luffy and Usopp pull off one of these during the Alabasta arc. After having wandered in the desert without any water for a long period of time, the pair are in a bar where they order several barrels of water for them and the rest of the crew, unaware that sitting right next to them are Captain Smoker and his subordinate Tashigi, two high-ranking Naval officers that they had managed to outrun earlier on. Once the pirates do realize this, however, they effectively spit out two barrels worth of water at the Marine officers.
There's another one a few hundred chapters later, during the flashback that shows Luffy and Ace's past. The brothers are at Dadan's, enjoying dinner and talking about becoming pirates, when they see Dadan and all of the mountain bandits Spit Take. Luffy and Ace look in confusion for a few seconds until ''someone'' behind them clears his throat. They have enough time to look nervous before turning around and seeingGarpstanding there. They immediately do the same Spit Take...in spite of not drinking anything.
In one episode of Nerima Daikon Brothers, three characters simultaneously spit-take using the ramen they were eating.
When Karou visits PANDRA's base in Zettai Karen Children, every PANDRA member does a spit-take as they see her, even one who's eating a popsicle.
Happens in the third episode of the Ah! My Goddess anime. A little girl's mother treats Keiichi and Belldandy to lunch at a fast-food joint to thank Keiichi for helping the little girl out in the first episode, when she says, "Hey, mister, is that pretty lady your wife?" Cue spit-take from Keiichi. Then Belldandy (in a beautiful, elaborate goddess outfit, no less) replies with, "No, I am not Mister Keiichi's wife, I am actually—" Cue another spit-take from Keiichi. Belldandy is a goddess for whom Keiichi wished to stay with forever, and to maintain her power, she is forbidden from lying.
Moritaka Mashiro spits his coffee all over his manuscripts when his author Akito Takagi tells him that his fiancée's father wants to challenge them to a sparring match in order (which turns out to be a ruse to speak in private about his and Moritaka's uncle's love for Miho's mother) to win his approval for Akito and Kaya to marry.
He also gets one early on in the story when Takagi mentions his desire to go meet with an editor. Mashiro then explains that in order to do so, they'll need to bring a work to submit.
In the anime version of Chrono Crusade, Sister Kate makes the mistake of taking a sip of tea just before Azmaria declares she wants to be just like Rosette. Cue horrified spit-take.
In Star Driver, Wako does this when Sugata asks Takuto if he's had his first kiss.
Natsu and Happy both do particularly epic ones when Gajeel is about to sing on stage.
Makarov does one at the end of episode 10 of the anime when he learns one of the S-class mission posters has been taken. Made even funnier with him taking a sip while being told that, then several seconds pass and when he takes another sip, it's then when he performs a spit take. Almost as if he knew it'd happen.
In the first episode of Nyan Koi, Jumpei does one when he hears Tama say that the preist is "just a smelly preist who frequents cabaret clubs".
Happens to Lina Inverse in Slayers when Gourry points out Lina is eating the bait worms together with the fish.
In Cowboy Bebop session #21, "Boogie-Woogie Feng Shui", Jet Black brings to the Bebop the teenage daughter of an old friend after they'd escaped some hitmen. Jet spits out his coffee when Ed asks the girl point-blank if she's his lover.
In Toradora, Ryuji and Taiga do a perfect synchronized spit take when Yusaku shows up with Ami.
In Future GPX Cyber Formula 11, Hayato asks Kaga if it's a driver's racing talent when he can't reach Knight Schumacher's time with his Super Asurada AKF-11. This causes Kaga to spit out his coffee.
In episode 7 of Mayo Chiki!, Jiro does this twice in one scene. The first is when Subaru calls him on his cellphone while he's hanging out with his sister and her two friends, who don't realize Subaru is a girl. She's wondering why he's taking so long buying drinks, and decides to come over to the shop, causing him to spit the water. He warns them not to come into the shop, but then Subaru informs him that they're already there, causing him to spit out some more water, and forcing him to come up with a Paper-Thin Disguise for her.
Hikaru does a spit take in chapter 2 of Prism when Megu asks if Hikaru's a lesbian with the question "Do you want to have sex with me?".
Zatch Bell!: Kyanchome and Umagon go over to a spring of water to drink and quench their thirst after a lot of tough battles. Moments later they see Gash relaxing in it naked (or in trunks in the edited American release). Cue spit take.
In Mai Otome Zwei, Sara Gallagher spits out her tea when she finds out that Arika is one of the hostages in the busjacking.
Nisekoi gets a lot of mileage of this trope. It's almost surprising when someone does manage to swallow!
In K-On!, Ritsu tells her brother Satoshi not to interrupt her training session with Mio for the school play. Satoshi then asks what her role is, while chugging a soda bottle. He was not prepared for Ritsu's embarrassing response.
In Kurau Phantom Memory, every patron in an entire restaurant does this when Christmas, admiring a customer's baby, says that she wishes she knew where she could get one of her own.
Witch Craft Works: Just as Kagari's mom was admiring her mansion on top of the hill behind her office during sunset, BOOM!
Franken Fran: In chapter 53, as Fran and Veronica are discussing the shapeshifting octopus creature. Fran tells her sister that it was made from her (Veronica's) genetic information, combined with an octopus'. Cue Veronica spitting her tea.
In the anime of Strawberry Marshmallow, Miu says something funny while the others are having their post-sento milk, inducing this... and getting herself spit on in the process.
In Kotoura-san, Haruka does this in the first episode when Manabe sticks some chopsticks on his face in a really funny way. She does it again in episode 5 after Manabe gives an embarrassing picture of a young Hiyori in a photo promoting their dojo.
THE iDOLM@STER 2: The World Is All One!! has a sick Hibiki do this in reaction to a television program she was supposed to be on using a cardboard cut out of her as a substitute.
Comic Books
There's an excellent double example◊ in X-Factor #14. Madrox and Rictor are having a drink and catching up, and Rictor makes Madrox spit out his drink when he jokes about sleeping with Quicksilver; Madrox gets his revenge by mentioning that Shatterstar would be jealous.
Wonderfully done in a She-Hulk comic where the news of the marriage of She-Hulk and John Jameson causes a dozen characters to do a spit-take. Bonus points because every one of them has a different drink they were spitting out.
At one point in Y The Last Man, Yorick hears some surprising news and wishes he had a mouthful of liquid so he could do a spit-take.
The comic one-shot Force Fiction has Yoda doing a spit-take when he learned that Mace Windu planned on giving Qui-Gon's lightsaber to Anakin Skywalker.
Stature responding to◊ Reed Richards claiming to know more about Pym Particles than Hank Pym does. (Pym's response, on the other hand, went "It's on, bitch.")
XXXenophile has the "squirt through the nose" version when a sexy but innocent girl without social experience asks the main character out of the blue when they will have sex.
In Birds Of Prey, Huntress can't hold her beer when she hears Lady Blackhawk, a time-displaced WWII pilot who looks like this◊, complain that no one will honor her AARP discount.
In Astérix and the Laurel Wreath, Astérix spits out his food when chief Vitalstatitix announces that they're going to cook a stew with Caesar's laurel wreath as ingredient.
Comic Strips
Bloom County: When Mike Binkley tries to wean his father Tom off cigarettes, he first serves him breakfast in bed, then sets up a large poster and narrates: "Here, of course, is a life-size photograph of a cancerous lung. In color." His dad's breakfast ends up all over the blanket.
Garfield and Jon are eating at the diner in one strip when Irma tells them something very unpleasant about what they're eating. Garfield looks at Jon: "Spit take on three..."
Mafalda proves Miguelito that a newspaper article had nothing to do with chess by asking her mom about it and watching the ensuing spit-take.
Baby Blues: Darryl MacPherson once did a spit-take when he learned that Zoe, after paying the coffee vendor the money, allowed the same vendor to keep the change as a tip.
Curtis does a spit-take when he learns that his mom is leaving for a parent-teacher conference involving his teacher.
Comed-tea is designed so that if there is any near you, you will be drinking it when something shocking or funny happens, causing a spit-take. Harry is bothered for a month trying to figure out how it works.
Harry also gets a coughing fit — twice — while trying to drink water when Prof. Quirrel guess he's a Parselmouth.
Subverted charmingly in Ratatouille by Anton Ego: after nearly spitting out his mouthful of wine, he pauses to check the label on the bottle of wine he was drinking and apparently decides it's too good to spit out. Zooming in on the label reveals that it is indeed a real wine and way too good to spit out.
Brother Bear: While the moose Rutt and Tuke were grazing, they spot Kenai's brother Denahi, who has believed that Kenai was the bear that he thought killed him, and Rutt spits out his ABC grass.
Also in the first Balto movie: "I'm not watching the race, I'm running it." (Boris spits out the soap flake he accidentally ate) "You say WHAT?!"
Sir Ector does this in The Sword in the Stone when Sir Pellinore tells him that the winner of the New Year's events wins the throne of England.
In Pinocchio, when Pinocchio tells Stromboli that he will come back in the morning after he goes home to his father, Stromboli is drinking a bottle of wine and spits it out when he hears this and starts laughing because of how ridiculous it sounds.
In A Goofy Movie, Pete pulls one when he sees Max and Goofy at the concert that he's watching on TV.
In Sleeping Beauty, King Hubert pulls one after King Stephan ends up implying that Phillip and Aurora's arranged marriage might not end well.
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo spits his wine when Quasimodo unwittingly says "festival" for the letter F while reviewing his alphabet.
Played for Laughs in Madagascar when Marty gives out seawater to drink...only for him to say that they can't drink it; they have to spit it out. At the end, everyone has a Spit Take-fest.
In The Emperor's New Groove, Pacha ends up choking on his literal grub when he overheard Yzma and Kronk discussing their plot to kill Kuzco.
In Wreck It Ralph, whilst attending the Bad-Anon meeting, Ralph mentions he doesn't want to be a bad guy, cue a shocked gasp from the bad guys and Bowser doing a spit take by breathing fire!!
Films — Live-Action
In The Monster Squad, Sean needs to find a virgin to complete a spell that will seal away the bad guys. So, he asks local cool kid Rudy if he knows any virgins, prompting a spit-take from Rudy. Not much later in the film, Rudy does another spit-take after finding a naked photo of Patrick's sister among the photos on the Monster Squad's camera.
A spit-take is surprisingly (or disgustingly) avoided in the second Austin Powers movie, where the agency (?) Austin works for has taken some of Fat Bastard's... err... stool for analysis. Austin spots a pot of what looks like coffee and pours himself a cup. After a bit of conversation...
Austin: Basil, this coffee smells like shit. (Basil looks at the "pot" Austin got it from, noticing it is labeled Fat Bastard Stool Sample) Basil: It is shit, Austin. Austin: Oh, good then it's not just me. (takes a drink, then smacks his lips) It's a bit nutty.
In the TV version, Austin spits the stool sample after realizing what's in his cup.
For some reason, the stool sample and the coffee pot were right next to each other.
The Nickelodeon movie Snow Day uses this slightly differently when the Principal of the school is brushing his teeth over the morning radio announcements of weather-related closings. Everything except the schools are closed, and he laughs smugly... but apparently the radio host has "missed one" and announces that all schools are closed for a snow day — cue toothpaste running down the Principal's chin in shock, anger, and disbelief.
Blazing Saddles. The Waco Kid, after Sheriff Bart reads the note from Lili Von Shtupp inviting Bart to her "dwessing woom".
The film Dead Man on Campus: "That one's not beer."
Happens in Godzilla Final Wars, when one of the guys stationed at Godzilla's Antartic prison hears of Captain Gordon's plan to release Godzilla.
Happens to Tom Cruise's character in Minority Report. After getting (very) amateur eyeball replacement surgery, he is left in the "doctor"'s house to recover; seated on the couch, one length of rope leads to the bathroom, the other to the fridge in the kitchen, where he was told a sandwich and some milk awaited him if he got hungry. He finds his way to the kitchen... only to find out there's another sandwich/milk combo in there, and they are disgustingly spoiled. Guess which one he gets his hands on...
Jonathan is getting drunk in the camp battle; Beni runs up and takes a heavy swig of the Glenlivet, and then spit-takes it onto Jonathan as Ardeth Bay rides up behind them.
All the characters in the bar do spit-takes when they realise the water has turned to blood.
A thug does this in Ichi The Killer when Karen tells him that she once strangled her neighbour's dog.
Happens in Hot Fuzz when Danny describes to Nicholas Eve Draper's sexual history.
Hilariously when Elaine is visiting Ted in the hospital Flashback sequence.
In Airplane II The Sequel, Ted does it when the psychiatrist tells him that Elaine is getting married.
Spaceballs has Dark Helmet do this in the Mr. Coffee/Mr. Radar scene, although in this case it's not a surprise that causes it but the fact that the coffee is too hot.
Dark Helmet: Hot... too hot! (His mask falls down just at he is spitting, so the coffee winds up all over the inside of the mask.)
James: Thank a lot, man. (drinks coffee) Mollie: Hey, you know, that's breast milk. (cue spit-take)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has a cute example when Harry and Harmony are in a bar and poking fun at the wannabe movie stars around them. He gets in a good one and she promptly sprays beer right in his face; he just casually dabs it off and keeps talking while she struggles to get her laughter under control.
A much more powerful spit-take happened during an outtake of that same scene. Michael J. Fox was unaware that the prop drink contained real alcohol, and subsequently spilled it all over himself, then burst out laughing.
The "outtake" might not have been an actual outtake, but might have actually been used, with the cut occurring just before Fox went off character.
In Kangaroo Jack, when Charlie wakes up with a goose egg on his forhead, Jessie (who punched him) gives him a concoction:
Jessie: Drink this, it'll reduce the swelling. Charlie: Okay. (drinks, grimaces) Jessie:' It'll also make your testicles fall off. Charlie:(vigorous spit-take) Jessie: I was kidding! Charlie: Oh, okay. (drinks, grimaces again) Jessie: It won't reduce the swelling. Charlie:(even more vigorous spit-take)
Dumb and Dumber: Right when an endangered owl was killed by a shooting champagne cork.
(500) Days of Summer: "They used to call me anal girl." Cue spit-take from Tom. (For the record, she was really neat and organised.)
American Pie: "This one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my pussy."
The Big Lebowski: When the Dude learns he's been used as a sperm donor for Maude, he manages to do a double spit take. Somehow.
This happens at the end of Saving Face when Wil's middle-aged and pregnant mother inquires when Wil and her girlfriend Vivian will be begin planning to have kids of their own, right in the middle of Wil having a drink of champagne, resulting in Wil spitting the champagne from her mouth in surprise.
Tightrope (1984). Clint Eastwood's character is driving his daughters to school when the youngest asks out of the blue: "Dad, what's a hard-on?" Cue Clint and his eldest daughter spewing their soft drinks onto the windscreen.
Tom Canboro (Gary Busey) does this in the Apocalypse film series movie Tribulation, when he tries to drink bad coffee in the hospital.
Mystery Team: "You're the guy who likes squirting milk up his butt!"
In Quest for Fire (La Guerre du feu, 1981), the protagonists come upon an abandonned camp from another tribe. Starving, one of the Cro-Magnon finds some leftover bones in the campfire and began eating the scraps of meat clinging to it. Until one of his companion find a human skull amongst the ash, revealing that this was a camp of cannibals. Cue the disgusted caveman spitting out as much as possible.
In The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar Binks, out of curiousity, attempted to eat a Gorg. Gragra then informed him that the meal costed seven wupiupi if he's going to eat it. Jar-Jar then ends up spitting it out in shock of the cost. This only gets him into further trouble than before, as the Gorg he spat out landed in Sebulba's soup, ruining it, and thus resulted in a very angry Sebulba attacking Jar Jar in retaliation before Anakin broke the fight up.
In the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, Nobby gets told by a cadre of nobles that they want him to become king. Since he's gulping down brandy, smoking a cigar, and sitting in a chair with wheels at the time, the result is a rocket-powered spit-take.
Very non-comedic example in Prisoner of Azkaban — Harry spits out some of his butterbeer when Lupin explains the Dementor's Kiss to him.
Lori does one of these when Jinks the jester vaults over her garden wall to introduce himself in Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon.
In Belgarath the Sorcerer, Belgarath describes the sight of seeing a bird suddenly turn into Beldin...while he was drinking, leading to an extended coughing fit.
In Amelia Bedelia Unleashed, Amelia Bedelia's mother does this after Amelia Bedelia suggests that she could have twins.
In the Sword of the Stars novella The Deacon's Tale, this is Kliggerman's reaction to seeing a Morrigi Colony Trap in action.
Live-Action TV
The spit-take was raised to an art-form by The Danny Thomas Show, which is where the term originates. In fact, "doing a Danny Thomas" is a synonym for spit-take in some circles.
On one occasion in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Ned borrows a cup of water from a kid passing by in the hall, thanks him, drinks the entire cup, lets out a loud "Aaahhh...", then does a spit-take.
During the Castle episode "Nikki Heat", Beckett sprays her coffee when Natalie asks her "Is Castle Gay?"
One of Jon Stewart's funnier stock gags on The Daily Show is, after watching a particularly shocking piece of video, to calmly take a sip of his coffee (or, occasionally, something a little stronger) and then do a shocked spit-take.
After twelve years, the show finally had a genuine spit-take. But it wasn't Jon — it was Steve Carell, responding to one of Jon's jokes! (For those who missed it, Jon said Steve Carell's success was because he "will f***Anything That Moves.")
Subversion: Jon announces he's going to take a long sip of coffee before a book reveals "shocking" secrets of the 2008 campaign. When it's revealed that John McCain never vetted Sarah Palin before choosing her as his Vice Presidential candidate, Jon just continues easily drinking from his mug.
Discussed when he applauds President Obama for taking a drink and not doing a spit-take when the person he was talking to tells him his name is "Dick Swett". He then demonstrates how he would react by replaying the clip with different funny names dubbed over each, spitting out water, cereals, and skittles.
He'd later do a spit take with a cup of hot coins.
Fred Sanford:(sipping sangria at a Mexican restaurant) Say, what does sangria mean? Julio: It means "blood". Fred Sanford:(spews out most of his glass, his face seemingly turned inside-out)
Slightly subdued instance on The X-Files, episode "Chinga": Mulder pulls a bottle of orange juice out of his refrigerator (it was the sole occupant) and takes a gulp directly from the bottle, then grimaces and looks at the expiration date. The date is at least four months prior to the original airing of the episode. He spits the juice back into the bottle, and then puts the bottle back in the refrigerator. Understandably, he lives alone.
In one episode, Rose says, "Guess what I did!" Dorothy guesses, "A Danny Thomas spit-take?" When Rose answers in a surprising manner what she really did, Sophia actually does a Danny Thomas spit-take.
Another episode had Blanche doing this all over a Russian emmissary. He quiped that back home he has to stand in line for two hours to get half as much.
One episode features the audience suggestion drawn from a hat: "Things that will cause a Drew Carey spit-take." Drew poised expectantly with his mug, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie marched onto stage and kissed, Drew spat.
A more unexpected example can be found here after a great Colin Mochrie one-liner.
Brad Sherwood does this once when Drew announces "1,000 points apiece for keeping it clean" after a particularly vulgar game of Props.
Another Korean Series, Oh My Lady: Gae Hwa does this with wine when Ming Woo makes a suggestive comment. Luckily it gave us an excuse for a Shirtless Scene with the leading man.
The Blake's 7 episode "Gambit". Avon spits the (ice cream?) he's eating when Vila (who has been drugged) is lead onto the casino stage to play the Klute at speed chess, thereby risking both his life, if he loses, and their substantial winnings.
An episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip sees the comedians competing to see who can do the best spit-take — and contracting colds as a result.
Lisa does one on Saved by the Bell, when Kelly reveals that she has a thing for Screech.
An episode features a Steve Reeves film where Hercules loses his memory and Ulysses is trying to get him to remember who he was. In the film, Ulysses gives Hercules a cup of wine and says "You're Hercules." The Bots provide the sound effect of a spit-take.
The "Torgo's Pizza" sketch from the Manos episode has a spit-take from the characters when they consider that the pizza, despite being delivered two hours late, is still warm.
One Joel sketch was devoted to demonstrating the many forms of the take, from thin streams to sputtered clouds, each with an appropriately shocking line.
On an episode of All American Girl, Margaret hears a piece of shocking news, but, being sans anything to spit, calmly walks from the living room into the kitchen, fills a glass of water, walks back to the living room, takes a sip, and determinately spits it out again.
In Mock the Week, when the contestants where commenting on how Dara has lost weight: "He's only lost weight because he was on the Irish version of Big Brother set during the potato famine." Cue Dara to take a gulp of water, a Double Take and then spit to the side.
Freddie:(swigs) Jesus, what is this stuff? (swigs again) JJ: It's Dad's potato moonshine. He went on a "distill anything" course. We use it for weedkiller, mainly. (Freddie spits; angle on Freddie, JJ, Katie and Emily) JJ: What's it like? Katie:(swigs in distance, spits) Eurgh! Shit! Urgh! Fuck! (sniffs, swigs some more)
Shotaro Hidari, from Kamen Rider Double, wastes a cup a coffee this way when his (late) boss's daughter comes announcing she's now in charge of his agency... and that she's evicting him.
Done by Urataros in Kamen Rider Den-O when he Ryotaro offers to let another Imagin join the team. Made more impressive by the fact that Ura doesn't have an articulated jaw (animated gif here◊).
An episode of The Nanny has C.C doing this all over Gracie when she and Niles announce that "Miss Fine" was pregnant by "Mr. Sheffield". They were actually talking about Gracie's hamsters.
Noah's Arc: Noah has a small one when Wade describes a guy he'd sleep with (as a perfect description of Noah).
Miley has to call up Amber to tell her she is going to be on TV with her, but waits until she has a mouthful of food before pressing send.
Much later Miley does a spit-take when Lilly announces she's going to tell Oliver that she loves him. Lampshaded by Miley (who had a dry mouth due to too many biscuits) that "at least I can spit now."
Andy and April are left alone in the office with nothing to do while the rest of the gang goes hunting, and amuse themselves by practicing spit-takes. April is quite good at coming up with fake revelations to make Andy spit ("I'm pregnant...with Josh Groban's baby!") but Andy can't seem to think of anything shocking to say to April, instead just saying boring facts about himself.
Ron also gives one when his girlfriend asks him to move to Canada.
When Alex announces that her uncle Kelbo has agreed to be her Wizard teacher, Kelbo teleports elsewhere to get a drink, drinks it, and THEN spit-takes.
All of them did it when Max said, "I`m so relieved that I told Nancy that I'm a wizard."
Brilliantly done after Ted reveals he is in the middle of a 57-day dry spell; Barney nonchalantly asks to borrow Ted's water, reaches over the table to get it, before doing a spit-take, exclaiming "57 days!".
Barney tends to spray fluids around him like a demented fountain. Fridge Horror may apply when you consider that people who consider how many people he has slept with wouldn't even touch him while wearing space suits.
Ted's cousin also does one of these when her son asks her what a "'grinch" is.
This is Barney and Ted's reaction to the hilariously innuendo-heavy Robin Sparkles video which contained the line "How's your beaver?"
Sam: Hey Carly, remember when you asked to put ketchup on your burger? Carly: Yeah? (grape juice) Sam: It's actually chicken blood! (called a spit-take from Carly)
Victorious: Tori's sister Trina spits out milk when Robbie kisses her.
In the Pilot of Friends, when Monica's date reveals that he's been impotent since his last girlfriend left him, she spits her wine over him in shock.
Leverage: In one episode, the gang cons a reporter into covering a fake story about the U.S. water supply being poisoned. When the reporter announces it on the air, a studio employee with a water bottle does a spit-take.
Laurel and Hardy: In the episode "Twice Two", Laurel spits his soup after Hardy reveals that he knows about the surprise that Laurel himself (without realising) told him earlier!
Grace does one of these when Will matter-of-factly states that he wants to have a baby with her.
Will gets one in the final season when Grace blurts out that Karen's ex-husband Stan, who faked his death, is still alive. Made better by the fact that it was a live episode.
The show's full of those. In one episode Rebecca, Amanda, Noah and Wilder all spit-take at the same time when Michael announce he had a girlfriend. Twice. And that's just the intro!
In The Mighty Boosh, the Crack Fox offers Vince a "goblet" (really a half of a tennis ball) full of wine. Vince asks what sort of wine it is, then takes a sip. The Crack Fox replies "blood from a cat's face". Vince does a spit-take, and the Crack Fox seems quite proud of his joke.
Lister does a spit-take on Red Dwarf when he's told that his tea has dog's milk in it.
Sue White on Green Wing does a spit-take that goes on for about 10 seconds upon finding out about the sex tape with Guy and his mother. Sue White is completely insane.
The Big Bang Theory: Penny does this when she hears that Sheldon and his "not-girlfriend" Amy are considering having a child together.
Marlo Thomas, daughter of spit-take expert Danny Thomas, demonstrated the technique on a talk show. The host set up the joke by asking, "Hey, aren't you married to Geraldo?"
Done on Monk when Adrian's nemesis Harold is trying to find out the name of Monk's new psychoanalyst. They're waiting for the elevator.
Monk: Okay, fine, fine. His name... is Doctor... (glances at the elevator) Door. Harold:(follows Monk's look) Doctor Door? Is that the best you could do? I suppose if we were standing over there by that alarm you would have said "Doctor Bell"!
And Natalie does a spit-take all over Harold, because the analyst's name actually is Doctor Bell!
Lampshaded on 30 Rock, when Jenna tells Liz that she wants to have a baby and Liz spits.
Liz: I wasn't even drinking anything!
In Sons Of Anarchy, Clay spit-takes when a girl says that Happy seems like a "nice guy".
In the Stargate SG-1 episode "Avenger 2.0", SG-1 fanboy Dr. Felger does a spit-take when Major Carter announces to him that they'll work together on his new project.
Letterman: Oh by the way, Warren, thank you very much for coming, I don't know if we're going to be able to pay you... Zevon: (massive spit take)
A frequent reaction during the 'Historical Master Chef' segments on Horrible Histories.
In the Lost Girl season 2 finale, Token Evil Teammate Vex has the misfortune to be drinking local bartender Trick's whiskey when he learns that Trick is the ancient Blood King of the Fae.
New Media
It's a Running Gag at Fark.com that posting something sufficiently funny will induce this reaction in whoever sees it, resulting in a drink spit all over the keyboard, ruining it.
This is a pretty common phenomenon on many Webcomic forums. One reader said that he took to sipping Windex so he could clean his monitor while reading. That forum has had numerous claims of ruined keyboards.
Also common in Usenet newsgroups. Some have standard abbreviations to warn readers that a post might lead to keyboard/monitor endangerment.
Pro Wrestling
When Triple H was named to switch brands in the WWE's 2004 draft, he immediately spit out the water he was drinking. Since Trips always spits out the contents of his water bottle during his entrance, this probably isn't the only time he's done spit-takes onscreen.
It's not. When DX were questioned over running down Stone Cold Steve Austin Road Dogg gave his real name as Dees Nuts, causing Trips to spray out his water as he laughed.
During the 2009 Bragging Rights DX promo where they bashed Smackdown's team. Triple H once again spits his water out when Shawn whispers to him, he blurts out what he says right after: "He's banging Vickie Guerrero?!"
Then there was "One Night Stand 2005", where Paul Heyman namedrops Matt Hardy in front of Edge — who had recently yoinked Matt's girlfriend Lita (in real life, not kayfabe) — and Edge spits out the beer he's drinking.
When Mick Foley was the commissioner he once told Al Snow that he was giving him a title match. Al responded with "I have a match against The Rock for the WWF Title?!" Cue spit-take from Foley, who proceeded to explain that he was talking about the Hardcore title.
This was how Santino Marella won a match against Jack Swagger. Beaker came down to the ring and gave him a potion which supposedly gave speed, power and agility to those who drank it... only for Santino to promptly be surprised by Swagger and spit it in his face.
David Otunga actually managed two of these in one night. First was when he was told that he would be facing a returning Great Khali. This spit take went straight into the face of one Natalya Neidheart. When Otunga went on to mock Natalya, she promptly proceeded to slap Otunga across the face, making him spit more coffee all over a VERY unamused Teddy Long.
Theater
The Drowsy Chaperone has one scene that consists of nothing but Spit Takes. This is due to the framing device is that a Man In A Chair is listening to the soundtrack of his favorite show, and rewinds and plays back that spit take multiple times.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company covers Hamlet in their performance, where Ophelia's death scene is some screaming followed by a spit-take in reverse. As a result, when they do the whole play backwards at the end, the spit-take is executed normally - and to hilarious effect.
Video Games
In Crash of the Titans, Dr. N. Cortex overdoes it (spit-take, followed by throwing the cup, followed by a second spit-take) and Dr. N. Gin hangs a lampshade on it ("Aw, c'mon! He didn't even have a cup that time!").
Sam & Max: Episode 204:Chariots of the Dogs actually requires Sam and Max to get another character to perform a spit-take, so they can use the DNA from his spit. To be fair, that particular character's spit turns out to be a red herring. The spit Sam and Max really need is taken from an envelope.
Used to hilarious effect in Persona 4, to illustrate just how mind-bendingly awful a particular batch of curry is, when immediately followed by keeling over sideways onto a picnic bench. Zero to horizontal in .1 seconds.
"Sure enough, one strike."
Toontown Online has this as one of the many "Squirt Gag" weapons.
The Armor Games' Web GameIn3structotank during the introductory sequence. A Red Alert goes off while Dirk Danger is drinking coffee and he spits it out.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has a variation: Solid Snake is about to smoke his cigarette after asking why Liquid wants the original when a duplicate would work just fine (referring to Solid and Liquid's DNA) in regards to hacking the system. When he hears from Naomi that its because they aren't identical to Big Boss, he then chokes on his cigarette smoke.
Godot does this often in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations whenever Phoenix discredits one of his witnesses' testimony. Parodied in some cases where Godot will actually go through the motions of receiving his coffee, sniffing it, guzzling it down, and then spitting it out. In one instance Godot took two drinks. It's usually "symbolic" to the progress you've made, too, since Godot will only ever have 17 cups of coffee in one case, meaning if he's just spitting out coffee, he's coming to an end. Or if he's chugging them down, he's coming to an end for his benefit. To emphasize the whole parody he does in the game, it should be pointed out that he was Going Through the Motions in the very first instance of this trope in the game ever.
Gian from Lucky Dog 1 does this multiple times when he meets Rosalia in Ivan's route. First when she reveals she's a high ranking mafia member's granddaughter, second when she says Ivan is invited to lunch with the mafia member and third when she reveals she's Ivan's fiancée.
The Last Days of FOXHOUND does plenty of these, mostly with Psycho Mantis — to the point that, after a huge reveal, Ocelot points out that he "only brought you that coffee to watch you do spit-takes." Extra humor because he does the spit-takes through his gas mask. Apparently he practiced that while practicing drinking through it.
Grrl Power: Harem in the last panel of this page (Note the name on the soda can in the previous panel.)
In Kevin And Kell, there's a three-person spit-take (Ralph, Corrie, and Fiona) reacting to a surprise from Martha.
One strip of Ghastly's Ghastly Comic has Smokey do a spit-take after... being intimate with Freddy, and getting the disgusted reaction, "You're supposed to take a drink before a spit-take!"
In one strip of One Over Zero — a comic strip with no fourth wall — Ghanny walks a quick route of logic to conclude that he is being set up for a spit-take. Knowing that makes him immune. See here.
Ghanny: ... and there it is. I'm surprised, but not extravagantly so.
In an early (1999-ish) Ozy And Millie strip, Millie discovers that she can make her mother do a spit-take by sneaking up behind her while she's reading the paper and saying "Lewinsky". Ozy then tries this on Llewellyn; he discovers that, since Llewellyn is Really 700 Years Old, saying "Lewinsky" doesn't get a reaction but saying "Teapot Dome" does. A couple years later, Millie discovers that she can now achieve the same effect again, by saying "dimpled chad".
Used in this page of The Meek (NSFW). The author states in the commentary below: "Also I realized this comic has had a alarming lack of spit-takes, so that has been corrected..."
Another in the flashback panel of this one. As in the first example, Baron Wulfenbach wasn't expected to punch out of his own healing engine.
This strip of Sluggy Freelance has Sasha do one off-panel, with Torg on the receiving end. This is then played to impossible lengths each following strip, with Torg getting more and more improbable things blasted in his face.
At the Cross Time Cafe, somebody made PB&J sandwiches... and put in the WRONG kind of jelly!!! EWWWWW!!!
In an early strip of Pv P, Cole is informed Max Powers, his old nemesis, is on the phone just as he's drinking some coffee. Brent walks in and gives a dry remark about it, only to do one himself when Cole tells him who's calling.
In Greg, Ted, dressed as a burly cheerleader causes this to happen to a campus cop.
Dawn of Dawn Of Timegets one when her adoptive mother seems to think she brought back a "handsome gentleman" with her.
And again in the Commercial Special during the innuendo-filled Wet Banana ad.
And again in his review of Milk Money when a kid asks, "Was Mom a virgin when you married her?" The page quote is the Critic lampshading this trope.
Subverted in his review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture where he nearly spit takes but manages to keep it down. Double subverted a few seconds later thanks to The Room again.
PJTV's Trifecta episode regarding Madonna's flashing a boob during a performance at Turkey had Bill Whittle and Stephen Green spitting their coffee out after showing the titular clip.
Parodied when Homer checks the price tag on a computer, doesn't react, then pours out a cup of coffee and reads the tag again while drinking it. Cue spit-take.
While trying to get Maggie to eat spinach, Homer somehow managed to do a spit-take from the mouth of a sock puppet on his arm.
Averted when Marge finds out Apu is cheating on his wife. Homer insists that they tell Krusty, because "that guy's hilarious!" Homer then tells Krusty right as he's drinking a big mug of coffee. Krusty reacts by... swallowing the coffee, and saying "That's sad. All those kids..." Marge later reminds Homer that off-camera, Krusty is "a desperately unhappy man."
Homer does this in early episodes when he spits mouthwash on the mirror.
Mr. Burns once did a spit-take that was implied to have also drained him of vital bodily fluids and thus dehydrated/seriously wrinkled him which required himself to be sprayed to regain the lost bodily fluids.
Subverted in the episode where the family is at a dude ranch. Homer and Bart don't do anything when they find out they're drinking bear urine, but they do the spit-take when they find out they're actually drinking Fresca.
Marge done this with wine soon after Janeane Garafolo said "I got my period today" while in the comedy festival.
The Adventures of Sam And Max Freelance Police, "Bad Day on the Moon": Sam sees a giant cockroach do a spit-take, and describes it as "the universal sign of surprise and alarm".
In the No Dialogue Episode "Pipe Down", whenever someone would "say" that a meteor was about to hit Dimmsdale, they would take a sip of coffee just to do the spit-take. For the fairies, they would actually summon a cup of coffee just so they can do the spit-take.
The three times Cosmo does it, he spits his coffee all over Wanda (and Timmy the third time). And the third time was after the meteor's been dealt with.
It is also used as a running gag in the episode "Dream Goat".
Averted (or subverted?) in "Dog Day Afternoon". Wanda and other fairy godmothers are drinking tea and talking about how their godkids wished to switch places with animals; one of the other fairies takes a sip just as Wanda points out the school is doing dissections the day her goddaughter switched places with a frog, but the spit-take doesn't happen.
Exaggerated to hilarious extremes by Freakazoid in this scene, where he splurts fifteen times, with an amount of juice probably in excess of what he had imbibed — although there are plenty empty juice containers next to him.
Peter does this twice on Meg at the dinner table when Brian tells the family that he's dating Shauna, a teacher he met at the PTA.
Brian does a spit-take when Peter tells he's gotten a raise when his job at the toy company is taken over by the tobacco company in the episode "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington".
Parodied hilariously in Gravity Falls. After Dipper finishes solving the mystery of who "murdered" Wax Grunkle Stan, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland pull up next to the Mystery Shack in their cruiser. Blubs mockingly asks the kids if they've solved the mystery before saying "I’m so confident you’re going to say no that I’m going to take a long, slow sip from my cup of coffee", which he proceeds to do. Dipper tells them that they did indeed solve it. And then... this happens.
In the episode "Bender Gets Made" after realizing that the ship the Robot Mafia is going to attack is none other than the Planet Express Ship, Bender does a full ten second spit-take after drinking some oil up until the commercial break. On the DVD commentary they say that if they had been able to they would have still had him doing it after coming out of the commercial break.
When Dr. Zoidberg does one in "That's Lobstertainment", the water doesn't just come out of his mouth.
Bender does a double spit-take in "The Cyber House Rules" by alternating between two glasses that are constantly refilled. After the first spit-take, he picks up the other glass and does a second.
Another instance is when Fry, Leela and Bender won a tour of the Slurm factory, only to find out that Slurm's only ingredient is a semi-liquid discharge from the tail of a giant slug queen. There are several exchanges of Fry drinking from a can of Slurm, Leela reminding him what it is, Fry spit-taking, and going right back to drinking (it is highly addictive, after all.)
In Mars University:
Gunter:(a talking monkey) But the Professor has been like a father to me! Leela: But he's not your father. That monkey in the punch bowl is. (Fry takes a sip of said punch; cue spit-take)
An odd one because Fry didn't have the cup when he was walking back to his dorm.
And AGAIN in "A Leela of Her Own" when Fry spits out some "Crushed Rat Whine" into Benders face who spits it back out into Frys face with the same force.
ALSO while watching Cop Department:
Leela: Hey Bender, I thought you said you were in this episode. Bender: Nah, this week I'm on Caught on Tape 3 because of what I did in the coffee pot. (cue spit-take by Fry)
In "The Prisoner of Benda", Bender-in-the-Robo-Hungarian-Emperor's-body does this with jewels.
AND AGAIN in "A Clockwork Origin" where The Professor spits out his drink as well as his false teeth. Talk about a show that loves doing spit-takes.
A "solid" example. In "Overclockwise", Bender gets very intelligent after Cubert overclocks him.
Bender: There's 3,018 jelly beans in that jar. Cubert: Oohohoho. Damn, I'm good. (picks up and eat a handful from the jar.) Bender: I mean 3,018 rat kidneys. (cue spit-take)
The Chowder episode "Chowder's Girlfriend" has a thirty-second-long spit-take that appears to span nearly half a day; Chowder even takes time in the middle of said take to brush his teeth, and the moon and sun in the sky even get into it.
In one episode of the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Space Ghost does several spit-takes in a row directly onto the camera lens. The first few are coffee, but the last one is comprised entirely of blood, eliciting gasps of horror from the (nonexistent) studio audience. Whoops.
Dale, Bill and Boomhauer do a synchronized spit-take after Hank comes to the realization that the beer they've been drinking has been tainted, and was the cause for their earlier diarrhea and vomiting. When Hank realizes that Peggy knew all along, Bill does this a second time.
Hank also subverts this in one episode, almost doing a spit-take, but managing to avoid it. Hank then says, with all seriousness, "You almost made me spit out beer."
He does play it straight in an earlier episode, however — he spits beer when he hears Peggy yelling out "VAGINA!" (It Makes Sense in Context.)
A minor one when Bill is using his house to rehabilitate alcoholics, he asks his friends nicely that they can't drink in the alley. Dale spits out beer in reaction.
In Frisky Dingo, when billionaire idiot Xander Crews hears a surprising piece of news, he says, "Uh... spit-take!?"
In the classic cartoon Ballot Box Bunny, while drinking from a can of carrot juice, Bugs Bunny is listening to mayoral candidate Yosemite Sam give his stump speech:
Yosemite Sam: ... and I'll keep my promise to rid this country of every — last — rabbit! (Bugs spews carrot juice) Bugs: Last rabbit!?
Tortoise Beats Hare. The cartoon starts with Bugs reading the opening credits while eating one of his characteristic carrots. When he reads the title and notices that it is Tortoise Beats Hare... cue spit-take.
Deputy Director Bulloch is talking about the escaped alien (Roger), and what they're planning to do to the person harboring him, causing Stan to repeatedly spit out his piping hot coffee onto people off-screen, indicated by their screaming, until Bulloch says, "Would someone take away Smith's coffee?"
Another when Steve said to his friends he's dating an older woman (she's 80).
Subverted in another episode where Francine tells Stan that she's become their gay neighbors' surrogate mother as he's pouring himself a beer. She drops the bomb before the beer reaches his lips, so instead he smashes the mug on the desk.
Parodied twice in El Tigre. In one episode, Grandpapi is drinking coffee when he hears alarming news. He spit-takes all over Rodolfo, calmly takes another sip, and sprays that all over Rodolfo too. In another episode, Rodolfo performs the excessive, hose-like spray variety, prompting Grandpapi to demand, "Why must you take such big sips?!"
Done another time by El Tigre himself in Fool's Goal when he drinks out of a water bottle and does a spit take right in Frida's face.
In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Tentacle Vision", this trope is subverted when Squidward attempts a spit-take with his coffee after finding a favorite show of his canceled... only to realize that he hadn't actually made his coffee yet. Played straight a moment later when he notices what his show was replaced by.
A recurring gag would have Beavis doing a spit-take as a reaction to a horribly bad music video coming on the TV, usually with his regurgitated soda ending up on Butt-Head's face.
Also happened when Beavis tried the "near-beer" they had just bought on the episode "Buy Beer".
In Billy and Mandy Save Christmas, Billy does this three times as Mrs. Claus explains what happened to Santa. He spit-takes when she mentions mending Santa's underwear...
Billy:(spits) Santa has underwear?!
And then she mentions cleaning Santa's spare hat...
Billy:(spits) Santa has a spare hat?!
And then Mrs. Claus mentions she waxed Santa's sleigh...
And the gag ends when Mrs. Claus mentions treating Donner's irritable bowels, where Billy calmly sips his cocoa and suggests that the reindeer needs more fiber.
In one episode of South Park, Paris Hilton offers to buy Butters from his parents, who refuse. She then tells them she'll pay 200 million for him, causing his father to spit-take his cocoa and ask her to repeat herself. She does, and he spit-takes again, as does his wife.
In the Veggie Tales episode "Dave and the Giant Pickle", King Saul does one after Dave triumphantly says he'll fight Goliath.
In an episode of Home Movies, Brendon's mother reacts this way to Brendon asking to go to the library — multiple times. The first time she does it is out of legitimate shock, but then she keeps doing it, seemingly just to annoy Brendon.
Sokka:(gets a sly look on his face) I got it, how's this from now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time. Aang, Katara & Toph:(Aang does a spit-take in the background) Ewww! Sokka: Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient.
In "Nightmares and Daydreams", Aang yells at Toph to stop drinking water and she immediatly spit-takes in surprise, all over Katara (who subsequently waterbends to dry herself). When asked why, Aang explains he just had a dream where they all died because of Toph's Potty Emergency, and thus it's important that she avoids drinking in the future....
The Legend of Korra, "A Leaf in the Wind". A White Lotus guard does this right into the face of another when the pro-bending announcer on the radio reveals that Korra is playing in a match.
In Batman The Animated Series Bruce pulls one of these when his friend Harvey Dent tells him he's planning on proposing to Pam Isley (not knowing she's evil yet).
Subverted in "A Bird in the Hoof", where upon hearing Princess Celestia has to leave a party on official duty, Twilight Sparkle begins to spit-take, only to shove her hoof in her mouth to stop herself.
In "Party of One", Rary spits punch all over Pinkie Pie (who doesn't seem to notice or care) when she notices the alligator in the punch bowl.
Invoked by Pinkie Pie in "Magical Mystery Cure" upon the Mane 6 being told by Princess Celestia that Twilight has become a princess. She even picks a glass of water out of hammerspace and drinks it to pull off the effect.
Alfe in The Problem Solverz does this a lot, mainly when attacking. He also does it after trying the "slightly off" root beer and pizza pancakes in "Fauxboro".
In the Fanboy and Chum Chum episode "Fangboy", Dr. Acula does this when Fanboy tells him he's a vampire.
In the Arthur episode "Arthur's Underwear," while Arthur was having dinner with his family, his mom asks Arthur how school was that day. He then does a spit-take and starts abruptly laughing before choking, because earlier when Binky Barnes was writing on the board he tried to pick up chalk he accidentially dropped and ended up ripping up his pants, something Arthur found hilarious even after the fact.
Rex gets one in the Generator Rex episode "Outpost" upon being told that the drink he is imbibing is made from rice that has passed through the digestive tract of a monkey.
Lampshaded on Phineas And Ferb in "Bad Hair Day". Candace cuts her own hair using online how-to videos, ending up in a truly horrendous outcome. Phineas and Ferb walk in and do a spit-take, much to Candace's displeasure...
Phineas: What do you think? We've been working on our spit-takes all morning! Candace: Yeah yeah, you're hilarious...
The Secretary of Education (most likely not Philium Benedict) ends up pulling one of these when he learned that the test scores had sunk even further than before as a result of his cancelling Recess.
Ms. Finster herself does a spit take when Gretchen Grundler revealed that she actually finished the Arkansas Achievement Test in less than five minutes.
Reef does one (with a mouthful of hot dog) after Lo tells him that he is going vegetarian in Stoked.
Superfriends 1973/74 episode "The Androids". Dr. Rebos and his assistant Loco are in their laboratory toasting their mission to stop the U.S. space program. Dr. Rebos spits out what he's drinking as he looks up and sees the Super Friends, who have just entered the room.
In the Adventure Time episode "Jake vs Me-Mow", Finn & Jake are eating meat pies when told by Wildberry Princess someone's trying to kill her. Their response is to spit take meat into each others' mouths.
Real Life
"Spit take" is a popular improv comedy game with some troupes. All you need are several players, more bottles of water, and a scene that provides plenty of "surprises". Hilarity Ensues, as well as a pause to clean the stage afterwards.
BBC radio station Radio 1 came up with a game called 'innuendo bingo' which is basically seeing who can avoid spit taking faced with some rather out of context audio clips. They filmed it and there are several episodes on youtube
