A character is out in their yard, about to wash their car, or water their lawn. They grab the hose, turn it on, and are suddenly flung around like a ragdoll. That's what you call a Hose Rodeo.
This is incredibly common in cartoons. It's been featured in nearly every animated children's show to ever air on TV, from Looney Tunes, to Scooby-Doo. There are many variations on this, ranging from the hose simply being inexplicably powerful, to it being the fault of another character, who rigged it to happen. Occasionally this can cross over with Garden-Hose Squirt Surprise, depending on the number of characters in the scene.
Sister Trope to Fire Hose Cannon.
Examples:
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Comic Strips
- FoxTrot: Jason says it best with "One day I'm going to put on weight and really enjoy watering the lawn" after one such rodeo.
Films — Animated
- In Despicable Me 2, when Gru triggers the fire alarm in his office, the Minion carrying the fire hose ends up being shaken around all over the room (and ironically missing the small fire, which Stuart has to put out with a small puff of the fire extinguisher).
Films — Live-Action
- Invoked by Maxwell Smart in Get Smart when defending CONTROL's offices from what he thinks are enemy assassins.
- The second feature film for Jackass has Dave England performing this as a stunt, only for him to land on the ground hard enough to cause rectal bleeding.
- In the 1994 film of The Little Rascals, when a child tries to use a hose to put out their burning clubhouse, he gets lifted up in the air and flung around.
Literature
- In Fire Engine By Mistake, Bert (a non-firefighter) tries to put out a fire using a fire engine hose, but finds this much more difficult than he had imagined.
Live-Action TV
- America's Funniest Home Videos has these clips in too many eps to count. Mostly involving children.
- In one episode of Dead Gorgeous, Hazel uses her ghostly powers to cause a hose to go haywire, dragging the gardener around with it and soaking a gang of bullies.
- Happens to Louis in the claymation intro of Even Stevens.
- In one episode of Malcolm in the Middle, Reese, when left unsupervised, attaches a fire hose to his back expecting it to propel him on his bike over a series of parked cars. He ends up crying and clinging to a tree after having been blasted around the front yard.
Video Games
- This happens in the second level of Um Jammer Lammy if you can get a Cool ranking.
Western Animation
- One Hundred And One Dalmatian Street Season 1 Shorts: Happens with the Kibble Pump in "Target Pups".
- Bob's Burgers: In "Steal Magazineolias", the first time Teddy turns on the pressure cleaner, he loses control of the hose. He takes off his gloves and goggles, thinking they get in the way, but it happens again. He finally gets the hang of it, though.
- Captain Flamingo: In "Water You Worried About?", Rutger has to water the yard for his dad but when he used a watering can to wash it, it could take a long time so he decided to use his dad's water hose to finish faster. However, after he pulls the trigger to turn it on, it suddenly went out of control and cannot let go of it or else he will fall.
- Classic Disney Short:
- In "Fire Chief", this happens to Donald Duck, the fire chief, as he tries to put out a fire.
- Happens to Mickey Mouse on the cartoon "Mickey's Fire Brigade".
- Craig of the Creek: In "Brother Builder", the first time Earl turns on his jury-rigged water sprinkler, the end of the hose comes undone and starts waving around, wrecking the garden. Craig uses his action figure to secure it.
- In the Family Guy episode "Da Boom", as mayor of New Quahog, Peter distributes jobs to the citizens. In one of them, he assigns an old woman to be part of the fire department, and this happens when the hose is turned on.
- One episode of King of the Hill features Hank working hard to get the local car wash back in order. This includes testing the water pressure, with an unfortunate Dale managing the hose at full blast.
- Happens quite frequently in Looney Tunes. Most of the characters have had this happen to them at one time or another. "Chaser on the Rocks" sees the Coyote smashed into the wall of a cliff as a result of one.
- Mr. Bogus
- This happened in the episode "Meet Mr. Bogus", though Bogus used it more as a tactic to get rid of the crafty lawn workers.
- This happens to Mole in "Et Tu, Brattus?" as he starts getting thrown around by the water pressure of the hose.
- In A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, "Sludge Monster from the Earth's Core", as a part of the gang's trap to capture the monster, Scooby was to spray the monster with a garden hose, but is tossed around when the hose is turned on and the plan fails.
- Happens in the Rugrats episode "Farewell, My Friend".
- One running gag in "Rupert and the Water Works" was Rupert's father having trouble with the hose.
- The Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "A Clue For Scooby Doo" has the gang on a barge setting a trap for the ghost of Captain Cutler using a fire hose and a container with soap. When it gets turned on, the hose slips out of Fred and Daphne's collective grips, leaving Shaggy riding it like a bucking mustang.
- Used on The Simpsons in "Last Exit to Springfield", when Mr. Burns tried to use a fire hose to break up striking workers.
- VeggieTales: In "LarryBoy and the Bad Apple", the carrot fireman ends up as the poor victim of this trope in an attempt to wash the cobwebs off the statue of the city's founder.
- VeggieTales in the House: Happens twice to Larry in "Larry's Cardboard Thumb", when trying to give Petunia's plants water, which results in him getting thrown all around the greenhouse.
- Work It Out Wombats!: In "Bake It Til You Make It," Kat rides on a hose like this while Zeke and Louisa try to gather up water for their mud pie.
