History Main / BanisterSlide

* Magenta does this in the ''RockyHorrorPictureShow'' causing the famous AudienceParticipation line --
-->'''Magenta:''' [[ThisIsSparta You're lucky, he's lucky, I'm lucky, we're all lucky!]]

* HomeImprovement: when Tim's mother moves out of the house Tim grew up in, Tim reminisces about sliding down the bannister. His brothers comment that Tim was the only one brave enough to go down facing forward, to which Tim replies that he ''was'' able to have kids anyway. Later, he takes a "slide down memory lane," and answers the door with a falsetto voice.

* ''{{Octopussy}}'': Bond slides down a banister while firing a gun, saw the newel post at the end, and blew it off just in time to avoid a ballistic groin impairment.

* Provides an important plot point in ''ThirteenGhosts'', as [[spoiler:it is the place where the money is hidden]].

* In the 1982 film ''{{Annie}}'', Miss Hannigan, Rooster and Lily slide down a bannister during the Easy Street number.

* In ''TheThiefAndTheCobbler'', Tack and the Thief go down the banister of a labyrinthine staircase in the Sultan's palace.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''MaryPoppins'' does this effectively and, additionally, goes ''up'' the banister this way.

-->Magenta: [[ThisIsSparta You're lucky, he's lucky, I'm lucky, we're all lucky!]]
-->Audience: [[NoIndoorVoice THE BANISTER'S LUCKY!]]

* In the 1982 film ''{{Annie}}'', Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily slide down a bannister during the Easy Street number.
* ''ToyStory''. As Andy is playing with Woody near the beginning, he sends Woody on one.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* MAD Magazine's spoof of the 1990s ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' movie had, in one panel, a disembodied bum sliding down a banister.
* In Volume 5 of ''Comicbook/ScottPilgrim'', the hero does this, ending with a flying kick to the face of his own brother, whom he had mistaken for Gideon. The panel even features the word "BUTT-SLIDE" in large text.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''HaveIGotNewsForYou'', Paul Merton claimed that "sliding down the bannister" was the appropriate method before toilet paper was invented. When it was pointed out that this would make the bannister unusable for its intended purpose, he retorted that "of course you had your shit bannister and then you had your hand bannister. You don't see them nowadays because they were all melted down during WorldWarTwo to make Spitfires".
* Red Skelton told a story about his son Richard sliding down the banister. Richard says "You know that vase with Whistler's Mother on it? The old girl just had a nervous breakdown!" Red goes on to say that Richard told him he wouldn't do that again- "I was going south and I met a splinter going north!"
* Lorelai pretends to try/actually tries to convince Rory to slide down the banister at her debutante ball. Rory doesn't do it.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The sharp object variant occurred in the {{Quick-Draw McGraw}} short "El Kabong": The villain Don Chilada waited at the bottom to jab the banister-sliding Quick Draw with the tip of his sword.
** Also done in at least one TomAndJerry short.
* The opening sequence to each episode of popular Czech bedtime story [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kZR15n191k&feature=related Mach a Sebestova]] shows the boy sliding and blinking with his ear to signal turns.
* The opening sequence to the ''[[DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]'' cartoon showed Dennis doing this. He may have done it a time or two in the live action TV series as well.

*** He did this in an 80s TheBeano strip too, but Mum had sewn sandpaper into his shorts (Dennis hadn't noticed) thus sanding the banister down. This was one of several unwittingly helpful things he did in that issue, with a bemused Dennis getting rewarded instead of being punished at the end.
* ''ArabianKnights'' episode "Sky Raiders of the Desert". Both Turjan and Bez slide down a stair bannister to attack some guards.

** In "Wise-Quacking Duck", DaffyDuck comes down the banister just fine, but then turns a statue holding a spear so that the tip gets his pursuer.

* On the TexAvery cartoon "One Ham's Family", a BrattyHalfPint slides down a banister with a pricey-looking vase on the finial. He comes to a ScreechingStop just millimeters from the vase, then tells the audience "I've got me good brakes, haven't I, folks?"

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* The Vancouver public transit system is full of plastic speed bumps on escalator dividers and other banisters specifically to avert this trope, or at least make any attempts painful and not worth it. (With good reason, considering how steep some of the ones downtown are.)

* TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Series/TheAvengers''. Mrs. Peel does a short one during her sword duel with Steed.

* MAD Magazine's spoof of the 1990s ''AddamsFamily'' movie had, in one panel, a disembodied bum sliding down a banister.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* ''{{Yotsubato}}'': Yotsuba does this while racing her dad down the stairs to a [[ShrinesAndTemples shrine]].

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''MaryPoppins'' does this effectively and, additionally, goes ''up'' the banister this way.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

** Bart occasionally slides down the banister.

[[AC:RealLife]]

----

-->--'''''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'''''

Half of the time, the slider will [[OhCrap not realise until it's too late]] that there's a finial at the very bottom just waiting to [[GroinAttack hit them in the crotch]]. The other half of the time, either there is no finial (as is the case in the opening to ''WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome'') or it will break off harmlessly when the slider hits it. In either of these cases, the slider then ends up sprawled uninjured on the floor.

* [[{{Yotsubato}} Yotsuba]] does this while racing her dad down the stairs to a [[ShrinesAndTemples shrine]].

* ''MaryPoppins'' does this effectively and, additionally, goes ''up'' the banister this way. When ''TheSimpsons'' parodied Mary, they had Homer and Marge comment that her butt waxed the banister, too.

* Wasn't this seen in one of the Roger Moore JamesBond films? Bond was sliding down a banister while firing a gun, saw the newel post at the end, and blew it off just in time to avoid a groin shot.
** ''{{Octopussy}}''

* Whoopi Goldberg does this ''dressed as a nun'' in the sequel to ''SisterAct''.

* MAD Magazine's spoof of the 1990s AddamsFamily movie had, in one panel, a disembodied bum sliding down a banister.
* In Volume 5 of ''Scott Pilgrim'', the hero does this, ending with a flying kick to the face of his own brother, whom he had mistaken for Gideon. The panel even features the word "BUTT-SLIDE" in large text.

* In the novel version of ''{{Ella Enchanted}}'', Ella's father and new step mother walk in on her and the prince enjoying themselves sliding down the giant banister in the castle in which the wedding has just taken place. Her new family members are not amused.

* [[VorkosiganSaga Mile Vorkosigan]] does one near the beginning of ''The Warrior's Apprentice'' because he's got two broken legs, and is supposed to stay off his feet. Fortunately his father was at the bottom of the stairs, and managed to catch him.

* Red Skelton told a story about his son Richard sliding down the bannister. Richard says "You know that vase with Whistler's Mother on it? The old girl just had a nervous breakdown!" Red goes on to say that Richard told him he wouldn't do that again- "I was going south and I met a splinter going north!"
* Lorelai pretends to try/actually tries to convince Rory to slide down the bannister at her debutante ball. Rory doesn't do it.

* Every skateboarding game ever allows you to grind down a railing next to stairs.
* Done as an attack animation in the SegaGenesis port of ''{{Moonwalker}}''

** Also the case for [[DennisTheMenaceUK the other Dennis the Menace]], in this case before Dennis reached the bottom of the bannister Gnasher pulled a lever which made the knob at the end of the bannister slide down into it allowing Dennis to fly off the end!.

* Other than the Mary Poppins parody given above in ''TheSimpsons'', Bart occasionally slides down the banister.

* Why, yes, many tropers have done this.
** I do this every chance I get. It usually doesn't end well but such is the cost for Science.
* The Vancouver public transit system is full of plastic speed bumps on escalator dividers and other bannisters specifically to avert this trope, or at least make any attempts painful and not worth it. (With good reason, considering how steep some of the ones downtown are.)

* Other than the Mary Poppins parody given above in ''TheSimpons'', Bart occasionally slides down the banister.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] on ''QI'' of course. And, of course, plenty of buzzers went off on the mention of the word 'bannister'. Apparently, the correct term is 'balustrade' for the top part, and 'baluster' for the uprights.

** In "Napoleon Bunny-parte", BugsBunny is being chased by Napoleon (yes ''[[NapoleonBonaparte that]]'' Napoleon) down a banister, while a guard is waiting at the bottom with a bayonete. Bugs gets off early, so it's "Nappy" who gets the point in the end.

* Utilised by multiple fraternity boys (admittedly, most likely drunk and stoned at the time) during a musical number in ''AcrossTheUniverse''.

* ''The Queen's Museum and Other Tales'', short story "The Christmas Truants". The boy Tomtit does one of these while the title characters are trying to escape the castle of a band of robbers.

Half of the time, the slider will not realise until it's too late that there's a finial at the very bottom just waiting to [[GroinAttack hit them in the crotch]]. The other half of the time, either there is no finial (as is the case in the opening to ''WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome'') or it will break off harmlessly when the slider hits it. In either of these cases, the slider then ends up sprawled uninjured on the floor.

Half of the time, the finial at the very bottom will be something sharp or otherwise unpleasant for the slider. The other half of the time, either there is no finial (as is the case in the opening to ''WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome'') or it will break off harmlessly when the slider hits it. In either of these cases, the slider then ends up sprawled uninjured on the floor.

Any comedy whose set includes an elaborate staircase with a long, swooping bannister will inevitably require someone to slide down that bannister. Such slides are always rear-end first.

->--'''''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'''''

->It is the fate of all banisters worth sliding down that there is something nasty waiting at the far end.
->--Terry Pratchett, ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}''

* ''TheAvengers''. Mrs. Peel does a short one during her sword duel with Steed.

[[redirect:BannisterSlide]]