History Main / PeelingPotatoes

* A nonmilitary but definitely punishment version: one of the ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' OVA episodes had Ryoko, Aeka, and Mihoshi doing this as their share of repairing the extensive damage to a hot spring resort, with varying results. Ryoko did a hack job on hers with questionable accuracy, Aeka primly carved each millimetre of skin with painstaking deliberation, and Mihoshi outstripped both easily (and boasted about it).

* Shown as part of Jim's [[MiseryBuildsCharacter "character development through manual labor"]] maturation sequence in ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'', along with other related drudgery like [[PunishmentDetail a mountain of pots to wash]], barnacle scraping ([[RecycledINSPACE in space!]]), etc. In this case, the potatoes are actually all-purpose alien fruit-vegetable-things called "purps", but we still get the same imagery you normally get when this trope is played straight: the big pile to be peeled, the paring knife, the lonely corner, and Jim distracting himself from the mundanity of his task with memories and fantasies, as well as the idea of huge amounts of work being piled on the lowest-ranked crew member in order to show him his place and keep him busy.

** In ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', Nobby thinks to himself that anyone who responds to "Who likes good food?" in the military is going to be volunteered for KP duty, as part of an internal monologue as to why you should ''never'' volunteer for anything.

* ''The Sad Sack'' (with one Creator/JerryLewis) ended this way, as a punishment for [[ImprobableAimingSkills putting one bullet through two full glasses!]]. His SneezeOfDoom causes an avalanche of the spuds behind him.

* [[Series/GomerPyleUSMC Gomer Pyle]] does this a lot.

It has many names. Kitchen Patrol. Spud Bashing. Whatever it's called, it seems you CantGetAwayWithNuthin, and once you're caught it's a SmashCut to sitting on the floor of a drab kitchen somewhere next to a sack of potatoes, peeling them one at a time.

-->'''Tobia:''' I want to ask...you guys aren't letting me join just because you need someone to peel potatoes, are you?\\

[-[[caption-width-right:320:[[{{Mondegreen}} Cackadok and hart, thats smart!]][[labelnote:*]]It's actually "Hope you don't feel hurt, big boy"[[/labelnote]] Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!]]-]

* Happened to Alan Scott, the GoldenAge GreenLantern, when he was in the army. Unable to explain his absence without blowing his secret identity, he was assigned potato peeling as a punishment. Fortunately for Alan, his sidekick Doiby Dickles was able to take over the peeling when Alan needed to become GreenLantern again.

[[caption-width-right:320:[[{{Mondegreen}} Cackadok and hart, thats smart!]][[labelnote:*]]It's actually "Hope you don't feel hurt, big boy"[[/labelnote]] Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Will Work For Ed", Ed gets a job on Rolf's farm, and his first task is to peel a ''huge'' mountain of potatoes. Edd attempts to help, first by MacGyvering a peeler out of a hairpin, then building a machine to do the job faster; Rolf's mad enough at that, but he's absolutely livid when he sees Eddy using a tennis racket to julienne the spuds.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Schlock, Kevyn and Brad were [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-09-01 sentenced to this once]]. Schlock, being a BlobMonster, peeled them with digestive juices rather than the peeler.

* A few Donald Duck cartoons have this, even ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' (usually because he messes up a lot in the Navy). In one cartoon where he plays a large role and his three nephews accidentally get him in trouble, they sneak into the kitchen to help him because of it.

* Rimmer and Lister were forced to do this in an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'' after ticking their captain off. Only they have the bluntest knives it's possible to find. So Lister has the "great" idea of getting out of having to peel the literal mountain of potatoes by having a special virus eat the potato skins. Unfortunately for the duo, [[TheNudifier the virus also eats clothes]]. [[FromBadToWorse And it spreads on contact.]]

* SaturdayNightLive's parody of "The Navy: It's Not Just A Job, It's An Adventure" ad campaign features this.

* ComicStrip/BeetleBailey, of course, has this happen to him quite often.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' features Kit being forced by Colonel Spigget to peel ''turnips'' for rebelling at a Thembrian flying camp. Spigget is forced to take the task up after his bumbling is exposed.

* Spoofed in the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' album ''Le Vingtieme de Cavalerie'' (lit. the 20th Cavalry), after an Indian raid during which the food stores are burned. Luke sees four men sitting on the ground around a bucket making peeling hand motions. When he queries the Sergeant, he is informed that life in the cavalry goes on, potatoes or no potatoes. The sergeant then berates the men for not pretending to peel thinly enough and tells them that the colonel will pretend to inspect the pretend peels personally.

-->'''Wedge''': "Face is one of our insertion experts, [[WeWillNotUseStageMakeupInTheFuture proficient in makeup]], speaks several languages other than Basic -"

-->'''Wedge''': * nods amiably* "And sometime cook. You're peeling tubers on kitchen duty tonight. Do you have anything else to add?"

** In ''Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook'', Sto Lat MilitaryAcademy teaches the sons of gentlefolk to be officers. In keeping with the [[OfficerAndAGentleman class of recruit]], punishment details include juilienning potatoes (as well as polishing oyster knives and waltz drills).

* The ending of the classic Disney cartoon ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' has Captain Pete punsh Mickey for slacking on the job by making him peel potatoes.

** He also starts that one peeling potatoes, watching planes go by and wishing he were in one of them...and he absentmindedly peels one potato into an airplane...which flies and brings Sergeant Pete's hat back to him...which he absentmindedly starts peeling.

** Combat soldiers in the [[IsraelisWithInfraRedMissiles IDF]] tend to have the same opinion for similar reasons--kitchen duty is usually easier and less unpleasant than, say, guard duty, cleaning or maintenance work, and provides access to food outside of meal time. Soldiers in supporting roles tend to have the opposite opinion; their regular duty isn't so unpleasant that the kitchen is an improvement.

-->''And look at the job they hand out to me --''

-->''A-jabbin' the Cap and huntin' the Hun''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' army episode this is done straight the first time, the second time has them scraping potato-peelers over watermelons, and the third time has them scraping potato-peelers over nuclear bombs.
---> '''Stimpy:''' "I think the [[DrillSergeantNasty Sarge]] likes ''you'' best, Ren, because he gave you the most potatoes to peel!"
* The ending of the classic Disney cartoon ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie''

* Snuffy Smith, Medal of Honor recipient, was to be given his medal. However it took the people who were supposed to give it to him a bit of time to find him. He was on kitchen patrol. Although the task in question was not peeling potatoes, he did peel potatoes for the newspapers.
** To elaborate on this, Snuffy Smith was not the model soldier. He tended to have an attitude problem, and was MildlyMilitary at best. That said, when the plane he was serving as a gunner on was badly damaged and engulfed in flames, he stayed aboard to tend to a wounded crewmate and fight the fires (and shoot at the Germans, who were still attacking them). By the time they arranged the ceremony to present him with the Medal of Honor some time later, he had gotten in trouble for sleeping through a briefing. Ladies and gentlemen, the first person in the history of the Air Force to receive the Medal of Honor without earning it posthumously.

* In a Mister Know-It-All segment in ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' when Bullwinkle demonstrates how to escape from Devil's Island. Boris the warden demands Bullwinkle to peel potatoes which he didn't at all when potatoes are boiled.