The Addams Family: In the episode "Morticia's Dilemma", family friend Don Xavier proposes a toast to "my future son-in-law, Gomez Addams!", not realising Gomez is already married to Morticia. Gomez very enthusiastically says "I'll drink to that!" (a continuation of an Overly Long Gag of him saying "I'll drink to that!" in the exact same tone as he drinks to toast after toast), takes a large sip of champagne (about a third of a glass, in fact)...then fully processes what Don Xavier just said. Cue this trope.
On an episode of All-American Girl (1994), 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 determinedly spits it out again.
In an episode of America's Funniest Home VideosTom Bergeron was describing a spit take on screen with a member of the audience when the woman he is interviewing participates by reading a line from the Teleprompter just as Bergeron is drinking from a glass of water.
Woman: Don't drink that! That's my specimen! [Tom spits; the woman and the rest of the audience laugh]
Babylon 5: This is G'Kar's reaction when he meets Ko'Dath, his very stiff and over enthusiastic new attache, who finds him enjoying drinks in a Bikini Bar. G'Kar was having a drink with Londo Mollari, who is Centauri Ambassador.
The Big Bang Theory: Penny does this when she hears that Sheldon and his "not-girlfriend" Amy are considering having a child together.
At the end of the episode "The Irish Pub Formulation", Leonard does this when he found out the flavor for Sheldon's snow cone is Mango Caterpillar.
When Priya reveals to Leonard (who was brushing his teeth) that Raj is having a big crush on Bernadette, he spits out the toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror.
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.
In the Broad City episode "Philadelphia," Ilana spits orange juice on Abbi's dad when he tells the two that Alice Ackerman bought her mansion from Will Smith's mom.
And of course Xander going softdrinkio praecox when seeing Anya naked for the first time in "The Harsh Light of Day".
During the Castle episode "Nikki Heat", Beckett sprays her coffee when Natalie asks her "Is Castle gay?"
Happens in an episode of Cheers when Carla reveals to Norm, that she sometimes spits in a customer's drink if she doesn't like their attitude. Remembering the argument he had with her the other day, Norm decides to switch beers with Cliff when he isn't looking. He ends up performing a spit-take when he's trying to take a sip of the beer and Cliff apologizes to Carla for calling her a "sawed off witch" that morning.
Crusade: At dinner, Elizabeth Lochley tells Matthew Gideon that she was once married to a "total loser." "This loser have a name?" "Uh huh; John Sheridan." *spit* (Sheridan was, at the time, the President of the Interstellar Alliance - the highest-ranking position in known space, and Gideon's self-admitted hero.) Gideon then accuses her of waiting until he was taking a drink before telling him that.
One of Jon Stewart's funnier stock gags 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.
Subverted in a bit about water pollution in West Virginia. Jon does what seems to be a long buildup for this: he explains how he likes his water flown in from West Virginia, then starts drinking. A news clip plays about how a chemical spill contaminated the drinking water in West Virginia. The camera switches back to Jon, who looks like he's going to spit... then swallows the water, and says: "I'm sorry, I was enjoying this delicious water so much, I missed what they were saying."
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.
Drake & Josh: In "Battle of Panthatar", Thornton whose 16th birthday party Drake and Josh just got invited to, tells Josh that he's dating a girl named Maria. Josh spits out his drink, because he knows that Drake is on a date with that very Maria right behind him.
Frasier: This is Niles' reaction when Frasier bluntly asks him, "Are you in love with Daphne?"
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.
In the episode "My Left and Right Foot" from Full House, Joey grabs some ice cubes from a bucket of ice water and puts them in his drink and takes a sip, only to spit it out after being told that Michelle was soaking her feet in the bucket.
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 with her soda all over a Russian emissary. He quipped that back home he has to stand in line for two hours to get half as much.
The Good Wife: Eli does one right at the end of "The Decision Tree" after Marilyn says she's naming her baby after Peter. Comes right the heck out of nowhere: It's literally line, spit take, and then the episode cuts to credits.
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.
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."
Downplayed in Healer when Jung Hoo chokes on his drink when his trying to figure out just how much trouble he may have gotten Young Shin in by being seen with her after being framed for murder and Min Ja asks him if Young Shin is really so pretty that he'd be dumb enough to stick around and possibly get caught just stick close to her.
A frequent reaction during the "Historical Master Chef" segments on Horrible Histories.
In Holey Moley II: The Sequel, as Joe introduces the new hole "Uranus," Rob is drinking from a coffee mug and gives one of these.
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!".
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 at lunch when you asked me to put ketchup on your fries? Carly:[drinking grape juice] Mm-hmm? Sam: It was really chicken blood. [called a spit-take from Carly]
Sam had one that was really a Jaw Drop done when drinking from a water bottle in the episode "iOwe You" when Freddie told her how much she owes him and Carly in dollars.
Freddie had a similarly one similar to the above involving cookies in the episode "iSaw Him First" when he learned that Sam made said cookies. His reason?
Freddie: When was the last time Sam washed her hands?
At the end of "iFight Shelby Marx," Carly, Sam, and Shelby spit take in unison and slow motion for the camera to show the audience that they've become close friends.
In the episode "iStart a Fan War," Sam takes a sip of diet root beer then spits it out, complaining about the taste; Carly tells Sam that it was diet and told her to go get a sponge afterwards.
In the episode "iBelieve in Bigfoot," Sam pulls a bottle of Spencer's root beer out of the fridge and bangs it open on the table, taking a sip and saying it tasted like diet; Sam throws the bottle into the trash and it breaks.
Shotaro Hidari, from Kamen Rider Double, wastes a cup a coffee this way when his (late) boss' daughter comes announcing she's now in charge of his agency... and that she's evicting him.
Shigeru Wajima spits out his drink after being told that Haruto Soma/Kamen Rider Wizard was arrested.
Kamen Rider Drive: Late in the series, Chase (who's trying to understand human emotions) asks Shinnosuke if he's in love with his Fair Cop partner Kiriko; Shinnosuke has an epic Spit Take before launching into a vehement denial. A few episodes later, Chase asks Kiriko the same question, and gets exactly the same reaction; he's smart enough to realize what it means. View here.
The direct-to-DVD movie Drive Saga: Kamen Rider Chaser takes it up another level when Chase enters the cafeteria, actually displaying human emotions. Shinnosuke and Kiriko have simultaneous Spit Takes...pointed at Gou. And for good measure, Mr.Belt (who is a sentient belt) gets in on the action too. Link.
Kamen Rider Ghost: Onari asks Akari who saved her in the Ganma attack earlier. Akari answers it was Takeru. Takeru corrects her that it was iguana. Cue Akari spitting tea at Onari across the table.
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has significantly subtler example than most of those above. Taiga Hanaya and Nico Saiba watch an announcement by current Genm Corp CEO, who drops the big truth that players who got Game Over in Kamen Rider Chronicle can be revived. Cue Taiga spitting popcorn on the computer and Nico.
Jon carried this Running Gag over to his pre-Election 2016 appearance on The Late Show, unleashing a Spit Take of water into Stephen Colbert's face twice when informed that Donald Trump was one of the candidates. Apparently, the very concept refuses to stay in his head for longer than a few seconds, and shocks him into a Spit Takeevery time he's reminded of this.
Stephen himself gets a spit-take in the October 12th 2017 show. He gets a sore throat in mid-monologue and is tossed a bottle of water, just before launching a comment by Donald Trump. When the president talks about "the remaining seven years" of his administration, Stephen spit-takes in shock.
Stephen Colbert: "Remaining years"? It hasn't been seven years already?
Stephen has an spit take in his show of 2018-07-30, in which he addresses sexual misconduct allegations against CBS's Les Moonves (his own boss), when he hears that the article about the allegations was written by Ronan Farrow, the guy who had previously exposed Harvey Weinstein.
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!
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 realizing) told him earlier!
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.
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.
On an episode of M*A*S*H, when Potter has been in Seoul and Winchester is temporarily in charge of the camp, Klinger is ironing Winchester's jeans and has just taken a drink from a bottle of water when Potter walks in. Klinger is so surprised he spits the water on Potter.
Col. Potter: A simple "welcome home" would suffice.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: In "We're Going to the Catskills!" Susie spits out a large swig of water when Midge reveals that her summer vacation to the Catskills (during which she won't be able to do gigs in Manhattan) will be two whole months, not a short week.
Susie Myerson: Geez, I almost did a spit take. Midge Maisel: Almost? That was a fucking spit take! Susie Myerson: You're going to the Catskills for two months? Midge Maisel: I told you a million times I was going to the Catskills. Susie Myerson: Yeah, but I figured it was five days, tops, not two fucking months! Midge Maisel: I think you got the guy in back of me, too.
Merlin: Merlin once spits soup in Gaius's face after hearing this:
Gaius: You have to remember not all masters are as good to their servants as Arthur.
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.
Alan is drinking with Bambang and Prima in Pipin's shop when they overhear Juna and Alexi's quarrel about Melani in episode 47. When Alexi brags about his absurd idea for his love confession, Alan spits out the water he drank.
In episode 59, Juna spits the water he drank in surprise when Bambang says that Melani is the one who asked Bambang to be her boyfriend rather than the other way around.
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.
Ed Byrne also does one in Mock The Week (Season 13 Episode 1, to be precise) when Dara announces "This week's winners are Ed Byrne, Hugh Dennis and Milton Jones!". He takes a sip of what looks like extremely milky tea, the winners are announced, and the camera zooms in to him spitting out the tea.
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!
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.
MythQuest: When Alex visits Camelot and tries to keep Lancelot and Queen Guinevere from getting romantically involved, this scene happens: Lancelot asks for Guinevere's favor for a hunt, and in front of the whole court she whispers, "May you find the hart you seek." Cleo, watching from the real world, spits out her soda.
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.
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide: In the "Notes" episode, Ned borrows a cup of water from a kid passing by in the hall just to do this after Moze tells him that she thinks the love letter she got came from Loomer, the school bully.
In the Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn episode "Pigfoot", Ricky has been made hall monitor, and writes Dicky a ticket for running in the halls. When Dicky returns from the principal's office, he tells Ricky, "He said I should be more like you. Say hello to your new partner." Ricky then spits out his lollipop, which prompts Dicky to write him a ticket for littering.
Noah's Arc: Noah has a small one when Wade describes a guy he'd sleep with (as a perfect description of Noah).
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.
Raquel: My husband was a policeman. Del Boy:[chokes on tea]
Operation Ouch!: In the introduction to a segment explaining how the kidneys work, Xand hands Chris a glass of orange juice. Chris takes a sip and then immediately spits it in Xand's face on discovering it has pulpy bits in it.
Our Miss Brooks: The series had several examples. The very first television episode, "Trying to Pick a Fight", sees Miss Brooks do a spit take with coffee. Still, Miss Brooks shows good manners by immediately using a linen napkin to wipe her face.
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.
Andy: What do you mean the squirrel... took the... nuts outta the... outta that kid's backpack... and ate 'em? April: (with a mouthful of soda) You have to give me a reason to spit.
Ron also gives one when his girlfriend asks him to move to Canada.
During the city council election arc in Season 4, Leslie warns Jennifer Barkley (a political consultant from out of town) not to drink Pawnee's tap water. Jennifer calmly spits it back into her glass—the full Spit Take only comes later, after Leslie rattles her with a Badass Boast and she takes another drink before remembering.
After Chumlee broke the coffee maker in Pawn Stars, he bought a new one with some very expensive coffee. Rick and the Old Man drank some of the coffee and Chumlee revealed that the new coffee is civet coffee. Rick spit it out and explained that civet coffee is made from Kopi Luwak droppings. The Old Man kept on drinking it.
In the Taiwanese period drama, Princess Huai Yu, the Plucky Comic Relief Eunuch Tu was drinking tea when he's informed, out of the blue, of the High Queen's arrival.
Radio Enfer: Vincent's father does that when Dominique mentions that her mother's name is Micheline Vachon, who was a woman he met after having a dispute with Vincent's mother. This makes him realize that Dominique is actually his daughter, thus making her Vincent's half-sister.
Lister does a spit-take on Red Dwarf when he's told that his tea has dog's milk in it.
RFDS (2021): In the season 2 premiere, Chaya cracks regarding bull-riding at a rodeo where the RFDS is providing medical support that "If I wanted to awkwardly ride something for eight seconds, I would have stayed with my ex," which makes Pete spit up his coffee.
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]
Judge Jeannine Pirro (as portrayed by Cecily Strong on Saturday Night Live) does a big spit take into Colin Jost's face when he gives her some shocking news. Wisely, the next time he has to impart news he waits for her to finish drinking first. (She simply flings the rest of the drink in his face out of shock instead.)
Lisa does one when Kelly reveals that she has a thing for Screech.
Slater, Lisa, Kelly, and Jessie do this in unison in one episode when Zack suggests holding a birthday party for Screech in Mr. Belding's office.
Shakespeare & Hathaway - Private Investigators: In "Some Cupid Kills", Frank is on the phone to Sebastian and tells him that Dalton Morley was poisoned by ethylene glycol in a red wine called Bard's Brew. Sebastian realises that he is drinking that exact red wine and spits out the mouthful he currently has.
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]
In Sons of Anarchy, Clay spit-takes when a girl says that Happy seems like a "nice guy".
On an episode of Sports Night, Natalie decides to test Dana's claims that she's not edgy after hearing some bad news:
Natalie: Anybody know which of these coffees is mine? Jeremy: They're all the same, aren't they? Natalie: No, I spit in mine. [Dana spits her coffee out] That was a little test to see if you're edgy.
In "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.
In "Ripple Effect", Colonel Mitchell gets into a rather animated conversation (with himself) about "the spit-take of all spit-takes."
In Step by Step, Frank does this when Carol tells him she thinks she's pregnant.
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.
The episode "Pilot Your Own Life" of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody has these lines of dialogue between Cody and his mother:
Cody: People spend their lives too afraid to reach for the mountaintop. Carey: Amen. Cody: They let life slip by, day after dreary day. Carey: Losers. Cody: People like you. Carey:[spits out her drink] Come again?
In the episode 'Welcome to the World Festival', Elizabeth visits the Russia table at her school culture event. She's excited to try the vodka and takes a huge drink, despite the table owners' pleads to stop. She finds it too strong for her and promptly spits it out. Onto the camera.
She does this in another episode when she learns about the 8th graders' terrible behavior. She's drinking from the water fountain and upon hearing the announcement that the 7th graders are ahead in a good behavior contest, she spits out the water onto the wall and comments that that was perfect timing. Some versions have it as a waterfall puke instead, with her in anime form.
"Was This Really Worth It?" has her spitting out a cookie in surprise when she wins an award she never thought she'd win.
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?"
In Ultraman Geed, Moa Aizaki is shown doing a spit take right in the Opening Credits.
Victorious: Tori's sister Trina spits out milk when Robbie kisses her.
The Weekly with Charlie Pickering: During his segment on aged care, Luke states how much money the government has pledged to invest in the sector and then takes a sip of beer. When the pensioner next to him asks if it that is enough to solve the problems, Luke spits out the beer in disbelief before saying it is nowhere near enough.
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.
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.
Grace does it with a doughut in the ninth season when Larry tells her he is in love with Will.
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."
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.
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.