The Old Pie in the Face Gag

A character ends up with a pie in their face, whether someone threw it at them or it was an accident.

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Appearances

• The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 1, episode 17, "Punch Thy Neighbor" (1962). Rob pretends to trip and accidentally throw a pie in Jerry's face as payback for Jerry's relentless teasing about an episode of the Alan Brady Show he thought was "rotten."
• The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 2, episode 32, "When a Bowling Pin Talks, Listen" (1963). Alan Brady appears on the Uncle Spunky Show at Rob's suggestion and ends up with a pie in his face. As revenge, he attempts to throw a pie in Rob's face, but he misses and hits Mel instead.
• The Patty Duke Show: Season 1, episode 25, "The Perfect Teenager" (1964). Patty gets a job as a model, and as part of a magazine shoot, she has a pie thrown in her face.
• The Patty Duke Show: Season 2, episode 27, "Patty, the Practical Joker" (1965). Ross tries to throw a pie in Patty's face but hits their dad.
• Gilligan's Island: Season 1, episode 18, "X Marks the Spot" (1965). The Skipper wants to give Gilligan one of the two coconut cream pies Mary Ann baked for him, but Gilligan just ate two whole pies and feels sick, so he stands up to walk away and accidentally knocks the pie into the Skipper's face.
• Gilligan's Island: Season 1, episode 35, "My Fair Gilligan" (1965). Gilligan is unhappy being the Howells' adopted son, so pretends to be a rude jerk to get them to disown him. When Ginger brings him a coconut cream pie, he tries to throw it in her face, but Mr. Howell steps between them and gets hit with it instead.
• My Mother the Car: Episode 5, "Burned at the Steak" (1965). Dave and his mother/car hatch a scheme to help his neighbors, Fred and Suzie, save their marriage. Barbara cooks a meal, and Dave brings it over to Fred and Suzie's house so Suzie can pretend she cooked it. When they get to dessert, a strawberry cream pie, Fred catches Dave in the kitchen and throws the pie in his face.
• My Mother the Car: Episode 11, "My Son, the Judge" (1965). When two officials come to Dave's house to determine whether to make him a judge, he gets stuck in a pair of roller skates, and a scuffle with Captain Manzini leads to his rolling into the living room with a tray of pies, which end up in the faces of his guests.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 5, episode 1, "Enter Mrs. Peeper" (1976). Bob plans to nail the Peeper with a pie when he comes to the door, but he misses and hits the Peeper's wife instead. Unbeknownst to Bob, the Peeper brought a pie with him, and he gets Bob back.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 6, episode 12, "'Twas the Pie Before Christmas" (1977). Due to a mix-up at the printer, Bob gives Christmas cards to his group therapy group that announce he's raising his rates. In retaliation, Mr. Carlin hires someone to throw a pie in Bob's face, but the pie-thrower misses twice, hitting Mr. Peterson and Jerry. At Bob's Christmas party, the pie-thrower gets fed up with Mr. Carlin's abuse and throws the pie in his face instead of Bob's.
• Soap: Season 2, episode 3 (1978). Mary gets fed up with Elaine's constant complaining and insulting everyone at dinner, so she throws their dessert, a chocolate cream pie, in her face.
• Mork & Mindy: Season 1, episode 10, "Mork's Greatest Hits" (1978). Mork humiliates a bully who tried to get fresh with Mindy by slowing down time and positioning him so that his face falls into a pie.
• Too Close for Comfort: Season 2, episode 14, "Charlie's Last Hurrah" (1982). Henry's old friend Charlie, who is notorious for playing practical jokes, is coming to visit, and Henry wants to play a practical joke on him, so he enlists Monroe to pretend to be a delivery man and throw a pie in Charlie's face.
• Newhart: Season 2, episode 10, "Kirk Goes for the Juggler" (1984). Kirk falls for wonderful woman named Cindy, but when he finds out she's a clown by trade, he's not sure he can deal with it. After he reveals his feelings to her, she tells him she can't stop being a clown, and he leaves, but he comes back a few minutes later and tells her he changed his mind. That's when Cindy gets him back in true clown fashion with a classic pie in the face.
• Cheers: Season 5, episode 9, "Thanksgiving Orphans" (1986). A potluck Thanksgiving dinner devolves into a food fight, and when Norm's wife, Vera, shows up at the door, she accidentally steps into the crossfir,e and Diane throws a pie in her face.
• Night Court: Season 3, episode 14, "Harry and Leon" (1986). A man who runs a company that throws pies at people appears in court, inspiring Flo, Harry, Christine, and Mac to hire the company to throw a pie at Dan, but Dan found out and got a cut of the money and only one pie in his face instead of four. Meanwhile, Bull hired the company to throw a pie at Harry instead.
• Head of the Class: Season 2, episode 4, "Child of the 60s" (1987). When another student harasses Dennis in the lunch line in the cafeteria, Dennis throws a pie in his face.
• Night Court: Season 5, episode 20, "Top Judge" (1988). To impress a new, young judge, Harry tries to show him his old snakes in a can gag, but the snakes just kind of droop instead of jumping out.
• Newhart: Season 8, episode 16, "Seein' Double" (1990). In Michael and Stephanie's sitcom pilot, identical twins Jody and Judy (both played by Stephanie), think the real grim reaper is at the door to take their father, so they devise a scheme to throw a pie in the reaper's face.
• Wings: Season 1, episode 4, "Return to Nantucket: Part 2" (1990). Joe's and Brian's mutual ex, Carol, returns to Nantucket and immediately begins stringing both of them along again.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun: Season 2, episode 11, "Dick Jokes" (1996). To get back at him for insulting on stage a fundraiser, Mary and Nina buy bunch of cream pies and cover Dick with them, including two in his face.