How The Banana Peel Became A Staple Of Slapstick Comedy

Film and entertainment can have a lot of impact on the cultural significance of food and beverages. It's interesting to see all the ways they converge, and while we have tons of advice on red flags to avoid when picking out bananas at the store and how to make a really good banana bread, we've rarely talked about bananas, or more specifically, banana peels, in a comedic setting.

Banana peels became a comedy staple only after bananas became widely available to the American public. This started to happen in the mid to late 19th century. A man named Carl B. Frank popularized the exotic fruit in New York City, which led to an interesting problem: people would just throw their banana peels on the ground. What do banana peels do when left on the ground? They rot, and when banana peels rot, they get slimy and slick. To combat the worrying trend, articles were written, laws were passed, and new manners were decided. It was officially rude to leave banana peels strewn about, and if comedians love anything, it's being rude.

This is probably why the banana peel was incorporated into live shows on the Vaudeville circuit, which heavily relied on physical comedy. Vaudeville was known for its broad humor, bawdy shows, as well as song and dance numbers. One Vaudeville comedian, "Sliding" Billy Watson, claimed that he created the banana peel pratfall; an idea he came up with while watching a man fight to stay on his feet after slipping on one. While we should always be wary of self-proclaimed inventors, banana peels became a classic slapstick prop once Watson put them in his act.

Given that Vaudeville was the popular form of entertainment before film, it's no wonder that early silent film stars incorporated various Vaudevillian jokes and stunts into their work. One of the first uses of the banana peel pratfall committed to celluloid is Harold Lloyd's "The Flirt" (which you can watch for free online, and you should). In it, a man follows a woman to her work at a restaurant, and after ordering a large meal, grabs a banana and tosses the peel on the ground. His waiter, carrying a tray, slips on it. Food and plates come crashing down, and he storms off. The moment is still funny 108 years later, which indicates the staying power this sight gag has.

The "Mythbusters" crew determined that although banana peels can be slippery, you probably won't fall. This pratfall might feel a bit outdated, but our culture still loves to take the rules around table manners and food etiquette, like how to discard a banana peel properly, and mock them. Slapstick comedy also likes to create situations where snooty characters fall or get covered in food to bring them down a few pegs. In "The Flirt," it was the pretentious waiter who slipped on a banana peel. Food fight scenes in TV and film often show a school dean or a wealthy heiress getting smashed in the face with a pie. Almost as if to say: We are all equal in the end.