"It's piñata time. I'm the world champion. But I've never hunted the most dangerous piñata: man."
— Doofus Drake, DuckTales (2017), "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!"
The piñata: A popular party favor that originated in Mexico. Just take a colorful papier-mâché container that's usually shaped like an animal, fill it with candy or other goodies, hang it from a rope and have a participant hit it with a stick or baseball bat (usually while blindfolded) until it breaks open, spilling the treats to the ground for all to enjoy. Simple, clean, fun.
But what if the piñata wasn't an item, but a living person instead? Suddenly, it becomes a lot less wholesome and a whole lot more painful. This trope applies when a person takes the place of a piñata, whether by accident or on purpose, will usually be suspended from a rope and is subjected to being beaten repeatedly with sticks, leading to a ton of Amusing Injuries. Since the piñata whacker is usually blindfolded, they may be unaware that the thing they're whacking is alive.
For actual piñatas being whacked, see Piñata-Smashing Gag.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- The Beano: One "Meebo and Zuky" strip takes place on Zuky's birthday. Meebo's presents for him consist of a garish hat and sweater, and a box of chocolates (which Meebo crams down his throat). Meebo then takes Zuky to a party, which Zuky believes is for him, until a rabbit father pays Meebo for the piñata he'd ordered. In the last panel, Zuky is hung from a tree, chocolates spilling from his mouth after being whacked.
- The cover of Cartoon Network Block Party #32 has Eduardo blindfolded and about to unknowingly whack a strung-up Bloo.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): In issue #13, Rough and Tumble have taken over Windmill Village. When Sonic and Tails get there, they find Elder Scruffy tied up with rope and hanging from a tree branch with a sign that says "piñata" on him. From the look of him, he’s taken a beating.
Comic Strips
- Garfield:
- In the May 29, 2009
◊ strip, Garfield, wearing a sombrero, approaches a spider, who realizes Garfield plans to use him as a piñata and tells Garfield he doesn't want to play that game. Garfield simply shows the spider his baseball bat and pretends not to speak English.
- Discussed in the April 09, 2022◊ strip; Jon tells Liz he has a friend named Pete who used to perform at birthday parties, but had to quit because of health reasons, to which Garfield reveals Pete's act was being a human piñata.
- In the May 29, 2009
Film — Animated
- The Emperor's New Groove: Yzma tries to ram down the closet door that Pacha's family locked her and Kronk in, only for Chicha to open the door at the exact moment resulting in Pacha's kids setting up traps that result in Yzma traveling downhill at a high speed, getting honey and feathered and end up taking the place of a chicken piñata and whacked repeatedly by a group of blindfolded children.
- Ice Age: The Meltdown: A bunch of kids Sid babysits hangs him by his leg, them exclaiming piñata. Sid tells the one with a stick he should hit the piñata blindfolded, so the kid covers only one eye before hitting him.
- Queer Duck: The Movie: Played for Laughs. The morning after the wild party at Queer Duck and Openly Gator's apartment, Gator says it wasn't that wild because no one touched the piñata. The next shot is a donkey in bondage gear suspended from the ceiling irritably saying he's not a piñata.
- Sausage Party: This is how one of the humans is defeated in the climax. After being cornered by the fruits, a burly man is strung up by his feet and beaten like a piñata.
- Shrek 2: Shrek, needing a tear to activate the Fairy Godmother's business card, asks Donkey to recall "the saddest thing that's ever happened to [him]". Among other things, Donkey recounts an occasion where a group of drunken revellers at a birthday party had mistaken him for a piñata and started beating him with sticks.
Donkey: What is a piñata, anyway?!
Film — Live-Action
- The Cat in the Hat (2003): Needing to hide from some children at a birthday party, the Cat takes the party's cat piñata that's the exact size and shape of him, hides it in a bush and hangs on the rope in its place (rather then just hide in the bush himself) which results in him getting beaten with sticks and one large child whacking him in the groin.
- Hobo with a Shotgun: Played for Horror in a scene in the Drake's headquarters has some unfortunate guy hung naked from the ceiling while the Drake's molls beat him to death with a baseball bat covered in razor blades.
Literature
- Excession: Affronters like to play a variation of squash that involves live, bat-like creatures being used as the balls.
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5: in "Dust to Dust", we get this exchange that goes from a threat to an insult and then Insult Backfire:
Bester: If I had my talent working, I could've warned you when he was coming.
Garibaldi: And if I had a baseball bat, we could hang you from the ceiling and play piñata. I still think I should've gone right to G'Kar.
Bester: We have no evidence that he made the sale yet. Why annoy the Narn without cause or if we're wrong? Shut off the problem at the source, and the rest attends to itself. [Beat] A piñata, huh? So you think of me as something bright and cheerful full of toys and candy for young children? Thank you. That makes me feel much better about our relationship.
Garibaldi: [opens his mouth, then snaps it shut and visibly struggles not to burst out laughing] - Danger Force: In "Vidja Games", after accidentally revealing their secret identities, Captain Man must uphold a humiliating agreement to serve as a human piñata at his rival Joey Lawrence’s daughter’s birthday party. While Mika successfully destroys the evidence using a massive, buttermilk-fueled burp, Ray is forced to face the consequences, getting repeatedly struck by Lawrence and a group of ecstatic children in the Man's Nest.
- The Good Place: Discussed in "A Girl From Arizona (Part 2)" as Eleanor and Michael discuss how they can make Brent, an arrogant guy who is in what he believes to be heaven, be a better person, Eleanor states they should "bust [Brent] open like a piñata" to make him realize he doesn't belong in heaven. Michael, who is an Ascended Demon, claims they already did that to Brent when he was still in The Bad Place, and what comes out of such a human piñata is definitely not candy. Eleanor points out her statement was meant metaphorically.
- Impractical Jokers: In the episode aptly titled "Human Piñata", Murr's Disproportionate Retribution punishment is to become a human piñata.
- Kenny vs. Spenny: In the episode "Who Can Handle More Torture", one of the scenarios is being used as a human piñata. The person holds onto candy and is repeatedly hit by kids with sticks, and they drop the candy to stop being hit. As part of Kenny's Batman Gambit for the episode, he has Spenny go first, who naturally tries to last as long as possible. Then, when it is Kenny's turn, he drops the candy immediately to avoid being hit by the bats.
- Malcolm in the Middle: In "Block Party", Reese tells all the neighborhood kids that they can beat him up in exchange for money, but instead secretly kidnaps someone else to take the beating for him. Reese intends to watch everything from the rafters of his garage, but he falls from his perch, allowing the neighborhood kids to beat him up anyway. For bonus points, Reese drops candy every time he is hit like an actual piñata.
Web Animation
- The Amazing Digital Circus: In "Fast Food Masquerade", Caine reads some ideas for adventures that the players put in the suggestion box. One suggestion is for an "adventure" where Zooble gets turned into a piñata and the other players all take turns beating them up. Jax laughs and says that one was his idea.
- Dungeon Soup: The dragon's ultimate fate is to have his entire hoard stuffed into his bowels by the Barbarian's wish on seven dragon balls. The Barbarian then turns the dragon into a pinata and whacks the dragon so hard that the blood-splattered gold in his innards sprays all over a cheering party-goers
- Mario's Bad Day: In Episode 5, Mario gets hung up by his neck, and Bowser hits him with a bat like a piñata.
Western Animation
- The Angry Beavers: In "Sqotters", to get a family of otters that took over their dam out, Norbert tries swinging from a rope in a Bedsheet Ghost disguise to scare them away. The otters figure that Norbert is just an ugly-looking piñata and they proceed to whack him with sticks.
- Animaniacs: One of the "Good Idea, Bad Idea" segments shows Mr. Skullhead dressed as a piñata for Halloween and getting smashed by kids who think he's a real one.
Announcer: Good idea: Dressing up for Halloween as a pirate.
[Mr. Skullhead is standing outside, dressed as a pirate. He's joined by a bunch of kids in assorted costumes.]
Announcer: Bad idea: Dressing up for Halloween as a piñata.
[Mr. Skullhead is standing outside, dressed as a star-shaped piñata. The kids start whacking him with sticks. Bones begin flying off him.] - Codename: Kids Next Door: In "Operation C.A.K.E.D", Numbuh One is forced to wear the piñata at The Delightful Children from Down the Lane's their birthday party, lest they do anything to upset Laura and have her turn into The Big Badolescent. Numbuh One ends up getting smacked repeatedly by blindfolded Numbuh Three until Badolescent uses Numbuh Three as a club and launches Numbuh Four and Five at the piñata to break it open.
Laura: Greatest piñata ever! Greatest piñata ever!Numbuh One: I've seen better.
- In Dan Vs. In "Summer Camp", kid Dan leads a rebellion against a horrific Summer Camp. After catching a bully in a snare, Dan approaches him with a stick and smugly asks if he knows what a piñata is.
- DuckTales (2017) In "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!", wanting to punish Louie for trying to deceive him, Doofus Drake decides to hunt the most dangerous piñata of all: man, by way of remote controlling Boyd to whack him in his place. Luckily for Louie, Goldie steps in at the last second to put a stop to it.
- Ed, Edd n Eddy: In "Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?", desperate to repay Sarah money they borrowed, Eddy convinces Jonny that Ed and Edd, (currently wedgied from a tree branch by their underwear courtesy of Kevin) are piñatas and for just a quarter, he can beat them with a hockey stick and keep whatever falls out. Jonny whacks Double D repeatedly resulting in just a shoe falling to the ground; whacking Ed just once results in a pile of garbage falling out of his clothes. Among the garbage pile, Jonny collects a pair of "coconut earmuffs" (a coconut bra Ed wore for a scam earlier in the episode).
- The Fairly OddParents!:
- In "Mind Over Magic", for revenge of promising them candy and not giving them any, Francis hoists Crocker in the air (via his hoisted anti-mind reading helmet) and starts using him as a piñata for Timmy's classmates to hit at.
- In season 7 episode "Crocker Shocker", Timmy uses his fairy godparents Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof to fly by using ropes to suspend them in the sky so that Crocker (who was hypnotized and cured to be a normal person with better anatomy who won't believe in fairies anymore from Dr. Phyllis Fancyfree) would recognize them as fairies and return to his jerk persona because of the Fairy World's power source of magic that Crocker that he believes in fairies starting to losing power and magic and the world falls into the Giant Bucket of Acid World. Crocker thinks that Timmy's fairies are "fancy-talking piñatas", and he and the party guests from his house, who are celebrating that Crocker's cure has worked and won't believe in fairies, start to beat them up (except for Poof, whom he saved from Timmy getting beaten).
- Family Guy: In "Teacher's Heavy Pet", there's a Cutaway Gag to a birthday party where Peter messed up the roles, so he's the piñata while a piñata is manning the grill. Despite Peter's objections, he is whacked open and to his own surprise, he is in fact full of candy, leading him to wonder what happened to his insides. Cut to the piñata in Peter's car, brought to life by having Peter's organs, driving away to move in with his sister, Hilaria Baldwin.
- Johnny Bravo: In "Doommates", Johnny and Carl rent a trailer together, but they get on each other's nerves and separate the trailer by sides. One of Carl's security measures was a snare trap that hoists Johnny in the air, followed by him getting beaten by stick-wielding children in blindfolds and party hats.
- Ninjago: In Season 2 premiere, Kai is hired to be a pinata at one point, with the implication that he had to store candy inside himself.
- The Owl House: The Snaggleback is one of the sapient demons who live on the Boiling Isles, and he is always the Butt-Monkey every time he appears in an episode. This culminates in the series finale, when he's used as a piñata at Luz's eighteenth birthday party (or rather a painata).
- Phineas and Ferb: In "Picture This", Candace uses Phineas and Ferb's latest invention, the Photo Transporter to instantly teleport Linda to their backyard, unaware that Linda was at a party and in the middle of trying to hit a real piñata while blindfolded. Thus, Linda, unaware she's in her backyard now, keeps swinging her bat widely towards the kids who all flee from her.
Baljeet: There's no candy in me!
- Rocko's Modern Life: In "I Have No Son", at Mr. and Mrs. Bighead's anniversary party, a nearsighted party guest dances with Rocko until he gets tossed into a chandelier which snags on his shirt. The scene ends with Mr. Bighead's young nieces and nephews asking him if they can break the piñata while wielding a bat, a parking meter, an axe, and a spiked mace; Bighead dismissively tells them yes, which prompts a Loud Gulp from Rocko.
- Sheep in the Big City: In "The Beauty And The Bleats", at a party exclusively for sheep haters, Lady Richington compliments a guest on an off-screen sheep piñata, to which the man replies, "Piñata?", followed by the sound of whacking and bleating.
- The Simpsons:
- In "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo", The Simpson family compete in a Japanese game show. One challenge had Homer dressed as a piñata while gagged while the rest of the blindfolded family unknowingly whacked him with sticks.
Lisa: Oh, sorry, Dad, we didn't know.Bart: I had an inkling.Homer: Can someone please whack my hernia back in?
- In "Love, Springfieldian Style", the first segment, "Bonnie and Clyde", features the Sheriff (played by Chief Wiggum) watching a Robby Robin cartoon called "Tijuana Trouble" in a movie theater. In the cartoon, Robby eats a taco that causes him to throw up when he tries to laugh, then launches him into a tree, where young mice mistake him for a piñata and hit him.
Sheriff: Even I'm offended by this, and I'm a fat Southern Sheriff!
- In "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Krusty is attacked by angry Hispanics who string him up like a piñata and hit him with sticks after he tells an offensive joke about Mexicans.
- In "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo", The Simpson family compete in a Japanese game show. One challenge had Homer dressed as a piñata while gagged while the rest of the blindfolded family unknowingly whacked him with sticks.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Goo Goo Gas", Plankton plots to turn Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob into babies so they'll be too helpless to stop him from stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula. One such attempt accidentally turns them into seniors instead, and SpongeBob decides to take up knitting. This gives Mr. Krabs the idea to join him so that together, they can knit a net to catch Plankton in. When they successfully knit the net and catch Plankton in it, they hang it out like a piñata so the other seniors can beat him up for calling them old.
- Tiny Toon Adventures: In "Journey to the Center of ACME Acres", Montana Max steals a giant gold nugget from the center of the Earth, which results in the angry Gremlins who own it causing a series of earthquakes. To stop the earthquakes, Buster Bunny and his friends have to return the gold nugget to the center of the Earth where it belongs. When Monty tries to take the gold nugget back, he falls into the center of the Earth with it. The Gremlins find out that it was Monty who stole their gold nugget, and as retribution, they use Monty as a human piñata.
- Viva Piñata: Besides the main characters being actual living piñatas, the episode "Pester's Party" ends with the Token Human villain Professor Pestor being sent to a party as a piñata, about to be beaten by a bunch of children.