The first-ever spit-take recorded on film
Ah yes, the spit take, that classic moment of comedy where a character can’t quite believe what they’ve heard or seen at the unfortunate same time that they have a mouthful of their favourite drink. Their surprise is so vast that they can’t help but release a spray of liquid from their mouth, delivered with expert comic time.
In fact, it’s all about the timing that makes a good spit-take worth its salt. We can spot a spit-take coming when a gag is leading up to the punchline and a given character takes a swig just moments before it arrives. Rather than laughing at the joke, the only reaction is to release their drink into the air.
The spit-take was sometimes referred to as the “spit gag”, and it’s widely considered to have been brought into popularity by the American actor, singer, and comedian Danny Thomas. In fact, the spit-take became so synonymous with Thomas that it was sometimes called the “Danny Thomas spit-take”.
Between 1953 and 1964, Thomas delivered his spit-take routine on The Danny Thomas Show, although Ricky Ricardo did it on I Love Lucy, as had David Bruce on Beulah. These classic comedians are undoubtedly responsible for bringing the gag into popularity, and we’ve seen it in countless sitcoms ever since.
However, the first-ever spit-take actually arrived at the beginning of the 20th Century, in the 1906 film Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, by the actor Jack Brawn. The film is a silent movie directed by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company, a seven-minute live-action version of the comic strip of the same name.
It tells of a titular rarebit fiend who tucks into a plate of Welsh rarebit before beginning to hallucinate. After somehow finding his way home, he falls into bed and starts having a series of strange dreams, many of which revolve around his favourite meal.
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend is something of a comedy cinematic cultural artefact and should be remembered for being the first time the classic spit-take gag was ever recorded on film, laying the precedent for so many of our favourite actors and comedians to deliver the beloved moment over the proceeding years.
We’ve seen the likes of Gene Wilder and Jeff Goldblum spray their drinks all over the place, unable to contain their laughter, but none are more prolific than Brendan Fraser, who actually holds the record for the most amount of on-screen spit-takes, spraying one in The Mummy and two in Monkeybone.
