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It’s now engrained in modern culture as a classic comedic gimmick: a performer walking on a banana peel and slipping with the “whoop!” sound as the actor hits the ground. These days this gag may be something one only sees in a cartoon, performance, or even a video game, but not too long ago this comedic bit was referencing a banana-filled sidewalk reality.
📸: Silent-ology
In the mid 1800s, Carl B. Frank reportedly was the first to bring bananas to New York City, creating an American obsession with the fruit that continues to this day. City sanitation standards, however, were quite different back then, and an influx of banana produce led to an abundance of used peels tossed all over the streets and walkways. Rotting banana peels posed real danger to anyone who crossed their path, and so throwing a peel in the street soon came to symbolize poor manners. It became such a problem with citizens slipping and sliding that cities like St. Louis outlawed the tossing of banana peels on public grounds.
📸: Jack Street
Most trace the origins of the comedic banana fall to the aptly named “Sliding” Billy Watson, who it turns out was commenting on a very real problem that many audience members at the time probably would have seen some form of the bit play out in real life. Watson’s “sliding act” brought him much acclaim in the 1900s, and the bit has been seared into popular culture ever since.
While one banana peel in someone’s way probably won’t make them a butt of a joke, we recommend crossing the street to the other sidewalk – just in case!
