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Dope Slap

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Dope Slap (trope)

"A slap in the face would be humiliating. Back of the head's a wake-up call."
Special Agent Leroy Gibbs, NCIS, "The Bone Yard"

A corrective action that consists of the following:

  1. Take open palm.
  2. Deliver slap directly to the back of the skull.
  3. (Optional) Ask some variant of "What are you, stupid or something?"

The Dope Slap is a (generally) light slap (or knuckle tap) to the back of the skull that is intended as a disciplinary move by one character when another character does, says, or even thinks something that is uniformly stupid, or just to shut them up. The slap is almost always Played for Laughs in some way; think of it as an attempt at Percussive Maintenance on somebody's brain, and thus occasionally overlaps with Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!. Another variation is a "shut up" poke to the ribs with the elbow. The slap may also be applied to the back, shoulder, or chest. Finally, it may also be performed simply by making a slapping motion in the direction of the target, without any actual physical contact occurring.

It could be considered a subtrope of Slapstick. In a Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, it's most often done with a Paper Fan of Doom.

Also known by two other names: the Gerber Slap (since, when properly applied, the recipient's expression should resemble the "goo-goo" face on the eponymous brand of baby food), and the Gibbs Slap (in honor of the NCIS character who does this a lot to another regular who's a bit full of himself).

The complete inverse of Facepalm. Compare Zen Slap, when a Zen master does this to a disciple for the purpose of enlightening them, and also compare/contrast to Bitch Slap, which is a slap to the face meant to humiliate. Compare Feminine Two-Fisted Pounding for similar acts to punish but lacking in permanent damage. See also Percussive Prevention. See "Silly Me" Gesture for when a character does a similar gesture to themselves.


Example Subpages:

Other Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • The "Could've Had a V8" line of commercials typically feature one character dope-slapping the other in the forehead, complete with a hollow "doink" sound.
  • One commercial has a guy get an especially heavy one from a relative while he's fast-forwarding to get to the only part he wants to see... of a video will.

    Animation 
  • Mechamato: Rubika scans for bad robots and shows that there is one right next to Amato. MechaBot panics before realizing that it's himself. Amato gives him an annoyed look and chops him on the head.
  • My Tyrano: Together, Forever: Among the Bumbling Henchmen Duo Rucchi and Gocchi, Rucchi tends to dope-slap his Fat Idiot partner Gocchi with his tail whenever Gocchi starts displaying moments of idiocy. Including an uppercut at one point.

    Comedy 
  • Bill Engvall talks about getting these from his father, especially at church. His father would sit with his children on both sides of him, with his arms stretched out behind him on the pew, "like he was huggin' the whole family." And if one of the kids misbehaved, he would be in easy smacking range. "'Brain dusters,' that's what we called 'em."
  • Similarly, Carlos Mencia's mother would deliver these when he acted up — and sometimes preemptively.
    Carlos: [rubbing his head in disbelief] Did you just hit me for something I might do?
  • Japanese Manzai comedy employs dope slaps as part of its Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, with Straight Man and Wise Guy in Boke's incompetence and idiocy driving the Tsukkomi to reprimand the Boke, often physically and violently.

    Comic Books 
  • IDW's Ghostbusters: Ongoing:
    • Peter gives one to Ray in issue 11.
      Peter: And how did you know telling the aliens they weren't aliens would work, Ray?
      Ray: That? Oh, I didn't. I just guessed.
      Peter: ...*THWACK*
    • And Egon gives a rather ironic one to Peter in the first issue of the continuation, The New Ghostbusters after all four of them have been kidnapped and sent into limbo:
      Peter: And the first person to make a "Peoplebuster" comment gets a whack to the back of the—
      Egon: *THWACK*
      Peter: —Hea-OW!
  • Kingdom Come: In the last issue, Magog gives one of his fellow metahumans a Dope Smack for being disrespectful during the ceremony where Wonder Woman is welcomed back into the Amazons.
  • Superboy (Conner Kent) received one from Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) during a team-up. Superboy, being a Casanova Wannabe at that time, continuously shows off his tactile-telekinesis in order to impress her. When she simply ignores him and uses his Nigh-Invulnerability as a Human Shield to protect her from an explosion, he finally gets angry and snaps back with a "What the Hell, Hero?" rant. Cassandra calmly slaps him across the forehead and says, "Focus." And Superboy is shocked that it hurt.
    Superboy: She got past my force-field. My impregnable force-field. I feel so... pregnable.
  • A particularly hilarious one in Ultimate Spider-Man (2000). After a mutant's powers activate, Spidey and Iceman are trying to convince her to use her powers responsibly. After Iceman makes a particularly stupid comment about her powers (control of fire: "Or, we could get some marshmallows..."), Spidey delivers a quick slap to the back of the head.
  • Another good one comes from Fantastic Four, where Reed gives Johnny a head smack from three panels away after learning the latter slept with Doom's fiance Zora.

    Comic Strips 
  • The Boondocks has this:
    Riley: Huey, I was thinking...
    Huey: Stop right there. I'm going to reach back like so. If you say something ignorant, I'm gonna smack you real, real hard.
    [beat panel]
    Riley: Never mind, it wasn't important.
    Huey: I thought so.
  • Dilbert has a strip where the Pointy-Haired Boss explains that he is going to punish people for bad ideas by smacking them. Dilbert calls it "the dumbest idea I've ever heard", which causes the Boss to promptly smack himself in the face and makes Dilbert consider giving the policy a second chance.
  • Nodwick: In the last panel of the 2002-08-28 strip, Yeagar gets an inter-dimensional dope slap from Phil Foglio's Author Avatar.

    Fan Works 

Crossovers

  • Adventures of a Time Lord & a Slayer: In Hide & Seek, Rose slaps the back of the Doctor's head as a reprimand when he criticizes Buffy's choices of boyfriend.
  • Blessed with a Hero's Heart: Izuku gives one to Megumin when she performs her Big Bang spell for the first time, calling her out on overpowering the spell and almost losing control of the containment field. She later pays him back by bonking him on the head with her staff, after he offers to reincarnate Wiz, when he had just done the same for Keel and his servants, without sufficient time to rest.
  • Boldores and Boomsticks: While Jaune is joking about someone else asking Pyrrha to the Beacon dance, Taiyang takes him aside, and then gives him a smack to the head hard enough to knock him over along with some advice Taiyang wished someone would've given him when he was Jaune's age.
    Taiyang: ASK HER, STUPID!
  • Child of the Storm has a few examples, usually Pepper doing it to Tony. Other examples include Sean Cassidy doing it to Warren when he was overdoing the angst, then Warren doing it to Sean when he was overdoing the angst. And while the other two examples have normal human strength, Warren is considerably stronger. When he smacks, whatever he smacks stays smacked.
    • Harry also does one to Ron at the latter's Uranus joke, and Thor gets one from his mother when he swears.
  • Harry Potter And The Order Of The Dragon (link): Ron comes in for a double dose of this from Ginny and Tracy.
    Hermione: Harry, I think we just found the Room of Requirement. I read about it in Hogwarts, a History. It's supposed to change its form to suit the needs of whoever finds it.
    Ron: So if you really needed to use the—OW!
  • The Naruto Mega Crossover Naruto's Waifu Marriage! has Yoruichi receiving a few bumps on the head for the myriad times she's unexpectedly flashed her husband, usually from Erza or Esdeath.
  • In Evangelion/Street Fighter crossover Neon Genesis Evangelion: Senshi no Michi, Misato playfully smacks Asuka on the back of the head when the younger girl is rolling her eyes at Shinji and their master Gouken getting all emotional. When Asuka protests, Misato reminds her that she got all teary-eyed when they left their master's dojo.
  • Ninja Wizard Book 5: Lavender and Parvati do it to Ron when he comments that Harry's owl Hedwig, who'd been missing for two weeks, probably got eaten by something.
  • The Season's My Reason: In "Precious Circuit", Sandman smacks Aran Ryan upside the head for failing to tell Yui Nagomi apart from Katrina Beaufort, despite the latter being a WVBA boxer and the daughter of one of their coworkers.
  • Shadows over Meridian:
    • When Quinn comments in Chapter 26 about the invaluable crystals they're seeing in the mine walls, Jade responds by striking the soldier's forehead with her fingers to "channel Uncle from across reality", and forbids her from touching the Mogriffs' crystals.
    • When Alan attempts to move in his injured condition in Chapter 29, Sofia smacks his head and tells him not to re-open his wound.
  • Thousand Shinji, Asuka whacks Shinji upside the head when he's poking fun at her and being a bigger pervert than usual:
    Whacking him playfully upside the head, Asuka says, "Stupid pervert."
  • The Wizard and the Lonely Princess: Tonks does it to Harry when he suggests that adding ways of killing him to his Potions homework might make Snape give him a better mark.

Arrowverse

  • In chapter 38 of Supergirl story Survivors, Alex slaps the back of Kara's head when her adoptive sister decides on a whim to erase her late birth mother's hologram.
    "I must follow..." the robot started before Alex struck Kara in the back of her head.
    "Tell it stop now! If you never want to see it again that is fine but you aren't destroying it!
    Kara took a breath and hoped Alex hadn't broken her hand. Alex knew Kara hated it when she slapped the back of her head.

Bluey (2018)

  • Bandit's Belt: Bandit slaps Stripe because he thinks his revenge plan (dumping garbage on Wendy because she dumped a milkshake on him) is stupid.

Calvin and Hobbes

The DCU

  • In Shazam! fanfiction Here There Be Monsters, Dr. Sivana slaps the back of his son's head when Thaddeus Jr. whines that they will be done if Sivana's contingency plan fails.

Dragon Ball

  • Of The Earthling Saiyan: Raditz frequently hits or punches Kakarot's head whenever he says something stupid. It's later revealed that Raditz got this habit from his mother, who also does this to people.
  • studies in Saiyan courtship:
    • Vegeta smacks Goku in the head after he pretends to not realize he's Vegeta's battle partner.
    • Bulma smacks the back of Goku's head to get him to stop acting so excited about Vegeta and Broly's battle, which was upsetting Vegeta.

Fairy Tail

  • Keeping Secrets: In chapter 37, when Jackal puts his foot in his mouth and fails to understand that Lucy didn't want to be kidnapped and given to Natsu in the first place, Rusty karate-chops him over the head.
    Rusty: Please stop talking. The rest of us can only take so much of your idiocy at a time.

Godzilla

  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): In Chapter 17, when Scylla doesn't immediately release her hold on Thor per Mothra's urging that they need to focus on the bigger issue at hand, Mothra cracks a forelimb across Scylla's face which makes Scylla release Thor in surprise.

Harry Potter

  • In Abandon, Hermione does it to Draco when he says that she might have a mood swing if Voldemort decides to be insulted by her comment that he's "not such a bastard."
  • Blinded By Their Hatred: Molly slaps Charlie on his head for making a crude joke about Harry and Draco. It's implied that she does this often for similar reasons.
  • Crimson Ink: Bellatrix does it to Barty when he gets bored of looking for Voldemort's spirit and starts narrating what the search party is doing.
  • Dragon Chronicles 2: Harry Potter, Dragon Whisperer: Daphne does it to Harry after hearing that he ran into a cave full of dragon poachers without his wand.
  • In Harriet Potter: What it is like to be a witch Hermione does it to Ron when he complains about Harry quitting the Quidditch team to concentrate on training to fight Voldemort.
  • Harry Potter and the Four Heirs: Susan does it to Harry when he says he deserves to be "tried for his crimes" after draining Voldemort's magic causes the unintentional death of every marked Death Eater except Snape.
  • Harry Potter and the Horcrux Hunt: Tonks does it to Harry for suggesting they use a thermonuclear device on Voldemort after all the Horcruxes have been destroyed.
  • Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path: Alicia does it to Fred when he suggests skipping Astronomy to get his beauty sleep.
  • Harry Potter -- Three to Backstep: Daphne and Hermione do it to Harry and Matthias when they groan at the mention of clothes shopping.
  • Ninja Wizard Book 2: Dean does it to Ron when he derisively describes soccer as "Run around, kick the ball."
  • The Problem With Purity: Remus Lupin is in a meeting where he has to be polite to Severus Snape. When Lupin's first reaction to Snape's entrance is a growl, first Hermione then Tonks slap the back of Lupin's head to remind him to behave.
  • Siren Call:
    • Anyra slaps Draco upside the head for calling her a ninny. She immediately realizes she overreacted and apologizes.
    • Anyra hits Harry in the back of the head for glaring at Draco and saying it was too bad she was sorted into Slytherin.
  • Thanks to a Snake: Daphne does it to Harry for making a remark that prompts a recuperating George to try to sit up, while Amelia does it to Sirius for complaining about receiving couple presents the first Christmas after their wedding.
  • Time Turned Back: Severus slaps the back of Gabriel's head for allowing the basilisk to freely roam the Forbidden Forest. He then does it a second time after Gabriel sticks his tongue out and talks back to him.
  • Waking from oblivion: Remus does it to Sirius for suggesting that they get Snape to consider betraying Harry so Snape's steward ring will kill him.
  • The Videus Charm: Harriet does it to Ron when he says that they don't make girls like Fleur at Hogwarts.

My Hero Academia

  • The Best Case Scenario, if you're being "realistic": Itsuka's reliance upon this when dealing with Monoma is Deconstructed in "Eye Of The Tiger". When he starts harassing Class A about Bakugou and Kirishima being arrested, she smacks him several times when he refuses to back down, until they're interrupted. Both get a week's detention, with the teacher handing this punishment down remarking that he's being lenient, and Vlad King shamefully admitting that he'd been allowing her to deal with Monoma herself so that he didn't have to.
  • I Don't Run An Orphanage!: Whenever the Midoriya family's resident blockhead Ken says something stupid, his less blockheaded sister Nara gives him a whack.
  • When Reason Fails:
    • Katsuki's favored method of keeping Izuku from doing something stupid is a hand-chop to the back of the head.
    • Defied by Shoto, who doesn't ice-blasts Izuku after he makes an understatement regarding their discovery of the Special Exclusion Zone because he doesn't want to anger Aiko, who is sleeping in Izuku's arms.
    • Izuku uses Shoto as his proxy for delivering neck chops. Shoto is willing to hit himself when Izuku tells him to do so after making stupid comments.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Naruto

Neon Genesis Evangelion

  • The Child of Love: During an emergency, Misato orders the pilots' friends hurry to the nearest shelter as she takes the three Eva pilots with her. Kensuke says there are only two pilots only because Asuka is an inactive pilot, disregarding she is very sensitive about the issue. Asuka hit him on the back of his head.
  • Evangelion 303: In chapter 6 Asuka flicks Shinji's top of head after he said that he did not care much whether he lived or died. Then she angrily tells him that she could never go into combat with someone who would not fight to save his own life and reminds him that there are people like herself that depend on him to live.
  • Evangelion: A New Awakening: In chapter 6, Toji snacks his friend Kensuke upside the back of his head when Kensuke's hooting and cheering ruin Shinji and Asuka's first serious kiss.
  • HERZ: In the epilogue, Asuka smacks Shinji on the head because he did not manage to find their daughter among a crowd even though she had told him where she was several times.
  • Read the Fine Print (Evangelion): Shinji starts screaming when a (literally) flame-haired demon teleports into Misato's kitchen, and Asuka gets him to stop by slapping the back of his head.
    Before Shinji could get too carried away, Asuka reached out and slapped him across the back of the head. He stopped screaming and winced, bringing a hand up to where he was slapped, and gave her a confused look.
  • Redemption Song: At the start of chapter 8, Shinji is fretting over getting up late when there are so much work to be done around the town. When Asuka suggests him to take a day off, Shinji begins fretting over being undeserving of a vacaction, so that Asuka slaps the top of his head and orders him to stop being an idiot and take a day off.
  • Scar Tissue: In episode 12 Asuka and Shinji are having a bonding moment when Shinji ruins it with a smartass comment. In reaction, Asuka bopped him on the head.

One Piece

Star Trek

  • In Peace Forged in Fire the tactical officer of the ch'R Maens does this to the sensor officer after he tries to laugh off a tachyon burst. This is a Call-Back to Red Fire, Red Planet, written by one of the authors, where it turned out to be a side effect of a cloaked warship dropping to sublight.
    Subcommander t'Ihaimehn: Better wake the leih.
    Sensor Officer: That could mean any number of things, rekkhai. (t'Ihaimehn whacks him) Ow!
    t'Ihaimehn: Yes, "any number of things", and most of the list consists of things I would not wish to face without Riov t'Khellian on the bridge.

Worm

  • Here Comes the New Boss:
    • Spree smacks Reaver for deciding to take Squealer as a prisoner.
    • Amy "heals" Elpis after a poorly-thought-out solo confrontation with the Empire, then repeatedly smacks her on the head with a rolled up newspaper.
      "Idiot," Amy snapped as I frantically shielded myself with my arms. "Idiot, idiot, idiot," she repeated, swatting at me with every word.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

  • A Mother's Touch: Yuzu is known to frequently do this with her harisen, and she delivers two to Yugo in quick succession when he calls Yoko "Mommy" and "Queen".

Unsorted/Dormant/Dead

    Films — Animation 
  • In Balto, Kaltag has a habit of hitting Star on the head whenever he interrupts one of his rants as their Running Gag. Star is well aware of this and on one occasion does it to himself and at the end of the film he expects to receive one, only for Kaltag to actually agree with him.
  • Boys Night Out: Linberg's stepfather slaps Father Jackson when the latter gets a little too out of control, licking a statue designed like a naked woman's body.
  • Even fishes can get into it. In Finding Nemo, Bloat gives a dope slap to Gurgle with his fin.
  • How to Train Your Dragon:
    • It goes by pretty quickly, but Gobber gives Hiccup a light one on the back of the head after the boy's father tells him to go home after screwing up (and, heavily suggested, not for the first time).
    • Hiccup also gets one from Toothless after nearly crashing them into a cliff during flying practice.
  • Ice Age:
    • Proving that you don't even need a hand to give a dope slap, Manfred the mammoth delivers one to Sid with his trunk in the first three films.
    • And the more egregious example from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Ellie is going into labor; when Crash asks if she can just hold it in for a while, Ellie (being a long distance away and unable to reach him with her trunk) yells down: "Can somebody slap him for me?" Needless to say, Eddie obliges immediately and delivers a resounding smack to Crash's head.
    • Continued in Ice Age: Continental Drift. Captain Gutt is working some island locals to the bone, whipping them as they carry supplies on their backs (note: they are about the size of guinea pigs). Sid's comment?
      Sid: Two words: Anger. Management.
      [Manny slaps Sid upside the head with his trunk]
  • In The Lorax, after the Once-Ler cuts down the first tree, two Humming Fish go near it, and one knocks on the stump with its fin to indicate nothing has really changed, only for the sky to suddenly turn black and begin to rumble (indicating the summoning of the Lorax). The other fish then slaps the first one in the back of the head for apparently causing the current thing.
  • Near the end of Monsters, Inc. 1, as the MI workforce watches Mr. Waternoose being arrested and hauled away in a CDA van.
    Smitty: I bet we get the rest of the day off.
    Needleman: [smacks him] You idiot! They're gonna shut down the factory!
  • An off-screen case happens in Mulan after Yao replies to "Any questions?" with "Does This Make Me Look Fat?"
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 1: Spike hits the back of Twilight's head with his paw when she says "everypony" instead of "everybody" while talking with human Fluttershy.
  • In My Neighbor Totoro, Kanta's mother raps him on the head with her knuckle while chastising him for seemingly forgetting his umbrella at school during a thunderstorm and ruining his school clothes (he'd actually given it to Satsuki since she'd forgotten to bring hers to school in the first place).
  • Tulio does this to Miguel at least three times in The Road to El Dorado, in addition to many death glares and elbow nudges.
  • In Shrek 2, when the heralds show up to deliver an invitation to Shrek and Fiona to see Fiona's parents, one herald keeps trumpeting (the Hawaii Five-O theme) after the others stopped, so the lead herald hits his rolled-up scroll on the back of his head to shut him up.
    Lead Herald: Enough, Reggie.
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Doc gives Dopey one of these when the latter sticks two diamonds in his eyes, mimicking the former examining one.
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie: During the dinner scene, while discussing Mario and Luigi's TV commercial, Uncle Arthur mockingly asks if they "give Oscars to Worst Actors". His wife gives him one in annoyance.
  • At the end of Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Raven does this to Beast Boy after he makes his last and somewhat awkward comment: "Okay, next time, we're going to Mexico!" She then coldly slaps him senseless off the stage, the camera fades after that, then the credits roll.
  • Yellow Submarine: Max gets more than a dope slap from the Chief Blue Meanie several times, especially after the Beatles revive Pepperland. The Chief rasps "The hills are alive..." to which Max replies in sing-song "with the sound of music!" The Chief punches him.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension: Whorfin gives one to the guard who couldn't turn on the TV to show Penny's torture.
  • In Against All Flags, the non-nonsense Molvina MacGregor does this to Princess Patma when the Princess threatens to have her cast into the cobra pit.
  • The original Arthur gives us a great one in the beginning, while Arthur is in the bath and ponders whether fish ever get tired of seafood. Hobson walks over, lifts off Arthur's hat, and smacks him.
  • Avatar (2009): When Neytiri is trying to teach Jake the word "nari" (eye), he keeps saying "nadi" (which is not even a possible word in the Na'vi language), earning him an irritated (and ad-libbed) whack to the forehead.
  • In Back to the Future Part II, Old Biff dope-slaps Young Biff for mangling a joke after giving him the Gray's Sports Almanac. And no, they don't explode (especially since Young Biff is too stupid to recognize himself).
    Young Biff: Why don't you make like a tree and get out of here?
    Old Biff: [smack] It's LEAVE, you idiot! "Make like a tree and leave." You sound like a damn fool when you say it wrong!
  • An amusingly inverted version in The Black Hole, with Mad Scientist Dr. Reinhardt triple-slapping his own forehead when rebuking Maximilian for the Sentries' failure against V.I.N.CENT. and Old B.O.B.
  • Les Boys IV: Stan is worried for Popol after the latter has left with most of the other Boys. Martin innocently says it'd be a shame if Popol died given that he's Stan's only son. Jean-Charles responds to this stupid remark by slapping the back of Martin's head.
  • Flavio repeatedly dope slaps Santiago for not answering Longara's questions fast enough in Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman.
  • In Chai Lai Angels: Dangerous Flowers, Crown of Thorns repeatedly dope slaps Hibisicus when Hibiscus keeps making stupid and thoughtless comments when Rose receives a Finger in the Mail.
  • Clue, in the second ending. The first one was a dope slap, the second was to his face.
    Wadsworth: You see? It's like the Mounties, we always get our man!
    Mr. Green: Mrs. Peacock was a man?!
  • In The Day After Tomorrow, Jason earns one from Frank when he hits on Janet Tokada instead of focusing on the global apocalypse at hand.
  • In the film Defiance there's a scene which shouldn't be funny (but is) wherein Zus confronts his Soviet commanding officer about one of the other Soviets for beating one of Zus's men for using the wrong latrine and for being a Jew. The soldier being complained about is also in the tent, and his CO looks at him and asks, while very drunk "Comrade, is this true?" "Of course, Comrade. He is a Jew." Cue the soldier getting an immediate dope slap and an exasperated glare from his CO.
  • In Doctor in Trouble, an angry wife hits her husband in the head with her spear (from the fancy dress ball) for enjoying Dawn's striptease performance too much.
  • In Dogma, Rufus and Serendipity deliver one to Jay after he shoots Bartleby's wings off, which was exactly what he needed in order to become human and re-enter Heaven.
  • A variation in Down Periscope: The first time Dodge orders Stingray to dive, Nitro asks, "Underwater?" Stepanek waves his finger in front of Nitro's face before jabbing him between the eyes in annoyance. Later in the film, Nitro can be seen doing it to himself and trying to dodge.
  • Bruce Lee does this to a Shaolin student in Enter the Dragon after teaching him how to kick with feeling.
    Lee: How did that feel?
    Lao: Let me think...
    Lee: [slaps him] Don't think! Feeeeeel. [points to the sky] It is like a finger pointing a way to the Moon. [sees Lao looking at his finger and slaps him again] Don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory.
  • The Fifth Element: After the hostage situation on the luxury cruiser is resolved, Ruby Rhod announces on the radio that he's still alive, while a crewmember is pulling splinters from his hand. Ruby yelps in pain mid-announcement, and slaps the doctor's head in annoyance.
  • Happens twice in Ghostbusters:
    • Peter Venkman gives one to Ray Stanz (while doing a little jump to boot) when Ray interrupts his attempt to charm a beautiful female experimental subject.
      Venkmann: I'm right in the middle of something, Ray!
    • Ray Stanz gives one back to Peter Venkman while he and Egon are explaining the nature of Dana Barrett's apartment building.
      Venkmann: So what? They don't make them like they used to.
      Stanz: No! Nobody ever made them like this.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: During Baby Groot's dancing intro sequence, he catches an alien insect and tries to eat it. However, he's spotted by Rocket who gives him a hard slap on the back of the head to make Groot spit it out.
  • Harry Potter:
    • In the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie, Severus Snape keeps catching Harry Potter and Ron Weasley whispering about the Yule Ball during a test. One of Snape's attempts to get them to stop involves grabbing a book and whacking it against the backs of Harry and Ron's heads.
    • In the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie, Hermione Granger explains to Harry about the girls trying to slip him love potions. When Harry doesn't seem to mind the attention, she reminds him that they only want him because they think he's "The Chosen One".
      Harry: But I am the chosen one.
      Hermione: [smack]
      Harry: Sorry. Um, kidding.
  • It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: Dingy Bell (Mickey Rooney) does this three times to Benjy Benjamin (Buddy Hackett).
    Benjy: [after the third time] You hit me!
  • John Carter: John Carter receives one from his Thark ally Tars Tarkas after they realize that they just invaded the wrong city.
  • The Kentucky Fried Movie segment "A Fistful of Yen". Loo gives one to one of his martial arts students after the student performs a lackluster kick. This a parody of one of the opening scenes in "Enter the Dragon" where Lee does this to his own disciple. Later he does it to an Angry Guard Dog.
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
    • After Sir Bedevere fails with the Giant Wooden Rabbit idea, he comes up with a Giant Wooden Badger idea and king Arthur slaps him on the side of his helmet.
    • Prince Herbert and his father are standing next to an open window talking.
      Father: One day, lad, all this will be yours. [gestures toward the window]
      Herbert: What, the curtains?
      Father: [hits him on the back of the head] No, not the curtain, lad!
  • Monty Python's Life of Brian: The centurion dope-slaps Brian rather hard, twice, each time for daring to correct Pontius Pilate's pronunciation (first on his name, and then on "Roman"). And then a third time when Brian asks if he can leave.
  • The iconic scene from the movie Moonstruck is Cher responding to Nicholas Cage's declaration of love by slapping him and yelling "Snap out of it!"
  • In The Mummy (1999), when the executioner about to hang Rick O'Connell asks him what's his last wish, the answer is to remove the rope and let him go. All this earns Rick is a dope slap.
  • In Spanish 1995 movie Palace, the main characters' father is prone to do this whenever they screw up — even after he dies. At the end of the movie, the main characters shrug in front of his father's statue after their plans to turn the titular hotel into a building fail, and they get slapped again. One of them gets angry enough to dope slap the statue - which reveals that the statue was hiding the father's fortune, which they had been trying to find during the movie.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: When in need of his Piece of Eight, Barbossa asks it from Ragetti, to whom he entrusted it. It happens to be his wooden eye, and Barbossa makes it pop out of his eye socket with a dope slap.
  • Please Turn Over: When Dr. Gay tries to flirt with Blanche in Naked Revolt, he tells her to be back in his office in thirty minutes. Blanche is offended and slaps him, so he changes his answer to twenty minutes.
  • The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement: Clarisse is trying to teach Mia about the "art of the fan", and Mia starts to make faces at her grandmother while the latter has her face covered with the fan. While Clarisse is amused by this, she responds by using the fan to whack Mia.
    Clarisse: Oh, this is also a way to show that you're [whack] annoyed [whack]!
  • Star Wars:
    • Rogue One: In Jedha City, when K-2SO is pretending before a squad of Stormtroopers that his rebel teammates are his prisoners, the droid gives Cassian a slap on the side of the face for speaking out of turn. He later apologizes for doing this. Note that this was a Throw It In by Alan Tudyk.
    • A New Hope: When R2-D2 refuses to display the rest of Princess Leia's holographic message to Luke, pretexting a dysfunction, C-3PO slams the top of his dome and tells him to stop fooling around.
    • The Last Jedi:
      • Happens during Rey's first lesson with Luke. Telling Rey to close her eyes, and reach out, Rey literally reaches out with her hand much to Luke's annoyance. Her eyes closed, he decides to mess with her by tickling her fingers with a blade of grass, leading her to believe she's actually feeling the Force, right before giving her a nice smack.
      • During the confrontation in Supreme Leader Snoke's throne room, Rey tries to grab her lightsaber with the Force, only for Snoke to easily overrides her pull and claim it back with his own power, smacking the back of Rey's head with it on the return trip.
  • In S.W.A.T., a random gangbanger gets one from a cop while Street and Hondo are going to visit Sanchez. Said gangbanger had been beat-up by Sanchez during the arrest.
    Street: Bad day, huh?
    Gangbanger: Kiss my ass, ese.
    Cop: [dope slap]
  • The Three Stooges often feature an Overly Long Gag where Larry, Curly, and Moe take turns dope-slapping each other, escalating into bigger and bigger acts of violence.
  • Undercover Brother:
    Lance: [entering a room filled with black people] Holy moly, looks like the Source Awards in here.
    Conspiracy Brother: [hits the back of Lance's head]
    Lance: Ow!
    Conspiracy Brother: It does now!
  • Waterworld:
    • After Enola waves at a plane of "Smokers" flying above them, the Mariner dope-slaps her and yells, "What are you thinking about?!?"
    • Enola, again, gets one from the Deacon for mouthing out while they're confronting the Mariner on the deck of the tanker.
  • In Weird Science, when the two girls Gary and Wyatt are interested in ask what they're doing in the bathroom, Wyatt blurts, "Oh, we're just taking a shit!" Gary gives him a glare and in a separate shot, gives him an epic slap to the face, then cuts back just as quickly.
  • In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit are hiding from the police in a movie theater. Roger is talking loudly and Eddie hits him on the head while saying, "What's wrong with you?"

    Literature 
  • Belisarius Series: As dawazz to Prince Eon, it was part of Ousanas' job to deliver one of these whenever Eon needed correcting in his behavior.
  • Chrysalis (RinoZ): Whenever Anthony is being troublesome or foolish, which realistically is most of the time, he can expect a good THWACK on the head from his mother's antennae. It's all out of love. Then when he raises the first twenty elite ants of the new generation, he starts doing it to them.
  • Cradle Series: Lindon has a tendency to ask rather stupid questions, since he was raised in an isolated backwater and has finally realized he doesn't understand as much as he thinks. When the team is entering the Blackflame Empire proper for the first time, his friend Yerin asks a stupid question, so Fisher Gesha hits... Lindon.
    Lindon: Ow! Why did you hit me?
  • Discworld:
    • This extract from Small Gods:
      Urn: It can only be that, master. The keepers of the labyrinth are unbribable.
      [Didactylos clips Urn across the back of his head with his lantern]
      Didactylos: Stupid boy! I've told you about that sort of statement.
      Urn: I mean, they are not easily bribable, master...
      Didactylos: That's more like it.
    • Lu Tze (by being a wise old monk) does this occasionally.
  • H. P. Lovecraft's The Fungi from Yuggoth:
    "I am his messenger," the daemon said,
    As in contempt he struck his master's head.
  • In The Horse and His Boy, Shasta is mistaken for a runaway prince by some visiting Narnians. One of them takes him by the shoulders and gives him a smack on the head, described as "a sharp one to let you know you are in disgrace" before they hustle him off.
  • Journey to Chaos: A quick smack to the back of the head is how Basilard Bladi shows his disapproval of whatever his novice mercenaries have just done.
  • Kate Shugak: Dinah does this to Bobby and Jim to get them to stop arguing in Less Than a Treason. For those not familiar with the series, Bobby and Jim are massive muscular men and Dinah is a petite flower child.
  • In Tanya Huff's Keepers Chronicles trilogy, Hell gets into an argument with itself, and somehow manages to pull off a dope slap (to itself... more or less).
  • Life With the Newbies: Rosanna gives her owner Holly Billy one when she initially confuses Zainahava, their new Neopet, for a boy.
    Rosanna: Well, shoot, Billy! You get his gender all screwed up! It's a girl, didn'tcha hear the voice?
  • Several characters in Malazan Book of the Fallen are fond of this, notably Kalam to Quick Ben.
  • In Stephen Baxter's Manifold: Space, Malenfant is repeatedly smacked on the head by superstrong Neanderthals for speaking at all. Turns out that nearly all of their language is sign, with a few super-special vocal words. The Neanderthals give him a sign-name that means "Stupid".
  • Somewhither:
    • Ilya (disguised as a slave) is slapped by Pally (a higher-ranking slave) when he mouths off about (not to, about) a non-slave.
    • Foster slaps Ilya upside the head when the latter ignores a warning.
      Foster: When the witchy wise-bird says "Beware", you stop and say, "Of what, please?"
  • Sylvester in Twig often receives these from his friends as a result of his affectionate attempts at annoying them.
  • Whateley Universe: Pucelle needs them from time to time, as said in Boston Brawl II:
    "Just another example of the blatant preference that this school gives to those who embody an arbitrary and pointless physical ideal of — " Pucelle stopped as Foxfire held a cupped hand in front of her and a bar of pale blue fire formed in the cup of her hand. It solidified into a crude 2x4 board, with which Foxfire tapped Pucelle none-too-gently on the forehead.
    "Believe me, this is the only way to get her to shut up, once she gets wound up," Foxfire said dryly. Slyboots rose up partially out of Foxfire's tote and stuck a pink tongue out at Pucelle. <nyeh!> Pucelle bridled and started to say something, but the 2x4 grew into a gnarled club with a long spike driven through the end, à la Li'l Abner.
  • In Worm, Grue subjects Regent to a few of these when he won't stop wisecracking during the fight against Behemoth.

    Music Videos 
  • In Michael Jackson's Ghosts, a running bit has a little boy's older brother smack him this way for revealing stuff about the mysterious Maestro that he was supposed to keep secret. Their mother then does the same to the older brother, usually with the comment "Don't hit your brother!" After the third go-round of this, the mother is smacked by an unseen force, implied to be the Maestro's doing.

    Podcasts 
  • Doctor Javolt from Fallout Is Dragons is a common recipient of these. He has noted it's interesting to observe when he's not a recipient.

    Radio 
  • Car Talk is the Trope Namer. Hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi — better known as Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers — claim to have been at the receiving end of many a dope slap from their mother. (And according to each brother, the other brother stayed just as dumb.)

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition: The wizard Bigby is well-known for the numerous magic "hands" spell he created. From 3.5th Edition, you have Bigby's slapping hand, which just creates a hand made of force that slaps the side of the target's head. It's not capable of inflicting damage, but can cause enough distraction for foes to take advantage of it.

    Theatre 
  • In the Tsukiuta stage plays, Kakeru to Mutsuki-kun, often with a slipper.

    Theme Parks 

    Video Games 
  • In the trailer for Army of Two, one of the main characters hits the other main character on the back of the head and says "What the F*** are you doin'!" Watch it here, at about 30 seconds in.
  • Devil May Cry 4: At the end of the second Dante boss fight, there is an Internal Homage to Dante's impalement attempt on Vergil in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, which is mimicked exactly by Nero's lunging attack in this game. Dante easily dodges it and slaps him in the back of the head.
  • Dragon Quest II: Implied. After the Prince of Cannock lets his mouth run and upsets some mermaids who were crushing on a guy without realizing it, his younger sister, the Princess of Cannock, takes him off-screen and a loud "SLAP!" sound effect can be heard.
  • In Endless Frontier, Suzuka asks Reiji to give one of these to his partner Xiaomu after she makes a particularly bad observation/joke. This being at least in part a Bandai Namco Entertainment game however, he spanks her instead. (At about 5:50 here)
  • At various points in Final Fantasy IV, Porom will walk around behind her twin brother Palom and clonk him on the head for his stupidity with an adorable "Do-PANK!" sound effect.
  • Towards the end of Halo: Combat Evolved, Cortana figures out how to use Halo's teleportation system in order to rapidly move the Chief to Keyes's position. Unfortunately, she teleports him in after mixing up the ceiling of the ship with its floor, leading to the Chief landing on his head once he phases in. He proceeds to knock his helmet, since Cortana is an A.I. program that was currently housed inside it.
    Cortana: Oh, I see. The coordinate data needs to be— [SMACK] Right. Sorry.
  • In Hidden Expedition 14: The Pearl of Discord a ninja does it to his partner for tossing and catching the titular item as if it were a ball.
  • Jak and Daxter: Jak does this to Daxter at least once in each of the original three games. Daxter then slaps Jak twice in the racing spin-off.
  • King of Fighters XIII: King deilvers one to Yuri, during the Kyokugen Team's ending, when she unintentionally makes it sound as if she'd like to marry King, when asked to describe her ideal husband.
    Interviewer: I see. And, what would your ideal husband be like?
    Yuri: [thinking aloud] Hmm... Let's see... That's a tough one... I think they would have to be someone who was nice and polite...
    [Aha! pose] Oh, I know! Someone like King!
    [King whaps Yuri on the back of the head]
  • LEGO Adaptation Game:
  • Like A Dragon:
    • Yakuza 0: In chapter 5, if you fail the Quick Time Event to give a client your business card, Kiryu will hand over his card incorrectlynote  and also introduce himself as a Yakuza when he's supposed to be a perfectly legitimate real estate agent. Oda promptly slaps Kiryu upside the head.
    • One of Haruka's minigames in Yakuza 5 has her playing the tsukkomi half of a Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, so she'll slap her partner a lot. If you do very well, she'll pull out the Paper Fan of Doom.
    • A Running Gag in Yakuza 6, where Tsuyoshi Nagumo will constantly slap the other members of his family upside the head for doing something stupid and calling them a moron.
  • In Mario Power Tennis Yoshi' s defeat animation is accidentally doing this to himself with his racket, knocking himself out and collapsing on his side.
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: Captain Shy Guy uses his turnip to do this in the 3DS version's Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser side campaign.
  • Johnny Cage of all people gets to do this in Mortal Kombat 11... to his younger self, on account of time travel shenanigans. I Hate Past Me is in full effect, as the mature Earthrealm defender Cage clashes with the young egotistical diva Cage, especially when younger Cage doesn't show respect to either Sonya or their daughter Cassie.
  • Mother 3 has a pair of NPCs who are practicing a Boke and Tsukkomi Routine. The shorter one gives the dope slap to the taller one as the "punchline" of every gag. He's also shown to do it when they're not practicing their jokes... Even better? Their names are Bud and Lou. Also in this game, the item that specifically cures Strangeness happens to be a paper fan.
  • In Psychonauts, this is Ford Cruller's response if Raz decides not to accept the call to adventure.
    Raz: No, not yet.
    [Cruller smacks Raz]
    Cruller: How about now?
  • Rhythm Heaven Fever, in the "Manzai Birds" Endless Game. If you don't slap your vulture companion whenever he messes up a joke, your run ends.
  • The Secret of Monkey Island: One of the Men of Ill Repute on Melée Island never talks, he just laughs at his partner's jokes until one of them shuts him up by bopping him on the head.
  • Luigi gives himself one in Super Mario 3D World, slapping his face when his friends jump down the Clear Pipe leading to the Sprixie Kingdom after the Green Sprixie Princess explains that Bowser kidnapped the other princesses and she narrowly avoided his grasp but then Bowser ambushes and recaptures the princess.
  • Raine in Tales of Symphonia gives out dope slaps quite often to Lloyd and Genis whenever they say or do something dumb.
  • In Westfall, after Laine cracks a joke about the Furlbrows' murder, the player can chastise him by slapping him.
  • World of Warcraft has the emote "/smack", which, when used, will smack whomever the player is targeting upside the head. This is purely text however, as nothing actually happens with the characters.

    Visual Novels 
  • CLANNAD: Tomoya gives one to Fuko when she uses "Isogai" as her last name, which she read off the neighbor's house, when staying with the Furukawas.
  • In Ever17, after Kid has a dream that's weirdly similar to what actually happened when he was sleeping, Sara suggests he had an out-of-body experience. When Kid unwisely mentions the Power Perversion Potential of said idea, Sara smacks him.
  • In Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2, Saeki Teru will give the heroine a "chop" with the side of his hand when he thinks she's being dumb. The new skinship system allows the heroine to do the same to Teru or any of the other guys.
  • In Virtue's Last Reward there is a scene in Gaulem Bay when Sigma notices something and isn't sure what do do with it. After trying up almost anything he tries to eat it, which prompts Alice to smack him in the head.

    Web Animation 
  • Offhand example in this animated GIF.
  • Martha from DSBT InsaniT does this to Andy on a regular basis.
  • In Epic Rage Time: The Incredible Derp, Octavia Melody gives a good wallop to Vinyl Scratch when the latter calls for "more lasers" just as Derpy is calming down.
  • Epithet Erased: During the attempt to bribe Arnold Markdown with coupons during the Western Arc, the crazy barman in Redwood Run offers a coupon for $20 off your next meal: a $20 bill. Ramsey smacks him, and he transitions into an actual savings offer.
  • For the Empire (a Fan Animation Star Wars series made with Unreal Engine): In episode "Close Encounter", two Rebel soldiers and two Snowtroopers end up in a Mexican Standoff after the Battle of Hoth. TK-FNG then asks "Palpatunes" (a media player integrated in their helmets) to "play epic standoff music", and "Dual of the Fates" starts playing... until TK-FKU slaps his helmet.
    TK-FKU: Turn off that damn music!
  • Madness Combat: In Aggregation, Deimos dons a slain Engineer's mask and uses it to spook Sanford. Sanford proceeds to whack him.
  • RWBY:
    • Ruby does this to Blake in the first episode of RWBY Chibi after having read the "Ninjas of Love" book and declaring it "filth". Granted, Ruby enjoyed reading it.
    • Winter does this to Weiss in the main series when she doesn't get a straight answer to "How have you been?", and later when she's giving advice to Weiss about the Schnee summoning Semblance and Weiss tells her she can't do it. Jerk with a Heart of Gold 101.
    • The elderly Maria Calavera demonstrates that she teaches by the "hitting your pupil on the head with a stick" style of pedagogy when she bops Ruby with her cane for wanting to "laser-beam monsters" with her silver eyes.
  • In Sonic Shorts Volume 4, after Sonic fails at getting a chaos emerald before Bitey of Brackenwood swiped it, Knuckles smacks him in the head. Until he notices that he accidentally set the area on fire after tossing his cigarette.

    Webcomics 

    Websites 

    Web Videos 
  • Channel Awesome:
    • Poor Phelous gets one in Kickassia Part 2:
      N. Bison: Phallus, send the signal to sound the charge!
      Phelous: Okay, first of all it's "Phelous", not "Phallus", and second of all, the guy is standing right there looking at you. Why don't you send the signal yourself?
      N. Bison: [chuckle] Phallus. [dope slap] Just do it.
    • In Suburban Knights, Group 2 battles the Cloaks on a playground. When a mother shows up with her kid and tells them to scram:
      Angry Joe: Oh, come on! She's too old to be on a playground, anyway! What, does she believe in Santa Claus, too?
      [the little girl looks shocked and begins to tear up]
      [Cloak 2 hits Joe on the back of the head]
    • The Nostalgia Critic:
      • In the review of Waterworld, when the Deacon dope-slaps Enola, the Critic likes this part so much, he asks to watch it in loop.
      • In the Jem episode, the Critic gets one because of him saying a certain phrase from the analysts:
        Nostalgia Critic: I don't know... I mean the chart says...
        [Malcolm slaps Critic]
        Nostalgia Critic: Thank you.
  • Flander's Company:
    • Cindy gives one to Caleb in Season 3 for being one-upped by Nadège.
    • In Season 5, Henri Pottier and Caleb cannot help themselves giving repeated dope slaps to Jean Kevin Solo, a.k.a. Kylo Ren, because he looks so much like Severus Snape (Henri even ponders if he isn't Snape's hidden son).
  • To name one example in Vaguely Recalling JoJo, Polnareff gets a Dope Punch when he mistakenly thinks Joseph was talking about Indian curry. note 

    Real Life 
  • Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers discusses various Korean Air plane crashes, concluding that a significant part of it was a hierarchical culture between pilots and co-pilots which led to poor communication. One egregious example came when the captain dope-slapped his co-pilot.
  • An increasingly common variation nowadays is basically a whiffed dope slap. Make all the motions and aim for the general vicinity of the back of the head without actually striking the person. This avoids actually physically contacting people's heads and the imagery ensures the message is clear. Sometimes, the quip ("what are you stupid?!" or, "you dumbass!") is also left out as receiving the action is indicator enough that the recipient is doing something inane.
  • Montenegrin footballer Mirko Vucinic has a habit of celebrating goals by taking off his shorts and running around in his underwear. Originally believed to be a way to get around FIFA's rule that taking off one's jersey was punishable by a yellow card, they quickly caught on and translated it to this as well. When he did this while playing for Italian club Juventus after a penalty kick goal against Pescara on April 6, 2013, his manager, Antonio Conte, gave him several dope slaps, yelling at him the entire time. He got his yellow card. And scored a second goal six minutes later, though he did not take his shorts off the second time.
  • In American Sign Language, one way to point out a person is being stupid is to flick one's finger at the person's head, figuratively using the signal for the word "melon" to indicate the one flicked is being a melon-head. As a bonus, this is also an instantly recognizable signal to most hearing people even if they don't know any sign language, as it resembles how they might rap their knuckles on someone's head while asking "Hello! Anybody in there?"
  • In carspotting, there is a game where if someone sees any variation of a Volkswagen Beetle, the one who sees the Beetle first will dope slap the other. The other party would not slap back until they spot another Beetle.
  • Some octopi have been observed to hunt with the help of other marine life. If a "hunting fish" gets off track, the octopus will promptly enact this trope upon them to get them back on track.

Alternative Title(s): Head Smack The Idiot, Gibbs Slap, Gerber Slap

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Ren gets a slap from Ryuji for taking his unmasking skill a bit too much.

How well does it match the trope?

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Main / DopeSlap

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