The Canyon Fall Gag

The Canyon Fall Gag is a recurring gag that happens to Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote shorts.
== Background ==
The gag is another one of Wile E. Coyote's many mishaps in capturing Road Runner when a failed scheme, a Road Runner scare, a feeble ledge, or a chase mishap causes Wile E. to surpass the edge of a cliff, and he plummets down into a canyon, where he crashes to the ground in a cloud of dust. The cause of his fall varies between scenes, and most of the canyons are different. The first fall was in "Fast and Furry-ous", firstly when he dons a Superman costume purchased from ACME and tries to fly but fails to defy gravity and instead drops to the ground (though without the overhead shot), and secondly when Wile uses a meat grinder, a refrigerator, skis, and an electric motor, to chase Road Runner, but Road Runner darts out of the way in time, and Wile, missing his target, is sent flying into a ravine (complete with the first visible overhead shot). Since then, it's used in almost every episode, often with the overhead shot, and Wile E. has had other problems with gravity ever since, providing humor for the Road Runner cartoons.
Some of them have a side view of the fall but lack the top-down perspective of the canyon such as the Superman scene mentioned above, while most combine the side view of the fall with the top-down perspective of the canyon like the second scene one mentioned above. These are usually followed with the character falling to a bomb whistle sound effect until they disappear out of sight and finally a cloud of dust appears if said character crashes into the ground or a splash if they hit water instead.
When Road Runner goes off the edge of the cliff, he defies the laws of gravity and physics and doesn't fall, even when he's not on the solid ground or a dislodged cliff.
== Notes ==
* Most times, Wile E. hits the ground in a cloud of dust, but the shot cuts to the next scene after the dust clears, though occasionally the crash on the ground can be seen a few times throughout the series.
* Many times, after going off the edge, Wile E. stays in midair for a few seconds, long enough to realize that he isn't on solid ground anymore. Then he falls.
* Many times, Wile E. stops at the edge of a cliff, but then it breaks off, and he falls with the cliff into the canyon.
* Wile E. Coyote has broken the fourth wall many times, by worriedly waving goodbye to the audience, just before he falls (and, in "War and Pieces", during a fall).
* The canyon fall gag does appear in two Bugs Bunny/Wile E. Coyote cartoons in the Golden Age of American Animation; "To Hare Is Human" (1956, though without the overhead shot) and "Hare-Breadth Hurry" (1963, twice).
* In the "Rudy Larriva Eleven," the same canyon fall animation is recycled for each short. An exception is "Highway Runnery", which had it upside down and over the planet Earth. However, it did not appear in "Clippety Clobbered", "Just Plane Beep" (which used a horizontal variant rather than the normal vertical), or "Shot and Bothered".
* In most instances, the sound effect used to indicate the descent is a declining slide whistle (also known as a "bomb whistle"). Sometimes, as demonstrated in "Zoom at the Top", there is no clear sound effect.
* "Hot-Rod and Reel!" and "Highway Runnery" ended this way; the former was punctuated by "THE END" just after the landing, while the latter involves an iris out.
* One of the Larriva Eleven, "Boulder Wham!", features all five gags ending with Wile E. falling to the canyon floor. It is the only Road Runner cartoon to use the gag in all of it's gags.
** This cartoon has the second-most uses of this gag in a Road Runner cartoon, at five. It is beaten only by "Soup or Sonic", as it has seven uses out of it's eleven gags, including the introduction.
* Other Looney Tunes characters have faced similar gravity issues:
** A precursor to the gag that predates "Fast and Furry-ous" can be seen in "High Diving Hare", where Yosemite Sam's descent into a tank of water can be seen on his third attempt to get Bugs to jump into the water tank.
** In both "The Jet Cage" and "Road to Andalay", two overhead shots were used to punctuate the path of Sylvester's descent.
** The same thing happened to a cursing Yosemite Sam in "From Hare to Heir" and its reused clip in "Devil's Feud Cake".
** Wile E. Coyote's lookalike Ralph Wolf even suffered the gag in one scene of "Ready, Woolen and Able", complete with the overhead shot and dust cloud to match.
** This is how Joseph Wilbur's dream ends in "Rocket-bye Baby".
** Count Bloodcount landed in a moat this way in "Transylvania 6-5000".
** Daffy Duck is a victim of this gag in both "Suppressed Duck" and "Fiesta Fiasco". A variation of this gag also occurs in "Skyscraper Caper".
** Some of the latest uses of the gag in the Golden Age were with Colonel Rimfire in "Cool Cat" and Lo in "Hocus Pocus Powwow".
** On occasion, it was intentional; in "Tweety's Circus," Tweety landed in a bucket of water at the bottom of a high dive as a means of getting away from Sylvester.
* This has been spoofed often in pop culture and post-Golden Age Looney Tunes media.https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GravityIsAHarshMistress A few Tom and Jerry shorts that Chuck Jones directed during his tenure at MGM utilizes this canyon fall gag, most notably "Pent-House Mouse" (1963), "Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life" (1965) and "Tom-ic Energy" (1965).
== Gallery ==
=== Original Shorts ===
==== Road Runner Cartoons ====
Gif (4).gif|The first Canyon Fall Gag
Gif (12).gif|The Second Ever Canyon Gag
Gif (20).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag in "Ready, Set, Zoom"
Gif (14).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag featured in "Whoa, Be Gone!"
Gif (15).gif|The Second Canyon Fall Gag in "Whoa Be Gone!"
Gif (16).gif|The Third Canyon Fall Gag in "Whoa, Be Gone!"
Gif (17).gif|The Final Canyon Fall in "Whoa, be Gone!"
Gif (13).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag in "Hook, Line, and Stinker"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (Hot-Rod and Reel).gif|The first canyon fall gag in "Hot-Rod and Reel!"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Hot-Rod and Reel).gif|The second and final canyon fall gag at the end of "Hot-Rod and Reel!"
Gif (3).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag in "Fastest with The Mostest"
Gif (8).gif|The 2nd Canyon Fall Gag in "Fastest with The Mostest"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_3_(Fastest_with_the_Mostest).gif|The third canyon fall gag from "Fastest with the Mostest"
Gif (9).gif|The Final Canyon Fall Gag in "Fastest with the Mostest"
Gif (10).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag as featured in "Hopalong Casualty"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (Zip 'n' Snort).gif|The first canyon fall gag from "Zip 'n Snort"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Zip 'n Snort).gif|The second and final canyon fall gag in "Zip 'n Snort"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (Lickety-Splat).gif|The first canyon fall gag in "Lickety-Splat"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Lickety-Splat).gif|The second canyon fall gag in "Lickety-Splat", including the third dart bomb following him down.
Wile E. Coyote falls 3 (Lickety-Splat).gif|The third and final canyon fall gag in "Lickety-Splat"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (Beep Prepared).gif|The first canyon fall gag from "Beep Prepared"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Beep Prepared).gif|The second canyon fall gag in "Beep Prepared"
Wile E. Coyote falls 3 (Beep Prepared).gif|The third and final canyon fall gag in "Beep Prepared"
Wile E. Coyote falls (Zoom at the Top).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Zoom at the Top"
Wile E. Coyote falls (To Beep or Not to Beep).gif|The canyon fall gag in "To Beep or Not to Beep", in its entirety.
Wile E. Coyote falls (War and Pieces).gif|The canyon fall gag in "War and Pieces"
Gif (11).gif|One Canyon Fall Gag featured in Rushing Roulette
Gif (19).gif|A longer version of the Rudy Larriva canyon fall gag in "Run, Run, Sweet Roadrunner"
Gif (6).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag in "Tired and Feathered" (and most of the Larriva 11)
Wile E. Coyote falls (Highway Runnery).gif|The canyon fall gag at the end of "Highway Runnery"
Gif (18).gif|The Canyon Fall Gag in "Sugar and Spies"
Gif (22).gif|The first canyon fall gag in "Freeze Frame"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Freeze Frame).gif|The second canyon fall gag in "Freeze Frame"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (Soup or Sonic).gif|The first canyon fall gag in "Soup or Sonic"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Soup or Sonic).gif|The second canyon fall gag in "Soup or Sonic"
Wile E. Coyote falls 3 and 6 (Soup or Sonic).gif|The third and sixth canyon fall gag in "Soup or Sonic"
Wile E. Coyote falls 4 (Soup or Sonic).gif|The fourth canyon fall gag in "Soup or Sonic"
Wile E. Coyote falls 5 (Soup or Sonic).gif|The fifth canyon fall gag in "Soup or Sonic"
Wile E. Coyote falls 7 (Soup or Sonic).gif|The seventh and final canyon fall gag in "Soup or Sonic"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (Chariots of Fur).gif|The first canyon fall gag in "Chariots of Fur"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (Chariots of Fur).gif|The second and final canyon fall gag in "Chariots of Fur"
Gif (5).gif|The Canyon Fall gag in "The Whizzard of Ow"
==== Non-Road Runner cartoons ====
HighDivingHareCanyonFall.png|An early fall gag from the Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon "High Diving Hare"
14CarrotRabbitFall.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon "14 Carrot Rabbit"
RocketByeBabyCanyonFall.gif|The canyon fall gag in "Rocket-Bye Baby"
Yosemite Sam fall.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon "From Hare to Heir"
Ralph Wolf falls like his lookalike, Wile E. Coyote.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoon "Ready, Woolen and Able"
Sylvester fall 1.gif|The first canyon fall gag from the Tweety and Sylvester cartoon "The Jet Cage"
Sylvester fall 2.gif|The second and final canyon fall gag from the Tweety and Sylvester cartoon "The Jet Cage"
Roadtoandalay canyonfallgag -2-.png|A repeat of the canyon fall gag as seen in The Jet Cage from the Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester cartoon "Road to Andalay" (Note: This exact same scene and animation is seen twice in this cartoon)
DaffyCanyonFallSuppressedDuck.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Daffy Duck cartoon "Suppressed Duck"
CoolCatCanyonFall1.gif|The first canyon fall gag from the Cool Cat cartoon "Cool Cat"
CoolCatCanyonFall2.gif|The second and final canyon fall gag from the Cool Cat cartoon "Cool Cat"
DaffyCanyonFallFiestaFiasco.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales cartoon "Fiesta Fiasco"
LoHocusPocusPowwowCanyonFall.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Merlin the Magic Mouse cartoon "Hocus Pocus Powwow"
DaffyCanyonFallSkyscraperCaper.gif|The canyon fall gag from the Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales cartoon "Skyscraper Caper"
=== The Looney Tunes Show ===
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Bubble_Trouble).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Bubble Trouble"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(A_Zipline_in_the_Sand).gif|The canyon fall gag in "A Zipline in the Sand"
Wile E. Coyote falls (Fee Fi Fo Dumb).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Fee Fi Fo Dumb"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Sail_Fail).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Sail Fail"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Heavy_Metal).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Heavy Metal"
Wile E. Coyote falls (Gone in 60 Parsecs).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Gone in 60 Parsecs"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Heartbreak_Bridge).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Heartbreak Bridge"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Camo-Coyote).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Camo-Coyote"
Wile E. Coyote falls (Butte E. Fall).gif|The canyon fall gag in "Butte E. Fall"
=== Commercials ===
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Plymouth Road Runner commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1971 Plymouth Road Runner commercial.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (VW Beetle commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1981 VW Beetle commercial.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Constitution PSA).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1986 Constitution PSA.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Purolator Couriers commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1987 Purolator Couriers commercial.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Energizer commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1994 Energizer commercial.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Pontiac commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1998 Pontiac Wide Track commercial.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (SEDEX commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 1999 SEDEX commercial.
Wile_E._Coyote_cliff_gag_(Aflac_commercial).gif|The canyon fall gag in a 2003 Aflac commercial.
=== Other Looney Media ===
Calamity Coyote falls (A Piece of Mind).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Tiny Toon Adventures segment "Piece of Mind"
Calamity Coyote falls 1 (Falling to Pizzas).gif|The first canyon fall gag in the Tiny Toon Adventures segment "Falling to Pizzas"
Calamity Coyote falls 2 (Falling to Pizzas).gif|The second canyon fall gag in the Tiny Toon Adventures segment "Falling to Pizzas"
Calamity Coyote falls 3 (Falling to Pizzas).gif|The third canyon fall gag in the Tiny Toon Adventures segment "Falling to Pizzas"
Calamity Coyote falls 4 (Falling to Pizzas).gif|The fourth and final canyon fall gag in the Tiny Toon Adventures segment "Falling to Pizzas"
Calamity Coyote falls (Toon Out, Toon In).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Tiny Toon Adventures segment "Toon Out, Toon In"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Critical Condition).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Animaniacs segment "Critical Condition"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Meatballs or Consequences).gif|The canyon fall gag from the Animaniacs segment "Meatballs or Consequences"
Warners Fall.png|The canyon fall gag from the Animaniacs segment "Gold Rush"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Taz-Mania).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Taz-Mania episode "Willie Wombat's Deja Boo Boo"
Wile E. Coyote falls (Death Valley Rally).gif|The canyon fall gag in the video game Road Runner's Death Valley Rally
Wile E. Coyote falls (Desert Demolition).gif|The canyon fall gag in the video game Desert Demolition. This happens if the player loses all of their lives as Wile E. Coyote.
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (Duck Dodgers).gif|The canyon fall gag from the Duck Dodgers segment "K9 Quarry"
Wile E. Coyote falls (Wild King Dumb).gif|The canyon fall gag in the webtoon "Wild King Dumb"
Tech E. Coyote falls 1 (Family Business).gif|The first canyon fall gag in the Loonatics Unleashed episode "Family Business"
Tech E. Coyote falls 2 (Family Business).gif|The second canyon fall gag in the Loonatics Unleashed episode "Family Business"
Wile E. Coyote falls 1 (24 Hour Daze).gif|The first canyon fall gag from the Looney Tunes Phonics short "24 Hour Daze"
Wile E. Coyote falls 2 (24 Hour Daze).gif|The second canyon fall gag from the Looney Tunes Phonics short "24 Hour Daze"
Wile E. Coyote falls 3 (24 Hour Daze).gif|The third canyon fall gag from the Looney Tunes Phonics short "24 Hour Daze"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag 1 (Painter Paint Hare).gif|The first canyon fall gag in the Wabbit/New Looney Tunes episode "Painter Paint Hare"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag 2 (Painter Paint Hare).gif|The second canyon fall gag in the Wabbit/New Looney Tunes episode "Painter Paint Hare"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag 3 (Painter Paint Hare).gif|The third and final canyon fall gag in the Wabbit/New Looney Tunes episode "Painter Paint Hare"
Wile E. Coyote cliff gag (The Grand Barbari-yon).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Wabbit/New Looney Tunes episode "The Grand Barbari-yon"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Climate_Control).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Looney Tunes Cartoons short "Climate Control"
Wile_E._Coyote_falls_(Time_Out!).gif|The canyon fall gag in the Looney Tunes Cartoons short "Time Out!"
== References ==
 
Category:Recurring Gags