Custard Pie - As A Comedic Device

As A Comedic Device

• Custard pies thrown or pushed into the face are a comedic device used by clowns in many circus performances.
• Custard pies are also employed in practical jokes for harmless fun.
• The practice of 'flanning', or 'pieing' - throwing custard pies into the faces of public figures as a sign of disapproval - is well-known; its victims include designer Karl Lagerfeld, American singer Kenny Rogers, former Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
• The American billionaire Bill Gates was once filmed being struck in the face with a custard pie while attending a conference. The attackers, who described themselves as 'pie terrorists', were later fined.
• In the movie Bugsy Malone, the "splurge guns" fire custard.
• Other films notable for pie fight sequences include Laurel and Hardy's Battle of the Century, Beach Party, The Great Race and Smashing Time.
• UK Saturday morning programme Tiswas had custard pies as a regular feature, they even had a character called 'The phantom flan flinger' a masked man who pied people.
• The World Custard Pie Throwing Championships take place annually in the village of Coxheath in Kent, England.