The Old Snakes in a Can Gag

Someone pranks a character by offering them a can of "peanut brittle," "nuts," or similar that actually contains fake snakes that pop out when the can is opened.

The Bob Newhart Show

Appearances

• The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 1, episode 25, "Where You Been, Fassbinder?" (1962). Buddy gives Sally snakes in a can for her birthday as a prank.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 4, episode 1, "The Longest Goodbye" (1975). Bob's old college buddy, the Peeper, comes to visit and leaves Bob with a can of what he says is maple candy from Vermont, but it turns out to be snakes in a can. Peeper comes back and says he gave Bob the wrong can, then hands him another one, which also contains snakes. When Peeper gives Bob a third can, Bob doesn't open it. That night, he gives it to Emily, who opens it to find maple candy.
• Diff'rent Strokes: Season 2, episode 21, "Teacher's Pet" (1980). When Mr. Drummond starts dating Arnold's teacher, the other kids in Arnold's class tease him and call him "teacher's pet." To prove he's not the teacher's pet, Arnold plays pranks on the teacher, including giving her a can of "peanut brittle" that's actually phony snakes.
• Night Court: Season 1, episode 6, "Death Threat" (1984). Harry is a little shaken up after receiving a death threat that turned out to be from an eight-year-old boy, so to cheer him up, Bull buys him a snakes in a can gag, but when Harry opens the can, it's empty. Bull explains that he didn't think Harry "could take it all at once," so he took the snakes out. He then hands Harry the snakes one at a time.
• Night Court: Season 5, episode 20, "Top Judge" (1988). To impress a new, young judge, Harry tries to show him his old snakes in a can gag, but the snakes just kind of droop instead of jumping out.
• NewsRadio: Season 2, episode 14, "The Song Remains the Same" (1996). Mr. James starts playing April Fools jokes two months early, and Matthew decides to get in on the action with an old snakes in a can gag, which he only manages to spring on himself.
• Just Shoot Me!: Season 2, episode 9, "Jesus, It's Christmas" (1997). Finch steals Elliot's "lucky thong lens" to get him to let Finch tag along on a Christmas beach shoot with a bunch of models. He leaves out a canister for Elliot to find, thinking it's his lens, but when he opens it, fake snakes jump out at him.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun: Season 4, episode 22, "Near Dick Experience" (1999). When Alissa turns down his ill-advised marriage proposal, Tommy tries to scare her so that she can experience life the way he is after his near-death experience. He offers her some "peanut brittle," but she's on to him from the beginning, and she's not at all surprised or startled when some fake snakes pop out of the can.
• Community: Season 1, episode 20, "The Science of Illusion" (2010). It's April Fool's Day, and Troy is prepared with a twist on the old snakes in a can gag. He offers Abed some peanuts from a can, and nothing jumps out at him. Then Troy reveals that he took out the snake.