If TV has taught us anything, it’s that bathrooms can be used for more than just No. 1 and No. 2.
Bathrooms are the social hub of any night out. They are also a place of solitary reprieve and a place for serious, hushed conversations, as well as raucous debate.
The privacy and confinement of a water closet pushes us to make life-changing revelations. Whether it’s in front of a sink mirror or atop a porcelain throne, latrines afford us a moment to slow down and organize our thoughts. At apartment gatherings or warehouse ragers, bathrooms afford party goers a private place to finally engage in those arguments that have been brewing for days, or to tell secrets they’ve been dying to share. Really, bathrooms have become integral to the human condition in ways that transcend their intended use.
So, let’s call today National TV Bathroom Day. And to honor this totally made-up holiday, we’ve rounded up television’s most memorable bathroom moments. From Seinfeld‘s lesson in toilet paper etiquette and The Brady Bunch‘s hair dye disaster, to the birth of babies in surprising places (9-1-1, Girls) and disgusting roommate habits (New Girl), this list has every important and unforgettable scene that happened within feet of a toilet.
What TV bathroom moments stand out in your mind? Let us know in the comments!
We’ve become largely desensitized to 9-1-1′s over-the-top (and occasionally gruesome) emergency calls, but when the Fox procedural first premiered back in 2018, we weren’t at all prepared to witness the 118 demolish a wall and break open a pipe to rescue a newborn baby who had been flushed down a toilet. (Don’t worry, it lived.)
Surely there is a bathroom just off of the Slabside prison shower area, right…? Because we are absolutely including this iconic fight scene from the superhero series’ Season 7 premiere, which was not just masterfully directed/edited to not once slip a peek at a naked Oliver’s bits, but also was memorably was intercut with an equally intense scene where Diaz (ugh, Diaz) paid Felicity a visit at home. Just epic.
Greg took pity on wannabe salesman Bobby and let his kid brother douse him with Neat & Natural hair tonic, in the downstairs bathroom — only to see his mane turn orange! And on the day before graduation, no less! What made the classic sitcom’s series finale extra-memorable is that this “hair tonic” boondoggle was the last straw for hyper-critical cast member/Shakespearan actor Robert Reed, who sat out the episode, forcing family patriarch Mike to be MIA for Greg’s graduation.
It’s a good thing Hank was already on the toilet, because he looked like he was about to s—t a brick when he discovered that none other than brother-in-law Walter White was the notorious drug kingpin Heisenberg. It’s a moment that changed everything, and among the best cliffhangers in recent memory.
The third season of the Comedy Central series started with a side-by-side bathroom montage showing the range of activities Abbi and Ilana perform in their private spaces. Who knew the toilet could be an apartment rat’s playground as well as a place for reading Hillary Clinton and smoking weed? With Abbi and Ilana (and the rat) making full use of their toilet areas, we couldn’t help but wonder: Are we under utilizing our own bathrooms?
Buffy and Faith switch bodies in this Season 4 episode, leading to some serious acting fireworks from Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku. The bathroom scene is the first of many delights, as Faith gets used to her new body and workshops her Buffy impression in the mirror. Cue jump cuts of Gellar deliciously channeling Faith impersonating Buffy…while mocking the Slayer’s goody two-shoes persona: “You can’t do that! Because it’s naughty.”
Long before he and Joey became a thing, Pacey showed off his Best Boyfriend skills during an emotional moment of crisis for his girlfriend Andie. As she had a mental breakdown in the bathroom and saw visions of her dead brother Tim, Pacey pleaded with her to unlock the door and choose him over Tim. Joshua Jackson and Meredith Monroe’s heart-wrenching performances cemented the scene as much more than just standard teen drama fare.
Cassie’s other memorable bathroom moment from the HBO drama’s second season — when she hid in the bathtub at a house party during the premiere episode — was quickly eclipsed by this heavily memed sequence, in which Cassie has an imaginary meltdown that reveals her secret love for Nate Jacobs to her friends. Sydney Sweeney’s frantic, wide-eyed delivery made the outburst instantly iconic — so much so that even Succession’s Brian Cox couldn’t resist reenacting the scene on Jimmy Kimmel Live! weeks later.
When his girlfriend Hannah expressed insecurity about her appearance, Bright took it upon himself to read up on Our Bodies, Ourselves. Then he locked Hannah in the bathroom so he could tell her just how hot and beautiful she is, and make her look in the mirror so she could see herself the way he does. (She’d never let him say all that to her face, he argued.) But Hannah got the last word, so to speak, when she surprised Bright by asking him to take a shower with her.
Dressing as a ninja and sneaking up on your showering partner while wielding a knife is…one way to keep the relationship surprising. Fleabag’s misguided stunt backfires in a big way, with her boyfriend sobbing and generally melting down after the fake attack. The couple had broken up many times before, but later in this very episode, Harry leaves for good, taking his toy dinosaurs with him. We do know one thing—it was absolutely for the best.
When Ross’ new leather pants became uncomfortable and suffocating during a date, he fled to the bathroom to take them off for a moment to cool down. Once the pants were off, however, Ross was horrified to learn he could not put the pants back on. In a panic, he called Joey, who advised him to try baby powder and then lotion. Of course, neither solution worked. Pantsless and covered in product, an exasperated Ross was ultimately forced to make an embarrassing (and inexplicable) walk of shame, exiting the bathroom in front of his totally creeped out date.
You may not remember that this short-lived HBO Max teen drama ever existed, but we’ll never forget how we felt watching one of its central characters give birth in an inflatable pool on the floor of a mall bathroom. The show’s portrayal of teenagers was always refreshingly authentic, as was the absolute panicked chaos that ensued when one of them suddenly went into labor — and didn’t even know she was pregnant.
Girls has given us a lot of bathroom moments: Jessa and Hannah’s shared bath; Adam peeing on Hannah in the shower, Hannah snorting drugs off a Bushwick public toilet (ew!); and an iconic argument between the four girls at Shoshanna’s engagement party. But what was the most memorable of the HBO series? Caroline’s home birth, particularly the moment Jessa sticks her head under the bathwater to check how far along the process was. If you were considering a home birth, this episode might have you reconsidering…
How appropriate that Tao confronted Charlie about his involvement with Nick in an episode titled “Friend” — a good one was what he was trying to be. Yes, despite his insistence on having the heated conversation in a bowling-alley loo at his pal’s birthday party. He was so sure that Mr. Popularity was just messing with Charlie that, if Nick was even slightly mean to him, Tao said that he would not hesitate to resort to murder a strongly worded DM.
Lowkey mortifying. After the condom that Issa’s short-lived “TSA bae” was wearing went missing during a hookup, she hightailed it to her bathroom and, with the help of a hand mirror, retrieved it from her… well, you know. “I’m not mad,” her reflection told her, “I’m disappointed.” Which we all know is so. Much. Worse.
In an episode appropriately titled “I Have a Thing About Bathrooms,” Eve gets a surprise home-invasion visit from the killer she’s been tracking. Now, we don’t recommend asking someone on a dinner date while waterboarding them in a bathtub, but hey, that’s how deadly fashion icon Villanelle rolls. Eve’s terrified, but she’s not not interested. This frantic action scene sets the stage for Eve and V’s mercurial relationship, leading to many highly-charged encounters to come.
This, right here, is the moment the Nick/Schmidt friendship just… clicked. Schmidt, who’s spent the entire episode wondering why his towel is always wet, gathers all the loftmates to find out why it’s still wet, even after he’s gone ahead and installed towel racks. That’s when he discovers that Nick’s been using his towel all along. What’s more, he’s never washed it. “I don’t wash the towel,” Nick exclaims. “The towel washes me.” Cue the dry heaving!
Marty Byrde, meet Ruth freaking Langmore. In Episode 2 of the Netflix series, Marty tracks down the Langmore clan and his stolen drug money in a broken-down public restroom, where the pint-sized spitfire almost convinces her outlaw kin to bump him off and keep the dough. The money launderer verbally tap-dances out of this mess, but he’s met his rhetorical match in Ruth, who keeps it very real with her parting words: “Why do I have this feelin’ we both know that you’d be better off dead?”
A testament to how well Tulip knew Jesse, she responded to her boyfriend’s foul mood by locking herself in their hotel-room john and inviting him to blow off some steam by beating down the door to get to her. As you’ll see above, even after he had done so, he remained, ahem, hot under the collar.
As the host of a cast trip to Aspen, Meredith traveled early to prepare. Did she greet the other Housewives at the door upon their arrival? Offer them drinks and snacks? No, the queen of disengaging couldn’t be bothered — the woman had a bath to take! Mary Cosby refused to respect the normal rules of a bathroom bubble bath, deciding that Meredith deserved no privacy, and stood over her trying to have a normal conversation for way longer than was comfortable.
Looking for a masterclass in sitcom acting? Look no further than this high-larious scene from midway through Roseanne’s original run, as Dan and Roseanne realize they’re too old to get high, while Jackie sulks in their tub and wonders why she’s all alone. Well, almost all alone. “It’s just me and my ganja,” National Treasure Laurie Metcalf deadpans. (Image Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection)
We all got an important lesson in bathroom stall etiquette when Elaine had no toilet paper in a public restroom and asked her stall neighbor to lend her some, only to be rudely rebuffed: “I don’t have a square to spare!” An enraged Elaine vowed vengeance on the anonymous hoarder, only to later discover… she was Jerry’s new girlfriend! Elaine got her back in the end, though, sneaking into the ladies’ room ahead of her and removing every last scrap of toilet paper. Now she has all the squares she could ever need.
The stellar Season 1 finale of the Apple TV+ series gave us one heart-pounding moment after another. But this quiet Lumon gala bathroom scene stood out, thanks to Britt Lower’s wonderfully controlled performance as Helly R., who’s barely keeping it together after discovering that her Outie is a member of the evil Eagan clan. With acceptance and chilling resolve, Helly whispers the apology statement she first recited in the Lumon Break Room…except this time, she means every word. “Forgive me for the harm I have caused this world…All I can be is sorry, and that is all I am.”
Who could forget that magical Christmas in 1997 when a young Jewish boy first looked into his toilet and was greeted by a festive, talking turd who wanted to spread the holiday spirit? (And maybe a little E. coli, albeit inadvertently.) Sometimes he’s nutty, sometimes he’s corny, but Mr. Hankey is always welcome at Christmastime.
When Sae-byeok, the crafty pickpocket, decided to snoop around the gameplay facility via the bathroom airduct in Episode 3, she enlisted the loud and course Mi-nyeo, who was sneaking a smoke in one stall, to provide cover. What followed was an uproarious sequence in which Mi-nyeo kept the bathoom guard at bay with loud and increasingly vivid reports (“I’d rather give birth to a baby!!”) about the unpleasant bowel movement she (supposedly) was experiencing.
Maya Hawke and Joe Keery had to be — sorry, we can’t help ourselves — flush with greatness after playing the sublimely sweet, subtle scene in which a Starcourt Mall bathroom stall provides the unlikely setting for Robin to upend Steve’s confession of love with her own admission… that she’s a lesbian.
The 1991 then-series finale left viewers with a brutal all-timer of a cliffhanger. Agent Dale Cooper is trapped in the supernatural Black Lodge, while his evil doppelganger impersonates our hero in the real world. We’ll never forget DoppelCoop headbutting a bathroom mirror and, with blood streaming down his face, mockingly inquiring about Dale’s girlfriend: “How’s Annie?” Luckily, it only took TWENTY-SIX YEARS to find out what happens next in Twin Peaks: The Return…but the revival never did bother to answer that lingering question: “How is Annie?”
When Selina confides in bagman Gary that she’s going to be president, he can barely contain his excitement. Or his nosebleed. The scene plays like a blooper, only it’s not a blooper. It’s impossible not to laugh as you watch these Selina and Gary struggle to keep it together, all while Gary is hunched over a toilet. (Image credit: HBO Max screenshot)
Every Veronica/Logan ‘shipper can recall the euphoria they felt when the pair secretly and passionately made out in the high school bathroom (aka Veronica’s “office”). “This is wrong. A boy in a girl’s bathroom,” Logan remarked during a brief break from all the kissing. But man, did it feel right.
The Fox series set ‘shippers’ hearts aflame when, in the opening moments of Season 7 Episode 17, Scully got dressed in the wee hours of the morning in Mulder’s bathroom… and the camera pan that followed, which revealed a nearly nude Mulder still asleep in bed, indicated that the longtime FBI agents had (finally!) become partners of a different nature.
Melrose Place.. Kimberley (Marcia Cross) sliding off her wig, will always remain one of the most shocking & memorable scenes (not even just in a bathroom) for me!
This was the very first thing I thought of, and I cannot fathom how they left it off the list.
THIS!!!!!
Really – no Dallas where Pam walks in and sees Bobby in the shower still alive, and the whole past season was just a dream.
It was even parodied on Family Guy.
Really no Charmed? Leo proposed to Piper in the bathroom!
I was gonna say the same thing!! Especially the episode where Paige and Phoebe are jumping through the past and are stuck listening to the proposal!
Where’s Ray and Debra’s bathroom fight from Everybody Loves Raymond?
Where is the “Bad Stuff Happens in the Bathroom” number from Bob’s Burgers? Where?
Exactly! There are so many bathroom based scenes and episodes from Bob’s Burgers. ‘Turkey in a Can’, ‘Diarrhea of a Poopy Kid’ just to name two.
So many bathroom themed episodes and scenes from Bob’s Burgers. The one where Louise is attending the sleepover at the aquarium and is worried because she can’t poop at a public place, a phobia she shares with her father, is a very good example.
Gene and Bob’s spa day when Linda can’t… Gene spending Thanksgiving in the bathroom… Kuchi Kopi falling in the toilet because, “if you must know, Mother, he is my doodie buddy”… Jeff the “ghost” writing on the mirror… Gene getting pinworms… the turkey in the toilet…
But I stand by my pick of the musical number.
The Dick Van Dyke Show (Season 4, Episode 27).
Laura gets her toe stuck in the bathtub faucet.
Agree! I was looking for this too. Classic
I expected the Mad About You episode that was set entirely in a bathroom to be on this list.
I immediately thought of the episode from season 1 of Fargo when Billy Bob Thornton’s character Lorne Malvo is visited at his motel room by one of his cronies and reacts to his visit by entering the bathroom, pulling down his pants and proceeding to drop a BM. Grabbing a hardcover book to read was a nice touch.
I’ve never taken the time to think about scenes that specifically took place in a bathroom, and find this collection odd. But, now that I have I’m shocked it does include the season 12 episode “Regarding Dean” from Supernatural. As Dean stares into the bathroom mirror trying to hold onto his memories, Jensen’s performance is incredible and brings me to tears every time I see it.
Correction: does NOT include
agreed, I was just going to add this scene as one of the best scenes ever, not just in a bathroom.
A shout out to the All In the Family who, in 1971 brought us the first sound of a toilet flushing on TV (S. 1, Ep. 12 Success Story)
For that matter, the first scene in any TV episode showing a toilet goes way back to a Leave it to Beaver episode in 1957 where Beaver and his brother hide a baby alligator in the toilet tank. That was really shocking for its time.
Maybe someone could research it and find the first instance of a scene with a male actor (or 2) standing at the urinal, doing their business, and doing a scene. My mom pretty much thought that was the end of civilized television. Now it’s an overused thing, done a hundred times.
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” – Mary (Mary Tyler Moore) in the bathtub and Ted (Ted Knight) drops his keys.
Yes! Definitely not enough classic series on this list.
My pick for Friends would have been The One After the Super Bowl where Julia Roberts’ guest character leaves Chandler in a humiliating situation that Joey and then Ross also stumble upon. The image of all three’s heads above the stalls as another man walks in was hilarious.
This was the first Friends memory that came to mind for me.
My Friends thought was Chandler and Monica having a clandestine bath. “Chicken? I can do chicken.”
I love the chicken scene!
No Ally McBeal??
So many to choose from.
Everyone joining John in singing to Barry White and dancing.
Ally getting stuck in the toilet.
John’s dismounts.
Ally McBeal for sure should be on this list! They did unisex bathrooms before they were cool haha
Have to say I’m a little disappointed that the naked man episode of How I Met your Mother didn’t make the list.
What about the awkward sweet episode of HIMYM where Lily and Marshall are trapped in the bathroom and figure out they still have “firsts”. Grossly romantic 💝
No Jackson and April hookup? That was one of Grey’s sexiest scenes ever.
Seriously, no Lannister patricide on the toilet?
Also, The Jeffersons.
When George, Helen and Tom all get stuck in the tiny bathroom.
Everyone trying to comfort Izzie on the bathroom floor after Denny’s death is the first scene that came to mind for me…
All watching that VM clip did was make me angry all over again for how it ended. *disgust*
Will & Grace: when they decide their bathroom is too small – Will dancing and shaving in the morning to ‘got to be real’ is so funny.
How about Spike almost sexually assaulting Buffy in her bathroom?
Yes Dear had a first season episode called “No Room to Spare” which dealt with Kim hiring Billy to remodel her bathroom. The final scene has an awkward moment where Kim rushes home to use the toilet and talks to her baby explicitly about how badly she has to go, not realizing that Billy is still there and hears her.