Summary

• Pineapples became a staple in Psych thanks to an improvised line by James Roday in the pilot episode.
• Fans loved searching for pineapples in nearly every episode of Psych, making it a recurring and fun gag.
• How I Met Your Mother also used pineapples as a running joke, but not as frequently as Psych.

Psych had a reputation of having a humorous obsession with pineapples, but many fans have wondered why. The tropical fruit made multiple appearances throughout the USA series, and the show's attachment to pineapples even extended to promotional photos of the cast, comic con conventions, and merchandise. Through its eight-season run, Psych made use of a number of recurring jokes and gags. These included Shaun's long list of fake nicknames for Gus (Dulé Hill), references to popular movies from the 1980s, Gus' "Magic Head" moniker that originated in a season 1 episode, and many more.

Among the most well-known gags in Psych is the show's frequent use of pineapples. Pineapples have appeared on Psych since the very beginning, and even had a presence in Psych: The Movie, which was released years after the show ended. There are dozens of references to pineapples throughout Psych, and plenty of theories around their meaning and if they represent something deeper. The truth of the Psych pineapples, however, is that they started with an improvised line during the pilot episode.

Psych is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock

Where The Psych Pineapple Jokes Came From

The Use Of Pineapples Dates Back To The Pilot Episode

According to Psych creator Steve Franks (via EW), the pineapple jokes all started with an unscripted line from the pilot episode. During a scene in Gus' apartment, Shawn (James Roday) picked up a pineapple off the fridge and said, "Should I slice this up for the road?" Franks says the pineapple was just a prop, and it was Roday who decided to do some improvisation with the pineapple. Franks says that Roday:

"loved it so much that I, off of his enthusiasm, grew to love it as well because we’d done this scene 15 times in all of the different pieces of coverage and every time he got to that pineapple part, he sold it in such a way that it was the most acting he did the entire day."

Dulé Hill added that the scene with the pineapple stemmed from Roday's ability to work with whatever was around him. After that, they began looking for ways to incorporate pineapples as often as they could. USA even did a "Spot the Pineapple" sweepstakes where viewers would guess the location of the pineapple in each episode, as there was a pineapple in nearly every episode of the series.

Sometimes, the show would simply drop a spoken reference to a pineapple, or have the word "Pineapple" printed somewhere.

Sometimes, the show would simply drop a spoken reference to a pineapple, or have the word "Pineapple" printed somewhere. Considering that Psych ran for 120 episodes, the show was loaded with fun, pineapple cameos. Some were out in the open, while others were intentionally hard-to-spot. Either way, fans developed a fondness for the gag. It's interesting that what started as just a brief moment of improvisation turned into a joke that fans would be on the lookout for in every episode.

Psych Is Oddly Not The Only Show With An Unanswered Pineapple Gag

How I Met Your Mother Also Made Pineapples A Running Joke

The Psych pineapple jokes are certainly memorable, but they weren't the only show to use the prickly fruit for a recurrring gag, as the sitcom How I Met Your Mother had its own pineapple moments. How I Met Your Mother season 1, episode 10, is called "The PIneapple Incident". When it first appears, the pineapple is an integral part of the plot. Ted wakes up after a night out drinking with no memories, an unknown girl in his bed, and — most bizarrely — a pineapple on his nightstand. Marshall becomes obsessed with the pineapple, and it's brought up several more times throughout the show.

The mystery of the pineapple was mentioned a handful of times before How I Met Your Mother concluded.

The mystery of the pineapple was mentioned a handful of times before How I Met Your Mother concluded. For example, Ted has a flashback in season 9 after his detective skills are called into question. Ted is seen with a noteboard with random photographs pinned to it, each connected to a central image of the pineapple.

How I Met Your Father finally solved the mystery, as The Captain reveals that a pineapple was stolen from his porch. This was originally planned to be revealed in HIMYM, though the scene was deleted, with Ted realizing that's where his pineapple came from. While this was a hilarious use of the fruit, it wasn't as funny or frequent a recurring gag as the Psych pineapple references.