The Ping Pong Paddle has the distinction of being the first running gag in Archer, as it is present in the second scene of the first episode Mole Hunt (s1e1), in which there's one in bed with Archer after he's had sex with a flight attendant. It seems that he used it to spank her, indicated by the mark on her butt.
- The explanation for its meaning is given in Skorpio (s1e6): it is a fetish borne as a result of Archer's mother Malory spanking him with a wooden spoon as a child (though it must have been after he was 5 years old as Woodhouse raised him up until then), to which Lana replies "It might explain the ping pong paddle" before being offered a drink by the very flight attendant that Archer possibly spanked with a paddle. Near the end of the episode, it is revealed that Archer was crying during the threesome with Lana and Skorpio because there was a wooden spoon involved.
Ping pong paddle appearance.
- In Job Offer (s1e9), it's on the floor after Archer accidentally shoots himself in the leg.
- In Blood Test (s2e3), it's visible during the flashback sex scene between Lana and Archer with the candy bar.
- In Double Trouble (s2e13), Archer reveals that he was spanked on his "tiny bare ass" by Malory with a ping pong paddle after he "spilled grape tang on her stupid flokati rug".
- In Drift Problem (s3e7), Malory is seen holding the paddle as she is about to punish Archer for "losing" his bicycle which was a birthday present from her.
- In Crossing Over (s3e10), the paddle is seen on the floor as Archer limps to the bathroom with a bloody foot. Appears later on Archer's bed after he and Pam had sex.
- In Skin Game (s3e11), it's on the bed as Archer processes having sex with Katya Kazanova.
Pam and the ping pong paddle.
- The ping pong paddle travels everywhere with Archer, even to space: Space Race: Part I (s3e12).
- It also goes with him to Colombia in Archer Vice: Smugglers' Blues (s5e7).
- It appears on the hotel floor at the beginning of The Holdout (s6e1).
- It can be seen in the luggage in The Archer Sanction (s6e3).
- It appears in the basement of Shackleton's hut as a prop on the sofa used for amateur pornography in Cold Fusion (s11e8).