History Main / AppealToAudacity

* In ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach's reaction to Moloch's story about the Comedian [[spoiler:breaking into his room to sob about Ozymandias' plan]] is, "Sounds unbelievable. Probably true."
* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', Alfred uses this to explain Bruce Wayne's injuries he incurs as the Batman. In one instance he claims that Bruce was injured by "falling out of a hot air balloon onto a table of cheese blintzes" because the story was "too ridiculous to be disbelieved."
* At the end of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', Peter gives Miguel / ComicBook/SpiderMan2099 a rushed explanation of Dr Octopus's GrandTheftMe. Miguel goes from ready to attack Peter to totally accepting. "Yeah, that sounds JUST stupid enough to be right."
* In ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'', Carl Sagan provisionally accepts Robo's claims regarding an EldritchAbomination because they were so audacious they piqued his curiosity.

* Similarly done on ''Series/SpicksAndSpecks'' in "One Out of Three Ain't Bad". Adam tells a story with one true ending and two false endings. Played with when there are two equally far out endings, available and subverted when the team chooses the less implausible one.

* Played straight, lampshaded, and subverted, in the comedy panel show ''Series/WouldILieToYou'' The premise of the show is that the two panellist teams must vote on whether the story/fact the member of the opposing team just read out about themselves is true or a lie. The stories often end up being ludicrous, and this trope is often played with, a lot of the time being played straight.
** It's lampshaded at one point.
--->'''David Mitchell:''' What I'm worried we're in danger of doing here is, having heard something that is absurd and obviously not true, and saying that therefore it must be true...
** In another episode David O'Doherty's claim was that he had made tiny leg warmers for birds, then went on to say that some of them were for swans. Despite how ridiculous and illogical everything sounded, Susan Calman said that she somehow thinks it could be true.
--->'''David Mitchell:''' Don't say that! Because that's what happens to your mind in this game. You say and you start to think, "the fact that he said swan and it seems impossible, is exactly what's so plausible about it"!

* In ''Series/TheITCrowd'', Roy's girlfriend tells him a ridiculous, incomprehensible story about the death of her parents. When Jen asks if she could have been lying, Roy answers, "Why would she lie? And if she was going to lie, why would she use this one? A ''fire'' at a ''Sea Parks?!'' It's wrecking my head! I mean if...if she had said that her parents had drowned, I'd be the happiest man in the world!"

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' sees Hank being accused of worker's compensation fraud. He can't sway the oversight board with his words, but eventually gets an idea and asks if he can call the yoga teacher who helped him as a witness. The teacher comes in and generally acts obnoxious, and Hank points out that he'd never spend any amount of time around a guy like that unless he absolutely had to -- which is enough to convince the board of his honesty.

** When the town thought that Skinner and Ms. Krabappel were having sexual relations at school, Skinner cleared his name by telling them he was a virgin. This worked because, according to Superintendent Chalmers, [[UnexpectedVirgin no one, anywhere, ever, would ever pretend to be a 44-year-old virgin.]] [[spoiler:The end implies that he was, in fact, lying.]]

* A version of this appeared on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When the town thought that Skinner and Ms. Krabappel were having sexual relations at school, Skinner cleared his name by telling them he was a virgin. This worked because, according to Superintendent Chalmers, [[UnexpectedVirgin no one, anywhere, ever, would ever pretend to be a 44-year-old virgin.]] [[spoiler:The end implies that he was, in fact, lying.]]

Contrast CassandraTruth, in which authority figures refuse to believe an implausible tale, and SarcasticConfession, in which a character deliberately tells the truth in a way which won't be believed. A subsection of RefugeInAudacity.

* Played straight, lampshaded, and subverted, in the comedy panel show ''Series/WouldILieToYou'' The premise of the show is that the two panellist teams must vote on whether the story/fact the member of the opposing team just read out about themselves is true or a lie. The stories often end up being ludicrous, and this trope is often played with, z log of the time being played straight.

* In {{VideoGame/Borderlands 2}}, the "Angel" the protagonists of both games have been taking instructions from reveals herself to have been working for [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] all along and betrays them. Afterwards, remorseful for her actions, she contacts them with advice on how to take Jack down. The Vault Hunters have no reason to trust her after everything that has occurred...except that her plan involves getting through a door that will destroy any tech not belonging to Jack's company, passing as Jack himself to both a DNA scanner and a voice analyser, and defeating an unstoppable robotic Bunker, not to mention the army of foes they'll have to fight their way through all the while. The heroes conclude that if Angel was laying a trap, she would have made success sound at least slightly plausible.

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* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", this is what leads Holmes to believe that the young man who has been arrested may be innocent after all -- the statement he gave the police is too stupid to be a lie. Played with, in that Holmes himself argues that the police (and Watson) are in fact simultaneously crediting the man with lying too much ''and'' too little, in that his story contains several outlandish details that the police would outright disbelieve and / or work to incriminate him while not containing enough details that might exonerate or excuse him. A man who was definitely lying would be certain to try and include more of the latter and less of the former.
* In the first book of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', Queen Morgase chooses to believe Rand's story because it is simply too absurd to be a lie. She notes at the same time that a clever liar would take advantage of this trope, but decides not to act on that impression.
* In Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/DaughterOfTheLioness'' duology, Aly explains to her friends that she [[spoiler:wasn't there to stop Sarai from eloping]] because [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext she was being held captive by a god]].]] She points out that, since she's a spymaster, "You forget I like to tell lies that will be believed."
* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', Professor Kirke uses this as the reason for why he believes Lucy's story about the wardrobe - if she had been lying she would have hidden for long enough that people started looking. (There's also the fact that he's been there himself, but Creator/CSLewis hadn't thought [[Literature/TheMagiciansNephew that part]] up yet).
* Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Literature/TalesFromTheWhiteHart'' series of short stories concerns a "scientist", Harry Purvis, who tells scientific {{tall tale}}s at a London pub called the White Hart. His outrageous stories' scientific logic is often called into question, but he is kept around for entertainment's sake. The exception is one story, "What Goes Up", totally made up to deal with an annoying conspiracy theorist. [[spoiler: The end reveals Harry's obvious bullshit is taken ''totally seriously'' by the conspiracy theorist, and poor Harry gets bombarded with mail by other nutjobs-turned-fans. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard In other words, the one story he never wanted anyone to believe was the only one people actually believed.]]]]
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', this is how Brienne manages to convince several people that she was not the one who killed King Renly despite being one of the only people in the room with him when he died. If she were the culprit, wouldn't she come up with a better story than "evil demonic shadow did it?"

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* When an anomaly causes all parts of the ship in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' to shift into random time periods in the ship's history, Chakotay finally comes up with a solution. Unfortunately, putting the solution into action requires a deck currently under the control of Seska, Chakotay's old LoveInterest turned villain. He reasons that the only way he can get her to cooperate is by being honest with her. While her subordinates are incredulous at the story, Seska declares it too implausible to be a lie.

** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E3TheSontaranExperiment The Sontaran Experiment]]'', the Doctor has transmatted to Earth from the lost space station Nerva, and some stranded spacemen accuse him of abducting their crew-mates, and insist that Nerva is just a legend. But one of them begins to think the Doctor might be telling the truth because "It's such a crazy story": if he was lying, he'd have thought of something better.

* Similarly done on ''Series/SpicksAndSpecks'' in "One Out of Three Ain't Bad". Adam tells a story with one true ending and two false endings. Played with when there are two equally far out endings, available and subverted when the team chooses the less implausible one.
* An episode of ''Series/JonathanCreek'' has Jonathan defending the accused in this episode mostly due to this trope. The man is accused of kidnapping a young girl who was seen entering his house by several witnesses. His defence is that he was in that room staring at the door the entire day (after being robbed and tied up in the room) and didn't see anyone come in. Jonathan points out that this is such an incredibly stupid defence that he can't possibly be making it up. [[spoiler:Of course, he's right. The truth is that after being knocked out during the robbery, he was taken to a nearby farm where a cult had recreated the interior of his room so he thought he was in it all day (later knocking him out and taking him back as he slept) so they could kidnap the girl and pin it on him, all in an attempt to get rid of the man's wife who had been critical of (and then stopped) his funding of the group.]]
** It's used again in the episode "Black Canary" when a man comes up with a seemingly impossible story about seeing his wife argue with an unknown man outside in the garden seconds before she shot herself - only for the man to leave no footprints in the snow. The police inspector on the case points out that the man is practically above suspicion - as why would he make up a story so impossible that no one would believe it?
* In ''Series/TheITCrowd'', Roy's girlfriend tells him a ridiculous, incomprehensible story about the death of her parents. When Jen asks if she could have been lying, Roy answers, "Why would she lie? And if she was going to lie, why would she use this one? A ''fire'' at a ''Sea Parks?!'' It's wrecking my head! I mean if...if she had said that her parents had drowned, I'd be the happiest man in the world!"

-->'''David Mitchell:''' What I'm worried we're in danger of doing here is, having heard something that is absurd and obviously not true, and saying that therefore it must be true...

-->'''David Mitchell:''' Don't say that! Because that's what happens to your mind in this game. You say and you start to think, "the fact that he said swan and it seems impossible, is exactly what's so plausible about it"!

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* A version of this appeared on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When the town thought that Skinner and Ms. Krabappel were having sexual relations at school, Skinner cleared his name by telling them he was a virgin. This worked because, according to Superintendent Chalmers, [[UnexpectedVirgin no man anywhere would ever pretend to be a 44-year-old virgin.]] [[spoiler:The end implies that he was, in fact, lying.]]

* A version of this appeared on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When the town thought that Skinner and Ms. Krabappel were having sexual relations at school, Skinner cleared his name by telling them he was a virgin. This worked because, according to Superintendent Chalmers, [[UnexpectedVirgin no man anywhere would ever pretend to be a 45-year-old virgin]]. [[spoiler:The end implies that he was, in fact, lying]].

-->-- '''Creator/DavidMitchell''', ''Series/WouldILieToYou''

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers The Myth Makers]]", with no other options, and facing death, the Doctor and Steven tell Odysseus the truth of who they are and how they came to be on the plains outside of Troy. Odysseus decides that the story strains his credulity beyond anything he's ever heard, and therefore it's probably true or they would never have dared to tell it.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Larry Butz]] show his masterpiece drawing that he says is ''exactly'' what he saw at the time. The masterpiece shows a silhouette flying above a burning bridge. ''Nobody'' believes it's real... until Edgeworth realizes that Larry's drawing ''is'' correct. [[spoiler: Larry was lying on his back and looking up at the bridge, so what he actually saw was a body swinging ''underneath'' the bridge, but then drew the scene upside-down]].

-->'''Egon''': She's telling the truth; at least she thinks she is.
-->'''Dana''': Well, of course I'm telling the truth! Well, who would make up a story like that?
-->'''Venkman''': Some are people who just want attention. Others, just nutballs who come in off the street.

-->'''David Mitchell''': What I'm worried we're in danger of doing here is, having heard something that is absurd and obviously not true, and saying that therefore it must be true...

-->'''David Mitchell''': Don't say that! Because that's what happens to your mind in this game. You say and you start to think, "the fact that he said swan and it seems impossible, is exactly what's so plausible about it"!

--> ''[Picking the "He's telling the truth" option]''
--> '''Phoenix:''' What the witness just said was so bizarre, I don't think he'd have made it up.
--> '''Judge:''' S-So what he says is...true?!
--> '''Phoenix:''' T-That's what I think at least...

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--> [Picking the "He's telling the truth" option]
--> Phoenix: What the witness just said was so bizarre, I don't think he'd have made it up.
--> Judge: S-So what he says is...true?!
--> Phoenix: T-That's what I think at least...
* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', has [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Larry Butz]] show his masterpiece drawing that he says is ''exactly'' what he saw at the time. The masterpiece shows a silhouette flying above a burning bridge. ''Nobody'' believes it's real... until Edgeworth realizes that Larry's drawing ''is'' correct. [[spoiler: Larry was lying on his back and looking up at the bridge, so what he actually saw was a body swinging ''underneath'' the bridge, but then drew the scene upside-down]].

* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", this is what leads Holmes to believe that the young man who has been arrested may be innocent after all -- the statement he gave the police is too stupid to be a lie. Played with, in that Holmes himself argues that the police (and Watson) are in fact simultaneously crediting the man with lying too much ''and'' too little, in that his story contains several outlandish details that the police would outright disbelieve and / or work to incriminate him while not containing enough details that might exonerate him, as a man who was lying would be certain to try and include.

* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", this is what leads Holmes to believe that the young man who has been arrested may be innocent after all -- the statement he gave the police is too stupid to be a lie.

* In the ''{{Literature/Worm}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10377231/1/Security Security!]]'', Mrs Knott has gotten [[{{Understatement}} rather close]] to the [[SelfInsertFic self-insert protagonist]] Mike Allen. When he tells her the true story of his origins - [[spoiler: that he's a fanfiction writer who somehow fell into the story]] - she decides to believe him, because he has no reason to lie to her.

* A version of this appeared on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When the town thought that Skinner and Ms. Krabappel were having sexual relations at school, Skinner cleared his name by telling them he was a virgin. This worked because, according to Superintendent Chalmers, [[AManIsNotAVirgin no man anywhere would ever pretend to be a 45-year-old virgin]]. [[spoiler:The end implies that he was, in fact, lying]].

** In ''Film/StargateContinuum'', after he, Sam, and Mitchell have tried for some time to convince people they're in [[AlternateUniverse an alternate reality]], Daniel gets frustrated and snaps, "Seriously, who would make this shit up?!"

* In the {{Literature/Worm}} fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10377231/1/Security Security!]]'', Mrs Knott has gotten [[{{Understatement}} rather close]] to the [[SelfInsertFic self-insert protagonist]] Mike Allen. When he tells her the true story of his origins - [[spoiler: that he's a fanfiction writer who somehow fell into the story]] - she decides to believe him, because he has no reason to lie to her.

* A rather innocuous example in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'':

->''What I'm worried we're in danger of doing here is, having heard something that is absurd and obviously not true, and saying that therefore it must be true...''