History Main / BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats

*** Although the Shriners are much sillier, the original Freemasons do in fact have some semi-silly hats, inasmuch as the Worshipful Masters still wear top hats (which weren't silly at the time, but certainly are now).

* The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffalo. They actually predate the Flintstones example, having been formed in 1822.

* The various livery companies of the '''City''' of London (not to be confused with the London Metropolitan Area) are are the modern incarnations of various medieval guilds such as the bowmakers, the apothecaries, the tanners, the fishmongers, the basketweavers, etc. Some of them have found a role in the modern world (like the Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers, which now license the Black Taxicab drivers, or the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, who test all British-made firearms for safe operation), others became charities, but they all kept their old traditions, many of which involve hats. In addition, each of these liveru companies is responsible for electing The Right Honorable Lord Mayor of London, who gets his own silly hat (and accompanying outfit) to wear around.

* The Amorphous League of ''Fanfic/TheLandOfWhatMightHaveBeen'', despite its ominous reputation and impressive powers, is actually just a club for hobbyist shapeshifters dressed up with a few rituals. They aren't seeking to take over the world with the powers they've gained, or anything other than wasting time and playing silly pranks; indeed,
its original members were just ordinary men and women who sought a temporary escape from the pressures of living in [[LightIsNotGood Unbridled Radiance]] by learning how to shapeshift for fun. Unfortunately, [[BigBad the Empress]] came down on them hard for "crimes against beauty" and had its members hunted almost to extinction, hence why they end up becoming allies of Elphaba and co. [[spoiler: They're led by the Cowardly Lion's AlternateSelf, and Glinda ends up becoming a member.]]

* [[http://www.shortpacked.com/2006/comic/book-3-is-totally-gay/01-cadbury-cereal/hats/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' strip.

[[quoteright:300:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stonecutters_8656.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:300:Who illustrates this trope the best? We do!]]-]

* Russian Cossacks is a genuine socio-ethnic group that has played an important role in the history of Imperial Russia and later has been greatly diluted and displaced during the first half of the 20th century. Now, the people who ''call'' themselves Russian Cossacks nowadays are mostly a series of disjointed local Funny Hats Brotherhoods that love to wear oldtimer uniforms, haul around ornate religious icons and battle banners, award each other with shiny medals and new ranks (full generals are incredibly common and numerous), and stomp their feet at moral corruption, foreign workers, atheists or whatever else they don't like. Some of these clubs do good community work (establishing patriotic clubs and museums, working with addicts etc.). Others band together and "patrol" the streets, trying to work up the courage to harrass or beat up people they don't like; or disrupt the "unholy" art exhibitions or political meetings.

* The Order of the Occult Hand. Ominous sounding. But it's just a group of American Journalists who's secret plan is to get the phrase ""It was as if an occult hand had" in a printed news story. Joseph Flanders, a police reported in 1965 had used the phrase in a routine story about a family shooting. His colleagues liked it so much they started to slip it into their own stories. When the paper they all worked for went under, they went onto spread the Order to the publications they worked for afterwards. Supposedly there is another phrase that journalists use like this, though the original Order has had a resurgence in 2020.

** This pretty much describes how the Unseen University was run before Archchancellor Ridicully came into the picture, a bunch of wizards who were only concerned with eating, sleeping, wearing the clothes that pointed out that they were wizards... Oh, and moving higher in the University by making an opening with the "removal" of senior wizards.

* As illustrated by the page quote, the Fraternal Orders from ''Illuminati: New World Order.'' Given the [[AllMythsAreTrue All Conspiracy Theories Are True]] nature of the game, they were probably intended to represent the Freemasons, but come across as being more like Shriners. Like all the other groups in the game, they end up as puppets of a more AncientConspiracy.

Hats are not actually mandatory, but--when present--can generally be relied on to be silly. For whatever reason, fiction requires that innocuous Brotherhoods like this are exclusively male. Mixed-gender groups or all-female sororities always have an ulterior motive.

* The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffalo. They may or may not predate the Flintstones example.

-->''Each robe was embroidered with the Double Eye of the Almighty, and Shallan had a fleeting thought, wondering at the seamstress they'd hired to do all this work. "Yes, we want twenty identical, mysterious robes, sewn with ancient arcane symbols. They're for... parties."'

* One saying about real-life fraternal orders goes, "Lions enjoy the town. Kiwanis run the town. Rotary ''owns'' the town." Presumably, the Freemasons own the entire 'country''.

See also GangOfHats.

* ''Videogame/HypnospaceOutlaw'' has HORUS, which seems like a sinister conspiracy but is just a bunch of executives competing to hide their symbol in public places and see who who notices.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': Mokey's attempts to get into one of these (which seems to alternate between incredibly serious and incredibly silly) make up the story of one episode.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'': Telly Monster belongs to the "Triangle Lovers' Club", who do in fact wear silly hats like beanies and fezzes. Their leader is the Grand High Triangle Lover.

** Ankh-Morpork, as shown in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', has many secret societies, most of whose members would ''like'' to be part of an AncientConspiracy, but are really just in it for the mysterious robes. And in one case, in the society that ''is'' important to the plot [[spoiler:and winds up being incinerated by the dragon it summoned]], to chant [[{{Malaproper}} "mystic prunes"]].
** This pretty much describes how the Unseen Univserity was run before Archchancellor Ridicully came into the picture, a bunch of wizards who were only concerned with eating, sleeping, wearing the clothes that pointed out that they were wizards... Oh, and moving higher in the University by making an opening with the "removal" of senior wizards.

* Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' features a sequence where the protagonist is initiated into the postmen's secret society, which involves an ominous-sounding and rather painful hazing ritual known as "The Postman's Walk". It's mentioned he's previously joined several Brotherhoods of Funny Hats with names like The Men of the Furrow, as a prelude to defrauding the other members.
** As mentioned in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', Lancre, centre of all rural folklore, has a Brotherhood of Funny Hats so ancient and secret it doesn't even have a name. According to ''[[UniverseCompendium The Discworld Companion]]'' their regular meetings at an earthworks called The Long Man may be an ancient rite, or simply represent man's ancient desire to get out of the house and have a couple of pints.
** And Ankh-Morpork, as shown in ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', has many secret societies, most of whose members would ''like'' to be part of an AncientConspiracy, but are really just in it for the mysterious robes. And in one case, in the society that ''is'' important to the plot [[spoiler:and winds up being incinerated by the dragon it summoned]], to chant [[{{Malaproper}} "mystic prunes"]].
** And this pretty much describes how the Unseen Univserity was run before Archchancellor Ridicully came into the picture, a bunch of wizards who were only concerned with eating, sleeping, wearing the clothes that pointed out that they were wizards... Oh, and moving higher in the University by making an opening with the "removal" of senior wizards.

* The various livery companies of the '''City''' of London (not to be confused with the London Metropolitan Area) are are the modern incarnations of various medieval guilds such as the bowmakers, the apothecaries, the tanners, the fishmongers, the basketweavers, etc. Some of them have found a role in the modern world (like the Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers, which now license the Black Taxicab drivers, or the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, who test all British-made firearms for safe operation), others became charities, but they all kept their old traditions, many of which involve hats.

* The Stonecutters from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' may provide the page image, but they actually straddle the line between this trope and AncientConspiracy. Their IAmSong reveals that they're behind a lot of secret activities, but these range from harmless to just plain weird - as you might expect from a group that has a kegger every night. Despite their claims, however, they're only ever shown getting drunk, and when Homer takes over and is convinced to get them to actually do something productive, all the other members abandon the Stonecutters and form ''another'' secret organization without Homer.

* Believe it or not, the Illuminati were basically what happened when a number of eccentric scholars and philosophers (read: 18th-century nerds) decided to form one of these. They ''tried'' to become an AncientConspiracy, but how well they succeeded depends on which {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s you listen to.

* The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffalo. Whether they predate the Flintstones example, I couldn't say.
* The Odd Fellows -- a fraternal organization of men who ''didn't belong to any fraternal organization.''