History Main / ChairReveal

* ''[[Film/{{Screamers}} Screamers: The Hunting]]''. The two survivors of the DwindlingParty return to their spaceship only to find one of their 'dead' colleagues in the form of a Screamer cyborg waiting in the pilot seat for them.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chair_swivel_3331.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:*dramatic music*]]

* A reveal of a "new Number Two" in ''Series/ThePrisoner''.

* This is how Hatter is introduced in ''{{Series/Alice|2009}}''.
* Captain Sheridan's first appearance in ''Series/BabylonFive'' has him seated in his command chair on the ''Agamemnon'', at first facing away from, and then swivelling toward, the camera.

* On ''Series/SesameStreet,'' in the "Alphabet Chat" sketches, Mr. Chatterley slowly turns his chair to face the audience during the theme music.
* Subverted with the second season of ''Series/Space1999'': the opening titles feature Martin Landau swiveling in his chair, jumping to his feet, and firing his weapon at an off-screen threat. One of the most dramatic scenes in the whole series!
* Used in the James Bond section of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony to show that it really was HM the Queen alongside Daniel Craig as Bond, not an actress!
* Done by EvilOverlord Ludo in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil''. It also reveals [[TheNapoleon Ludo is comically short]] compared to his minions.
* ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'': Mr. Big is introduced by having the massive polar bear Korlov enters the room, sits at the desk and then open his large paws to reveal... the back of tiny chair. And then he turns it around, and we get our first view of the miniature mob boss.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' got one of these in "Smile Time" when the chair contains.. still Angel. But now he's a puppet.

* ''Film/TheBlackHole'' has a nicely underplayed version. The protagonists enter a giant bridge manned by silent black-robed figures. The Maximillian, a large red menacing KillerRobot floats down from an upper deck and deploys whirling cutting blades. Just when things are getting tense, a nearby chair swivels round from its console to introduce Dr. Hans Reinhardt.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. Having kidnapped [[HotScoop Roxanne Ritchi]], Megamind has [[NonHumanSidekick Minion]] position her in the death trap while he leaps into his [[SwivelChairAntics villainous swivel chair]] and primps for this week's round of evil gloating -- smoothing his eyebrows, coaxing a brainbot into his lap so he can [[RightHandCat stroke it when he turns around]], and adopting the SlouchOfVillainy. Of course, they apparently do this every week, so it's hardly a shocking reveal to Roxanne.

* Parodied in ''Series/LeCoeurASesRaisons'' when Criquette reveals that she is the new director to St. Andrews TV station. She spins very clumsily after announcing both the news AND the fact that she was about to turn around dramatically to Ridge.

Someone is sitting in a spinning chair, facing away from a character who's trying to talk to them. The chair swivels around, revealing [[MistakenFromBehind a different person than who they expected]], or even [[PeekABooCorpse a dead body]]. Or, two people are talking in front of a presumably empty chair. Cue a dramatic swivel to reveal that the chair wasn't so empty after all. Can happen when TrespassingToTalk.

** In fact this movie has two invocations of this trope: earlier on, Sybok communicated by viewscreen with the "captain of the ''Enterprise''." The captain's chair on screen swivels to reveal ... Chekov. It's a ruse to hide the fact that the real captain, Kirk, is down on the planet executing a sneak attack, but it comes across as a joke at Chekov's expsense (the movie seems to be saying "Ha ha, it's Chekov in the captain's chair, as if.")

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. Having kidnapped [[HotScoop Roxanne Ritchi]], Megamind has [[NonHumanSidekick Minion]] position her in the death trap while he leaps into his [[SwivelChairAntics villainous swivel chair]] and primps for this week's round of evil gloating - smoothing his eyebrows, coaxing a brainbot into his lap so he can [[RightHandCat stroke it when he turns around]], and adopting the SlouchOfVillainy. Of course, they apparently do this every week, so it's hardly a shocking reveal to Roxanne.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Subverted with the second season of ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'': the opening titles feature Martin Landau swiveling in his chair, jumping to his feet, and firing his weapon at an off-screen threat. One of the most dramatic scenes in the whole series!

* ''My Favorite Brunette'', a Bob Hope film, has one of these. Since Bing Crosby turns up somewhere in just about every Bob Hope film, the audience is carefully set up to expect him to be the Cool Tough Guy Detective across the hall. The chair swivels, and... it's '''not.''' [[spoiler: It is, in fact, the Cool Tough Guy actor whose name Hope has just mentioned -- Alan Ladd.]]

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'': In one of the cinematics halfway through the Soviet campaign, Yuri is revealed to be sitting in Premier Romanov's desk chair when he turns around to face the player, having already usurped his boss.

* Voldemort did this in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', shortly before killing Frank Bryce.

* Ryan O'Neal gets a pointless chair reveal in ''Film/AnAlanSmitheeFilmBurnHollywoodBurn''. It's one of the many things Creator/RogerEbert makes fun of in [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/an-alan-smithee-film-burn-hollywood-burn-1998 his review]], along with a callback to the reveal of Frank Sinatra in Mike Todd's film version of ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''.

* Voldemort did this in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', shortly before killing Frank Bryce.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU]] book ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Solo Command]]'', the pilots are sitting in their lounge on the flagship discussing the failings of their higher-ups and the moves they would make if they were in charge. A heretofore-ignored chair spins away from a computer terminal to reveal General Han Solo, leader of the entire task force. Being Han, though, after an initial OhCrap moment, he congratulates their insight and takes their suggestions to heart.

* In ''Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon'' Prince Peter, serving-boy Dennis and his friend Naomi corner Flagg in the late King Roland's study (the scene of his fatal poisoning). Flagg is surprised when the chair by the fire scootches around to reveal a surprise eyewitness to his crime; the younger Prince Thomas [[spoiler: who proceeds to [[ChekhovsSkill shoot Flagg through the eye]] with his father's great bow.]]
* Death does it in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Mort}}''.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ''Changes'', Harry returns to his apartment to find two allies have been cocooned by his sometimes crazy, always dangerous Fairy Godmother there. She reveals herself in this way, which is particularly impressive because, as Harry notes, the chair she's sitting on ''isn't'' a swivel chair.
* Variation in ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'': Uncle Andrew reveals himself by standing up, rather than rotating the chair.
* In his autobiography ''About Face'', Colonel Hackworth does this as a practical joke. Seated at the front of the briefing room in a huge sofa he'd appropriated, he starts ranting about how his soldiers weren't maintaining the regulation military crewcut, finishing by turning to face them to reveal he was wearing a long hippy wig.

[[folder:Film]]

* The remake of ''TheParentTrap'' had the mother and one twin arrive home to find the other twin sitting at the grandfather's desk. In this version, though, [[NewspaperThinDisguise her face was covered by a newspaper.]]
* ''My Favorite Brunette'', a Bob Hope film, has one of these. Since Bing Crosby turns up somewhere in just about every Bob Hope film, the audience is carefully set up to expect him to be the Cool Tough Guy Detective across the hall. The chair swivels, and...it's '''not.''' [[spoiler: It is, in fact, the Cool Tough Guy actor whose name Hope has just mentioned - Alan Ladd.]]
* The ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1999'' remake had the dead body version.

* Rachel's ex(?) at the end of ''Film/TheRing''.
* Walter Donovan does this to Indiana when he shows up again in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', except it was an ordinary non-swiveling chair, and Donovan revealed himself by standing up and turning around.
* The end of ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' reveals that the villain has in fact been [[spoiler:a clone of the hero]] in this fashion.

* Lampshaded in ''Film/BlackDynamite'' as the BigBad, [[spoiler:Richard Nixon,]] reveals himself this way... in less of a dramatic fashion than intended, as it takes a few pushes of his chair in order to finish it.

* Played with in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. During the mid-credits sequence that reveals [[spoiler:Thanos]] as the GreaterScopeVillain, rather than turning around in a spinning chair, he gets up and looks over his shoulder. However, he plays this trope straight in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.
* The BigBad in ''Film/ExitWounds'' is revealed this way.
* Ryan O'Neal gets a pointless chair reveal in ''Film/AnAlanSmitheeFilmBurnHollywoodBurn''. It's one of the many things Creator/RogerEbert makes fun of in [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/an-alan-smithee-film-burn-hollywood-burn-1998 his review]], along with a callback to the reveal of Frank Sinatra in Mike Todd's film version of ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''.
* Done in ''Film/TheBeastMustDie'' with [[spoiler:Pavel's corpse]].
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' does this to reveal that [[spoiler:Walter Donovan]] is working with ThoseWackyNazis.
* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', this is how Wallace Keefe (and any audience members that didn't spot Mercy, Lex's right hand woman, as Wallace entered the building) discovers that Comicbook/LexLuthor was the one to bail him out of jail, with Lex turning around in the new electric wheelchair he's giving to Wallace.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A reveal of a "new Number Two" in ''Series/ThePrisoner''.
* The initial reveal of the female Romulan commander in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' "The Enterprise Incident".

* In ''Series/TheATeam' episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E15MembersOnly Members Only]]", Murdock's back is seen for about a minute behind Hannibal and Face before he turns around. They are at a very upscale country club where Face is trying hard to become a member, and Murdock is there as a guest of his doctor. He reveals they come there every Friday.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' did this in Revenging Angel. D'argo thinks he's going to turn the chair around to find Crichton but instead finds a dummy stuffed with dynamite.
* In ''Series/{{The Big Bang Theory}}'''s "The Cooper Extraction" episode, the cast imagines how their lives would have been different had never met Sheldon. The Chair Reveal from Psycho is referenced when Howard envisions that if he had not gotten married (he met Bernadette through Sheldon), his mother's body would have desiccated and he would have assumed her personality, much like Norman Bates in ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' used the dead body version recently, in what may have been a homage to ''Psycho''.

* In an episode of the 1980s Creator/{{NBC}} show ''Series/ItsYourMove'', a kid is told that a famous rock producer wants to meet him. When the chair is turned around, it's one of the skeletons the kid used to fake a rock band.
* In a memorable Muppet sketch on ''Series/SesameStreet'', Grover wanted to surprise Ernie, but it was actually [[spoiler:Herry Monster]], disguised as Ernie, in the chair.
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', [[spoiler:Elle]] discovers [[spoiler: Bob]] has been murdered by [[spoiler:Sylar]] this way.
* Barney Stinson gets one of these in the TV show ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. He brings his own chair for it.
** "Don't touch that, it's a rental!"
* Parodied on ''Series/ThirtyRock'', where Kenneth's [[SitcomArchNemesis nemesis]] Donnie tries this but ends up overshooting and has to clumsily correct his spin.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' did this for the result of Greg's evaluation - the spinning chair revealed not Grissom, but a gelatinous dummy used earlier in the episode for electrics testing, with a "You Passed!" note pinned to it.

* In the final episode of ''Series/PoliceSquad'', the "chair reveal" [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment reveals...another chair]]. The actual villain is standing off to the side. Another episode introduced the villain by focussing on him [[Film/JamesBond stroking a cat in his lap]]; he eventually has to crouch down uncomfortably to get into the view of the camera and introduce himself.
* Janitor does it in the middle of a crowded corridor, petting an "invisible" half-kitten, half-monkey in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', while revealing his plan to [[MundaneMadeAwesome spoil the outcome of a basketball match]] to Dr. Cox.
* On ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Mr. Feeny does this to reveal that he is Cory's new principal when Cory gets sent the principal's office on his first day of high school.
* Parodied on an episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' with Alec Baldwin demonstrating how to be a [[LargeHam handsome actor]], along with GlassesPull.
** Recently played straight when a Christmas-themed opening skit was hijacked by [[spoiler:a returning Mike Myers as Dr. Evil.]]

* How Karabraxos is introduced in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist Time Heist]]'', [[spoiler:(the reveal being that she looks exactly like Ms. Delphox).]]
** Subverted in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]''. The rebel Daleks are led by a character in a chair who is hidden from the audience, and who fans initially assumed was Dalek creator Davros. It turns out that [[spoiler: it's the [[CreepyChild Creepy Girl]] who's been watching events the whole story]].
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Season Ten's "Beacon" does this in the teaser, having Tess walk into her office at the Daily Planet only to find someone sitting in her chair. It spins around to reveal Lionel Luthor, who is both her [[LongLostRelative recently]] [[TheReveal discovered]] [[ParentalAbandonment father]] and, well, someone who died a long time ago. He's actually her father's AlternateUniverse counterpart, and since this version is both [[AxCrazy eviler]] and [[AbusiveParents crueler]] than his deceased counterpart, Tess [[OhCrap doesn't exactly take it well]].
* Done on ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'', likely ripping off the ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' example. When a character attempts to plead their case to resident villain Stefano [=DiMera=], she talks to a back facing chair. Finally fed up with his lack of response, she grabs onto the chair to turn it around. . .to reveal Stefano's mummified corpse.

-->'''Root:''' Ugh, this chair's gotta be killer on your back, Lionel. You should look at some ergonomic options.
-->'''Fusco:''' You should pay more taxes so I can get a better chair.

* The dead body version was spoofed in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool''.
* The ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' opening has a Chair Unreveal, where Gadget spins around Claw's chair and there's just a fake hand on a spring...which is attached to a [[CartoonBomb nice, round bomb]].
* This was played with in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where a criminal called Big Daddy did this to Wiggum and Skinner, despite the fact that he had just sat down in the chair three seconds before.
** Also when Homer has to visit the IRS for his faulty tax report. The same chair swivels around twice and reveals two different men. Who both spoke to him.
** And played straight in the episode "Black Widower," where Sideshow Bob blew up his hotel room in an attempt to kill his wife Selma. When he goes in and turns around the chair he thinks her corpse sits in, he finds Bart instead (alive, of course).
** In "Deep Space Homer," some NASA guys are discussing whether they should tell everyone that the monkeys they sent into space all came back super-intelligent. A chair at the end of the table swivels around, revealing a monkey wearing a suit and smoking a pipe, who says, "No, I don't think we'll be telling them that."
** Parodied in "King-Size Homer", where Lisa reveals herself to Homer while sitting on a large pillow on the living room floor, spooking him.

* Eric Cartman pulled one of these on Stan (while sitting in a Blofeld style egg-shaped chair) in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "My Future Self 'n' Me".
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan,'' Tombstone, previously TheVoice and TheFaceless, is first fully revealed this way, while speaking to Spider-Man in his office. Later, Green Goblin reveals himself to Tombstone in the same chair, to gloat that he's kidnapped Tombstone's [[TheDragon dragon]], Hammerhead.
** At the end of "Gangland", [[spoiler: Gobby does this to Tombstone again, this time to gloat about setting up the episode's three-way villain fight, which left Tombstone's good reputation in tatters. Particularly dramatic since this was the Goblin's first appearance (in-costume, anyway) since season 1.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', specifically in the episode "The Saint", this is poked fun at when Gumball takes over Principal Brown's office to split up Alan and Carmen. When Gumball reveals himself sitting in Brown's chair, he turns too far, leading him to frantically grab the desk in order to correct himself.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Kit Fisto is tracking down Nute Gunray. He finds a room filled with droids standing around a chair from where Nute Gunray's voice can be heard. After defeating the droids, the Jedi find that it is just a hologram.
** The dead body version also shows up in ''Senate Murders'' - when Padme and Bail Organa go to confront Senator Mee Deechi about his apparent attempt to get them killed, they turn his chair around to reveal that there's a knife in his chest.
* The Monarch invokes this trope in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' when dealing with Jonas Venture Jr.
* Done twice in ''WesternAnimation/MaxSteel'' -- once at the end of first episode of the first season to show [[BigBad John Dread]], the other in the eight episode to show [[DisneyDeath L'Etranger]].
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. Having kidnapped [[HotScoop Roxanne Ritchi]], Megamind has [[NonHumanSidekick Minion]] position her in the death trap while he leaps into his [[SwivelChairAntics villainous swivel chair]] and primps for this week's round of evil gloating - smoothing his eyebrows, coaxing a brainbot into his lap so he can [[RightHandCat stroke it when he turns around]], and adopting the SlouchOfVillainy. Of course, they apparently do this every week, so it's hardly a shocking reveal to Roxanne.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' - in "The Kids Rob a Train", once they're sent to the caboose, a chair turns around to reveal Regular Sized Rudy (kind of an effort for him to do that in a bean-bag chair).

* Done by Gideon Gleeful in the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel", when he confronts Dipper at the factory.

* Done by [[TheNapoleon Olaf]] in Episode 103 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' when revealing himself to Quack Quack, who has been kidnapped and brought to Olaf's lair. It turns out that the chair is too big, and Olaf struggles to get off of it.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. Root does this to Detective Fusco, and then gripes about how uncomfortable the chair is.

* In his autobiography ''About Face'', Colonel Hackworth does this as a practical joke. Seated at the front of the briefing room in a huge sofa he'd appropriated, he starts ranting about how his soldiers weren't maintaining the regulation military crewcut, finishing by turning to face them to reveal he was wearing a long hippy wig.

* In an episode of the 1980s Creator/{{NBC}} show ''ItsYourMove'', a kid is told that a famous rock producer wants to meet him. When the chair is turned around, it's one of the skeletons the kid used to fake a rock band.

** The villain and the chair are, of course, parodied in ''AustinPowers''.

Someone is sitting in a spinning chair, facing away from a character who's trying to talk to them. The chair swivels around, revealing a different person than who they expected, or even [[PeekABooCorpse a dead body]]. Or, two people are talking in front of a presumably empty chair. Cue a dramatic swivel to reveal that the chair wasn't so empty after all. Can happen when TrespassingToTalk.