History Main / FlockofWolves

** Compounded by the fact that, this being a Monty Python film, the 'women' are actually being played by male actors. So we had Terry Jones pretending to be a woman who was pretending to be a man.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]

* See the {{Miracleman}} example under NotMyDriver.

* ''TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' had an episode where Mary and Rhoda attended a support group for divorced people despite being single rather than divorced. At the end of the episode, it turned out that everyone there was single and not divorced.

If they turn out to have been on the same side too, then it is RightHandVersusLeftHand. Sometimes the result of a ThirtyXanatosPileup.

* Tales abound of Agent Provocateurs infiltrating left-wing student societies in the US only to find that the most radical elements are agents from a different source and all the actual left-wing students are perfectly reasonable and unobjectionable people.

* Famously, during the [=McCarthy=] era in America, the FBI had many of its members infiltrate the American Communist Party. It was estimated that, at its peak, approximately ''two-thirds'' of the American Communist Party consisted of FBI agents.

* In the ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', the main character [[SweetPollyOliver disguises herself as a man to join the army,]] only to find that nearly every single member of her squad is also a woman in disguise. [[spoiler:Even the ''very'' masculine [[BoisterousBruiser Sergeant Jack Jackrum]]. In fact, the only male is the decidedly effeminate Lt. Blouse.]]
** Their disguises-including that of the ''pregnant'' Shufti-are so effective that when they opt to try the old "pretend to be the washerwomen" trick, Blouse deems himself the only one sufficiently capable of acting female to pass muster.
*** And he's ''right''- he makes past the guards just fine, while the rest of them have rather more difficulty. The real washerwomen aren't fooled, but play along anyway.

* Famously, during the McCarthy era in America, the FBI had many of its members infiltrate the American Communist Party. It was estimated that, at its peak, approximately ''two-thirds'' of the American Communist Party consisted of FBI agents.

* Tales abound of AgentProvocateurs infiltrating left-wing student societies in the US only to find that the most radical elements are agents from a different source and all the actual left-wing students are perfectly reasonable and unobjectionable people.

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* Depressingly enough, this has been TruthInTelevision at times. There's more than one incident on record where the "crooks" caught by a sting operation turn out to be officers running a sting for some other agency.
* Broadly, {{Troll}}s [[{{Imageboard}} trolling Trolls]].
* Famously, during the McCarthy era in America, the FBI had many of its members infiltrate the American Communist Party. It was estimated that, at its peak, approximately ''two-thirds'' of the American Communist Party consisted of FBI agents.
* {{Conservapedia}}. Trying to separate the trolls from the genuine maniacs is a MindScrew of a task, not helped by the fact that people are judged there mostly by how much they suck up to the site's SmallNameBigEgo founder.
* Tales abound of AgentProvocateurs infiltrating left-wing student societies in the US only to find that the most radical elements are agents from a different source and all the actual left-wing students are perfectly reasonable and unobjectionable people.

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* In the TimeWars novel ''The Pimpernel Plot'' there's a scene where, apart from {{the Scarlet Pimpernel}} and his nemesis, everybody in the room turns out to be an undercover time traveller, with about half of them working for the villain and the other half there as backup for the heroes. ([[MythologyGag Possibly a bonus in-joke for readers familiar with the source novel]]: in the original version of the scene, apart from the Pimpernel and his nemesis, the room is empty.)

* In the TimeWars novel ''The Pimpernel Plot'' there's a scene where, apart from the ScarletPimpernel and his nemesis, everybody in the room turns out to be an undercover time traveller, with about half of them working for the villain and the other half there as backup for the heroes. ([[MythologyGag Possibly a bonus in-joke for readers familiar with the source novel]]: in the original version of the scene, apart from the Pimpernel and his nemesis, the room is empty.)

* [[http://adventurers-comic.com/d/20011120.html One of Khirma's plans]] in ''{{ADVENTURERS}}!''

* ''{{Paranoia}}'': The International Workers of the World (Wobblies), introduced in the supplement ''Acute Paranoia'' (1986). The Computer [[GossipEvolution heard about]] this secret society, sent Troubleshooters to infiltrate it and report back to Internal Security, and (because the RealLife Wobblies actually fell apart before Alpha Complex was created) [[ShootTheMessenger executed them]] when they [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption failed to find it]] - until one clever team ''[[TakeAThirdOption created]]'' it so they'd have something to "infiltrate". In the beginning, ''every single member was an [=IntSec=] spy''. Then they started finding "real" members of the society, who were actually spies from other secret societies.

[[quoteright:450:[[TheFarSide http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Larson-FarSide-WolfinSheepclothing_7622.jpg]]]]

* In an episode of ''{{Slayers}} Next'', the team infiltrates a kingdom dedicated to training priestesses, and takes it so seriously it's supposedly a LadyLand which will execute any man found near its borders, never mind in the city. As it turns out, it's actually full of {{Wholesome Crossdresser}}s -- even the ''princess'' is actually the ''prince'', forced to pretend to be a girl because his crazy mother didn't want to annul the rule, yet didn't want to execute her son either.
** In another episode in ''Slayers Revolution,'' [[spoiler:every employee and guest on the cruise ship they take turns out to have been hired by their enemies to get the [[CoolSword Sword]] [[MacGuffin of]] [[LaserBlade Light]].]]
* In one of the ''ProjectAKo'' [=OVAs=], every single customer at the Lepton-mothership-turned-restaurant turns out to be a disguised spy... all for different organizations. Cue BlastOut.
* One episode of the ''{{Patlabor}}'' TV show had them helping the Japanese intelligence service pick up a Soviet defector & his experimental HumongousMecha in a seaside resort town. Every single person there was said to be a spy of some sort. The one that really takes the biscuit being:

* This happens in one of the prequel comics for SmokinAces.
* One strip of TwistedToyfareTheatre had Reed Richards turn into a Skrull and gloat to Susan Richards about having tricked her into having sex with him. She promptly turns into another (male) Skrull and replies "Bob, you idiot."
* In a Don Martin ''MadMagazine'' gag strip, all the passengers on an airplane look around shiftily. Then they all get up at the same time, brandishing a weapon, and shout "All right, nobody move! This is a hijack!" Everyone looks at each other and sits down, embarrassed.

* Early in ''[[MontyPython Life Of Brian]]'', Brian's mother disguises herself as a man to attend a stoning. Every other 'man' there was also a woman wearing a beard.
* In ''FightClub'', the Narrator attends support groups, despite the fact that he's not suffering from anything fatal (except insomnia). He finds Marla Singer doing the same thing, which ruins his ability to sleep.

* In the ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', the main character [[SweetPollyOliver disguises herself as a man to join the army,]] only to find that nearly every single member of her squad is also a woman in disguise. [[spoiler:Even the ''very'' masculine [[BoisterousBruiser Sergeant Jack Jackrum]]. In fact, the only male is the decidedly effeminate Lt. Blouse.]]
** Their disguises-including that of the ''pregnant'' Shufti-are so effective that when they opt to try the old "pretend to be the washerwomen" trick, Blouse deems himself the only one sufficiently capable of acting female to pass muster.
* ''TheManWhoWasThursday'' by GKChesterton is about a [[spoiler: police officer who infiltrates a group of anarchists only to discover that all of the anarchists are also policemen. The President of the anarchists turns out to be the officer who recruited all of them. [[GainaxEnding He may or may not also be God]].]]
* ''Let's Go to Golgotha'' by Garry Kilworth is about time travel tourism where one of the most popular trips is Christians travelling back in time to witness the Crucifixion. The tourists are disguised as Jewish citizens. In the end, the protagonist suddenly realizes that the crowd condemning Jesus to the cross is composed entirely of tourists from the future, and that no actual Jewish Jerusalemites of 33 A.D. are present at all.
* [=~Philip K. Dick~=] wrote a story called ''The Eyes Have It'' where an InspectorJavert character who hunts aliens (indistinguishable from humans except for glow-in-the-dark eyes) and dissects them informs his superiors that there is an [[TheMole alien spy]] among them. [[spoiler: It turns out they are all aliens except him]].
* HarryHarrison's ''Bill The Galactic Hero'' had Bill getting recruited by an insurgency and then by military intelligence, eventually a bust occurs and every insurgent turns out to be (or at least says they're) working for the military.
* One of StanislawLem's ''Ijon Tichy'' stories has a planet full of agents disguised as robots trying to infiltrate an evil computer's [[spoiler: nonexistent]] robotic army.
* In ''GoodOmens'':

* The novel ''Beach Music'' contains a dark take or two on this. In one case, Capers, a member of the main character's {{Fellowship}}, joins an anti-VietnamWar student group with Shyla (another member of the nakama, and becoming her lover along the way) only to betray both the anti-war group and the nakama by having been an undercover agent the whole time. He tries to minimize the damage by saying that Shyla and the others were just innocent dupes, and the leader of the group was the real trouble. Turns out the group leader was also an agent.
** Another case is something of an inversion. An undercover police officer tries to turn a peaceful student rally into a riot, but is caught and kicked out immediately because they realize he's much too zealous and dressed like too much of a stereotype to possibly be real.
* In the TimeWars novel ''The Pimpernel Plot'' there's a scene where, apart from the ScarletPimpernel and his nemesis, everybody in the room turns out to be an undercover time traveller, with about half of them working for the villain and the other half there as backup for the heroes. ([[MythologyGag Possibly a bonus in-joke for readers familiar with the source novel]]: in the original version of the scene, apart from the Pimpernel and his nemesis, the room is empty.)

* In an episode of ''Cybill'', Cybill dressed up as a prostitute to research an acting role she'd accepted. She asked another lady of the night what it was like being a prostitute, but it turned out she was also an actress. They asked a third woman, but she turned out to be a journalist. The three asked a fourth woman, but 'she' turned out to be a male vice squad officer.
* In a really funny season opener of the short lived show ''TheAgency'', there was a bust of suspected terrorists, and it turned out it was all undercover cops from different agencies.
* ''SaturdayNightLive'' had a sketch called "Narc School" about a HighSchool where every single student was really an undercover narcotics agent.
* ''TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' had an episode where Mary and Rhoda attended a support group for divorced people despite being single rather than divorced. At the end of the episode, it turned out that everyone there was single and not divorced.
* ''LawAndOrder'' SVU had the team attempt to infiltrate a pedophile "club" of sorts...only to discover that some other organization (FBI, most likely) was also setting up a sting operation. An exasperated Captain Cragen wonders aloud if this inability of the Good Guys to work together is why the Bad Guys keep staying ahead.
** The Original Flavour ''LawAndOrder'' had a ([[AlwaysMurder Lethal, naturally, considering this series]]) fallout from such an event during the 60s, where it turned out several supposed Communists/Hippie Protesters were actually cops and other agents spying on each other, and being purposely kept in the dark
** More [[HilarityEnsues hilariously]], ''{{Reno911}}'' did the same thing with a drug sting.
** ''{{CSI}}'' also did this with gun runners.
*** [[spoiler: Partially subverted when one of the guys working to catch pedophiles actually turns out to be one himself.]]
** ''{{NCIS}}'', too, when Tony and Ziva acted as an assassin couple.
* In an episode of ''{{Frasier}}'', the son of a wealthy woman is trying to prevent Frasier from hitting her up for a donation (to save his old school, which is on the verge of bankruptcy). Niles distracts the son by saying one of the caterers at the party is trying to get her to finance a play. When the son asks out loud if any of the caterers are trying to get a play financed, they surprisingly all raise their hands.
* There was an episode of ''GetSmart'' where Max becomes a DoubleAgent to infiltrate a KAOS cell, but it turned out everyone in the cell was from another agency (FBI, CIA, Naval Intelligence, & Scotland Yard).
* An ep of ''NightCourt'' had the FBI run a sting on a visiting judge using Dan as a shill, attempting to get Dan to catch the judge on tape trying to bribe Dan; turned out a different group of FBI agents was running a sting on Dan using the judge, trying to get Dan to take a bribe. Both groups of agents burst in, and recognize each other...

* One sketch in ''DoNotAdjustYourSet'' has a very blatant policeman trying to infiltrate a criminal gang while they're planning a robbery. Eventually it turns that everyone there is a undercover agent of some sort. They decide to go along with the robbery anyway.
* In the ''{{MacGyver}}'' episode "Honest Abe", Mac gets shanghaied by his CIA agent friend Abe to take down a South American dictator and a corrupt Army Major (played by ''BenStein'') supplying the former with weapons. Eventually, one of the Major's lackeys reveals to the other he's a Federal agent... and the other lackey reveals he's one as well. And via background checks they find the real identities of Mac and Abe. Naturally they are dumbfounded at the revelation that they are involved in an operation involving ''four'' secret agents of different agencies while they previously thought they were acting alone.
* In a ''DailyShow'' episode spoofing Chatroulette's recent media attention, Jon decides to try it out. Besides the usual perverts, everybody Jon encounters is either a reporter or another Daily Show correspondent. When he gets to Katie Couric, she even complains that she is trying to do a piece on Chatroulette but so far she only got reporters.

* TomLehrer introduced his song "The Wild West is Where I Want to Be" by saying, "A few years ago I worked for a while at the Los Alamos scientific laboratory in New Mexico. I had a job there as a spy. Now, I guess you know that the staff out there at that time was composed almost exclusively of spies... of one persuasion or another."

* The picture above is from ''TheFarSide''.
** In another one, a guy is standing in a crowd of people in front of a mirror, yelling 'the vampires are everywhere', and only he has a reflection.
** In yet another, a stick insect hides in a bush...which is made of stick insects.

* Depressingly enough, this has been TruthInTelevision at times. There's more than one incident on record where the "crooks" caught by a sting operation turn out to be officers running a sting for some other agency.
* Broadly, {{Troll}}s [[{{Imageboard}} trolling Trolls]].
* Famously, during the McCarthy era in America, the FBI had many of its members infiltrate the American Communist Party. It was estimated that, at its peak, approximately ''two-thirds'' of the American Communist Party consisted of FBI agents.
* {{Conservapedia}}. Trying to separate the trolls from the genuine maniacs is a MindScrew of a task, not helped by the fact that people are judged there mostly by how much they suck up to the site's SmallNameBigEgo founder.
* Tales abound of AgentProvocateurs infiltrating left-wing student societies in the US only to find that the most radical elements are agents from a different source and all the actual left-wing students are perfectly reasonable and unobjectionable people.

* ''{{Paranoia}}'': The International Workers of the World (Wobblies), introduced in the supplement ''Acute Paranoia'' (1986). The Computer [[GossipEvolution heard about]] this secret society, sent Troubleshooters to infiltrate it and report back to Internal Security, and (because the RealLife Wobblies actually fell apart before Alpha Complex was created) [[ShootTheMessenger executed them]] when they [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption failed to find it]] - until one clever team ''[[TakeAThirdOption created]]'' it so they'd have something to "infiltrate". In the beginning, ''every single member was an [=IntSec=] spy''. Then they started finding "real" members of the society, who were actually spies from other secret societies.
** ''Paranoia'' in general lives on this trope. The {{PC}}s are charged by The Computer to hunt down mutants and secret society members. Every PC is both a mutant and a secret society member.

* [[http://adventurers-comic.com/d/20011120.html One of Khirma's plans]] in ''{{ADVENTURERS}}!''
* [[http://www.oglaf.com/kingshaped/1/ One strip]] of ''Oglaf'' (warning, rest of comic is '''''very''''' {{NSFW}}.)

* [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27823 This]] article from ''TheOnion''

* In an episode of ''TheSimpsons'', Bart went to an auction to mess with the bids. When he won, he snickered and bolted for the door. At which point the auctioneer awarded it to the second highest bidder... who also snickered and bolted for the door. It is revealed that ''no one'' placed a serious bid for that item.
** Another episode had Lisa pretend to be part Native American. When she confesses her fraud during a Native American conference, almost everyone there reveals they were faking their ancestry as well, including one guy who was [[TotemPoleTrench two dwarfs in a raincoat for some reason]].
*** Except that [[spoiler: Lisa ''wasn't'' faking, because she did have Native ancestry but Homer hadn't told her.]]
* In {{The Venture Brothers}} episode "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel" Brock is sneaking into a building through the [[AirVentEscape air ducts]] when he sees another guy doing the same thing.
* The ''DogCity'' episode "Disobedience School" had Bugsy Vile taking over the school and trying to turn the students into delinquents. After the climax, all students in his class turned out to be infiltrators from various police agencies.
* On ''{{Duckman}}'', a televangelist hosted a forum of other religious figures, who at the end were revealed to be fakes - except for the Ayatollah, who just wanted to improve his image in the states.
* In ''{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'', Squidward and [=SpongeBob=] enter a dance contest together, with Squidward inside [=SpongeBob=] doing all the dancing. When they are found out and disqualified, all the other contestants reveal that they too had help. The prize went to the only one who danced on his own: Patrick, who was actually rolling on the floor because of a cramp.

* There's a specific example of this in the ''{{Paranoia}}'' supplement ''Acute Paranoia'' (1986). The "International Workers of the World" secret society was founded by Internal Security so they'd have someone to infiltrate (given that previous [=IntSec=] who failed to find the rumored International Workers of the World were executed for failure)- in the beginning ''every single member was an [=IntSec=] spy''. Of course, this couldn't continue for long even in ''{{Paranoia}}'', except that then they started finding "real" members of the society, who of course were spies from other secret societies.