History Main / GoodCopBadCop

* ''Calamities of Nature'' points out that God is performing the [[http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=318 ultimate good cop/bad cop routine]].

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[[caption-width-right:350:CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough get intense.]]
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* Similar to the Pink Panther example below, Gargoylemon of ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' attempts to be both the good cop and the bad cop, alternatively threatening the captured heroes and offering them [=DigiNoir=]. Humorously, they're so busy eating they don't even notice.

* A teaser on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' has Batman as the good cop and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Detective]] [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Chimp]] as the bad cop.

** In "Time After Time," Dean time-travels back to 1944 and finds himself working with [[Film/TheUntouchables Elliot Ness]]. A bookie is hauled in for questioning and Dean slugs him right away, assuming that's what Ness would do. Ness gives him a disapproving look (the bookie is much smaller than Dean) then portrays Dean as a ShellShockedVeteran just back from the war in Europe. The GenreSavvy Dean effortlessly slips into the bad cop role while Ness plays good cop.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' does this in one episode, with Cilan and Meowth in the respective roles, trying to interrogate the current MonsterOfTheWeek: a Scrafty.

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' brings us "[[http://xkcd.com/1018/ Good Cop, Dadaist Cop]]".
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' had [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-06-06 Kevyn as the "good cop"]].
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2249 the dragon characterizes Satan and God, with Slick between them, as this.]]
* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' takes it a step further: good cop, bad cop, [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3256#comic Nietzschean cop]].

* ''{{Maximumble}}'': In [[http://maximumble.thebookofbiff.com/2014/07/08/891-team/ this]] case, "bad" means "not very good at his job".

-->'''Castiel:''' What? I was being Bad Cop.
-->'''Dean:''' You were being [[RabidCop bad everything]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E9NeverLeaveMe Never Leave Me]]"[[, GenreSavvy Xander and Anya carry this to absurd extremes while interrogating Andrew.

* ''Series/DayBreak2006'': Hopper and Damien act out a version of this after kidnapping Torrez. Damien is a gangster while Hopper is a police detective, so the latter frequently has to restrain the former from attacking Torrez. This ends disastrously when Damien shoots Torrez in the middle of the interrogation.

* ''Series/{{Phoenix}}''. Lampshaded and played straight in "Shaking the Tree". The Major Crime Squad bust drug dealer Fergie who (thinking they're home invaders) fires on them with an elephant gun, giving Lochie a BringMyBrownPants. Laz (who knew Fergie when he was working undercover) tries the gentle approach while Lochie can barely restrain himself because of his humiliation. Fergie is not impressed and sarcastically lampshades the trope, though Lochie later plays RabidCop to get him to talk (it's played realistically though, as just an additional means of putting pressure on Fergie).

* In ''Brannigan'' (1975), Creator/JohnWayne plays the title character, an American CowboyCop whose methods are not appreciated by the by-the-book British detective he's working with. This trope is played for laughs when Brannigan convinces a criminal that the British detective is a RabidCop and he's the nice one.

* ''Film/MenInBlack''. When K pulls out a strange-looking HandCannon and threatens to blow a shopkeeper's head off, Jay thinks he's doing this routine and immediately starts playing the good cop... until K actually carries out his threat. Then things start [[BizarreAlienBiology getting]] [[HealingFactor weird]].

* ''Film/TheTake'' (1974). Billy Dee Williams' character goes to interrogate a suspect, who lampshades the trope. As a ScaryBlackMan, Williams makes some [[DissonantSerenity quietly spoken threats]] instead and the suspect breaks down, saying he was beaten by a policeman as a youth and is still traumatized by it.

* Simultaneously played straight ''and'' inverted in the ''Literature/JusticeWing'' story [[https://banter-latte.com/2021/03/17/%e2%8e%87001jw-emergence-vignette-the-interrogation/ The Interrogation.]] The hero Paragon (who ''literally is'' [[TheParagon the Paragon]] of this setting) wants to be the bad cop, while [[TerrorHero the Vigilante called Nightstick]] tries to talk him out of it... [[spoiler:because Paragon's too good at it and Nightstick is worried about psychologically scarring the villain, because Paragon legitimately treats them kindly and earnestly, absolving the villain of blame for his failure to stop them and telling them that no matter what happens, the villain has to remember the upcoming disaster isn't their fault. By the end the criminal's told Paragon everything and is last seen begging the police to send the heroes backup.]]

* In ''Comicbook/BatmanEarthOne'', Gordon and Bullock "interrogate" a criminal on the location of Gordon's daughter with a crowbar and a baseball bat.

* The Bad Cop/Worse Cop routine was invoked in the 6th issue of [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl2009}} the third Batgirl series]], starring Stephanie Brown.
-->'''Batgirl:''' Just shut up and follow my lead.
-->'''[[Characters/{{Batman}} Robin (Damian Wayne)]]:''' Why do you get to take the lead?
-->'''Batgirl:''' Because we're gonna play this "Bad cop, '''worse''' cop."
-->'''Robin:''' I get to be '''worse''' cop!
-->'''Batgirl:''' Attaboy.

* Comicbook/TheSandman has [[CoolVsAwesome a talking raven and a reincarnated nightmare killer running a good cop bad cop interrogation on the Norse god Loki.]] It's that kind of series.

* Coulson proves his skill at this routine in ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm,'' playing good cop to Nick Fury's bad cop in Book 1 and Harry's in Book 2. It's noted in the former case that Coulson and Fury can switch off if necessary, with Fury playing the JerkWithAHeartOfGold and Coulson taking on a cold {{Jerkass}} demeanour. Fury also notes his friend's skill at this trope.

* Done in an episode of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' in which Don teaches Dick to be a cop. First Dick is good cop and Don is bad cop. Then they switch places, but they don't stop there. Instead, they ''both'' do bad cop and finally both do good cop. This, by the way, is all done on the same (very confused) suspect. At the end, Don explains that this experiment proves that good cop/bad cop is the only viable combination

-->'''[[WesternAnimation/StaticShock Static]]''': Wow. ''Batman'' playing good cop.\\

* ''Fanfic/ForTheGloryOfIrk'': At one point, [[RobotBuddy CB]] wholeheartedly suggests he and Dib do this to interrogate [[spoiler: Clark]] about possibly being an alien. Dib shoots this down, as he doesn't even want CB involved.

* Referred to in ''Series/TheShield''. When a suspected pedophile isn't confessing as to where he's hiding his latest victim, Captain Aceveda pulls Detectives Wyms and Wagenbach off the case and instead calls in notorious badass cop Vic Mackey. The perp asks 'What is this, good cop and bad cop'. Mackey replies 'Good cop and bad cop left for the day. I'm a different kind of cop' and proceeds to beat the living hell out of the perp.