History Main / IncrediblyConspicuousDrag

The trope is [[DiscreditedTrope gradually becoming less common]] as it's often been used to mock UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} women who fail to pass and as such has attracted outcry from trans rights advocates. On the other hand, it is still played straight by some {{Drag Queen}}s as {{camp}} to subvert gender role expectations.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Film/SomeLikeItHot''. Creator/JackLemmon and Creator/TonyCurtis actually walked around the studio lot in drag in order to make sure they could realistically pass for female. The scene were they try using mirrors in the public ladies' room in order to fix their makeup is based on something they actually did while on the lot. When asked why his "Josephine" was so much more feminine than Jack Lemmon's "Daphne", Tony Curtis explained that he was so scared to be playing a woman (or a man pretending to be one) that his tightly wound body language could be read as demure and shy, traditionally feminine traits, whereas Lemmon, who was completely unbothered, "ran out of his dressing room screaming like the Queen of the May," kept much more of his masculine body language.

Somebody passing for the other gender is a common trope in comedy, [[JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples all the way back to]] [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]]. However, it usually works only if the actor in question actually makes an effort to look and behave like a member of the opposite sex, otherwise the audience's WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief is broken and instead of being about, say, a man trying to pass as a woman, the work becomes about [[IdiotPlot how a group of morons didn't realize they were trying to pick up a drag queen]]. Occasionally it works, if applied side by side with RuleOfFunny. The trope is gradually becoming less common as it's often been used to mock transgender women who fail to pass and as such has attracted outcry from trans rights advocates. On the other hand, it is still played straight by some {{Drag Queen}}s as {{camp}} to subvert gender role expectations.

** For that matter, for the majority of the female characters in the series, no attempt is made to hide that they are played by the Pythons themselves in drag. Creator/TerryJones proved particularly adept at drag roles, earning the title "the best Rat-Bag woman in the business."

* The "Pepper Pots" of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' are ''very'' obviously men playing the role of middle-aged or elderly women.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-I agree, it's not my best disguise, but I had to make do.-]]]

** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS13E9ButtersBottomBitch Butters Bottom Bitch]], the police chief (Harrison Yates) dresses up as a female prostitute in a sting operation, but still keeps his mustache. The customers never notices it.
** Perhaps the all-time champion of this trope has to go to none other than Eric Cartman. In “[[Recap/SouthParkS18E3TheCissy The Cissy]],” he pretends to be a trans girl so that he can use the women’s restroom. Said disguise only consists of putting a pink bow on his hat. Literally nothing else about his appearance changes.

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', Kenshiro once confronted a gang of Ken-Oh's henchmen in a bar, one of them disguised himself as a nanny barkeeper. It doesn't take that much of efforts discover the disguise as he didn't shave properly.

* Hefty Smurf disguises himself as Smurfette (also not perfectly) in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Smurfette for a Day" to protect her from a gnome who wants to marry her.

* In both ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' films, Mr. Brown is forced at one point to dress up like a woman to get past security. Despite him obviously being a man in a dress and makeup, a security guard [[AttractiveBentGender falls for his disguise]] both times and refers to him an "incredibly sexy woman" even when he's actively ''shedding his disguise'' while running away.

* In the "Black Friday" trilogy of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' (and also in ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth''), Kenny dresses up as a princess... and still wears his parka underneath the whole thing, making it very conspicuous. Everyone just chooses not to question why he wants to be a princess in their game.

* Plump washerwomen take note, this is an absolute requirement for any Dame in any {{Pantomime}}! Never leave home without your obvious falsetto voice or bustle. Failure to produce bustle or react with extreme scepticism to cries of "they're behind you!" may lead to revoking of your 12x10 comedy-sized licence.

* In ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza1 Yakuza Kiwami]]'', Kiryu gets arranged to meet up with a girl at a hostess club named Goromi, which is just resident nutjob Goro Majima with a wig, a pink dress, and bad makeup. Amusingly, you play a dating mini-game with him just like with any other hostess before beating him up as usual.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''[[Literature/ApprenticeAdept Split Infinity]]'', when Stile is assigned an android fencing-instructor that's only programmed to teach women. Not only does it call him "lady", but it refuses to commence any lessons until Stile humors its limited programming and dons a protective bra ... which is his only item of apparel, being otherwise naked like all Proton serfs. Yes, he played this trope ''and'' FullFrontalAssault straight ''at the same time''.

* Zigzagged in ''Film/OlsenBanden'' (and its Swedish foreign remake ''Jönssonligan''): The protagonists are con men with a penchant for impersonating other lines of work and will occasionally disguise themselves in drag for their heists, but how well or badly they do depends on the situation. For example, the first time Sickan tries this, it is implied that this only succeeds because the mark has [[BlindWithoutEm really bad eyesight after stepping out of the bathtub without his glasses]], and thus doesn't notice details like Sickan's attempt at breasts under a bathrobe looking more like a lopsided beer gut and how his heavy makeup somehow emphasises his masculine facial features. On the other hand, he later disguises himself as a reserved and formally dressed elderly woman to ensure that his nemesis won't recognise him from afar, which works better aside from the [[LarynxDissonance ridiculous voice]]. Even his acquaintance Doris is fooled by it... The first time he tries this. [[VideoGame/JonssonliganJaktenPaMjolner The second]] she instead calls him out for "dressing like a biddy".

* ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'' has Holmes disguising himself as a woman. Since it is a last-minute disguise, it isn't one of the better ones. But in the dark when the other guys could only glimpse it, it works.

* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. Frank N. Furter doesn't really try to pass off as a woman yet Brad [[FanNickname (ASSHOLE!)]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim ends up falling for his seductive charm anyway]].