History Main / TheBarnum

* Lazarus Long of Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Future History'' is often described this way. And being the unrepentant MartyStu that he is, he always [[JerkSue gets away with it, too]].

* Marcus in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. The second game has a sidequest that reveals he tricked an internet celebrity into thinking he was TheChosenOne just so he could sell him a ludicrously overpriced gun. He then realizes he gave the guy too much change, and hires you to track him down.

* ''{{Psych}}'''s Shawn Spencer has no apparent respect for anyone or anything as he brazenly lies to the police. Considering that the lie started as a way to get out of jail time for ''solving'' half a dozen open cases from his armchair, it's little wonder. Shawn ''does'' respect the sanctity of life. When it comes down to it, he'll never let a ''violent'' criminal get away, although he's not above making light of their acts.

* Eugene Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''EXTREME''''' MoneyFetish.

* The relic-seller above is probably an [[{{Expy}} expy]] of the Pardoner from ''TheCanterburyTales'', only with a SympatheticPOV.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Oddly averted in ''Barnum! In Secret Service to Tte USA'': P.T. Barnum here may be a bit of a flim-flammer, but he gets most of his joy from entertaining the crowd rather than conning them
* Phoncible P. ("Phoney") ComicBook/{{Bone}}.
* ComicBook/TomPoes: Joris Goedbloed, a [[CunningLikeAFox cunning fox]] who also appears in Marten Toonder's other comic book series ''Panda''.
* ComicBook/{{Urbanus}}: The scoundrel Jef Patat tricks Urbanus and other villagers often. By the time they understand what has happened it's usually too late.
[[/folder]]

->''There's a sucker born every minute.''

* Many, ''many'' politicians are seen as this. In the Philippines, for example, practically all of elected government thrives on the whims of tragically ill-informed and uneducated voters, providing them BreadAndCircuses in exchange for constant reelection (if not for an individual politician then for his or her relatives [[HereditaryRepublic invariably occupying similar offices]]). It's entirely possible that a Barnum-like attitude to poverty, graft and corruption allows these politicians to sleep soundly at night despite all their crimes. Even worse, the rare gems of honest and/or competent officials in Philippine politics often toil on unappreciated and ignored—at least until [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth they die]].

* Kuroji Shitodo from the ShootEmUp game LenEn. [[AmbiguousGender Them]] doesn't feel remorse for exploiting peoples greed and short sightedness, but actually does that to get money for their irresponsible younger siblings.

* ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'': [[LouisCypher Doc Scratch]], although he sees it as a point of {{pride}} to manipulate everyone [[WillNotTellALie without ever telling a lie.]]

* Eugene Krabs from ''{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''EXTREME''''' MoneyFetish.

* Swindle of the [[TransformersGeneration1 Combaticons]]

** In ''TransformersAnimated'' [[note]]where he was voiced by Fred Willard[[/note]] he conned humans into stealing things for him, engaged in sales banter with Megatron, and sold random objects out of a hammerspace drawer in his chest, including some helmets from various G1 characters.

* Phoncible P. ("Phoney") {{Bone}}.

* Crowley from ''{{Good Omens}}'' -- a demon whose job it is to tempt people to sin, but can't force them to do anything they don't chose to, and often what people chose to do on their own is worse than anything he comes up with.

* ComicStrip/{{Urbanus}}: The scoundrel Jef Patat tricks Urbanus and other villagers often. By the time they understand what has happened it's usually too late.

* {{Homestuck}}: [[LouisCypher Doc Scratch]], although he sees it as a point of {{pride}} to manipulate everyone [[WillNotTellALie without ever telling a lie.]]

Compare the (usually adolescent) HighSchoolHustler. Closely related to HonestJohnsDealership.

* Great Uncle Stan Pines from ''GravityFalls'', owner of the Mystery Shack, museum for countless oddities- all fake. One of his 'attractions' is the Bag of Mystery, which causes any money put in to mysteriously vanish. He claims that all of the myths surrounding the town are just cooked up by guys like him to shill clueless tourists. [[spoiler: Though the ending of season one and the season two premiere reveal that he does know about the journals and the strange things that happen in Gravity Falls.]]

* The mentalist Merritt [=McKinney=] in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' is shown blackmailing people about secrets he cold-red from their minds.

* The mentalist Merritt [=McKinney=] in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' is seen exploiting people by blackmailing them about secrets he cold-red from their minds.

* The mentalist Merritt McKinney in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' is seen exploiting people by blackmailing them about secrets he cold-red from their minds.

* Thaddeus Bradley of ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' is this, especially since he doesn't seem to actually want the thieves stopped. In the finale, however [[spoiler: The Fifth Horseman proves to be a much bolder example to Thaddeus himself]].

-->--[[BeamMeUpScotty Erroneously attributed to]] '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum P.T. Barnum]]'''