History Main / TheBarnum

* Ethan Rayne from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' could be considered TheBarnum. He's a trickster who worships chaos and shows no remorse for what he does. [[note]]Later, a stint in military changed his outlook.[[/note]]

* TheWonderfulWizardOfOz: The Great and Terrible Oz, TheManBehindTheCurtain, is not a great mage, but a humbug. However he did not do it willingly, but obligued by circunstances. He is very proud of being a humbug, and to give people things they know very well nobody can give.

SubTrope of ConMan and TricksterArchetype. Compare the (usually adolescent) HighSchoolHustler. Closely related to the SnakeOilSalesman and HonestJohnsDealership. May have contributed to the emergence of RepulsiveRingmaster. In a musical, you can expect this character to get a particularly fun VillainSong.

* Subverted by an actual character named Barnum in the second ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' game. Going along with his moneymaking ventures usually ends up with the object of his venture becoming much more lucrative, such as fixing a broken-down bridge, which restores a failing inn to prosperity, or building up a tent-town into a thriving village.

SubTrope of ConMan and TricksterArchetype. Compare the (usually adolescent) HighSchoolHustler. Closely related to HonestJohnsDealership. May have contributed to the emergence of RepulsiveRingmaster. In a musical, you can expect this character to get a particularly fun VillainSong.

** In the first ''DeepSpaceNineRelaunch'' novel, Quark considers it a favour to ''only'' inflate the sale price of a shuttle by 20% for a close personal friend.

* Eugene Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''EXTREME''''' MoneyFetish. It helps that Spongebob is quite possibly the best frycook under the sea, and the Krusty Krab has a loyal clientele that Krabs would be stupid to cheat...at least, blatantly cheat. Doesn't stop him from charging customers a dollar [[ProducePelting a tomato to throw]] at Squidward's ill-fated interpretive dance show.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': The [[BuffySpeak trade-o-sphere]] has its fair share of these, with their best-known trick involving the naming of a {{Com Mon|s}} after a Legendary and duping unsuspecting marks into trading for the deceptively-named Mon. Some smarter marks have been known to try this trick on others in turn.

* ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' depicts the TropeNamer as a non-malicious version, though he sometimes forgets how his schemes impact others.

* Kaptah in Mika Waltari's ''Literature/TheEgyptian'' turns into one of these later in life.
* Lazarus Long of Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Future History'' is often described this way.
* Moira Loftus from ''[[Creator/ChristopherBrookmyre Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks]]'' is a fake psychic who does it because, really, people are practically asking to be fooled.
* Sylvester [=McMonkey McBean=] from ''[[Creator/DrSeuss The Sneetches]]''.
* Judith Merkle Riley's ''Margaret of Ashbury'' trilogy features one, a relic seller in 14th-century England who sells people body parts that supposedly belonged to saints. However, he's a LovableRogue and generally sympathetic, and his scams are PlayedForLaughs.
* The relic-seller above is probably an {{Expy}} of the Pardoner from ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'', only with a SympatheticPOV.

* Captain Hector Barbossa of ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' definitely fits the bill, as a trickster who seemed nothing but content with his own cruel, selfish, and dishonorable schemes. Jack Sparrow also qualifies, at one point tricking a man who saved him from hanging into joining the crew of the Flying Dutchman and subsequently trying to "harvest" another ninety-nine to save his own skin.

** ''[[Videogame/Bioshock2]]'' has a slightly-more heroic Foil to Frank Fontaine in Augustus Sinclair. Like Fontaine, Sinclair is an opportunistic scumbag who scams the poor and destitute that rose to the top of Rapture's society by taking advantage of the system's faults and dead-spots. For example, knowing that Rapture had no homeless shelters or charity halls, Sinclair bought cheap housing early to become a slumlord. Knowing that Andrew Ryan had no prison system (he was building a Utopia after all) he purchased buildings that could be converted into penal colonies and then charge Ryan for sending inevitable undesirables there. But despite all that, he's got ''some'' scruples and lines he won't cross, unlike Fontaine, who's a sociopathic thug at heart. Sinclair ''genuinely'' likes and tries to assist the player character through the game.

* Vincent Kennedy [=McMahon=] has been called the modern day PT Barnum, yet this probably applies better to all the wrestling promoters who preceded him for building the Kayfabe wall that he essentially tore down. Depending on who you talk to, the biggest wrestling fans always suspected that the game was staged and just didn't care, giving the promoters no reason to stop their charade of claiming it was completely authentic competition. Conversely, said "smart" fans despise [=McMahon=] for tearing down the wall and turning wrestling into "sports entertainment" - though in many cases the disdain comes from making WWE more about the theatrics than the in-ring action. By today's business standards, [=McMahon=] is probably the ultimate example of this trope considering that WWE still inflates attendance figures, manipulates merchandise sales, and has skillfully deflected declining television ratings.

SubTrope of ConMan and TricksterArchetype. Compare the (usually adolescent) HighSchoolHustler. Closely related to HonestJohnsDealership. May have contributed to the emergence of RepulsiveRingmaster.

** His personality in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' suggests that by ''TOS'' he had ''mellowed out'''.

* "Professor" Emelius Browne from ''Disney/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' plays up this image, but ultimately is a subversion. His introductory song (in the extended version) "With A Flair" has him [[RefugeInAudacity singing to a crowd of people]] about how much he enjoys ripping them off, though he doesn't feel too bad about it because they ''know'' they're being ripped off, but they don't care because of how charming they think he is - which ends up backfiring, as the people he's singing to do not find him (or his bad magic tricks) endearing in any way and end up leaving.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* Dogbert in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. "That's outrageous! Idiots shouldn't have money!" His rationalization for his behavior is also amusing.
-->'''Dogbert:''' I only scam people who would do the same to me if they were smarter.\\
'''Dilbert:''' So you use arrogance to cancel guilt?\\
'''Dogbert:''' It's a good system.
[[/folder]]