History Main / TheBarnum

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* Unigate Milk commercials used "Watch out... there's a Humphrey about!" for their advertising campaign, referring to a milk stealing thief named Humphrey that would drink your milk if you don't drink it in time.
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* ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'': "Professor" Harold Hill, at least until [[ThePowerOfLove Marian]].
** At one point he laments having to quit his Gas-powered car con now that they actually exist.

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* Clinton Stark in ''[[Film/SevenFacesOfDrLao 7 Faces of Dr. Lao]]'' is a bit of an inversion; he doesn't feel remorse for exploiting peoples greed and short sightedness, but as he told his henchmen, he always hopes that his cynical assumptions will be proven wrong on each scheme. When his scheme fails thanks to Dr. Lao's inspiration of the townspeople, he is genuinely happy about the failure.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Nabiki Tendō. An excellent example of the unprincipled type, having actually been [[WordofGod described by the author]] as having "no maidenly heart". This gets [[{{Flanderization}} really extreme]] as the series progresses, culminating in her [[spoiler:ruining her own little sister's wedding because she believes that inviting Ranma's other fiancées and his rivals will bring in more cash as wedding presents]]. {{Fanon}} often bumps her into a HighSchoolHustler, but this is arguable, as her schemes tend to mostly be limited to quickly taking advantage of situations, and her ongoing "business" is mostly limited to selling a large amount of soft-porn prints and images, some non-working merchandise or unreliable information, using blackmail or swindling opportunities, and investing in stocks. On occasion she has employed schemes with [[ManipulativeBastard several stages of efficient outrageous planning to them however, and she is an expert actress]]. Mostly, in a series populated by {{Made of Iron}} {{Jerkass}}es with SuperStrength, she survives through a combination of knowing when to get when the getting's good, and sticking to taking advantage of people who would never actually attack her (Akane, Tatewaki, Ranma...), and not being so irritating to those who would that a cheated customer considers it worth their time to just kill her. This accidentally happened with Shampoo and Kodachi in the manga, and Ukyō at least initially attempted to threaten and beat her up, but Ranma came to her rescue, whereafter his paramours apparently decided to leave her alone.

* Miroku in ''Manga/InuYasha'', in spite of being a Buddhist monk, is an adept and inveterate con artist whose favorite trick whenever he arrives in a town is to size up the largest and most wealthy-looking house, declare that he senses it's haunted by evil spirits, and offer to "exorcise" them in exchange for a meal and a bed for the night. If there's a pretty young girl in the household he's also been known to selflessly volunteer to stay with her all night to protect her. He's done it so often that when one house he's "exorcised" ''actually was haunted'', his companions were nothing short of shocked.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': J. Wilbur Wolfingham was a con-man who cheated many good people out of their money, only to be thwarted by Superman. He eventually reformed, but only because experience had shown him that Superman would always foil his plans. His schemes would often wind up inadvertently profiting the people he was trying to swindle.

* Honest John from ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' -- he swindles Pinocchio twice due to his gullibility and it had been suggested that he had been doing that for years.

* "Professor" Emelius Browne from ''Film/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.
* Nick Naylor from ''Film/ThankYouForSmoking'' is a tobacco lobbyist fully aware of what he's doing, but quite happy to keep doing it with a smile. The rest of the M.O.D. fits as well.

* In ''Film/AFaceInTheCrowd'', Lonesome Rhodes sees his audience as a bunch of gullible morons, and he's not afraid to say so to Marcia or to his cronies.
* ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' depicts the TropeNamer as a non-malicious version, though he sometimes forgets how his schemes impact others. Barnum cheerfully acknowledges that much of what he shows in his famous Circus is faked or exaggerated - but adds that the smiles of the audience are very much real.

* Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck from ''Series/TheATeam'' genuinely and unrepentantly ''enjoyed'' being a ConMan. He would occasionally gush and revel in explaining his latest scheme to the other members of the A-Team. For instance, he once started telling Hannibal about how he was starting his career as a movie producer by taking a student film, dubbing it over in another language, and then adding subtitles so that he could market it as a foreign film. Another time, the A-Team had to live in a suburban house for a few days to protect a client, and as soon as they get there, Face goes on a tangent about how he bought the house with a certain type of mortgage specifically so he could make more money when he sold it. He also loved living the high life by scamming his way into hotel penthouses and fancy beach houses, mostly because he could. Face also enjoyed seducing women by pretending to be a high-ranking film executive or director or even a neurologist and never, ever felt bad about it.
* Sir Humphrey Appleby of ''Series/YesMinister'', Sir Humphrey had a cynical motto for everything ("Gratitude is merely the lively expectation of future reward"; "The Official Secrets Act exists to protect officials, not secrets"), and was always cool -- except when some honesty broke into his perfect world. A more positive take on Sir Humphrey is that he and the Civil Service are providing effective (or at least stable) government, and performing damage control when elected politicians pander to their electorate without regards to their own political survival.
* Mr. Humphries of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed''. Mr. Humphries knew how ridiculous his job was, and did it just as absurdly as he was supposed to. After all, he was never the one who had to face the consequences -- that was the boss or the customers.
* Del Trotter from ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' was one of this, to the point that similar characters in other shows and real life have been referred to as "a bit of a Del Boy" by the media. He was pretty unscrupulous about what he sold to people and even short-changed his own brother on occasion.

* Kingfish from ''Amos N Andy'' sold tickets to fake raffles and fake tickets to a real ballet. When said tickets were revealed to be fake, he refunded the money... in counterfeit bills. He also took Andy for a grand tour of the entire United States, which is rather impressive since they never left Central Park. He briefly dabbled in selling shares in a uranium mine, and sold overpriced rabbits as chinchillas. Finally he sold a ring found in a box of crackerjacks for quite a sum, [[spoiler: only to find out it was actually worth quite a bit more.]]

* Travelling space circus owner and master of ceremonies P.T. Mindslap from the 11th season of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. He gets called out by Max and Kinga that his circus doesn't have any ''actual'' acts, only the description Mindslap gives the audience after turning off the lights.

* 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 the [[RobbingTheDead guy's corpse down and recover the money]]. He gives you the guy's gun as payment for the job.

* Kuroji Shitodo from the ShootEmUp game ''[[VideoGame/LenEn Len'en Project]]''. [[AmbiguousGender They]] only solve incidents for money, and resort to amoral acts such as stealing or robbing from others, however they do use the money that they swindle to support themself and their 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.]]

* Jim Sterling of ''The WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'' {{Retool}}ed his show and gave himself this persona when his dictator routine stopped being funny and started being worrying due to the return of neo-Nazism to the public eye. He now portrays himself as the leader of a questionable sideshow of miscellaneous alter-egos.

* Bender from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' sometimes channels the Barnum. Leela and Amy have both told him, "Bender, you should be more ashamed of yourself than usual!"

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Swindle of the Combaticons.
** In the episode "B.O.T.", his Combaticon comrades were blown to their component parts, and Swindle took the opportunity to sell them to both USSR ''and'' Middle Eastern stereotypes. When a predictably enraged Megatron made him get them back, it is generally assumed that he didn't return their money.
** In ''WesternAnimation/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.

* The self-styled King of Ooo from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''.
* Louise from ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' has shades of this whenever she engages in a get-rich-quick scheme.
* Eddy from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', when his scams are actually working.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Lila Rossi lies to and manipulates everyone and panders to them. She tells Marinette, one of the few people to actually know she’s a liar, that she just tells people whatever they want to hear regardless of whether or not it is true, which makes them like her.

* The 19th-century gambler and con artist "Canada Bill" Johnson was fond of saying, "It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."
* Common attitude among ancient Greek sophists -- philosophers, who traveled around Greek cities teaching for money (mostly philosophy, rhetorics, politics) or working as mediators (e.g. in court). They tended to be relativists, believing that law was merely a consensus between people and that justice didn't exist. Now they are mostly remembered as instructors in deception, being hated by Socrates, and "sophism" meaning LogicalFallacy.
* A similar quote "A sucker is not a mammoth. A sucker won't become extinct" is often attributed to a Russian ConMan Sergei Mavrodi. The quote is so famous among Russian-speaking swindlers that "notmammoth" is a slang term for the [[TheCon marks]] among them.
* Alex Jordan, builder, architect, and proprietor of the House on the Rock, fashioned himself as one when the House started to become popular. In real life an honest man, Jordan sought to evoke the atmosphere of a bygone age, and the flavor text of the early souvenir books had wild stories about how he acquired attractions such as ''The Mikado'' and other music machines. It worked until truth-in-advertising laws required him to stop telling these yarns.

* Literature/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 circumstances. He is very proud of being a humbug, and to give people things they know very well nobody can give.

** In the first ''Literature/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 '''''[[{{UpToEleven}} EXTREME]]''''' MoneyFetish. It helps that [=SpongeBob=] is quite possibly the best [[{{BurgerFool}} frycook]] under the sea (to the point that he once [[{{WowingCthulhu}} outperformed]] ''[[{{PhysicalGod}} King Neptune]]'' with his cooking skills), if not the ''[[{{UpToEleven}} entire planet Earth]]'', 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. Although, in that last case, they said "It's worth every penny." Squidward's dancing was ''that'' bad.

The true mark of the Barnum is how serene and happy he usually is, despite what he does every day. He's reached a cynic's nirvana.

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

SubTrope of ConMan and TheTrickster. 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.

* Honest John from ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' -- he swindles Pinocchio twice due to his gullibility and it had been suggested that he had been doing that for years. He's even depicted in the page image.

* Ethan Rayne from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' could be considered TheBarnum. He's a trickster who worships chaos and shows no remorse for what he does.

* A similar quote "A sucker is not a mammoth. A sucker won't become extinct" is often attributed to a Russian ConMan Sergei Mavrodi. The quote is so famous among Russian-speaking swindlers that "notmammoth" is a slang term for TheMark among them.

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** Moist von Lipwig from ''Literature/GoingPostal'' starts out as one of these, but when confronted by one of the innocent victims of his scams he decides to stick with government service. He still misses the ''excitement'' of the con in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', but not the actual taking advantage of people. Also deconstructed -- as much as he thinks he's a GentlemanThief because he's only conned people and [[ConMenHateGuns never stole from them by force]], his parole officer then provides him in highly precise and BrutalHonesty that he'd devastated the psyches of every single one of his victims by leaving them penniless and a few actually committed suicide because of it.

** Professor Monty Bladder, [[TheGhost mentioned]] in ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky'', appears to be one, since the advertisement for his Three Ring Circus declares "See The Egress!" He had a man with a dictionary standing by to prove people had got exactly what they paid for. This is a shout-out to P.T. Barnum, who used the trick in real life.

A trickster-philosopher who lives by pandering to people's greed and gullibility. Not only does he never feel guilty about it, but he will be offended by suggestions that he stop. If people want to be tricked, who is he to say no? Furthermore, if he's exposed, he'll shrug while admitting it and use his backup pitch about the con with equal fervor.

* 5th century BC comedy ''Theatre/TheClouds'' by Creator/{{Aristophanes}} portrays Creator/{{Socrates}} and his students that way, accusing them of all sins of contemporary sophists (see RL section about sophists). While this was not true, the "facts" from the comedy were used as evidence in Socrates trial.
* ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'': "Professor" Harold Hill, at least until [[ThePowerOfLove Marian]].
** At one point he laments having to quit his Gas-powered car con now that they actually exist.
* ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' has the AmoralAttorney Billy Flynn. True to form, he gets a flashy song about it: "Razzle Dazzle".

* Literature/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.

** Moist von Lipwig from ''Literature/GoingPostal'' starts out as one of these, but when confronted by one of the innocent victims of his scams he decides to stick with government service. He still misses the ''excitement'' of the con in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', but not the actual taking advantage of people. Also deconstructed -- as much as he thinks he's a GentlemanThief because he's only conned people and [[ConMenHateGuns never stole from them by force]], his parole officer then provides him in highly precise and BrtualHonesty that he'd devastated the psyches of every single one of his victims by leaving them penniless and a few actually commited suicide because of it.

* Eugene Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''[[{{UpToEleven}} EXTREME]]''''' MoneyFetish. It helps that [=SpongeBob=] is quite possibly the best [[{{BurgerFool}} frycook]] under the sea (to the point that he once outperformed ''[[{{PhysicalGod}} King Neptune]]'' with his cooking skills), if not the ''[[{{UpToEleven}} entire planet Earth]]'', 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. Although, in that last case, they said "It's worth every penny." Squidward's dancing was ''that'' bad.

** Moist von Lipwig from ''Literature/GoingPostal'' starts out as one of these, but when confronted by one of the innocent victims of his scams he decides to stick with government service. He still misses the ''excitement'' of the con in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', but not the actual taking advantage of people.

* Eugene Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''[[{{UpToEleven}} EXTREME]]''''' MoneyFetish. It helps that [=SpongeBob=] is quite possibly the best [[{{BurgerFool}} frycook]] under the sea (to the point that he once outperformed ''[[{{PhysicalGod}} King Neptune]]'' with his cooking skills) , 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. Although, in that last case, they said "It's worth every penny." Squidward's dancing was ''that'' bad.

* Dr. Facilier from ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' is The Barnum mixed with actual, infernal magical power, thanks to his Friends on the Other Side. He wins people over with his [[EvilIsSexy incredible charisma,]] plays on their insecurities or desires, and then uses the power of a contract with them [[ManipulativeBastard to manipulate them to his own ends.]]

* Eugene Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''[[{{UpToEleven}} EXTREME]]''''' MoneyFetish. It helps that Spongebob is quite possibly the best [[{{BurgerFool}} frycook]] under the sea (to the point that he once outperformed ''[[{{PhysicalGod}} King Neptune]]'' with his cooking skills) , 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. Although, in that last case, they said "It's worth every penny." Squidward's dancing was ''that'' bad.

* Eugene Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a surprisingly mild example, considering his '''''[[{{UpToEleven}} 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. Although, in that last case, they said "It's worth every penny." Squidward's dancing was ''that'' bad.

* Honest John from ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' -- he swindles Pinocchio twice due to his gullibility and it had been suggested that he had been doing that for years.

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/honest_john_pinocchio_barnum.png]]]]

* Honest John from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' -- he swindles Pinocchio twice due to his gullibility and it had been suggested that he had been doing that for years.

* Dogbert in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. "That's outrageous! Idiots shouldn't have money!" His rationalization for his behavior is also amusing.

** Moist von Lipwig from ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' starts out as one of these, but when confronted by one of the innocent victims of his scams he decides to stick with government service. He still misses the ''excitement'' of the con in ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', but not the actual taking advantage of people.
** And Lipwig's antagonists, Reacher Gilt in ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' and Cribbins in ''Discworld/MakingMoney''. Unlike him, they never stopped.
** The Amazing Maurice in ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents''. After all he's [[TalkingAnimal a cat]], and cats long ago worked out [[CatsAreMean how to take advantage of humans]]. He just uses his intelligence to expand it a little.
** Professor Monty Bladder, [[TheGhost mentioned]] in ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'', appears to be one, since the advertisement for his Three Ring Circus declares "See The Egress!" He had a man with a dictionary standing by to prove people had got exactly what they paid for. This is a shout-out to P.T. Barnum, who used the trick in real life.