History PaperThinDisguise / LiveACtionTV

* In Swedish 1960s series, ''Villervalle i Söderhavet'', Villervalle (who is a blond Swedish kid) moves with his family to Polynesia in the southern hemisphere. During the journey there (on a cruise ship), the boy spies on two French-speaking spies who planted a bomb on board. Later, in another episode, after the family has settled in their new tropical island life, Villervalle dyes his hair with a black dye and passes himself off as a local. The boy mingles with other Polynesian locals who are being lectured by the French-speaking spies, and the duo never notice him.

* ''Series/AlloAllo'': Monsieur Roger [=LeClerc=], "Man of a thousand faces--every one the same." Most episodes see him donning a completely useless disguise and [[PoseOfSilence conspiratorially whispering]], "[[CatchPhrase It is I, Le Clerc!]]"

* From ''Series/AlloAllo'', there is the character of Monsieur Roger [=LeClerc=], "Man of a thousand faces -- every one the same." Most episodes see him donning a completely useless disguise and conspiratorially whispering [[CatchPhrase "It is I, Le Clerc!"]]

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* [[CloudCuckoolander Kramer]] of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' is quite fond of donning disguises and false names to sneak into places where he does't belong. Whether or not he succeeds is usually a case of ThisIsReality -- for example, his identity as "Horace J. Pennypacker, wealthy industrialist, philanthropist, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers bicyclist]]" (which is just him wearing a fancy suit coat and glasses while smoking a cigar) works because people have no reason to doubt his identity, but his recurring persona of "Doctor Van Nostrum" (which he creates by wearing a white lab coat) often fails because any ''actual'' medical professional can instantly tell he's not the real thing.

*** [[spoiler:Averted in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]], when his disguise as Mr Razor is extremely elaborate, including a full mask, wig and false teeth, as well as a fake voice and a 24/7 act as an eccentric hospital caretaker]]. {{Justified}} since [[spoiler:he's hiding from an entire city that wants him dead, and he can't risk Bill recognising him as Harold Saxon.]]

* The ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Limelight" featured former teen popstar Mandy Sutton, who is clearly intended to be based on Music/MileyCyrus; reference is made to Mandy having once been the star on a TV show where she was a teen superstar and a crime-fighter with her only disguise being a pair of sunglasses. Castle's daughter Alexis used to be a fan of the show and laughs at how she used to don similar glasses to 'fool' her dad, and is left embarrassed when she realises that Mandy Sutton, currently faking her death after her lookalike was apparently killed in her place, is actually sitting right next to Castle (justified as Mandy was wearing dark glasses, had her hair covering her face, and Alexis obviously thought she was dead).

* Played for laughs on ''Saved By the Bell: The New Class''. Realizing too late that they don't have dates for the big school dance, Katie and Maria both get Eric to go along with them. He wears an idiotic wig as he pretends to be his "cousin" with one girl and then himself with another. From the looks he gets from other students, it's obvious no one is buying this at all. This comes up in the middle of the dance as the wig is knocked off. Maria and Katie put on a show of being "shocked" that Eric is pretending to be his own cousin "just so he could date the two of us!" Eric just walks off, yelling to never do this to him again or at least get a better wig as everyone laughs.

* The same kind of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles economy casting]] is used on ''Series/TheMightyBoosh''. But it didn't make Howard and Vince's attempts to masquerade as old ladies in the Bingo Hall seem any less feeble. Howard in particular should really have considered doing something about his moustache...

** As mentioned, [[CampGay Gruber's]] disguises are usually pathetic, but one episode features him disguised as a nurse so convincingly that most viewers don't realise it's him until he speaks. Judging from the ''explosion'' of laughter, the studio audience didn't recognise him either.

*** In "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho176StarlightRobbery Starlight Robbery}]", when infiltrating an alien auction, the Seventh Doctor has current companions Klein and Will disguise themselves as the Warlords of Zebrednik, who look human enough that minimal disguise is needed and are far enough away that nobody at the auction would have plausibly met them.

** In another case, Michelle of the Resistance comes in dressed as a very old lady. Though the ''identity'' of the person under the disguise may not be immediately apparent, it is quite obvious that it is a disguise due to the fact that her skin is very young looking apart from the false nose... [[ShesGotLegs and the fact that when she sits down a pair of decidedly not old lady legs emerge from the coat.]]