History PaperThinDisguise / LiveACtionTV

* Spoofed in the Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} series ''Series/AllThat'', where the local superhero Superdude encounters an impersonator robbing the bank. [[EasyImpersonation Said impersonator is a little girl.]] Despite the fact that Superdude is played by the heavily built African-American teenager Kenan Thompson, and the impersonator is played by the thin Caucasian preteen Amanda Bynes, the TooDumbToLive townspeople are completely unable to tell the difference between the two, even after Superdude bends a metal bar in a knot and the impersonator simply rips a piece of paper (which the citizens are convinced is a form of SuperStrength).

** In the [[AlternateTimeline Flashpoint timeline]], Barry finds that there is another Flash who isn't him. One day, said Flash gets knocked down, and a curious Barry takes off his mask and is surprised to find out that he's actually Wally. This is despite the fact that unlike Barry's outfit, Wally's outfit leaves his hair exposed, and Barry should have easily been able to guess it was him, though in fairness Wally was seen vibrating his face and vocal chords earlier.

* An episode of ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'' titled "The Queen Who Came in from the Cold" featured the Queen of Hearts--a heavyset black woman with a fondness for wearing all-red outfits--upset about receiving a number of anonymous letters complaining about her newest taxes. To find out who the letter writers are, she assumes a disguise--a crimson dress and matching hat with her hair partially over her face--and speaks in a half-whisper, which makes her look remarkably like...a heavyset black woman with a fondness for wearing all-red outfits. It fools ''everyone'' but the Cheshire Cat--and the characters interact with the Queen on a daily basis! What makes it even funnier is that there are no other women, African-American or otherwise, in Wonderland, and yet everyone is completely unable to recognize her.

** Unintentionally averted in "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary", when Artie is disguised as a gas company meter man; he broke his leg during filming of the episode so he was replaced for part of the climax by a stand-in (who looks ''nothing'' like Ross Martin).
** In [[Film/WildWildWest the film version]], however, it's much much worse. Gordon is introduced disguised as a saloon girl... and despite looking rather obviously like a man, and sounding very little like a woman, his disguise fools the living Hell out of everyone. Yet, even this is topped when James West dons an awkward harem costume and interrupts the villain's inaugural NebulousEvilOrganisation meeting by doing a Little Egypt dance, which despite being membrane-thin and a grossly obvious diversion tactic, somehow gains the rapt attention of every bad guy in the scene.
*** Of course, the movie also played it perfect with Gordon's spot-on Ulysses S. Grant impression. (The fact that Grant was played by Creator/KevinKline as well helped a bit, too.) He still [[ImposterForgotOneDetail can't fool West, however.]]
*** In fairness, Artie was also occasionally disguised as a woman on the original show as well ("The Night of the Freebooters" and "The Night of the Green Terror") but never to that extent.

** And in the "Three Wise Men" special, when Clarkson and Hammond dress up in niqab. For one thing, Clarksons is ''six foot five''.

* Happens in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. In [[Recap/SherlockS03E01TheEmptyHearse "The Empty Hearse"]], Sherlock disguises himself as a French waiter by stealing a black bowtie, horn-rimmed glasses, scribbling on a fake mustache, and talking in a French accent when attempting to reveal that he's still alive to John. And John is so distracted that it still takes him a few minutes to realize that he's been talking to Sherlock.

** In "If I Only Had a Job," Raven dons a long blonde wig and designer clothes, coupled with a [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent bizarre, vaguely foreign-sounding accent]] to pretend to be a famous pop star and help her father get his restaurant job back. Chelsea and Eddie don black clothes and sunglasses to pass themselves off as her publicist and bodyguard, respectively, and Eddie calls her "Liz Anya" after [[LineOfSightName seeing a waitress carrying a plate of lasagna.]] Despite the fact that Raven's been in the restaurant many times before, the owner fails to recognize her. The credibility is strained further when Raven has "Music/JenniferLopez" call her cell phone--it's actually Cory, Raven's little brother and thus a ''preteen boy'' speaking in a high-pitched voice that sounds nothing like J.Lo. To top it all off, when the restaurant patrons ask Liz to perform a song for them, she says she'll do one she just wrote with Eddie accompanying her on piano--and he promptly starts playing "When the Saints Go Marching In," as it's the only tune he knows. For all that, no one is even remotely suspicious.

** In "If I Only Had a Job," Raven dons a long blonde wig and designer clothes, coupled with a [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent bizarre, vaguely foreign-sounding accent]] to pretend to be a famous pop star and help her father get his restaurant job back. Chelsea and Eddie don black clothes and sunglasses to pass themselves off as her publicist and bodyguard, respectively, and Eddie calls her "Liz Anya" after [[LineOfSightName seeing a waitress carrying a plate of lasagna.]] Despite the fact that Raven's been in the restaurant many times before, the owner fails to recognize her. The credibility is strained further when Raven has "Music/JenniferLopez" call her cell phone--it's actually Cory, Raven's little brother and thus a ''preteen boy'' speaking in a high-pitched voice that sounds nothing like J.Lo. To top it all off, when the restaurant patrons ask Liz to perform a song, she says she'll do one she just wrote with Eddie accompanying her--and he promptly starts playing "When the Saints Go Marching In," as it's the only song he knows. For all that, no one is even remotely suspicious.
*** Interestingly, the trope is [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded]] when, at the end of the song, Chelsea and Eddie notice their Spanish teacher coming in and hurriedly try to get Raven to stop performing--apparently, the teacher will know who they are, despite the outfits fooling everyone else.
** In "Art Breaker," Chelsea is chosen to exhibit her artwork at a gallery show, and creates a sculpture of Raven to display. After Raven inadvertently breaks it, she decides to cover herself in clay and feathers to [[NobodyHereButUsStatues pass herself off as a statue]] at the show. Granted, she's pretty good at staying still, but she's also on display in a room full of people and still breathing and blinking, so...

* On ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', Frank often uses this kind of disguise to help the gang with whatever scheme they're trying to pull off. Keep in mind that Frank is played by Creator/DannyDeVito, who's about five feet tall and has a distinctively round shape. Despite that, his tricks often work:
** One episode has Frank infiltrating an art gallery to convince the owner to come to Paddy's Pub for a show Mac plans to put on. Frank agrees--after [[BlatantLies promising to "keep it subtle"]]--by putting on a black turtleneck and pants, horn-rimmed glasses, and a white Creator/AndyWarhol-like wig. He proceeds to call himself "Ongo Gablogian, the art collector," and marches around the gallery declaring that various works are "derivative" and [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible claiming that the building's air conditioner is a beautiful statement on the human condition.]] The owner is successfully fooled.

* [[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 it works is usually a case of RealityEnsues--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.

** In one sketch, Bert accuses Ernie of stealing a plate of cookies he was saving for himself. Ernie loves cookies and has been known to trick Bert from his desserts, but [[NotMeThisTime swears that he's innocent in this case]]. Bert argues that he saw someone in a red-and-blue striped sweater with a tuft of black hair laughing in Ernie's distinctive "Khee-hee-hee" manner...and that's when Cookie Monster enters, wearing a sweater that looks like Ernie's and a small black wig. This was apparently enough to fool Bert, despite the fact that Cookie Monster is, you know, a ''fuzzy blue monster.''

** In "If I Only Had a Job," Raven dons a long blonde wig and designer clothes, coupled with a [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent bizarre, vaguely foreign-sounding accent]] to pretend to be a famous pop star and help her father get his restaurant job back; Eddie calls her "Liz Anya" after [[LineOfSightName seeing a waitress carrying a plate of lasagna.]] Despite the fact that she's been in the restaurant many times before, the owner fails to recognize her. The credibility is strained further when Raven has "Music/JenniferLopez" call her cell phone--it's actually Cory, Raven's little brother and thus a ''preteen boy'' speaking in a high-pitched voice that sounds nothing like J.Lo. To top it all off, when the restaurant patrons ask Liz to perform a song, she says she'll do one she just wrote with Eddie accompanying her--and he promptly starts playing "When the Saints Go Marching In," as it's the only song he knows.

** In "True Colors," a VerySpecialEpisode about racism, Raven discovers that she was passed up for a job at Sassy's, a store in the mall, despite being a highly qualified candidate because the owner is a racist who refuses to hire black people. The whole gang teams up to expose the owner; Raven's part of the plan is to pass herself off as a middle-aged, ''male'' vice-president of Sassy's by wearing a suit, fake beard, and bald cap while speaking in a deeper voice that fails to cover up the fact that she's a teenage girl. WebVideo/FunnyOrDie [[FridgeLogic pointed out the issue]] with this by remarking that Victor, Raven's father and an ''actual'' middle-aged black man, could have just easily played the role, especially because the manager hadn't seen him before.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive:'' One sketch parodying ''Undercover Boss'' has [[Franchise/StarWars Kylo Ren]] going undercover as "Matt the Radar Technician". It'd probably have worked a bit better if Ren hadn't [[ButHeSoundsHandsome tried praising his own shrededness]], and using the Force to strangle people who insulted him. As it turns out, pretty much everyone knew he was Kylo Ren before that anyway.

* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'': Raven has frequently disguised herself, sometimes even as old men, despite looking nothing like a man, and sounding exactly as a teenage girl, albeit speaking in a false deep voice.

** Cory later disguises himself as his sister Raven to present new uniforms for the White House (the real Raven cannot attend because she is being hunted down for harassing the President, who is unaware of her being Cory's sister). His disguise merely consists of dressing in Raven's clothes, putting on makeup, wearing a wig, and putting balloons in his top to give himself a bustline. It also doesn't help that he is badly hiding his masculine voice. Meena even comments on the " resemblance" that "Raven" has to Cory.

** Cory later disguises himself as his sister Raven to present new uniforms for the White House (the real Raven cannot attend because she is being hunted down for harrassing the President, who is unaware of her being Cory's sister). His disguise merely consists of dressing in Raven's clothes, putting on makeup, wearing a wig, and conceling balloons inside his top to look like boobs. It also doesn't help that he is badly hiding his masculine voice. Meena even comments on the " resemblance" that "Raven" has to Cory.

** In "Wonderland: The Movie," [[ThoseTwoGuys the Mad Hatter and March Hare]] want more screentime in the titular documentary. At one point, they don Groucho Marx glasses and pass themselves off as "Mr. X and Mr. Y." In this case it's clearly PlayedForLaughs, as no one falls for the disguises in the slightest (despite the Hatter and Hare [[ButHeSoundsHandsome wondering aloud who the intriguing pair might be.]])

* An episode of ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'' titled "The Queen Who Came in from the Cold" featured the Queen of Hearts--a heavyset black woman with a fondness for wearing all-red outfits--upset about receiving a number of anonymous letters complaining about her newest taxes. To find out who the letter writers are, she assumes a disguise--a crimson dress, her hair partially over her face, and a large red hat--and speaks in a half-whisper, which makes her look remarkably like...a heavyset black woman with a fondness for wearing all-red outfits. It fools ''everyone'' but the Cheshire Cat--and the characters interact with the Queen on a daily basis! What makes it even funnier is that there are no other women, African-American or otherwise, in Wonderland, and yet everyone is completely unable to recognize her.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Series/LazyTown https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/master_of_disguise_4.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"''I'm the master of disguise! I can vanish from your eyes!''"]]

* While ''Series/{{MadTV}}'''s [[HughMann Smith Comma John]] looks completely human, his disguise is rendered paper thin [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial by his loudly announcing to anyone that will listen that he's not an alien]]. For example, he can use a 3-way light bulb, and sit near a dog. Could an alien do that? Apparently not.

* Someone handed ''Series/MacGyver'' the IdiotBall in the episode "Cleo Rocks". Despite clues so obvious that a child could work it out, it takes Mac most of the episode to realize that his old nemesis Murdoc is back, even though his disguise is so thin that it's obvious who he is the first time we see him. From behind. In the dark. And he's only halfway in the frame. They clearly thought it was working, too, since even after the first [[TheReveal reveal]] where Murdoc appears undisguised, it's only after we get a ''second'' reveal that anyone realizes that he's been in disguise all along.

* Common on ''Series/{{Batman}}'', where the citizens of Gotham City are remarkably unobservant when it comes to recognizing Special Guest Villains. On at least two occasions, ComicBook/TheJoker is able to successfully impersonate someone else -- not by wearing makeup to hide his distinctive features, or even by changing clothes, but by simply ''wearing a hat'' (though he ''did'' manage a halfway-convincing Texas accent).

** "Bob"'s ancestor, Kate (which she says is short for Bob), does something similar in Blackadder II. Everybody is actually fooled by it, though Edmund falls for her and is worried that he might be gay. It's only when she shows Blackadder her breasts that he realises that she’s a woman (this is a ShoutOut to various Shakespeare comedies involving disguises of this sort, particularly A Comedy Of Errors)

* Nicely used on ''Series/{{Supergirl}}'' when James Olson decides to fight crime as the Guardian. He wears a uniform covering him head to toe and even lined with lead. It's a good disguise so that it takes having him unmasked for Kara (who knows James well) to figure out it's him. When James rescues Cat Grant from an attack, he and Winn are both stunned when she automatically thanks him as "James".

** TheMaster, whose skills involve being a master of disguise, disguised himself frequently during Creator/RogerDelgado's tenure with a pair of glasses. Creator/AnthonyAinley also adopted paper-thin disguises in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva "Castrovalva"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E7TimeFlight "Time-Flight"]] (in the latter case, they actually intended to fool someone, as Ainley even used a pseudonym in the credits). The Master also hid behind pseudonyms like "Colonel Masters", "Mr. Magister", "Dr. Masterly", etc. In the new series, he hides behind an unintentionally SignificantAnagram.

*** His "Harold Saxon" guise zigzags this somewhat. He actually did bother to create a backstory for himself, and even generated a few photographs. However, he went out of his way to make it as obvious as possible that he had appeared out of nowhere eighteen months ago, for instance, all the photos of him as a University student don't look any younger than his current appearance, and he had no paper trail despite getting a first at Oxford ''and'' being a former rugby champion. Then he deliberately became one of the most visible people in the world by founding his own political party, leading it to an electoral landslide and becoming PM of Britain. Justified in that he has the entire world under subtle mind control that prevented anyone looking too closely, and being able to fool a planet full of stupid humans without even trying probably appealed to the {{Troll}} in him.

*** [[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".]]