| 1 | ->'''Bodie:''' How are you going to play it?\ |
| 2 | '''Doyle:''' Urrrh... drunk! |
| 3 | -->-- ''Series/TheProfessionals'' |
| 4 | |
| 5 | Simply put, a character fakes being drunk. This is often a way of achieving ObfuscatingStupidity. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Variants: The person's pretending to be high. They may even be a ''tad'' buzzed[=/=]high to complete the effect. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Compare FakeHigh, where the character thinks they're drunk or high when they're not. MistakenForJunkie is a related trope where someone is incorrectly thought to be on drugs. |
| 10 | ---- |
| 11 | !!Examples: |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 16 | * ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Rentarou planned to serve fake beer at a sleepover in Chapter 109 to welcome his newest girlfriend into the harem. But the publisher refused to let him do so, since only three of his 21 girlfriends are old enough to drink,[[note]]while [[MayDecemberRomance one of the girlfriends is 89 years old]], she [[OlderThanTheyLook has the body of an 8-year-old]] and thus CantHoldHerLiquor[[/note]] and so Rentarou opted to set up atmospheric conditions to simulate drunkenness instead. |
| 17 | * In ''Manga/DeathNote'', [[spoiler: Matsuda, after being caught by Yotsuba, pretends to be drunk so he can fake his death via falling.]] |
| 18 | * Zoro and Nami do this in ''Manga/OnePiece'' during Whisky Peak. Nami also used it frequently as a tactic for her pirate robbing prior to becoming a Straw Hat. |
| 19 | * In ''Manga/SoulEater'', Stein pretends to be drunk to trap Medusa. Unfortunately, even though he gets her to admit she's a witch, he's too late to stop her from putting her plan into action. |
| 20 | * ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': During her attempt to [[PrecociousCrush seduce Loid]], Becky's last resort is to press herself against him while claiming to be drunk. In the romance movies she watches - where the heroines pulling this may or may not ''actually'' be drunk - this apparently works every time. In real life, it does absolutely nothing to seduce Loid, on account of Becky being six years old, and instead causes Yor to panic and rush Becky to the hospital in the belief that she's somehow accidentally slipped alcohol into Becky's tea. |
| 21 | * ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. It's hard to determine at any time just how much of Vash the Stampede's apparent drunkenness is honest and how much is the trope. While at times he's shown to be so plastered as to be unable to maintain his ObfuscatingStupidity, at other times he's been able to snap sober in a blink. |
| 22 | [[/folder]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 25 | * ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Bruce Wayne does this as part of his public persona. Most people don't realize that the drinks in his glass are either [[FrothyMugsOfWater non-alcoholic beverages that look like alcoholic ones to a casual gaze]] (when he's drinking at home) or [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal poured into the nearest potted plant]] (when he's drinking elsewhere). |
| 26 | * ''ComicBook/SimonSaysNaziHunter'': In one comic, Simon is seen drunk at a bar. In truth, he was only pretending to be drunk to draw suspicion away from him. |
| 27 | * ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': In "De Raap van Rubens", while [[TimeTravel in the year 1620]], Lambik is ambushed by 3 robbers and quickly hides in a wine barrel to escape them. When this fails because the robbers keep searching for him, he emerges from the barrel, seemingly drunk. However, that is just an act to make the robbers drop their guard, and when they get close enough he knocks them out cold. |
| 28 | * In ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', Rick has Glenn do this to [[spoiler:help him steal back the weapons the group had to put in storage when they arrived in Alexandria.]] |
| 29 | [[/folder]] |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 32 | * Done by George to good advantage in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''; he's pretending to be drunk and defeated so [[spoiler: Brox and Co.]] don't take him seriously, but he's actually gathering information on the house where John is imprisoned so he can figure out how to rescue him. Later, when he does come up with a plan, he keeps up the drunk act so he can have an excuse to talk his way past the guards (who are admittedly sympathetic to him and John) and climb onto the roof. |
| 33 | * The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fic ''Fanfic/SpiderManFindingHome'' sees Peter Parker and Yelena Belova end up doing this when Yelena drops in to invite Peter and his new friend Kate Bishop out for a few drinks. Since Peter's metabolism allows him to process alcohol faster than normal, he initially pretends to be drunk to avoid drawing attention to himself, but after Kate's returned home Yelena reveals that she was ''also'' faking being drunk as she wanted to confirm Peter wasn't a threat to Kate (she had done background research and confirmed that Peter's identity documents were faked even if she doesn't know why they were faked). |
| 34 | * In ''Fanfic/CrossCases'', Sam gets some money his first night in Dresdenverse Chicago by way of his usual scheme of hustling pool and pretending he's drunk. His act is so good he even fools Harry at first, and from Harry's perspective, if he could fake being drunk ''that'' well, who's to say everything else about him isn't just an act? |
| 35 | [[/folder]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 38 | * ''Film/The47Ronin'': Kuranosuke does this when some visitors arrive, the first trying to convince him to work for the shogun and the next two demanding he immediately go to war against Kira. He immediately drops the pretense when his son is about to leave to go make war on Kira as well, explaining to his son that everything he's doing is part of his plan for revenge against Kira. |
| 39 | * In ''Film/AfterTheSunset'', FBI agent Stan gets drunk and laments to Max--the jewel thief he's been pursuing for years--that he's trashed his career and a potentially great relationship because of his obsession with catching him. Max takes pity on him and nurses him through the vicious hangover he suffers afterwards. At the end of the movie, Max orders the same drink Stan supposedly got drunk off of and realizes it contains no alcohol--Stan was faking his reaction so that Max would let his guard down and not realize that Stan was trailing him as he prepared for another heist. |
| 40 | * ''Film/AlienResurrection''. A drunk Call tries to drink a cup of Johner's GargleBlaster while wearing boxing gloves, inevitably spills it and gets thrown out of the room by him. This gives her a chance to prowl about the spaceship unobserved. [[spoiler:Turns out Call is an ArtificialHuman, so she can't get drunk in the first place.]] |
| 41 | * In ''Film/TheAwfulDrOrloff'', Orloff meets Wanda in a private room and wines and dines her as part of his plan to abduct her. Wanda pretends to get drunk, which allows her to spot him SlippingAMickey and perform a PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo. |
| 42 | * Lucy of ''Film/TheAwfulTruth'' uses this as part of a plot to embarrass her husband in front of his prospective in-laws. |
| 43 | * In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Bruce Wayne fakes being drunk as an excuse to insult all of his party guests and shoo them out of his house (thus preventing them from getting killed). When Wayne Manor is torched in the ensuing battle, the next day the papers read "[[HeroWithBadPublicity Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home]]". |
| 44 | %%* ''Film/{{Beerfest}}'': "We're not that drunk." |
| 45 | * ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop''. While in the bar, Axel Foley pretends to be drunk to make an armed robber think he's harmless and get close enough to take him out. |
| 46 | * In ''Film/{{Boot Camp|2008}}'', Ben fakes being addicted to heroin as part of a GetIntoJailFree gambit to get his parents to send him to Camp Serenity. He has actually been injecting himself with saline solution. |
| 47 | * ''Film/{{Colombiana}}''. The DynamicEntry of the protagonist as an adult ProfessionalKiller involves her ramming into a police car, stumbling out along with a couple of bottles, then getting cuffed and thrown into a holding cell to sleep it off when she threatens to throw up. Turns out this is a GetIntoJailFree ploy to gain access to her target. |
| 48 | * ''Film/CrimeDoctorsManHunt'': When Ordway discovers the two hoods carrying Armstrong's body, he pretends to be drunk to allay their suspicions. |
| 49 | * In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', the entire crew of a submarine (minus the sole woman) pretends to be a boatload of drunk fishermen to fool the other side during a war game, singing "Louie Louie" at the top of their lungs and as far from the proper key as they can manage. |
| 50 | * Combined with a BavarianFireDrill in ''Film/TheFourthProtocol''. Creator/MichaelCaine's character is introduced staggering up to an apartment building on New Year's Eve, wielding a bottle of champagne. He answers the doorman's questions with drunken rambling about having bought the champagne at the request of someone called Nigel until the doorman just dismisses him with distaste and goes back to his television. Once he's out of sight, Caine then breaks into another apartment to do a black bag job for MI-5. The bottle contains plastic explosive which he uses to blow open a safe. |
| 51 | * ''Film/TheFugitive'' (1993). While Gerard and Newman are approaching the house with one of the escapees inside, they pretend to be drunks. Gerard even says "Be drunk, Newman." |
| 52 | * In ''Film/GrownUps2'', Lenny, Eric, Kurt, and Marcus pretend to get drunk to hang out with a frat gang. |
| 53 | * In ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'', Creator/BradPitt's character pretends to be drunk and wanders into a room full of targets, asking for a round of poker. He sits down and plays cards with them, tricking them into letting their guards down and eventually shooting them all to death. He then checks the other players' cards and collects his "winnings". |
| 54 | * ''Film/NationalTreasure 2'': In order to get away from the tightly monitored lines of tourists at Buckingham Palace, Ben pretends to have a public argument with his girlfriend (who has no idea it's a fake argument), and when the security guards come to collect them, Ben causes an even bigger scene while playing up his "drunken" antics, which gets them detained, the perfect place for Riley to spring them free from afar with his computer. |
| 55 | * ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': Marion, who can drink a huge Himalayan under the table, plays drunk with Belloq long enough to (try to) make a break for it. |
| 56 | * ''Film/TheSeaWolves'' (1980), a war movie in which a Series/DadsArmy-type unit in India is used by British Intelligence for a mission to sink or capture three German ships interned in a neutral port. The cover story is that they are British businessmen on holiday who got drunk and in a fit of PatrioticFervor boarded the ships. To sell this illusion they are ordered to take a swig of whiskey and spit it out, then pour the rest of the bottle over their clothes. |
| 57 | -->''(one man after swallowing his swig)'' I didn't mean to do that--I swear it! |
| 58 | -->''(another while pouring bottle over clothing)'' This is the noblest sacrifice of them all! |
| 59 | * In ''Film/SlaveGirlsFromBeyondInfinity'', Rik pretends to be drunk at Zed's dinner (and is implied to have been doing so for a few days beforehand) so that Zed will not select him to become his next quarry in HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. |
| 60 | * ''Film/Speed2CruiseControl'' has a hijacker sneak onto the bridge of a ship by pretending to be a lost passenger who's too drunk to stand and falls over onto the controls, then secretly plants a bomb while picking himself up on the floor. |
| 61 | * Pitt also plays drunk in ''Film/SpyGame'' (complete with VomitIndiscretionShot) to throw suspicion off him and the asset he's trying to get across the border ([[spoiler:or so he thinks]]). |
| 62 | * ''Film/TheSting''. Henry Gondorff pretends to be drunk to justify acting offensively toward Doyle Lonnegan. To enhance his act he gargles with gin to get alcohol-laden breath and brings along a gin bottle full of water to drink from. |
| 63 | * ''Film/TheWildGeese''. [[Creator/RichardBurton Allen Faulkner]] and [[Creator/RichardHarris Rafer Janders]] are looking for their friend [[Creator/RogerMoore Sean Fynn]] who has a PriceOnTheirHead. They think Fynn is hiding in a casino because he's dating a croupier who works there, so put on an obnoxious drunk act to get everyone else away from her table so they can have a discreet word. |
| 64 | [[/folder]] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 67 | * ''Literature/AbleTeam''. In "Texas Showdown", while undercover in a mercenary unit Carl Lyons has an OhCrap moment when he realizes their commander knows his real identity because he arrested him while in the LAPD. In the hope of diverting attention from his two partners, Carl pretends to get drunk and stages a violent fight with them, so it won't look like they're working together. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, but fortunately the CO has already decided to make a deal with Lyons.]] |
| 68 | * The title character of the ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' books often mimics being high or drunk to blend in with criminals or repel ordinary people from suspecting him. |
| 69 | * ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'': In ''An Oblique Approach'', part of Belisarius' plan involves playing at being a drunken sot to fool Lord Venandakatra into thinking he was going to corrupt the general into the Malwa Empire's plans to conquer the world. To himself, Belisarius scornfully thinks that because of his country boy youth, he could have drunken Venandakatra under the table at the age of ten. |
| 70 | * In one of the ''Literature/BloodyJack'' books, Jacky Faber and one of her female friends fake being drunk in order to fool some guards into drinking some opium-laced liquor. Once the guards are out, they sabotage the cannons that the guards are supposed to be guarding, which ensures their safe escape. |
| 71 | * In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels: |
| 72 | ** In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', the murderer leaves a bottle of whisky in reformed alcoholic Sam Vimes's desk, then contacts various "respected citizens" with the news he's drunk. When they arrive, it initially appears that it's worked; the place stinks of alcohol, and Vimes is slumped over his desk. Actually, Vimes just wants to see who turns up and how they react. |
| 73 | --->'''Vimes''': When we find the man responsible, somewhere at the top of the charge sheet is going to be Forcing Commander Vimes To Tip a Whole Bottle of Single Malt On The Carpet. That's a hanging offence. |
| 74 | ** Inverted in ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals''. After drinking enough beer to incapacitate some of the toughest foot-the-ball captains in Ankh-Morpork, Vetinari ''is'' drunk. He's just very good at acting like he ''isn't.'' |
| 75 | ** ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'': Vimes uses this to lure out the murderer targeting him, assisted by a friendly bartender. He makes a show of drinking several {{Gargle Blaster}}s at a party and gets carried off to his bedroom, where he promptly ambushes the murderer, stone-cold sober. |
| 76 | --->'''Stratford:''' Everyone had that bloody cocktail, I saw them! You had three, and everyone says you're a lush!\ |
| 77 | '''Willikins:''' His Grace had what you might call the Virgin Sam Vimes. |
| 78 | * In ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'', Rhett Butler, Ashley Wilkes, and Dr. Meade fake being drunk in order to disguise the fact that Ashley has been shot while engaged in an act of vigilantism against the men who attacked Scarlett O'Hara Kennedy. |
| 79 | * In the Creator/MichaelCrichton book ''Literature/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' (loosely based on a true story), [[TheChessmaster Edward Pierce]] wanders by acting like a drunken lout to distract a guard outside a railway office, allowing his accomplice to get in long enough to duplicate a key. |
| 80 | * In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', Kevin Usher did this regularly in the days of the Committee of Public Safety. He held that a reputation for being a drunk could get you out of as much trouble as genuinely being a drunk can get you into. |
| 81 | %%* Will Herondale in ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', [[spoiler:Jem says it's to make himself look bad. It is revealed in ''The Clockwork Prince'' [[CartwrightCurse why]].]] |
| 82 | * In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' novel ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'', the murderer returns to the scene of the crime to retrieve an item he left behind and finds that the police are on the scene, so he pretends to be merely a drunk passerby. (Holmes, hearing about it later, immediately realises the deception from the policeman's description of the "drunk" man's mannerisms.) |
| 83 | * [[spoiler:Dolphus Raymond]] from ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''. He pretends to be a drunk so he doesn't suffer backlash from the fact he's in love with a black girl (and fathered a child with her). |
| 84 | * In ''Literature/TheSilverChair'', Puddleglum samples some liquor from the giants in Harfang and becomes royally soused. However, he claims the next morning that he was acting drunk to put the giants off their guard. Well, mostly acting. Of course, if that's the case, he's also playing having a hangover the next day. |
| 85 | * In ''Quiller's Run'', Literature/{{Quiller}} has resigned from the Bureau and finds himself at a loss as to what to do with his life. He finds a former shadow executive like himself drunk in a bar, and somewhat disturbed at this image of how he might end up, accepts a private contract from him. His pal promises to sober up and act as TheHandler, and does in fact do such a good job that Quiller begins to suspect his alcoholism was just an act. He's right, as this 'former' shadow executive is still working for the Bureau and has conned Quiller into accepting another mission for them. |
| 86 | [[/folder]] |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 89 | * In ''Series/TheAmericans'', Philip and Elizabeth jump an Israeli operative and are dragging him away when they're stopped by a cop. They claim they're just escorting their inebriated friend home, and the Israeli, not wanting to endanger the cop, plays along by slurring drunkely through a few bars of Kenny Rogers's "The Gambler." |
| 90 | * The first episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' opens with the title character apparently drunk at a bar, pouring his broken heart out at the bartender. Moments later it turns out he's just faking it and keeping an eye on a group of vampires; as they leave the bar with a couple of unassuming victims, he immediately turns from a blabbering drunk into a smooth dark hero and proceeds to kick ass. |
| 91 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': |
| 92 | ** In the second episode, Oliver Queen's mother wants him to take up the reigns of his father's company, but that would interfere with his secret vigilante mission. So Oliver turns up 'drunk' at the dedication of a building to his father's memory and gives a rambling IAmNotMyFather speech that convinces everyone he's completely unsuitable for the job. Oliver then visits his father's tombstone and apologizes for disgracing his memory in this way. |
| 93 | ** In "The Promise", Oliver is captured and is given TruthSerum, but he's anticipated this and takes a picrotoxin to counteract the effects of the barbiturates in the sodium pentothal. He's warned that he still has to feign being high, but he has no problem faking the symptoms given his past as a hedonistic playboy. |
| 94 | * Alistair feigns drunkenness in ''Series/AsTimeGoesBy'' in the episode where everyone tries to surprise Jean with a trip to Barbados. It's all a bit involved. |
| 95 | * ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': In a flashback, Mike pretends to be drunk as part of a complex BatmanGambit to [[spoiler:kill the two {{Dirty Cop}}s who killed his son. Mike drunkenly accuses them of the murder of his son while they were in the bar, then continues to act drunk so that they will "helpfully" offer to drive him home as part of ''their'' plan to drive to a secluded area to execute him. Unbeknownst to them, the episode had earlier shown Mike breaking into their patrol car and stashing a gun in the seats, allowing him to kill them both after they had already taken care of getting away from bystanders and witnesses]]. |
| 96 | ** Jimmy and Marco's favourite scam to pull together involves Jimmy and the mark encountering Marco pretending to be passing out drunk in an alley. Jimmy convinces the mark to rob him, telling the mark to take his wallet (containing a couple hundred bucks) while Jimmy helps himself to the nice Rolex watch Marco is wearing. The mark then offers to give Jimmy the wallet plus some of their own money in exchange for the supposedly much more valuable watch, which is really just a worthless fake. |
| 97 | * ''Series/BlakesSeven'' In "Stardrive", Vila pretends to be drunk so he can make a suggestion on how to fix the current problem (the ship's atmosphere leaking out of a hole in the hull) in the form of a rambling reminiscence, but avoid being called on to undertake the repair himself (because you couldn't give such a dangerous task to someone who was obviously drunk). |
| 98 | * In ''Series/BurnNotice'', Michael points out that appearing to be drunk is a very effective tool for numerous different types of operations. Once, when he needs to be seen ''getting'' drunk instead of just showing up already drunk, he explains the three simple steps he uses to make it seem like he is drinking more than he is: 1) Order drinks with lots of ice, lowering the total amount of alcohol present. 2) Order refills before you have finished your drink. 3) Spill. |
| 99 | * ''Series/{{Chicago PD}}'' often employs this, using one of their cops to pretend to be high in order to get into a drug dealer's place. |
| 100 | * ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': In "Chuck vs the Balcony", Sarah plays drunk to knock out a couple of mooks in a wine cellar. |
| 101 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'' [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this trope in an episode where Jeff Winger's lame attempts to play drunk quickly give way to his being genuinely very drunk thanks to Abed's EnforcedMethodActing. |
| 102 | * ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': Combined with FakeoutMakeout in "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S2E6RegretsOnly Regrets Only]]" when Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios duck into a room and pretend to have sex to evade guards searching for the people who just stole an important ledger. When the guards come in, they pull on their clothes while stumbling about and mumbling apologies. The guards are suspicious but are eventually convinced and just move them on so they can continue the search. Elektra is still playing drunk as they leave the building, to Matt's annoyance. |
| 103 | * In the ''Series/{{Decoy}}'' episode "Night of Fire," a suspect for arson says he can't have burned down a warehouse because he spent the night in jail for drunkenly throwing a bottle through a window. Later, Casey finds out he's diabetic and can't get drunk without endangering his life. He set the fire with a delayed-action fuse and pretended to be drunk to give himself an alibi. |
| 104 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace"]], complete with NecktieHeadband. |
| 105 | -->"Have you met the French? My ''GOD'' they know how to party!" |
| 106 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Tyrion Lannister during his wedding. His drunken act is more exaggerated than faked because he [[DrowningMySorrows has in fact been drinking a lot]], and after one too many jabs from Joffrey, Tyrion threatens to cut his balls off. His father Lord Tywin defuses the situation by calling it a [[JustJokingJustification bad joke]] brought on by too much alcohol; Tyrion takes the hint and agrees, then grabs his newly-wed and staggers off, crashing into various bits of furniture and talking loudly of how he once [[TooMuchInformation threw up on a girl during sex]]. |
| 107 | * In an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', Max has to pretend to be an alcoholic. He is issued a pill to keep under his tongue that absorbs all the alcohol he drinks. As he puts it, "I'll look drunk, act drunk, even ''smell'' drunk, but I'll be stone sober!" Then he accidentally swallows the pill, causing all the alcohol it absorbed to be introduced into his system at once. |
| 108 | * In ''Series/{{Graceland}}'', the federal agents often have to pretend to use drugs in order to convince criminals that they are not cops. The episode "O-Mouth" is named after Johnny's criticism of Charlie's technique at playing high. |
| 109 | * Claire Bennet from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has NighInvulnerability, which extends to her liver. In one scene she is in a DrinkingContest and wins because she was only pretending that the drink was affecting her. Although she did wait until her father Nathan had gotten completely blitzed on tequila in the ''first'' drinking contest of the episode before stepping up. |
| 110 | * In one episode of ''Series/{{House}},'' the title character does this to try and break up the relationship between Cuddy and her boyfriend. |
| 111 | * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Barney's father Jerome pretends to be drunk to get back at Barney for trying to get him to be his crazy old self again. |
| 112 | * ''Series/{{Hunter}}'': When [=DeeDee McCall=] investigates the trailer of a suspected cop killer parked next to a bar, he comes back earlier than expected so she acts like a drunken patron who just stumbled into the wrong place. |
| 113 | * ''Series/TheKingLoves'': Won pretends to be drunk when he answers his father's summons. |
| 114 | * In an episode of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', Ilya harasses a girl while pretending to be drunk so that Napoleon Solo can step in and rescue her. |
| 115 | * One episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'' has Hawkeye and BJ pretend to be drunk while talking loudly about a valuable tape recorder to bait the thief in camp into making a move on it. |
| 116 | -->'''Hawkeye:''' I think we've made an important medical discovery. If you fake being drunk long enough, you get a real hangover. |
| 117 | * In one episode of ''Series/MissionImpossible'', Briggs wakes up a man by pretending to be drunk and loudly singing in the hall outside his hotel room. |
| 118 | * The killer in one episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' picked a fight while pretending to be drunk so as to attract paparazzi attention, which would then give him an alibi for the murder he was going to commit. |
| 119 | %%* Jessica Fletcher did this once on ''Series/MurderSheWrote''. |
| 120 | * ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': A bit of a variation in "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S6E3SkinDeep Skin Deep]]". Sid Camden is furious that he was passed over for promotion in favor of his less experienced but more assertive co-worker Chad Warner. While using a HolographicDisguise to pose as Chad, he plays drunk and insults his boss, which results in Chad getting fired. |
| 121 | * In ''Series/PeepShow'', Mark tries to fake an ecstasy high after being given a pill that he doesn't want to take. HilarityEnsues. |
| 122 | * ''Series/TheProfessionals'': In "The Female Factor", Doyle pretends to be drunk when visiting a high-class call girl in order to draw out her pimp, whom [=CI5=] wishes to interrogate. |
| 123 | * The villain in one episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' ups the morphine dosage on Shawn and another patient's [=IVs=] to deadly levels. The two start having a nonsensical conversation due to their highs. Shawn then jumps out of bed and takes down the villain as [[TheCavalry the police]] arrive, revealing that his father would never pay for him to have pain medications: it was a glucose drip. |
| 124 | * ''Series/RadioEnfer'': As part of his initiation to join the radio crew, Vincent has to pretend to be drunk and insult the adult of his choice. He decides to insult Carole Péloquin, Jocelyne's childhood friend... which then backfires when Péloquin reveals that she's the school inspector coming for an anonymous visit and decides to give the school a negative report. |
| 125 | * ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': Ning Yi pretends to be drunk when he goes to see his father. |
| 126 | * Sherlock Holmes pretends to be completely drunk in the unaired pilot "A Study in Pink" of the BBC series ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' in order to approach the murderer. |
| 127 | * Sam Winchester of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' does this in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" to hustle pool. |
| 128 | * In ''Series/VeronicaMars'', Veronica walks into a poker game, picks up a half-empty bottle that the clearly inebriated Duncan has been drinking from all night, and drains it in a single gulp. It was iced tea, and he was faking drunkenness as part of his poker strategy. |
| 129 | * ''Series/TheWire'' Lester once pretends to be a drunk dialing the wrong number for a takeout to confirm D'Angelo Barksdale's pager number, and when arresting Bird, he and Sydnor hang around on a corner waiting for Bird to come out, at which point the fake-drunk Lester [[GrievousBottleyHarm hits him with the bagged bottle]] |
| 130 | [[/folder]] |
| 131 | |
| 132 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 133 | * Contrary to popular opinion, the lyric "What's in this drink?" in "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is an invocation of this trope. At the time of the song's publication, that line was a stock joke in sitcoms- the punchline being that nothing, not even much alcohol, was in the drink. It aligns with other excuses the singers suggest using (that the weather is dangerous, that there are no cabs running, etc) so that the female singer can...stay the night...at a man's house. Contemporary listeners often interpret this lyric as a mention of date rape. |
| 134 | -->"I ought to say no, no, no... (...) At least I'm gonna say that I tried..." |
| 135 | * Dean Martin would preform with a drink in hand, but most of the time it was just apple juice, and Martin preferred to drink in moderation after shows. |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 139 | * The trope came into play during the Wrestling/JakeRoberts vs. Wrestling/JerryLawler feud of 1996. Background: Roberts returned to the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, using a reformed Christian persona who has quit the bottle, playing off his real-life experiences. Lawler – then a shameless heel – played on Roberts' past, claiming that he was a "drunk" and was appearing at wrestling events under the influence. On an episode of ''WWF Monday Night RAW'', Lawler cut a mean-spirited promo in the ring mocking Roberts and alcoholics in general, when an "intoxicated" Roberts staggered to the ring with a whiskey bottle; however, the crowd – and Lawler, immediately after getting sucker-kicked and DDT'ed – quickly realized it was a ruse to catch Lawler off guard and give him his comeuppance. (Roberts then poured whiskey in Lawler's face to further embarrass him.) |
| 140 | * On the April 23, 2012 episode of ''Raw'', Wrestling/ChrisJericho is pointed out to what he believes is the scene of Wrestling/CMPunk drinking backstage, which not only would violate Punk's Straight Edge lifestyle, but (apparently) violates company policy, so GM Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis states that if he can prove Punk is drunk, the title will be vacated and be handed over to Jericho. Cut to Jericho, Wrestling/TeddyLong, and two police officers in the ring calling out Punk. When Punk makes his entrance, he slumps, he nearly trips over the floor and he even accidentally drops the title, as soon as he opens his mouth; it's the same deal, he slurs his words and stutters. Punk proceeds to fail reciting the alphabet backwards and can't even walk in the marked straight line in the ring. The officers determine Punk is intoxicated (without a breathalyzer), and per agreement, Punk has to vacate the title. He looks disappointed in himself as he hands the title to Teddy Long but as soon as he hands it over, he begs for one more chance which Teddy Long reluctantly grants. Cue him reciting the alphabet backwards perfectly while walking down the straight line, he even moonwalks back to the start when he finishes it and does it again by doing the famous Wrestling/RicFlair strut, and then you realize that this has all been one long ruse to {{Out Gambit|ted}} Jericho and get in the ring alone with him so he can freely beat the shit outta Jericho, which is exactly what he proceeds to do. |
| 141 | [[/folder]] |
| 142 | |
| 143 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 144 | * In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module T1 ''The Village of Hommlet'', Elmo the ranger acts inebriated but is only pretending in order to get other people to underestimate him. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 148 | * The Count in ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'' pretends to be a drunken soldier as part of his ZanyScheme to marry Rosina. |
| 149 | * In ''Theatre/TheDesperateHours'' the protagonist pretends to be drunk and abusive to make his son's schoolteacher leave, to hide the fact that three wanted fugitives are keeping them hostage (and had left liquor bottles lying around). |
| 150 | [[/folder]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 153 | * In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', the [[TheSpymaster Spymaster]] of the Blades in Morrowind and the primary QuestGiver for the first act of the main quest, Caius Cosades, is doing this along with ObfuscatingStupidity and [[ObfuscatingInsanity Insanity]] as part of his cover identity as a poor, senile [[FantasticDrug Skooma addict]]. Given that he is: a) the Imperial Spymaster, b) said to hold his "liquor" fairly well, and c) implied to have killed people who have underestimated him, it can be assumed it is an act. |
| 154 | * In ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpaAnother2'' [[spoiler:Hajime Makunouchi]] pretends to drink alcohol at the party to [[spoiler: kill Yuri Kagarin without people suspecting him]] |
| 155 | * During a bank robbery in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'', the player can choose to have [[TheAlcoholic Karen]] act drunk to distract the guards. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 159 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[TheAlcoholic While Qrow genuinely is drunk most of the time]], he's much better at holding his liquor than he pretends. While he often walks with a sway and speaks with a lisp, both quickly disappear whenever things get serious. |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 163 | * Kiel'ndia from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1376 gets directly told she's baked]] on [[AlienCatnip chocolate]] after she gets caught somewhere she shouldn't be and plays along. It works in part because even sober that's just [[CloudCuckooLander how Kiel acts]]. |
| 164 | * ''Webcomic/TilDebtDoUsPart'': Early in the comic, Subin goes out drinking with Yejun and pretends to be dead drunk to see how he would treat her in private. |
| 165 | [[/folder]] |
| 166 | |
| 167 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 168 | * ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC''. At first the Green Goblin really is on a drug trip, but when it wears off he has to fake it. |
| 169 | -->Jeez, you'd have to be on drugs to be this high! |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 173 | * ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': When Henk and Igor are trying to help Alfred, Ollie, Colonel Rangpang, and Sir Poen escape from the National Crows Party headquarters, a pair of Crows party soldiers approach them. Henk quickly pretends to be drunk in order to avoid suspicion and to distract the two from noticing Igor. It works and earns him a loud applause from the others once the coast is clear. |
| 174 | * WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead get hold of a can of non-alcoholic beer, so after drinking it they act like they're drunk. A policeman confronts them but cuts them loose when sees the can says it's non-alcoholic. |
| 175 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "At Long Last Leave", while the town is under lockdown, the Simpsons decide to sneak out and do things they can't normally do outside. In Homer's case, he decides to drive drunk when he's actually sober. |
| 176 | -->'''Homer:''' It's fun, but not ''as'' fun. |
| 177 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E06EmpireDay "Empire Day"]], Kanan plays drunk [[WeNeedADistraction in order to distract a stormtrooper]] during a parade that the gang is about to crash. Ezra gets the assist by claiming that Kanan is his dad and is just overexcited. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 181 | * This was one of the tactics used by the MIT Blackjack Club to avoid attracting attention. Sure the drunken wash-out is winning tonight, but there's no way he could be counting cards, right? Of course, eventually the casinos caught onto the scam. |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Other]] |
| 185 | * That famous joke (or urban legend, or story, or whatever) about the cop watching a bar who spots an obviously drunk guy getting into a car, pulls him over, and finds out he's totally sober -- it turns out it was his turn to be the decoy. |
| 186 | [[/folder]] |
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