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[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/howls-moving-castle_4812.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Busted!]]
When an [[SpotTheImposter imposter is spotted]] because the person he's impersonating is in the group/room with, or is himself, [[RightInFrontOfMe the person they're trying to deceive]]. In its basic form, the conversation will go like this:
->'''Stranger:''' Who are you?\\
'''{{Master of Disguise}}:''' I'm Jonesy.\\
'''Stranger:''' No you're not.\\
'''Master of Disguise:''' How do you know?\\
'''Stranger:''' Because ''I'm'' Jonesy.
"Jonesy" comes from [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/1p17/ this page]] (and the one before it) of ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' #1.
If you have a good enough disguise, you might still be able to get away with bumping into the person you're impersonating if you convince them that you are actually [[MirrorRoutine their reflection in a mirror]]. Those liable to PoserHating are also generally vulnerable to this.
Compare IAmOneOfThoseToo, IAmSpartacus.
And no, the trope is not named after [[WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}} Jonesy Garcia.]] Even if he did say it in one episode, that wasn't an example.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Advertising]]
* When ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ThePhantomMenace'' came out, Pizza Hut ran an ad starring a young girl who dressed like, and called herself, Queen Amidala. Toward the end of the commercial, her mother chided her, "You're not Queen Amidala." When the girl demanded why, the woman replied, "Because ''I'm'' Queen Amidala," and digitally "morphed" into the character.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Happens in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'' when Yuri meets the fake Ishtar. Unfortunately, Yuri doesn't fit the idea everyone has in their head of what Prince Kail's concubine looks like, so it's a case of CassandraTruth.
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has an instance of this involving a member of the [[{{Mooks}} white suits]] posing as a conductor on the Flying Pussyfoot. Would not have been so bad if the person he was trying to trick wasn't [[spoiler:[[PsychoForHire Claire]] "[[ChaoticNeutral Rail Tracer]]" [[TortureTechnician Stanfield]]]].
* Subverted in the 8th ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie, where Kaitou KID shows up disguised as Shinichi. Conan, who is standing right there, immediately blurts out "That isn't Shinichi!", but has no evidence to back it up without giving away his secret identity. He can't use the usual proof of tearing off [[LatexPerfection Kid's mask]] because Shinichi and Kid share the same face.
* A major plot point in ''Anime/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is when the eponymous running back comes across the "real" Eyeshield 21. [[spoiler:Averted, in that Sena uses that game to take off his mask and play as himself, not the false hero of Notre Dame.]]
** And later [[spoiler:Sena not only faces off against another real Eyeshield 21, he eventually becomes the real deal himself.]]
* This happens quite often in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', but most memorably when Kenshiro (the title character) faces Jagi. Generally, punk X would have his henchmen kicking around peasants in the name of the Fist of the North Star. Then Kenshiro walks into town, and the henchmen make the mistake of asking him to bow to the Fist. Kenshiro makes a rude comment about how it's a terrible likeness, or asks a rhetorical question about the technique that he is supposedly about to be punished with ("you mean THIS hundred crack fist... WATATATATA!"). Henchmen try to punish Kenshiro like they do the peasants, and of course a righteous ass kicking ensues. By the end of the confrontation it's pretty obvious who the true Fist is.
* Appears in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime with the fake Elric Brothers.
* This happens in the first episode of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' between Iruka and Mizuki. Mizuki is in Iruka's form, and Iruka is in Naruto's form. The fake Naruto attacks the fake Iruka, and it's revealed he knew Mizuki wasn't Iruka because HE was Iruka.
* In the first episode of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', a small-time bad guy is killing people, claiming to be the infamous Hitokiri Battousai, and loudly proclaims he uses the style of the Kamiya Kasshin school, which the bad guys are trying to take away from its owner Kaoru. When Kenshin, the true Battousai, shows up, not only does he kick the fake Battousai's ass, but he reveals the true style of the Battousai -- Hiten Mitsurugi, a style developed during the violent upheaval that ended recently unlike Kaoru's style, which was developed in the current time of peace.
* This happens in both the anime filler and the manga in ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''. In the anime the Sanzo party [[spoiler: were made to confront a group of men who dressed up and pretended to be them in order to reap the benefits of being the Sanzo Party. Sadly enough the village actually believed that they were the real Sanzo group because of how unbelievably the originals had behaved for a group of "holy warriors"]]. And in the manga, the Sanzo group were made to face off against Shikigami doppelgangers of themselves [[spoiler: and used it as a chance to beat people who looked like their comrades as stress relief]].
* Happens frequently early on in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' almost exactly like in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' above, some goon is using Vash's name to cow a town into submission, Vash shows up, disarms the goon, and is regaled as a hero. Unlike Fist (and most other examples) it's rarely revealed that Vash IS The Humanoid Typhoon (to the townsfolk anyway) but he still makes it fairly obvious the goons aren't the real deal.
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' has made this mistake several times, thanks to Lupin's favorite disguise being his own archnemesis, Inspector Zenigata.
** ''Anime/LupinFamilyAllStars'' takes this trope UpToEleven, with ''everyone'' in disguise.
* The major plot point of the very first issue of ''Manga/FairyTail''. Long story short, the real Natsu confronts an imposter using illegal magic in his name.
* This trope is what does in MasterOfDisguise Saemon from ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', as his disguise as Tenzen is exposed by the actual Tenzen in some rather unfair circumstances. [[spoiler: namely, Saemon thought that Tenzen was dead and didn't know about his ability to come back from the dead after being killed. Three guesses what Tenzen did to expose Saemon; the first two don't count.]]
* This ''nearly'' happens in ''Manga/BokuraNoKiseki'', when Hiroki claims to be the {{Reincarnation}} of Princess Veronica in front of the protagonist, Harusumi (who is Veronica's actual reincarnation). However, [[TheSmartGuy Midou]] convinces him [[AvertedTrope not to say anything until they can figure out Hiroki's motives]].
* Done without the imposter part in ''Manga/DeathNote'''s "Kira Task Force versus MegaCorp" arc. The team learns that the corporate execs currently using the Death Note to kill off rivals have hired a detective to find or identify L for them. L isn't worried however, as the detective in question is one of his other pseudonyms.
* Providing the current page image, the titular character of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' impersonates the kingdom's Majesty in order to save Sophie from Madame Suliman's castle. The charade breaks down when the real Majesty enters the room, though the latter doesn't realize what's going on and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congrats Madame Suliman for her excellent work on his double]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audio Drama]]
* ''Creator/BigFinish Series/DoctorWho'':
** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho027TheOneDoctor The One Doctor]]'', Banto Zame is a ConMan who masquerades as [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] and [[MonsterProtectionRacket stages fake alien invasions which he then thwarts for a modest fee]]. This works fine until the real Doctor, and a real invasion, show up.
** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho059TheRoofOfTheWorld The Roof of the World]]'', Lord Davey's attempt to undermine Peri's confidence by impersonating the Doctor is going quite well till the real Doctor walks in.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comics]]
* Franchise/SpiderMan and the first appearance of the [[MasterOfDisguise Chameleon]], though he has to make up another excuse as to how he spotted the impostor pretending to be Peter Parker to avoid revealing his secret identity.
** Another exchange:
--->"Lay off the kid, he's not Venom!"\\
"How do you know, Clark?"\\
"[[AC:Because ''I'm'' Venom.]]" ''(attacks)''
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** From the 1940s newspaper comics, Batman disguised himself as a mob boss... whose henchmen had just decided to get rid of. After being held at gunpoint, the ''real'' mob boss comes through the door. HilarityEnsues.
** In the "Where Were You on the Night Batman Was Killed?" arc in ''Batman'' #291-294, The Riddler disguises himself as Bruce Wayne to crash a party his gang was robbing. This naturally surprises Batman when he arrives to stop the gang. He later claims that he received a phone call from Bruce Wayne in Florida earlier in the evening and thus knew that the Riddler wasn't the real Wayne.
** In ''[[Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'', after one of his time jumps, Bruce is captured by Blackbeard, who believes him to be a rival pirate of his. The issue is narrated by another character, who reveals Bruce could not possibly be the Black Pirate... because he is.
* In a [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] Franchise/{{Superman}} story, Superman is captured and, while escaping, encounters his friends Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White who claim be being held prisoner as well. He realises that these are actually robot doubles planted by his captor when he sees the remaining two prisoners: Morgan Edge and '''Clark Kent'''.
* In one issue of Creator/MarvelComics ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series, MasterOfDisguise Zartan infiltrates the Pit, and moves about shifting his appearance from one Joe to another as he goes. However, he shifts into looking like Gung Ho just as the real Gung Ho enters the room; alerting the Joes to the fact that one of them is an imposter.
* There is a comic by the Finnish comic artist Petri Hiltunen where a man brings a supply of weaponry to a group of outlaws who turn out to be the [[HistorysCrimeWave immortal revenants of various historical villains]]. Their leader plans to kill the man instead of paying, but the man tells him that's not going to work because he is Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus, and thus also immortal. As the man is leaving, one of the revenants runs up to his leader to inform him that the man was lying. How does he know? Because ''he'' is Judas Iscariot.
* In the ''ComicBook/FreedomFighters'' mini-series, SHADE deploys a fake version of Miss America to de-power and demoralize the Freedom Fighters, and she almost succeeds before an old woman shows up and declares that she can't possibly be Miss America... because ''she'' is Miss America. Cue CurbStompBattle...
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'', Captain Boomerang poses as Australian arms dealer Billy Tidewater. His ruse is uncovered because the group he tries to deal with is already holding the real Billy Tidewater hostage. Boomerang makes a valiant attempt to claim that he and Tidewater are cousins, and their fathers thought it would be funny to give their sons the same name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''[[FanFic/FortySeconds 4 0 s e c o n d s]]'' [[TooDumbToLive Tsen, a crook posing as Kira]] attempts to mug [[TheDragon Mikami.]] [[ComedicSociopathy Mikami invites him to meet the REAL Kira...]]
-->'''Mikami:''' He wishes to speak with you... Follow me.\\
'''Tsen:''' Who wishes to speak with me?\\
'''Mikami:''' Why, [[TheDreaded Kira]] of course.\\
'''Tsen:''' [[OhCrap Kira!]] (''[[OhCrap hyperventilating]]'')
* A variation occurs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8987477/20/A-Black-Heart A Black Heart]]'' when [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] impersonates a member of the Onmitsukido and informs one of the captains that he thinks [[RefugeInAudacity one of the intruders is impersonating the Onmitsukido]]. Unfortunately, said captain is Sui-Feng, aka head of the Onmitsukido.
** Earlier Uryu poses as a new member of fourth squad who reports to the seventh seat but doesn't remember his superior's name. Sadly for him, the seventh seat is standing right in front of him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Mystique does something similar to this with Lady Deathstrike and an office janitor [[spoiler:though she doesn't say anything to the real janitor when she passes him]]. She later [[spoiler:tries posing as Wolverine to infiltrate Stryker's base. But if there's one thing Stryker knows, it's his own work, and he isn't fooled.]]
* In the 1939 ''[[Franchise/SherlockHolmes The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'', Watson tries to intimidate a mysterious peddler into talking by claiming, dramatically, "I'm ''Sherlock Holmes''!" The peddler straightens to Holmes's full height and replies, laughing, "Then my name must be Watson!"
* In Jackie Chan's ''Film/DrunkenMaster'', the protagonist Wong Fei-Hung tries to trick a middle-aged man he sees eating alone at a inn into paying for his overly-large meal. When he tries to leave however, he runs into the manager, who inquires as to who will be paying the bill. Wong says the middle-aged man will, at which point the manager asks Fei-Hung what his relation to man is. Fei-Hung states that the man is his father, at which point the manager informs him that the middle-aged man is really the inn's owner and that he is his son and that he's never seen him before.
* In the 1995 ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'', [[BigBad John Herod]] is hosting, as well as competing in, a gunfighting tournament. One of his opponents is Ace Hanlon, a man with a few tricks, but whose guns aren't quite as quick as his mouth. As their fight is about to begin, they have the following exchange:
-->'''Herod:''' Mr. Hanlon, I want to ask you about Indian Wells. Did that fight really take place? You really killed four men?\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(smiles)'' Two with my right hand, two with my left. Truth be told, I'm equally good with either.\\
'''Herod:''' You must be the fastest gun in the west. ''({{beat}})'' That, or the biggest liar.\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(his smile suddenly fades)'' A pity you weren't there to find out.\\
'''Herod:''' Oh, but I was, Ace. See, I was the one who really killed the Terence brothers, and I doubt a lying little chicken-shit like you was even in the same state!\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(is now [[OhCrap visibly worried]])''
* In ''Film/TakingCareOfBusiness'', Jimmy Dworski escapes from jail, finds the Filofax of Spencer Barnes, then impersonates Barnes until the real Spencer Barnes shows up.
* A variation. Near the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins'', [[spoiler: Bruce is introduced to Ra's al Ghul. His response: "You're not Ra's al Ghul. I watched him die." Not that that's necessarily definitive in comic books, and especially not with Ra's al Ghul.]]
* Another variation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', where [[spoiler:Steve realizes the radio broadcast of a baseball game is fake because it was a game he personally attended.]] And yet another variation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', when [[spoiler:Nick Fury realizes something is wrong because files on a project he's wondering about are being blocked and are only allowed to be viewed, per the computer, by "Director Fury."]]
* Yet another slight variation. In ''Film/TheNakedGun''. Detective Drebin arrives at the hospital and notices that Nordberg's police guard was absent. When he asks the nurse where the guard was she explains that "Detective Drebin" phoned and sent him home.
* In the pre-title action sequence of ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Film/JamesBond impersonates Colonel Luis Toro to infiltrate an airbase, only to be captured and brought to the real Toro.
-->'''Bond:''' Well, it's a small world. You're a Toro, too.
** And in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' Bond turns up at Hai Fat's house pretending to be Scaramanga, thinking that the CorruptCorporateExecutive would not have met a contract killer face to face. After Bond leaves, the real Scaramanga puts on an appearance -- turns out Scaramanga and Hai Fat are in business together.
* Parodied in "Hot Shots! Part Deux" when Topper Harley meets [[TheDitz President Bensen]]. He says "Presiden Bensen" as a greeting and Bensen tells him that he's President Bensen, and that Topper shouldn't go around impersonating the President, it's just not credible.
* During the grand heist of ''Film/AntMan'', Luis tries to excuse himself for being in a restricted room to a guard by saying the boss ordered him to. The guard who he's talking to ''is'' the boss.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In the short story "Animal Rescue" by Creator/DennisLehane, a small-time thug had a scary reputation based on the rumor that he'd killed a fellow named Richie Whelan a few years back. The police never pinned it on him, but he used this to intimidate people ... until he tried to push around [[spoiler:the main character]], one of the guys who ''really'' murdered Richie Whelan. Oops.
* In the short Literature/LordPeterWimsey story "The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste", several men all claim to be the aristocratic sleuth and wine expert Lord Peter Wimsey. A wine tasting is held in order to determine the real Wimsey. Their host can't figure out who the real one is until [[spoiler:it is revealed that they're all fakes - Wimsey is the one visitor not calling himself Lord Peter Wimsey.]]
* In ''East of Desolation'' by Creator/JackHiggins, narrator Joe Martin is hired to help with the investigation of a small plane that crashed. The pilot's widow, Sarah Kelso, comes along ... only she isn't, because ''Joe'' flew that plane under a false name, since he'd suspected (correctly) there was something dodgy about the job.[[note]]He bailed out of the plane, leaving it to crash, after his passenger and a stowaway murdered each other; he didn't feel like explaining to airport authorities why he had a couple of corpses as cargo.[[/note]] And he'd never in his life seen "his widow" before she turned up along with the investigators.
* ''Literature/JenniferGovernment'' has the subplot about Billy NRA. When the real Bill NRA finds out, he attacks Billy, and the ensuing fight attracts the guards. [[spoiler: Impostor Billy manages to make the guards think that real Bill is the impostor. Billy survives, Bill is shot.]]
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'' has a close variant: Aldrick ex Gladius, regarded as one of the greatest swordsmen in the world, is famed partially because of his legendary duel with Araris Valerian, which is still being talked about ''fifteen years later''. At multiple points throughout the series he crosses swords with other famed warriors, calmly informing each of them "The only man who has ever matched me in battle was Araris Valerian himself, [[PretenderDiss and you aren't Araris.]]" At the climax of ''Furies of Calderon'', [[TheReveal it turns out his opponent]] ''[[TheReveal is]]'' [[TheReveal Araris]]. [[VillainousBreakdown Aldrick practically collapses when he realizes this]].
* In ''The Bad Bunch'' by Creator/JTEdson, Belle Boyd poses as Belle Starr in order to infiltrate an all-female outlaw gang. Unfortunately for her, the real Belle Starr had the same idea.
* In the last short story in the Creator/AgathaChristie collection ''Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates'', a woman whose son has been kidnapped is offered the services of professional problem-solver Parker Pyne. He arranges for a paste copy of a diamond necklace to be paid as ransom to fool the kidnappers. [[spoiler:However, the man is not actually Parker Pyne, but the villain, whose aim was to steal the diamond necklace. Unfortunately for him, another guest at the hotel, a Mr. Thompson, is actually Parker Pyne traveling incognito in an attempt to have a proper holiday without getting dragged into other peoples' problems. The real Parker Pyne stops the villain and retrieves the real necklace.]]
* A variant from the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' novels: while visiting Mos Eisley spaceport with his lover Mirax, Corran Horn sees a friendly bartender use the fact that Mirax is the beloved daughter of notorious smuggler Booster Terrik to get a creep to back off. Later, when Corran and Mirax are confronted with a grizzled, one-eyed space pirate, Corran tries to pull the same trick, only for Mirax to sheepishly tell him that ''is'' her father.
* Keill Randor falls for this in the first book of ''Literature/LastLegionary'' series leading to his capture and torture.
* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot [[spoiler: that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A variation in an episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' had a cocky wannabe bandit try to intimidate Xena by telling her that he had killed the dread warlord somebody, which earned him only a passing nod. Later on, he repeats the boast, and Xena tells him he's a liar, and he didn't kill that guy. "How do you know?" "Because ''I'' did."
* The first mystery of the children's show ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'' featured one character infiltrating a gang that wore doubleface masks when stealing and had code names based on characters in their favorite videogame. During the meeting the group introduced themselves with the names -- the infiltrator had a fifty-fifty chance of picking the name the unintroduced gang member didn't have. He chose poorly.
* In an episode of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', Callen poses as the backup for a member of a team of hired assassins, whom the rest of the team would not have met, telling the others that his partner missed his check-in call, only to find that, despite the captured assassin supposedly calling his backup to check in, said backup is already there. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a subversion--the other person claiming the same identity was lying in order to test the new guy, and thanks to the rest of the team not busting in and Callen keeping his cool, he passed.]]
* In ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'' season 1 episode 5, "Brinkley Manor," Jeeves is away and Bertie is forced to take care of himself. While he is struggling to make tea, Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps arrives for a visit. When the phone rings, Bertie asks Barmy to answer it and pretend he is Jeeves.
-->'''Barmy:''' Mr. Wooster's residence. ''[pause]'' Where is Mr. Wooster? He's not at home, sir. I'm Jeeves. ''[pause]'' What do you mean 'you think not?' ''[pause]'' Oh! ''[He hangs up.]''\\
'''Bertie:''' Who was it?\\
'''Barmy:''' Jeeves!
* Averted in ''{{Series/Highlander}}''. In 'The Messenger', the real Methos did turn up to confront the false Methos, and asked some questions, but he never revealed he really was Methos.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': In one episode, Phoebe found a lost police badge, which she then starts flashing around to intimidate people. Eventually she tries to pull it on a real cop and tries to bluff her way through his questions, like which precinct she works at. After a while he seems to believe her, then he asks "So where did you find my badge?"
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Ted receives an invitation to a high society party meant for someone else (the woman had lived in the apartment before Ted moved in). The gang goes to the party, and just as Lily is about to pose as Marissa, the real Marissa shows up. Ted talks to her, and she agrees to let the gang attend as her guests.
* Subverted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', when Buffy calls out Kendra when the latter claims to be the Slayer... only to discover that Kendra became a Slayer when Buffy was temporarily dead.
* On ''Series/GeneralHospital'', boozy, floozy Rhonda crashes the wealthy Quartermaine family's christening party for its newest member and promptly makes an ass out of herself, getting drunk and flirting with all the men. When an irritated woman asks why she's there, she haughtily claims to have been invited. (She's actually riding the coattails of her daughter Karen's legitimate invitation). The equally haughty woman informs her that she most certainly was NOT invited, and she knows this because, she, the child's mother, sent out the invitations.
* Played with in ''Series/LittleBritain'' in which two pairs of holidaying spouses eventually discover that both parties apparently ''are'' [[MindScrew the same couple]]. Much to their disturbed confusion.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:New Media]]
* A ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' entry has an interesting variation on the tell. A man comes in and orders a drink. When asked to pay up, he claims to be a close friend of the manager, who said the barista could hook him up with a free drink. While he's trying to swing his story, another guy comes in, to whom the barista cheerily hands a drink, free of charge. "Oh, so I can't get a free drink, but that jerkoff can?" "[[http://notalwaysright.com/fairweather-friendships/1969 Sir, it's not polite to call your close friend a jerkoff.]]"
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-man-of-many-faces-all-of-them-dumb/2284 This is arguably the straightest example]]. Bonus points for using an ID they didn't bother to check.
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/lesson-1-how-to-scam-a-scammer/12 And invoked here]].
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-poser-by-any-other-name-part-2/8983 And here]].
** Phone scammers ''still'' haven't realized that it's [[http://notalwaysworking.com/time-to-try-another-tactic/27631 time to try another tactic]].
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/not-quite-a-family-business/2529 And another variant.]]
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/punch-drunk-and-love/31280 This one goes above and beyond.]] After an attempt to hit on a married woman failed and ended up with the woman flooring him with one punch, a man tries to lobby the (female) bartender to have the woman and her husband thrown out and claims to be the owner's brother. Whereupon the bartender (who is of course also the owner) turns to the woman he'd been unsuccessfully hitting on and asks since when ''they've'' [[RelativeError had a brother.]]
** A couple scammers try and fail to [[http://notalwaysright.com/no-id-ea-who-is-serving-you/42766 buy about $1000 worth of electronic goods with a stolen credit card]], and are caught in part because they tried to use said card when its rightful holder was the cashier.
* [[http://www.heyweiner.com/story.jsp?id=7 This]] HeyWeiner entry.
* A popular joke uses a variant:
-->'''First mental patient:''' I am Napoleon!\\
'''Second mental patient:''' Astounding! How did you discover that?\\
'''First mental patient:''' God told me so!\\
'''Second mental patient:''' ''I did no such thing!''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms had a wizard and Harper agent Nleera Tarannath playing one of Tesper family ghosts, quietly observing or contacting people on each party for seven years. Until the smiling real ghost appeared right next to her before the lord Tesper. In this case, she was allowed to continue the game. Though after a year of this she took to visit the place with her own face, as his fiancee. Ghosts blew her cover on purpose, to push them together a little -- once they were sure she's fit for their descendant, that is.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* Spies in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' are easily rooted out by the people on the other team whose names the game has randomly given them for their disguise.
** Or, in a much easier sense, if a player knows he's the only person on his team with his class (in which case the Spy will inevitably have that player's name).
** The Halloween update had a "Costume Contest" achievement for killing Spies disguised as your class. Spies themselves have an achievement (Identity Theft) for killing the guy they're disguised as.
** Even worse for the Spy is when he makes the mistake of disguising as a class the other team ''doesn't currently have.'' The game will still randomly assign him a name from the other team, making the disguise even [[PaperThinDisguise thinner]].
** Even more obvious if the person they're disguised as has a particularly distinctive hat, so even people who aren't paying close attention to their teammates' names and classes will notice something is up.
** [[UpToEleven And then there is when two enemy Spies are disguised as each other and bump into one another while cloaked]]
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Pliskin knows that the person claiming to be Solid Snake is, in fact, an imposter. Wonder why? Ah, it's the voice. He doesn't have the sexy manliness of Creator/DavidHayter. They do [[Creator/AkioOhtsuka share a voice]] in Japanese, but the point still stands - Pliskin knows the imposter is not Solid Snake because he ''himself'' is actually Solid Snake. [[PaperThinDisguise No, that's not a spoiler.]]
* In ''Solar Winds'', you're given a display filter so that aliens you talk to over video communications will see you as being one of them, and thus won't attack you on sight. Unless, of course, you run into the specific alien the display filter was recorded off of, who recognizes your treachery and tries to blast you out of the sky.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum|OfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}}'', the player's character is touted by many to be the reincarnation of [[MessianicArchetype Nasrudin]]. He may choose to either run with it or not; however, those who do are in for a rude awakening near the end of the game, when they encounter the real Nasrudin who was alive all along.
* In one of the missions in ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', you have to disguise yourself as a waiter to infiltrate a party. However, it would be a very good idea to knock out the real waiter first, or else the security guards will easily catch on when they see too many waiters running around.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Thief}} 3'', you overhear a conversation in which a guy is obtaining a lucrative contract by pretending to be you. True to the game's minimal-violence style, you also hear where he will stash the loot, so you let him do the work and then steal it.
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' (and ''[[VideoGame/SuikodenV V]]'') the Hero catches someone pretending to be him. In ''Suikoden V'', the disguise is near-perfect[[note]]only the eye color is wrong, since contact lenses haven't been invented in the ''Suikoden'' world[[/note]], so it's natural that this would be what thwarts it. In ''Suikoden II''...[[PaperThinDisguise not so much]].
* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', you steal the identity of a German officer to enter the train station. However, the German officer himself runs to the station in his undergarments to alert the German forces to your presence.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', in Amaranthine there is a KnowledgeBroker calling himself "the Dark Wolf", who has information about the growing conspiracy against the Warden. Depending on whether Slim Couldry's thievery missions were completed in ''Origins'', the Warden can call him out on being an imposter, as ''they'' are the real Dark Wolf!
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'', an imposter is pretending to be the Avatar, using your heroic reputation to scam people and causing you trouble when they meet you. Eventually you catch up with him. Exceptionally hilarious if you're playing a female Avatar, since the impostor isn't bothering to disguise his face. Those people had it coming.
* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', Impa and Sheik visit Lake Hylia and the Water Temple and are confronted by an apparently {{Face Heel Turn}}ed Princess Zelda. After defeating her, Impa uses the Lens of Truth to reveal it was the shapeshifter Wizzro in disguise. When he asks how they saw through his ruse, Sheik steps up and tells him that he couldn't ''possibly'' have been Zelda, because ''[[SecretIdentity she]]'' [[ItWasHisSled is Zelda]].\\
There's also a variant earlier on, when Impa asks Shiek if they know who the leader of the Shiekah tribe is. Shiek does - it's Impa, and Impa distinctly ''doesn't'' remember a tribesman named Shiek. They get interrupted before it goes any further, but [[ItWasHisSled the resolution should surprise nobody]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The {{Trope Namer|s}}, as noted above, is ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''.
* Happens in ''Webcomic/AntiHeroes'' #67. Kaal is impersonating "Dave" when he runs into the real "Dave", and manages to [[MirrorRoutine stay in sync with him]] for a while before [[TheDitz his own stupidity]] does him in.
* In ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland'', one of the main characters tries to sneak into a college reunion under the obviously made-up name "Ned Q. Sorceror, D.D.S.". Turns out the school actually has an alumnus by that name.
* In the Webcomic/{{Oglaf}} strip titled [[http://oglaf.com/rodgar/ Prince Rodgar]], a {{shapeshift|ing}}er "steals" the shape of Prince Rodgar during a tryst in the woods, and arrives at court pretending to be the Prince. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the shapeshifter, the real prince is at court: the shapeshifter stole the shape of an impostor, and gets tarred and feathered.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon ''Hello, How Am I?'', Wimpy impersonates Popeye in hope of getting some hamburgers from Olive, and has an argument with the real Popeye over which of them is genuine. Amusingly enough [[WhatAnIdiot Popeye believes it]], and walks off trying to figure out his 'real' identity.
* In Bizarro's first appearance of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', he looked and acted just like the Man of Steel (except for being really corny). The real Superman was tipped off that something was wrong when Bizarro rescued Clark Kent from falling off a cliff.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Germany:" "Two priests?! That's impossible!" Later in the same episode it's played straight, complete with MirrorRoutine. Also played straight in "A Picture is Worth 1, 000 Bucks" when Peter tries to impress a high school classmate by claiming he grew up to be "Neptune, God of the Sea" only to find out that the real Neptune is playing at the same miniature golf course and doesn't appreciate Peter sullying his good name.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventuresHowISpentMyVacation'' Fifi Le Fume tries to sneak into matinee idol Johnny Pew's hotel room by claiming to be his agent. The hotel manager leads her over to an old woman who also says she's Johnny's agent. Fifi keeps up the ruse for a little while before bolting.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* There are lots of urban legends about fraudsters trying to pass off fake or stolen [=IDs=] that turn out to be relatives of people in the queue behind them, or the manager of the store they're trying to rip off.
** One variant on this theme (possibly apocryphal) has reports of drivers being stopped and offering false [=ID=] -- that turns out to belong to the cop stopping them (or a relative/close friend of same).
** There is a verified case of a forger in California who attempted to pass a forged check written on a checkbook he had stolen from a mailbox. The teller was the actual person who owned the checks.
** In another real life example, a police officer pulled over a possible drunk driver, who pulled into the driveway of a nearby home and claimed it was his home. The problem? You guessed it, it was the cop's house.
** Versions of just about all of these have shown up on ''Website/NotAlwaysRight''.
** Its actually not as big a coincidence as it might seem, especially in smaller communities. The kids who are old enough to look like they might be old enough to buy cigarettes likely have friends who are a couple of years older who likely went to school with convenience store workers (quite often recent high school grads themselves), and given the sheer frequency of the attempts, its inevitable that convenience store workers will occasionally recognize the actual owner of a fake id. Especially since they all probably still live in the same area.
* Happens all the time in the party game, Mafia, and its update/remake Werewolf (a game modeling a battle between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (civilians), with some of the latter given special roles to help their cause) Occasionally, a mafia member tries to claim that they are the doctor/detective (the most valuable of the aforementioned special civilians) as a last ditch effort to save themselves from being voted out, knowing full well that the said character will instantly know that they are lying but banking on the fact that there is a good chance of them getting away with it as the said characters can't (or won't) always come out and call their bluff. Sometimes, such a bluff does get called, and another mafia may try to pull a jonesy on the real character, and then [[HilarityEnsues good fun is had by all]]. At least the ones on the mafia side, who know whats going on. Yes, the game is less a 'battle model' and more an exercise in lying/detecting liars.
** This gets very layered when mafia use this trope to their advantage. A mafia can claim to be a detective, knowing that the real detective can pull this trope, just to find the detective and kill them. If the detective says nothing, however, then the mafia can run the town unopposed... Which is why no one believes someone when they say they're a detective [[CassandraTruth even if it's true.]]
* Happened in RealLife in a psychological experiment referred to as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Christs_of_Ypsilanti The Three Christs of Ypsilanti]]". A certain psychologist [[ForScience wanted to see what would happen]] if one's identity was constantly questioned, and put together three patients, all of whom [[NapoleonDelusion claimed they were Jesus]]. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]].
** Experiments like this are now forbidden in psych wards, as it's possible the delusional patients could become angry and attack each other, or their delusions could go in new, and worse, directions because of it. It still happened again when an aide accidentally put two men believing themselves to be Jesus in the same room. When he realized his mistake and hurried back, he found the two men in deep conversation, poring over a Bible. When he asked them what they were doing, they explained that they'd talked it over and figured out which of them was really Jesus... the other guy now claimed to be John the Baptist.
* This can also happen when something other than a person is diguised. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, the British and Germans both employed armed merchant ships (the Germans used them to attack British shipping, the British to hunt down German raiders), and often used fake markings, false smokestacks, and other elements to disguise them as the other side's ship. In the 1914 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trindade Battle of Trindade]], the German SMS ''Cap Trafalgar'', disguised as the British RMS ''Carmania'', encountered the ''Carmania''. At that early point in the war, neither side actually knew which merchant ships the other had converted into auxiliary cruisers, so captains commonly made poor choices of disguise. It is often claimed that ''Carmania'' was also disguised as ''Cap Trafalgar''. This is not the case, but [[RuleOfFunny it should have been]].
* An amusing variation--more a case of "Because ''He's'' Jonesy": Jim Lovell is traveling to a hotel in Houston under the name of Max Peck, to receive his new assignment as a NASA astronaut. Shortly after he settles in to his room, he gets a call from another guest, who ''also'' claims to be Max Peck. Lovell, at this point, realizes there is probably more than one ersatz Max Peck here, because he had picked up another bit of info on the way to the room: "If you have a problem, take it up with the manager. I understand ''his'' name is Max Peck!" The other ersatz Max Peck turns out to be another new astronaut, Ed White. In fact, ''all'' the astronauts in that group were assigned rooms at that hotel under the name "Max Peck". White had called his room in an attempt to draw Lovell out; he was waiting in the lobby with a couple of other new astronauts when Jim came and looked.\\
\\
(This is described in Jim Lovell's autobiographical book ''Apollo 13'' (originally ''Lost Moon''). The scene is repeated in the television miniseries ''Series/FromTheEarthToTheMoon'', including a very puzzled check-in lady who is NOT in on the fiction. And yes, Lovell was right--the real hotel manager's name was indeed Max Peck, hence the clerk who was not aware of the situation being bewildered by "Mr. Peck's" attempt to check in.)
[[/folder]]
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Busted!]]
When an [[SpotTheImposter imposter is spotted]] because the person he's impersonating is in the group/room with, or is himself, [[RightInFrontOfMe the person they're trying to deceive]]. In its basic form, the conversation will go like this:
->'''Stranger:''' Who are you?\\
'''{{Master of Disguise}}:''' I'm Jonesy.\\
'''Stranger:''' No you're not.\\
'''Master of Disguise:''' How do you know?\\
'''Stranger:''' Because ''I'm'' Jonesy.
"Jonesy" comes from [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/1p17/ this page]] (and the one before it) of ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' #1.
If you have a good enough disguise, you might still be able to get away with bumping into the person you're impersonating if you convince them that you are actually [[MirrorRoutine their reflection in a mirror]]. Those liable to PoserHating are also generally vulnerable to this.
Compare IAmOneOfThoseToo, IAmSpartacus.
And no, the trope is not named after [[WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}} Jonesy Garcia.]] Even if he did say it in one episode, that wasn't an example.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Advertising]]
* When ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ThePhantomMenace'' came out, Pizza Hut ran an ad starring a young girl who dressed like, and called herself, Queen Amidala. Toward the end of the commercial, her mother chided her, "You're not Queen Amidala." When the girl demanded why, the woman replied, "Because ''I'm'' Queen Amidala," and digitally "morphed" into the character.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Happens in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'' when Yuri meets the fake Ishtar. Unfortunately, Yuri doesn't fit the idea everyone has in their head of what Prince Kail's concubine looks like, so it's a case of CassandraTruth.
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has an instance of this involving a member of the [[{{Mooks}} white suits]] posing as a conductor on the Flying Pussyfoot. Would not have been so bad if the person he was trying to trick wasn't [[spoiler:[[PsychoForHire Claire]] "[[ChaoticNeutral Rail Tracer]]" [[TortureTechnician Stanfield]]]].
* Subverted in the 8th ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie, where Kaitou KID shows up disguised as Shinichi. Conan, who is standing right there, immediately blurts out "That isn't Shinichi!", but has no evidence to back it up without giving away his secret identity. He can't use the usual proof of tearing off [[LatexPerfection Kid's mask]] because Shinichi and Kid share the same face.
* A major plot point in ''Anime/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is when the eponymous running back comes across the "real" Eyeshield 21. [[spoiler:Averted, in that Sena uses that game to take off his mask and play as himself, not the false hero of Notre Dame.]]
** And later [[spoiler:Sena not only faces off against another real Eyeshield 21, he eventually becomes the real deal himself.]]
* This happens quite often in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', but most memorably when Kenshiro (the title character) faces Jagi. Generally, punk X would have his henchmen kicking around peasants in the name of the Fist of the North Star. Then Kenshiro walks into town, and the henchmen make the mistake of asking him to bow to the Fist. Kenshiro makes a rude comment about how it's a terrible likeness, or asks a rhetorical question about the technique that he is supposedly about to be punished with ("you mean THIS hundred crack fist... WATATATATA!"). Henchmen try to punish Kenshiro like they do the peasants, and of course a righteous ass kicking ensues. By the end of the confrontation it's pretty obvious who the true Fist is.
* Appears in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime with the fake Elric Brothers.
* This happens in the first episode of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' between Iruka and Mizuki. Mizuki is in Iruka's form, and Iruka is in Naruto's form. The fake Naruto attacks the fake Iruka, and it's revealed he knew Mizuki wasn't Iruka because HE was Iruka.
* In the first episode of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', a small-time bad guy is killing people, claiming to be the infamous Hitokiri Battousai, and loudly proclaims he uses the style of the Kamiya Kasshin school, which the bad guys are trying to take away from its owner Kaoru. When Kenshin, the true Battousai, shows up, not only does he kick the fake Battousai's ass, but he reveals the true style of the Battousai -- Hiten Mitsurugi, a style developed during the violent upheaval that ended recently unlike Kaoru's style, which was developed in the current time of peace.
* This happens in both the anime filler and the manga in ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''. In the anime the Sanzo party [[spoiler: were made to confront a group of men who dressed up and pretended to be them in order to reap the benefits of being the Sanzo Party. Sadly enough the village actually believed that they were the real Sanzo group because of how unbelievably the originals had behaved for a group of "holy warriors"]]. And in the manga, the Sanzo group were made to face off against Shikigami doppelgangers of themselves [[spoiler: and used it as a chance to beat people who looked like their comrades as stress relief]].
* Happens frequently early on in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' almost exactly like in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' above, some goon is using Vash's name to cow a town into submission, Vash shows up, disarms the goon, and is regaled as a hero. Unlike Fist (and most other examples) it's rarely revealed that Vash IS The Humanoid Typhoon (to the townsfolk anyway) but he still makes it fairly obvious the goons aren't the real deal.
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' has made this mistake several times, thanks to Lupin's favorite disguise being his own archnemesis, Inspector Zenigata.
** ''Anime/LupinFamilyAllStars'' takes this trope UpToEleven, with ''everyone'' in disguise.
* The major plot point of the very first issue of ''Manga/FairyTail''. Long story short, the real Natsu confronts an imposter using illegal magic in his name.
* This trope is what does in MasterOfDisguise Saemon from ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', as his disguise as Tenzen is exposed by the actual Tenzen in some rather unfair circumstances. [[spoiler: namely, Saemon thought that Tenzen was dead and didn't know about his ability to come back from the dead after being killed. Three guesses what Tenzen did to expose Saemon; the first two don't count.]]
* This ''nearly'' happens in ''Manga/BokuraNoKiseki'', when Hiroki claims to be the {{Reincarnation}} of Princess Veronica in front of the protagonist, Harusumi (who is Veronica's actual reincarnation). However, [[TheSmartGuy Midou]] convinces him [[AvertedTrope not to say anything until they can figure out Hiroki's motives]].
* Done without the imposter part in ''Manga/DeathNote'''s "Kira Task Force versus MegaCorp" arc. The team learns that the corporate execs currently using the Death Note to kill off rivals have hired a detective to find or identify L for them. L isn't worried however, as the detective in question is one of his other pseudonyms.
* Providing the current page image, the titular character of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' impersonates the kingdom's Majesty in order to save Sophie from Madame Suliman's castle. The charade breaks down when the real Majesty enters the room, though the latter doesn't realize what's going on and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congrats Madame Suliman for her excellent work on his double]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audio Drama]]
* ''Creator/BigFinish Series/DoctorWho'':
** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho027TheOneDoctor The One Doctor]]'', Banto Zame is a ConMan who masquerades as [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] and [[MonsterProtectionRacket stages fake alien invasions which he then thwarts for a modest fee]]. This works fine until the real Doctor, and a real invasion, show up.
** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho059TheRoofOfTheWorld The Roof of the World]]'', Lord Davey's attempt to undermine Peri's confidence by impersonating the Doctor is going quite well till the real Doctor walks in.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comics]]
* Franchise/SpiderMan and the first appearance of the [[MasterOfDisguise Chameleon]], though he has to make up another excuse as to how he spotted the impostor pretending to be Peter Parker to avoid revealing his secret identity.
** Another exchange:
--->"Lay off the kid, he's not Venom!"\\
"How do you know, Clark?"\\
"[[AC:Because ''I'm'' Venom.]]" ''(attacks)''
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** From the 1940s newspaper comics, Batman disguised himself as a mob boss... whose henchmen had just decided to get rid of. After being held at gunpoint, the ''real'' mob boss comes through the door. HilarityEnsues.
** In the "Where Were You on the Night Batman Was Killed?" arc in ''Batman'' #291-294, The Riddler disguises himself as Bruce Wayne to crash a party his gang was robbing. This naturally surprises Batman when he arrives to stop the gang. He later claims that he received a phone call from Bruce Wayne in Florida earlier in the evening and thus knew that the Riddler wasn't the real Wayne.
** In ''[[Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'', after one of his time jumps, Bruce is captured by Blackbeard, who believes him to be a rival pirate of his. The issue is narrated by another character, who reveals Bruce could not possibly be the Black Pirate... because he is.
* In a [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] Franchise/{{Superman}} story, Superman is captured and, while escaping, encounters his friends Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White who claim be being held prisoner as well. He realises that these are actually robot doubles planted by his captor when he sees the remaining two prisoners: Morgan Edge and '''Clark Kent'''.
* In one issue of Creator/MarvelComics ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series, MasterOfDisguise Zartan infiltrates the Pit, and moves about shifting his appearance from one Joe to another as he goes. However, he shifts into looking like Gung Ho just as the real Gung Ho enters the room; alerting the Joes to the fact that one of them is an imposter.
* There is a comic by the Finnish comic artist Petri Hiltunen where a man brings a supply of weaponry to a group of outlaws who turn out to be the [[HistorysCrimeWave immortal revenants of various historical villains]]. Their leader plans to kill the man instead of paying, but the man tells him that's not going to work because he is Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus, and thus also immortal. As the man is leaving, one of the revenants runs up to his leader to inform him that the man was lying. How does he know? Because ''he'' is Judas Iscariot.
* In the ''ComicBook/FreedomFighters'' mini-series, SHADE deploys a fake version of Miss America to de-power and demoralize the Freedom Fighters, and she almost succeeds before an old woman shows up and declares that she can't possibly be Miss America... because ''she'' is Miss America. Cue CurbStompBattle...
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'', Captain Boomerang poses as Australian arms dealer Billy Tidewater. His ruse is uncovered because the group he tries to deal with is already holding the real Billy Tidewater hostage. Boomerang makes a valiant attempt to claim that he and Tidewater are cousins, and their fathers thought it would be funny to give their sons the same name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''[[FanFic/FortySeconds 4 0 s e c o n d s]]'' [[TooDumbToLive Tsen, a crook posing as Kira]] attempts to mug [[TheDragon Mikami.]] [[ComedicSociopathy Mikami invites him to meet the REAL Kira...]]
-->'''Mikami:''' He wishes to speak with you... Follow me.\\
'''Tsen:''' Who wishes to speak with me?\\
'''Mikami:''' Why, [[TheDreaded Kira]] of course.\\
'''Tsen:''' [[OhCrap Kira!]] (''[[OhCrap hyperventilating]]'')
* A variation occurs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8987477/20/A-Black-Heart A Black Heart]]'' when [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] impersonates a member of the Onmitsukido and informs one of the captains that he thinks [[RefugeInAudacity one of the intruders is impersonating the Onmitsukido]]. Unfortunately, said captain is Sui-Feng, aka head of the Onmitsukido.
** Earlier Uryu poses as a new member of fourth squad who reports to the seventh seat but doesn't remember his superior's name. Sadly for him, the seventh seat is standing right in front of him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Mystique does something similar to this with Lady Deathstrike and an office janitor [[spoiler:though she doesn't say anything to the real janitor when she passes him]]. She later [[spoiler:tries posing as Wolverine to infiltrate Stryker's base. But if there's one thing Stryker knows, it's his own work, and he isn't fooled.]]
* In the 1939 ''[[Franchise/SherlockHolmes The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'', Watson tries to intimidate a mysterious peddler into talking by claiming, dramatically, "I'm ''Sherlock Holmes''!" The peddler straightens to Holmes's full height and replies, laughing, "Then my name must be Watson!"
* In Jackie Chan's ''Film/DrunkenMaster'', the protagonist Wong Fei-Hung tries to trick a middle-aged man he sees eating alone at a inn into paying for his overly-large meal. When he tries to leave however, he runs into the manager, who inquires as to who will be paying the bill. Wong says the middle-aged man will, at which point the manager asks Fei-Hung what his relation to man is. Fei-Hung states that the man is his father, at which point the manager informs him that the middle-aged man is really the inn's owner and that he is his son and that he's never seen him before.
* In the 1995 ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'', [[BigBad John Herod]] is hosting, as well as competing in, a gunfighting tournament. One of his opponents is Ace Hanlon, a man with a few tricks, but whose guns aren't quite as quick as his mouth. As their fight is about to begin, they have the following exchange:
-->'''Herod:''' Mr. Hanlon, I want to ask you about Indian Wells. Did that fight really take place? You really killed four men?\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(smiles)'' Two with my right hand, two with my left. Truth be told, I'm equally good with either.\\
'''Herod:''' You must be the fastest gun in the west. ''({{beat}})'' That, or the biggest liar.\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(his smile suddenly fades)'' A pity you weren't there to find out.\\
'''Herod:''' Oh, but I was, Ace. See, I was the one who really killed the Terence brothers, and I doubt a lying little chicken-shit like you was even in the same state!\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(is now [[OhCrap visibly worried]])''
* In ''Film/TakingCareOfBusiness'', Jimmy Dworski escapes from jail, finds the Filofax of Spencer Barnes, then impersonates Barnes until the real Spencer Barnes shows up.
* A variation. Near the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins'', [[spoiler: Bruce is introduced to Ra's al Ghul. His response: "You're not Ra's al Ghul. I watched him die." Not that that's necessarily definitive in comic books, and especially not with Ra's al Ghul.]]
* Another variation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', where [[spoiler:Steve realizes the radio broadcast of a baseball game is fake because it was a game he personally attended.]] And yet another variation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', when [[spoiler:Nick Fury realizes something is wrong because files on a project he's wondering about are being blocked and are only allowed to be viewed, per the computer, by "Director Fury."]]
* Yet another slight variation. In ''Film/TheNakedGun''. Detective Drebin arrives at the hospital and notices that Nordberg's police guard was absent. When he asks the nurse where the guard was she explains that "Detective Drebin" phoned and sent him home.
* In the pre-title action sequence of ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Film/JamesBond impersonates Colonel Luis Toro to infiltrate an airbase, only to be captured and brought to the real Toro.
-->'''Bond:''' Well, it's a small world. You're a Toro, too.
** And in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' Bond turns up at Hai Fat's house pretending to be Scaramanga, thinking that the CorruptCorporateExecutive would not have met a contract killer face to face. After Bond leaves, the real Scaramanga puts on an appearance -- turns out Scaramanga and Hai Fat are in business together.
* Parodied in "Hot Shots! Part Deux" when Topper Harley meets [[TheDitz President Bensen]]. He says "Presiden Bensen" as a greeting and Bensen tells him that he's President Bensen, and that Topper shouldn't go around impersonating the President, it's just not credible.
* During the grand heist of ''Film/AntMan'', Luis tries to excuse himself for being in a restricted room to a guard by saying the boss ordered him to. The guard who he's talking to ''is'' the boss.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In the short story "Animal Rescue" by Creator/DennisLehane, a small-time thug had a scary reputation based on the rumor that he'd killed a fellow named Richie Whelan a few years back. The police never pinned it on him, but he used this to intimidate people ... until he tried to push around [[spoiler:the main character]], one of the guys who ''really'' murdered Richie Whelan. Oops.
* In the short Literature/LordPeterWimsey story "The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste", several men all claim to be the aristocratic sleuth and wine expert Lord Peter Wimsey. A wine tasting is held in order to determine the real Wimsey. Their host can't figure out who the real one is until [[spoiler:it is revealed that they're all fakes - Wimsey is the one visitor not calling himself Lord Peter Wimsey.]]
* In ''East of Desolation'' by Creator/JackHiggins, narrator Joe Martin is hired to help with the investigation of a small plane that crashed. The pilot's widow, Sarah Kelso, comes along ... only she isn't, because ''Joe'' flew that plane under a false name, since he'd suspected (correctly) there was something dodgy about the job.[[note]]He bailed out of the plane, leaving it to crash, after his passenger and a stowaway murdered each other; he didn't feel like explaining to airport authorities why he had a couple of corpses as cargo.[[/note]] And he'd never in his life seen "his widow" before she turned up along with the investigators.
* ''Literature/JenniferGovernment'' has the subplot about Billy NRA. When the real Bill NRA finds out, he attacks Billy, and the ensuing fight attracts the guards. [[spoiler: Impostor Billy manages to make the guards think that real Bill is the impostor. Billy survives, Bill is shot.]]
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'' has a close variant: Aldrick ex Gladius, regarded as one of the greatest swordsmen in the world, is famed partially because of his legendary duel with Araris Valerian, which is still being talked about ''fifteen years later''. At multiple points throughout the series he crosses swords with other famed warriors, calmly informing each of them "The only man who has ever matched me in battle was Araris Valerian himself, [[PretenderDiss and you aren't Araris.]]" At the climax of ''Furies of Calderon'', [[TheReveal it turns out his opponent]] ''[[TheReveal is]]'' [[TheReveal Araris]]. [[VillainousBreakdown Aldrick practically collapses when he realizes this]].
* In ''The Bad Bunch'' by Creator/JTEdson, Belle Boyd poses as Belle Starr in order to infiltrate an all-female outlaw gang. Unfortunately for her, the real Belle Starr had the same idea.
* In the last short story in the Creator/AgathaChristie collection ''Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates'', a woman whose son has been kidnapped is offered the services of professional problem-solver Parker Pyne. He arranges for a paste copy of a diamond necklace to be paid as ransom to fool the kidnappers. [[spoiler:However, the man is not actually Parker Pyne, but the villain, whose aim was to steal the diamond necklace. Unfortunately for him, another guest at the hotel, a Mr. Thompson, is actually Parker Pyne traveling incognito in an attempt to have a proper holiday without getting dragged into other peoples' problems. The real Parker Pyne stops the villain and retrieves the real necklace.]]
* A variant from the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' novels: while visiting Mos Eisley spaceport with his lover Mirax, Corran Horn sees a friendly bartender use the fact that Mirax is the beloved daughter of notorious smuggler Booster Terrik to get a creep to back off. Later, when Corran and Mirax are confronted with a grizzled, one-eyed space pirate, Corran tries to pull the same trick, only for Mirax to sheepishly tell him that ''is'' her father.
* Keill Randor falls for this in the first book of ''Literature/LastLegionary'' series leading to his capture and torture.
* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot [[spoiler: that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A variation in an episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' had a cocky wannabe bandit try to intimidate Xena by telling her that he had killed the dread warlord somebody, which earned him only a passing nod. Later on, he repeats the boast, and Xena tells him he's a liar, and he didn't kill that guy. "How do you know?" "Because ''I'' did."
* The first mystery of the children's show ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'' featured one character infiltrating a gang that wore doubleface masks when stealing and had code names based on characters in their favorite videogame. During the meeting the group introduced themselves with the names -- the infiltrator had a fifty-fifty chance of picking the name the unintroduced gang member didn't have. He chose poorly.
* In an episode of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', Callen poses as the backup for a member of a team of hired assassins, whom the rest of the team would not have met, telling the others that his partner missed his check-in call, only to find that, despite the captured assassin supposedly calling his backup to check in, said backup is already there. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a subversion--the other person claiming the same identity was lying in order to test the new guy, and thanks to the rest of the team not busting in and Callen keeping his cool, he passed.]]
* In ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'' season 1 episode 5, "Brinkley Manor," Jeeves is away and Bertie is forced to take care of himself. While he is struggling to make tea, Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps arrives for a visit. When the phone rings, Bertie asks Barmy to answer it and pretend he is Jeeves.
-->'''Barmy:''' Mr. Wooster's residence. ''[pause]'' Where is Mr. Wooster? He's not at home, sir. I'm Jeeves. ''[pause]'' What do you mean 'you think not?' ''[pause]'' Oh! ''[He hangs up.]''\\
'''Bertie:''' Who was it?\\
'''Barmy:''' Jeeves!
* Averted in ''{{Series/Highlander}}''. In 'The Messenger', the real Methos did turn up to confront the false Methos, and asked some questions, but he never revealed he really was Methos.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': In one episode, Phoebe found a lost police badge, which she then starts flashing around to intimidate people. Eventually she tries to pull it on a real cop and tries to bluff her way through his questions, like which precinct she works at. After a while he seems to believe her, then he asks "So where did you find my badge?"
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Ted receives an invitation to a high society party meant for someone else (the woman had lived in the apartment before Ted moved in). The gang goes to the party, and just as Lily is about to pose as Marissa, the real Marissa shows up. Ted talks to her, and she agrees to let the gang attend as her guests.
* Subverted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', when Buffy calls out Kendra when the latter claims to be the Slayer... only to discover that Kendra became a Slayer when Buffy was temporarily dead.
* On ''Series/GeneralHospital'', boozy, floozy Rhonda crashes the wealthy Quartermaine family's christening party for its newest member and promptly makes an ass out of herself, getting drunk and flirting with all the men. When an irritated woman asks why she's there, she haughtily claims to have been invited. (She's actually riding the coattails of her daughter Karen's legitimate invitation). The equally haughty woman informs her that she most certainly was NOT invited, and she knows this because, she, the child's mother, sent out the invitations.
* Played with in ''Series/LittleBritain'' in which two pairs of holidaying spouses eventually discover that both parties apparently ''are'' [[MindScrew the same couple]]. Much to their disturbed confusion.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:New Media]]
* A ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' entry has an interesting variation on the tell. A man comes in and orders a drink. When asked to pay up, he claims to be a close friend of the manager, who said the barista could hook him up with a free drink. While he's trying to swing his story, another guy comes in, to whom the barista cheerily hands a drink, free of charge. "Oh, so I can't get a free drink, but that jerkoff can?" "[[http://notalwaysright.com/fairweather-friendships/1969 Sir, it's not polite to call your close friend a jerkoff.]]"
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-man-of-many-faces-all-of-them-dumb/2284 This is arguably the straightest example]]. Bonus points for using an ID they didn't bother to check.
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/lesson-1-how-to-scam-a-scammer/12 And invoked here]].
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-poser-by-any-other-name-part-2/8983 And here]].
** Phone scammers ''still'' haven't realized that it's [[http://notalwaysworking.com/time-to-try-another-tactic/27631 time to try another tactic]].
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/not-quite-a-family-business/2529 And another variant.]]
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/punch-drunk-and-love/31280 This one goes above and beyond.]] After an attempt to hit on a married woman failed and ended up with the woman flooring him with one punch, a man tries to lobby the (female) bartender to have the woman and her husband thrown out and claims to be the owner's brother. Whereupon the bartender (who is of course also the owner) turns to the woman he'd been unsuccessfully hitting on and asks since when ''they've'' [[RelativeError had a brother.]]
** A couple scammers try and fail to [[http://notalwaysright.com/no-id-ea-who-is-serving-you/42766 buy about $1000 worth of electronic goods with a stolen credit card]], and are caught in part because they tried to use said card when its rightful holder was the cashier.
* [[http://www.heyweiner.com/story.jsp?id=7 This]] HeyWeiner entry.
* A popular joke uses a variant:
-->'''First mental patient:''' I am Napoleon!\\
'''Second mental patient:''' Astounding! How did you discover that?\\
'''First mental patient:''' God told me so!\\
'''Second mental patient:''' ''I did no such thing!''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms had a wizard and Harper agent Nleera Tarannath playing one of Tesper family ghosts, quietly observing or contacting people on each party for seven years. Until the smiling real ghost appeared right next to her before the lord Tesper. In this case, she was allowed to continue the game. Though after a year of this she took to visit the place with her own face, as his fiancee. Ghosts blew her cover on purpose, to push them together a little -- once they were sure she's fit for their descendant, that is.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* Spies in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' are easily rooted out by the people on the other team whose names the game has randomly given them for their disguise.
** Or, in a much easier sense, if a player knows he's the only person on his team with his class (in which case the Spy will inevitably have that player's name).
** The Halloween update had a "Costume Contest" achievement for killing Spies disguised as your class. Spies themselves have an achievement (Identity Theft) for killing the guy they're disguised as.
** Even worse for the Spy is when he makes the mistake of disguising as a class the other team ''doesn't currently have.'' The game will still randomly assign him a name from the other team, making the disguise even [[PaperThinDisguise thinner]].
** Even more obvious if the person they're disguised as has a particularly distinctive hat, so even people who aren't paying close attention to their teammates' names and classes will notice something is up.
** [[UpToEleven And then there is when two enemy Spies are disguised as each other and bump into one another while cloaked]]
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Pliskin knows that the person claiming to be Solid Snake is, in fact, an imposter. Wonder why? Ah, it's the voice. He doesn't have the sexy manliness of Creator/DavidHayter. They do [[Creator/AkioOhtsuka share a voice]] in Japanese, but the point still stands - Pliskin knows the imposter is not Solid Snake because he ''himself'' is actually Solid Snake. [[PaperThinDisguise No, that's not a spoiler.]]
* In ''Solar Winds'', you're given a display filter so that aliens you talk to over video communications will see you as being one of them, and thus won't attack you on sight. Unless, of course, you run into the specific alien the display filter was recorded off of, who recognizes your treachery and tries to blast you out of the sky.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum|OfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}}'', the player's character is touted by many to be the reincarnation of [[MessianicArchetype Nasrudin]]. He may choose to either run with it or not; however, those who do are in for a rude awakening near the end of the game, when they encounter the real Nasrudin who was alive all along.
* In one of the missions in ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', you have to disguise yourself as a waiter to infiltrate a party. However, it would be a very good idea to knock out the real waiter first, or else the security guards will easily catch on when they see too many waiters running around.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Thief}} 3'', you overhear a conversation in which a guy is obtaining a lucrative contract by pretending to be you. True to the game's minimal-violence style, you also hear where he will stash the loot, so you let him do the work and then steal it.
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' (and ''[[VideoGame/SuikodenV V]]'') the Hero catches someone pretending to be him. In ''Suikoden V'', the disguise is near-perfect[[note]]only the eye color is wrong, since contact lenses haven't been invented in the ''Suikoden'' world[[/note]], so it's natural that this would be what thwarts it. In ''Suikoden II''...[[PaperThinDisguise not so much]].
* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', you steal the identity of a German officer to enter the train station. However, the German officer himself runs to the station in his undergarments to alert the German forces to your presence.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', in Amaranthine there is a KnowledgeBroker calling himself "the Dark Wolf", who has information about the growing conspiracy against the Warden. Depending on whether Slim Couldry's thievery missions were completed in ''Origins'', the Warden can call him out on being an imposter, as ''they'' are the real Dark Wolf!
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'', an imposter is pretending to be the Avatar, using your heroic reputation to scam people and causing you trouble when they meet you. Eventually you catch up with him. Exceptionally hilarious if you're playing a female Avatar, since the impostor isn't bothering to disguise his face. Those people had it coming.
* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', Impa and Sheik visit Lake Hylia and the Water Temple and are confronted by an apparently {{Face Heel Turn}}ed Princess Zelda. After defeating her, Impa uses the Lens of Truth to reveal it was the shapeshifter Wizzro in disguise. When he asks how they saw through his ruse, Sheik steps up and tells him that he couldn't ''possibly'' have been Zelda, because ''[[SecretIdentity she]]'' [[ItWasHisSled is Zelda]].\\
There's also a variant earlier on, when Impa asks Shiek if they know who the leader of the Shiekah tribe is. Shiek does - it's Impa, and Impa distinctly ''doesn't'' remember a tribesman named Shiek. They get interrupted before it goes any further, but [[ItWasHisSled the resolution should surprise nobody]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The {{Trope Namer|s}}, as noted above, is ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''.
* Happens in ''Webcomic/AntiHeroes'' #67. Kaal is impersonating "Dave" when he runs into the real "Dave", and manages to [[MirrorRoutine stay in sync with him]] for a while before [[TheDitz his own stupidity]] does him in.
* In ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland'', one of the main characters tries to sneak into a college reunion under the obviously made-up name "Ned Q. Sorceror, D.D.S.". Turns out the school actually has an alumnus by that name.
* In the Webcomic/{{Oglaf}} strip titled [[http://oglaf.com/rodgar/ Prince Rodgar]], a {{shapeshift|ing}}er "steals" the shape of Prince Rodgar during a tryst in the woods, and arrives at court pretending to be the Prince. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the shapeshifter, the real prince is at court: the shapeshifter stole the shape of an impostor, and gets tarred and feathered.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon ''Hello, How Am I?'', Wimpy impersonates Popeye in hope of getting some hamburgers from Olive, and has an argument with the real Popeye over which of them is genuine. Amusingly enough [[WhatAnIdiot Popeye believes it]], and walks off trying to figure out his 'real' identity.
* In Bizarro's first appearance of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', he looked and acted just like the Man of Steel (except for being really corny). The real Superman was tipped off that something was wrong when Bizarro rescued Clark Kent from falling off a cliff.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Germany:" "Two priests?! That's impossible!" Later in the same episode it's played straight, complete with MirrorRoutine. Also played straight in "A Picture is Worth 1, 000 Bucks" when Peter tries to impress a high school classmate by claiming he grew up to be "Neptune, God of the Sea" only to find out that the real Neptune is playing at the same miniature golf course and doesn't appreciate Peter sullying his good name.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventuresHowISpentMyVacation'' Fifi Le Fume tries to sneak into matinee idol Johnny Pew's hotel room by claiming to be his agent. The hotel manager leads her over to an old woman who also says she's Johnny's agent. Fifi keeps up the ruse for a little while before bolting.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* There are lots of urban legends about fraudsters trying to pass off fake or stolen [=IDs=] that turn out to be relatives of people in the queue behind them, or the manager of the store they're trying to rip off.
** One variant on this theme (possibly apocryphal) has reports of drivers being stopped and offering false [=ID=] -- that turns out to belong to the cop stopping them (or a relative/close friend of same).
** There is a verified case of a forger in California who attempted to pass a forged check written on a checkbook he had stolen from a mailbox. The teller was the actual person who owned the checks.
** In another real life example, a police officer pulled over a possible drunk driver, who pulled into the driveway of a nearby home and claimed it was his home. The problem? You guessed it, it was the cop's house.
** Versions of just about all of these have shown up on ''Website/NotAlwaysRight''.
** Its actually not as big a coincidence as it might seem, especially in smaller communities. The kids who are old enough to look like they might be old enough to buy cigarettes likely have friends who are a couple of years older who likely went to school with convenience store workers (quite often recent high school grads themselves), and given the sheer frequency of the attempts, its inevitable that convenience store workers will occasionally recognize the actual owner of a fake id. Especially since they all probably still live in the same area.
* Happens all the time in the party game, Mafia, and its update/remake Werewolf (a game modeling a battle between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (civilians), with some of the latter given special roles to help their cause) Occasionally, a mafia member tries to claim that they are the doctor/detective (the most valuable of the aforementioned special civilians) as a last ditch effort to save themselves from being voted out, knowing full well that the said character will instantly know that they are lying but banking on the fact that there is a good chance of them getting away with it as the said characters can't (or won't) always come out and call their bluff. Sometimes, such a bluff does get called, and another mafia may try to pull a jonesy on the real character, and then [[HilarityEnsues good fun is had by all]]. At least the ones on the mafia side, who know whats going on. Yes, the game is less a 'battle model' and more an exercise in lying/detecting liars.
** This gets very layered when mafia use this trope to their advantage. A mafia can claim to be a detective, knowing that the real detective can pull this trope, just to find the detective and kill them. If the detective says nothing, however, then the mafia can run the town unopposed... Which is why no one believes someone when they say they're a detective [[CassandraTruth even if it's true.]]
* Happened in RealLife in a psychological experiment referred to as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Christs_of_Ypsilanti The Three Christs of Ypsilanti]]". A certain psychologist [[ForScience wanted to see what would happen]] if one's identity was constantly questioned, and put together three patients, all of whom [[NapoleonDelusion claimed they were Jesus]]. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]].
** Experiments like this are now forbidden in psych wards, as it's possible the delusional patients could become angry and attack each other, or their delusions could go in new, and worse, directions because of it. It still happened again when an aide accidentally put two men believing themselves to be Jesus in the same room. When he realized his mistake and hurried back, he found the two men in deep conversation, poring over a Bible. When he asked them what they were doing, they explained that they'd talked it over and figured out which of them was really Jesus... the other guy now claimed to be John the Baptist.
* This can also happen when something other than a person is diguised. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, the British and Germans both employed armed merchant ships (the Germans used them to attack British shipping, the British to hunt down German raiders), and often used fake markings, false smokestacks, and other elements to disguise them as the other side's ship. In the 1914 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trindade Battle of Trindade]], the German SMS ''Cap Trafalgar'', disguised as the British RMS ''Carmania'', encountered the ''Carmania''. At that early point in the war, neither side actually knew which merchant ships the other had converted into auxiliary cruisers, so captains commonly made poor choices of disguise. It is often claimed that ''Carmania'' was also disguised as ''Cap Trafalgar''. This is not the case, but [[RuleOfFunny it should have been]].
* An amusing variation--more a case of "Because ''He's'' Jonesy": Jim Lovell is traveling to a hotel in Houston under the name of Max Peck, to receive his new assignment as a NASA astronaut. Shortly after he settles in to his room, he gets a call from another guest, who ''also'' claims to be Max Peck. Lovell, at this point, realizes there is probably more than one ersatz Max Peck here, because he had picked up another bit of info on the way to the room: "If you have a problem, take it up with the manager. I understand ''his'' name is Max Peck!" The other ersatz Max Peck turns out to be another new astronaut, Ed White. In fact, ''all'' the astronauts in that group were assigned rooms at that hotel under the name "Max Peck". White had called his room in an attempt to draw Lovell out; he was waiting in the lobby with a couple of other new astronauts when Jim came and looked.\\
\\
(This is described in Jim Lovell's autobiographical book ''Apollo 13'' (originally ''Lost Moon''). The scene is repeated in the television miniseries ''Series/FromTheEarthToTheMoon'', including a very puzzled check-in lady who is NOT in on the fiction. And yes, Lovell was right--the real hotel manager's name was indeed Max Peck, hence the clerk who was not aware of the situation being bewildered by "Mr. Peck's" attempt to check in.)
[[/folder]]
----
to:
[[caption-width-right:350:Busted!]]
When an [[SpotTheImposter imposter is spotted]] because the person he's impersonating is in the group/room with, or is himself, [[RightInFrontOfMe the person they're trying to deceive]]. In its basic form, the conversation will go like this:
->'''Stranger:''' Who are you?\\
'''{{Master of Disguise}}:''' I'm Jonesy.\\
'''Stranger:''' No you're not.\\
'''Master of Disguise:''' How do you know?\\
'''Stranger:''' Because ''I'm'' Jonesy.
"Jonesy" comes from [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/1p17/ this page]] (and the one before it) of ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' #1.
If you have a good enough disguise, you might still be able to get away with bumping into the person you're impersonating if you convince them that you are actually [[MirrorRoutine their reflection in a mirror]]. Those liable to PoserHating are also generally vulnerable to this.
Compare IAmOneOfThoseToo, IAmSpartacus.
And no, the trope is not named after [[WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}} Jonesy Garcia.]] Even if he did say it in one episode, that wasn't an example.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Advertising]]
* When ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ThePhantomMenace'' came out, Pizza Hut ran an ad starring a young girl who dressed like, and called herself, Queen Amidala. Toward the end of the commercial, her mother chided her, "You're not Queen Amidala." When the girl demanded why, the woman replied, "Because ''I'm'' Queen Amidala," and digitally "morphed" into the character.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Happens in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'' when Yuri meets the fake Ishtar. Unfortunately, Yuri doesn't fit the idea everyone has in their head of what Prince Kail's concubine looks like, so it's a case of CassandraTruth.
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has an instance of this involving a member of the [[{{Mooks}} white suits]] posing as a conductor on the Flying Pussyfoot. Would not have been so bad if the person he was trying to trick wasn't [[spoiler:[[PsychoForHire Claire]] "[[ChaoticNeutral Rail Tracer]]" [[TortureTechnician Stanfield]]]].
* Subverted in the 8th ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie, where Kaitou KID shows up disguised as Shinichi. Conan, who is standing right there, immediately blurts out "That isn't Shinichi!", but has no evidence to back it up without giving away his secret identity. He can't use the usual proof of tearing off [[LatexPerfection Kid's mask]] because Shinichi and Kid share the same face.
* A major plot point in ''Anime/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is when the eponymous running back comes across the "real" Eyeshield 21. [[spoiler:Averted, in that Sena uses that game to take off his mask and play as himself, not the false hero of Notre Dame.]]
** And later [[spoiler:Sena not only faces off against another real Eyeshield 21, he eventually becomes the real deal himself.]]
* This happens quite often in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', but most memorably when Kenshiro (the title character) faces Jagi. Generally, punk X would have his henchmen kicking around peasants in the name of the Fist of the North Star. Then Kenshiro walks into town, and the henchmen make the mistake of asking him to bow to the Fist. Kenshiro makes a rude comment about how it's a terrible likeness, or asks a rhetorical question about the technique that he is supposedly about to be punished with ("you mean THIS hundred crack fist... WATATATATA!"). Henchmen try to punish Kenshiro like they do the peasants, and of course a righteous ass kicking ensues. By the end of the confrontation it's pretty obvious who the true Fist is.
* Appears in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime with the fake Elric Brothers.
* This happens in the first episode of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' between Iruka and Mizuki. Mizuki is in Iruka's form, and Iruka is in Naruto's form. The fake Naruto attacks the fake Iruka, and it's revealed he knew Mizuki wasn't Iruka because HE was Iruka.
* In the first episode of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', a small-time bad guy is killing people, claiming to be the infamous Hitokiri Battousai, and loudly proclaims he uses the style of the Kamiya Kasshin school, which the bad guys are trying to take away from its owner Kaoru. When Kenshin, the true Battousai, shows up, not only does he kick the fake Battousai's ass, but he reveals the true style of the Battousai -- Hiten Mitsurugi, a style developed during the violent upheaval that ended recently unlike Kaoru's style, which was developed in the current time of peace.
* This happens in both the anime filler and the manga in ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''. In the anime the Sanzo party [[spoiler: were made to confront a group of men who dressed up and pretended to be them in order to reap the benefits of being the Sanzo Party. Sadly enough the village actually believed that they were the real Sanzo group because of how unbelievably the originals had behaved for a group of "holy warriors"]]. And in the manga, the Sanzo group were made to face off against Shikigami doppelgangers of themselves [[spoiler: and used it as a chance to beat people who looked like their comrades as stress relief]].
* Happens frequently early on in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' almost exactly like in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' above, some goon is using Vash's name to cow a town into submission, Vash shows up, disarms the goon, and is regaled as a hero. Unlike Fist (and most other examples) it's rarely revealed that Vash IS The Humanoid Typhoon (to the townsfolk anyway) but he still makes it fairly obvious the goons aren't the real deal.
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' has made this mistake several times, thanks to Lupin's favorite disguise being his own archnemesis, Inspector Zenigata.
** ''Anime/LupinFamilyAllStars'' takes this trope UpToEleven, with ''everyone'' in disguise.
* The major plot point of the very first issue of ''Manga/FairyTail''. Long story short, the real Natsu confronts an imposter using illegal magic in his name.
* This trope is what does in MasterOfDisguise Saemon from ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', as his disguise as Tenzen is exposed by the actual Tenzen in some rather unfair circumstances. [[spoiler: namely, Saemon thought that Tenzen was dead and didn't know about his ability to come back from the dead after being killed. Three guesses what Tenzen did to expose Saemon; the first two don't count.]]
* This ''nearly'' happens in ''Manga/BokuraNoKiseki'', when Hiroki claims to be the {{Reincarnation}} of Princess Veronica in front of the protagonist, Harusumi (who is Veronica's actual reincarnation). However, [[TheSmartGuy Midou]] convinces him [[AvertedTrope not to say anything until they can figure out Hiroki's motives]].
* Done without the imposter part in ''Manga/DeathNote'''s "Kira Task Force versus MegaCorp" arc. The team learns that the corporate execs currently using the Death Note to kill off rivals have hired a detective to find or identify L for them. L isn't worried however, as the detective in question is one of his other pseudonyms.
* Providing the current page image, the titular character of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' impersonates the kingdom's Majesty in order to save Sophie from Madame Suliman's castle. The charade breaks down when the real Majesty enters the room, though the latter doesn't realize what's going on and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congrats Madame Suliman for her excellent work on his double]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audio Drama]]
* ''Creator/BigFinish Series/DoctorWho'':
** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho027TheOneDoctor The One Doctor]]'', Banto Zame is a ConMan who masquerades as [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] and [[MonsterProtectionRacket stages fake alien invasions which he then thwarts for a modest fee]]. This works fine until the real Doctor, and a real invasion, show up.
** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho059TheRoofOfTheWorld The Roof of the World]]'', Lord Davey's attempt to undermine Peri's confidence by impersonating the Doctor is going quite well till the real Doctor walks in.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comics]]
* Franchise/SpiderMan and the first appearance of the [[MasterOfDisguise Chameleon]], though he has to make up another excuse as to how he spotted the impostor pretending to be Peter Parker to avoid revealing his secret identity.
** Another exchange:
--->"Lay off the kid, he's not Venom!"\\
"How do you know, Clark?"\\
"[[AC:Because ''I'm'' Venom.]]" ''(attacks)''
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** From the 1940s newspaper comics, Batman disguised himself as a mob boss... whose henchmen had just decided to get rid of. After being held at gunpoint, the ''real'' mob boss comes through the door. HilarityEnsues.
** In the "Where Were You on the Night Batman Was Killed?" arc in ''Batman'' #291-294, The Riddler disguises himself as Bruce Wayne to crash a party his gang was robbing. This naturally surprises Batman when he arrives to stop the gang. He later claims that he received a phone call from Bruce Wayne in Florida earlier in the evening and thus knew that the Riddler wasn't the real Wayne.
** In ''[[Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'', after one of his time jumps, Bruce is captured by Blackbeard, who believes him to be a rival pirate of his. The issue is narrated by another character, who reveals Bruce could not possibly be the Black Pirate... because he is.
* In a [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] Franchise/{{Superman}} story, Superman is captured and, while escaping, encounters his friends Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White who claim be being held prisoner as well. He realises that these are actually robot doubles planted by his captor when he sees the remaining two prisoners: Morgan Edge and '''Clark Kent'''.
* In one issue of Creator/MarvelComics ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series, MasterOfDisguise Zartan infiltrates the Pit, and moves about shifting his appearance from one Joe to another as he goes. However, he shifts into looking like Gung Ho just as the real Gung Ho enters the room; alerting the Joes to the fact that one of them is an imposter.
* There is a comic by the Finnish comic artist Petri Hiltunen where a man brings a supply of weaponry to a group of outlaws who turn out to be the [[HistorysCrimeWave immortal revenants of various historical villains]]. Their leader plans to kill the man instead of paying, but the man tells him that's not going to work because he is Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus, and thus also immortal. As the man is leaving, one of the revenants runs up to his leader to inform him that the man was lying. How does he know? Because ''he'' is Judas Iscariot.
* In the ''ComicBook/FreedomFighters'' mini-series, SHADE deploys a fake version of Miss America to de-power and demoralize the Freedom Fighters, and she almost succeeds before an old woman shows up and declares that she can't possibly be Miss America... because ''she'' is Miss America. Cue CurbStompBattle...
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'', Captain Boomerang poses as Australian arms dealer Billy Tidewater. His ruse is uncovered because the group he tries to deal with is already holding the real Billy Tidewater hostage. Boomerang makes a valiant attempt to claim that he and Tidewater are cousins, and their fathers thought it would be funny to give their sons the same name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''[[FanFic/FortySeconds 4 0 s e c o n d s]]'' [[TooDumbToLive Tsen, a crook posing as Kira]] attempts to mug [[TheDragon Mikami.]] [[ComedicSociopathy Mikami invites him to meet the REAL Kira...]]
-->'''Mikami:''' He wishes to speak with you... Follow me.\\
'''Tsen:''' Who wishes to speak with me?\\
'''Mikami:''' Why, [[TheDreaded Kira]] of course.\\
'''Tsen:''' [[OhCrap Kira!]] (''[[OhCrap hyperventilating]]'')
* A variation occurs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8987477/20/A-Black-Heart A Black Heart]]'' when [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] impersonates a member of the Onmitsukido and informs one of the captains that he thinks [[RefugeInAudacity one of the intruders is impersonating the Onmitsukido]]. Unfortunately, said captain is Sui-Feng, aka head of the Onmitsukido.
** Earlier Uryu poses as a new member of fourth squad who reports to the seventh seat but doesn't remember his superior's name. Sadly for him, the seventh seat is standing right in front of him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Mystique does something similar to this with Lady Deathstrike and an office janitor [[spoiler:though she doesn't say anything to the real janitor when she passes him]]. She later [[spoiler:tries posing as Wolverine to infiltrate Stryker's base. But if there's one thing Stryker knows, it's his own work, and he isn't fooled.]]
* In the 1939 ''[[Franchise/SherlockHolmes The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'', Watson tries to intimidate a mysterious peddler into talking by claiming, dramatically, "I'm ''Sherlock Holmes''!" The peddler straightens to Holmes's full height and replies, laughing, "Then my name must be Watson!"
* In Jackie Chan's ''Film/DrunkenMaster'', the protagonist Wong Fei-Hung tries to trick a middle-aged man he sees eating alone at a inn into paying for his overly-large meal. When he tries to leave however, he runs into the manager, who inquires as to who will be paying the bill. Wong says the middle-aged man will, at which point the manager asks Fei-Hung what his relation to man is. Fei-Hung states that the man is his father, at which point the manager informs him that the middle-aged man is really the inn's owner and that he is his son and that he's never seen him before.
* In the 1995 ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'', [[BigBad John Herod]] is hosting, as well as competing in, a gunfighting tournament. One of his opponents is Ace Hanlon, a man with a few tricks, but whose guns aren't quite as quick as his mouth. As their fight is about to begin, they have the following exchange:
-->'''Herod:''' Mr. Hanlon, I want to ask you about Indian Wells. Did that fight really take place? You really killed four men?\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(smiles)'' Two with my right hand, two with my left. Truth be told, I'm equally good with either.\\
'''Herod:''' You must be the fastest gun in the west. ''({{beat}})'' That, or the biggest liar.\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(his smile suddenly fades)'' A pity you weren't there to find out.\\
'''Herod:''' Oh, but I was, Ace. See, I was the one who really killed the Terence brothers, and I doubt a lying little chicken-shit like you was even in the same state!\\
'''Hanlon:''' ''(is now [[OhCrap visibly worried]])''
* In ''Film/TakingCareOfBusiness'', Jimmy Dworski escapes from jail, finds the Filofax of Spencer Barnes, then impersonates Barnes until the real Spencer Barnes shows up.
* A variation. Near the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins'', [[spoiler: Bruce is introduced to Ra's al Ghul. His response: "You're not Ra's al Ghul. I watched him die." Not that that's necessarily definitive in comic books, and especially not with Ra's al Ghul.]]
* Another variation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', where [[spoiler:Steve realizes the radio broadcast of a baseball game is fake because it was a game he personally attended.]] And yet another variation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', when [[spoiler:Nick Fury realizes something is wrong because files on a project he's wondering about are being blocked and are only allowed to be viewed, per the computer, by "Director Fury."]]
* Yet another slight variation. In ''Film/TheNakedGun''. Detective Drebin arrives at the hospital and notices that Nordberg's police guard was absent. When he asks the nurse where the guard was she explains that "Detective Drebin" phoned and sent him home.
* In the pre-title action sequence of ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Film/JamesBond impersonates Colonel Luis Toro to infiltrate an airbase, only to be captured and brought to the real Toro.
-->'''Bond:''' Well, it's a small world. You're a Toro, too.
** And in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' Bond turns up at Hai Fat's house pretending to be Scaramanga, thinking that the CorruptCorporateExecutive would not have met a contract killer face to face. After Bond leaves, the real Scaramanga puts on an appearance -- turns out Scaramanga and Hai Fat are in business together.
* Parodied in "Hot Shots! Part Deux" when Topper Harley meets [[TheDitz President Bensen]]. He says "Presiden Bensen" as a greeting and Bensen tells him that he's President Bensen, and that Topper shouldn't go around impersonating the President, it's just not credible.
* During the grand heist of ''Film/AntMan'', Luis tries to excuse himself for being in a restricted room to a guard by saying the boss ordered him to. The guard who he's talking to ''is'' the boss.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In the short story "Animal Rescue" by Creator/DennisLehane, a small-time thug had a scary reputation based on the rumor that he'd killed a fellow named Richie Whelan a few years back. The police never pinned it on him, but he used this to intimidate people ... until he tried to push around [[spoiler:the main character]], one of the guys who ''really'' murdered Richie Whelan. Oops.
* In the short Literature/LordPeterWimsey story "The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste", several men all claim to be the aristocratic sleuth and wine expert Lord Peter Wimsey. A wine tasting is held in order to determine the real Wimsey. Their host can't figure out who the real one is until [[spoiler:it is revealed that they're all fakes - Wimsey is the one visitor not calling himself Lord Peter Wimsey.]]
* In ''East of Desolation'' by Creator/JackHiggins, narrator Joe Martin is hired to help with the investigation of a small plane that crashed. The pilot's widow, Sarah Kelso, comes along ... only she isn't, because ''Joe'' flew that plane under a false name, since he'd suspected (correctly) there was something dodgy about the job.[[note]]He bailed out of the plane, leaving it to crash, after his passenger and a stowaway murdered each other; he didn't feel like explaining to airport authorities why he had a couple of corpses as cargo.[[/note]] And he'd never in his life seen "his widow" before she turned up along with the investigators.
* ''Literature/JenniferGovernment'' has the subplot about Billy NRA. When the real Bill NRA finds out, he attacks Billy, and the ensuing fight attracts the guards. [[spoiler: Impostor Billy manages to make the guards think that real Bill is the impostor. Billy survives, Bill is shot.]]
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'' has a close variant: Aldrick ex Gladius, regarded as one of the greatest swordsmen in the world, is famed partially because of his legendary duel with Araris Valerian, which is still being talked about ''fifteen years later''. At multiple points throughout the series he crosses swords with other famed warriors, calmly informing each of them "The only man who has ever matched me in battle was Araris Valerian himself, [[PretenderDiss and you aren't Araris.]]" At the climax of ''Furies of Calderon'', [[TheReveal it turns out his opponent]] ''[[TheReveal is]]'' [[TheReveal Araris]]. [[VillainousBreakdown Aldrick practically collapses when he realizes this]].
* In ''The Bad Bunch'' by Creator/JTEdson, Belle Boyd poses as Belle Starr in order to infiltrate an all-female outlaw gang. Unfortunately for her, the real Belle Starr had the same idea.
* In the last short story in the Creator/AgathaChristie collection ''Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates'', a woman whose son has been kidnapped is offered the services of professional problem-solver Parker Pyne. He arranges for a paste copy of a diamond necklace to be paid as ransom to fool the kidnappers. [[spoiler:However, the man is not actually Parker Pyne, but the villain, whose aim was to steal the diamond necklace. Unfortunately for him, another guest at the hotel, a Mr. Thompson, is actually Parker Pyne traveling incognito in an attempt to have a proper holiday without getting dragged into other peoples' problems. The real Parker Pyne stops the villain and retrieves the real necklace.]]
* A variant from the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' novels: while visiting Mos Eisley spaceport with his lover Mirax, Corran Horn sees a friendly bartender use the fact that Mirax is the beloved daughter of notorious smuggler Booster Terrik to get a creep to back off. Later, when Corran and Mirax are confronted with a grizzled, one-eyed space pirate, Corran tries to pull the same trick, only for Mirax to sheepishly tell him that ''is'' her father.
* Keill Randor falls for this in the first book of ''Literature/LastLegionary'' series leading to his capture and torture.
* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot [[spoiler: that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A variation in an episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' had a cocky wannabe bandit try to intimidate Xena by telling her that he had killed the dread warlord somebody, which earned him only a passing nod. Later on, he repeats the boast, and Xena tells him he's a liar, and he didn't kill that guy. "How do you know?" "Because ''I'' did."
* The first mystery of the children's show ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'' featured one character infiltrating a gang that wore doubleface masks when stealing and had code names based on characters in their favorite videogame. During the meeting the group introduced themselves with the names -- the infiltrator had a fifty-fifty chance of picking the name the unintroduced gang member didn't have. He chose poorly.
* In an episode of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', Callen poses as the backup for a member of a team of hired assassins, whom the rest of the team would not have met, telling the others that his partner missed his check-in call, only to find that, despite the captured assassin supposedly calling his backup to check in, said backup is already there. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a subversion--the other person claiming the same identity was lying in order to test the new guy, and thanks to the rest of the team not busting in and Callen keeping his cool, he passed.]]
* In ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'' season 1 episode 5, "Brinkley Manor," Jeeves is away and Bertie is forced to take care of himself. While he is struggling to make tea, Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps arrives for a visit. When the phone rings, Bertie asks Barmy to answer it and pretend he is Jeeves.
-->'''Barmy:''' Mr. Wooster's residence. ''[pause]'' Where is Mr. Wooster? He's not at home, sir. I'm Jeeves. ''[pause]'' What do you mean 'you think not?' ''[pause]'' Oh! ''[He hangs up.]''\\
'''Bertie:''' Who was it?\\
'''Barmy:''' Jeeves!
* Averted in ''{{Series/Highlander}}''. In 'The Messenger', the real Methos did turn up to confront the false Methos, and asked some questions, but he never revealed he really was Methos.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': In one episode, Phoebe found a lost police badge, which she then starts flashing around to intimidate people. Eventually she tries to pull it on a real cop and tries to bluff her way through his questions, like which precinct she works at. After a while he seems to believe her, then he asks "So where did you find my badge?"
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Ted receives an invitation to a high society party meant for someone else (the woman had lived in the apartment before Ted moved in). The gang goes to the party, and just as Lily is about to pose as Marissa, the real Marissa shows up. Ted talks to her, and she agrees to let the gang attend as her guests.
* Subverted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', when Buffy calls out Kendra when the latter claims to be the Slayer... only to discover that Kendra became a Slayer when Buffy was temporarily dead.
* On ''Series/GeneralHospital'', boozy, floozy Rhonda crashes the wealthy Quartermaine family's christening party for its newest member and promptly makes an ass out of herself, getting drunk and flirting with all the men. When an irritated woman asks why she's there, she haughtily claims to have been invited. (She's actually riding the coattails of her daughter Karen's legitimate invitation). The equally haughty woman informs her that she most certainly was NOT invited, and she knows this because, she, the child's mother, sent out the invitations.
* Played with in ''Series/LittleBritain'' in which two pairs of holidaying spouses eventually discover that both parties apparently ''are'' [[MindScrew the same couple]]. Much to their disturbed confusion.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:New Media]]
* A ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' entry has an interesting variation on the tell. A man comes in and orders a drink. When asked to pay up, he claims to be a close friend of the manager, who said the barista could hook him up with a free drink. While he's trying to swing his story, another guy comes in, to whom the barista cheerily hands a drink, free of charge. "Oh, so I can't get a free drink, but that jerkoff can?" "[[http://notalwaysright.com/fairweather-friendships/1969 Sir, it's not polite to call your close friend a jerkoff.]]"
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-man-of-many-faces-all-of-them-dumb/2284 This is arguably the straightest example]]. Bonus points for using an ID they didn't bother to check.
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/lesson-1-how-to-scam-a-scammer/12 And invoked here]].
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-poser-by-any-other-name-part-2/8983 And here]].
** Phone scammers ''still'' haven't realized that it's [[http://notalwaysworking.com/time-to-try-another-tactic/27631 time to try another tactic]].
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/not-quite-a-family-business/2529 And another variant.]]
** [[http://notalwaysright.com/punch-drunk-and-love/31280 This one goes above and beyond.]] After an attempt to hit on a married woman failed and ended up with the woman flooring him with one punch, a man tries to lobby the (female) bartender to have the woman and her husband thrown out and claims to be the owner's brother. Whereupon the bartender (who is of course also the owner) turns to the woman he'd been unsuccessfully hitting on and asks since when ''they've'' [[RelativeError had a brother.]]
** A couple scammers try and fail to [[http://notalwaysright.com/no-id-ea-who-is-serving-you/42766 buy about $1000 worth of electronic goods with a stolen credit card]], and are caught in part because they tried to use said card when its rightful holder was the cashier.
* [[http://www.heyweiner.com/story.jsp?id=7 This]] HeyWeiner entry.
* A popular joke uses a variant:
-->'''First mental patient:''' I am Napoleon!\\
'''Second mental patient:''' Astounding! How did you discover that?\\
'''First mental patient:''' God told me so!\\
'''Second mental patient:''' ''I did no such thing!''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms had a wizard and Harper agent Nleera Tarannath playing one of Tesper family ghosts, quietly observing or contacting people on each party for seven years. Until the smiling real ghost appeared right next to her before the lord Tesper. In this case, she was allowed to continue the game. Though after a year of this she took to visit the place with her own face, as his fiancee. Ghosts blew her cover on purpose, to push them together a little -- once they were sure she's fit for their descendant, that is.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* Spies in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' are easily rooted out by the people on the other team whose names the game has randomly given them for their disguise.
** Or, in a much easier sense, if a player knows he's the only person on his team with his class (in which case the Spy will inevitably have that player's name).
** The Halloween update had a "Costume Contest" achievement for killing Spies disguised as your class. Spies themselves have an achievement (Identity Theft) for killing the guy they're disguised as.
** Even worse for the Spy is when he makes the mistake of disguising as a class the other team ''doesn't currently have.'' The game will still randomly assign him a name from the other team, making the disguise even [[PaperThinDisguise thinner]].
** Even more obvious if the person they're disguised as has a particularly distinctive hat, so even people who aren't paying close attention to their teammates' names and classes will notice something is up.
** [[UpToEleven And then there is when two enemy Spies are disguised as each other and bump into one another while cloaked]]
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Pliskin knows that the person claiming to be Solid Snake is, in fact, an imposter. Wonder why? Ah, it's the voice. He doesn't have the sexy manliness of Creator/DavidHayter. They do [[Creator/AkioOhtsuka share a voice]] in Japanese, but the point still stands - Pliskin knows the imposter is not Solid Snake because he ''himself'' is actually Solid Snake. [[PaperThinDisguise No, that's not a spoiler.]]
* In ''Solar Winds'', you're given a display filter so that aliens you talk to over video communications will see you as being one of them, and thus won't attack you on sight. Unless, of course, you run into the specific alien the display filter was recorded off of, who recognizes your treachery and tries to blast you out of the sky.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum|OfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}}'', the player's character is touted by many to be the reincarnation of [[MessianicArchetype Nasrudin]]. He may choose to either run with it or not; however, those who do are in for a rude awakening near the end of the game, when they encounter the real Nasrudin who was alive all along.
* In one of the missions in ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', you have to disguise yourself as a waiter to infiltrate a party. However, it would be a very good idea to knock out the real waiter first, or else the security guards will easily catch on when they see too many waiters running around.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Thief}} 3'', you overhear a conversation in which a guy is obtaining a lucrative contract by pretending to be you. True to the game's minimal-violence style, you also hear where he will stash the loot, so you let him do the work and then steal it.
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' (and ''[[VideoGame/SuikodenV V]]'') the Hero catches someone pretending to be him. In ''Suikoden V'', the disguise is near-perfect[[note]]only the eye color is wrong, since contact lenses haven't been invented in the ''Suikoden'' world[[/note]], so it's natural that this would be what thwarts it. In ''Suikoden II''...[[PaperThinDisguise not so much]].
* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', you steal the identity of a German officer to enter the train station. However, the German officer himself runs to the station in his undergarments to alert the German forces to your presence.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', in Amaranthine there is a KnowledgeBroker calling himself "the Dark Wolf", who has information about the growing conspiracy against the Warden. Depending on whether Slim Couldry's thievery missions were completed in ''Origins'', the Warden can call him out on being an imposter, as ''they'' are the real Dark Wolf!
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'', an imposter is pretending to be the Avatar, using your heroic reputation to scam people and causing you trouble when they meet you. Eventually you catch up with him. Exceptionally hilarious if you're playing a female Avatar, since the impostor isn't bothering to disguise his face. Those people had it coming.
* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', Impa and Sheik visit Lake Hylia and the Water Temple and are confronted by an apparently {{Face Heel Turn}}ed Princess Zelda. After defeating her, Impa uses the Lens of Truth to reveal it was the shapeshifter Wizzro in disguise. When he asks how they saw through his ruse, Sheik steps up and tells him that he couldn't ''possibly'' have been Zelda, because ''[[SecretIdentity she]]'' [[ItWasHisSled is Zelda]].\\
There's also a variant earlier on, when Impa asks Shiek if they know who the leader of the Shiekah tribe is. Shiek does - it's Impa, and Impa distinctly ''doesn't'' remember a tribesman named Shiek. They get interrupted before it goes any further, but [[ItWasHisSled the resolution should surprise nobody]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The {{Trope Namer|s}}, as noted above, is ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''.
* Happens in ''Webcomic/AntiHeroes'' #67. Kaal is impersonating "Dave" when he runs into the real "Dave", and manages to [[MirrorRoutine stay in sync with him]] for a while before [[TheDitz his own stupidity]] does him in.
* In ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland'', one of the main characters tries to sneak into a college reunion under the obviously made-up name "Ned Q. Sorceror, D.D.S.". Turns out the school actually has an alumnus by that name.
* In the Webcomic/{{Oglaf}} strip titled [[http://oglaf.com/rodgar/ Prince Rodgar]], a {{shapeshift|ing}}er "steals" the shape of Prince Rodgar during a tryst in the woods, and arrives at court pretending to be the Prince. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the shapeshifter, the real prince is at court: the shapeshifter stole the shape of an impostor, and gets tarred and feathered.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon ''Hello, How Am I?'', Wimpy impersonates Popeye in hope of getting some hamburgers from Olive, and has an argument with the real Popeye over which of them is genuine. Amusingly enough [[WhatAnIdiot Popeye believes it]], and walks off trying to figure out his 'real' identity.
* In Bizarro's first appearance of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', he looked and acted just like the Man of Steel (except for being really corny). The real Superman was tipped off that something was wrong when Bizarro rescued Clark Kent from falling off a cliff.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Germany:" "Two priests?! That's impossible!" Later in the same episode it's played straight, complete with MirrorRoutine. Also played straight in "A Picture is Worth 1, 000 Bucks" when Peter tries to impress a high school classmate by claiming he grew up to be "Neptune, God of the Sea" only to find out that the real Neptune is playing at the same miniature golf course and doesn't appreciate Peter sullying his good name.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventuresHowISpentMyVacation'' Fifi Le Fume tries to sneak into matinee idol Johnny Pew's hotel room by claiming to be his agent. The hotel manager leads her over to an old woman who also says she's Johnny's agent. Fifi keeps up the ruse for a little while before bolting.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* There are lots of urban legends about fraudsters trying to pass off fake or stolen [=IDs=] that turn out to be relatives of people in the queue behind them, or the manager of the store they're trying to rip off.
** One variant on this theme (possibly apocryphal) has reports of drivers being stopped and offering false [=ID=] -- that turns out to belong to the cop stopping them (or a relative/close friend of same).
** There is a verified case of a forger in California who attempted to pass a forged check written on a checkbook he had stolen from a mailbox. The teller was the actual person who owned the checks.
** In another real life example, a police officer pulled over a possible drunk driver, who pulled into the driveway of a nearby home and claimed it was his home. The problem? You guessed it, it was the cop's house.
** Versions of just about all of these have shown up on ''Website/NotAlwaysRight''.
** Its actually not as big a coincidence as it might seem, especially in smaller communities. The kids who are old enough to look like they might be old enough to buy cigarettes likely have friends who are a couple of years older who likely went to school with convenience store workers (quite often recent high school grads themselves), and given the sheer frequency of the attempts, its inevitable that convenience store workers will occasionally recognize the actual owner of a fake id. Especially since they all probably still live in the same area.
* Happens all the time in the party game, Mafia, and its update/remake Werewolf (a game modeling a battle between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (civilians), with some of the latter given special roles to help their cause) Occasionally, a mafia member tries to claim that they are the doctor/detective (the most valuable of the aforementioned special civilians) as a last ditch effort to save themselves from being voted out, knowing full well that the said character will instantly know that they are lying but banking on the fact that there is a good chance of them getting away with it as the said characters can't (or won't) always come out and call their bluff. Sometimes, such a bluff does get called, and another mafia may try to pull a jonesy on the real character, and then [[HilarityEnsues good fun is had by all]]. At least the ones on the mafia side, who know whats going on. Yes, the game is less a 'battle model' and more an exercise in lying/detecting liars.
** This gets very layered when mafia use this trope to their advantage. A mafia can claim to be a detective, knowing that the real detective can pull this trope, just to find the detective and kill them. If the detective says nothing, however, then the mafia can run the town unopposed... Which is why no one believes someone when they say they're a detective [[CassandraTruth even if it's true.]]
* Happened in RealLife in a psychological experiment referred to as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Christs_of_Ypsilanti The Three Christs of Ypsilanti]]". A certain psychologist [[ForScience wanted to see what would happen]] if one's identity was constantly questioned, and put together three patients, all of whom [[NapoleonDelusion claimed they were Jesus]]. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]].
** Experiments like this are now forbidden in psych wards, as it's possible the delusional patients could become angry and attack each other, or their delusions could go in new, and worse, directions because of it. It still happened again when an aide accidentally put two men believing themselves to be Jesus in the same room. When he realized his mistake and hurried back, he found the two men in deep conversation, poring over a Bible. When he asked them what they were doing, they explained that they'd talked it over and figured out which of them was really Jesus... the other guy now claimed to be John the Baptist.
* This can also happen when something other than a person is diguised. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, the British and Germans both employed armed merchant ships (the Germans used them to attack British shipping, the British to hunt down German raiders), and often used fake markings, false smokestacks, and other elements to disguise them as the other side's ship. In the 1914 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trindade Battle of Trindade]], the German SMS ''Cap Trafalgar'', disguised as the British RMS ''Carmania'', encountered the ''Carmania''. At that early point in the war, neither side actually knew which merchant ships the other had converted into auxiliary cruisers, so captains commonly made poor choices of disguise. It is often claimed that ''Carmania'' was also disguised as ''Cap Trafalgar''. This is not the case, but [[RuleOfFunny it should have been]].
* An amusing variation--more a case of "Because ''He's'' Jonesy": Jim Lovell is traveling to a hotel in Houston under the name of Max Peck, to receive his new assignment as a NASA astronaut. Shortly after he settles in to his room, he gets a call from another guest, who ''also'' claims to be Max Peck. Lovell, at this point, realizes there is probably more than one ersatz Max Peck here, because he had picked up another bit of info on the way to the room: "If you have a problem, take it up with the manager. I understand ''his'' name is Max Peck!" The other ersatz Max Peck turns out to be another new astronaut, Ed White. In fact, ''all'' the astronauts in that group were assigned rooms at that hotel under the name "Max Peck". White had called his room in an attempt to draw Lovell out; he was waiting in the lobby with a couple of other new astronauts when Jim came and looked.\\
\\
(This is described in Jim Lovell's autobiographical book ''Apollo 13'' (originally ''Lost Moon''). The scene is repeated in the television miniseries ''Series/FromTheEarthToTheMoon'', including a very puzzled check-in lady who is NOT in on the fiction. And yes, Lovell was right--the real hotel manager's name was indeed Max Peck, hence the clerk who was not aware of the situation being bewildered by "Mr. Peck's" attempt to check in.)
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** In the "Where Were You on the Night Batman Was Killed?" arc in ''Batman'' #291-294, SelfDemonstrating/TheRiddler disguises himself as Bruce Wayne to crash a party his gang was robbing. This naturally surprises Batman when he arrives to stop the gang. He later claims that he received a phone call from Bruce Wayne in Florida earlier in the evening and thus knew that the Riddler wasn't the real Wayne.
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** In the "Where Were You on the Night Batman Was Killed?" arc in ''Batman'' #291-294, SelfDemonstrating/TheRiddler The Riddler disguises himself as Bruce Wayne to crash a party his gang was robbing. This naturally surprises Batman when he arrives to stop the gang. He later claims that he received a phone call from Bruce Wayne in Florida earlier in the evening and thus knew that the Riddler wasn't the real Wayne.
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* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot that the reason he'd been so interested was [[spoiler: that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.]]
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* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot that the reason he'd been so interested was [[spoiler: that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.]]
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* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot that the reason he'd been so interested was that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.
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* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot that the reason he'd been so interested was [[spoiler: that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.]]
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* Another Creator/AgathaChristie example: in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''One, Two, Buckle my Shoe'', one of the suspects is a Mrs Albert Chapman, whose husband turns out to have been a spy. There's also a character named Mr Barnes, a retired Secret Service agent who discusses the case with Poirot. At the end of the book Barnes tells Poirot that the reason he'd been so interested was that "Albert Chapman" had been ''his'' alias, and he knew there wasn't a wife.
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* Happens in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'' when Yuri meets the fake Ishtar. Unfortunately it's a case of CassandraTruth.
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* Happens in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'' when Yuri meets the fake Ishtar. Unfortunately Unfortunately, Yuri doesn't fit the idea everyone has in their head of what Prince Kail's concubine looks like, so it's a case of CassandraTruth.
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** And in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' Bond turns up at Hai Fat's house pretending to be Scaramanga, thinking that the CorruptCorporateExecutive would not have met a contract killer face to face. After Bond leaves, the real Scaramanga puts on an appearance -- turns out Scaramanga and Hai Fat are in business together.
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* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', Impa and Sheik visit Lake Hylia and the Water Temple and are confronted by an apparently {{Face Heel Turn}}ed Princess Zelda. After defeating her, Impa uses the Lens of Truth to reveal it was the shapeshifter Wizzro in disguise. When he asks how they saw through his ruse, Sheik steps up and tells him that he couldn't ''possibly'' have been Zelda, because ''[[SecretIdentity she]]'' [[ItWasHisSled is Zelda]].
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* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', Impa and Sheik visit Lake Hylia and the Water Temple and are confronted by an apparently {{Face Heel Turn}}ed Princess Zelda. After defeating her, Impa uses the Lens of Truth to reveal it was the shapeshifter Wizzro in disguise. When he asks how they saw through his ruse, Sheik steps up and tells him that he couldn't ''possibly'' have been Zelda, because ''[[SecretIdentity she]]'' [[ItWasHisSled is Zelda]].\\
There's also a variant earlier on, when Impa asks Shiek if they know who the leader of the Shiekah tribe is. Shiek does - it's Impa, and Impa distinctly ''doesn't'' remember a tribesman named Shiek. They get interrupted before it goes any further, but [[ItWasHisSled the resolution should surprise nobody]].
There's also a variant earlier on, when Impa asks Shiek if they know who the leader of the Shiekah tribe is. Shiek does - it's Impa, and Impa distinctly ''doesn't'' remember a tribesman named Shiek. They get interrupted before it goes any further, but [[ItWasHisSled the resolution should surprise nobody]].
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** From the 1940's newspaper comics, Batman disguised himself as a mob boss... whose henchmen had just decided to get rid of. After being held at gunpoint, the ''real'' mob boss comes through the door. HilarityEnsues.
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** From the 1940's 1940s newspaper comics, Batman disguised himself as a mob boss... whose henchmen had just decided to get rid of. After being held at gunpoint, the ''real'' mob boss comes through the door. HilarityEnsues.
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* Played with in ''Series/LittleBritain'' in which two pairs of holidaying spouses eventually discover that both parties apparently ''are'' [[MindScrew the same couple]]. Much to their disturbed confusion.
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* The titular character of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' impersonates the Majesty in order to save Sophie from Madame Suliman's castle. The charade breaks down when the real Majesty enters the room. Latter doesn't realize what's going on and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congrats Madame Suliman for her excellent work on his double]].
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* The Providing the current page image, the titular character of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' impersonates the kingdom's Majesty in order to save Sophie from Madame Suliman's castle. The charade breaks down when the real Majesty enters the room. Latter room, though the latter doesn't realize what's going on and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congrats Madame Suliman for her excellent work on his double]].
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** Experiments like this are now forbidden in psych wards, as it's possible the delusional patients could become angry and attack each other, or their delusions could go in new, and worse, directions because of it. It still happened again when an aide accidentally put two men believing themselves to be Jesus in the same room. When he realized his mistake and hurried back, he found the two men in deep conversation, poring over a Bible. When he asked them what they were doing, they explained that they'd talked it over and figured out which of them was really Jesus... the other guy now claimed to be John the Baptist.
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* During AntMan, Luis tries to excuse himself for being in a restricted room to a guard by saying the boss ordered him to. The guard who he's talking to ''is'' the boss.
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* During AntMan, the grand heist of ''Film/AntMan'', Luis tries to excuse himself for being in a restricted room to a guard by saying the boss ordered him to. The guard who he's talking to ''is'' the boss.
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* During AntMan, Luis tries to excuse himself for being in a restricted room to a guard by saying the boss ordered him to. The guard who he's talking to ''is'' the boss.
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* In one of the missions in ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}: Contracts'', you have to disguise yourself as a waiter to infiltrate a party. However, it would be a very good idea to knock out the real waiter first, or else the security guards will easily catch on when they see too many waiters running around.
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* In one of the missions in ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}: Contracts'', ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', you have to disguise yourself as a waiter to infiltrate a party. However, it would be a very good idea to knock out the real waiter first, or else the security guards will easily catch on when they see too many waiters running around.
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* A variation occurs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8987477/20/A-Black-Heart A Black Heart]]'' when [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] impersonates a member of the Onmitsukido and informs one of the captains that he thinks [[RefugeInAudacity one of the intruders is impersonating the Onmitsukido. Unfortunately, said captain is Sui-Feng, aka head of the Onmitsukido.
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* A variation occurs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8987477/20/A-Black-Heart A Black Heart]]'' when [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] impersonates a member of the Onmitsukido and informs one of the captains that he thinks [[RefugeInAudacity one of the intruders is impersonating the Onmitsukido.Onmitsukido]]. Unfortunately, said captain is Sui-Feng, aka head of the Onmitsukido.
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* A variation occurs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8987477/20/A-Black-Heart A Black Heart]]'' when [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] impersonates a member of the Onmitsukido and informs one of the captains that he thinks [[RefugeInAudacity one of the intruders is impersonating the Onmitsukido. Unfortunately, said captain is Sui-Feng, aka head of the Onmitsukido.
** Earlier Uryu poses as a new member of fourth squad who reports to the seventh seat but doesn't remember his superior's name. Sadly for him, the seventh seat is standing right in front of him.
** Earlier Uryu poses as a new member of fourth squad who reports to the seventh seat but doesn't remember his superior's name. Sadly for him, the seventh seat is standing right in front of him.
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* In ''TakingCareOfBusiness'', Jimmy Dworski escapes from jail, finds the Filofax of Spencer Barnes, then impersonates Barnes until the real Spencer Barnes shows up.
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* In ''TakingCareOfBusiness'', ''Film/TakingCareOfBusiness'', Jimmy Dworski escapes from jail, finds the Filofax of Spencer Barnes, then impersonates Barnes until the real Spencer Barnes shows up.
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Add Hot Shots Part Deux. reference
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* Parodied in "Hot Shots! Part Deux" when Topper Harley meets [[TheDitz President Bensen]]. He says "Presiden Bensen" as a greeting and Bensen tells him that he's President Bensen, and that Topper shouldn't go around impersonating the President, it's just not credible.
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* On ''Series/GeneralHospital'', boozy, floozy Rhonda crashes the wealthy Quartermaine family's christening party for its newest member and promptly makes an ass out of herself, getting drunk and flirting with all the men. When an irritated woman asks why she's there, she haughtily claims to have been invited. (She's actually riding the coattails of her daughter Karen's legitimate invitation). The equally haughty woman informs her that she most certainly was NOT invited, and she knows this because, she, the child's mother, sent out the invitations.
