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* Ted tries to pull this in ''Series/FatherTed'' after accidentally swearing at Bishop Brennan on the phone.
-->'''Ted:''' 'oo eez zis? Zere iz no 'Crilly' 'ere! ''[hangs up]''
-->'''Ted:''' 'oo eez zis? Zere iz no 'Crilly' 'ere! ''[hangs up]''
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* ''ComicBook/BuckDanny'': The heroes have occasionally gone undercover as mercenary pilots in some villain's organization or other, in which case their new identities are often people with different nationalities to minimize their ties to the U.S. PlayedForLaughs in ''Missing In Action'' where they have to pose as cargo pilots to infiltrate an arms trafficking ring. Buck and Tumb are given new identities as a Briton and an Australian, but passing Sonny off as anything but American is considered a lost cause, "due to his appallingly Texan accent."
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* ''Film/TheATeam'': Done hilariously. On the team's exit from Germany, Face has prepared false identity papers to get everyone through security, with BA's identity being a Tanzanian from Zanzibar, and Murdock being a rabbi. Unfortunately, he mixed up his paperwork and ended up giving each of them the other's identity, which neither of them realize until they're in front of the customs officer. To Face and Hannibal's shock, they both recover almost immediately and are able to convincingly assume the new identity; BA (who had earlier been shown reading spiritual and philosophical books) ad-libs something about a job converting people to Judaism, while Murdock reveals a [[HiddenDepths previously unknown]] fluency in Swahili that allows him to talk his way past the guard (despite the man being a native Swahili speaker of Tanzanian descent himself).
-->'''Face''': You speak Swahili?
-->'''Murdock''': You don't?
-->'''Face''': You speak Swahili?
-->'''Murdock''': You don't?
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* ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'' gets a fair amount of drama out of this trope and how difficult it is to pull off:
** Archie Hicox, the British Army officer assigned to help the Basterds, speaks German very well, but has just enough of an accent to arouse the attention of several Germans. He explains it as an idiosyncracy coming from his native village. Then he gives himself away by ordering three drinks in a bar... That's "three drinks," signaled with the three middle fingers of his hand, as done in Anglo-Saxon cultures, as opposed to "three drinks" with the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, as done in Germany and on much of continental Europe.
** Of course, the Basterds themselves are far worse, being a death squad that's been picked for their muscle rather than brains or ability to blend in. When three of them unexpectedly have to go undercover at a black tie event, it's a foregone conclusion that they can't pose as Germans, so they try posing as Italians instead, reasoning that most Germans won't speak that language. This goes about as well as you'd expect. To be fair, they were perfectly aware of what a long shot it was.
--->'''Aldo''': Well, I speak the most Italian, so I'll be your escort. Donowitz speaks the second most, so he'll be your Italian cameraman. Omar speaks third most, so he'll be Donny's assistant.
--->'''Omar''': I don't speak Italian.
--->'''Aldo''': [[ClosestThingWeGot Like I said, third most.]] Just keep your fucking mouth shut. In fact, why don't you start practicing right now?
** Archie Hicox, the British Army officer assigned to help the Basterds, speaks German very well, but has just enough of an accent to arouse the attention of several Germans. He explains it as an idiosyncracy coming from his native village. Then he gives himself away by ordering three drinks in a bar... That's "three drinks," signaled with the three middle fingers of his hand, as done in Anglo-Saxon cultures, as opposed to "three drinks" with the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, as done in Germany and on much of continental Europe.
** Of course, the Basterds themselves are far worse, being a death squad that's been picked for their muscle rather than brains or ability to blend in. When three of them unexpectedly have to go undercover at a black tie event, it's a foregone conclusion that they can't pose as Germans, so they try posing as Italians instead, reasoning that most Germans won't speak that language. This goes about as well as you'd expect. To be fair, they were perfectly aware of what a long shot it was.
--->'''Aldo''': Well, I speak the most Italian, so I'll be your escort. Donowitz speaks the second most, so he'll be your Italian cameraman. Omar speaks third most, so he'll be Donny's assistant.
--->'''Omar''': I don't speak Italian.
--->'''Aldo''': [[ClosestThingWeGot Like I said, third most.]] Just keep your fucking mouth shut. In fact, why don't you start practicing right now?
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* ''Literature/TheBourneSeries'': The KGB has a training facility at Novgorod for its agents and some other assets, which is effectively a series of replicas of many Western cities. The purpose of this is to train the agents in becoming this trope by passing as completely ordinary French/British/American/etc citizens in their native environment. The BigBad of the trilogy, terrorist Carlos the Jackal, is a graduate of this program.
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* ''Literature/JackRyan'': Exploited multiple times by spies, soldiers, and terrorists alike when their jobs require them to hide their identity;
** Domingo Chavez first appears in ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'' as part of a handpicked unit of Hispanic, native Spanish-speaking soldiers who are being sent on a covert operation in Colombia. The language skills are there not only to help them blend in but so that they're not suspected of being Americans. Several of the same soldiers show up again in ''Literature/DebtOfHonor'', this time to be inserted into Japan, where they're posing as Spanish nationals. While there's no question of them blending in this time, the fake nationality is still very useful - not only are they not suspected of being Americans, but there are far fewer Japanese who speak Spanish than English.
** Clark, despite his lack of a formal education, speaks both Russian and Spanish fluently enough to pass for a native. As a result, he goes undercover under a fake nationality multiple times, most often as a Russian. When he takes on Chavez as a partner, the cover story is that Chavez (by now also fluent enough to pass for native) is also a Russian; his darker skin and Latino features are explained away as Tartar heritage.
** Mary Pat Foley is a downplayed example, involving heritage rather than citizenship. She has her Irish husband's last name, and her first name isn't conspicuously un-Irish, so her KGB opponents assume that's what she is, and are surprised when she has a much deeper grasp of their language and culture than any outsider should. She's actually an ethnic Russian. It's noted that the KGB often makes this mistake, forgetting that America's extensive history of immigration and the subsequent cross-marriages leads to a lot of Americans with names that don't match their heritage.
** The U.S, of course, is on the receiving end of this plenty of times as well. In ''Literature/PatriotGames'', terrorist Sean Miller enters the United States by passing as a Scot; it's noted that he doesn't have to try very hard, as Americans have a lot of trouble telling Scottish and Irish accents apart. Similarly, Felix Cortez in ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'' can pose as a Venezuelan businessman on his visits to the U.S. without raising any suspicion (he's actually Cuban, and currently working for Colombians).
** Domingo Chavez first appears in ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'' as part of a handpicked unit of Hispanic, native Spanish-speaking soldiers who are being sent on a covert operation in Colombia. The language skills are there not only to help them blend in but so that they're not suspected of being Americans. Several of the same soldiers show up again in ''Literature/DebtOfHonor'', this time to be inserted into Japan, where they're posing as Spanish nationals. While there's no question of them blending in this time, the fake nationality is still very useful - not only are they not suspected of being Americans, but there are far fewer Japanese who speak Spanish than English.
** Clark, despite his lack of a formal education, speaks both Russian and Spanish fluently enough to pass for a native. As a result, he goes undercover under a fake nationality multiple times, most often as a Russian. When he takes on Chavez as a partner, the cover story is that Chavez (by now also fluent enough to pass for native) is also a Russian; his darker skin and Latino features are explained away as Tartar heritage.
** Mary Pat Foley is a downplayed example, involving heritage rather than citizenship. She has her Irish husband's last name, and her first name isn't conspicuously un-Irish, so her KGB opponents assume that's what she is, and are surprised when she has a much deeper grasp of their language and culture than any outsider should. She's actually an ethnic Russian. It's noted that the KGB often makes this mistake, forgetting that America's extensive history of immigration and the subsequent cross-marriages leads to a lot of Americans with names that don't match their heritage.
** The U.S, of course, is on the receiving end of this plenty of times as well. In ''Literature/PatriotGames'', terrorist Sean Miller enters the United States by passing as a Scot; it's noted that he doesn't have to try very hard, as Americans have a lot of trouble telling Scottish and Irish accents apart. Similarly, Felix Cortez in ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'' can pose as a Venezuelan businessman on his visits to the U.S. without raising any suspicion (he's actually Cuban, and currently working for Colombians).
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* ''Literature/TheFourthProtocol'': Overlapping with FalseFlagOperation and bordering on BatmanGambit. After forty years of Cold War, it's become very difficult to find any communist sympathizers in the British Ministry of Defense that could be recruited to spy on their country. So the KGB do the opposite: pose as South Africans to convince a British official to spill vital secrets, which he believes South Africa needs to defend itself against communists, and is being unjustly denied because of [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra its "minor" problem of oppressing blacks]].
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* ''Series/TheATeam'': As the team's resident con artist, Face will occasionally impersonate a citizen of another country. However Murdock, [[{{Cloudcukoolander}} being Murdock]], does this almost as much, sometimes as part of a con but sometimes simply for fun. The peak of this is probably the Season 2 premiere, where the team is hired for a job in a former British colony in Africa, and run a BavarianFireDrill on a local British store owner whose dynamite they want to confiscate. Murdock, posing as an officer, puts on a full IAmVeryBritish act and tears into the shop owner for his own insufficient pride in his heritage:
-->'''Murdock''': No kippers! No herring-bone tweed! No Rolls-Royce petrol caps! No meat pies! [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking No original pressings of "Hey Jude!"]]
-->'''Face''': ''(mouthing)'' "Hey Jude...?"
-->'''Murdock''': You, sir, are a miserable excuse for a shopkeep!
-->'''Murdock''': No kippers! No herring-bone tweed! No Rolls-Royce petrol caps! No meat pies! [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking No original pressings of "Hey Jude!"]]
-->'''Face''': ''(mouthing)'' "Hey Jude...?"
-->'''Murdock''': You, sir, are a miserable excuse for a shopkeep!
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* ''Series/FoylesWar'': ''The French Drop'' features Jacques Dumont, apparently a Frenchman being trained in resistance work by the SOE at its nearby base. He's actually an Englishman, assigned to investigate a mishap and cover-up on the base. Foyle first suspects this when he sees how easily he fills out English crossword puzzles in his spare time, then has it confirmed when the man mistakes "Paris Montparnasse" for a football team rather than a railway station. (The agent is entirely aware of how hard it is to pull off this trope, and can only shrug that he's amazed he got away with it for so long).
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* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': As the team grifter, Sophie Devereaux does this almost every episode. Given where she lives, she usually has to pass for American, and has an especial fondness for the SouthernBelle act.[[note]]TruthInTelevision, as Southern accents are usually considered the easiest ones for British actors to pick up[[/note]]
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* ''Series/MiamiVice'': Tubbs is actually a black man from New York, but in immigrant-heavy Miami, often adopts the persona of an immigrant from Haiti, Jamaica, or another Caribbean nation.
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* ''Series/MissionImpossible'': Similar to the Bourne example above, one of the early episodes had the IMF team assigned to infiltrate a replica city where agents from the Soviet Bloc are trained in impersonating Western citizens.
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* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Occasionally invoked by the team. Daniel Jackson's status as the resident {{Omniglot}} helps.
-->'''Daniel''': So we go in disguise, pretend to be foreigners.
-->'''Jack''': How are you going to do that?
-->'''Daniel''': Well I speak 23 languages, Jack. Pick one.
** It's also often invoked for Teal'c to explain away his unfamiliarity with Earth culture. When he first moves to an apartment off-base, the cover story is that he's an immigrant from Mozambique.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The ''Enterprise'' crew end up stranded on twentieth-century Earth a couple of times. In ''The City On The Edge Of Forever'', Kirk tries to explain Spock's appearance by invoking this trope, with painfully unconvincing results:
-->'''Kirk''': My friend is... obviously Chinese. I see you've noticed the ears... Well... They're actually easy to explain...
-->'''Spock''': Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child?
-->'''Kirk''': The unfortunate accident he had as a child. [[BlatantLies He caught his head in a mechanical... rice picker.]] But fortunately there was an American, uh, missionary living close by who was a skilled, uh, plastic surgeon in civilian life...
-->'''Policeman''': All right, all right. Drop those bundles and put your hands on the wall.
-->'''Daniel''': So we go in disguise, pretend to be foreigners.
-->'''Jack''': How are you going to do that?
-->'''Daniel''': Well I speak 23 languages, Jack. Pick one.
** It's also often invoked for Teal'c to explain away his unfamiliarity with Earth culture. When he first moves to an apartment off-base, the cover story is that he's an immigrant from Mozambique.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The ''Enterprise'' crew end up stranded on twentieth-century Earth a couple of times. In ''The City On The Edge Of Forever'', Kirk tries to explain Spock's appearance by invoking this trope, with painfully unconvincing results:
-->'''Kirk''': My friend is... obviously Chinese. I see you've noticed the ears... Well... They're actually easy to explain...
-->'''Spock''': Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child?
-->'''Kirk''': The unfortunate accident he had as a child. [[BlatantLies He caught his head in a mechanical... rice picker.]] But fortunately there was an American, uh, missionary living close by who was a skilled, uh, plastic surgeon in civilian life...
-->'''Policeman''': All right, all right. Drop those bundles and put your hands on the wall.
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* ''Series/TheWildWildWest'': Done many times.
** Being a MasterOfDisguise, Artemus Gordon pulls this off a number of times, impersonating a Mexican, a Frenchman, a Canadian, and Englishman, and every possible heritage of American over the course of the series. It's not ''quite'' OnceAnEpisode, but probably once every three.
** Played straight and then subverted in the pilot episode, ''The Night of the Inferno.'' The villain, Mexican bandit Juan Manolo, turns out to be an apparently inoffensive Chinese shop owner ("Wong Min Lo"). Then it turns out that the Chinese shop owner ''is'' in fact a Mexican bandit, who uses a heavy amount of makeup to pose as a Chinese shop owner to help him completely disappear when he's not out on his raids.
** Played with in ''The Night of the Firebrand.'' Irish revolutionary Sean O'Reilly does an adequate job of impersonating an American when James West first meets him. Unfortunately, he does a less convincing job of impersonating an American ''cavalry officer'', with multiple breaches in protocol that West, himself a veteran, notes immediately.
** Being a MasterOfDisguise, Artemus Gordon pulls this off a number of times, impersonating a Mexican, a Frenchman, a Canadian, and Englishman, and every possible heritage of American over the course of the series. It's not ''quite'' OnceAnEpisode, but probably once every three.
** Played straight and then subverted in the pilot episode, ''The Night of the Inferno.'' The villain, Mexican bandit Juan Manolo, turns out to be an apparently inoffensive Chinese shop owner ("Wong Min Lo"). Then it turns out that the Chinese shop owner ''is'' in fact a Mexican bandit, who uses a heavy amount of makeup to pose as a Chinese shop owner to help him completely disappear when he's not out on his raids.
** Played with in ''The Night of the Firebrand.'' Irish revolutionary Sean O'Reilly does an adequate job of impersonating an American when James West first meets him. Unfortunately, he does a less convincing job of impersonating an American ''cavalry officer'', with multiple breaches in protocol that West, himself a veteran, notes immediately.
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* ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'': Indy spends most of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI under the identity of a Belgian volunteer named "Henri Défense." His friend Rémi is baffled by the fact that he gave the recruiting office a fake identity, as the Belgian government is so desperate for troops that he could almost certainly have given his real one without anyone caring.
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* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/SpanishArcher''. El Bow has a surprisingly Welsh accent and exaggerates it. Exaggerated when El Bow is ill and replaced by Welsh[[GenderBender woman]] Creator/RuthMadoc.
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* In ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'', Latino MasterOfAll Pablo Sanchez is believed to not know English but if you [[StopPokingMe click on his portrait]] one of his lines reveals that he's a native speaker and just uses the Spanish he learned in school to mess with everyone.
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* ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'': Asia Minor does the ObfuscatingStupidity version.
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* ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'': ''ComicBook/{{Fallen Angel|2003}}'': Asia Minor does the ObfuscatingStupidity version.
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* In ''Film/UpPompeii'', Lurcio disguises himself as a Nubian eunuch to sneak through the slave's entrance and try and stop Voluptua from getting Ludicrus Sextus killed.
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* ''Series/UpPompeii'' films:
** In ''Film/UpPompeii'', Lurcio disguises himself as a Nubian eunuch to sneak through the slave's entrance and try and stop Voluptua from getting Ludicrus Sextuskilled.killed.
** ''Film/UpTheFront'':
*** The British Captain Nigel disguises himself as a German to infiltrate their headquarters.
*** The German Colonel von Gutz disguises himself as a Brit to steal the German's master plan from Lurk.
*** The British Lurk and German Colonel von Gutz, Donner, and Blitzen disguise themselves as Frenchmen (with Colonel von Gutz as a Scottish Officer) in order to get to General Burke.
*** El Puncturio is really a Brit putting on a Spanish persona for his Knife-Throwing Act.
** In ''Film/UpPompeii'', Lurcio disguises himself as a Nubian eunuch to sneak through the slave's entrance and try and stop Voluptua from getting Ludicrus Sextus
** ''Film/UpTheFront'':
*** The British Captain Nigel disguises himself as a German to infiltrate their headquarters.
*** The German Colonel von Gutz disguises himself as a Brit to steal the German's master plan from Lurk.
*** The British Lurk and German Colonel von Gutz, Donner, and Blitzen disguise themselves as Frenchmen (with Colonel von Gutz as a Scottish Officer) in order to get to General Burke.
*** El Puncturio is really a Brit putting on a Spanish persona for his Knife-Throwing Act.
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** The fake British noble in "The Man In the Killer Suit" is really a bike messenger from Oaklahoma.
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** The fake British noble in "The Man In the Killer Suit" is really a bike messenger from Oaklahoma.Oklahoma.
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* ''Series/GoodBehavior:
** Con artist Letty is a master of shifting accents to various nationalties (or at least parts of the U.S.) as part of her schemes.
** Con artist Letty is a master of shifting accents to various nationalties (or at least parts of the U.S.) as part of her schemes.
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* ''Series/GoodBehavior:
''Series/GoodBehavior'':
** Con artist Letty is a master of shifting accents to variousnationalties nationalities (or at least parts of the U.S.) as part of her schemes.
** Con artist Letty is a master of shifting accents to various
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* ''Series/GoodBehavior:
** Con artist Letty is a master of shifting accents to various nationalties (or at least parts of the U.S.) as part of her schemes.
** Letty goes to visit her grandmother, who's married to a wealthy man, the woman speaking in a crisp British accent. As soon as they're alone, Letty laughs, "that accent is terrible," as her grandmother taught her all her con games. The pair try to pull a scheme to trick the husband into a divorce only for him to reveal [[SecretSecretKeeper he's known all along]] Alice is a fraud, openly laughing that the accent alone was the tip-off. As it happens, he really does love her and willing to put up with the act.
** Con artist Letty is a master of shifting accents to various nationalties (or at least parts of the U.S.) as part of her schemes.
** Letty goes to visit her grandmother, who's married to a wealthy man, the woman speaking in a crisp British accent. As soon as they're alone, Letty laughs, "that accent is terrible," as her grandmother taught her all her con games. The pair try to pull a scheme to trick the husband into a divorce only for him to reveal [[SecretSecretKeeper he's known all along]] Alice is a fraud, openly laughing that the accent alone was the tip-off. As it happens, he really does love her and willing to put up with the act.
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* Johnny Vong in the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Sucker Punch" is a Harvard-graduate from California who took the accent of a Laotian immigrant and made millions selling a RagsToRiches success story [[spoiler:and heroin]].
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* Johnny Vong in the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' episode "Sucker Punch" is a Harvard-graduate from California who took the accent of a Laotian immigrant and made millions selling a RagsToRiches success story [[spoiler:and heroin]].
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* In ''Film/UpPompeii'', Lurcio disguises himself as a Nubian eunuch to sneak through the slave's entrance and try and stop Voluptua from getting Ludicrus Sextus killed.
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* ''Series/LittleBritain'' features the characters of Dudley and his Thai MailOrderBride Ting Tong Macadangdang. Dudley comes to realise over the course of several episodes that Ting Tong is not quite who she claims to be - including the fact that she was born in Tooting (London), not a remote Thai village as she originally said.
* On ''Series/MajorCrimes'', the team track down a Korean back-alley doctor doing cosmetic surgery in a house. He talks to them in broken English which they cut off. Tao says the accent is "really insulting" considering the man was born and raised less than a mile away. After a pause, the guy shrugs and, in perfect unaccented English, says "it helps with the job." Both his patient and nurse look at him in disbelief.
* On ''Series/MajorCrimes'', the team track down a Korean back-alley doctor doing cosmetic surgery in a house. He talks to them in broken English which they cut off. Tao says the accent is "really insulting" considering the man was born and raised less than a mile away. After a pause, the guy shrugs and, in perfect unaccented English, says "it helps with the job." Both his patient and nurse look at him in disbelief.
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* ''Series/LittleBritain'' features the characters of Dudley and his Thai MailOrderBride Ting Tong Macadangdang. Dudley comes to realise realize over the course of several episodes that Ting Tong is not quite who she claims to be - including the fact that she was born in Tooting (London), not a remote Thai village as she originally said.
* On ''Series/MajorCrimes'', the team track down a Koreanback-alley doctor BackAlleyDoctor doing cosmetic surgery in a his house. He talks to them in broken English which they cut off. Tao says the accent is "really insulting" offensive" considering the man was born and raised less than a mile away. After a pause, the guy shrugs and, in perfect unaccented English, says "it helps with the job."It's good for business." Both his patient and nurse look at him in disbelief.
* On ''Series/MajorCrimes'', the team track down a Korean
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* ''Film/WatchYourStern'': When Blissworth is disguised as Potter, Miss Foster tells him to use a Scottish accent to diguise his voice from Admiral Pettigrew.
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* ''Film/PleaseTurnOver'': Pierre in ''Naked Revolt'' uses a fake French accent in front of customers.
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* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' had an episode whose twist was that a visiting "Norwegian" archaeologist was actually a local man who [[spoiler:had faked his own death and returned to settle old scores.]]
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* In ''Film/DoctorInLove'', Dr. Burke pretends to be a Scotsman named Dr. [=MacGregor=] when assisting in Sir Lancelot's surgery.
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* In ''Film/DadsArmy1971'', Wilson tells Mr. Mainwaring that German spies have been disguising themselves as British nuns and soldiers to avoid detection.
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* In According to Mr. Mainwaring and Wilson in ''Film/DadsArmy1971'', Wilson tells Mr. Mainwaring that German spies have been disguising themselves as British nuns and soldiers to avoid detection.
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* In ''Film/DadsArmy1971'', Wilson tells Mr. Mainwaring that German spies have been disguising themselves as British nuns and soldiers to avoid detection.
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There was nothing there.
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* ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'': For the longest time, many fans have believed that Magolor was from [[{{Mordor}} Halcandra]] from face value, given how he found the Lor Starcutter there [[spoiler:and is even implied to be a descendant of the Ancients and even [[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies]]]]. It wasn't until the ''Deluxe'' remake added a new line of dialogue for him revealed that Magolor isn't really native to the planet; he ''did'' spend a long time on the planet alone, but merely as someone visiting and researching the area, happening to find the Lor Starcutter near Haldera Volcano.
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* ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'': For the longest time, many fans have believed that Magolor was from [[{{Mordor}} Halcandra]] from face value, given how he found the Lor Starcutter there [[spoiler:and is even implied to be a descendant of the Ancients and even [[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies]]]].Ancients]]. It wasn't until the ''Deluxe'' remake added a new line of dialogue for him revealed that Magolor isn't really native to the planet; he ''did'' spend a long time on the planet alone, but merely as someone visiting and researching the area, happening to find the Lor Starcutter near Haldera Volcano.
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* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'':
** In "Skinny Dipper" [[spoiler: Henry's new therapist Dr. Lewis Farber has a British accent and claims to be from London, but is actually his stalker Adam. As he's originally from the Roman Republic he's still a foreigner, but not the sort he was pretending to be.]]
** The fake British noble in "The Man In the Killer Suit" is really a bike messenger from Oaklahoma.
** In "Skinny Dipper" [[spoiler: Henry's new therapist Dr. Lewis Farber has a British accent and claims to be from London, but is actually his stalker Adam. As he's originally from the Roman Republic he's still a foreigner, but not the sort he was pretending to be.]]
** The fake British noble in "The Man In the Killer Suit" is really a bike messenger from Oaklahoma.
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* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villian Dr. Tzin-Tzin appears to be a Fu-Manchu style YellowPeril villain, but is actually a caucasian American (albeit one raised in China) in {{Yellowface}}.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Kasper Cole affects a Wakandan accent and speech patterns in his guise as the White Tiger, mainly to throw people off his identity (because how many white Wakandan Jews do you know?) This backfires when he tries the routine on Everret Ross, who not only has been to Wakanda, he was its acting regent and is a personal friend of T'Challa's. The accent isn't even close to accurate, according to Ross.
* The Frenchman in ''Comicbook/TheBoys'' is heavily implied to be this by his [[MultipleChoicePast origin issue.]] His GratuitousFrench is often inaccurate, he's a former member of the French Foreign Legion (a group made up mostly of, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well]], foreigners), he claims to come from the town of [[BilingualBonus Franglais, meaning "French-English,"]] and he sometimes [[OohMeAccentsSlipping slips in phrases]] like "wanker" and "mum," that would be more typical for a Brit. Of course, he's also insane, so it's hard to call.
* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' offers “Rum, Sodomy and The Lash” who [[OohMeAccentsSlipping uses expressions like “Blimey!”]]
* Asia Minor, in ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'', does the ObfuscatingStupidity version.
* An issue of ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe: Special Missions]]'' had the Joes looking for Nazi war criminals in Brazil, when they stumble across a band of stereotypical Latin American guerillas in the jungle. Recondo quickly sees through their cover: they're Sephardic Jews from Mossad hunting the same prey.
* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'' once saw the Circus of Crime's Ringmaster and some students of Hawkeye's old mentor the Swordsman as fake Frenchmen in a Cirque du Soleil-style revue/criminal operation. Hawkeye knows that the Ringmaster is Austrian, and upon hearing the Swordsmen's accents immediately recognizes them as fakes.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Kasper Cole affects a Wakandan accent and speech patterns in his guise as the White Tiger, mainly to throw people off his identity (because how many white Wakandan Jews do you know?) This backfires when he tries the routine on Everret Ross, who not only has been to Wakanda, he was its acting regent and is a personal friend of T'Challa's. The accent isn't even close to accurate, according to Ross.
* The Frenchman in ''Comicbook/TheBoys'' is heavily implied to be this by his [[MultipleChoicePast origin issue.]] His GratuitousFrench is often inaccurate, he's a former member of the French Foreign Legion (a group made up mostly of, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well]], foreigners), he claims to come from the town of [[BilingualBonus Franglais, meaning "French-English,"]] and he sometimes [[OohMeAccentsSlipping slips in phrases]] like "wanker" and "mum," that would be more typical for a Brit. Of course, he's also insane, so it's hard to call.
* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' offers “Rum, Sodomy and The Lash” who [[OohMeAccentsSlipping uses expressions like “Blimey!”]]
* Asia Minor, in ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'', does the ObfuscatingStupidity version.
* An issue of ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe: Special Missions]]'' had the Joes looking for Nazi war criminals in Brazil, when they stumble across a band of stereotypical Latin American guerillas in the jungle. Recondo quickly sees through their cover: they're Sephardic Jews from Mossad hunting the same prey.
* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'' once saw the Circus of Crime's Ringmaster and some students of Hawkeye's old mentor the Swordsman as fake Frenchmen in a Cirque du Soleil-style revue/criminal operation. Hawkeye knows that the Ringmaster is Austrian, and upon hearing the Swordsmen's accents immediately recognizes them as fakes.
to:
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villian ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Dr. Tzin-Tzin appears to be a Fu-Manchu style YellowPeril villain, but is actually a caucasian American (albeit one raised in China) in {{Yellowface}}.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Kasper Cole affects a Wakandan accent and speech patterns in his guise as the White Tiger, mainly to throw people off his identity (because how many white Wakandan Jews do you know?) This backfires when he tries the routine onEverret Everett Ross, who not only has been to Wakanda, he was its acting regent and is a personal friend of T'Challa's. The accent isn't even close to accurate, according to Ross.
* ''Comicbook/TheBoys'': The Frenchmanin ''Comicbook/TheBoys'' is heavily implied to be this by his [[MultipleChoicePast origin issue.]] His GratuitousFrench is often inaccurate, he's a former member of the French Foreign Legion (a group made up mostly of, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well]], foreigners), he claims to come from the town of [[BilingualBonus Franglais, meaning "French-English,"]] and he sometimes [[OohMeAccentsSlipping slips in phrases]] like "wanker" and "mum," that would be more typical for a Brit. Of course, he's also insane, so it's hard to call.
*''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' offers ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': “Rum, Sodomy and The Lash” who [[OohMeAccentsSlipping uses expressions like “Blimey!”]]
* ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'': AsiaMinor, in ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'', Minor does the ObfuscatingStupidity version.
* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'': An issue of''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.''G.I. Joe: Special Missions]]'' Missions'' had the Joes looking for Nazi war criminals in Brazil, when they stumble across a band of stereotypical Latin American guerillas in the jungle. Recondo quickly sees through their cover: they're Sephardic Jews from Mossad hunting the same prey.
*An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'' once saw ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': In ''ComicBook/Hawkeye2012'' #2, the Circus of Crime's Ringmaster and some students of Hawkeye's old mentor the Swordsman masquerade as fake Frenchmen in a Cirque du Soleil-style revue/criminal operation. Hawkeye knows that the Ringmaster is Austrian, and upon hearing the Swordsmen's accents immediately recognizes them as fakes.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Kasper Cole affects a Wakandan accent and speech patterns in his guise as the White Tiger, mainly to throw people off his identity (because how many white Wakandan Jews do you know?) This backfires when he tries the routine on
* ''Comicbook/TheBoys'': The Frenchman
*
* ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'': Asia
* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'': An issue of
*
Changed line(s) 49,51 (click to see context) from:
* When the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' was rebooted in the 90s, Chameleon Boy was introduced as not speaking [[CommonTongue Interlac]]. Several story arcs went by with other characters attempting to teach him the language, only to get frustrated. Finally it was revealed that he had finally learned Interlac, but was continuing to pretend he didn't understand it in order to lure the villains of the moment into a false sense of security.
* ''ComicBook/TheShadowHero'' has a YellowPeril Chinese villain, who turns out to be a white American petty crook in {{Yellowface}} make-up who is acting as a front man for the actual, realistically-portrayed, Chinese villain. It's implied that this was both to keep the real villain's face less well known, and for a kind of ObfuscatingStupidity with respect to White people.
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', the Great Gambonnos of the Circus of Crime, {{Funny Foreigner}}s of long standing in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, drop their stereotypical Italian accents when they've been found out. "Drop the act, Ernie, she's onto us."
* ''ComicBook/TheShadowHero'' has a YellowPeril Chinese villain, who turns out to be a white American petty crook in {{Yellowface}} make-up who is acting as a front man for the actual, realistically-portrayed, Chinese villain. It's implied that this was both to keep the real villain's face less well known, and for a kind of ObfuscatingStupidity with respect to White people.
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', the Great Gambonnos of the Circus of Crime, {{Funny Foreigner}}s of long standing in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, drop their stereotypical Italian accents when they've been found out. "Drop the act, Ernie, she's onto us."
to:
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': When the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' series was rebooted in the 90s, Chameleon Boy was introduced as not speaking [[CommonTongue Interlac]]. Several story arcs went by with other characters attempting to teach him the language, only to get frustrated. Finally it was revealed that he had finally learned Interlac, but was continuing to pretend he didn't understand it in order to lure the villains of the moment into a false sense of security.
*''ComicBook/TheShadowHero'' ''ComicBook/TheShadowHero'': The series has a YellowPeril Chinese villain, who turns out to be a white American petty crook in {{Yellowface}} make-up who is acting as a front man for the actual, realistically-portrayed, Chinese villain. It's implied that this was both to keep the real villain's face less well known, and for a kind of ObfuscatingStupidity with respect to White people.
* ''ComicBook/SheHulk'': Inone issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', ''ComicBook/TheSensationalSheHulk'' #1, [[FunnyForeigner the Great Gambonnos Gambonnos]] of the Circus of Crime, {{Funny Foreigner}}s of long standing in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Crime drop their stereotypical Italian accents when they've been found out. out.
--> "Drop the act, Ernie, she's onto us."
*
* ''ComicBook/SheHulk'': In
--> "Drop the act, Ernie, she's onto us."
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* HerrDoktor Count Baron Napoleon von Strudel in the ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' comics is not actually German, although that's not a huge surprise given that his surname is taken from a foodstuff. He's actually English. He knew Wallace at school. His real name is Bert Maudsley.
* A variation in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' as Skeeter [=LaRue=] is shown as a slick assistant to publicist Myndi Mayer who speaks in a Southern accent (shown by lines like "Ah say," and "this here be a wild job.") After Myndi is murdered, the cops discover Skeeter is really Michael Boyd, a con man/drug dealer who turns out to be from New Jersey. A flashback shows Myndi confronting him on it, "Skeeter" brushing it off with his charm and she snaps "Oh, knock off the Jethro Bodine accent!" Boyd immediately drops the Southern talk to speak in his real voice.
* Wealthy playboy Rodney Gaynor adopted a Mexican accent whenever he became ComicBook/TheWhip, an obscure hero in Franchise/TheDCU from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A modern-day retelling of his origin retconned him to actually having Hispanic ancestry.
* The Wonder Twins from the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' comic pretended to be foreigners after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
* Fantomex (aka [[spoiler: Weapon XIII]] from ''ComicBook/XMen'') uses a French accent -- not because he's French, but because the accent "annoys people" according to him -- making it easier to catch them off guard.
* In ''X-Men Noir'', Chief Magnus inverts this; a Transian native who emigrated to the US, he took diction lessons for sixteen months to achieve a perfect American accent.
* ''ComicBook/XStatix'' once battled a European super team called Euro-Trash. One of their members was Surrender Monkey; who was essentially a walking embodiment of every negative stereotype Americans have regarding the French. A later story revealed that Surrender Monkey was not French, but actually an expatriate American.
* A variation in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' as Skeeter [=LaRue=] is shown as a slick assistant to publicist Myndi Mayer who speaks in a Southern accent (shown by lines like "Ah say," and "this here be a wild job.") After Myndi is murdered, the cops discover Skeeter is really Michael Boyd, a con man/drug dealer who turns out to be from New Jersey. A flashback shows Myndi confronting him on it, "Skeeter" brushing it off with his charm and she snaps "Oh, knock off the Jethro Bodine accent!" Boyd immediately drops the Southern talk to speak in his real voice.
* Wealthy playboy Rodney Gaynor adopted a Mexican accent whenever he became ComicBook/TheWhip, an obscure hero in Franchise/TheDCU from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A modern-day retelling of his origin retconned him to actually having Hispanic ancestry.
* The Wonder Twins from the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' comic pretended to be foreigners after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
* Fantomex (aka [[spoiler: Weapon XIII]] from ''ComicBook/XMen'') uses a French accent -- not because he's French, but because the accent "annoys people" according to him -- making it easier to catch them off guard.
* In ''X-Men Noir'', Chief Magnus inverts this; a Transian native who emigrated to the US, he took diction lessons for sixteen months to achieve a perfect American accent.
* ''ComicBook/XStatix'' once battled a European super team called Euro-Trash. One of their members was Surrender Monkey; who was essentially a walking embodiment of every negative stereotype Americans have regarding the French. A later story revealed that Surrender Monkey was not French, but actually an expatriate American.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'': HerrDoktor Count Baron Napoleon von Strudel in the ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' comics is not actually German, although that's not a huge surprise given that his surname is taken from a foodstuff. He's actually English. He knew Wallace at school. His real name is Bert Maudsley.
* ''ComicBook/TheWhip'': Wealthy playboy Rodney Gaynor adopted a Mexican accent whenever he became the Whip, an obscure hero in Franchise/TheDCU from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A modern-day retelling of his origin retconned him to actually having Hispanic ancestry.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'': The Wonder Twins from the comic adaption pretended to be foreigners after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Vol. 2]]: A variationin ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' as Skeeter [=LaRue=] is shown as a slick assistant to publicist Myndi Mayer who speaks in a Southern accent (shown by lines like "Ah say," and "this here be a wild job.") After Myndi is murdered, the cops discover Skeeter is really Michael Boyd, a con man/drug dealer who turns out to be from New Jersey. A flashback shows Myndi confronting him on it, "Skeeter" brushing it off with his charm and she snaps "Oh, knock off the Jethro Bodine accent!" Boyd immediately drops the Southern talk to speak in his real voice.
*Wealthy playboy Rodney Gaynor adopted a Mexican accent whenever he became ComicBook/TheWhip, an obscure hero in Franchise/TheDCU from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A modern-day retelling of his origin retconned him to actually having Hispanic ancestry.
* The Wonder Twins from the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' comic pretended to be foreigners after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
*''ComicBook/XMen'': Fantomex (aka [[spoiler: Weapon XIII]] from ''ComicBook/XMen'') [[spoiler:Weapon XIII]]) uses a French accent -- not because he's French, but because the accent "annoys people" according to him -- making it easier to catch them off guard.
*In ''X-Men Noir'', ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'' Chief Magnus inverts this; a Transian native who emigrated to the US, he took diction lessons for sixteen months to achieve a perfect American accent.
*''ComicBook/XStatix'' ''ComicBook/XStatix'': The titular team once battled a European super team called Euro-Trash. One of their members was Surrender Monkey; who was essentially a walking embodiment of every negative stereotype Americans have regarding the French. A later story revealed that Surrender Monkey was not French, but actually an expatriate American.
* ''ComicBook/TheWhip'': Wealthy playboy Rodney Gaynor adopted a Mexican accent whenever he became the Whip, an obscure hero in Franchise/TheDCU from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A modern-day retelling of his origin retconned him to actually having Hispanic ancestry.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'': The Wonder Twins from the comic adaption pretended to be foreigners after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Vol. 2]]: A variation
*
* The Wonder Twins from the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' comic pretended to be foreigners after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
*
*
*
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* Back when Creator/{{MTV}} still played music videos, they would sometimes run comedy sketches between those videos. One of these, from a series profiling artists, focuses on a French man named Maurice who would dance to Kennedy's host segments. [[note]] Not the music videos she hosts, the actual host segments. [[/note]] He maintains his French accent all throughout the interview even struggling to remember an American term at one point. The interviewers then talk to Maurice's parents who reveal that he's actually an American named Morris Goldstein.
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* General Wolfram, [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing a wolf-themed villain]] claiming to be "the genetic terror of the Third Reich". Apparently he faked the Nazi angle and the accent for distinctiveness' sake/to draw heat away from his real identity. Comicbook/{{Venom}}, impersonating Franchise/SpiderMan, calls him "Castle Wolfenstein" and eats his arm for his trouble.
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* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/DarkReign: Sinister Spider-Man'', General Wolfram, Wolfram is [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing a wolf-themed villain]] claiming to be "the genetic terror of the Third Reich". Apparently Apparently, he faked the Nazi angle and the accent for distinctiveness' sake/to draw heat away from his real identity. Comicbook/{{Venom}}, ComicBook/{{Scorpion}}, who is currently impersonating Franchise/SpiderMan, Spider-Man with the aid of the Comicbook/{{Venom}} symbiote, calls him "Castle Wolfenstein" and eats his arm for his trouble.
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Not to be confused with the "faux" versions of one who reigns - that's FakeKing.
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* In ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'', Naddy seems to be an over-the-top all-American {{Eagleland}} stereotype. [[spoiler: She's actually a Japanese woman named [[YamatoNadeshiko Nadeshiko Yamato]]. She embraced American culture as rebellion against her strict upbringing by her AbusiveParents, who tried to force her to be a proper Japanese lady.]]
to:
* In ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'', Naddy seems to be an over-the-top all-American {{Eagleland}} stereotype. [[spoiler: She's actually a Japanese woman named [[YamatoNadeshiko Nadeshiko Yamato]]. She embraced American culture as rebellion against her strict upbringing by her AbusiveParents, who tried to force her to be a proper Japanese lady.lady (and disowned her after she started fashioning herself as an American). She wants to be considered American, but is reluctant to renounce her Japanese citizenship.]]
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* In ''Webcomic/{{Widdershins}}'', Tim Chiang pretends to be an old MagicalAsian for his StageMagic act, while actually, he was born and raised in Surrey. He's also twenty-something and the beard is fake.
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* ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'': For the longest time, many fans have believed that Magolor was from [[{{Mordor}} Halcandra]] from face value, given how he found the Lor Starcutter there [[spoiler:and is even implied to be a descendant of the Ancients and even [[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies]]]]. It wasn't until the ''Deluxe'' remake added a new line of dialogue for him revealed that Magolor isn't really native to the planet; he ''did'' spend a long time on the planet alone, but merely as someone visiting and researching the area, happening to find the Lor Starcutter near Haldera Volcano.
