History Main / AttendingYourOwnFuneral

* In the ''WebVideo/SecretLifeSMP'', Cleo concludes that Jimmy has never experienced the WebVideo/LifeSMP tradition of holding a funeral for the first person to lose all their lives (which, up until this point, had always been Jimmy). As such, she decides to hold a funeral for Jimmy while he's still around to experience it. Jimmy isn't amused.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': According to UnreliableNarrator Mephisto the Mystic, John Dillinger - still alive and kept youthful by the [[AncientConspiracy Red Monks]]' longevity drugs - is in the habit of alternating between costumed heroic and villainous identities; as part of this, he regularly fakes his own death, and always makes sure to be present at the funeral in disguise.

** And ''again'' in "The San Lorenzo Job". Nate even {{lampshades}} it: "You are utterly unclear on how to be dead. This is the second time in two years that you've shown up at your own funeral."

* In ''{{Series/MASH}}'', Hawkeye is declared dead by a clerical error, so BJ throws a wake. Since everyone knows he's alive, his presence is a foregone conclusion and the whole thing is a big joke; the "deceased" delivers his own eulogy, with twenty minutes for rebuttal by the guests.

* In ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical'', when they're discussing what they'd do if they had an InvisibilityCloak, Ginny Weasley says she's fake her death and watch people cry at her funeral.

* {{Inverted}} in the ''Podcast/AliceIsntDead'' episode "The Factory by the Sea," where Praxis Industries employee Jack has the unwitting but cooperative CharacterNarrator join him to bear witness to his funeral, a BurialAtSea on a jetty outside the NightmarishFactory where he works. She helps him, still living, into his coffin, and pushes it off to sea as though it were a boat, while he shuts the lid on himself.

* In Season 5 of the ''WebVideo/LifeSMP'', Cleo concludes that Jimmy has never experienced the series tradition of holding a funeral for the first person to lose all their lives (which, up until this point, had always been Jimmy). As such, she decides to hold a funeral for Jimmy while he's still around to experience it. Jimmy isn't amused.

* Though neither faking it nor technically needing to be resurrected, ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' has this happen to Sarge, complete with Grif performing a roast for him, and Simmons campaigning for the leadership position, instead of giving him a eulogy.
-->'''Grif''': "Sarge, is he campaigning for your job at your ''funeral''? ''Classy''."
** Sarge was less than pleased.
--->'''Sarge''': "This is the worst funeral I've ever had."
** This likely happened offscreen for Church as well; he is shown loudly demanding that he be given one. 'My body fought long and hard for this war!' Later, his grave is shown.
** It happens again in season 9, to Simmons this time. At first, he's excited at the prospect, but he becomes rather less so when the best things his teammates can come up with are "He talked a lot," and "He liked gum."
-->'''Simmons''': I never thought my death could somehow be worse than my life, but here it is. Bitchin'.

* Occurs in the Jackie Gleason film ''Film/{{Gigot}}''. The title character is a CuteMute who enjoyed going to funerals, so when he is presumed dead, the townsfolk throw a lavish funeral procession for him although no body was found. When he turns up and sees the procession, he naturally follows along.

* In "It Won't be Long" from ''WesternAnimation/BeatBugs'', after Buzz and Morgs rescue themselves from being trapped in a hole without the other Beat Bugs realizing it, they approach them from behind, finding them in the middle of delivering a heartfelt eulogy.

** One sketch has man fake his own death to see how his loved ones would react to his funeral. When he sees how few people showed up and how little interest they had, he angrily storms in to chew them out and winds up falling into his own grave. They continue with the burial as planned.

* In the fourth book of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', Percy shows up after spending two weeks on Calypso's island to find that everyone thought he was dead and were holding his funeral.
** Subverted by Magnus in [[Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard The Sword of Summer]], who [[spoiler:did in fact die, and did in fact visit his own body, but didn't attend the funeral.]]
* In ''Privilege'', the SpinOff of the ''Literature/{{Private}}'' series, Ariana attends her own funeral. The body they cremated is actually that of Briana Leigh Covington, who she killed in order to access her money and assume her life.
* In the ''Literature/{{Raffles}}'' series, A. J. Raffles did this, as part of a gambit to throw a too-persistent ex-girlfriend off his trail; it was the second time he'd been thought to be dead, but the first funeral. The other time, he'd jumped from a ship in the Mediterranean, and been mistakenly reported to have washed up dead on shore.

* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'', the title character must fake his death and leave home after he is forced to become a vampire in the first book. He is only 10 or 12 years old. He takes a Juliet potion, but after a couple of days, he is conscious. He hears his family all crying around the coffin and through the funeral, and as he is buried. And this is only book 1 of 12...
* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Lemony Snicket does this after he's [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated believed to be dead]].
* Aversion: In the novel ''Literature/SkinnyDip'' by Creator/CarlHiaasen, Joey wants to attend her own funeral (in disguise) in order to interrogate her husband about why he tried to kill her. Her partner-in-crime convinces her to wait in the car.
* In ''Literature/SpiceAndWolf'', Lawrence and Holo come up with the idea of holding "living funerals" to attract more tourists during the off season, with Holo trying it out to demonstrate the concept.
* It's not his funeral but Mackenzie Calhoun of ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'' shows up to the dedication of the new ''USS Excalibur'' which has a touching eulogy/speech about since he was presumed dead during the destruction of the last ship of the same name. It's both hilarious and touching.

* A variant in the ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Corran Horn misses his own funeral, but manages to show up for the final phase of the trial for ''the murder of Corran Horn.''

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E84TheHunt The Hunt]]", when he returns home, Hyder Simpson finds that his wife Rachel, Reverend Wood and the Miller brothers are preparing to bury him. He sees his own coffin being taken outside. Unlike most applications of this trope, Hyder is dead and attends the burial as a spirit.

* In season five of the ''WebVideo/LifeSMP'', Cleo concludes that Jimmy has never experienced the series tradition of holding a funeral for the first person to lose all their lives (which, up until this point had always been Jimmy). As such, she decides to hold a funeral for Jimmy while he's still around to experience it. Jimmy isn't amused.

* A short story by Creator/ConnieWillis had a guy attend his own funeral... except only his ex-girlfriend can see him. [[spolier: Once she stops believing he's not really dead, the ghost stops bothering her.]]