History Main / DodgyToupee

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': The episode "Feeding Hubert" features a rare female example of this when a news reporter's wig is knocked off during a trash avalanche started by the babies, revealing to the neighborhood that the woman has about as much hair on her head as an egg does. There's probably a reason why she's referred to as "the one with the hair".

** There's also the film ''Harold's Toupee'' starring Louis Simon

* Creator/NicolasCage's character from the [[SoBadItsGood infamous]] ''Deadfall'' wears a pretty obvious one; in his final scene, he has a fight with the main character, who pulls the rug off his head and uses it as a distraction to kill him by [[CruelandUnusualDeath shoving his face into the fryer]].

->''"When he was playing non-Bond roles in the '70s and '80s, he freely showed off his real hairline, but I guess they figured no-one would buy a James Bond with a receding hairline. But come on, who are they trying to fool? What, do they think nobody saw ''Film/{{Outland}}''? Do they think no one saw ''Five Days One Summer''? Do they think nobody went to see ''Film/{{Zardoz}}''? Uh... you know what, forget I said anything."''

* In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', Clark finally delivers comeuppance to [[JerkJock Steve Lombard]] by surreptitiously setting Lombard's toupee on fire. Clark often quietly used his powers to make Lombard's pranks backfire in UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} but he was never quite this cruel.

* Mr. Krupp in ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants''. He sheds it when his Captain Underpants personality is activated.

[[quoteright:244:[[Series/HowIMetYourMother https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dodgy-toupee_himym_2354.jpg]]]]

* The first season's intro for ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' has Jay exit his apartment with a bad toupee on his head, only for a bird to swoop down and steal it when he just left his home.

* On the Creator/DCComics front, in ''Film/{{Superman}}'', we see Lex Luthor's array of wigs before we see his face to give us a sense of his vanity and we never see him without one on. Then when he is finally brought low by defeat by Superman and delivered straight to prison, the wig comes off at his moment of humiliation.

* ''Series/GetSmart''. A magazine reporter is coming to do an article on CONTROL, so The Chief wears a toupee to give his organisation a "young and vigorous" look. He quickly gets annoyed at Max and 99 staring at the toupee, then the reporter comes in and promptly labels him as the "middle-aged, toupeed Chief" for his article.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Creator/WilliamShatner, of course -- depending on the era. His current ones aren't too bad, but back in the days of ''Star Trek II'' and ''III''... and then in ''IV'' (The One with the Whales), he dives into a body of water...
* The story goes that Creator/PatrickStewart was a little unsure of why they would cast a bald, middle-aged Englishman as [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'s Captain. Before the audition, he had an "awful" hairpiece shipped from London, but a disgusted Creator/GeneRoddenberry ordered him to take it off. [[http://wimp.com/stewartbaldness/ In his own words.]]
* Creator/DonaldTrump's hair(piece) is a [[http://www.vanityfair.com/news/photos/2015/09/an-illustrated-history-of-donald-trumps-hair frequent target]] [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahburton/mind-if-i-comb-over for comedy]]. One would think a man that wealthy could afford something that doesn't look like he's wearing a dead Tribble on his head. During his 2016 presidential run, it was revealed that it was not, in fact, a wig, but a massive combover[[note]]The sides are combed up and across his head to give the illusion of fullness, what's left at the back is combed straight over the top and across his forehead, and the hair at his temples is combed back.[[/note]]. Still counts as this trope.
** ''Film/MeetTheSpartans'' does this when [[{{Catchphrase}} he fires]] Spider-Man and cuts his web, but he sticks it back onto his head and pulls the wig off.
** Lisa Lampanelli does this funnier than anyone: "What do you say to a barber to get him to cut your hair like that? 'I fucked your daughter'?"
** In one ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' strip, his toupee was revealed to be a live squirrel.
** In his own words: "I don't wear a toupee! It's my hair! I swear!"
* Former Ohio Congressman [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Traficant Jim Traficant]] was famous for his eccentricities (e.g. wearing an all-denim suit on the floor of the House) and his awful toupee (which looked like it was ''floating''). He also turned out to be one of the most corrupt members of Congress in recent history, being one of the only 20 members of Congress and only ''four'' from the House ever to have been expelled from the body.
* Sports journalist Howard Cosell was rather notorious for his toupee. During the first of the many ''Battle of the Network Stars'' specials he (co-)hosted from 1976–88, Creator/LyndaCarter, who somehow didn't know it was a rug, poured a bottle of champagne over his head while celebrating her team winning a tug-of-war contest, ruining his toupee and royally pissing him off.
* Van Patrick, a sportscaster best known for doing play-by-play for the Detroit Lions and the Mutual Broadcasting System in the 1950s and '60s, was known for sporting one of these.
* Creator/AndyWarhol used to wear a rather apparent rug, initially to hide the fact that he was balding, but it soon became part of his signature look.
* Music/EltonJohn started going bald in the mid-'70s and the loss was accelerated by his overuse of hair dye. He tried employing all manner of concealment, including two failed hair transplants, before turning to wigs. Some of his rugs have looked as real as a three-dollar bill, while others have been shockingly successful.
** Summed up by shock-jock Dennis Pennis (aka Paul Kaye) in a magazine article, as a transformation from reformed drug addict to deformed rug addict.
* Many paparazzi photos exist of Creator/JohnTravolta [[http://j-walk.com/images/BaldScientologist_7884/JohnTravoltaBald.jpg without his rug]]. And given the rise of extremely high-resolution photography, the netting or seams of his various 'pieces are often [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-464845/Does-John-Travolta-wear-wig.html fairly evident]] when he DOES wear them. By 2019, however, he finally embraced the fact that he's bald and now proudly goes out with a shaved head. Pretty much everyone agreed that he looks ''much'' better. The addition of a very nice beard didn't hurt.
* Words defy explaining the [[http://bp0.blogger.com/_KLRgDbPrdmo/RsNlRxgcesI/AAAAAAAAABU/wQavDscg87M/s1600-h/angley1.jpg extremely shoddy rug]] of televangelist Ernest Angley.
* Sam Donaldson. He wasn't fooling anyone. Even his colleague Creator/BarbaraWalters regarded that rug as fair game when it came to her snarky comments.
* While filming an episode of ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'', Creator/LorneGreene's hairpiece came off during a scene where Ben fell into water. He retrieved it and plastered it back on his head before coming to the surface.
* Believe it or not, Creator/StevenSeagal has been sporting one since the early '90s. It just wasn't as... obvious as the ones he has now.
* Much like Andy Warhol above, the very obvious, ridiculous-looking toupee is a part of comedian [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/RipTaylorNov10_%28cropped%29.jpg Rip Taylor's]] signature look, as well as his handlebar mustache.
** Once on an episode of [[Series/{{Password}} Super Password]], when Creator/PattyDuke blurted out the password instead of giving the clue, Rip got so flustered by Patty's flub, he threw a stool across the stage and humorously took his wig off in frustration, showing his bald head for the audience to see. Taylor claimed that this was the first time he had ever removed his toupee.
* In his later years, Creator/JohnWayne wore one and was often the first to reference and make jokes about it. He once remarked: "Oh sure, it's real. Not mine, but it is real hair."
* During his brief (one year) tenure as the color commentator for ''Series/MondayNightFootball'', Jason Witten wore one.
* In his later years, former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, later known as a perennial candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, took to wearing one as seen in a [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Harold_Stassen_1980.jpg 1980 photo]]. Oddly, in his younger years (when Stassen was considered the GOP's "Boy Wonder" and was considered a more realistic candidate) he seemed to have no problem with it being obvious he was going bald.
* Creator/ZeroMostel played with this trope; at one point during his appearance on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', he makes a gag of revealing that he's wearing a piece. In ''Film/TheProducers'' his character sports a truly hideous combover.
* Creator/JasonAlexander wore a wig for some time in the 2000s. While the piece was of high quality, the dodgy part came from the fact that he's famously bald and was suddenly appearing with a full head of hair. He was frank about the rug, saying that he bought it for a self-esteem boost and eventually stopped using it.
* When Southern Gospel songwriters Bill & Glora Gaither began their Homecoming series of videos in the early 90s, they recruited nearly all the legendary performers of the genre, many of whom began their careers in the 1940s and 50s. One of the most popular singers was Jake Hess, who never even tried to pretend his toupee was real and often joked about it. During a comedy routine, Mark Lowry pulled out one of Hess' wigs and did an impression of him to his face.
* Music/{{Liberace}} was notorious for his wigs. He once refused to undergo surgery as it would require removing his hairpiece, and a story exists that when he did finally consent to the procedure, he ordered his then-lover to sneak into the operating room and glue the wig to his head if he died on the operating table.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/LondonsBurning'': Sicknote spent an episode wearing one when he was feeling insecure about his age. [[DownplayedTrope It was a fairly convincing one]], but he'd been losing his hair for literally ''years'' at this point so his colleagues knew he was wearing the thing and were all laughing at him behind his back the whole time.

* ''WesternAnimation/FiftyFiftyHeroes'': The Principal's toupee isn't even of the same color as his remaining hair.

* A series of Bud Lite commercials called "Real Men of Genius" once paid tribute to this with "Mr. Really Bad Toupee Wearer", noting how it couldn't be anymore obvious if it came with a chin strap.

* ''Manga/HikaruNoGo'': There is an older male player (who is extremely sensitive about his lack of hair) in a go club that Shindou Hikaru constantly taunted for a while early on. He once put an empty stone container onto the man's head to grind around, and gets the hairpiece caught a bit. This causes it to slip off, and the man to dash out of the building with tear-jets flying, but also his mother to scold him. The man shows up on another night in a different-styled wig but is only shamed again by Hikaru. Amusing indubitably, but the point was to further illustrate what a {{Jerkass}} the boy is at that point. The first time, though, is meant to teach the man a lesson on bullying other Go players, and the second time is somewhat by accident due to a SpitTake from Hikaru.

-->'''Roger:''' Andy, I can't believe you don't like my hair piece.\\

* ''ComicStrip/{{Mutts}}'': In one strip, Frankie asks Millie what she thinks of his new look, which is apparently a ridiculous Elvis Presley-style wig which doesn't even match his hair. Millie says it looks like he's wearing a dead rat on his head, only for the reader to see that the "wig" is actually Mooch the cat who was asleep on Franks head, and he hadn't noticed.

* A movie with Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei and Billy Zane called ''Film/OnlyYou'', where Zane's character enters a restaurant with flowing auburn locks and sharp manner of dress before making his move on the movie's LoveInterest (Tomei). Then the protagonist (Downey Jr.) turns up and gets into a scrap with him, during which his long flowing locks go flying off.

* On the Creator/DCComics front, in ''Film/{{Superman}}'', we see Lex Luthor's array of wigs before we see his face to give us a sense of his vanity and we never see him without one on. Then when he is finally brought low by defeat by Superman and delivered straight to prison the wigs comes off at his moment of humiliation.

** Also Creator/HaroldLloyd used it in the cliffhanger classic ''Film/SafetyLast'' where a mouse gets onto Lloyd's characters leg which he shakes off, drops down the side of the building and knocks off the toupee of someone looking out of a lower window.

* ''Film/JumpinJackFlash''. After being injected with TruthSerum Whoopi Goldberg's character tells her JerkAss boss what she thinks of him, culminating in her yanking the toupee off his head. Embarrassed, the boss steals a hat and rushes off. At the end of the movie he turns up with his bald head, having clearly accepted that everyone knows so there's no point in wearing one.

* A RunningGag in ''Film/NothingInCommon'' is how Charlie (Hector Elizondo) tries wearing one bad toupee after another, until he finally decides to go back to his natural bald look.

* In the anthology film ''Film/BodyBags'', Richard in the "Hair" segment gets a really bad toupee to cover up his hair loss that his girlfriend and his hair dresser both dismiss as just making him look insecure.

* Geppetto from ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'' wears a bright yellow toupee causing local kids to tease him and call him [[EmbarrassingNickname "Polendina"]], because it resembles a cornmeal mush of the same name. This feature about him tends to be left out of most adaptations.

** An episode of has a grade school principal wearing such a toupee as a plaintiff. The defendant is a disgruntled prodigy student who programmed the school gym's scoreboard to publicly announce that the principal wore a toupee. Upon hearing this, nobody in the courtroom could keep a straight face.

* Principal Caplan in early seasons of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has a toupee which would sometimes be knocked off as a running gag.

* The classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Revelation of the Daleks" has Mr. Jobel, the sleazy head embalmer of a funeral home planet. [[spoiler:As he dies, he falls onto his back and his toupee falls open like a clam shell.]]
* An ObligatoryJoke in spoofs of Creator/WilliamShatner in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. For instance Creator/JimCarrey did a skit for ''Series/InLivingColor'' in which Captain Kirk's toupee flipped over his face with every ScreenShake.

* One of the odd products Mark Williams salesman character attempts to peddle to Granville in ''[[Series/OpenAllHours Still Open All Hours]]'' is range of dodgy toupees for the customer too embarassed to consult a hair loss professional but who might impulse buy one at the counter of his local shop.

* ''Series/FullerHouse'' : Steve wears one in "Save The Dates," in an attempt to recapture his glory days in high school. Also a CallBack to the Pilot, when he mentions he lost half his hair in his divorce.
* In ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' : Lt. Ray Calletano arrives at the precinct wearing one, thinking it makes him look younger. He proudly relates this to Capt. Furillo, who tries in vain to keep a straight face. Later, some gang members start a fight, and Calletano helps to break it up, resulting in his toupee halfway ripped off and sticking straight up in the air.

* ''Series/LondonsBurning'': Sicknote spent an episode wearing one when he was feeling insecure about his age. [[DownplayedTrope It was a fairly convincing one]], but he'd been losing his hair for literally ''years'' at this point so his colleagues knew he was wearing the thing, and were all laughing at him behind his back the whole time.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the principal of Moperville North has a toupee that isn't too bad in and of itself, but when combined with the rest of his look, it makes him look like Hitler. Ellen [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-09-27 told him so]] and later he ditches it and goes with a comb over instead.

** In "Homer Defined", Mr. Burns calls up the news station to dissuade "rumors" of an impending meltdown. A [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130712194540/simpsons/images/a/a0/Homer_Defined_24.JPG stock photo]] of Burns shows him wearing an obvious toupee. Not only is it blue, which obviously does not match his currently grey hair, Burn's real hair was originally ''red''.
** Despite his clear misery over his baldness, Homer has never bothered with wearing a toupee. This is parodied in one episode where Mr Burns and the Rich Texan are engaging in a scavenger hunt, one of the items being "Homer Hairs". After both of them pluck off Homer's remaining hairs, Homer runs into a nearby hair saloon and buys a wig ''that looks exactly like his own bald scalp, complete with the now missing hairs''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats'' has Mayor Manx, who wear a toupee that doesn't even match his hair color, and will frequently fly off.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' has Hoss Delgado mock Billy's principal for this trope, stating that all thats lacking is a jaw strap to make it even more obvious. Unusual for this trope, its not revealed wether or not it actually is a toupee or not.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Quagmire is revealed to be bald in one episode when he loses his toupee at a baseball game while fighting over a stray ball with Brian and the embarassing moment being caught on the jumbotron and ends up on the local news. He briefly tries to embrace his baldness and "bald culture", which apparently includes things like basement C.B radio and using a radar gun to catch speeding cars in the neighborhood, but everyone thinks he's become so annoying he decides to get a hair transplant from Dr Hartman and returns to his original personality.

* Creator/DonaldTrump's hair(piece) is a [[http://www.vanityfair.com/news/photos/2015/09/an-illustrated-history-of-donald-trumps-hair frequent target]] [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahburton/mind-if-i-comb-over for comedy]]. One would think a man that wealthy could afford something that doesn't look like he's wearing a dead tribble on his head. During his 2016 presidential run, it was revealed that it was not, in fact, a wig, but a massive combover[[note]]The sides are combed up and across his head to give the illusion of fullness, what's left at the back is combed straight over the top and across his forehead, and the hair at his temples is combed back.[[/note]]. Still counts as this trope.

** By his own words: "I don't wear a toupee! It's my hair! I swear!"

* ''Film/AttackOfTheKillerDonuts'':At the end of their fight in Dandy Donuts, [[MadScientist Luther]] rips Cliff's toupee off the top of his head.

* In his later years, former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, later known as a perennial candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, took to wearing one as seen in a [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Harold_Stassen_1980.jpg 1980 photo]]. Oddly, in his younger years (when Stassen was considered the GOP's "Boy Wonder" and was considered a more realistic candidate he seemed to have no problem with it being obvious he was going bald).

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Before Operation Strix, Twilight's previous mission was to recover photographs proving a Minister in Westania's employ used a toupee.

[[caption-width-right:244:When you want to look ten years younger, there's a small price [[{{Pun}} toupee]].]]

* Wrestling/KurtAngle's head was shaven after he lost a hair vs. hair match to Wrestling/{{Edge}} at ''Judgment Day'' 2002. He came back to the next TV taping wearing an incredibly shitty toupee held in place by wrestling headgear and insisted that his hair had regrown overnight. It was only a matter of time before Wrestling/HulkHogan pulled it off during a match, causing Angle to panic and lose. Angle got his revenge, defeating Hogan by submission (a rare feat) at ''King of the Ring'' 2002. This victory resulted in Kurt regaining his confidence and ditching the toupee for good.