History Main / HughMann

* The UrExample could very well be TheBigBadWolf, who disguised himself as Literature/LittleRedRidingHood's grandmother.

-->-- '''Zim''', ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' has an interesting example in [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E5Rookies "Rookies"]]. A commando droid pretends to be a clone to try and get Rex and Cody to leave without a fight, but speaks with sort of a stilted rhythm, gesticulates wildly... and ultimately gives itself away with [[CatchPhrase "Roger, roger"]]. When a droid attack flare is fired by the ''real'' clones nearby, Rex immediately puts a bolt through the "trooper's" head and, at Cody's shocked reaction, takes off the helmet to reveal the droid. Note must also be made of the droid who first responded to Cody and Rex announcing their impending arrival for a routine inspection, attempting to get them to leave and succeeding only in making them ''extremely'' suspicious of what was going on down there. Especially since it also signed off with [[CatchPhrase "Roger roger"]]. Hilariously inverted when Rex retakes the base by ending his sentences with "Roger, roger" and fooling the droids into thinking he's one of them. In addition, he's wearing his own custom armour, which the droids never seem to notice.

* ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'': Kara is an absolutely terrible liar, and it is amazing that she managed to keep her alien identity secret even before she started saving people as Supergirl.

* [[spoiler:Vee]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' fell into this trope ''hard'' when she first arrived on Earth. [[spoiler:After taking on Luz's appearance, her first words to Luz's mother were "Hello, fellow human! Uh, skin's sure weird!" Fortunately, because Luz is a massive CloudCuckooLander, Camila believes she's just joking. Vee winds up in a summer camp specifically designed to teach kids how to behave normally -- the camp Luz would have gone to if she hadn't run off to the Boiling Isles.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E1TreehouseOfHorrorVII Treehouse of Horror VII]]", Kang and Kodos attempt to sabotage the 1996 American presidential election by assuming the identities of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. In one campaign speech, Kang (as Clinton) monotonously intones "I am Clin-Ton! As overlord, all will kneel trembling before me, and obey my brutal commands!" before crossing his arms over his chest and shouting "End communication!" His staffers attribute the behavior to an "over-tight necktie".
--->'''Marge:''' That's slick Willy for you, always with the smooth talk.\\
''[later]''

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in an episode in which Fry and Leela are forced to disguise themselves as robots to infiltrate a planet of human-hating robots. Their literally paper-thin disguise of aluminum foil and cardboard fools the robots despite their terrible attempts at acting as robots.
** The episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E5ATasteOfFreedom A Taste of Freedom]]" [[TropeNamer names the trope]]. A decapodian (Zoidberg's species) infiltrates Zapp Brannigan's ship by [[PaperThinDisguise wearing a wig, fake glasses and a mustache, and oven mitts to hide his lobster-like claws]]. [[GeneralFailure Zapp Brannigan]], of course, falls for it.
--->"Hugh Mann. Now there's a name I can trust."

** In a Treehouse of Horror episode, where Kang and Kodos attempt to sabotage the 1996 American presidential election by assuming the identities of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. In one campaign speech, Kang (as Clinton) monotonously intones "I am Clin-Ton! As overlord, all will kneel trembling before me, and obey my brutal commands!" before crossing his arms over his chest and shouting "End communication!" His staffers attribute the behavior to an "over-tight necktie".
---> '''Marge:''' That's slick Willy for you, always with the smooth talk.
** "And so, when you are sealed into your voting cubicles tomorrow, remember to vote for me, Senator Ka-(looks at campaign button) Bob Dole!"
* "Bill Cosby" from the Trapper Keeper episode on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' is a ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''-esque operative from the future who takes a contemporary name.
-->Oh, I see. Alright, I'll pay 100 geliga stones -- uh, I mean, hu-mon dollars! -- eugh, I mean dollars!

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Mabel meets a new boyfriend who calls himself "Normal Man" -- Mabel presumes he meant Norman -- who acts very off. Dipper can clearly see the ruse and tries to prove he's really a zombie. [[spoiler: Turns out he's actually [[TotemPoleTrench a bunch of gnomes]].]]

* ''Anime/DigimonTamers'': The ADR-01 doesn't do a good job impersonating Jeri. Even ignoring its creepy eyes and facial expressions, it acts like something that is trying too hard to pass off as a human being. Just how did it fool Takato and some others who knows Jeri personally is anyone's guess.

* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': Whenever [[HalfHumanHybrid Inuyasha]] goes out in public in the modern era, he wears a hat to hide his [[LittleBitBeastly dog ears]]. The disguise fails to hide his white hair, claws, fangs, or golden eyes, but no one ever questions it. When Kagome's friends meet him, they assume he's biracial, which is [[FromACertainPointOfView technically true]].

* In Chapter 4 of ''VideoGame/Mother3'', Lucas and Boney attempt to gain access to Club Titiboo. The bouncers initially turn them down because pets aren't allowed inside, but not a minute later we see Boney in the Kid's Hat and Shirt and it works...though [[SubvertedTrope they still sense a dog-like air about him.]]
** Inside, the Fierce Pork Trooper immediately sees (or rather smells) through the disguise, but decides not to do anything about you and enjoy the show.
*** A chapter later, they cross paths again. This time, Lucas is mistaken for the Pigmask Commander [[spoiler:Claus]], the guise proving effective against even him... until he [[OhCrap recognizes their scent]].

Someone or something decidedly alien is attempting to pass as human. But they do a [[GlamourFailure terrible job of it]]; acting in an erratic manner, forgetting names, walking stiffly, and [[CreepyMonotone talking in an odd dialect]]. They might as well call themselves "Hugh Mann" and [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain walk around with a name-tag reading "I'm Most Definitely Not A Space Alien"]] -- it would make for about as convincing a disguise.

* ''[[Comicbook/InvasionDCComics Invasion!]]'': Some of the Durlans are decidedly less effective at impersonating humans than others. The death of whomever they're attempting to impersonate is also a hangup since they can't go back and pull information from them to help their disguise if the person in question is dead, though this doesn't stop many of them from killing their targets for simplicity's sake.

* An episode of ''Series/MadTV'' has several campaign commercials for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLSlGmVrmuM Smith Comma John, Human Being for President,]] who is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial definitely not an alien plotting a full-scale invasion to colonize the planet for the Barconians]].

* Also parodied in the ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' "Stick Figures [[InSpace IIIIIN SPAAAAAACE!!!]]" arc, where the android infiltrator is the only stick figure to have a square head, and his alias is "Ensign Bandroid".

-->'''Monika:''' [[DON'T BE AFRAID TO BRING THINGS UP, OKAY? [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I WILL NOT BLAST YOU WITH MY LASER EYES... THAT I DON'T HAVE.]]

Someone or something decidedly alien is attempting to pass as human. But they do a [[GlamourFailure terrible job of it]]; [[UncannyValley acting in an erratic manner]], forgetting names, walking stiffly, and [[CreepyMonotone talking in an odd dialect]]. They might as well call themselves "Hugh Mann" and [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain walk around with a name-tag reading "I'm Most Definitely Not A Space Alien"]] -- it would make for about as convincing a disguise.

* Reddit has the subreddit [[http://www.reddit.com/r/totallynotrobots /r/totallynotrobots]], where redditors post pictures, videos, and other media containing humans [[UncannyValley that don't really act like humans]]. The whole place is laden with SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and HypocriticalHumor.

* In the tenth season of ''Series/TheXFiles'', there is an episode with a lizardwere who calls himself Guy Mann.

Luckily for them, [[WeirdnessCensor nobody notices]] at all. Or at least [[CassandraTruth nobody anyone will listen to.]] Sometimes, it helps that the character that's being impersonated normally acts this way. Almost always [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]], and often results in characters [[FailedASpotCheck Failing a Spot Check]], ComicallyMissingThePoint or asking DidYouGetANewHaircut

* The "Alien Jones" Boss Coffee ads begins with a couple guys at a bar discussing aliens, and how [[LampshadeHanging they would probably choose a really obvious disguise,]] like, say, actor Creator/TommyLeeJones. [[{{Japandering}} Guess who's working at the bar?]]

** Yes, that Jet that suddenly turned into a tank in mid-air is a human made and driven invention and not one of the genocidal aliens that invaded the planet years ago. He demands your surrender in the name of the United Steaks of America, or whatever it's called.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMitchellsVsTheMachines'', two deffective robots try to pass off as humans to go along with the Mitchells by drawing crude faces on their monitors, pretending to "eat" by squashing an orange on their face and claiming they are named "Eric" and "Also Eric! No... Debrah...bot... 5000". The Mitchells can see through their lies, but take them in and soon they become part of the team.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' where the aliens can tell that the ancient fishman is not one of them (although they believe him to merely be a defective clone) but cannot identify a one-eyed slime monster or a six foot cockroach as not being one of them. The disguise that leads them to believe that they are mere clones? Simply their ill-fitting uniforms.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Several times throughout the story, though never involving [[PuppeteerParasite the Yeerks]], who have already an access to their own host's knowledge ''and'' personality.

* Averted most of the time in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', since the majority of the supernatural world has gotten very good at infiltrating the mortal realm (or alternatively, doesn't even bother.) One major exception is the group of beings that the mercenary wizard Binder has bound to his will. In the few times that they've shown up, they've been described as wearing identical grey suits and with identical features, down to the eyes. Good enough to fool a casual observer, but the moment you get a closer look at them, they immediately seem off. They also don't speak or interact with other people unless given an order, and will swarm an enemy without a care in the world due to a complete lack of self-preservation.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]]: Mickey is swallowed by a trash can and replaced by an Auton duplicate. Despite the fact that he looks like a mannequin, his hair is an obvious wig, his skin is waxy, he ''can't drive'', and he suddenly stammers like a skipping-record on words of endearment, Rose doesn't realize what's going on until the Doctor ''shoots a champagne cork through his head''. Sure, she's never been very observant when it comes to Mickey, but come on...

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem "The Sontaran Stratagem"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky "The Poison Sky"]]: The Sontarans capture Martha and replace her with a clone. The Doctor figures out right away she's a clone, but pretends not to notice her obvious out of character behaviour (such as showing no concern for her family being in danger) because he doesn't want UNIT launching missiles at the Sontarans' ships, the very job the Sontarans themselves are tasking the clone with. He only drops the act after he tricks the clone into taking him to the chamber where the real Martha is being held captive, and the clone subsequently attempts to betray him.

** The Doctor himself occasionally has trouble when he has to pretend to be a normal human. In "Smith & Jones", he nearly gets in trouble posing as a hospital patient when Martha is taking his heartrate because of his binary vascular system. And Amy thinks he doesn't stand a chance in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]] because the most normal thing about him is his bowtie, and Clara is amazed that he fools anyone in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E6TheCaretaker "The Caretaker"]].
* In ''Series/GoodOmens2019'', when angels Gabriel and Sandalphon enter Aziraphale's book store, they try to get the latter to speak with them privately, but they do so "inconspicuously", since there are mortals around. So they loudly express their desire to buy pornography (while Gabriel holds a thick tome on household management) and ask to discuss the purchase in private.

* In ''Series/ResidentAlien'', the alien who has taken over the body of the doctor Harry Vanderspeigle is this in spades, often having problems faking human emotions and often confusing terms or using vulgar words for medical terms. For the time being, at least, most of the town is simply under the impression that he's a CloudCuckoolander, either that, or he's "refreshingly honest." Only a ten year old boy, Max Hawthorne, is able to see through to his true alien form thanks to a genetic mutation.

* In ''Series/TheSecretCircle'' [[spoiler:Melissa]] is possessed by a demon. Turns out, demons aren't very good actors. Apart from general weird and out of character behavior, when frustrated she broke into EvilSoundsDeep. Unusually for this trope their friend screaming at them in demon voice because they expressed reservations about her creepy plan was noticed, although the real giveaway was when the demonic snake crawled across her forehead under the skin.

** When Sam is taken over by a Tok'ra, she acts rather odd, but no-one seems to notice anything until she starts dialing up the gate. This is partly justified in that this is only the SGC's first year of operation and they believed at this time that the Goa'uld could only enter through the back of the neck, leaving a distinctive scar, rather than entering through the mouth and throat; this event prompts the SGC to start using [=MRIs=] after gate travel to confirm that nobody has been taken as a host while off-world.
** In another episode, Colonel O'Neill is duplicated by a crystal entity and everyone, even his ex-wife, thinks the entity is him even though he speaks very haltingly and suddenly acts like he's once again depressed about his son's pre-show pre-movie death.

* In ''VideoGame/DeathsDoor'', there is Jefferson, a squid who is using a drowned sailor's corpse to pass off as a human selling soup. No one seems to notice or care. He is well-meaning though, and gives you tips on where to find secrets.

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', the [[PlantPerson Sylvari]] PC when under cover strays into this, saying that they had been friends with the person they're looking for since they were "tiny weak fleshlings".

* One of the skins for the ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' champion Blitzcrank (a giant brass robot) is "Definitely Not Blitzcrank", where he wears a suit, glasses and a fake nose/mustache in a desperate attempt to appear human.
** The skin received a thematic follow-up with "Definitely Not Vel'Koz". Vel'Koz, by the way, is ''a large, floating EldritchAbomination with three tentacles and a single gigantic eye.'' He wears a "suit" (well, pinstripe cloth tubes on his tentacles, complete with cufflinks), a hat, a "glass" (he doesn't need a ''pair'' of glasses, so one lens is enough) and is holding a mug of coffee in one tentacle.

* In Chapter 4 of ''VideoGame/Mother3'', Lucas and Boney attempt to gain access to Club Titiboo. The bouncers initially turn them down because pets aren't allowed inside, but not a minute later we see Boney in the Kid's Hat and Shirt and it works...though [[SubvertedTrope they still sense a dog like air about him.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/SoulHackers''' remake, certain demons, if you already have a member of their species in you party, will introduce themselves as "Hugh Mann", a perfectly ordinary person. Then they notice that one of their friends is with you, blowing their cover and making them run away and possibly give you something.

* A ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy'' comic had a small, one eyed green alien trying to pass of as a human by wearing a yellow smiley-face mask. Casey comments on how stupid the disguise is. The alien comments on how stupid humans are for having their most vulnerable part so exposed. [[GroinAttack Via a practical demonstration, naturally.]]

* "Chicken Boo" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' always goes the same way: A giant chicken wearing a PaperThinDisguise manages to fool [[OnlySaneMan almost]] everyone, until his costume falls off and everyone realizes what he really is. HE'S A CHICKEN, I TELL YA!! A GIANT CHICKEN!

** The hilarious part is that "Major Shake" is a seemingly normal, decent, average person, whereas Master Shake is a sociopathic obnoxious {{Jerkass}}. Major Shake also looks like a slightly melted version of Master Shake, wearing red high heeled shoes to make up for the height difference, and with a [[InsistentTerminology jambox]] melted into his side.

* "Vincent Adultman" from ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' is clearly three kids in a TotemPoleTrench, has the aforementioned unconvincing alias and no knowledge of the adult life (he tries to order "an alcohol" at a bar and claims to work in a "business factory"). Yet not only is everyone except Bojack completely fooled, but "Vincent" even manages to pursue a relationship with Princess Caroline.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', The Great Gazoo creates a duplicate of Fred. The duplicate can only utter the words "Yes yes yes", separated by one second pauses. Despite this, absolutely no one notices the difference.

* Zim from ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is... not a very convincing human, to say the least. Luckily, Earth is filled with morons and apathetic people who won't listen to [[OnlySaneMan Dib]]. The reason that no one believes Dib is the fact the he has a [[CryingWolf history of doing things like this]] and people think he is crazy. The only other human to catch on is Dib's sister, who recognizes Zim as far too incompetent to have much chance of success and so doesn't give a damn.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Imitation Krabs", Plankton tries to infiltrate the Krusty Krab inside a Mr. Krabs robot. The robot is clearly made of sheets of metal with visible rivets, runs on wheels, has a sputtering exhaust in the back, and talks in RoboSpeak, in Plankton's voice no less. [=SpongeBob=], of course, is completely fooled. Squidward sees through the ruse immediately, but plays along after robot Krabs gives him the day off.

** Pearl ''should'' be a perfect candidate; she not only looks human, but is unfailingly polite and formal, meaning she'd hit it off great with Connie's parents... if not for the fact that she is absolutely ''revolted'' by [[YourNormalIsOurTaboo the concept of eating food]]. Kind of an issue considering this is supposed to be a dinner date. She also [[LipstickLesbian can't even pretend to find Greg attractive]].

* The Brain Slugs from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' play it for laughs. The slugs fool no one, but the other characters treat the infected characters like {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s.
** They have to, lest the slug becomes suspicious, and, in Leela's words, "assimilates" them. They tell Fry to just pretend everything is normal and use garlic shampoo.
** An inversion of this trope occurs in an episode in which Fry and Leela are forced to disguise themselves as robots to infiltrate a planet of human-hating robots. Their literally paper-thin disguise of aluminum foil and cardboard fools the robots despite their terrible attempts at acting as robots.
** Futurama [[TropeNamer names the trope]] in the episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E5ATasteOfFreedom A Taste of Freedom]]". A decapodian (Zoidberg's species) infiltrates Zapp Brannigan's ship by [[PaperThinDisguise wearing a wig, fake glasses and a mustache, and oven mitts to hide his lobster-like claws]]. [[GeneralFailure Zapp Brannigan]], of course, falls for it.

* ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'': The housemates take the [[LooksLikeOrlok monstrous, decrepit]] Baron out for a night of drinking and karaoke, dressing him in regular clothes and a baseball cap; ''no one notices,'' even when he flat-out tells passersby that he's a vampire.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Imitation Krabs", Plankton tries to infiltrate the Krusty Krab inside a Mr. Krabs robot. The robot is clearly made of sheets of metal with visible rivets, runs on wheels, has a sputtering exhaust in the back, and talks in RoboSpeak, in Plankton's voice no less. [=SpongeBob=], of course, is completely fooled. Squidward sees through the ruse immediately, but plays along after robot Krabs give him the day off.

** They have to, lest the slug becomes suspicious, and, in Leela's words, "assimilates" them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Mabel meets a new boyfriend who calls himself "Normal Man" -- Mabel presumes he meant Norman -- who acts very off. [[spoiler:Though Dipper believes he's a zombie, he's actually [[TotemPoleTrench a bunch of gnomes]].]]

Compare EasyImpersonation for a non-fantastic variant of the trope. See also ClarkKenting and PaperThinDisguise. Compare BadBadActing, and OutOfCharacterAlert. May overlap with TheyLookLikeUsNow or HumanAliens for further laughs. Not to be confused with HuMons, which is about {{Mons}} that resemble human beings.

* "Chicken Boo" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' always goes the same way: A giant chicken wearing a Paper Thin Disguise manages to fool [[OnlySaneMan almost]] everyone, until his costume falls off and everyone realizes what he really is. HE'S A CHICKEN, I TELL YA!! A GIANT CHICKEN!

* Absolutely ruthlessly parodied in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' where the aliens can tell that the ancient fishman is not one of them (although they believe him to merely be a defective clone) but cannot identify a one-eyed slime monster or a six foot cockroach as not being one of them. The disguise that leads them to believe that they are mere clones? Simply their ill-fitting uniforms.

* ''Comicbook/{{Invasion}}'': Some of the Durlans are decidedly less effective at impersonating humans than others. The death of whomever they're attempting to impersonate is also a hangup since they can't go back and pull information from them to help their disguise if the person is question is dead, though this doesn't stop many of them from killing their targets for simplicity's sake.