History Main / SarcasticConfession

* One of the Jay Bush and Duke ads for Bush's Baked Beans involves the TalkingDog Duke printing a bunch of flyers in a secret basement in his doghouse which read "Bush' Secret Family Recipe for Sale." When Jay confronts him with one of the flyers, asking if he had anything to do with it, he replies sarcastically with "Right, Jay, I'm running a printing press in my basement."

* Creator/JimmySavile was an English presenter and philanthropist who abused his position to groom children for sex. This wasn't confirmed or made public until after his death, but during his life he frequently made "jokes" that in hindsight were basically him admitting to it. Like in response to the question, "What are you doing these days?" he'd respond, "Anybody I can get me hands on," or that he was "feared in every girls' school in this country." As Ian Hislop put it, "It's a brilliant disguise: you dress up as a pedophile."

* Pulled twice in ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES''. Both comics have "The Best Lie" in the title (with the first following with "is the Truth".) [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2005/05/28/485-the-best-lie-is-the-truth/ The first time]], Alex convinces [[VideoGame/{{Lufia}} Daos]] that he put up a powerful mental shield so that Daos could not see his greatest fear, when, actually, his greatest fear (Evil Otto from ''VideoGame/{{Berzerk}}'') looked like something that Daos didn't consider remotely terrifying (a blinking smiley face.) [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2008/09/16/569-the-best-lie/ The second]], [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Bass]], after having already bluffed Amon into believing that he could achieve great power in the desert, admits (in a nervous tone) that he lied previously and was trying to trick Amon.

* In Case 4 of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', Calisto Yew says she's not related to Cece Yew with a straight face, then breaks down laughing, claiming she was kidding and admitted they're sisters. [[spoiler:She actually ''isn't'' related to Cece, and "Calisto Yew" isn't even her real name.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-5721 5721]] is a (fictional) [[ReadTheFinePrint paragraph within the Terms of Service]] for the messaging software Discord that [[SoldHisSoulForADonut signs over the users' souls]] to the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greco-Roman goddess Eris]], allowing her to [[VampiricDraining drain]] users' LifeEnergy [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly as a substitute for actual worship]]. "The majority of users who read the clause were found to have assumed it was a joke, as Discord is known for its humorous loading screens."

* ''Literature/TheSaints'': Jason uses this while explaining why he needs a shopping cart full of [[BatterUp baseball bats]], [[PowerfulPick pickaxes]], knives, [[ChainPain bike chains]], [[AnAxeToGrind and an axe]].

%%
%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
%%

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Manga/BlackButler'', some torturers tell Sebastian (who is a demon disguised as a butler) that he'd better confess or they'll hurt him. He admits that he was responsible for the Black Death, but since [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld that was 500 years ago]], they don't believe him.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': While Zangetsu watches silently from the sidelines, Ichigo fights his inner Hollow. The inner Hollow tells him that he is the real Zangetsu. He's mocking Ichigo at the time, having taken Zangetsu off Ichigo and placed an asauchi in Ichigo's hands instead. It takes Ichigo most of the fight to pay attention and realize he needs to prove himself to the silent Zangetsu to deserve another chance. Once Zangetsu accepts his resolve, Ichigo doesn't simply taken back the form of his sword, he converts the inner Hollow to his color scheme in the process. [[spoiler:The real confession that Ichigo never once cottoned on to is that the inner Hollow really ''is'' the real Zangetsu. Old Man Zangetsu was his Quincy power and the inner Hollow was the true form of his Shinigami power.]]
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Lelouch tells Euphemia about his Geass ability being able to force anyone he uses it on to do absolutely anything he tells them to. [[spoiler:As an example, he jokingly tells her that if he orders her to kill all Japanese people, she would have to do it. Prior to this incident, he was able to use his Geass ability at will, but during this conversation, he loses the ability to control it, and it stays on permanently. Which means the sarcastic order he gave her [[OhCrap became an absolute one]], and she went out to immediately order the slaughter of innocent Japanese people who she had been trying to help]].
* In ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'', after noticing odd behavior from [[VampireMonarch Princess Mina Tepes]] in the month since a fearsome attack on her domain, [[spoiler:Akira Regendorf asks if she is hiding anything from him and is told "I'm not really Mina, I'm an impostor... I traded places with the real Mina and sent her off into the darkness. She is gone now and will never come back." Even as Akira chides the UndeadChild before him for [[EvilTwin her]] tasteless joke, the ''actual'' Mina Tepes is hiding in a New York alleyway having escaped Duke Rozemann]].
* Kida does this ''for'' Mikado in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' when some of Mikado's classmates overhear them talking about [[spoiler:Mika]] staying at Mikado's apartment.
* Early in ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'', Noata asks [[ManicPixieDreamGirl Haruko]] what she is. One of her sarcastic responses is "[[HumanAliens I'm an alien]]".
* Subverted in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Early in the series, Kyon calls up Haruhi to hang out alone at a local café and uses the opportunity to reveal the truth of everything that's happened so far in a long conversation. Despite him being sincere, she still does not believe Kyon because he had already established himself as the DeadpanSnarker by that point, and is annoyed that he wasted her time.
* Chapter 163 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has Kaguya admit to the rest of the student council that [[spoiler:she and Shirogane started dating over winter break]] before claiming that it was a prank (as the rest of the chapter had been about Fujiwara trying to come up with a way to prank her as a lead in for a surprise birthday party). Made even better by the fact that she technically never even ''said'' it was a prank; [[ExactWords she just held up the pranking sign that Fujiwara made and never once denied her claim]]. [[spoiler:She tells Shirogane afterwards that she wanted a chance to show off their relationship while still keeping it a secret, and this proved to be the perfect opportunity.]]
* This forms part of the central RunningGag of ''My Recently Hired Maid is Suspicious''. Yuuri continuously accuses Lilith of some plot or another, and she can't help falsely confessing to them [[TheGadfly as a way of teasing him]]. More often than not, it backfires, with Yuuri ranting that this explains [[UnknowinglyInLove why he can't stop thinking about Lilith, his heart races every time he sees her, etc.]], leaving Lilith as the embarrassed one.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', chapter 82:
-->'''Chao:''' You want to know my real identity?\\
'''Setsuna:''' That's right!\\
'''Chao:''' Hehehe... sometimes I'm a Chinese inventor full of mystery. Sometimes I'm a treasure box inside the class, a MadScientist. Sometimes I'm the number one genius inside the academy, and sometimes I'm the boss of the popular Chinese stand "Chao Bao Zi". My real identity is... [[spoiler:AN ALIEN FROM MARS]]!!\\
'''Setsuna:''' WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS!!
** During the Magical World arc, [[spoiler:we find out that the layout of the world they are on is similar to the planet Mars, and that [[HarsherInHindsight "joke"]] that Chao made earlier really IS a CassandraTruth. [[WillNotTellALie Chao never lies]], but she's perfectly willing to tell the truth in a way that would make normal people dismiss it as a joke]].
* In a filler episode of ''Manga/OnePiece'', Zoro is captured by the Marines and questioned by an officer about how they infiltrated their base. He sarcastically tells them the truth--they dropped in from the sky with the help of a giant octopus balloon. The officer thinks he's mocking him.
* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': Chapter 21 (Episode 8 of the anime) establishes that Yotsuba, the fourth quintuplet, is a [[BadLiar lousy liar]]. She has a brief talk with Fuutarou while telling him the reason she takes his side over her sisters (he's been hired as their tutor but they don't want to study) is not because she wants to get better grades, but because she likes him. Then she immediately tries to pass it off as a joke to prove that she can lie. [[spoiler:Come Chapter 90, turns out she wasn't lying at all when she said that]].
* ''LightNovel/{{Shimoneta}}'': In episode 8, Kosuri openly admits [[PrecociousCrush her infatuation]] [[LustObject with Ayame]] by making it seem that she's joking. Ayame doesn't become aware that she's serious until Kosuri nuzzles her breasts during the furo scene in episode 12. Her reaction makes it clear that the feeling [[IncompatibleOrientation isn't mutual.]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Franchise/{{Batman}}, as Bruce Wayne, was once called for JuryDuty and stated that he would not be a suitable juror because he was Batman, and helped apprehend the criminal. No one believed him, because everyone knows [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Bruce Wayne is a fop and an utter dope]]. It's not exactly a straight version of the trope, as Bruce actually isn't being sarcastic (he later told Robin that, since he was under oath, he had no choice but to admit that he was Batman), but the overall effect of his secret identity means that the response is more or less the same.
* From a ''ComicBook/BigTop'' story arc, where Dusty has been secretly replaced by a robot duplicate:
-->'''Dustybot:''' Pete. Tell me a secret, please.\\
'''Pete:''' What? What's ''with'' you? You've been acting really weird. Why do you want to hear secrets?\\
'''Dustybot:''' It is my primary objective. I have been programmed for intelligence collection.\\
'''Pete:''' Oh, ha ha. Seriously, what's up?\\
'''Dustybot:''' I'm just needy. Hold me, human.
* Summed up neatly in ''ComicBook/{{Darkhawk}}'' with the line, "The best way to keep a good secret is to tell everybody--then nobody believes you."
* The TrueCrime graphic novel ''ComicBook/DidYouHearWhatEddieGeinDone'' recounts how [[SerialKiller Ed]] would openly tell neighbours about all the {{shrunken head}}s and GenuineHumanHide furniture he had in his house, or confess to a local murder. The comic leaves it ambiguous whether it was really this trope or whether Ed was simply really bad at keeping secrets, but the end result is more or less the same, with everyone else in town just assuming he's a harmless {{Cloudcuckoolander}} with a morbid sense of humour.
* Done strangely twice by WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck in ''ComicBook/DoubleDuck'':
** The first time, tired of lying to her, he admits to Daisy he's a spy. Daisy, who previously fell for Donald's ''immense'' bullshit, believes it's a joke.
** The second time Daisy has found out that Donald is a spy, and is asking him if he has other secrets. He tells her he's also Paperinik, Duckburg's own superhero/vigilante. She believes him (not that it matters, given [[LaserGuidedAmnesia she gets her memory wiped of the whole adventure soon after]]). The other agents don't.
* Cormor from ''[[ComicBook/DungeonTheEarlyYears The Dungeon Series]]'' is an automaton and therefore cannot lie. At the beginning of his life, it gets him into all sort of trouble. After a few centuries, he's gotten good enough at Sarcastic Confession to build a whole life as an undercover automaton.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}''/''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' story ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Barbara Gordon is signing books, and a customer asks how she gets so many details:
-->'''Customer:''' Ms. Gordon -- your books are so real! How do you get so many details?\\
'''Barbara:''' I'm secretly Batgirl.\\
'''Customer:''' No, really!\\
''[laughs]''
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'':
** The Trickster does this in the prelude to ''ComicBook/BlueDevil''.
--->'''Security Guard:''' Hiya, Mr. Jesse! What brings ''you'' here? I heard you was working over at Associated Pictures!\\
'''Trickster:''' That's right, Fred... I'm just here to steal the Blue Devil costume!\\
'''Security Guard:''' Ha ha! Always with the jokes!
** Barry Allen does this in a classic Silver Age ''Flash'' comic. ([[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/The_Flash_Vol_1_133 This one]], if you're curious.) When Iris wonders aloud about the timing of Barry's absences, he just casually tells her she's right: "One and one still makes one! [[CassandraTruth I'm the Flash]]!" Naturally, this flippant claim convinces Iris he's ''not''.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'': Tommy Monaghan and his friend Nat the Hat are moving boxes of ammunition into his apartment when a neighbor asks what's in them. He tells her that they're full of guns and ammo, because he's a hitman, and he also has telepathy and x-ray vision. All true, but so absurd she doesn't believe him, and they end up dating. Sometime later, a hit goes bad and he turns up on her doorstep, shot up and covered in blood... She does not take this well.
* In an issue of ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', white Martians start controlling the minds of people in an attempt to ruin the lives of the Justice League. They force [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] to cut the Bat-Rope while Batman is dangling from it, send an angry mob after Jimmy Olsen, etc. One of their tricks is to briefly take control of Lois Lane while she and Clark are at the Daily Planet and have her rip open Clark's suit and expose him as Franchise/{{Superman}}. Immediately afterward, she comes to her senses and tries to fix it via this trope. With Clark's super-speedy help, she is able to make it look like a prank by ripping open an intern's suit as well, revealing that he suddenly has a Franchise/{{Batman}} shirt underneath. However, when she attempts to continue the gag by ripping open her own shirt and exposing herself as Franchise/WonderWoman Clark isn't fast enough and she ends up just... [[ClothingDamage exposing]] [[{{Fanservice}} herself]].
* ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'':
** The Grand Inquisitor's messenger [[ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} Petros]] is asked by King James of Scotland how he manages to carry a message from there to Spain and back in only a few days. His response? "[[SuperSpeed I ran very fast, sir.]]" Naturally, King James remarks on how funny he is.
** Subverted when an inquisitor investigating the witchbreed insiders takes his statement at face value to use it as a confession.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher2099'':
** A police department shrink strongly suspects that Jake Gallows is the Punisher (spoiler: he is) and barges into his home for a surprise visit/inspection/psych evaluation. When she starts questioning him, Jake confesses that he's the Punisher, and he has a bunch of criminals locked up in his basement, and he's just been down there beating one of them half to death for kicks. He even offers to show her the Punisher costume he keeps in the bedroom. Of course, she brushes all this off as misplaced anger over the death of his family. Little did she know that every word of it was ''true''.
** Subverted later when he feels attracted to her and feels bad for lying to her, so he actually confesses to being The Punisher. She doesn't believe him at first and thinks he's being sarcastic like the first time. He then proceeds to prove it.
* This was how the Metans operated in Ditko's version of ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'': their outpost on Earth was disguised as a conspiracy theory insisting Metans were among us.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** In an early issue, Spidey is injured in battle with the Vulture and spends the rest of the issue with his arm in a sling, telling people he hurt it in P.E. Betty refuses to believe this is the case and asks him for the truth:
--->'''Peter:''' It happened when I was fighting the Vulture in mid-air for dear life.\\
'''Betty:''' Oh well. [[AskAStupidQuestion Ask a silly question, get a silly answer]].
** In another issue, Mary Jane's Aunt Anna confronts her with the evidence that Peter is constantly sneaking off at all hours and meeting with strange people, so obviously he's having an affair. MJ sarcastically explains that the real reason he does that stuff is that he's Spider-Man.
** In a strip from the newspaper comic, Jameson demands to know how Peter always gets such good photos of Spider-Man. Peter comes out and says it's because he is Spider-Man, and Jameson kicks him out of the office complaining that he can "never get a straight answer out of Parker".
** In yet another issue, this is an essential part of the villain's plan. The [[ProfessionalKiller assassin,]] the Foreigner, promises Spidey that he'll turn himself in if the hero simply hears him out and helps him. Later, he keeps his word, telling the police that he's a murderer. However, as he expected, the cops believe he's a just a crackpot, and he's quickly released. (This is a brilliant move on the Foreigner's part, seeing as he's such a good assassin, only a select few people even know who he is, and there are almost no police files on him. The authorities simply don't know about him.)
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099'':
** Soon after Miguel gets his powers, his brother Gabriel bursts in his house looking for answers, and their exchange leads to this:
--->'''Gabriel:''' Why are you mumbling?\\
'''Miguel:''' Because I've grown fangs and if I open my mouth too wide you'll see them.\\
'''Gabriel:''' ''[deadpan]'' Ha ha, very funny.
** A RunningGag in the {{reviv|al}}ed is that whenever Miguel displays future knowledge or lacks knowledge of the present, he simply tells people that he's a {{time travel}}ler, they assume he's joking, and all is well.
** Actually, this is a constant in Creator/PeterDavid and his works. Almost any of his comics will have at least a few scenes of a character explaining a bizarre event or action with the utter truth only to not be believed one bit.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/SpiderWoman'', a police officer asks Jessica what her Skrull-detecting watch is. She tells him it's a watch, but he doesn't believe her. So she tells him it's an alien detector. To her surprise, he nods and asks her how it works. After all, there's a dead alien in the morgue, and Spider-Woman put it there, so that makes sense.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11651647/2/Across-The-Time Across The Time]]'':
-->'''Nearly-Headless Nick:''' If only our dear Harry would tell us what his secret is.\\
'''Harry:''' Alright, fine. What if I tell you guys that I'm not from here? What if I tell you that I came from the distant future and in that future, I am the best auror ever live - or so they told me, and I was trained to handle both human and magical creatures such as ghost as well?\\
'''Hermione:''' If you didn't want to answer our questions in an honest and truthful way then just say it. You don't have to blurt all those crazing things just like what you did on the train.
* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'':
** Before going out Misato asks Shinji and Asuka if they will be alright by themselves. Asuka replies: "Please, Misato. I can handle baka-Shinji. Somehow, I will control myself against his suave, Don Juan-like charms and not let him ravish me. [...] He and I will eat dinner, wash, and I'll send him right to bed." Meaning ''her'' bed.
** Rei says in front of Hikari and Touji that Shinji and Asuka are screwing each other like rabbits in such a way that everybody believes she is joking (she is not):
--->''Asuka rolled her eyes at him. "You're our friends and need our support right now, and this is serious NERV business. Shinji and I are more than mature enough to stop fussing and focus when it's important."\\
Behind them, Rei quietly said, "Mature? As soon as no one's looking they're constantly making out, really. They're like bonobos on Spring Break. Nothing but 'whumpa, whumpa, whumpa' all the time." There was no change in her usual perfectly deadpan tone.\\
Shinji and Asuka froze. 'Oh Holy shit! Rei, what happened to keeping that secret?!' Shinji thought frantically. Touji and Hikari gaped in shock for a moment before exploding into laughter.''
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8217367/9/Back-to-the-Roots Back to the Roots]]'', after being badgered about his past constantly, [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] finally says, "Aizen is going to rule the world because he betrayed Soul Society and killed the Spirit King. I'm here to kill him before that happens because I'm a time traveler from the future. A future where you [Yoruichi] are a cat and Kisuke Urahara owns a Candy-Shop." Shusui and Yoruichi find this story hilarious. [[spoiler:Even Aizen, who's eavesdropping, thinks Ichigo is crazy]].
* In ''Fanfic/CuckooBird,'' Izuku and Shinsou are both [[ChangelingTale changelings]] (which means that they CannotTellALie), and [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange instead of getting One For All]], Izuku uses his natural {{Animorphism}} powers at UA. After witnessing it for the first time:
-->'''Bakugou:''' Hey. Do you really think Deku has a Quirk?\\
'''Shinsou:''' Deku?\\
'''Bakugou:''' Midoriya. Team A.\\
'''Shinsou:''' And you’re asking me...if I think he has a Quirk. You saw what he did yesterday. What else would he have--magic?
* In the final chapter of ''Fanfic/DeathNoteIITheHiddenNote'', KJ tells Angela that he's writing his cause of death in a journal he brought with him. When she asks why, he tells her that [[spoiler:he's Kira, her dad Nate River isn't insane, the journal he's writing in is actually a Death Note disguised as a journal, his mother and father are {{Shinigami}} now, and they're there to see him as he finishes being the new Kira]]. To which she smiles and says that if he didn't want to tell the truth, he could have just said so.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10655012/11/Dreams Dreams]]'' Harry is sent back to his second year at Hogwarts when he's hit by a spell, then time-jumps ''again'' to fourth year after Ron beats him up for dating Ginny. Hermione becomes suspicious.
-->'''Hermione:''' Don't just sit there. Say something!\\
'''Harry:''' What do you want me to say, Hermione? That I'm some sort of time or inter-dimensional traveller switching places with my alternate self at random times?\\
'''Hermione:''' No!...I don't know! I just wish I knew what was going on.
* In ''Fanfic/GeorgeWeasleyAndTheComputationalError'', George isn't allowed to admit that he's a time traveler for a year, but whenever he's questioned about his identity (at least when he's possessing his younger self) he does admit that he's George Weasley. At one point, he lays claim to all the other names he's acquired throughout canon as being identifiers for him, including "Harry Potter" and "Tentacula".
* At one point in the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5491874/7/Ghost_Zone_Experience Ghost Zone Experience]]'', Maddie angrily tells Danny (when he's in his [[SecretIdentity ghost form]]) not to swipe their ghost hunting equipment (again). After [[{{Beat}} a moment]], he cheekily replies with "Yes, mother."
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4238196/10/Harry-Potter-and-the-Marauders-of-the-Mind Harry Potter and the Marauders of the Mind]]'', Harry is looking for a book which supposedly tells how to become the Master of Death so he can create new bodies for the spirits of his parents, Sirius, and Remus. During his search, he mentions it to Andromeda Tonks.
-->'''Andromeda:''' So are you going to tell me why you need ''Sacrum Obitus''?\\
'''Harry:''' So I can become the Master of Death. Obviously.\\
'''Andromeda:''' Of course. How silly of me.
* In ''Fanfic/AHero'', a ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' crossover fanfic, Dalek Sec introduces himself like so: "I AM AN IM-PERIAL-IS-TIC SPACE NAZI." Most write him off as a particularly dedicated cosplayer and move on.
* Comes up in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7714696/1/Honesty-is-the-Best-Policy Honesty is the Best Policy]]'' during an interrogation.
-->'''Leon:''' Next question--have you ever practiced sorcery?\\
'''Merlin:''' Oh, yeah--all the time. Like an idiot, every day I practice magic right under Uther's nose, right here in the very heart of Camelot. In fact, I use it around you knights a fair bit, too--not that you lot have ever noticed. In between mucking out the stables, scrubbing floors, being used as a target, and cleaning Arthur's socks--I'm enchanting weapons and scrub brushes, lighting fires with my incredible powers and then learning new spells at night, holed up with my secret spell book. You see -- I'm actually an all-powerful sorcerer. I just still feel this strange need to scrub Arthur's floors and let him throw things at me.\\
'''Leon:''' Honestly, Merlin, you shouldn't joke about such things.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger''. When Professor Goodwitch asks Jaune where his new powers came from, Jaune responds by sarcastically quipping "I'm possessed by the spirit of an ancient, magic warlord that got turned into a Grimm." While he only said that to throw her off, Goodwitch's experience with Ozpin leads her to immediately deduce that he's telling the truth, though she tries to hide it by pretending she doesn't believe him.
* In ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'', when Kyon's mother asks him if he's stopped being a delinquent, he replies that he's skipped straight to [[spoiler:joining the {{yakuza}}]].
** Kyon uses Sarcastic Confessions many more times in the same fic, including the following gem to [[spoiler:Sasaki, the resident AgentScully]]:
--->[[spoiler:Let's see... I have to have a conversation with past instances of several people, rescue an heiress from twelve boryokudan thugs, arrange for an alien artifact to be delivered, and... hum, tomorrow is Tuesday, so I really should [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking study for that math test, too]].]]
* ''Fanfic/LadybugInAHalfShell'': When Chloe [[spoiler:accidentally kisses Casey Jone's cheek thinking he was Adrien]], Nino was holding Donatello’s camera, capturing all of it. He tells her that the footage has already uploaded to his computer and he was already emailing it to her entire class. When she demands to know where he lives to that she can sue him properly, Casey Jones tells her where Donatello lives knowing that she won’t believe him.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9925226/14/Knowing-The-Future Knowing the Future]]'':
-->'''Justin:''' Hey, Ogden, what happened to your hair? And where did you go with the unicorn yesterday?\\
'''Lucy:''' An entire herd of unicorns kidnapped me and performed an ancient unicorn blessing on me that removed all imperfections such as color in my hair. It's probably all listed in a book in the library. I can give you directions if you need?\\
'''Justin:''' Geez, if you didn't want to tell me, you could have just said. You didn't need to be rude.
* ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'': Shinji goes out and gets Asuka some of her favorite chocolates to cheer her up. Misato spots this and asks where he got them.
-->'''Shinji:''' I am in reality Superman. I flew to Germany, bought Asuka a box of chocolates, and flew back just in time to sneak in here before anyone saw me.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5159540/5/Murphy-s-Law Murphy's Law]]'':
-->'''Fat Lady:''' And just what were you doing out of bed at this hour?\\
'''Harry:''' Handing an illegal dragon egg off to some people who were going to smuggle it out of the country.\\
'''Fat Lady:''' If you were going to lie, you could have come up with something more believable.
* Done by Izuku in ''Fanfic/MyHeroPlaythrough'', though with nervousness instead sarcasm. Some of his classmates are asking about the sudden jumps in skill exhibited by Izuku, Tsuyu, and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra]]:
-->'''Ochako:''' Then how did you get better so fast?\\
'''Izuku:''' We went into a dungeon inside of All Might-sensei and fought some of his past enemies?\\
'''[[LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex Mikoto]]:''' If you can't or won't talk about it, just say that. Don't just go making video game jokes.\\
'''Izuku:''' Sorry?\\
'''Momo:''' So long as you three aren't breaking the law, I suppose you are allowed to have your secrets.
* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' PeggySue fanfiction ''Fanfic/OhGodNotAgain'', Harry constantly tells the truth about how he knows certain things, stating specifically that no one would believe the truth anyway. A notable example:
-->'''Dumbledore:''' I am quite curious: how do you know so much about the attacks?\\
'''Harry:''' I've come back from the future.\\
'''Dumbledore:''' Indeed.\\
'''Harry:''' Oh, yes. Of course, when I'm from, Ginny Weasley had the Diary and was attacking only Muggleborns, Sirius Black was completely innocent of the crimes he was sent to Azkaban for--without a trial--and escaped next year, [[spoiler:Draco Malfoy is the Master of the Elder Wand, and Snape helps euthanize you]].\\
'''Dumbledore:''' Indeed. How did you come back, if you don't mind me asking?\\
'''Harry:''' Drapery accident. It was very traumatic.[[note]]He fell through the Veil of Death.[[/note]]\\
'''Dumbledore:''' I wish you would be honest with me, Harry.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8969391/9/Once-More-with-Feeling Once More with Feeling]]'', Lelouch gets called by Suzaku during the Saitama battle, asking where he is.
-->'''Lelouch:''' I'm in the middle of a life-or-death battle with the Emperor's forces.\\
'''Suzaku:''' Uh-huh, and [[MythologyGag I'm actually Zero]].
* In chapter 4 of ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13528971/chapters/31103673 On Love Squares, Triangles, and Pairings Simple]]'', Alya insists that Marinette explain how she went from being unable to even ''talk'' to Adrien to ''kissing'' him over a single weekend. Marinette responds by telling her exactly how it happened:
-->'''Marinette:''' Well, if you ''must'' know, he showed up on my balcony last night, serenaded me with Disney tunes, carried me off to the Eiffel Tower for a romantic midnight dinner, plied me with champagne, and declared his eternal love for me. That good enough for you?
-->'''Alya:''' (''rolls eyes'') Fine, keep it your secret for now.
* In ''Fanfic/ThePeaceNotPromised'', Lily arrives back in her dorm after curfew, having just had her FirstKiss with Severus. Since her dormmates both dislike Severus and have a hard time believing that anyone could be attracted to him, she ''nearly'' gets away with telling them that she was, "Why, snogging Sev under the moonlight, of course," -- but the memory of the kiss makes her blush, giving her away.
* Whenever asked what he is in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10917821/1/The-questionable-burdens-of-leadership-of-a-troll-Emperor The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor]]'', Naruto will flippantly tell people he's a god. Likewise, if he's asked how he became a god, he'll tell the questioner that he killed a zombie, let his wife eat a primordial god, then she fed him the fruit of life to make him a god as well.
* In ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-22821-4/Snag+Strangely+Literal.htm Strangely Literal]]'' during a conversation about true intentions, [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Xander]] asks Cameron what her true intentions are.
-->'''Cameron:''' [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} I am a cyborg from the future sent to protect humanity from other cyborgs.]]\\
'''Xander:''' ''[after studying her expression]'' Not even a hint of a smile. You are ''good''.
* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': When Draco is surprised by Harry making a joke about the life debts owed to her, thinking that that kind of humour [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness seems uncharacteristic for Rigel]], Harry tells him that, "I'm an imposter. I've hidden the real Rigel Black in a closet and taken over his life."[[note]]The closet part isn't true, of course; the real Arcturus Rigel Black is actually on a different continent.[[/note]]
* In ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'', after Kiyomi learned that her father had an affair while her mother was pregnant, she worries that Light might do the same to her. [[FalseReassurance Light assures her "you're my affair"]]. [[spoiler:He'd been seeing [[SlashFic L]] for years before he even met her]]. L does this too when he tells his steady boyfriend Stephen that he "fucks Prime Ministers".
* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'':
** Shinji is a master at lying by telling the truth. In a scene, Misato walks into Shinji and Asuka sprawled out over the floor after making out. So Shinji tells:
--->'''Shinji:''' This is exactly what it looks. Asuka and I were making out so hot and heavily that we tipped over and broke the chair.
** Later Asuka asks him how he got them out of that mess earlier, and Shinji explains the theory:
--->'''Asuka:''' Anyway, how did you do that earlier?\\
'''Shinji:''' In situations where denial or dishonesty is expected, the truth can often be dismissed as fabrication. Control of a situation is not just based off what you do, but what others expect you to do.\\
'''Asuka:''' You... lied by telling the truth?\\
'''Shinji:''' Think of it like pretending to make a feint in combat. If your opponent expects you to feint, if you follow through then the expected strike was the lie while the feint was a real attack.\\
'''Asuka:''' Okay, that makes a bit more sense when put into those terms.
* In the ''Series/Daredevil2015'' fanfic series ''Three Wise Monkeys'', part 51 ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445263 Leviticus 19:11]]'' has Matt Murdock teach Peter Parker how useful sarcasm is in covering secret identities:
-->'''Matt:''' You, my dear Dominic [[labelnote:explanation]]All the people involved use fake names to hide their identities from the police on top of the superhero ones[[/labelnote]], are going to learn sarcasm.\\
'''Peter:''' Sarcasm?\\
'''Matt:''' Yes. Sarcasm. I want you to use sarcasm as a misdirection: say what you want to hide in the most sarcastic tone you can manage. For example, if someone says "You're a kid!", you say "Yes, sure, I fight crime, jump from building using a chemical compound I created myself and fought against Captain America, and I'm actually a teenager with school and homework and a curfew because I'm, you know, underage, despite spending most of my nights out."
* In the ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4754499/1/To_See_You_Again To See You Again]]'', when Yuriko's parents demand to know what's been going on for the past forty chapters or so, she says, "[[spoiler:[Kenshin] came through a [[TimeTravel time-warp]], and I'm the {{reincarnation}} [[ReincarnationRomance of his wife]]]]." She also said, "[[spoiler:I mean, he's not like a hundred and fifty]]!" Of course, this is exactly what happened. [[spoiler:Yuriko's father actually figured out it was the truth by the epilogue. He was cool with it]].
* ''Fanfic/YetAgainWithALittleExtraHelp'': A quick snippet between Yugito and A:
-->"Yes, Raikage-sama. While I was in Konoha, I met people who can travel between dimensions, [[PeggySue several people who came back through time to prevent Armageddon]], more than half of the jinchuriki in the world, learned of a secret organization that wants to take over the elemental nations, and met the creator of all the known universes in existence. It was a very enlightening experience."

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter'': When Lincoln's love interest Mary Todd asked Abe in a picnic why he was tired, he told her that he had been killing vampires at night, knowing full well that Mary would think he was joking.
* In ''Film/TheAccidentalGolfer'', Bruno at one point is asked by his wife who just called him. He says truthfully that it was his lover. "Haha." his wife sarcastically answers.
* ''Film/Aladdin2019'': While Aladdin is working out how to romance Jasmine, he sneaks into her quarters to try and talk to her in private. When she asks how he got on her balcony without her noticing, Aladdin replies 'Magic carpet'.
* ''Film/TheAmazingColossalMan''. A truck driver keeps badgering the gate sentries on the reason he's delivering all this food. Eventually a military policeman tells him that it's for the thirty-foot giant they have in the circus tent over there. The driver retorts, "Sure, you have!" and drives off.
* ''Film/AssaultOnWallStreet'': After Jim begins assassinating bankers and stockbrokers for their role in the financial crash, he meets up with his old police and security guard pals in their diner hang-out. When he brings up the recent killings, he sarcastically admits that he's the one behind it, but they take it as a joke. Still, it raises obvious doubts if one pays attention to their unnerved facial expressions.
* In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', [[JustBetweenYouAndMe Count Dooku "warns" Obi-Wan that the Sith control the Galactic Republic]], knowing that he won't be believed. He conveniently avoids saying that the Trade Federation is ''still'' working for Darth Sidious and that Dooku himself is a Sith Lord named Tyranus, however. The ExpandedUniverse implies, though, that even at this point he might want to kill Sidious, without consciously realizing that such urges are perfectly natural for a Sith (of course, he also lied a handful of times in the same conversation. He's quite the ManipulativeBastard).
** The Jedi Council, for their part, aren't sure if he was lying or not - although they clearly see that he was trying to sow seeds of mistrust between them and the Senate, they nonetheless agree that they need to be wary of the Senate, [[spoiler: which by ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' bites them hard as Master Windu tries to kill Chancellor Palpatine - revealed to be the Dark Lord himself - rather than expose him to a corrupt Senate that he thinks the Jedi will need to take over in order to prevent the Republic falling into chaos, which allows Palpatine to make his own sarcastic confession and say that the Jedi tried to kill him and take over the Republic, thus he was fully justified in purging them. He is 100% right when he tells the Senate this, he just leaves out the fact that he himself is pure evil and Windu was trying to stop him.]]
* In ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'', Professor Browne rants that the weakness of the criminal mind is "you tell them the complete truth and they'll believe nothing!" He says this ''right in front of'' the bad guys whom he proceeds to pull this on. [[GenreBlindness They fall for it.]]
* Happens in the Hong Kong film, ''Film/TheBlackButterfly''. The titular character is an assassin on a covert mission in Taiwan, where she shares a cab with a nosy reporter who tries starting a conversation with her. When the reporter asks for her job, Butterfly responds, "I'm a killer." Take note that she just killed a mobster less than 24 hours earlier.
* In ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', principal [[DeanBitterman Richard Vernon]] tries to publicly shame [[{{Jerkass}} John Bender]] for having pulled a false fire alarm, leading to his detention:
-->'''Vernon:''' What would you do if your home, your family... your ''dope'' was on fire?\\
'''Bender:''' Impossible, sir, it's in Johnson's underwear.
** Of course, earlier in the film he had indeed tucked his bag of weed into [[{{Geek}} Brian Johnson's]] pants.
* In ''Film/CabinByTheLake'', horror writer and serial killer Stanley plainly tells his Hollywood agent over the phone that he's kidnapped a girl and is keeping her hostage to do some research for his script. She ignorantly tells him to drown the girl.
* In ''Film/CalendarGirls'', Chris enters a store-bought cake into a baking contest, which it wins. When the judges call her up to share the secrets of her success, she says that she followed her mother's advice, the last part of which is to buy one at the store. Everyone thinks she's kidding.
* In ''Film/{{Closer}}'', Larry ask Alice (while she works as his stripper) what her real name is, and spends a good amount of money on it. She tells him it's Jane Jones. That being a rather unusual name, he doesn't believe her of course. At the end of the movie, we see her passport...
* In ''Film/CreatureWithAtomBrain'' the forensic scientist, Chet Walker, is so annoyed by the press badgering him to give them details about the murder that he goes right out and tells them that the murder was committed by an undead monster with radioactive blood. They all get mad at him.
* From ''Film/DayNightDayNight'', when someone is assisting a girl who dropped her heavy backpack on the sidewalk and is reluctant to receive help:
-->"What you got in there, body parts?"\\
"A bomb"\\
"Stop joking."
* ''Film/Destroyer2018'': Not a full confession, but very close. [[spoiler:When Erin is pushed off the crime scene by the investigating officer, she says "What if I could tell you exactly who killed him?" before flipping him the bird. It is later revealed that the victim is Silas, and she is the one who killed him.]]
%%* Happens in ''Film/DialMForMurder'' in the most blatant way possible.
* ''Film/EmilyTheCriminal'': While chatting with another guest at a party thrown by Liz, Emily tells him she doesn’t do art anymore and is into credit card fraud. The subject drops and everyone else treats it as a joke.
* ''Film/{{Faceless}}'': When one of his patients asks him what the secret of his rejuvenation treatment is, Dr. Flamand tells her that involves the injection of blood and bone marrow from young women. He then embellishes the story with fictitious details about it having to be harvested from virgins on the night of the full moon to make it sound like a elaborate joke.
* In ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'', the ManWithNoName joins a gang of robbers with the intent of getting close to their leader and kill him for the bounty on his head. His answer to the question why he wants to join: "Well, with such a big reward being offered on all of you gentlemen, I thought I might just tag along on your next robbery, might just turn you in to the law".
* ''Film/TheFugitive'':
** Dr. Richard Kimble has shaved off his beard and disguised himself as a doctor at a local hospital when a state trooper asks him if he's seen someone with Kimble's description, he says "Every time I look in the mirror, pal -- except the beard, of course." Sounds risky, but it might have been more suspicious if he didn't acknowledge it.
** Later in the same film, when the real killer is asked if he knew any reason why Dr. Kimble would come after him, he says "Well, hell yeah -- I have a prosthetic arm. I must have murdered his wife, right?"
* ''Film/GhostShip'': The major reveal in the film is innocuously foreshadowed pretty early on, but this only becomes clear in hindsight.
-->'''Epps:''' Have you told anyone else about this?\\
'''[[spoiler:Ferriman]]:''' Not a living soul.
* ''Film/{{The Girl Next Door|2004}}'': "Do those girls go to your school?" "No, actually, they're porn stars."
* ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss''. When the detective asks Roma [[INeverSaidItWasPoison how he knew there was a robbery]], Roma sarcastically replies "Yes, yes, I confess, I did it." Luckily for him, the detective detects (heh heh) the sarcasm.
* It's a RunningGag in ''Film/GrossePointeBlank'' that no one ever believes Martin when, after being asked what he does for a living, he tells them he's a professional killer.
--> [[spoiler:'''Debi''']]: ''[after learning the truth]'' You were joking! People joke all the time about the horrible things they do, they don't ''do'' them! It's absurd!
* In ''Film/HardCandy'', Hayley jokingly says early on that "Four out of five doctors agree that I am actually insane." Later, she repeats it, [[IronicEcho not at all jokingly]].
* ''Film/InBruges'':
** Ray, a hitman whose first job (assassinating a priest) went horribly awry when he accidentally killed a little boy, is asked during a date what he does for a living.
-->'''Ray:''' I shoot people for money.\\
'''Chloe:''' What kinds of people?\\
'''Ray:''' Priests, children, you know. The usual.\\
'''Chloe:''' Is there a lot of money to be made in that business?\\
'''Ray:''' There is for priests, there isn't for children.
** The film applies this trope to other characters too. But since the movie doesn't take place from their perspective, the audience finds themselves on the ''receiving end'' of sarcastic confessions and are not sure whether the character is telling the truth or just being sarcastic.
* In ''Film/TheHouseThatJackBuilt'', the titular VillainProtagonist confesses to a police officer that he is a SerialKiller, and that he has killed 60 people. The cop finds that number to be too absurdly high to be believable and as such he ignores the statement.
* ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'': Two game hunters remark on the BigBad testing his custom-designed gun, so he casually says that he's planning to assassinate the President of the United States. {{Subverted|Trope}} when the ColdHam delivery clues them in that he's not actually joking, so he kills them for their trouble.
* In ''Film/LiarLiar'', Jim Carrey is cursed with telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (at least as he perceives it) for a whole day, and unable to lie by omission or even remain silent. Naturally, he is asked what he really thinks of his bosses right in front of them. He gets out of the situation by taking it so far over the top that everyone thinks he's roasting them. He also attempts to trick the judge into adjourning for the day by beating himself up and then giving the judge a description of who did it (i.e. a desperate man). It almost works, until the judge asks him if he's able to continue. He's forced to say yes.
* In ''Film/LittleBigMan'', Jack Crabb tells General Custer in the final battle scene exactly what's going to happen if he charges forward. Crabb gives Custer the information because he knows that he won't be believed, and he isn't.
* In ''Film/TheMillionDollarDuck'', Katie sells the golden eggs laid by the titular duck to various refineries. She tells the people there that the nuggets came from a duck, and they all laugh, assuming she's joking.
* ''Film/MrRight'': Just like in its spiritual predecessor ''Film/GrossePointeBlank'', Francis does the "breezy, casual" version of this for pretty much the first half of the movie, as he drops the fact that he's a hitman and mentions various deadly encounters right in the middle of flirty conversation. Martha assumes these are joking BlatantLies until he finally goes on a little too long about his time in Serbia, which gets her thinking he might be more serious than she realized. (Then she's sure of it when he shoots a guy in broad daylight a minute later.)
* In ''Film/TheMule'', Earl's ex-wife asks him how he has managed to come into so much money. At first, he jokes that he's been working as a gigolo, then says he's a bounty hunter, then tells her that he's a drug mule for a cartel and has hundreds of kilos in his truck outside. His ex-wife interprets this to mean that he doesn't want to tell her the source of his money and gives up on asking him.
* ''Film/{{Nighthawks}}''. Wulfgar is flirting with a girl at a nightclub when she asks him what he does for a living.
-->"I'm an international terrorist wanted for bombings all over the world and a lady-killer."
* In ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'', Llewelyn Moss discovers the scene of a drug deal gone awry -- along with a satchel containing two million dollars. Upon taking it home, his wife asks what's inside the satchel, where he promptly answers "It's fulla money."
* In ''Film/OtherHalves'', when asked why she doesn't have a boyfriend, [[spoiler:Jasmine]] responds, "Because I kill and eat all my sexual conquests." The viewer knows this is remarkably close to the truth.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
** In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', Jack Sparrow does this with the two bickering redcoats, then points out that he knew they wouldn't believe him.
--->'''Mullroy:''' What's your purpose in Port Royal, Mr. Smith?\\
'''Murtogg:''' Yeah, and no lies.\\
'''Jack Sparrow:''' Well, then, I confess, it is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out.\\
'''Murtogg:''' I said no lies.\\
'''Mullroy:''' I think he's telling the truth.\\
'''Murtogg:''' If he were telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us.\\
'''Jack Sparrow:''' Unless, of course, he knew you wouldn't believe the truth even if he told it to you.
** In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'', Angelica tells Jack that she's convinced Blackbeard she's his daughter. He's understandably confused when it turns out she convinced him by virtue of it being ''true''.
--->'''Jack Sparrow:''' You lied to me... by telling the ''truth?''\\
'''Angelica:''' Yes.\\
'''Jack Sparrow:''' That is very good, may I use that?
* In ''Film/PlanB'', Laura asks her ex Bruno after one of their trysts what he's thinking about. Bruno -- who, unbeknownst to Laura, has befriended her current boyfriend Pablo and plans to seduce him to sabotage their relationship -- replies, "Your boyfriend," which Laura laughs at.
* ''Film/ThePost'': As Bagdikian is bringing the Pentagon Papers on his flight back to D.C., the stewardess sees him trying to put a seatbelt on one of the boxes he has and notes it must be precious cargo. Bagdikian responds, "It's just government secrets," which she laughs at.
* In ''Film/PracticalMagic'', Sally Owens accidentally kills Jimmy Angelov with an overdose of belladonna, and then after she and her sister resurrect him as a homicidal revenant, she is forced to kill him ''again''. Later in the film, when lawman Gary Hallet asks her if she killed Angelov, she answers--perfectly truthfully and with a flippant tone--"Oh, yeah. A couple of times."
* In ''Film/PresumedInnocent'', Rusty says to the lawyer prosecuting him for the murder of his mistress "You're right--you're always right". The prosecuting attorney actually tries to sell this to the judge as a real confession, but the unamused judge gives him a lecture on the concept of obvious sarcasm.
* Done for a short time in ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' -- Westley (still unable to move due to recently being OnlyMostlyDead) taunts Humperdinck while lying in a bed with "It's possible, Pig, I might be bluffing. It's conceivable, you miserable, vomitous mass, that I'm only lying here because I lack the strength to stand," -- then, he stands up.
* In ''Film/RedEye'', there was a minor case of this. Jackson Rippner is very unhappy about his [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast meaningful name...]]
-->'''Lisa:''' That wasn't very nice of your parents.\\
'''Jackson:''' No! That's what I told them! Right before [[SelfMadeOrphan I killed them]].
** The dialogue first third of that film is almost entirely composed of {{Sarcastic Confession}}s, until he makes it clear he's not joking.
* In ''Film/RedLights'', Sally and Tom are watching Matheson getting torn apart during a televised debate, and Tom tells Sally he hopes Matheson doesn't end up using the "dog and bone" analogy. When she does, Sally asks Tom how he knows, and Tom replies sarcastically, [[spoiler: "because I'm psychic"]]. The TwistEnding is that [[spoiler: he actually is]].
* In ''Film/RoadToPerdition'', a waitress asks Michael Sullivan and his son what they are doing in the middle of nowhere. Michael Sullivan Jr answers that they are bank robbers in an innocent voice. She treats this as a joke and doesn't look into the string of bank robberies following the gangster and his son across America.
* ''Film/ShowMeLove'': Elin mixes this with NotListeningToMeAreYou and adds in a pile of [[ComingOutStory "Really needs to say this aloud to another person."]]
-->''[she and her mother is watching TV. Her mother is engrossed in the show]''\\
'''Elin:''' ''[out of the blue]'' Mom, I am a lesbian. I am a homosexual.\\
''[her mother looks up from the TV, have clearly only heard one half of what she said]''\\
'''Elin:''' ...just kidding.\\
''[Mom looks bewildered and then mentally shrugs and returns to her show]''
* In ''Film/SiebenZwerge'', when questioned by the castle guard, Brummboss announces that he's there to bring freedom back to the land, defeat the false Queen, and free Snow White. The guard assumes he's applying for CourtJester and lets him in.
* ''Film/SpankingTheMonkey'': After an interrupted suicide attempt, Raymond kisses, then tries to strangle his mother Susan. One of his friends peeks through the window, asking what's going on. Raymond casually notes that he tried to kill his mom, which his friend takes as a joke.
* ''Film/{{Starkweather}}'': When Robert and Carol pick up Charlie and Caril Ann, and Robert asks what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere, Charlie replies "We just killed an old man, slept in his house, and then our car got stuck in the mud".
* Cardinal Richelieu does this in ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993''. King Louis tells the Cardinal that he's heard rumors that he is planning to betray him. Richelieu responds:
-->'''Richelieu:''' Ah, yes. That is usually the first. Let me see if I remember it correctly. While the English attack from without, the wicked Cardinal undermines from within, forging a secret alliance with Buckingham and placing himself on the throne. But really, Your Majesty, why stop there? I have heard much more festive variations. I make oaths with pagan gods, seduce the queen in her own chamber, teach pigs to dance and horses to fly and keep the moon carefully hidden within the folds of my robe. Have I forgotten anything?
** A scene or two before he'd tried to seduce the queen in her bath chamber, too!
* Done non-verbally as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome in the Creator/MelBrooks' remake of ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe''. The theater troupe sneaks several dozen Jewish refugees past a theater full of Nazis by dressing them up as clowns and making their getaway part of the show. When an elderly couple begins to panic, one of the clowns puts on a Nazi hat and pretends to be a Gestapo officer, then slaps Stars of David on them and marches them out to uproarious laughter.
* ''Film/TrueLies'' shows that even under a TruthSerum, the bad guys don't believe Arnie when he says he's gonna kill 'em.
* ''Film/WhereEaglesDare''. Smith tells Schaffer the reason he's late is that he found a beautiful blonde woman lying in the snow. Said woman is an intelligence agent who parachuted in after the commando team and is secretly working with Smith.
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', shortly after arriving in the past, Wolverine is confronted by some thugs who want to kill him for sleeping with their boss's daughter. Wolverine tries to convince them that it was his past self who did it and that they shouldn't be punishing him, all the while cracking some time travel jokes.

[[folder:Jokes]]
* Bob was having sex with his mistress. He noticed that he had stayed longer than he expected and got stressed. Took a piece of chalk, smeared his fingers and rushed out the door. At home, Alice was waiting for him. "Where have you been?" she asks. "I was sleeping with my mistress" replied Bob. "Show me your hands," she exclaimed. She took one look at his hands and screamed, "you bastard, you spent the whole evening playing pool again!".

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* Horribly subverted in the story of [[Literature/BookOfJudges Samson and Delilah]]. After lying about what his AchillesHeel is three times, he tells the truth the fourth time, apparently expecting her not to believe him. He really should've seen it coming, though, since she ''did'' try all the other things he claimed would weaken him; there's really no reason to think she wouldn't give it a shot ''this'' time, too.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In the ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' episode "The Cameo Show", when Charles Darwin and two police officers come across the Muppets carrying the dead body of Arsenio Hall (ItMakesSenseInContext), and Darwin asks "what's in the bag, a dead body?", they sarcastically admit that they killed the guest star. And then when he asks what's really in the bag after they make sure he doesn't have a warrant, Rizzo says that it's Arsenio Hall, and they all laugh again.

[[folder:Radio]]
* From the BBC radio adaptation of the {{Literature/Raffles}} story "Nine Points of the Law":
-->'''Addenbrooke:''' To hear you talk, one would think you'd done this kind of thing before.\\
'''Raffles:''' Oh, we have. We're the most notorious thieves in London, Bunny and I.\\
'''Addenbrooke:''' Heaven help us all if you ever do take to that line of country, gentlemen.
* A common tactic in ''Radio/TheUnbelievableTruth'', in which panelists are given five truths to "smuggle" past the others in a lecture of BlatantLies (sometimes, for example, by slipping them into long lists).

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' the Sidereals have a charm (magic power), Avoiding The Truth Technique, just for doing this.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* At the climax of the film/play ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'', Mortimer uses sarcasm combined with RefugeInAudacity to convince the police captain that his old aunts are crazy when they casually confess to having thirteen bodies buried in their cellar. It helps that they've just signed papers committing themselves to a mental institution.
* In ''Theatre/TheGoat'', Martin uses a sarcastic confession to test the waters before he [[IgnoredConfession flat out confesses]] to his wife that he's been sleeping with the title character. She laughs it off.
* In Creator/NormMacdonald's 2017 standup special ''Hitler's Dog, Gossip, and Trickery'', Norm describes a scenario in which a wife confronts her husband about the fact that he's been making eyes at her sister, and her husband responds with a sarcastic confession that grows more and more outlandish.
-->'''Husband:''' Hey, the only reason I married you is to fuck your sister, right?\\
'''Wife:''' No, I shouldn't have brought it up.\\
'''Husband:''' No! Why wouldn't you bring it up? I mean, you're the victim in this whole thing. I remember at the vows, I kept thinking, "I am going to seduce every member of my wife's family. Regardless of gender."
* In ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'', Henry Higgins is successfully (if secretly) passing off Eliza as a Duchess at a grand Ball; when he himself is asked his opinion of her, he says she's just a poor flower girl.
* In the musical version of ''Theatre/TheScarletPimpernel'', Sir Percy announces that he's the Scarlet Pimpernel in the middle of the royal ball, much to the amusement of all present.
* After the title character of ''Theatre/{{Tartuffe}}'' is caught making a move on his host's wife, the guy who caught him immediately runs off to tell on him to said host, Orgon. Tartuffe responds by saying that yes, he is a terrible, cruel, evil, sinful person who is unworthy of trust. [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter Orgon assumes he's being humble and acting as befits a holy man]], and decides that the accusations are all lies.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' has a scene where the main character meets Scarlet for the first time. They engage in small talk, and when she asks what Mike does for a living, one option is to admit you're a spy, which Mike does [[DeadpanSnarker in his usual tone of voice]]. Naturally, she doesn't believe him.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'':
** When Gordon asks who Batman keeps talking to over his comm, one option is to simply say "my butler." Naturally, Gordon doesn't believe it.
** The first episode of season two starts with Bruce visiting a casino to get dirt on the ArmsDealer who owns it. When a woman asks Bruce what he's up to, he can "confess" that he's there undercover.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', when [[spoiler:the Gate Key is stolen by reptites]], Azala asks the party what the purpose of said device is. You can either refuse to talk, or you can tell her ''exactly'' what it is. If you do the latter, she won't believe you, noting that [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough no one would actually talk so easily if the device did what you said it did]], and the story proceeds as though you refused to talk (since, from Azala's perspective, that's basically what you did).
* If the player pisses him off enough, and chooses the right conversation options, [[spoiler:Solas]] from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' will let you in on his post-game plans early.
-->[[spoiler:'''Inquisitor:''' The man who spends half his life in the Fade has no ideas on how to help the elves?]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Solas:''' Not unless we collapse the Veil and bring the Fade here so I can casually reshape reality, no.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' features a quest where you have to kill everyone at a party, Creator/AgathaChristie style. When you introduce yourself, one of the conversation options is "I'm an assassin, sent to kill you.", which just earns you a laugh--"Well, I'm glad someone has a sense of humour about this event,"--and immediately maxes out her disposition toward you.
* If you ask Arcade Gannon from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' about his past, he will joke that he doesn't like to talk about himself "to obfuscate my past involvement with a fascist paramilitary orgainization". [[spoiler:His father was an officer in the Enclave, an organization of, well, militant fascists, though it broke up when he was a child.]]
** You can also inform {{Yes Man}} that you are the Courier who he was [[RightInFrontOfMe just bragging about having helped set up his/her capture and "death" by a shot to the head]]. He starts laughing and assumes you're joking since you "still have a head". Once you claim you're serious [[OhCrap he stops laughing]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}/Indigo Prophecy'', at one point either Carla Valenti or Tyler Miles go talk to Lucas Kane about the murder case. Then they show him a composite sketch of the killer (said sketch's accuracy depending on the player's actions earlier). The only way to avoid raising suspicion is an option marked "Joke" where he says, "That could be a lot of people I know. Heck, it could even be me!"
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', one boss conversation during a friendly mock battle has one combatant joke to the other that if their nations go to war, they'll be able to fight like this whenever they want. [[spoiler: Turns out, Edelgard really ''is'' planning to go to war with the other nations.]]
* Iori Yagami from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' sarcastically claims that despite his violent tendencies, Orochi blood, and generally being a JerkAss, he hates violence. The fandom is torn as to whether or not his comment was sarcastic.
** This is implied to be genuine. He holds a deep hatred towards his father for making him what he is today; his initial hostility towards Kyo stems from their clan rivalry, and Iori figured that killing Kyo (his father's intention apparently) would end his suffering.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'':
** The player can use this to get through customs at the starport on Onderon.
--->'''Exile:''' The shuttle belongs to the leader of the Mandalorians. I'm a powerful Jedi.\\
'''Customs official:''' You could have just said "no". Answers like that mean more paperwork for me.
** If you choose this route, a group of bounty hunters (who would have ambushed you regardless of how you answered the official's questions) says your unusual comments helped them track you down.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/Persona4'' during the King's Game incident, when Naoto attempts to coerce TheTeam into revealing their involvement in the serial murder case. A drunk Yukiko and Rise proceed to explain that whenever the culprit throws someone into the TV, they go in and "Beat the crap outta Shadows with [their] Personas." Naturally, Naoto doesn't buy such an obvious lie for a second. [[spoiler:She changes her tune when she gets thrown in.]] Side note: how the hell they managed to get [[DrunkOnMilk drunk off non-alcoholic drinks]] is something we will never know.
* In the UpdatedReRelease of ''VideoGame/Persona5'', this happens at one point during the Justice Confidant. [[spoiler: Goro Akechi takes Joker to the arcade to play a shooting game, and jokes that he's practising to take him out. Akechi is indeed planning to kill Joker via headshot later on.]]
* ''VideoGame/RagingLoop'': A discussed trope early in the game. When Chiemi finds [[GuileHero Haruaki]] lost in the outskirts of her rural town, the conversation turns to why she'd take the risk of taking in a stranger... The two jokingly suggest that she's desperate for company despite the risk, needed an alibi for something, wanted to sleep with Haruaki, or would feel guilty if she let him die in the wilderness. Chiemi also jokes (drunkenly) that she'll kill Haruaki if she guesses his motive wrong. The thing she's sarcastically confessing to turns out to be [[spoiler:[[ExaggeratedTrope all of the above]]. Chiemi is trapped in a similar time loop to Haruaki and is so bored that she's willing to do just about anything for fun at this point.]]
* In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'', Kent asks what prompted you to move to the Valley. You can reply that your coworker at Joja Corporation died at his desk and [[https://i.redd.it/vg9mg9h0ew661.jpg nobody noticed or cared enough to clean up his body]]. Kent laughs, and thanks you for the joke.
* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' likes this one. At least once every game, one of the characters will reveal their tragic and touching emo backstory with fanfare... and then, having elicited sympathy from the rest of the party, they'll proceed to claim they were "just kidding".
* Used in ''VideoGame/XChangeAlternative''. When the protagonist's parents are on the phone and questioning him about why his voice sounds so odd, the player can choose to either lie or just admit his situation. The latter results in him snapping and explaining how a bizarre drug turned him into a girl, laughing insanely all the while and making no attempt to hide his lighter voice. Not only do they assume it's some elaborate joke, but it's also the only way to deflect their suspicion.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'':
** In the second chapter, Miu Iruma takes a jab at Tsumugi Shirogane's plain appearance and personality, saying that her glasses are the only thing that makes her noticeable. Tsumugi replies that in actuality, her glasses are the only thing concealing her true form, and those who witness it pay a terrible price. [[spoiler:Her "true form" is indeed as horrific as she implies since she's the mastermind and LoonyFan who orchestrated the entire killing game.]]
** Before the Chapter 2 trial, when Kokichi and Kirumi suggest that the killing game is being shown to the people outside, Monokuma says that the 13 remaining students are the only ones left in the world. [[spoiler:Subverted in that this is only true within the TrumanShowPlot]].
* In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'', Mitsuhide pretends to be so madly in love with the female main character on his route that he can't bear to leave her side for a moment when the real reason he won't leave her side is to prevent her from telling others about his plans to betray his lord Nobunaga. At least, that's what he leads the MC to believe; the ''real'' reason he won't leave her side is that he really has fallen madly in love with her but can't explain to her that he's actually planning to be a FakeDefector and has to keep her under constant surveillance so that the enemies he's pretending to ally with won't decide to kill her for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]]. He even lavishes her with sweet words and professions of love, knowing that his reputation as a two-faced ConsummateLiar will make her interpret them as mocking taunts instead of the painfully sincere love confessions they really are.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* An offscreen example was mentioned in ''WebAnimation/TheFrolloShow'' during the events of episode 16. When Wilford Brimley [[spoiler: becomes TheStarscream to the remaining members of Los no Frollos and reveals his own evil plans]], [[WebVideo/HitlerRants Hitler]] admits that Wilford told him about it, but he [[spoiler: dismissed his ramblings as mere "old man talk"]].
* ''WebAnimation/{{HFIL}}'': In "Frognapped", when Cell asks where Raditz has been, he says he was [[spoiler:banging Dodoria]]. Cell thinks he just made that up to annoy him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheAwakened'':
-->'''Sue:''' Oh, yeah, and I'm kind of in love with you, but you never seem to notice.
%%* Used in ''Webcomic/BetweenFailures'' ([[http://betweenfailures.net/archives/archive/979-he-lies Page 979]]), although not perfectly.
* Pulled twice in ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES''. Both comics have "The Best Lie" in the title (with the first following with "is the Truth".) [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2005/05/28/485-the-best-lie-is-the-truth/ The first time]], Alex convinces [[VideoGame/{{Lufia}} Daos]] that he put up a powerful mental shield so that Daos could not see his greatest fear, when, actually, his greatest fear (Evil Otto from ''VideoGame/{{Berzerk}}'') looked like something that Daos didn't consider remotely terrifying (a blinking smiley face.) [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2008/09/16/569-the-best-lie/ The second]], [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Bass]], after having already bluffed Amon into believing that he could achieve great power in the desert, admits (in a nervous tone) that he lied previously and was trying to trick Amon.
-->'''Bass:''' In fact, I'm doing it right now!
* In ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell'', Blue tells Vernon directly that she's there to distract him and his scientists while the others infiltrate his base. In fact, Vernon is GenreSavvy enough to take her at her word, but pretend not to.
* Invoked in ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', Summer Update 22:
-->'''[=ChrlsNChrg=]:''' There's an interesting principle at work, here.\\
If I tell them what happened, freely, then they won't believe it.\\
But if I charge them what the information is worth, then they'll buy it.\\
'''[=LordHamster=]:''' In both senses.
* In ''Webcomic/GetMedieval'', mob boss Broat [[http://get-medieval.livejournal.com/177949.html cheerfully informs]] his legal business associates that he has to go hire mob hitmen.
-->'''Voes:''' Your wife hates when you do that.\\
'''Broat:''' And they never suspect a thing.
%%* Early in ''Webcomic/AGirlAndHerFed'', Hope uses this to [[http://agirlandherfed.com/1.137.html deliberately troll]] Speedy.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': This is how Winsbury and Janet hide their SecretRelationship; as soon as one of their friends expresses [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=935 the first hint of suspicion]], they admit to being together, then tell a highly implausible and self-contradictory tale of how it happened. By the time they've finished, everyone has lost interest and assumed the whole thing is nonsense. Even Bud, their [[ItMakesSenseInContext psychic crab chaperone]], seems to have dismissed their relationship as too unlikely.
* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'' has Jigsaw Forte [[http://www.lastres0rt.com/2009/03/ask-a-stupid-question/ pulling this one off:]]
-->'''Jason:''' Tell me where Daisy went already! You should know!\\
'''Jigsaw:''' Sure, because we all know I'm a mind reader. After this, we're planning a magic act. Think you'd look good in sequins?
* In ''Webcomic/LeifAndThorn'', Thorn asks Kale why he's in therapy, to which he responds he "killed a bunch of people." Thorn first takes it as a joke, then becomes certain it's a joke when he hears Kale's name and doesn't recognize it. In fact, Kale committed the murders under a different name.
* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3010 Pintsize gives outlandish answers when asked where he has been.]] Readers who read the previous days' comics will know that the third answer is true, but upon hearing it Marten assumes that Pintsize is still screwing around and just gives up asking. The comic description says that ''all three'' answers were true.
* ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'': Used [[http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=838 here]].
* Basic premise of the Comet, the tabloid newspaper for which our MainCharacters work in ''Webcomic/ScandalSheet'' As Detweiler, the editor-in-chief, puts it, "We operate on two principles. First, that the most artistic way to lie is by telling the truth so unconvincingly that people are sure you are lying, and second, the best place to hide a needle isn't a haystack -- it's a [[NeedleInANeedleStack big pile of other needles]]." As it turns out, [[spoiler: the Comet actually employs a sasquatch named Phil and regularly gets information from a vampire named Samantha. They consider it their role in life to protect the rare and endangered supernatural beings of the Earth from being discovered and exploited by others. As such, most of the stories in the paper are made-up crap, but some of them are true -- no journalist with any self-respect at all will pursue them, though, since it's well-known that once it's been in the Comet, it can't possibly be correct.]]
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'':
** On the forums, someone once made a joke to the effect "The author'll have to [[spoiler:[[ApocalypseHow blow up the Milky Way]]]] next to top himself." The author responded, "[[AscendedFanon Hey, I should write this stuff down!]]" A year or two later...
** Kevyn[[spoiler:'s time-clone]] managed to pull one off [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-07-24 here]] by CryingWolf.
%%* Aggressively invoked in [[http://shortpacked.com/comic/book-1-brings-back-the-80s/04-roomies/a-49/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' strip.
* In ''WebComic/WildeLife'', Oscar's landlady warns him not to be late with the rent, commenting "[[WitchWithACapitalB I'm a real witch]]." Her name is [[Literature/BabaYaga Barbara Yaga]], by the way, and right after Oscar leaves, she transforms her two dogs into human children.
%%Note on link (in case it goes dead again): Used to be http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2003-06-02, but the date actually shown below the comic was 2003-06-19
* Done accidentally in ''Webcomic/TheWotch'', in [[http://www.thewotch.com/?comic=slumber-party-22 this comic]]. Jason is trying to keep Ivan off the trail and outright lies to him. When Ivan calls his bluff, Jason tells the truth. Then Ivan decides that Jason was lying the ''second'' time, and goes along with what Jason said the ''first'' time when he was outright lying.
-->'''Jason:''' Wow, I'm more clever than I thought.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/MotherOfLearning'', going backwards in time is widely known to be completely and utterly impossible--so when [[http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/16/Mother-of-Learning Taiven asks Zorian how]] [[spoiler:Zach, a third-year student like Zorian, managed to slay a dragon]], he goes ahead and tells her about the GroundhogDayLoop, knowing she won't believe him. [[spoiler:Unfortunately -- or perhaps fortunately -- his sister and his roommate ''do'']].
* ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'': From ''Not Always Legal'' comes [[https://notalwaysright.com/both-ham-fisted-and-half-aed/151605/ this tale]] of smuggling in post-war Belgium, where some police ask a heavy-set woman what she's sitting on and she responds ''completely'' truthfully...
* ''Literature/TheSaints'': Jason uses this while explaining why he needs a shopping cart full of [[BatterUp baseball bats]], [[PowerfulPick pickaxes]], knives, [[ChainPain bike chains]], [[AnAxeToGrind and an axe]].
* ''Literature/{{TOT}}'': When Mark first meets Maximus Slade, Slade very dryly tells him he's a werewolf who's come to eat his friends. After Slade kills two people in front of him, Mark realizes that he wasn't lying at all.
* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-5721 5721]] is a (fictional) [[ReadTheFinePrint paragraph within the Terms of Service]] for the messaging software Discord that [[SoldHisSoulForADonut signs over the users' souls]] to the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greco-Roman goddess Eris]], allowing her to [[VampiricDraining drain]] users' LifeEnergy [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly as a substitute for actual worship]]. "The majority of users who read the clause were found to have assumed it was a joke, as Discord is known for its humorous loading screens."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/TableFlip'': During the first round of One Night Ultimate Werewolf, [[spoiler:Arin]] at one point mockingly declares that "I'm just going to throw the game here: ''I'm'' the werewolf." [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'':
-->'''Yumi:''' I've gotta go.\\
'''William:''' Really? Where to?\\
'''Yumi:''' To save the world...
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', [[BigBad Vlad]] does this a lot, particularly in TheMovie, where he several times admits he's a diabolical supervillain, takes a pause, and then joins in the laughter at that [[VillainWithGoodPublicity utterly ridiculous idea]].
* On an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', a robbery attempt goes sour when the cops show up. A woman known to the crooks as "Sally" angrily demands to know who called the police. When no one owns up to it, she shrugs and says "Well, I guess it was me!" It was. "Sally" was actually Detective Elisa Maza in disguise.
* Parodied in the movie of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' when Doofenshmirtz-2 lies to our dimensions' Doofenshmirtz, only for him to pick up on it...
-->'''Doofenshmirtz-1:''' ...were you just being sarcastic?\\
'''Doofenshmirtz-2:''' ''[sarcastically]'' No...\\
'''Doofenshmirtz-1:''' I'm pretty sure that's what I sound like when I'm being sarcastic!
* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': The Brain ''loves'' to do this [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] whenever anyone questions his {{Paper Thin Disguise}}s. He matter-of-factly tells them he's an escaped lab mouse in a costume out to take over the world, knowing [[CassandraTruth nobody will believe it anyways]].
* Inverted (and combined with CryingWolf) in the ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "Grilled Cheese Deluxe". After an episode of competing to see who was the better liar, Benson demands to know what happened to mangle his sandwich so. Rigby excitedly gives a garbled, but truthful, explanation of the rather fantastic events between Benson discovering the theft of his first sandwich, and the current one being placed in his hands; Benson chews him out for lying. Mordecai, worn out and frustrated, drops a much shorter and more plausible lie, and Benson says, "There. Now wasn't it so much easier telling the truth?"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Homer once went to great lengths with this when he had to tell Marge that a chimp had kidnapped Bart. Comes complete with LampshadeHanging as Homer goes on to explicitly describe the trope and sarcastically inform Marge that he's making full use of it. When Marge finds out and gets mad that it was hidden from her, Homer complains that he did tell her, in great detail. In that same scene, Lisa asks why he's confessing sarcastically, pointing out that Marge will still be angry when she finds out; Homer responds by giving us this little gem:
--->'''Homer:''' Maybe I'm talking like this because I can't ''stop''. Oh ''help'' me, Lisa! I have serious ''mental'' problems!
** Parodied when Homer dresses up as an airline pilot to drink at the pilots-only bar of the Springfield airport:
--->'''Pilot:''' Hey... you're not just impersonating a pilot so you can drink here, are you?\\
'''Homer:''' ''[dejected]'' Yeah. That's exactly why I'm here.\\
'''Pilot:''' ''[laughs]'' You flyboys, you crack me up!\\
''[GilliganCut to Homer being forcefully shoved in the cockpit pilot seat]''\\
'''Homer:''' But I keep telling you I'm not a pilot!\\
'''Pilot:''' And I keep telling ''you'', ''you fly boys crack me up''!
* Hilariously inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Ladder to Heaven", where God catches Saddam Hussein building a WMD plant in Heaven.
-->'''God:''' Saddam, I've been hearing rumors that you're secretly building weapons of mass destruction up here.\\
'''Saddam:''' Weapons of mass destruction? No! This is a chocolate chip factory. See?\\
'''God:''' It looks like a chemical weapons plant.\\
'''Saddam:''' Look, God, if I was gonna secretly build a chemical weapons plant, I wouldn't make it ''look'' like a chemical weapons plant, would I? [[{{Irony}} I'd make it look like a chocolate chip factory or something]].\\
'''God:''' ...alright, just checking. ''[leaves]''\\
'''Saddam:''' Stupid asshole.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAvN6rXdkM From]] ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', "The Main Man":
-->'''Lois:''' I'm confused, Kent. See, I've lived in Metropolis most of my life and I can't figure out how some yokel from Smallville is suddenly getting every hot story in town.\\
'''Clark:''' Well, Lois, ''[[[ClarkKenting lowers his glasses]]]'' the truth is, I'm actually Superman in disguise and I only pretend to be a journalist in order to hear about disasters as they happen, and then squeeze you out of the byline.\\
''[[[{{Beat}} pause]]]''\\
'''Lois:''' You're a sick man, Kent. ''[walks off]''\\
'''Clark:''' ''[with a sly smile]'' You asked...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* As a young man, UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar (future ruler of Rome) was captured by pirates and held for ransom, which was a common tactic at the time. Apparently, Caesar was so charismatic that the pirates took a liking to him, and laughed when he joked that once he was released, he would ''definitely'' raise a naval task force, come back, and crucify them all. Once the ransom was paid, Caesar went back to Rome, raised a naval task force, came back, and crucified them all.
* In the French royal court of 1589, a monk named Jacques Clément requested to meet the (very unpopular) king Henry III, under the pretext of giving him a secret message. When interrogated by the guards about his intention (there were lots of rumours about an imminent assassination attempt against the king), he joked that he was indeed "a great killer". Once alone with Henry III, he stabbed him in the groin, and the king died the next day.
* When one of UsefulNotes/HernanCortez's lieutenants, Cristóbal de Olid, went rogue, Cortés sent an agent, Francisco de las Casas, to assassinate him. By an epic strike of bad luck, De las Casas ended up captured by Olid, who had him as a VIP hostage in an attempt to convince him to join the Olidians. De las Casas pretended to think about it, and in midst of the good mood, he joked to Olid that he might take some chance to follow his orders and kill him. Of course, this is exactly what he did.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilkinson General James Wilkinson]], head of the US Army under Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, was long suspected of being in the pay of the Spanish crown -- so much so that the General would jovially agree that he was a "Spanish pensioner" at social gatherings. Turns out, he ''was''.
* When Philippe Petit was going through the airport to get to New York for his famous tight-roping between the Twin Towers, a security officer naturally asked him what all the equipment was for. He told him. The officer laughed and let him through.
* In UsefulNotes/RichardFeynman's autobiography, ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'', Feynman tells of a fraternity prank where a door was stolen. He was the one who stole it, but even a year after it happened they still had no idea who had stolen it. He had confessed, but everyone just remembered that all the fraternity members had denied it. ("Yeah, ''I'' stole the door." "Cut it out, Feynman, this is ''serious!''")
** Additionally, he relates the story of how he got into a drunken brawl in a night club, with a black eye to prove it. When he truthfully explained where he got it, nobody believed him.
* Allegedly, famed Prohibition agent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izzy_Einstein Izzy Einstein]] was fond of using this trope to gain entrance to speakeasies, beseeching the guy on the door to let him in, as he was "a very thirsty Prohibition agent".
* Once, a taxi driver asked a city newcomer checking out of a hotel if he had a dead body inside his heavy bag. The newcomer matter-of-factly answered yes, and the taxi driver laughed. The newcomer was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer]].
* One of the Cambridge Five would regularly claim to be a KGB agent.
* Creator/JimmySavile was an English presenter and philanthropist who abused his position to groom children for sex. This wasn't confirmed or made public until after his death, but during his life he frequently made "jokes" that in hindsight were basically him admitting to it. Like in response to the question, "What are you doing these days?" he'd respond, "Anybody I can get me hands on," or that he was "feared in every girls' school in this country." As Ian Hislop put it, "It's a brilliant disguise: you dress up as a pedophile."
* UsefulNotes/NewJersey Governor Chris Christie was asked in a press conference if he had anything to do with the lane closures on the perpetually congested George Washington bridge. He joked that you might not have noticed, but he was the one setting up the traffic cones. A month later, his office was implicated in closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish a mayor who didn't endorse him.
* Corrie Ten Boom's book ''The Hiding Place'' relates an incident in which her niece, who had been taught to always tell the truth no matter what, was questioned by Nazis searching for her brothers (who were hiding in a cellar under a trapdoor, covered by a rug, beneath the kitchen table). She told them that her brothers were "under the table" and then burst out laughing when they lifted the tablecloth to look.

[[/folder]]

* Happens in ''Film/DialMForMurder'' in the most blatant way possible.

* When one of UsefulNotes/HernanCortez's lieutenants, Cristóbal de Olid, went rogue, he sent an agent, Francisco de las Casas, to assassinate him. By an epic strike of bad luck, De las Casas ended up captured by Olid, who had him as a VIP hostage in an attempt to convince him to join the Olidians. De las Casas pretended to think about it, and in midst of the good mood, he joked to Olid that he might take some chance to follow his orders and kill him. Of course, this is exactly what he did.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilkinson General James Wilkinson]], head of the US Army under Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, was long suspected of being in the pay of the Spanish crown -- so much so that the General would jovially agree that he was a "Spanish pensioner" at social gatherings. Turns out, he ''was''.

* As a young man, UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar (future ruler of Rome) was captured by pirates and held for ransom, which was a common tactic at the time. Apparently, Caesar was so charismatic that the pirates took a liking to him, and laughed when he joked that once he was released, he would ''definitely'' raise a naval task force, come back, and crucify them all. Once the ransom was paid, Caesar went back to Rome, raised a naval task force, came back, and crucified them all.
* In the French royal court of 1589, a monk named Jacques Clément requested to meet the (very unpopular) king Henry III, under the pretext of giving him a secret message. When interrogated by the guards about his intention (there were lots of rumours about an imminent assassination attempt against the king), he joked that he was indeed "a great killer". Once alone with Henry III, he stabbed him in the groin, and the king died the next day.

* ''WebAnimation/{{HFIL}}'': In "Frognapped", when Cell asks where Raditz has been, he says he was banging Dodoria. Cell thinks he just made that up to annoy him.

--> '''Vernon:''' What would you do if your home, your family... your ''dope'' was on fire?
-->'''Bender:''' Impossible, sir, it's in Johnson's underwear.

* ''Literature/TheSaints'': Jason uses this while explaining why he needs a shopping cart full of [[BatterUp baseball bats]], [[PowerfulPick pickaxes]], [[KnifeNut knives]], [[ChainPain bike chains]], [[AnAxeToGrind and an axe]].

'''We advise you to [[DontTryThisAtHome never try this]] in RealLife, particularly if you are being questioned by police.''' In some cases, the authorities in question are ''legally obligated'' to take anything you say at face value and act accordingly.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* In ''Film/PracticalMagic'', Sally Owens accidentally kills Jimmy Angelov with an overdose of belladonna, and then after she and her sister resurrect him as a homicidal revenant, she is forced to kill him ''again''. Later in the film, when lawman Gary Hallet asks her if she killed Angelov, she answers--perfectly truthfully and with a flippant tone--"Oh, yeah. A couple of times."
* Happens in the Hong Kong film, ''The Black Butterfly''. The titular character is an assassin on a covrrt mission in Taiwan, where she shares a cab with a nosy reporter who tries starting a conversation with her. When the reporter asks for her job, Butterfly responds, "I'm a killer." Take note that she just killed a mobster less than 24 hours earlier.
* In ''Film/RedEye'', there was a minor case of this. Jackson Rippner is very unhappy about his [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast meaningful name...]]
-->'''Lisa:''' That wasn't very nice of your parents.\\
'''Jackson:''' No! That's what I told them! Right before [[SelfMadeOrphan I killed them]].
** The dialogue first third of that film is almost entirely composed of {{Sarcastic Confession}}s, until he makes it clear he's not joking.
* In ''Film/RoadToPerdition'', a waitress asks Michael Sullivan and his son what they are doing in the middle of nowhere. Michael Sullivan Jr answers that they are bank robbers in an innocent voice. She treats this as a joke and doesn't look into the string of bank robberies following the gangster and his son across America.
* Cardinal Richelieu does this in ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993''. King Louis tells the Cardinal that he's heard rumors that he is planning to betray him. Richelieu responds:
-->'''Richelieu:''' Ah, yes. That is usually the first. Let me see if I remember it correctly. While the English attack from without, the wicked Cardinal undermines from within, forging a secret alliance with Buckingham and placing himself on the throne. But really, Your Majesty, why stop there? I have heard much more festive variations. I make oaths with pagan gods, seduce the queen in her own chamber, teach pigs to dance and horses to fly and keep the moon carefully hidden within the folds of my robe. Have I forgotten anything?
** A scene or two before he'd tried to seduce the queen in her bath chamber, too!

* In ''Film/TheMillionDollarDuck'', Katie sells the golden eggs laid by the titular duck to various refineries. She tells the people there that the nuggets came from a duck, and they all laugh, assuming she's joking.
* In ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'', Llewelyn Moss discovers the scene of a drug deal gone awry -- along with a satchel containing two million dollars. Upon taking it home, his wife asks what's inside the satchel, where he promptly answers "It's fulla money."

* A common tactic in ''Radio/TheUnbelievableTruth'', in which panelists are given five truths to "smuggle" past the others in a lecture of BlatantLies (sometimes, for example, by slipping them into long lists).

* At the climax of the film/play ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'', Mortimer uses sarcasm combined with RefugeInAudacity to convince the police captain that his old aunts are crazy when they casually confess to having thirteen bodies buried in their cellar. It helps that they've just signed papers committing themselves to a mental institution.

* In ''The Goat'', Martin uses a sarcastic confession to test the waters before he [[IgnoredConfession flat out confesses]] to his wife that he's been sleeping with the title character. She laughs it off.

* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' likes this one. At least once every game, one of the characters will reveal their tragic and touching emo backstory with fanfare... and then, having elicited sympathy from the rest of the party, they'll proceed to claim they were "just kidding".

* Used in ''X-change Alternative''. When the protagonist's parents are on the phone and questioning him about why his voice sounds so odd, the player can choose to either lie or just admit his situation. The latter results in him snapping and explaining how a bizarre drug turned him into a girl, laughing insanely all the while and making no attempt to hide his lighter voice. Not only do they assume it's some elaborate joke, but it's also the only way to deflect their suspicion.
* ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' has a scene where the main character meets Scarlet for the first time. They engage in small talk, and when she asks what Mike does for a living, one option is to admit you're a spy, which Mike does [[DeadpanSnarker in his usual tone of voice]]. Naturally, she doesn't believe him.
* If you ask Arcade Gannon from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' about his past, he will joke that he doesn't like to talk about himself "to obfuscate my past involvement with a fascist paramilitary orgainization". [[spoiler:His father was an officer in the Enclave, an organization of, well, militant fascists, though it broke up when he was a child.]]
** You can also inform {{Yes Man}} that you are the Courier who he was [[RightInFrontOfMe just bragging about having helped set up his/her capture and "death" by a shot to the head]]. He starts laughing and assumes you're joking since you "still have a head". Once you claim you're serious [[OhCrap he stops laughing]].

* If the player pisses him off enough, and chooses the right conversation options, [[spoiler:Solas]] from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' will let you in on his post-game plans early.
-->[[spoiler:'''Inquisitor:''' The man who spends half his life in the Fade has no ideas on how to help the elves?]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Solas:''' Not unless we collapse the Veil and bring the Fade here so I can casually reshape reality, no.]]
* At one point in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', when [[spoiler:the Gate Key is stolen by reptites]], Azala asks the party what the purpose of said device is. You can either refuse to talk, or you can tell her ''exactly'' what it is. If you do the latter, she won't believe you, noting that [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough no one would actually talk so easily if the device did what you said it did]], and the story proceeds as though you refused to talk (since, from Azala's perspective, that's basically what you did).
* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'':
** When Gordon asks who Batman keeps talking to over his comm, one option is to simply say "my butler." Naturally, Gordon doesn't believe it.
** The first episode of season two starts with Bruce visiting a casino to get dirt on the ArmsDealer who owns it. When a woman asks Bruce what he's up to, he can "confess" that he's there undercover.
* ''Raging Loop'': A discussed trope early in the game. When Chiemi finds [[GuileHero Haruaki]] lost in the outskirts of her rural town, the conversation turns to why she'd take the risk of taking in a stranger... The two jokingly suggest that she's desperate for company despite the risk, needed an alibi for something, wanted to sleep with Haruaki, or would feel guilty if she let him die in the wilderness. Chiemi also jokes (drunkenly) that she'll kill Haruaki if she guesses his motive wrong. The thing she's sarcastically confessing to turns out to be [[spoiler:[[ExaggeratedTrope all of the above]]. Chiemi is trapped in a similar time loop to Haruaki and is so bored that she's willing to do just about anything for fun at this point.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', one boss conversation during a friendly mock battle has one combatant joke to the other that if their nations go to war, they'll be able to fight like this whenever they want. [[spoiler: Turns out, Edelgard really ''is'' planning to go to war with the other nations.]]

* In ''Film/{{Closer}}'', Larry ask Alice (while she works as his stripper) what her real name is, and spends a good amount of money on it. She tells him it's Jane Jones. That being a rather unusual name, he doesn't believe her of course. At the end of the movie, we see her passport...
* In ''Film/TheAccidentalGolfer'', Bruno at one point is asked by his wife who just called him. He says truthfully that it was his lover. "Haha." his wife sarcastically answers.
* In ''Film/RoadToPerdition'', a waitress asks Michael Sullivan and his son what they are doing in the middle of nowhere. Michael Sullivan Jr answers that they are bank robbers in an innocent voice. She treats this as a joke and doesn't look into the string of bank robberies following the gangster and his son across America.
* In ''Film/LiarLiar'', Jim Carrey is cursed with telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (at least as he perceives it) for a whole day, and unable to lie by omission or even remain silent. Naturally, he is asked what he really thinks of his bosses right in front of them. He gets out of the situation by taking it so far over the top that everyone thinks he's roasting them. He also attempts to trick the judge into adjourning for the day by beating himself up and then giving the judge a description of who did it (i.e. a desperate man). It almost works, until the judge asks him if he's able to continue. He's forced to say yes.
* ''Film/TrueLies'' shows that even under a TruthSerum, the bad guys don't believe Arnie when he says he's gonna kill 'em.
* In ''Creature with Atom Brain'' the forensic scientist, Chet Walker, is so annoyed by the press badgering him to give them details about the murder that he goes right out and tells them that the murder was committed by an undead monster with radioactive blood. They all get mad at him.
* In ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', principal [[DeanBitterman Richard Vernon]] tries to publicly shame [[{{Jerkass}} John Bender]] for having pulled a false fire alarm, leading to his detention:
--> '''Vernon:''' What would you do if your home, your family... your ''dope'' was on fire?
-->'''Bender:''' Impossible, sir, it's in Johnson's underwear.
** Of course, earlier in the film he had indeed tucked his bag of weed into [[{{Geek}} Brian Johnson's]] pants.
* In ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'', the ManWithNoName joins a gang of robbers with the intent of getting close to their leader and kill him for the bounty on his head. His answer to the question why he wants to join: "Well, with such a big reward being offered on all of you gentlemen, I thought I might just tag along on your next robbery, might just turn you in to the law".

* ''Film/AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter'': When Lincoln's love interest Mary Todd asked Abe in a picnic why he was tired, he told her that he had been killing vampires at night, knowing full well that Mary would think he was joking.
* In ''Film/RedLights'', Sally and Tom are watching Matheson getting torn apart during a televised debate, and Tom tells Sally he hopes Matheson doesn't end up using the "dog and bone" analogy. When she does, Sally asks Tom how he knows, and Tom replies sarcastically, [[spoiler: "because I'm psychic"]]. The TwistEnding is that [[spoiler: he actually is]].
* It's a RunningGag in ''Film/GrossePointeBlank'' that no one ever believes Martin when, after being asked what he does for a living, he tells them he's a professional killer.
--> [[spoiler:'''Debi''']]: ''[after learning the truth]'' You were joking! People joke all the time about the horrible things they do, they don't ''do'' them! It's absurd!
* ''Film/GhostShip'': The major reveal in the film is innocuously foreshadowed pretty early on, but this only becomes clear in hindsight.
-->'''Epps:''' Have you told anyone else about this?\\
'''[[spoiler:Ferriman]]:''' Not a living soul.
* In ''Film/CabinByTheLake'', horror writer and serial killer Stanley plainly tells his Hollywood agent over the phone that he's kidnapped a girl and is keeping her hostage to do some research for his script. She ignorantly tells him to drown the girl.
* ''Film/TheFugitive'':
** Dr. Richard Kimble has shaved off his beard and disguised himself as a doctor at a local hospital when a state trooper asks him if he's seen someone with Kimble's description, he says "Every time I look in the mirror, pal -- except the beard, of course." Sounds risky, but it might have been more suspicious if he didn't acknowledge it.
** Later in the same film, when the real killer is asked if he knew any reason why Dr. Kimble would come after him, he says "Well, hell yeah -- I have a prosthetic arm. I must have murdered his wife, right?"
* ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss''. When the detective asks Roma [[INeverSaidItWasPoison how he knew there was a robbery]], Roma sarcastically replies "Yes, yes, I confess, I did it." Luckily for him, the detective detects (heh heh) the sarcasm.
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', shortly after arriving in the past, Wolverine is confronted by some thugs who want to kill him for sleeping with their boss's daughter. Wolverine tries to convince them that it was his past self who did it and that they shouldn't be punishing him, all the while cracking some time travel jokes.

* Done for a short time in ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' -- Westley (still unable to move due to recently being OnlyMostlyDead) taunts Humperdinck while lying in a bed with "It's possible, Pig, I might be bluffing. It's conceivable, you miserable, vomitous mass, that I'm only lying here because I lack the strength to stand," -- then, he stands up.
* From ''Film/DayNightDayNight'', when someone is assisting a girl who dropped her heavy backpack on the sidewalk and is reluctant to receive help:
-->"What you got in there, body parts?"\\
"A bomb"\\
"Stop joking."
* In ''Film/PresumedInnocent'', Rusty says to the lawyer prosecuting him for the murder of his mistress "You're right--you're always right". The prosecuting attorney actually tries to sell this to the judge as a real confession, but the unamused judge gives him a lecture on the concept of obvious sarcasm.

* In ''Film/OtherHalves'', when asked why she doesn't have a boyfriend, [[spoiler:Jasmine]] responds, "Because I kill and eat all my sexual conquests." The viewer knows this is remarkably close to the truth.

* ''Film/ThePost'': As Bagdikian is bringing the Pentagon Papers on his flight back to D.C., the stewardess sees him trying to put a seatbelt on one of the boxes he has and notes it must be precious cargo. Bagdikian responds, "It's just government secrets," which she laughs at.
* ''Film/AssaultOnWallStreet'': After Jim begins assassinating bankers and stockbrokers for their role in the financial crash, he meets up with his old police and security guard pals in their diner hang-out. When he brings up the recent killings, he sarcastically admits that he's the one behind it, but they take it as a joke. Still, it raises obvious doubts if one pays attention to their unnerved facial expressions.
* ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'': Two game hunters remark on the BigBad testing his custom-designed gun, so he casually says that he's planning to assassinate the President of the United States. {{Subverted|Trope}} when the ColdHam delivery clues them in that he's not actually joking, so he kills them for their trouble.
* ''Film/Destroyer2018'': Not a full confession, but very close. [[spoiler:When Erin is pushed off the crime scene by the investigating officer, she says "What if I could tell you exactly who killed him?" before flipping him the bird. It is later revealed that the victim is Silas, and she is the one who killed him.]]
* In ''Film/PlanB'', Laura asks her ex Bruno after one of their trysts what he's thinking about. Bruno -- who, unbeknownst to Laura, has befriended her current boyfriend Pablo and plans to seduce him to sabotage their relationship -- replies, "Your boyfriend," which Laura laughs at.
* ''Film/SpankingTheMonkey'': After an interrupted suicide attempt, Raymond kisses, then tries to strangle his mother Susan. One of his friends peeks through the window, asking what's going on. Raymond casually notes that he tried to kill his mom, which his friend takes as a joke.
* ''Film/{{Starkweather}}'': When Robert and Carol pick up Charlie and Caril Ann, and Robert asks what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere, Charlie replies "We just killed an old man, slept in his house, and then our car got stuck in the mud".
* ''Film/Aladdin2019'': While Aladdin is working out how to romance Jasmine, he sneaks into her quarters to try and talk to her in private. When she asks how he got on her balcony without her noticing, Aladdin replies 'Magic carpet'.
* ''Film/MrRight'': Just like in its spiritual predecessor ''Film/GrossePointeBlank'', Francis does the "breezy, casual" version of this for pretty much the first half of the movie, as he drops the fact that he's a hitman and mentions various deadly encounters right in the middle of flirty conversation. Martha assumes these are joking BlatantLies until he finally goes on a little too long about his time in Serbia, which gets her thinking he might be more serious than she realized. (Then she's sure of it when he shoots a guy in broad daylight a minute later.)

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11651647/2/Across-The-Time Across The Time]]'':
-->'''Nearly-Headless Nick:''' If only our dear Harry would tell us what his secret is.\\
'''Harry:''' Alright, fine. What if I tell you guys that I'm not from here? What if I tell you that I came from the distant future and in that future, I am the best auror ever live - or so they told me, and I was trained to handle both human and magical creatures such as ghost as well?\\
'''Hermione:''' If you didn't want to answer our questions in an honest and truthful way then just say it. You don't have to blurt all those crazing things just like what you did on the train.
* In ''Fanfic/ThePeaceNotPromised'', Lily arrives back in her dorm after curfew, having just had her FirstKiss with Severus. Since her dormmates both dislike Severus and have a hard time believing that anyone could be attracted to him, she ''nearly'' gets away with telling them that she was, "Why, snogging Sev under the moonlight, of course," -- but the memory of the kiss makes her blush, giving her away.
* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': When Draco is surprised by Harry making a joke about the life debts owed to her, thinking that that kind of humour [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness seems uncharacteristic for Rigel]], Harry tells him that, "I'm an imposter. I've hidden the real Rigel Black in a closet and taken over his life."[[note]]The closet part isn't true, of course; the real Arcturus Rigel Black is actually on a different continent.[[/note]]
* In ''Fanfic/CuckooBird,'' Izuku and Shinsou are both [[ChangelingTale changelings]] (which means that they CannotTellALie), and [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange instead of getting One For All]], Izuku uses his natural {{Animorphism}} powers at UA. After witnessing it for the first time:
-->'''Bakugou:''' Hey. Do you really think Deku has a Quirk?\\
'''Shinsou:''' Deku?\\
'''Bakugou:''' Midoriya. Team A.\\
'''Shinsou:''' And you’re asking me...if I think he has a Quirk. You saw what he did yesterday. What else would he have--magic?
* Done by Izuku in ''Fanfic/MyHeroPlaythrough'', though with nervousness instead sarcasm. Some of his classmates are asking about the sudden jumps in skill exhibited by Izuku, Tsuyu, and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra]]:
-->'''Ochako:''' Then how did you get better so fast?\\
'''Izuku:''' We went into a dungeon inside of All Might-sensei and fought some of his past enemies?\\
'''[[LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex Mikoto]]:''' If you can't or won't talk about it, just say that. Don't just go making video game jokes.\\
'''Izuku:''' Sorry?\\
'''Momo:''' So long as you three aren't breaking the law, I suppose you are allowed to have your secrets.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9925226/14/Knowing-The-Future Knowing the Future]]'':
-->'''Justin:''' Hey, Ogden, what happened to your hair? And where did you go with the unicorn yesterday?\\
'''Lucy:''' An entire herd of unicorns kidnapped me and performed an ancient unicorn blessing on me that removed all imperfections such as color in my hair. It's probably all listed in a book in the library. I can give you directions if you need?\\
'''Justin:''' Geez, if you didn't want to tell me, you could have just said. You didn't need to be rude.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger''. When Professor Goodwitch asks Jaune where his new powers came from, Jaune responds by sarcastically quipping "I'm possessed by the spirit of an ancient, magic warlord that got turned into a Grimm." While he only said that to throw her off, Goodwitch's experience with Ozpin leads her to immediately deduce that he's telling the truth, though she tries to hide it by pretending she doesn't believe him.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5159540/5/Murphy-s-Law Murphy's Law]]'':
-->'''Fat Lady:''' And just what were you doing out of bed at this hour?\\
'''Harry:''' Handing an illegal dragon egg off to some people who were going to smuggle it out of the country.\\
'''Fat Lady:''' If you were going to lie, you could have come up with something more believable.

-->'''Alya:''' (''rolls eyes'') Fine, keep it your secret for now.

* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': Chapter 21 (Episode 8 of the anime) establishes that Yotsuba, the fourth quintuplet, is a [[BadLiar lousy liar]]. She has a brief talk with Fuutarou while telling him the reason she takes his side over her sisters (he's been hired as their tutor but they don't want to study) is not because she wants to get better grades, but because she likes him. Then she immediately tries to pass it off as a joke to prove that she can lie. [[spoiler:Come Chapter 90, turns out she wasn't lying at all when she said that]].

* In an issue of ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', white Martians start controlling the minds of people in an attempt to ruin the lives of the Justice League. They force [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] to cut the Bat-Rope while Batman is dangling from it, send an angry mob after Jimmy Olsen, etc. One of their tricks is to briefly take control of Lois Lane while she and Clark are at the Daily Planet and have her rip open Clark's suit and expose him as Franchise/{{Superman}}. Immediately afterward, she comes to her senses and tries to fix it via this trope. With Clark's super-speedy help, she is able to make it look like a prank by ripping open an intern's suit as well, revealing that he suddenly has a Franchise/{{Batman}} shirt underneath. However, when she attempts to continue the gag by ripping open her own shirt and exposing herself as Franchise/WonderWoman Clark isn't fast enough and she ends up just... [[ClothingDamage exposing]] [[{{Fanservice}} herself]].

* Cormor from ''[[ComicBook/DungeonTheEarlyYears The Dungeon Series]]'' is an automaton and therefore cannot lie. At the beginning of his life, it gets him into all sort of trouble. After a few centuries, he's gotten good enough at Sarcastic Confession to build a whole life as an undercover automaton.
* ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'':
** The Grand Inquisitor's messenger [[ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} Petros]] is asked by King James of Scotland how he manages to carry a message from there to Spain and back in only a few days. His response? "[[SuperSpeed I ran very fast, sir.]]" Naturally, King James remarks on how funny he is.
** Subverted when an inquisitor investigating the witchbreed insiders takes his statement at face value to use it as a confession.
* From a ''ComicBook/BigTop'' story arc, where Dusty has been secretly replaced by a robot duplicate:
-->'''Dustybot:''' Pete. Tell me a secret, please.\\
'''Pete:''' What? What's ''with'' you? You've been acting really weird. Why do you want to hear secrets?\\
'''Dustybot:''' It is my primary objective. I have been programmed for intelligence collection.\\
'''Pete:''' Oh, ha ha. Seriously, what's up?\\
'''Dustybot:''' I'm just needy. Hold me, human.
* Summed up neatly in ''ComicBook/{{Darkhawk}}'' with the line, "The best way to keep a good secret is to tell everybody--then nobody believes you."

* This was how the Metans operated in Ditko's version of ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'': their outpost on Earth was disguised as a conspiracy theory insisting Metans were among us.
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'':
** The Trickster does this in the prelude to ''ComicBook/BlueDevil''.
--->'''Security Guard:''' Hiya, Mr. Jesse! What brings ''you'' here? I heard you was working over at Associated Pictures!\\
'''Trickster:''' That's right, Fred... I'm just here to steal the Blue Devil costume!\\
'''Security Guard:''' Ha ha! Always with the jokes!
** Barry Allen does this in a classic Silver Age ''Flash'' comic. ([[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/The_Flash_Vol_1_133 This one]], if you're curious.) When Iris wonders aloud about the timing of Barry's absences, he just casually tells her she's right: "One and one still makes one! [[CassandraTruth I'm the Flash]]!" Naturally, this flippant claim convinces Iris he's ''not''.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher2099'':
** A police department shrink strongly suspects that Jake Gallows is the Punisher (spoiler: he is) and barges into his home for a surprise visit/inspection/psych evaluation. When she starts questioning him, Jake confesses that he's the Punisher, and he has a bunch of criminals locked up in his basement, and he's just been down there beating one of them half to death for kicks. He even offers to show her the Punisher costume he keeps in the bedroom. Of course, she brushes all this off as misplaced anger over the death of his family. Little did she know that every word of it was ''true''.
** Subverted later when he feels attracted to her and feels bad for lying to her, so he actually confesses to being The Punisher. She doesn't believe him at first and thinks he's being sarcastic like the first time. He then proceeds to prove it.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'': Tommy Monaghan and his friend Nat the Hat are moving boxes of ammunition into his apartment when a neighbor asks what's in them. He tells her that they're full of guns and ammo, because he's a hitman, and he also has telepathy and x-ray vision. All true, but so absurd she doesn't believe him, and they end up dating. Sometime later, a hit goes bad and he turns up on her doorstep, shot up and covered in blood... She does not take this well.
* Done strangely twice by WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck in ''ComicBook/DoubleDuck'':
** The first time, tired of lying to her, he admits to Daisy he's a spy. Daisy, who previously fell for Donald's ''immense'' bullshit, believes it's a joke.
** The second time Daisy has found out that Donald is a spy, and is asking him if he has other secrets. He tells her he's also Paperinik, Duckburg's own superhero/vigilante. She believes him (not that it matters, given [[LaserGuidedAmnesia she gets her memory wiped of the whole adventure soon after]]). The other agents don't.
* The TrueCrime graphic novel ''ComicBook/DidYouHearWhatEddieGeinDone'' recounts how [[SerialKiller Ed]] would openly tell neighbours about all the {{shrunken head}}s and GenuineHumanHide furniture he had in his house, or confess to a local murder. The comic leaves it ambiguous whether it was really this trope or whether Ed was simply really bad at keeping secrets, but the end result is more or less the same, with everyone else in town just assuming he's a harmless {{Cloudcuckoolander}} with a morbid sense of humour.

* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'':
** Shinji is a master at lying by telling the truth. In a scene, Misato walks into Shinji and Asuka sprawled out over the floor after making out. So Shinji tells:
--->'''Shinji:''' This is exactly what it looks. Asuka and I were making out so hot and heavily that we tipped over and broke the chair.
** Later Asuka asks him how he got them out of that mess earlier, and Shinji explains the theory:
--->'''Asuka:''' Anyway, how did you do that earlier?\\
'''Shinji:''' In situations where denial or dishonesty is expected, the truth can often be dismissed as fabrication. Control of a situation is not just based off what you do, but what others expect you to do.\\
'''Asuka:''' You... lied by telling the truth?\\
'''Shinji:''' Think of it like pretending to make a feint in combat. If your opponent expects you to feint, if you follow through then the expected strike was the lie while the feint was a real attack.\\
'''Asuka:''' Okay, that makes a bit more sense when put into those terms.
* In the ''Series/Daredevil2015'' fanfic series ''Three Wise Monkeys'', part 51 ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445263 Leviticus 19:11]]'' has Matt Murdock teach Peter Parker how useful sarcasm is in covering secret identities:
-->'''Matt:''' You, my dear Dominic [[labelnote:explanation]]All the people involved use fake names to hide their identities from the police on top of the superhero ones[[/labelnote]], are going to learn sarcasm.\\
'''Peter:''' Sarcasm?\\
'''Matt:''' Yes. Sarcasm. I want you to use sarcasm as a misdirection: say what you want to hide in the most sarcastic tone you can manage. For example, if someone says "You're a kid!", you say "Yes, sure, I fight crime, jump from building using a chemical compound I created myself and fought against Captain America, and I'm actually a teenager with school and homework and a curfew because I'm, you know, underage, despite spending most of my nights out."
* In the ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4754499/1/To_See_You_Again To See You Again]]'', when Yuriko's parents demand to know what's been going on for the past forty chapters or so, she says, "[[spoiler:[Kenshin] came through a [[TimeTravel time-warp]], and I'm the {{reincarnation}} [[ReincarnationRomance of his wife]]]]." She also said, "[[spoiler:I mean, he's not like a hundred and fifty]]!" Of course, this is exactly what happened. [[spoiler:Yuriko's father actually figured out it was the truth by the epilogue. He was cool with it]].

* In ''Fanfic/AHero'', a ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' crossover fanfic, Dalek Sec introduces himself like so: "I AM AN IM-PERIAL-IS-TIC SPACE NAZI." Most write him off as a particularly dedicated cosplayer and move on.
* At one point in the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5491874/7/Ghost_Zone_Experience Ghost Zone Experience]]'', Maddie angrily tells Danny (when he's in his [[SecretIdentity ghost form]]) not to swipe their ghost hunting equipment (again). After [[{{Beat}} a moment]], he cheekily replies with "Yes, mother."
* ''Fanfic/YetAgainWithALittleExtraHelp'': A quick snippet between Yugito and A:
-->"Yes, Raikage-sama. While I was in Konoha, I met people who can travel between dimensions, [[PeggySue several people who came back through time to prevent Armageddon]], more than half of the jinchuriki in the world, learned of a secret organization that wants to take over the elemental nations, and met the creator of all the known universes in existence. It was a very enlightening experience."
* In ''Fanfic/GeorgeWeasleyAndTheComputationalError'', George isn't allowed to admit that he's a time traveler for a year, but whenever he's questioned about his identity (at least when he's possessing his younger self) he does admit that he's George Weasley. At one point, he lays claim to all the other names he's acquired throughout canon as being identifiers for him, including "Harry Potter" and "Tentacula".
* Comes up in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7714696/1/Honesty-is-the-Best-Policy Honesty is the Best Policy]]'' during an interrogation.
-->'''Leon:''' Next question--have you ever practiced sorcery?\\
'''Merlin:''' Oh, yeah--all the time. Like an idiot, every day I practice magic right under Uther's nose, right here in the very heart of Camelot. In fact, I use it around you knights a fair bit, too--not that you lot have ever noticed. In between mucking out the stables, scrubbing floors, being used as a target, and cleaning Arthur's socks--I'm enchanting weapons and scrub brushes, lighting fires with my incredible powers and then learning new spells at night, holed up with my secret spell book. You see -- I'm actually an all-powerful sorcerer. I just still feel this strange need to scrub Arthur's floors and let him throw things at me.\\
'''Leon:''' Honestly, Merlin, you shouldn't joke about such things.
* In ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'', after Kiyomi learned that her father had an affair while her mother was pregnant, she worries that Light might do the same to her. [[FalseReassurance Light assures her "you're my affair"]]. [[spoiler:He'd been seeing [[SlashFic L]] for years before he even met her]]. L does this too when he tells his steady boyfriend Stephen that he "fucks Prime Ministers".
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8217367/9/Back-to-the-Roots Back to the Roots]]'', after being badgered about his past constantly, [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] finally says, "Aizen is going to rule the world because he betrayed Soul Society and killed the Spirit King. I'm here to kill him before that happens because I'm a time traveler from the future. A future where you [Yoruichi] are a cat and Kisuke Urahara owns a Candy-Shop." Shusui and Yoruichi find this story hilarious. [[spoiler:Even Aizen, who's eavesdropping, thinks Ichigo is crazy]].
* In the final chapter of ''Fanfic/DeathNoteIITheHiddenNote'', KJ tells Angela that he's writing his cause of death in a journal he brought with him. When she asks why, he tells her that [[spoiler:he's Kira, her dad Nate River isn't insane, the journal he's writing in is actually a Death Note disguised as a journal, his mother and father are {{Shinigami}} now, and they're there to see him as he finishes being the new Kira]]. To which she smiles and says that if he didn't want to tell the truth, he could have just said so.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4238196/10/Harry-Potter-and-the-Marauders-of-the-Mind Harry Potter and the Marauders of the Mind]]'', Harry is looking for a book which supposedly tells how to become the Master of Death so he can create new bodies for the spirits of his parents, Sirius, and Remus. During his search, he mentions it to Andromeda Tonks.
-->'''Andromeda:''' So are you going to tell me why you need ''Sacrum Obitus''?\\
'''Harry:''' So I can become the Master of Death. Obviously.\\
'''Andromeda:''' Of course. How silly of me.

* Whenever asked what he is in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10917821/1/The-questionable-burdens-of-leadership-of-a-troll-Emperor The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor]]'', Naruto will flippantly tell people he's a god. Likewise, if he's asked how he became a god, he'll tell the questioner that he killed a zombie, let his wife eat a primordial god, then she fed him the fruit of life to make him a god as well.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10655012/11/Dreams Dreams]]'' Harry is sent back to his second year at Hogwarts when he's hit by a spell, then time-jumps ''again'' to fourth year after Ron beats him up for dating Ginny. Hermione becomes suspicious.
-->'''Hermione:''' Don't just sit there. Say something!\\
'''Harry:''' What do you want me to say, Hermione? That I'm some sort of time or inter-dimensional traveller switching places with my alternate self at random times?\\
'''Hermione:''' No!...I don't know! I just wish I knew what was going on.
* ''Fanfic/LadybugInAHalfShell'': When Chloe [[spoiler:accidentally kisses Casey Jone's cheek thinking he was Adrien]], Nino was holding Donatello’s camera, capturing all of it. He tells her that the footage has already uploaded to his computer and he was already emailing it to her entire class. When she demands to know where he lives to that she can sue him properly, Casey Jones tells her where Donatello lives knowing that she won’t believe him.
* In chapter 4 of ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13528971/chapters/31103673 On Love Squares, Triangles, and Pairings Simple]]'', Alya insists that Marinette explain how she went from being unable to even ''talk'' to Adrien to ''kissing'' him over a single weekend. Marinette responds by telling her exactly how it happened:
-->'''Marinette:''' Well, if you ''must'' know, he showed up on my balcony last night, serenaded me with Disney tunes, carried me off to the Eiffel Tower for a romantic midnight dinner, plied me with champagne, and declared his eternal love for me. That good enough for you?

* In ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'', Llewelyn Moss discovers the scene of a drug deal gone awry -- along with a satchel containing two million dollars. Upon taking it home, his wife asks what's inside the satchel, where he promptly answers "It's fulla money."

* ''Film/TheAmazingColossalMan''. When a truck driver asks what all the food he's delivering is ''really'' for, the sentry says it's for the giant living in the circus tent over there.

* In ''Film/{{Nighthawks}}'', the BigBad is flirting with a girl when she asks him what he does for a living.

** During the Magical World arc, [[spoiler:we find out that the layout of the world they are on is similar to the planet Mars, and that [[FunnyAneurysmMoment "joke"]] that Chao made earlier really IS a CassandraTruth. [[WillNotTellALie Chao never lies]], but she's perfectly willing to tell the truth in a way that would make normal people dismiss it as a joke]].

* ''Film/{{Destroyer}}'': Not a full confession, but very close. [[spoiler:When Erin is pushed off the crime scene by the investigating officer, she says "What if I could tell you exactly who killed him?" before flipping him the bird. It is later revealed that the victim is Silas, and she is the one who killed him.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': When Draco is surprised by "Rigel" making a joke about the life debts owed to "him", thinking that it [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness doesn't seem like him]], Harry tells him that, "I'm an imposter. I've hidden the real Rigel Black in a closet and taken over his life." (The closet part isn't true; he's actually on a different continent.)

'''Harry:''' Drapery accident. It was very traumatic.\\