History Main / UncleTomfoolery

* ''Franchise/DieHard'':
** Interestingly, the first ''Film/DieHard'' flipped this ''a lot'', firstly with the white Creator/BruceWillis playing a wildcard trigger-happy cop whose only ally on the outside was a desk-riding black man who hadn't discharged a firearm on the job in years, ever since accidentally killing a child.
*** And the FBI agents who turn up to take over the scene are a white man and a black man who have the same last name and the same ''extremely'' by-the-book style. In fact, the bad guys are counting on it, as their plan only works if the FBI ''do'' go by the book.
*** The white agent even tries to play this one straight.
---->"Just like fuckin' Saigon, hey, Slick?"\\
(Nodding, smiling) "I was in junior high, dickhead."
*** [=McClane=]'s limousine driver Argyle is more or less a straight example of this trope, however. Except he's not cowardly and effectively takes out the gang's IT guy.

* Parodied in ''Film/BlazingSaddles' where the lead character briefly adopts the stereotype of a cowardly black man being held hostage to avoid an angry white mob. (The fact that none of the white mob have noticed he's holding himself hostage adds to the hilarity value)

** ''Film/TheFifthElement': Ruby Rhod an obvious parody of Music/{{Prince}} as a CampStraight musician who's a lothario with the women in spite of his campy style and mannerisms. He's incredibly loud, self-centered and cowardly, making him function in the plot as a comic-relief [[TheLoad load]].

** Creator/ChrisRock averts this role in ''Film/LethalWeapon4'', as he gets saddled to ''two'' heroes, one of whom is black and plays a middle role of being neither insane nor too by-the-book.

** In the [[Film/DieHard2 second film]], his ally, the straight-laced and bookish airport engineer, Leslie Barnes, is another aversion/inversion...
** ...and finally, in the threequel, ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', Creator/SamuelLJackson plays a serious normal (albeit badass) store owner who is forced to team up with [=McClane=].

* Creator/OrlandoJones averts this in ''Film/{{Evolution|2001}}''. He's the comic relief of the film, but is also a trained scientist who is allowed to demonstrate his knowledge (and his skills with firearms) at several points. They also lampshade it several times during the movie.

* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' not only averts this trope with Django himself, but also [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructs]] it with Stephen, who is first introduced in a somewhat comical fashion as being {{Large Ham}}mily incredulous at Django being on a horse and being treated as a guest at the big house, and then spends most of dinner parroting his master (the BigBad of the film). However, he is considerably more observant and intelligent than the BigBad and when he is alone with the black slaves he becomes extremely sinister, suggesting that the Uncle Tomfoolery is his deliberately being sufficiently non-threatening to the whites that he is allowed to keep his position of power within the household and act as his master's [[TheDragon dragon]]. [[spoiler:He is also, at the very least, a DragonAscendant; he not only outlives his master but also gets dramatically killed while shouting curses in the film's violent climax, further suggesting that he is more of a BigBad than his [[TheFool Fool]] of a master.]]
* Inverted in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' where Creator/ErnieHudson's Winston Zeddmore is pragmatic and unfazed by all the weirdness and an all around grounding presence for the team, while the excitable comic relief goes to Creator/DanAykroyd's Ray Stanz instead.

This is a trope with a long history in Hollywood movies as far back as the [[TheRoaringTwenties '20s]]; in the very early days, it was often played by a white actor in {{blackface}}. No mystery or old-dark-house movie was complete without the stock character of the cringing black servant or chauffeur who was extremely superstitious. ("Boss! Spooks!") This stereotype was so popular that actors like Lincoln "Stepin Fetchit" Perry even made whole careers out of the role. This in turn was a shamelessly racist adaptation of the old melodrama and theatre trope of the incompetent domestic servant, and more generally of darkies from minstrel shows.

[[caption-width-right:310:Merciless, unrelenting foolery... [[RecycledInSpace in space]]!]]

** Tucker's character in ''Film/MoneyTalks''.
** He provides the page image as Ruby Rhod in ''Film/TheFifthElement'', an obvious parody of Music/{{Prince}} as a CampStraight musician who's a lothario with the women in spite of his campy style and mannerisms. He's incredibly loud, self-centered and cowardly, making him function in the plot as a comic-relief [[TheLoad load]].

** In the parody of ''Series/{{Roots}}'', Bill, Tim and Graham are sold as slaves to the BBC, so they deliberately muck up their auditions so they won't be selected for anything. However the BBC guy says that makes them perfect for one particular role. Cue the trio in blackface for ''Series/TheBlackAndWhiteMinstrelShow''.

* Sazh[[labelnote:*]]who also happens to be voiced by the same actor as the aforementionned Mudflap and Black Baron. Tough luck, Reno Wilson.[[/labelnote]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', to a degree. While he exhibits a few aspects of this trope on the surface, in reality he serves as the voice of reason for the party and constantly delivers much-needed [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan verbal bitchslaps whenever anyone starts getting too wrapped up in their own emotional bullshit]].
* In supplemental material for the first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' game, the creator stated that two characters didn't make the final cut of characters: A giant cyborg man who could hold up walls (this person later became Barry), and a tall, skinny black guy who constantly cracked jokes and ran from the zombies. This guy was thrown out because of the obvious UnfortunateImplications, and players would not see a (living) black character in the series until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'', who is somewhat wacky and a LovableCoward, but not to a cartoonish extent.

->'''Blue:''' ♫ [[Music/MarvinGaye Ain't no mountain high enough! Ain't no valley low enough! Ain't–]]\\
'''Julius:''' Blue, shut up! I don't wanna see all your smilin', shufflin', or hear all your minstrly-show singin' on this bus.

** In the first ''Film/RushHour'', Tucker is supposed to be playing a loudmouthed, reckless cop who plays by his own rules, in contrast to the badass but reticent and by-the-book Creator/JackieChan. This classic SaltAndPepper / OddCouple pairing grew more into Uncle Tom Foolery in the sequels, where Tucker's character became [[{{Flanderization}} more shrill and wacky]], abandoned actual policing for successful stereotyping, and surprisingly became an incredibly competent fighter.

* ''Film/TheLastDragon'' has a SaltAndPepper pairing with two ''black'' characters. The streetwise PluckyComicRelief often has to remind Taimak that he's black while he persists in speaking and acting as a Chinese immigrant. Also inverted in the character of Johnny Yu. While Taimak continues to play it straight, Yu is the apprentice who just can't stay out of trouble. ''Definitely'' inverted in the case when Taimak [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments dressed as a 19th Century Chinese day-laborer (his idea of a disguise) comes across a trio of Chinese Mooks who dress and act like stereotypical Black guys right down to shooting Craps against the door they're supposed to be guarding]].

* Creator/OrlandoJones averts this in ''Film/{{Evolution}}''. He's the comic relief of the film, but is also a trained scientist who is allowed to demonstrate his knowledge (and his skills with firearms) at several points. They also lampshade it several times during the movie.