Line #30 Main/ObviouslyFakeSignature


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%%
5	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%%
10
11	A character makes a weak attempt at forgery -- either because they're immature/stupid or because they consider their audience to be. The faked signature is impossible: the real person would obviously never sign a document that way. Sometimes, [[AccidentalMisnaming the name is even spelled wrong]].
12
13	If authority figures fall for such blatant forgery, it usually signifies how incompetent or easily gullible said authority figures are.
14
15	If this is being done by a child who is forging a note from one of their parents, they will likely sign the document with "Mom" or "Dad", especially if [[UnnamedParent the child doesn't know the parents' real names]].
16
17	Compare TheCon, BlatantLies, and TheIllegible. Compare ''and'' contrast ChildrenAreInnocent. Contrast the MasterForger who does slightly better work.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples:
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': In March 2001, Tomo bribes her way into Chiyo's 12th birthday party by claiming that she'll gift her an autograph from famed Yomiuri Giants infielder Kazuhiro Kiyohara, taking advantage of Chiyo's love of the baseball team. In the next strip, Tomo gives Chiyo the autograph, only for the latter to discover that it's just a blocky rendering of the kanji for Kiyohara's name, which Tomo gladly admits was her own handiwork. Chiyo's only response is to give the "autograph" back to Tomo while trembling with rage.
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
27	* ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' often featured a joke which inverted this trope:
28	-->"Why is this homework written in your father's handwriting?"\
29	"[[BlatantLies ...because I used his pen, sir?]]"
30	* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin attempts to do a parental signature for a document from school, signing it "Calvin's mom". He also signs a note to his teacher as "The President of the United States". She's not fooled.
31	* In some ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strips, Dogbert sells autographs supposedly made by famous people. In one such strip, he offers a baseball signed by Jesus. In another, he offers a ball signed by Martin Luther. When the prospective customer says he was looking for one signed by Martin Luther ''King'', Dogbert tells him to come back in a few minutes.
32	* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Paige attempts to forge her father's signature on a note to get it out of gym. She not only signs it 'Mister Fox', but she dots the i with a little love heart.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
36	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'': Early in the movie, Plankton steals King Neptune's crown, framing Mr. Krab for it by leaving a poorly written note where the crown was kept. The signature Plankton provides on the note is in poorly scrawled print, whereas Mr. Krab's ''real'' signature is clean old-fashioned cursive as previously seen on his driver's license in the episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E15SleepyTimeSuds Sleepy Time]]". Somehow, the signature Plankton provides is enough to fool King Neptune, kicking off Spongebob's quest to get the crown back.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
40	* In ''Film/TheSandlot'', Smalls steals his stepfather's signed Babe Ruth baseball to play with, only to knock it into "The Beast"'s yard. While he and his friends try to get it back, they replace it with a cheap store-bought ball that his friend Benny signed "Babe Ruthe". They specifically note that this won't fool the stepfather at all, but fortunately he's away on a business trip. It does fool Smalls' mom, long enough for the gang to retrieve the original ball.
41	* In ''Film/SweeneyTodd'', the ConMan Pirelli claims to have shaved the pope. The document that proves it is signed simply "The Pope".
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
45	* ''Literature/BimbosOfTheDeathSun:'' Fantasy writer (and AssholeVictim) Dungannon deliberately signs books he wrote as "J. R. R. Tolkien" when an obnoxious fan admits he only wants the autograph for the resale value.
46	* In ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'', the Boggies' attempts to remain undercover when signing into the inn leave something to be desired: Alias Undercover, Ivan Gottasecret, John Doe-Smith, and Ima Pseudonym.
47	* In Frances Edmonds' ''Cricket XXXX Cricket'' (an account of the 1986 [[UsefulNotes/TheAshes Ashes]] series) a fan insists her husband Phil is actually his teammate John Emburey, and then asks for his autograph. "In deference to the fan's encyclopedic knowledge of the game" Phil signs as Don Bradman, an Australian cricketing legend of decades before.
48	* ''Literature/DirtyBertie'': In "Report!", [[BookDumb Bertie]] gets a bad report card and tries to hide it from his parents, who threatened to give him a tutor if his grades didn't improve. He makes a fake report, but not only does he misspell several words, the signature is "Miss Boote (teecher)" (the teacher's real name was Miss ''Boot'').
49	%%* In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', Moist von Lipwig once signs a document 'Ethel Snake'.
50	* In the novel ''Literature/TrueGrit'', Ned Pepper makes Mattie forge a signature on a check. She does it, thinking as she does it that nobody will think it's the real signature: you can tell it was signed with a stick rather than a proper writing utensil, whereas the real person wouldn't have done that.
51	* The eponymous protagonist of ''Literature/{{Wilt}}'' is pressured (up to and including sleep deprivation) to confess to a crime that he actually wasn't able to commit. So he signs his confession as "Tom Sawyer".
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
55	* In an episode of ''Series/BarneyMiller'' Inspector Luger admires Wojo's signed 1936 World Series baseball and wants Wojo to sell it to him for $20. Wojo doesn't want to; but conveniently, they've arrested a forger. Wojo gets him to forge the signatures on another baseball and gives that one to Luger. Where this trope comes into play is, the forger added a signature: John Hancock.
56	-->'''Luger:''' Was he with the Giants?\
57	'''Wojo:''' No, um, he was one of the original Yankees.
58	* Parodied in a ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode where the Seventh Doctor signs a document with a ''question mark'' rather than reveal his name. And [[RefugeInAudacity it works]].
59	* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': In order to try and get out of doing homework, Drake writes a fake doctor's note claiming that he [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine twisted his liver]] and is consequently unable to read, write, or bathe, and signs it as "the doctor". When Josh points out that the doctor should probably have a name, he hastily amends it to "''Bob'' the doctor".
60	* In an episode of ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', [=McCormick=] attempts to replace Hardcastle's Wilt Chamberlain autographed basketball which has been stolen. Not being familiar with basketball, he signs it "Will Chamberlain" instead of "Wilt Chamberlain".
61	* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': In one episode, a woman kills her husband after she learns he faked her signature to clean out an account she'd set up for her efforts to start a business. When the detectives see the signatures on the checks, they note that it doesn't come close to matching the wife's and that the bank should have known. Realizing she didn't empty the account herself, it's what tipped them to her motive.
62	%% * In one episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', JD forges a basketball player's autograph for a patient finally on her way out of the hospital. Guess who walks in to take notice?
63	%% Don't make us guess. If you know who walks in, please edit to tell us.
64	* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}''; When DJ tries skipping school too many days in a row, he shows Darlene a note he forged with Roseanne's signature. Darlene is unimpressed:
65	-->'''Darlene Conner:''' Mom can usually sign her own name without having to erase a bunch of times.
66	%% * In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' season one, this is done by a shapeshifter morphed into LexLuthor while trying to withdraw money from his account.
67	* In ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'', the excuse notes signed "Epstein's mother" (or in one case "Epstein's mother's doctor") are a running gag.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Video Games]]
71	* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'': The quest "Catch a Spy" involves helping the Mages Guild root out a House Telvanni spy. The spy in question, [[spoiler:the assistant to idiot Archmage Trebonius,]] got their job by presenting a letter of recommendation that was supposedly from Imperial Battlemage Ocato. The letter's signature reads "Acatto". The fact that this mistake both happened and worked is meant to reflect poorly on both the spy and the one who allowed them into the Mages Guild.
72	* ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'': Your second encounter with Jorji Costava has him present his infamously bad fake passport. Even in the low-resolution style of the game, it looks like it was made with crayons. It's also for "Cobrastan", a country that doesn't exist[[note]]Jorji is from ''Obristan'', which is probably what he meant and [[EpicFail somehow failed to write]][[/note]]. Jorji tries to claim that the equally bad "pre-approved" stamp means that [[BlatantLies you don't have to bother examining it]], even though no such "pre-approval" exists within Arstotskan border security.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Websites]]
76	* One of the most famous articles on ''[[http://www.zug.com/ Zug]]'' is about a guy who noticed that nobody ever seemed to check signatures on receipts, so he decided to [[http://www.zug.com/live/83057/The-Credit-Card-Prank.html see how strange a signature he could create before it got rejected]]. He started doing pretty normal-looking signatures that obviously didn't match the signature on the back of his credit card, but quickly moved on to much more clearly fake things like signing with 'X', drawing pictures in the box, signing in hieroglyphs, signing as Zeus, and even writing 'I stole this card'. All were accepted. The ''only'' time it failed was in [[http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/ part two]] when he tried to buy three large-screen [=HDTVs=] with the signature 'not authorised'.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Western Animation]]
80	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
81	** In "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Somebody", Arthur and his friends try to [[StudentsPlayingMatchmaker pair their teacher Nigel Ratburn up with the school librarian Paige Turner]]. They write a love poem and pretend it's from Mr. Ratburn, but Ms. Turner realises it's fake due to the scrawled writing and the fact that several words were spelled wrong, including Mr. Ratburn's first name (which was spelled as "Nigal").
82	** In "The Feud", Binky writes a fake note from the mayor. The Brain realises it's a forgery when he realises "mayor" is spelled wrong.
83	* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'': One episode has the guys wanting to get their ears pierced, only to be told that they need parental permission first. What they come back with are two barely legible pieces of scrap paper in their own writing, with Butt-Head's stating "Just do it, huh-huh" and Beavis' stating "Yeah, yeah".
84	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In Mabel’s segment of “Bottomless Pit”, when Grunkle Stan is caught teaching a bear to drive, he manages to fool the sheriff with a forged note from “Dr. Medicine” about needing a “seeing-eye bear”. Bonus points for forging the letter [[RefugeInAudacity as they’re watching.]]
85	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sidekick}}'': Eric has been signing his own permission slips for Maxum Man since he's disappeared. It works, even if Professor Pamplemousse is suspicious.
86	-->'''Pamplemousse:''' Funny how his signature is different every time.\
87	'''Eric:''' Uh, that's so that no one can forge it!
88	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
89	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E2BartTheGenius Bart the Genius]]": Principal Skinner has a meeting with Bart, Marge, and Homer, where he accuses Bart of forging Homer's signature on several admission slips because of how childish the writing is. Then he compares one of the admission slips he brought along as evidence to the check Homer just signed for him and is proven wrong; [[SubvertedTrope Homer's handwriting really is just]] ''[[SubvertedTrope that]]'' [[SubvertedTrope bad]].
90	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E20TheBoyWhoKnewTooMuch The Boy Who Knew Too Much]]": Lampshaded. Skinner reads an obviously forged letter Bart did of Marge, in part stating, "Please excuse my bad handwriting; I recently busted whichever hand I write with."
91	** In "The Sweetest Apu", Homer tries to return a dented beer keg back to the guy he bought it from, who is named Apu. He tries to lie that it was already dented when he bought it by writing on the keg itself, "This keg had dents". He then signs it, "Apoo".
92	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ObviouslyFakeSignature