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{{quote|"''That's not bad writing; that actually happened.''"|'''[[The Nostalgia Critic]]''' on Michael Jordan playing baseball in ''[[Space Jam]]''}}
Someone working on a show thinks the audience might not believe something being shown or described is real. It's not that [[Viewers are Morons|the writer thinks the audience is stupid]]. It's that the thing being shown [[Refuge in Audacity|actually is ridiculous or silly enough]] that there is ''good reason'' enough to think it's not real. So the writer includes a disclaimer directly to the audience. Sometimes this is [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]], but often it's a non-fiction show. Either way, this is making sure the audience knows this is not a joke, and, in case something seems too exaggerated, that legitimately it's [[Not Hyperbole]].
This is often to avoid [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]].
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Contrast [[Dan Browned]].
Not to be confused with [[
'''Note:''' If you really want other tropers to know you're not making something up, linking to this trope won't do much good. Instead, try
{{examples|suf=s}}
== Advertising ==
*
{{quote|Only ''Which?'' use genuinely filthy dogs to test washing machines for pet odour removal. ([[Beat]].) That's actually what we do.}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', when local [[Badass]] Saitou Hajime casually mentions that he's married, the manga has a little note in the panel: "This is historical fact."
** Made much funnier by the fact that ''none'' of the characters can believe anyone would marry Saitou. Kenshin remarks that his wife must have the patience of Buddha.
▲* ''Axis Power Hetalia'' gives us "The legend of Red Mount Fuji"
▲** Narator: Yeah, There really tried to do this people, [http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110111173430AAS4rX8 Google it]!!
== Comic Books ==
* While ''[[The Cartoon History of the Universe]]'' usually makes up quotes for [[Rule of Funny]], occasionally a quote will come with a disclaimer of "Someone actually said this!"
== Film ==
* ''[[Swimming
* ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]''. The screenwriter kindly informs us at the start of the movie that "Most of what follows is true."
* ''[[The Men Who Stare at Goats]]'' has text at the beginning stating "More of this is truer than you would believe." This itself becomes humorous in juxtaposition with the very first scene: a strait-laced man in a strait-laced military uniform with a strait-laced mustache running headlong into a wall and probably concussing himself.
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* ''[[I Love You Phillip Morris]]'': The unlikely true story of a gay con man escaping from a Texas prison five times to be reunited with his boyfriend (who he met in prison), becoming the CFO of a major company, faking his own death, and impersonating doctors, lawyers, FBI agents, etc, along the way. Hard to believe, right? So the filmakers begin with this disclaimer in the opening credits: "This really happened. It really did."
* The tagline for ''[[The Informant (film)|The Informant]]'' is that it's "based on a true tattle-tale."
* ''[[Fargo]]'' starts with a title screen saying that it's a true story. (The movie is completely fictional, but the [[Coen Brothers]] claim that some pieces of it came from various real cases.)
* This trope is [[Older Than They Think]], as evidenced by [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s [[Older Than Television|1929]] silent [[melodrama]] ''[[The Godless Girl]]'', which takes place for the most part in a reformatory ruled by a cruel head guard. A title card appears ''mid-film'' that claims that the guard's abuses of the inmates and the horrible conditions of the facility are commonplace in many reformatories, [[Author Filibuster|and must be called attention to for the better rehabilitation of our delinquent youth.]]
* The [[HBO]] TV movie ''[[wikipedia:The Pentagon Wars|The Pentagon Wars]]'' has a title card that goes something like "The [[Dark Comedy|following story]] would be a comedy (beat) if it didn't really happen". Imagine you want to make, essentially, an armored Humvee for fast troop transport but your higher-ups kept adding [[More Dakka]] to the [[Cool Car]] to the point of ''actually endangering the troops''
== Literature ==
* Günther Wallraff in ''Ganz Unten'' ("Lowest of the Low"), exposing the racism and [[No OSHA Compliance|horrible working conditions]] of the Turkish immigrant workers in the German Federal Republic.
* In the afterword of ''[[Conqueror|Lords of the Bow]]'', the author describes several areas where the novel differed from
* Mary Beth Bonacci is a Christian lecturer who talks to teenagers about abstinence. In her book, ''Real Love'', she features answers to actual questions from teens about sexuality. One of the questions, essentially, is from a guy who is interested in a girl, and wants to know whether he should ask her out or simply rape her. Bonacci begins her answer with this disclaimer.
* "I am not making this up" is a [[Catch Phrase]] of humor writer [[Dave Barry]]; he even named one of his books ''Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up''. Although sometimes [[Blatant Lies|he is anyway]]. On occasion, when he's reporting something genuine but really ridiculous, he'll say something like "I'm pretty sure I must have made this up."
* In [
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In the Author's Note at the end of ''[[
** In
* The author's note/introduction to the [[Stephen King]] story collection ''[[Hearts in Atlantis]]'', in a section that includes the usual "this is a work of fiction" disclaimer, also contains the line "Although it is difficult to believe, the sixties are not fictional; they actually happened."
* Inverted in ''[[Complete World Knowledge]]''. Each books starts with a reminder that John Hodgman ''is'' making this up. Although he has insisted that one blurb on the back of [[The Areas of My Expertise|the first book]], a letter of praise from a magus of the Church of Satan, is, in fact, genuine, although Hodgman himself is not a Satanist.
* [[Mary Renault]] wrote in the novel ''Funeral Games'' that Alexander the Great's body didn't decompose during the 48 hours following his death even though he had died in Babylon during a heat wave. Critics accused Renault of falling prey to the modern Eastern Orthodox myth of the "incorruptible saint". Renault pointed out in an author's note to the second edition that the story of Alexander's incorruptibility is part of the historical record, and was likely the result of his troops mistaking a profound pre-death coma for actual death. This kind of thing happened all the time with Renault's works, with the critics screeching in rage about things ''she got right'' because they weren't in accordance with conventional politically correct (for the '50s) wisdom.
* In the "Caveat, and Warning for Travelers" that opens the novel ''[[American Gods]]'', [[Neil Gaiman]] states the following: "Furthermore, it goes without saying that all of the people, living, dead, and otherwise in this story are fictional or used in a fictional context. Only the gods are real."
** Of course, at least one of the main ones was completely made up for the book.
* The opening of ''
* Neil Strauss does this at the beginning of [[The Game (novel)|The Game]]. He would have to because no one would believe the crazy events and people that he wrote about in the book.
* In the ''Orphanage / Jason Wander'' series by Robert Buettner, in the second book ''Orphan's Destiny'', the main character quotes "I am not making this up". It almost has to be a deliberate nod to [[Dave Barry]], as it occurs in Florida and is in reference to orange juice and space-industry politics.
* The [[Mercedes Lackey]] novel ''This Sceptered Isle'' contains one character who moves permanently underhill (elfland) and is replaced by a construct which slowly falls apart in magic-poor england. His "corpse" is then wrapped in lead to hold it together and buried before anyone can look at it. The book's afterward explains that he:
{{quote|died on the twenty-second of July, in the Palace of St. James, exactly as described in our story. And, as we described, for some unknown reason, though the official cause of death was stated as "consumption," his body was wrapped in lead and buried with almost obscene haste and in great secrecy. ... No one knows why he was treated in this odd fashion, though there has been a great deal of speculation by hundreds of scholars over the years. ... One almost does begin to believe in Sidhe. . . .}}
* ''[[1632]]'' ends with a disclaimer about which characters were real, which fictional, and which fictional but based on a real category of people.
* For their novel ''Freedom Bird'', Allan Cole and Chris Bunch inverted this with a disclaimer that "all of the people, places, times and events depicted herein" were '''completely fictional''', "including [[Ronald Reagan]], [[LSD]]25, Haight Street, Ashbury Street, the entire Year of 1967, the City of [[San Francisco]] and the State of [[California]]." It's so comforting to know that 1967 never actually happened.
* After the second ''[[Tom Stranger]]'' book mocks [[Bill Nye]] for having made "My Sex Junk", a secondary character [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall|leans on the fourth wall]] to note that, [[Who Would Want to Watch Us?|if this were made into an audiobook like Tom Stranger's previous adventure]], the listeners might not realize "My Sex Junk" is an actual thing Bill Nye made, and that it's just [[Brown Note|as horrible as the characters imply]] instead of exaggerated for comedic effect.
=== Periodicals ===
* Richard Littlejohn of the [[British Newspapers|Daily Mail]] is memetically famous for the phrases
===
* From ''Howl'', by Allen Ginsberg. Of course, given his reputation for being a little bit of a drug enthusiast, there's no telling if it really ''did'' happen.▼
* ''[[The Chaser's War on Everything]]'', known for [[Gag Sub|Gag Subs]], did this for their segment on Middle East TV, with the disclaimer "All translations independently verified by the ABC". It included things such as a member of the Egyptian Unique Mustache Association praising [[Adolf Hitler]]'s mustache (along with his genocide of Jews).▼
{{quote|who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer}}▼
== Live-Action TV ==
▲* ''[[The Chaser's War on Everything]]'', known for [[Gag Sub
* In the [[Flight of the Conchords]] documentary ''[[A Texan Odyssey]]'', a series of shots of Texans with cowboy hats dancing to country music in a bar is accompanied with the voiceover, "The people you see here are not actors. They're really like that."
* The CBBC show ''[[Horrible Histories (TV series)|Horrible Histories]]''(the more recent live-action show) has signs pop up during sketches, to the effect that they're not making up certain historical details. They even do it in the [[Expository Theme Tune]] when telling the audience that the show is hosted by a talking rat, although that was dropped after the first series.
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* On ''[[The Daily Show]]'', Jon Stewart will occasionally insist "And this is true" whenever something that actually happened sounded like a joke, due to the show's humorous way of re-telling actual news stories.
** Note that the show is fond of the [[Blatant Lies]] version, for humor ("[[Most Definitely Not a Villain|This is a real photo]] [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|and in no way doctored]]"), but it takes pains to make the two ''very'' easy to tell apart, since the [[Blatant Lies]] are done in an over the top manner often involving nonsensical things like unicorns and poorly photoshopped photos. So they try to make it easy to distinguish when they're making a joke or listing serious facts.
* In the ''[[Colbert Report]]'', Stephen insists [http://www.cc.com/video-clips/zzgfft/the-colbert-report-wheat-thins-sponsortunity that Nabisco literally sent him a one page memo about how to promote Wheat Thins and what the brand represents].
* ''[[The Soup]]'' uses similar disclaimers ("We did not doctor this, it really happened!") when showing real television clips that are uncomfortably close to the kind of satirical videos the show sometimes airs. See for example [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3rs4kqcpt4 Spaghetti Cat].
* British TV has a show, ''The Bubble,'' around this trope: four celeb guests are kept incommunicado for a week, then brought on stage and asked to guess which of a collection of news items really happened while they were out of touch and which are made up. They rarely do better than blind guessing.
* Evan Wright, author of ''[[Generation Kill]]'', provides commentary in the DVD release of the miniseries adaptation. He says "this really happened" for a few of the more ridiculous-looking events, notably when Corporal Person has a moment of [[Casual Danger Dialog]] where he calmly gets out of his vehicle and stands out in the open to yell at another driver to move, during the middle of an ambush with bullets flying everywhere around him.
* During Charlie Murphy's ''True Hollywood Stories'' on ''[[Chappelle's Show]]'', he tells a story about [[Prince]] inviting him, [[Eddie Murphy|his brother]] and some friends to play basketball. After trouncing the Murphys' team, Prince makes them pancakes, at which point the camera cuts back to Charlie Murphy, who assures us, "Really. Pancakes." After that Charlie assures us even further by asking the audience who in their right mind would make this up, and then demands that if we don't believe him to challenge Prince to a game of basketball ourselves and see how talented he is.
** During the ''True Hollywood Stories'' about Rick James, Rick James himself assures the audience that the insanity between him and Charlie Murphy they are about to see actually happened by saying, "Now this is true."
* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' dragged out the [[Will They or Won't They?]] between the eponymous characters for so long, with them supposedly getting married ''twice'', that they titled the actual marriage episode "Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding".
** Of course, this takes after the original DC Comics source material; that publisher has a long tradition of doing such things as marrying Lois and Clark, featured prominently on comic book covers, and having it turn out to be in an alternate universe or something; in the 1960s and 1970s, it was common to use the blurb "Not a hoax, not a dream, not an imaginary story!" when the story was actually part of the normal continuity.
* The [http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/ Kung Fu Monkey blog] frequently acts as a Disclaimer for ''[[Leverage]]''. That's not just for the plots [[Ripped from the Headlines]], either; according to [[Word of God]], when a [[Big Bad]] cuts loose with the [[Evil
* The skit 'Los Caquitos', from the ''[[Chespirito]]'' TV show, has an episode were Botija bets with Chompiras in a poker game based on the "good luck" that his [[Western Zodiac|horoscope]] predicted, yet it ends backfiring. The episode ends with a disclaimer saying that the horoscopes used through the episode were not made up by the writer, but taken verbatim from an actual Mexican newspaper.
* In an interview with Conan O'Brien, Paul Giamatti said that "''Thunderpants'' is a fine motion picture that I made in England a long time ago about a kid who farts uncontrollably. This came across my desk and I had to be a part of it... I play a guy from NASA who kidnaps him so that he can power a rocket." Giamatti had to repeatedly assure Conan that this was a real movie and Conan never seemed to be entirely sure whether or not Giamatti was joking. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NR9C338hbQ It's a real movie].
* The author of ''Sir Orfeo'' added this disclaimer when claiming that [[Blatant Lies|Thrace (a region in modern-day Turkey) was the old name for the city of Winchester in England.]]
* This is done in-universe on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]''. Ted is an [[Unreliable Narrator]] who is telling his teenage children the story of the many events leading up to him meeting their mother for the first time. Every so often the events he describes are so ridiculous that he has to emphasize to his children that things really happened that way.
** ''[[Memetic Mutation|True story.]]'' - Barney Stinson
== Music ==
* There is a really brilliant choral cantata called ''Rejoice In The Lamb'' by Benjamin Britten, based off the semi-crazy poem ''Jubilate Agno'' by the semi-crazy Christopher Smart. The alto solo begins like this:
{{quote|''For the mouse is a creature of great personal valor!
''For — this is a true case —
''Cat takes female mouse: male mouse will not depart,
''But stands threatening and daring...'' }}
* Luke Ski prefaces "Born To Lose" by assuring listeners that every word (and hence, every humiliation of his that it recounts) is absolutely true.
* [[Frank Zappa]]'s "Let's Make The Water Turn Black", which recalls the hijinks of brothers Ronnie and Kenny Williams, Frank's neighbors during the early 1960s.
{{quote|''Now believe me when I tell you that my song is really true
''I want everyone to listen and believe
''It's about some little people from a long time ago
''And all the things the neighbors didn't know...'' }}
== New Media ==
* The [[Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/hellobuglers feed] for ''[[The Bugle]]'' mostly features the same type of satire as the podcast, with the label "FACT ALERT" for the bits that aren't.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* One ''[[Bloom County]]'' strip showed new father Hodgepodge wearing a bra-like bib which holds bottles to allow men to "experience the joy of breastfeeding", as the narration puts it. After a [[Beat Panel]], Hodge [[No Fourth Wall|looks at the "camera"]] and says "That's it. The joke is that we're not kidding. $79, Sharper Image."
▲* Richard Littlejohn of the [[British Newspapers|Daily Mail]] is memetically famous for the phrases "[[Funetik Aksent|yuman rights", "elf 'n safety"]], and "couldn't make this up". Except research has found that, yes, he actually does. Constantly.
== Oral Tradition, Religion, Myths and Legends ==
* Several apostles have made this claim in [[The Bible]], often appealing to the fact that there were still-living witnesses at the time:
{{quote|'''Acts 26:25-26''': But Paul said, "I am not going mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and sound mind. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner."
'''1 Corinthians 15:6''': After [Christ was raised up,] he was seen by over five hundred brothers at once, the most of whom remain to the present, but some have [[Never Say "Die"|fallen asleep
'''2 Peter 1:16''': For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. }}
* There's also the pre-emptive invocation of this trope:
{{quote|'''Habakkuk 1:5''': Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told to you. }}
* [[Rush Limbaugh]] uses this as a sort of catch phrase when quoting news stories out of the newspaper that are... Well absurd.▼
* Herman Cain (while substituting for [[Neal Boortz]]) has reassured listeners that the Congressional switch board is indeed XXX-SOB-USOB and he is not making the number up. It turned out that the number, while allowing the caller to be connected to their congressman's office, belonged to a lobbying firm, not the government.▼
** [[Al Franken]] came up with the number as well.▼
* ''[[Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me]]'''s Peter Sagal also says "... and this is true:" a lot. While the fact thus introduced may indeed be true, it's usually followed up by another one that's ''blatantly'' false.▼
** The "Bluff the Listener" challenge is this [[Inverted Trope|inverted]], two panelists will make stories up, and a third will tell a true story, and the listener has to guess the true one.▼
* There's a round called ''Notes And Queries'' on ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'', in which Humph asks a question and one of the panellists come up with a possible answer, before Humph reads out the real one. Whenever the questions or answers got ridiculous enough, Humph would remind everyone that they were "out of a real book".▼
==
* If a comedian tells a true story to get laughs, you will often hear from them, "I'm not making this up" (or a variation of the phrase). Despite this disclaimer, it's still pretty hard to tell whether or not the story in question is true.
** [[Christopher Titus]] used it when describing to the audience his father's ''exact'' wishes on how he wanted his funeral and how he wanted to be buried. {{spoiler|He wanted to be put into a cardboard box, "open casket," a cover charge at the door (ladies get in free), and everyone would get a chance to pee on him (complete with Willie Nelsons "Blue-Eyes Crying in the Rain" playing).}} And that isn't even covering what he wanted done with his ashes...
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* When [[Lewis Black]] talks about his experiences in Miami, specifically when his rental car was stolen, he describes an encounter with a police officer who did not have a firm grasp of the English language. Verbs eluded him. Before repeating what the officer said, Black quips:
{{quote|And I'm quoting here, because I don't have the time or the energy to make shit up anymore. He said, "How money you make."}}
* Brian Regan used a bit where he related some of the most inane instructions he'd ever seen... on the side of a box of Pop-Tarts. It had, like, [[Rule of Funny|17 steps to it]] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110815185217/http://www2.kelloggs.com/ProductDetail.aspx?id=439 actually just 3]), along with microwave instructions!
{{quote|'''Regan:''' And I swear, it says "Microwave on high for ''three seconds''"... If you're wakin', eatin', and haulin' in 3 seconds, it's time for a change of lifestyle. }}
== [[Theatre]] ==
* During Anna Russell's synopsis of [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring Des Nibelungen]]'', she looks at the audience and says "I'm not making this up, you know!" (And she isn't.) Due to the context and delivery, it's one of the biggest laugh lines in her entire ''Ring'' routine. (This phrase became [[Signature Line|so strongly identified with her]] that it is in fact the title of her autobiography.)▼
▲== Talk Radio ==
* ''[[The Fly-By-Night Club]]'', a comedy revue in Alaska that performed at a (now long-closed) theater, had the running-gag line of "We're not making this up, people; we're not that good
▲* [[Rush Limbaugh]] uses this as a sort of catch phrase when quoting news stories out of the newspaper that are... Well absurd.
* In the musical ''[[The Robber Bridegroom]]'', the opening number, "Once Upon the Natchez Trace
▲* Herman Cain (while substituting for [[Neal Boortz]]) has reassured listeners that the Congressional switch board is indeed XXX-SOB-USOB and he is not making the number up. It turned out that the number, while allowing the caller to be connected to their congressman's office, belonged to a lobbying firm, not the government.
▲* [[Al Franken]] came up with the number as well.
▲* [[Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me]]'s Peter Sagal also says "... and this is true:" a lot. While the fact thus introduced may indeed be true, it's usually followed up by another one that's ''blatantly'' false.
▲** The "Bluff the Listener" challenge is this [[Inverted Trope|inverted]], two panelists will make stories up, and a third will tell a true story, and the listener has to guess the true one.
▲* There's a round called ''Notes And Queries'' on ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'', in which Humph asks a question and one of the panellists come up with a possible answer, before Humph reads out the real one. Whenever the questions or answers got ridiculous enough, Humph would remind everyone that they were "out of a real book".
▲* During Anna Russell's synopsis of [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring Des Nibelungen]]'', she looks at the audience and says "I'm not making this up, you know!" (And she isn't.) Due to the context and delivery, it's one of the biggest laugh lines in her entire ''Ring'' routine. (This phrase became so strongly identified with her that it is in fact the title of her autobiography.)
▲* The Fly-By-Night Club, a comedy revue in Alaska that performed at a (now long-closed) theater, had the running-gag line of "We're not making this up, people; we're not that good," when talking about epic non-politics failures by US Representative Don Young and Senator Lisa Murkowski (they bet in one of Alaska's only legal pool bets, that the ice at a specific spot on a specific river would break... On April 31st).
▲* In the musical ''The Robber Bridegroom'', the opening number, "Once Upon the Natchez Trace," contains repeated assertions that "this is true." Of course, this song talks about things like a man whose brother was only a talking head, and a woman whose beauty was so incredible that her sleeping naked under a full moon caused the moon to burn as hot as the sun.
== Video Games ==
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{{quote|Summons and dismisses a rideable Magic Rooster. No, seriously. This is a very fast mount.}}
* An achievement in ''[[Portal 2]]'' bears the description "That Just Happened." Given how you earn it, it's nice to have the confirmation.
== Web Comics ==
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** Also, the Gillette Razor Power Fusion Gamer: [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/2/ This Is Actually A Real Thing].
* Seen in [http://dizzy.pestermom.com/?p=thcomic12 this] parody in ''[[Touhou Nekokayou]]''.
* [
* ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' does it in [http://ffn.nodwick
* [http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1244 This comic] from ''[[PHD]]'', recounting artist Jorge Cham's experiences at British customs - which were absurd enough that there are not one, but ''two'', disclaimers.
* Used in the opening panel of [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=47 this] classic ([[Crowning Moment of Funny|and utterly hilarious]]) ''[[VG Cats]]''.
* ''[[Lil Formers]]'' did a [http://www.lilformers.com/blog/2009/09/21/09212009/ comic parodying handheld games], including a panel about ''[[Scribblenauts]]'', which included in [[The Rant]] a note, "The above strip is not even a joke, that's really how I beat that level."
* [http://www.explosm.net/comics/1310/ This] ''[[Cyanide
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' has done this by name at least [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0512.html once], linking back to [[TV Tropes]]. Note that this is incorrect use, and [[Do Not Try This At Home|should not be mimicked]].
* In ''[[Concession]]'', Kate (who is a pedophile) takes Artie (who is not, despite [[It Makes Sense in Context|that one time with the 9 year old transgendered kid]]) [http://concessioncomic.com/index.php?pid=20080509 to a NAMBLA meeting]. In [[The Rant]], Immy assured the reader that this is, in fact, [[wikipedia:Nambla|a real thing]].
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{{quote|We're going to do battle with '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}6ehL5DF6BqU ancient Egyptian laser beams]!''' (Caption: THIS ISN'T A JOKE - IT REALLY HAPPENS)}}
** Also, in ''[[Teen Titans Abridged]]'', with "INSTANCES OF ACTUAL DIALOGUE".
** Two more instances, in ''[[
{{quote|'''Polnareff''': OH, what's that? You say I can beat your bum? [[Ho Yay|Oh, you're into that stuff!]] (Caption: ACTUAL DUB DIALOGUE)}}
** And the second in regards to a bizarre case of [[Lip Lock]] in the dub, when Kakyoin spots J. Geil's Hanged Man in the steering wheel of their pickup:
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* Most of the [[Newgrounds]] ''[http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/youareafuckingmoron You Are A Fucking Moron]'' animations have Reginald say something like this at least once.
* When [[The Nostalgia Critic]] noted the [[Real Life]] part of ''[[Space Jam]]''.
** In his review of the animated... adaptation... ''[[Titanic: The Legend Goes On]]'', he holds up the DVD case as proof that it actually exists e repeated the gag.
** In his review of ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'': "{{spoiler|[Sam] goes to Robot Heaven}}!... [pause] I'm really not kidding!"
*** A similar gag is featured in the [[Topless Robot|Topless]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20131019022159/http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/bonus_robs_transformers_2_faqs.php Robot's] [[Transformers Film Series|Transformers 2]] post-review FAQ.
*** And in [http://www.the-editing-room.com/transformers2.html The Editing Room abridged script of the movie].
** In his review of the Cannon Films' ''[[Captain America (comics)]]'', he states he is not making "Captain America escapes an ambush by hot chicks by entering a pick-up truck driven by Ned Beatty" up.
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** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVV3MDJp5Xo&feature=related THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!] In ''[[The Neverending Story (film)|The Neverending Story]] III''.
** In his ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' film review, he points out that when a billboard advertising Yahoo falls on the [[Big Bad]]'s car, he isn't the one who dubbed in the Yahoo jingle of the time (a man singing "Yahooooo~ooo!" in a vaguely hillbilly-sounding voice).
** The cafe in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130925172259/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/sketches/33165-where-is-malachite this video] is a real place. The last part even gives you the address in case you want to stop by.
* Every time [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] says "I am dead fucking serious."
** In his ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] III'' review, when the screen fades from that random rat to Splinter and back, he says that he's "not making that up, they actually did that fade".
* In one of Stegblob's ''[[
** it was [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIy4uH173wE Robotnik Becomes Prime Minister] (at 2:33)
* When [[Zero Punctuation]] says "I ''wish'' I was fucking kidding!" when describing [[Trippy Finale Syndrome|the ending]] of ''[[Condemned]] 2''.
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** He also spends a good 15 seconds in "The Importance of Wearing Pants" reassuring us that he's not making up the story about the player who somehow left the house without his pants.
* When talking about the mass-censorship of comics in the mid 20th century, [[Moviebob]] added this disclaimer saying (complete with emphasis) "''THIS. ACTUALLY. HAPPENED.'''"
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312213938/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/The_Curse_of_the_Screaming_Dead_1982.aspx?Page=6 Occurs] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312171853/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Mister_T/U_F_O__Mystery.aspx?Page=2 quite] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312214033/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Day_of_the_Dead_2__Contagium_2005.aspx?Page=3 a] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312201944/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Zoom__Academy_for_Superheroes_2006.aspx?Page=2 lot] in [[The Agony Booth]] recaps. Sometimes there's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312184946/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Superman_IV__The_Quest_for_Peace_1987.aspx?Page=2 screencap] to prove it.
** Even came up in an [
*** One of the mods has even adopted "No, really." as his catchphrase.
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20130706032243/http://www.jabootu.com/sphere.htm Jabootu review] of the movie ''Sphere'' says this about the movie's ending: "No, really, that's what they came up with. No, I am not making this up just to make the movie sound stupider than it already is..."
** Another Jabootu example, from [https://web.archive.org/web/20130628010619/http://www.jabootu.com/cotsftt.htm the review] of the [[Superfriends]] episode "The Time Trap":
{{quote|Then, and ''I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP'', Batman orders Robin to "Use your [[Batman/Ho Yay|Bat Lube]]!"}}
* In the ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall]]'' review of ''[[All Star DC Comics|AllStar]] [[Batman]]'', Linkara reads out the script that came with the special edition in which Frank Miller details Vicki Vale's ass shot. All he does is read it out and put up a caption that says "This is not a joke. This is the actual script."
** In his ''Ultimates 3'' review, he keeps using his hilarious drunk voice for Tony Stark even after {{spoiler|Tony is revealed to be a robot imposter. He then singles out a line where the robot asks for vodka due to its personality imprint. "And that was just in case you thought I was being facetious in having the robot still have the drunk voice."}}
** His live review of the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' Manga, when he mentions it's by the same writer as ''Spider-Man: Reign''.
{{quote|'''Linkara''' It's also the story where Mary-Jane was killed by Peter Parker's [[Squick|radioactive sperm]]... I am not kidding at all.}}
* As [[Cleolinda Jones]] put it in [http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/630150.html her overview], "Hand to God, I did not make one word of that up. ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' means never having to say you're kidding".
Line 236 ⟶ 231:
* ''[[Auto Tune the News]]'' once [[Stupid Statement Dance Mix|sampled a speech]] by Steve Buyer warning that [[G-Rated Drug|smoking lettuce is as harmful to your health as smoking tobacco.]] Immediately after, just to prove no [[Manipulative Editing]] was at work, they include a news report about the actual speech, with the whole thing remixed together into [[Crowning Music of Awesome]].
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]], on [[The Little Mermaid|Ursula]]:
{{quote|"Not only was her design based on a drag queen..." [shows picture of Divine] "No, ''really''. }}
** In ''[[Freddy Got Fingered]]'', [[Brows Held High|Oancitizen]] says regarding acclaimed performance art involving [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|a woman stripping, bathing in honey and doing a monologue about poop in BDSM]]: "Before you ask, I'm not making a word of that up".
** Oan's show had during ''The Doom Generation'' a monologue performed by [[Atop the Fourth Wall|90s Kid]] that the caption reveals was actually used in the film's marketing campaign!
Line 247 ⟶ 240:
** From [http://www.cracked.com/article_20556_5-animal-rights-campaigns-that-managed-to-screw-over-animals.html 5 Animal Rights Campaigns That Managed to Screw Over Animals], about the dogs rescued from Michael Vick's dogfighting ring:
{{quote|One of the survivors was put in a program called Paws for Tales, where kids too shy to read aloud to human audiences practice their reading skills in front of dogs. No, really. That's not a sarcastic fake program we made up. (And that's not a stock image. That's Jonny Justice, the actual dog we're talking about.)}}
** Early in "[http://www.cracked.com/article_21674_5-movies-kids-that-stole-their-plot-from-adult-movies_p2.html 5 Movies For Kids That Stole Their Plot from Adult Movies]", Mark Hill and JM McNab intentionally switch the setups of ''[[The Santa Clause (film series)|The Santa Clause]]'' and ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'', assuming that readers will get the joke. But later, when comparing Wizard from ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' to Clyde from ''[[Wreck-It Ralph]]'', they comment on the former's video-game-character-like name and feel the need to point this out:
{{quote|(No, we didn't get the names mixed up -- Clyde is the video game villain, Wizard is the cabbie. Go figure.)}}
* GameCentral's [https://web.archive.org/web/20121110153404/http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/878649-coronation-street-the-mystery-of-the-missing-hotpot-recipe-review-readers-feature review] of ''[[Coronation Street]]: The Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe'' begins
{{quote|''This is a real game that exists. Don't say it isn't... it is!''}}
* Used by [[
* ''[[Skippy's
{{quote|174. Furby® is not allowed into classified areas. (I swear to the gods, I did not make that up, [[wikipedia:Furby#Classic Furbies|it's actually DOD policy.]])}}
* While [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUkK14bHDk reviewing] ''Human Killing Machine'', [[Stuart Ashen|Dr. Ashen]] does this after explaining that once you defeat Igor, you must fight his dog, named "Shepski."
{{quote|'''Dr. Ashen:''' I am not making this up, I promise!}}
*
* Did the 10:10 Movement really make a video which showed people, including children, being apathetic about climate change being blown up? Was it really introduced by Mr. Pauchuri in his official capacity as the head of the UN IPCC? Seriously, the UN didn't officially state that anyone doubting climate change should be murdered brutally? "No Pressure".
* Occasionally seen on [[This Very Wiki]]: sometimes an article will make a claim or describe something that sounds outlandish, and immediately follow it up with the parenthetical "(No, really.)".
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[South Park]]'' had the message "This Is What Scientologists Actually Believe" played over a scene showing the mythos of Scientology. Note this is almost verbatim the text of OT3, a regular part of the Scientology doctrine. Scientologists have been trying to forget that certain aspect of their religion <ref>
** Although the character in question is somewhat more humanoid than depicted...
** In "The Return of Chef", they had a similar disclaimer about the Super Adventure Club, a [[Fictional Counterpart]] of Scientology. The episode was essentially a [[Take That]] to Scientology (again) because the creators believed the organization forced Isaac Hayes (who voiced Chef) to leave the show.
** In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The
* In ''[[Titan Maximum]]'', they had a sword made out of aggregated diamond nanorods, the hardest substance in the known universe. What sounds like typical technobabble is remarked by saying that aggregated diamond nanorods [[wikipedia:Aggregated diamond nanorod|are, in fact, a real thing]], and they're every bit as hard as advertised. Making a ''sword'' out of the things probably wouldn't be a great idea (hardness isn't the only trait a good sword needs), but they really are the hardest substance known to man.
* Near the end of the second episode of ''[[Family Guy Presents Laugh It Up Fuzzball]]'', Brian (as Chewbacca) asks why Mort (Lando) is wearing Han's clothes. Brian then turns to the camera and explains that this isn't some weird joke they've made up. If you watch ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', Lando really is wearing Han's clothes for this scene.
▲* From ''Howl'', by Allen Ginsberg. Of course, given his reputation for being a little bit of a drug enthusiast, there's no telling if it really ''did'' happen.
▲{{quote|who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer}}
== Real Life ==
Line 280 ⟶ 268:
{{quote|''I am not making it up. I'll say it one more time: Tim's publicist's name is ''Bumble Ward''. There is somebody on this planet... named Bumble.''}}
* From [http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-italy-scandal6-2010mar06,0,5062523.story an LA Times article] about an Italian politician whose sex scandal with transsexual South American prostitutes drove him to a monastery: "Note to reader: The writer would love to pretend he has made all this up, but this is Italy, where one's imagination pales beside the operatic brio of real-life librettos that unfold with delicious, unseemly decadence."
* The non-fiction book ''The [[Wrestlecrap]] Book Of Lists'' said that [[Professional Wrestling|professional wrestler]] Joanie Laurer ([[Chyna]]) appeared as a judge for a Most Beautiful Transsexual contest, following that statement up with a "Not Making This Up
* The infamous Canadian Liberal Party attack ads of 2006 used these disclaimers while claiming outrageous things about their opponent [[Stephen Harper]] of the Conservative Party. This went into [[Narm]] territory with the ads that added "We are not allowed to make this up."
* Inverted with [[To Hell and Back|the movie about Audie Murphy]]... starring [[Audie Murphy]]. The man -- as talented a soldier as he was -- deliberately cut out some of his exploits from the movie believing that not even a "I Did Not Make This Up" disclaimer would be able to make the viewers believe it actually happened.
* Part of the reason why The Strangeways Prison riot was able to spread so quickly was because it started on [[April
* "I am not kidding." said Dick Van Dyke, after [http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/11/dick-van-dyke-porpoises-rescue being rescued by porpoises.]
* In the book ''Website Creation In Plain English'', the author says of a certain ASCII character, "it makes a computer go beep." He then explains he's not making this up and links to [[That Other Wiki]]'s article on the [wp:Bell character|Bell Character]. That's the thing to put on an infinite loop in high school computer science.
* During June
* The ''Boston Globe'' once ran [http://www.boston.com/travel/blog/2012/03/boston_a_haven.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed1_HP an article] where the first sentence was literally "We are not making this up: Boston is a very safe place to drive." Given the city's [[Drives Like Crazy|reputation]], the disclaimer was necessary.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]▼
[[Category:Absurdity Ascendant]]
▲[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]
[[Category:The War On Straw]]
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