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"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Difference between revisions
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== 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 ==
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* "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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110319220609/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cache-and-carry one column], Steve Mirsky uses the phrase "I'm not kidding, that's the actual plot." after summarizing ''[[Relentless]]''.
* ''[[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.
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{{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 [[Funetik Aksent"|yuman rights", "elf 'n safety"]], and "couldn't make this up". Except research has found that, yes, he actually does. Constantly.▼
=== Poetry ===
* 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}}▼
== Live-Action TV ==
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* 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. }}
▲== Periodicals ==
▲* 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.
== Radio ==
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{{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. }}
==
* 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.)
* ''[[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 31).
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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..."
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* Among the snippets used by Rage Comic there is a [[Memetic Mutation]] Linearts of [[How I Met Your Mother|Barney Stinson's]] "True Story" line and pose. Used by authors of Rage Comics to invoke this trope.
* 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 ==
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* 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 ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]▼
[[Category:Absurdity Ascendant]]
▲[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]
[[Category:The War On Straw]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Not Making This Up Disclaimer}}
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