Bad Liar: Difference between revisions

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* Hurley on ''[[Lost]]''.

** Often with [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious results.]]

* An odd [[Reality Television]] example is Zoe Zanidakis from the fourth season of ''[[Survivor]]''. When Kathy asks her if she's going to vote Kathy out, Zoe pauses for over ten seconds. Then she says no. Oops.

* Ned in ''[[Pushing Daisies]]''. When asked how he worked out that the [[Victim of the Week]]'s plane was hijacked just from looking at his body (when what he actually did was resurrect the victim and talk to him), he said "DNA...ish?" In another episode, he and his cohorts pretended to have been sent by the Vatican, and when a nun said that she thought they'd be Italian, his response was "We are. Part time."

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Jaynestown" Simon has to pose as a buyer of mud. Luckily for him, the foreman has not one grain of paranoia in him, as he's very, very unconvincing. This elicits the remark by a crewmember: "Who is this diabolical master of disguise?"

** In the movie ''[[Serenity]]'', he does a better job impersonating an Alliance inspector. Which is odd, because technically that scene came first for the character.

*** Plus, he had time to prepare before infiltrating the Academy. Mal designated him as their buyer cover about five minutes before he had to perform. Simon does not do that well on the spot, but give him prep time, and he's pretty gorram amazing.

*** Perhaps because he's never thought of buying mud, and has little to no idea what is done with it, while he's very good at the medical jargon used at the Academy.

** In the episode "Ariel", Jayne tries to convince the hospital authorities that he's an ambulance driver. After a heap of coaching, he answers the question even though it's never asked.

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' had Tommy Flanagan (Jon Lovitz) and his wife, Morgan Fairchild... ''whom'' he's slept with.

* A perennial flaw of the [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]]. Basil Fawlty of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' and [[Father Ted]] are two major examples. In their case it's to get out of trying situations, only the explanations become so convoluted, bizarre and obviously fake, they needn't have bothered.

* Rene in ''[['Allo 'Allo!|Allo Allo]]'' is also a terrible liar, never more than when trying to explain to his wife why he's embracing one of the waitresses. She however seems to accept his nonsense -- whether she genuinely believes it or just wants a quiet life is never clear.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', in the episode "Anne":

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'''Ford:''' Oh. I thought you were just slaying a vampire.

'''Buffy:''' What? Whating a what? }}

** And then there's Anya trying really hard to convince the Watchers' Council that there isn't anything demonic in her origin, no sir.

** Early on, Willow got this role before basically passing it on to Anya.

** Also, when Faith tries to frame Buffy to Giles for something she did (can't remember what), Giles only pretends to be mad at Buffy until Faith leaves, at which point he reveals he knew Faith did it, since lying isn't one of her strong points.

* Over on ''[[Angel]]'', according to Gunn, lying is the "one" thing Fred isn't good at.

* Normally, Dean Winchester of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is an excellent liar. He impersonates FBI agents, police officers, park rangers, what have you. But when Dean contracts a Ghost Virus, and becomes a complete and total coward, he also turns into the worst liar north of Mexico.

{{quote|'''Mr. Garland:''' Let me see some ID.

'''Sam:''' Of course. ''(Garland looks their ID's over)''

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{{quote|'''David Mitchell''':You were 12 or 13, how old was Steve?

'''Lee''':Steve was... [He looks at Steve, who is clearly much younger than him] he was... he was... [long hesitation] He wasn't born... }}

* Sheldon Cooper on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' develops "more tics than a Lyme disease research facility" on his face whenever he tries to lie.

* ''[[Due South]]'': Benton Fraser is a ''really'' bad liar:

{{quote|[''Fraser appears at the table in the restaurant where Insp. Thatcher is with her skirt-chasing former boss, Henri Cloutier'']

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* ''[[Rune Factory 3]]'''s Sofia's lies are made quite obvious as her dialogue will be printed [[Rainbow Speak|in red]] to indicate that she actually means the opposite. This is solely for the player's benefit, as the other characters lack the [[Medium Awareness]] to see it.

* These crop up a lot during the opening levels of [[LA Noire|L.A. Noire]]. Granted the game is mostly about reading people, so it's somewhat a [[Justified Tutorial]].

* Frank Sawhit in ''Phoenix Wright: [[Ace Attorney]]''. Justified, as he's the killer in the first ever case in the series, [[Reverse Whodunnit|(and that's not even a spoiler)]] and thus serves to get the player used to finding contradictions in witness testimonies.

** {{spoiler|He somehow manages to be [[Up to Eleven|even WORSE]] when he appears in prison in Investigations 2, though.}}

* The [[Team Fortress 2]] "Meet the Medic" video shows that the Medic is a bit of a bad liar: he claims that ribs grow back, and the Heavy looks unconvinced even before the Medic turns to one of his pet doves and loudly whispers, "No zhey don't." It's unclear why he even bothered to claim that ribs grow back, because the [[Healing Shiv|Medigun]] should make it a moot point anyway.

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== I swear these aren't Web Comics. ==

* ''[[Brawl in the Family]]'' [http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/comic103.html plays with this].

* Thief, Red Mage, and Black Mage from ''[[~~8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|~~8-Bit Theater]]'' are prone to this. Thief, however, has the force of personality to succeed in regularly conning people with his bald-faced lies.

* Thief, Red Mage, and Black Mage from ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'' are prone to this. Thief, however, has the force of personality to succeed in regularly conning people with his bald-faced lies.

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=247 Antimony is sometimes like this.]

** [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=211 Sometimes?] Honestly, she's just not very good at making things up. She also fails at [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=180 coming up with] a [[Bond One-Liner]].

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* Applejack from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' is defined by her honesty. In the second season's pilot, Discord turns her into a liar, but doesn't exactly give her the skills to do it well. Every time she lies, she bites her lip and makes shifty eyes.

** And when she's actually speaking, she blurts it out in a manner that makes it look like she's the dumbest pony alive-both in facial expression and [[Cloudcuckoolander|content]]. She gets better at it in the next episode, at which point it's resolved.

* Artemis in ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]''. She looks away, stutters, and visibly has to fish for ideas when lying. This is made kind of hilarious by the fact that {{spoiler|her father and sister are supervillains, and her mother is a reformed one}}. Which is usually what she's lying about.