Bad Liar: Difference between revisions

This page, [[I Have This Friend|if it were about]] Bad Liars, would say that sometimes, but never for comedic effect, a character is unable to lie in a convincing way and comes up with really silly lies that fool no one. It would not point out that children are especially prone to it, because once they get over [[Children Are Innocent|their innocent]] [[Can Not Tell a Lie|inability]] they have little practice. It would not talk about physical tics that give away liars either. And it would ''especially'' never say that this is a reason why [[Keeping Secrets Sucks]], because keeping secrets is cool. But this page ''isn't'' about Bad Liars, so it won't. Seriously.

== Totally Not Anime & Manga ==

** Also Luffy, who has absolutely zero ability for deception.

*** And let us not forget why Sanji wanted to eat the devil fruit that grants invisibility.

{{quote| '''Sanji:''' If I ever got the ability I wanted to use it to '''[[Freudian Slip|GIRL'S BATH]]''' Ah no, I meant I asked myself '''[[Casanova Wannabe|GIRL'S BATH]]''' No, I wanted to use it to benefit the humanity '''[[Overly Long Gag|GIRL'S BATH]]'''.}}

* Celty from ''[[Durarara]]'' manages to be this ''without being able to speak''.

** Without being able to ''speak''? How 'bout {{spoiler|'''''without even having a head, much less a mouth'''''?}} [[Crowning Moment Of Irony]]? Perhaps. [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]? Oh, you bet your bonnet.

** Also, Haruhi herself generally manages to be a pretty terrible liar, especially when it involves things relating to her feelings for Kyon. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily, depending on the way you look at it) for her, they either [[Oblivious to Love|pass right over his head]] or he is very, very good at [[Selective Obliviousness|turning a blind eye.]]

* Elsie in ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'' is the [[Trope Namer]] for the [[Wild Card Excuse]], and makes so many [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|Suspiciously Specific Denials]] that she deserves to be called one.

== Most Certainly ''Not'' Fan Works ==

* In ''[[Oh God Not Again (Fanfic)|Oh God Not Again]]'', Ginny is specifically portrayed as being this. When Ron wonders where Ginny got the extra money she was spending on school supplies (which she got from her cut of a completely inaccurate book by Lockhart), she freaks out and [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|demands to know if he's implying she stole it]]. Harry thinks to himself that the Weasleys were raised to be honest.

* [[Dragon Ball Abridged]]; Vegeta, on the Dragon Radar.

{{quote| '''Vegeta:''' Stupid looking watch you got there.<br />

'''Gohan:''' Yes, it tells time...and nothing else.<br />

'''Vegeta:''' That's what a watch does. Dumbass. }}

* I once read a DRRR!! fanfic where Izaya and Shizuo where having hate sex and he accidently broke Izaya's hip. When Shinra came round, he said that when he walked in, Izaya tripped over a bucket, which Shizuo then threw out of the window onto another roof, then an eagle that had escaped from Tokyo zoo came and picked it up. Then, when Shinra asked why Izaya was only wearing his boxers, Shizuo said that when he fell over the bucket, his clothes slipped off.

== No Chance This Could Be Animated Films ==

* Jimmy Durante in a scene in ''Jumbo'' attempts to sneak his beloved elephant Jumbo off the circus grounds, only to be confronted by a sheriff, who demands: "Where you going with that elephant?" Caught red-handed, [[Refuge in Audacity|Durante blithely replies "What elephant?"]]

** There's another Jimmy Durante movie in which he's guarding the dressing room of the beautiful young singer played by Kathryn Grayson from a pushy fan. "She's got twelve kids and I'm the youngest!"

{{quote| '''Miracle Max:''' You got any money?<br />

'''Inigo Montoya:''' Sixty-five.<br />

** The titular sorcerer actually says this is a good thing, as good wizards are supposed to be truthful. This doesn't stop him from lying, although he's not that great at it either (sake is not Chinese).

* In ''[[A Guide For The Married Man]]'', Robert Morse is instructing Walter Matthau how to successfully cheat on his wife. A series of vignettes are used to illustrate different points. One directive concerns what you do if you are caught: Deny, deny deny!. The vignette is a man (Joey Bishop) who is caught in his own bedroom by his wife (Ann Morgan Guilbert). She keeps asking him what he's doing?, what's going on?, who's that woman? He keeps answering with denials: Nothing. I don't know what you mean. What woman? All the while, the woman is getting dressed, and eventually leaves, he makes the bed and straightens out the bedroom, and finally goes to his favorite chair, lights his pipe and picks up the newspaper. When he's all done, there's no indication that anything out of the ordinary ever happened. She eventually is so disconcerted that she simply asks him what he wants for dinner.

== This Really isn't the Literature section. ==

* In the ''[[Master and Commander]]'' series, Stephen Maturin ponders Sophie Williams' talent for prevarication.

{{quote| '''Post Captain:''' She lies with as much skill as Preserved Killick -- a desperate stare, and her face the most perfect damask rose.}}

** Preserved Killick is the name of Jack Aubrey's servant. Really.

* Terry Brooks' ''[[Magic Kingdom of Landover]]'' series had the gnomes that were incredibly bad liars.

{{quote| '''Marco:''' Eight? You gave him eight numbers? Remind me never to be a spy with you.}}

** Ax at one point is convinced to take the blame for giving humans the morphing technology to spare his brother the shame, but fails to think up a decent lie about it. When his superiors later ask how he met the Animorphs he replies with the truth: They rescued him from his ship at the bottom of the ocean...using technology he supposedly gave them. No one buys it.

* ''[[Huckleberry Finn]]'': Huck is occasionally brilliant at spinning yarns to get what he wants. More often, however, he forgets his fake identity, where he's supposedly from, and what he claimed his job was. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* [[Billy Bunter]]. "I say, keep that beast Coker off! I wasn't in his study when he found me there, the suspicious beast! I wasn't after his cake! There wasn't any cake, and I never touched it, and I had hardly a mouthful when the brute came in! I say, you fellows -- ow! Oh crikey!"

* In [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''Danny Deever'' -- some interesting weather:

"A touch o' sun, a touch o' sun", the Colour-Sergeant said.'' }}

* Christine in ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'', which makes it impossible for her to convince Raoul and her [[Parental Substitute|adopted mother]] that she is not in any danger from her stalker, and later makes it impossible for her to hide from Erik the fact that Raoul and the Persian are inside his house.

* [[King Incognito|Alek]] from ''[[Leviathan]]''. Literally ''every time he opens his mouth'' to try and tell a lie, he effs up. It doesn't really help that the people he tries to lie to are ''really'' sharp.

* Michael from the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'' doesn't like to lie, but when he gets into a situation where he's really got no other options, or if he's trying to spare someone's feelings, he'll give it a shot. Since he's so rotten at it though, it makes no difference. However, in a ''really'' desperate situation he can convincingly lie, and because he's known to be so bad at lying no one doubts him in the slightest.

== Live-Action TV? That's... somewhere else ==

** And in a different episode, Lister has to teach Kryton how to lie.

** In the episode "Out of Time", Kryten learns what will happen to the crew in the future. He is upset that Lister {{spoiler|is destined to become a brain in a jar}}, but can't tell him anything about it. He starts to cry in the kitchen when Lister comes in:

'''Joey:''' Somebody opened the door to the coffee house and a raccoon came running in, went straight for your muffin, and I said, "Hey don't eat that! That's Phoebe's," and [[Fridge Logic|he said]]... He said... "Joey, you stink at lying." What am I going to do? }}

** Also in ''[[Friends]]'', when Rachel was keeping her pregnancy secret. In the Season 7 finale, the audience wasn't supposed to realize Rachel was pregnant until the very last minute, so she lied incredibly well, even in spur of the moment situations. But then in the Season 8 premiere, when the audience ''does'' know Rachel's pregnant, her lying skills go straight down the toilet and the secret is out in no time.

** 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."

*** 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.

* ''[[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.

{{quote| '''Buffy:''' You know, I just woke up, and I looked in the mirror, and I thought, hey, what's with all the sin? I need to change. I'm dirty. I'm bad with the sex and the envy and that loud music us kids listen to nowadays.... Oh, I just suck at undercover.}}

** Buffy has this problem in other episodes. Example, from "Lie to Me":

** 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.

{{quote| '''Mr. Garland:''' Let me see some ID.<br />

'''Sam:''' Of course. ''(Garland looks their ID's over)''<br />

'''Dean:''' ''(nervously)'' Those are real. Obviously. [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|I mean, who would pretend to be an FBI agent?]] That's just nutty! }}

* ''[[Chuck]]'' combines this with [[Nonverbal Miscommunication]]. Awesome is trying to explain to Ellie where he's been all day; Chuck tries to help him by miming behind Ellie's back, which results in a story about Awesome decapitating a bear he encountered in the park. Chuck has to step in with a more plausible lie.

** Awesome can't really lie to Ellie, but he has no problem lying to other people, even Chuck.

'''Steve''': Look, when did this happen?<br />

'''Patrick''': What, the lying or the sleeping with Jane? ''Damnit!!'' }}

* Alan Tudyk's character from ''[[Dollhouse]]'':

{{quote| "Those are carrots. Medicinal carrots, that were here when I moved in, and I'm holding... for a friend."}}

*** Perhaps the customs agent is just bad at his job; after all, he lets the obvious smuggler (from Zurich, ''Spain'') through, but immediately tosses a collared priest into a side chamber for a strip search.

* Robin from ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' giggles whenever she lies.

* ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]'': Sonny is a terrible liar. When she lies, her voice usually goes up an octave, and she stammers. The stammering tendency is shared by {{spoiler|her boyfriend}} Chad. Seriously, the cast of So Random must be pretty gullible to {{spoiler|fall for the multitude of excuses that Sonny and Chad come up with to hide the fact that they're planning to go on a date. By the time they're all in the limo and have Sonny and Chad cornered, they're either turning a blind eye to get free food, or they are seriously the most gullible people ever to be on television.}}

* It is something of a [[Running Gag]] that [[Lee Mack]] is this on ''[[Would I Lie to You]]''

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

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

* ''[[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'']<br />

''Cloutier'': Oh, please! You're making that up!<br />

''Fraser'': Well...[''hangs his head''] yes. }}

{{quote| '''J.D.''': ([[Internal Monologue]]): Now you're going to lie here. Don't be too specific.<br />

'''J.D.''': Since one forty-two yesterday afternoon. His wife didn't want him to do it. She's beautiful, by the way; [[Boat Lights|one blue eye, one green eye]]. She's from Luxemburg. They're both from Luxemburg. They're Luxem ... burgian.<br />

'''J.D.''': Outside Mertert, near the German border. They say what they miss most are those lazy summer afternoons on the Mouselle River. }}

* The title character on ''[[Miranda]]''. The always single and childless woman once tried to get out of one of her mother's setup by claiming to have a sick daughter.

* In an episode of ''[[Stark Raving Mad]]'' it's revealed that lying makes Henry so nervous that he starts speaking in a Daffy Duck-esque voice. Ian helps him prepare for a situation where he has to lie by drawing on Henry's experience as an actor in college: by rehearsing lies before hand, Henry can then lie convincingly (albeit in a somewhat hammy fashion).

* On Season 18 of ''[[The Amazing Race]]'', the penultimate leg had Flight Time & Big Easy and Zev & Justin find a flight that would put them in Brazil half a day in front of Kisha & Jen and Gary & Mallory, but when Mallory asked the Globetrotters if they had found a better flight, Flight Time's horrible lie all but gave away that they had, and all four teams got on the same flight, resulting in {{spoiler|Zev & Justin getting eliminated when they struggled on the leg}}.

== Tabletop Game examples aren't here at all. Honest. ==

* In ''[[Deadlands]]'', the "Lyin' Eyes" disadvantage represents this.

== These aren't Video Games, these are... uh... Reality Games... yeah. ==

** In the second game, {{spoiler|Wheatley}} isn't exactly good at this either. For instance, trying to "hack" the neurotoxin control system: "Hello Guv'. Neurotoxin inspector, need to shut this place down for a moment. Here's my credentials; shut yourself down. I am totally legit, from the board of neurotoxin, uh, observers, from the United Arab Emirates."

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'': Bastila Shan has a problem with her mouth moving when she thinks, but only when talking to a male player character.

* ''[[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]].

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

** Its funny because ribs DO grow back

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

* 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.

** [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]].

* ''[[Chainsawsuit]]'': [http://chainsawsuit.com/2008/11/19/strip-110/ Roger the Bad Liar].

{{quote| '''Jason:''' Well, we've been having a real problem with Canadian Trapdoor Alligators. They scoop you up in a sack and drag you off to their den. It's horrible.<br />

'''Anna:''' I'm impressed. Somehow I thought you'd be a better liar.<br />

'''Jason:''' I'm not used to having to lie to a woman I didn't wake up next to. }}

{{quote| '''Haley:''' No offense, but you literally can't bluff to save your life. In fact, I think your bluffs usually endanger your life in new and exciting ways.}}

* In ''[[Kaspall]]'', [http://kaspall.xepher.net/archive/pg288.html Avril Isaac] is [http://kaspall.xepher.net/archive/pg289.html impressively incapable of keeping a story straight.]

== Web Animation really doesn't belong in here. ==

* Light in the original [[Death Note Abridged]] by TioH and Dargonakis. to the point where he blurts out the fact that he's Kira to his father. His father being [[Cloudcuckoolander|the way he is]] promptly forgets about it.

* [[Rhett and Link|Link]] wanted some time alone, so he lied repeatedly to Rhett in Ultimate Caption Fail 2.

* Jay from [[Marble Hornets]], who at one point gives the same person ''three'' different contradicting stories as to why he's staying in a hotel and carrying a camera everywhere he goes.

== This is NOT where you'll find Western Animation. Seriously. IF YOU OPEN THIS YOU DIE! YOUR ACCOUNT GETS DELETED! YOU GET A VIRUS! SOMETHING ELSE UNPLEASURABLE! ==

** Zuko is also a pretty bad liar (Azula must have gotten all the lying prowess in the family). In "The Southern Air Temple," Zhao sees right through his clumsy story:

{{quote| '''Zhao:''' ''(looking at Zuko's ship)'' That's quite a bit of damage.<br />

'''Zuko:''' ''(looking WAY too innocent)'' Yes! Right into... an Earth Kingdom ship. }}

** According to the 'Avatar Extras' (Popups that give tidbits of trivia during a set of reruns) Zuko and Iroh have many talents...lying isn't one of them.

{{quote| '''Cartman:''' Okay. Last night, all four of us were at the bowling alley until about 7:30, at which time we noticed Ally Sheedy, the Goth chick from the Breakfast Club, was bowling in the lane next to us, and we asked her for her autograph, but she didn't have a pen, so we followed her out to her car, but on the way we were accosted by five Scientologists who wanted to give us all personality tests, which were administered at the Scientology Center in Denver until 10:45, at which time we accidentally boarded the wrong bus home and ended up in Rancho de Fritas Rojos, south of Castle Rock, and finally got a ride home with a man who was missing his left index finger, named Gary Bushwell, arriving home at 11:46. }}

{{quote| '''Bender:''' Uh, it was ghosts! Big ones! And a tornado!}}

{{quote| '''Lois:''' Those look like our sheets and our quilt.<br />

'''Brian:''' They are -- I'm-I'm washing them in some fabric softener because last night they were so itchy I couldn't sleep which is why I was downstairs when you asked me if everything was okay... You know, 'cause it was so itchy. }}

* Liar Starscream (whom [[Word of God]] definitely hasn't named Ramjet...) from ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' [[Blatant Lies|never speaks a word other than the truth. Everything he says most certainly does not sound like a lie.]] [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ramjet_(Animated) This page] at the [[Transformers]] Wiki is not about him, and does not make his lying (which he never does BTW) [[Self-Demonstrating Article|really, really obvious.]]

** Ironically this means he really can't lie -- as long as you keep in mind that what he's saying is a lie, swap it around and you've got the truth.

{{quote| '''Mom:''' Brak, why don't you run along and play with Winston?<br />

'''Brak:''' Okay, where's he stay at?<br />

'''Dad:''' But you just--<br />

'''Franklin:''' No I didn't. }}

* The titular [[The Venture Brothers|Venture Brothers]] are a prime example.

{{quote| '''Sea Captain:''' Yer... not a good liar, are ya, Dean?<br />

'''Dean:''' Mmmmmmaybe... }}

** 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.