The Munchausen: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Horatio Jackson:''' I'm afraid, sir, that you have a rather weak grasp of reality.<br />

He's been everywhere, seen everything, done it all and more. Given any chance, he'll tell you all about it, whether you want him to or not. His adventures may be [[Tall Tale|blatantly impossible]], or simply impossible to believe, but he rarely shuts up about them, and generally reacts badly to anyone openly doubting him. This character may be crazy, [[Self-Serving Memory|deluded]], a [[Con Man]], or a compulsive liar. The most common [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] of this is for the listener to dismiss his tales, and then find out that [[The Munchausen]] was [[Cassandra Truth|telling the truth all along]].

== Advertising ==

** The first example is Usopp, Sharpshooter of the [[Badass Crew|Straw Hat Crew]] and known liar. Also, the first part of his name is homophone with the japanese word for "lie" and his long and distinctive nose may be a reference to Pinocchio. Weird enough, some of his (fantastic and false) stories have appeared to be true by coincidence.

** The second example is a subversion. His name is Montblanc Noland and appears in a children's book about a man who lied about having found a mountain of gold and being executed in turn. He was real, a great explorer, and nothing of what he said was a lie; a central theme to the Skypeia Arc is people endeavoring to prove he was telling the truth all along.

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* The Nazis made a spectacular color ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036191/ Münchhausen]'' in 1943. It's actually pretty good.

* Used in ''[[Secondhand Lions]],'' in which whether the story told by the two uncles is true or false plays an important role in the plot.

* ''[[Big Fish]]'', a man's elaborate stories about his past alienate his son when he grows old enough to doubt their veracity. It turns out that {{spoiler|the father's stories are [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story|based on fact]].}}

* Baron Münchhausen himself. First published in 1781, this is [[Older Than Radio]].

* [[Lord Dunsany]]'s character Jorkens fits the pattern exactly. Flying to Mars, encountering an almost legendary creature in Africa unique for one small trait, and being assaulted by trees are three typical adventures.

** Mr. Mulliner, who would tell stories of his extended family and their adventures. Usually not so much focus on impossible feats as convoluted circumstances, and they'd always get the girl in the end, or the man for those instances the Mulliner was a woman herself. Except for Roberta Mulliner, whose various beaus were usually driven over the edge and emigrated to Australia, or married someone else completely.

** His golfing books followed a similar theme, though the tales were told by an elderly member of the club, the protagonists were golfers, and it'd always focus on golf. Also, many tales would end with the guy NOT getting the girl, usually happily.

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' novels by [[Peter David]] play with this trope a lot. In them, many folks in Starfleet Command express doubt at the fantastic scenarios that play out in the canon episodes. For many of them, they ''must'' take the Captain's word at it. Space amobea indeed.

* Surely Dill Harris from [[To Kill a Mockingbird]] is one. Even though he's just a kid.

* ''[[Tall Tale America]]'' is mostly told from an omniscient point-of-view, but the section on Jim Bridger (a.k.a. Old Gabe) has him relating his adventures and experiences to a young tenderfoot, such as how he rode a horse across a petrified canyon, or the mountain he saw grow up from a hole in the ground, or the time a nine foot tall Indian [[Did You Die?|killed him]].

* In [[David Drake]]'s ''Starliner'', Richard Wade sponges off a group of passengers, alleging that he always forgets to carry enough cash to pay for drinks and such. His tall tales are so entertaining, though, that his listeners end up feeling it was worth it. A subversion: the reader sees evidence that at least some of Wade's accounts are true ... and at the end, {{spoiler|he arranges for the people he borrowed from to spend several days in the best suites of their destination planet's best hotel, so the part about him actually being wealthy and influential appears to be true as well}}.

** For example, "Big Game Hunting" concerns an invention that can control animals via brain interfacing. A wildlife photographer shanghais its creator into finding and controlling {{spoiler|a giant squid. Both the photographer and the inventor die--[[Wafer-Thin Mint|when the brain controller blows a fuse]], allowing the squid to run amok.}}

** Subverted in "What Goes Up...". The White Hart is "invaded" by an alien-worshiping [[Cult]], irritating the ''real'' scientists. Harry whips up a [[Outright Lie|totally invented]] story about an Australian nuclear reactor that produced a powerful repulsive force, like a [[Unrealistic Black Hole|white hole]]. Unfortunately for Harry, the cultists [[Irony|take his obviously bullshit story at face value]].

== Live-Action TV ==

* The "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch from ''[[At Last The 1948 Show]]'' (and latter performed by [[Monty Python]]), which revolved around the four titular men sitting around and talking about their pasts, each trying to one-up the other in just how difficult and tragic their backgrounds were. After one of them finally won:

{{quote| "I was one of thirty children, we had to get up in the morning at 10:00 at night, half an hour before we went to bed, work thirty hours, go back home to our shoebox, eat a lump of cold poison for dinner, and before bed, our father would kill us and do a dance on our graves."<br />

{{quote| '''Creed:''' I've been a member of several cults, both as a leader and a follower. You make more money as a leader, but have more fun as a follower.}}

* Back in the 80s, the French-Canadian comedy show ''[[Samedi De Rire]]'' featured a recurring sketch of two coastal sailors sitting on a dock and smoking their pipes, while exchanging stories of ridiculous occurrences such as catching a huge fish or recovering from ridiculously crippling ailments. Each time one of the sailors would make his claim, the other would challenge him, prompting an exchange of "Well I'm telling ya..." and "Well I don't believe ya..." until the claimant finally said "Well I swear to ya!", upon which the other sailor would accept the claim. The sketch would always end with one of the sailor claiming to own a large object, before pulling out a ridiculously oversized prop, which would cause yet another "Well I don't believe ya/Well I'm telling ya" exchange into the sketch's fadeout.

* Ducky, the M.E. on ''[[NCIS]]''. Subverted at least half the time by Gibbs cutting him off before he can get out more than "This reminds me of..." and the beginning of a really weird-sounding [[Noodle Incident]].

* In the fourth season of ''[[Bones]]'', the team is looking for an intern to replace Zack, and several of them appear throughout the season. One of them is an older guy who can help with cases based on the fact that he seemingly has held every possible job that exists.

** Sounds like Sergeant Arthur Dietrich of ''[[Barney Miller]]''. As this troper recalls his past jobs included lumberjack -- and he possessed a number of improbable skills that made his calm announcement he'd been born "in a galaxy far, far away" quite believable.

* Captain Hap Shaughnessy from ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' would make the baron pale in comparison and seem downright believable. No matter what mundane a task or hum drum a story you have, he always "remembers" how he used to be involved in it "back in the (decade)", and his stories will inevitably involve dozens of famous political or sports figures who he shamed with his masterful skill, usually scoring twelve touchdowns at once in the Super Bowl where he saved the whole universe from invasions from time traveling vikings, or so his massive sacks of lies go.

* The Doctor from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' will go on and on about meeting Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, Pablo Picasso and more. To a stranger, he's insane. [[Time Travel|He really isn't.]]

* ''[[Tales of the Gold Monkey]]'': Bon Chance Louie is another Bellisario incarnation of this trope.

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition'', a board game from [http://www.cheapass.com/ Cheapass Games]. You play members of a Victorian gentleman's club, all of whom are trying to one-up each other with heroic tales of adventure. In fact, all your exploits are entirely fictitious. You've just spent the last few months hiding in a hotel and sneaking out in disguise to scavenge in junk shops for "artifacts" from your "expeditions". The aim of the game is to collect convincing sets of photographs, anecdotes, and artifacts, without being spotted and exposed as a fraud.

* In ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen,'' players take the roles of debauched European noblemen regaling other players with ridiculously exaggerated tales of derring-do. The game was written in the style of Baron Munchausen himself, and accompanied by illustrations by Gustave Dore.

== Theater ==

* The old man in ''[[The Time Of Your Life]]'' identified in the [[Dramatis Personae]] as "Kit Carson" (which may or may not be his name).

== Video Games ==

** Jan Jansen. To the point where, when he ''doesn't'' comment on an situation with a tale of his own:

{{quote| '''Haer'Dalis:''' I shouldn't wish to alarm anyone, but I just wanted to point out that Jan has failed to produce a story. [[OOC Is Serious Business|Can the apocalypse be far?]]}}

** Although most of the others either suspect or know that his tales are made up. Imoen will submit one tale to him for approval and criticism, and when Viconia asks the main character why you keep the pest around, you can cheerfully explain it with the start of a tall tale of your own.

{{quote| '''Jan:''' Aye, Plooty had a way of attracting golems. Brilliant, really. You start with a saucer of milk -- golems are suckers for milk...}}

* Kieran of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' takes any opportunity to mention one of his grand (and most definitely false or ''at least'' grossly exaggerated) exploits, such as the time he fought the Giant Whippoorwill of Southern Crimea (a [[Running Gag]] has the listener interrupting him before he can even say the location). He persistently believes these stories are well known even though his reputation never precedes him.

* Girl Stinky from Telltale's ''[[Sam and Max]]'' games. Grampa Stinky too, though he's more likely to be telling the truth.

* In ''[[Castle of Shikigami]] III'', one of the characters is an old man named Munchausen...

* Major Crum in ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'s Grand Adventures'' (he claims to have been in ''both'' the Army and the RAF, which makes his stories a bit suspect)

== Web comics ==

== Web Original ==

* Given that [[Question Duck]] itself is the only divergence from reality thus far, [http://questionduck.smackjeeves.com/comics/1394051/278/ the account of where they have been probably is this.]

== Western Animation ==

* Commander McBragg, from the series of short cartoons ''[[Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales]]'', exemplifies the first sort of Münchhausen.

* Inverted by Jim from ''[[Code Lyoko]]''; he apparently actually ''has'' been involved in jobs ranging from sewer repair to intelligence gathering to space program test subject to pro skateboarder... but usually, he'd "rather not talk about it." [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Except for the one time that he'd love to talk about it, but doesn't have the time.]] Though many of these jobs still might have been tall tales, or at least wild exaggerations.

* Grandpa Abraham Simpson in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' does this a ''lot''. Most of this is just waffle and the other characters tune him out, except in the episode "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'" where it is all true. He claims to have enlisted for World War I as a small child.

* Sort of inverted with Phoebe on ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'', who never stops referencing her experiences -- or, more accurately, her ''lack thereof'' -- "at my old school." Subverted when they actually do go to her old school and end up {{spoiler|shrunken and trapped in her science-project plants.}}

* Izzy from ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' is ''full'' of insane stories about where she learned her survival skills. Most of the cast dismiss everything she says (unless she's talking about how crazy she is, which is totally true), however, it turns out {{spoiler|she really ''is'' on the run from the RCMP, as discovered when they come for her during one of the marshmallow ceremonies. All the other campers are left staring in wide-eyed shock as she runs off into the woods, laughing madly and followed by the helicopter.}}

* ''Mater's Tall Tales'', a series of short films spun off the movie ''[[Cars]]'', has the tow truck Mater relate his former experiences as a bullfighter, fire engine, stuntcar, etc. Lightning McQueen doesn't buy any of it, especially the parts where Mater adds him to the proceedings (usually in a humiliating role), but at the end there's usually a gag implying that it's all true.

* Slavomir Rawicz, the Polish cavalry officer who was captured by the Soviets during World War II and sent to a labor camp in Siberia, only to escape with six others and make his way on foot from Lake Baikal to India across the Himalayas, a trek of over 6500 kilometers. {{spoiler|In real life, he was pardoned in 1942, and made up everything beforehand as to not disappoint his biographer, who was looking for someone who had traveled through the Himalayas.}}

* Frank Retz fits this description. He was a German officer during WWII who moved to the US after the war. Among his many claims, he supposedly had been the stunt rider in ''[[Zorro]]'' and had gotten in a fight with Charles Manson, taking a knife away from Manson in the process.

* Just about every well-known figure of the [[Wild West]]. If he (or she) didn't Munchausen, some penny dreadful writer did it for them.

* In the seventeenth century, [[wikipedia:Fern%C3%A3o Mendes Pinto|Fernão Mendes Pinto]], a Portuguese traveler and adventurer who spent many years in the Far East, was viewed as an outrageous liar, and the narrative of his travels was dismissed as pure fiction. Later research showed that, despite being heavily fictionalized, Mendes Pinto's book is a unique source on Chinese, Indian, Malay, and Japanese history, with lots of very acute observations and important information. And a jolly good read, to boot.