Your Costume Needs Work: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Played with in ''[[Slayers]]'' - When they temporarily join a company of traveling actors, Lina and Gourry are given a bit part as the dragon, while Amelia is asked to play the hero. The name of the play? {{spoiler|"Bring Us Justice and Peace: The Death of the Abominable Fiend}} Lina Inverse."

* One episode of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' had Zoicite cross-dressing as Sailor Moon in a plot to lure her out. After rigging an accident to save some window-washers, the crowd belives he's the real-deal... while the real Sailor Moon is in the crowd (though not transformed). He's wearing a different color scheme than the real Moon. (And using a Boomerang rather then a Tiara.)

* This happens to Gohan in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' when he interrupts filming in a movie about the Great Saiyaman. The director and actors mistake him for a meddling stunt double. They only realize it's the real deal when, after being rejected, he flies away - dragging a huge crane behind him no less.

* In the ''[[Inuyasha]]'' manga, chapter 520, Inuyasha shows up on a present-day Tokyo train as he usually appears, haori, sword, ears and hair and all. Some of the innocent bystanders think he is cosplaying, but say that he's not a very good cosplayer. This makes sense since [[Celebrity Paradox|not many manga exist inside their own worlds]]. So, even if it was Sesshoumaru in his brother's place, he could as well be given the same treatment (after all, some people do cosplays of their own [[Original Generation]] characters, which gives some bystanders the right to point flaws in them).

* ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' has Takato walking with Guilmon on the street at plain daylight. Nobody was alarmed because it was a real good life-size replica for a 10 year old. It's okay, a dinosaur that snorts, talks, walks and spits fireballs is just a basic project to do for your average 10 year old. We're in Japan, after all.

* Kotetsu runs into this in the 20th episode of ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' when trying to convince an Apollon Media security guard that he's [[Superhero|Wild Tiger]]. The security guard notes that hero look-alikes try to sneak into the premises all the time, and he has no reason to believe that Kotetsu isn't just a convincing Wild Tiger cosplayer.

 

* In the ''[[The Sandman|Sandman]]'' spinoff ''Death: At Death's Door'', [[Grim Reaper|Death]], a [[Perky Goth]] [[Anthropomorphic Personification]], announces her identity to a group of departed souls, only for an unimpressed guy to dismiss her with, "You, and every goth chick in here!" (To be fair, in another story line Death's little sister once mistook an actual goth chick for ''her''.)

{{quote|"If you bind those breasts a little tighter, you'll almost be passable."

"...Thanks?" }}

* In one early ''[[Spider-Man]]'' comic, Spidey tries to save his then girlfriend, Betty Brant, from Doctor Octopus while suffering from the flu. He is easily defeated and unmasked... and his poor showing convinces Doc Ock, the hostage and the other witnesses that it's just Peter Parker making a brave but very foolish effort to save her.

** In another issue, Spider-Man casually walks into a restaurant and takes a seat. An accompanying character questions him on this, and he responds that the waiter just assumes he's a crazy guy in a Spider-Man costume.

* A ''[[Jose Carioca]]'' story has Jose assuming he's guaranteed to win a Jose Carioca look-alike contest. He loses to [[Donald Duck]].

{{quote|"Sorry kid, but there's a dress code here - and that green body paint is just too five minutes ago to cut it!"}}

* In ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'', Gary Jackson comes third in a Gary Jackson lookalike contest, probably as a [[Shout-Out]] to the famous Charlie Chaplin example discussed below.

"HEY!" }}

* In the 2008 ''[[DC Universe]] Halloween Special'', when Superman beats Lois home and gives out candy to the night's first trick-or-treaters, one remarks "Wow... that has to be the worst Superman costume I've ever seen!"

** In a semi-related example, Major Havok once wrote fanfiction about himself and posted it anonymously, figuring that nobody could get his character down better than the real deal. Cue several reader comments on how bad and unrealistic the characterization was, including one (which, on a reread, you realize is from Empowered's alter ego) claiming it completely misses the homo-erotic subtext that supposedly makes Havok such a compelling character.

* In ''Guardians of the Globe'', a man is offended to see someone dressed as El Chupacabra, a great hero, drinking himself blind at a bar. The drunk explains that he really ''is'' El Chupacabra... and the guy backs off, believing him entirely right away.

* In ''[[Echo]]'', the trope is inver...subver...I have no freakin' clue. The crew take a break at a rest stop and inform the staff that they are there on government work. However, thanks to the body-warping Phi-project, [[Fountain of Youth|Ivy is too young]] and [[Statuesque Stunner|Julie is too beautiful]] to be taken as government employees and Vijay, the new tagalong member of the gang, is Indian. The staff is now convinced they are serving [[M. Night Shyamalan]] and a movie crew, despite all claims to the contrary

{{quote|"Why the hell is Batman masquerading as '''Bruce Wayne''', anyway? I've '''met''' Wayne and you don't fool '''me'''."}}

* ''[[X-Men]]'' ''[[Power Pack]]'' has the Power family go to a costume party where Jack Power and ''everyone'' besides his family has a Wolverine costume ([[Mythology Gag|all of which are different, having been based on a different one of Wolverine's many incarnations]]. Soon the actual Wolverine enters chasing Sabertooth and stays at the party briefly after capturing him with the help of Power Pack. When the time comes to announce the winners of the costume contest Wolverine is sure he has this one in the bag, only to lose to Jack (who earlier took Sabertooth's claw to his chest while avoiding personal injury thanks to his [[Super Smoke]] power) for his "authentic battle damage Wolverine".

 

* In [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2116045/8/Moonlight_Becomes_You this] [[Spider-Man]] fanfic, Otto Octavius finds himself at Harry Osborn's Halloween party and is asked by a guest what his costume's supposed to be. He replies with a smirk, "I'm Doctor Octopus," and gets criticized for his lack of tentacles (which are hidden under his coat).

* Happens to Aang ''again'' in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4435539/5/Lanterns Lanterns.]

* In the ''[[Power Rangers]]'' fanfic "[[Of Love and Bunnies]]", Rocky, the ex-Red Ranger, shows up to Power Rangers Day in a bad Red Ranger costume... and his ''real'' Red Ranger helmet (from the former display in the back of the Power Chamber). Jason, who still has his powers and the real costume, is first shocked and then impressed by the brilliance of it.

* In ''[[The Last Spartan]]'' a good chunk of people don't believe [[Human Popsicle|Master Chief]] is the real Master Chief, and that the armored grunt who has been made the [[Mass Effect|first human Spectre]] is just some random soldier they put in similar armor as a publicity stunt. Ethan Jeong is the only one to personally call him out on his alleged impersonation so far though.

 

* This is the reason that Elvis is in the old age home in ''[[Bubba Ho-Tep]]''. After switching places with an Elvis impersonator, the impersonator died and no one would believe that he was the real Elvis.

** Or he's just crazy.

* In ''[[Dave]]'', a comedian who resembles the President and the real First Lady are caught in public. Dave passes them off as a husband-and-wife impersonation act; naturally, he is great in his role, but "she needs a lot of work."

** However, he was only speaking about her ability to improve, specifically her cringing (if passible) attempt at "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow"; when first found out, Dave had to work quick to actively make people believe they ''weren't'' real.

** This of course was a [[Shout-Out]] to the wedding in [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|the comics]] where [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]] both try to get into the wedding.

* The ending of the French movie ''[[Grosse Fatigue]]'', whose main plot revolved around impersonation.

'''Powder:''' What's wrong with my shit?

'''Tuan:''' Homie, puh-''lease''! Your Halloween costume! If you pimp, you ''broke'' pimp! Ha-ha-ha-ha! }}

* The original 1942 version of ''[[To Be or Not to Be]]'' has an interesting inversion—the actor Bronski, cast as [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] in a play just before the invasion of Poland, is told by the play's director that he cannot play a convincing Hitler. To prove it, he points to a portrait of Hitler on the set. He points out all the Hilter-like features of the painting contrasting them with Bronski's demeanor and looks, before Bronski points out that the portrait ''is'' actually himself dressed as Hitler. At that point, the director responds "well, then the portrait's wrong too."

* In ''[[The American President]]'', Sydney Ellen Wade receives a call from President Shepherd, whom she thinks is a co-worker impersonating the President. She then tells the President that he has a nice ass and hangs up. When he calls again and proves his identity, she is suitably mortified; "Y'know what, forget it, I'm moving to Canada!"

 

* In ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (novel)|Mostly Harmless]]'', Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect meet [[Elvis Has Left the Planet|Elvis Presley]] in a [[Greasy Spoon|greasy-spoon diner]] on another planet. Prefect recognizes him and gives The King a hefty tip to perform "Love Me Tender" on karaoke. Arthur doesn't recognize him, and thinks The King's performance is mediocre.

** Hefty might be a bit of an understatement. When Arthur asks how much, Ford says that it would buy, roughly, Switzerland.

* King [[Forgotten Realms|Azoun IV]] on [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rl/20061101a his teleporting tour].

* [[Older Than Radio]] example: In ''[[The Masque Of The Red Death]]'' by [[Edgar Allan Poe]], the guests at the [[Masquerade Ball]] are shocked by the tastelessness one fellow displays by dressing as the incarnation of plague. Then {{spoiler|someone rips his mask off and finds there's [[The Blank|nothing underneath . . .]]}}

* In ''[[Thursday Next|Something Rotten]]'', [[Refugee From TV Land|Hamlet]] gets into an argument with a group of Shakespeare fans who challenge him to a contest of who can perform the best "To be or not to be" speech. Hamlet loses.

* Maurice Baring (a friend of [[G. K. Chesterton]] and Hilaire Belloc) loved this trope; his anthology ''Orpheus in Mayfair'' features it at least twice. One isn't quite this trope but it's definitely in the ballpark, the eponymous story: a Greek musician is hired to play "authentic Greek music" at a party, his first big break in a while, but then his son gets sick. He's desperate, and then Orpheus appears, and offers to cover for him. Of course, Orpheus' music—which could turn nymphs into trees with its beauty, mind — is too authentically Greek for them, and they don't like it. In another, a woman sells her soul to the devil to have Shakespeare attend one of her parties. He shows up, but, Shakespeare having been almost boringly ''normal'', he just makes small talk with the guests, and nobody even realizes who he is.

* [[Tarzan]] experiences this at the end of ''Tarzan and the Lion Man''. "Not the type", after being cast as the stupid white hunter and killing a trained Hollywood lion, he goes back to Africa.

* In ''[[The Hollows|The Outlaw Demon Wails]]'', Rachel inadvertently lines up for a costume contest and is told she was close, but "Rachel Morgan's hair isn't that frizzy." Despite that, she would probably have won had Trent not also been in line, looking like himself.

 

 

* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Buffy vs. [[Dracula]]", the [[Monster of the Week]] introduces himself:

{{quote|'''Buffy:''' Who are you?

'''Buffy:''' (skeptically) Get out!

Then later:

** Although he's not being himself specifically, one episode of ''[[Angel]]'' has Lorne being told that he got the forehead wrong on his costume.

{{quote|'''Librarian''': Although I suppose those horns are hard to do...

* The entire premise of the game show ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'' was for a semi-famous or notable person to be paired with two impostors, and the contestants had to figure out which was the real one. They often got it wrong. It usually used people who might be known by name or reputation, but not by appearance, to the panelists doing the guessing (the founder of a company or organization, an inventor, or a very minor author, for example.) The two impostors were also similar in age and appearance to the real person.

** The show was famously pranked by professional prankster Joey Skaggs, who sent an impostor in his place. Skaggs pulls the impostor-as-him trick so often that the impostor knows pretty much everything about him, and what he makes up at least sounds plausible...

* A meta-example occurs in an episode of ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'', where the real Isaac Hayes plays an Isaac-Hayes-impersonating Minister. Will, of course, says his Isaac Hayes impersonation is terrible.

* ''[[The Nanny]]'' did a similar one with Marvin Hamlisch guest starring as Fran's old music teacher who looks remarkably like Marvin Hamlisch.

** Hell, they used this trope...''with Fran Drescher, playing herself''.

** In-Universe example: Some fans believe the actor portraying Maxwell Sheffield doesn't sound British and suggested him to learn from the actor portraying Niles. Sheffield is the one portrayed by an actual Brit.

* On ''[[I Dream of Jeannie]]'', Jeannie throws a party for some old friends, [[In the Past Everyone Will Be Famous|all of whom are great figures of history]]. Bellows shows up at the house unexpectedly and, assuming it's a costume party, tells Henry VIII that he has overdone it with the fat padding.

* The premise of the show ''[[I Get That A Lot]]'' is a celebrity doing a mundane task and laughing off people who recognize them, usually by saying the eponymous phrase.

* In ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', London wasn't allowed back into her own party because she didn't have an invitation and tons of other girls had dressed up like her to get in the party.

** When the school performs ''[[High School Musical]]'' Maddie (Ashley Tisdale, who played Sharpay in the film) auditions for the role of Sharpay... and fails. Later on, to cover up the poor singing voice of London, who was cast as Sharpay, Maddie fakes her voice ''[[Singin' in the Rain|Singin in The Rain]]'' style.

* An episode of ''[[Taking The Falls]]'' implied that Elvis was still alive, and hiding out at Elvis Impersonator conventions.

* In the season 3 summer finale of ''[[Burn Notice]]'', Fiona's brother tells Michael (who is an American undercover as an Irishman) that his American accent is "dodgy".

* In the ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "Hollywood Babylon", the [[Meddling Executive]] character assumes that the [[Deliberately Monochrome]] ghost he runs into on-set is an extra in body paint, and calls makeup because he thinks the noose marks on her neck would look better on camera if they were red.

* Inverted in ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'': Sammy Davis Jr. plays a liquor-store owner who wins a Sammy Davis Jr. look-alike contest. He accepts the award—from Davis himself, via split-screen—but insists that he doesn't 'really' look like Davis.

 

 

 

* Played with in ''[[Forbidden Broadway Volume]] 3'', where Carol Channing interrupts an actress impersonating her, asking for help on playing herself.

* In a German cabaret sketch from between the wars, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe returns from the afterlife to come to the aid of a student by taking an oral exam on Goethe in his stead. In this exam he answers questions with things he actually said, such as: "What is Goethe's most important work?" - "The ''Theory of Colours'', of course." Or he replies as Goethe probably would have: "What can you tell me about Goethe's relationship to Frau von Stein?" - "That's nobody's business!" So of course he fails the exam.

 

* In ''[[Ultima VII]]'', the Avatar can audition to understudy the lead role in a play... called "Tales of the Avatar". The director will then instruct you to buy an Avatar costume (which looks exactly like what the Avatar's already wearing), and no matter what you do in the audition, the director will politely decline to cast you.

* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' has an example of this Trope. At one point, the player character can appear in an ersatz Beijing Opera production of a famous battle... as a female character. If the player is female, the director will comment on how unrealistic they look as a woman.

* In ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', the president of Luigi's fan club wants to meet the man in green personally. If you wear the L Emblem, changing Mario's shirt and cap to green, she'll be convinced that Mario is Luigi and offer him a present... just in time for the ''real'' Luigi to show up and get chased off as an impostor.

** It's also a callback to the days where Luigi ''was'' nothing more than a [[Palette Swap]]ped Mario. It was only later that he got his own design, becoming taller and thinner than Mario.

 

* Inverted in ''[[Homestar Runner]]:'' Homsar enters a [http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail82.html Strong Sad impersonation contest], and his costume is so good he gets mistaken for the real Strong Sad and disqualified.

 

* In a strip where ''[[Casey and Andy]]'' goes to a comic-con, some kid claims that his Wolverine-claws are much more realistic than Mary's--and while she might not actually BE Wolverine, her claws are actually razor-sharp, retractable claws implanted through mad science!

** Also deliberately invoked by Mama Gkika. Jagermonsters aren't allowed in Mechanicsburg, and she runs a club where the girls all make themselves up to look like Jagers. With all these ''fake'' Jager girls, nobody notices the ''real'' ones in their midst.

** Later, the crowd in the street is at first not convinced that Gilgamesh Wulfenbach is exactly who he says he is. At least, until he puts on the [[Nice Hat]].

* In ''[[Venus Envy]]'', Chris, a cross-dresser, critiques Zoe (a transgendered woman)'s breasts and dress, upsetting her... and then starts critiquing Lisa, who is biologically and mentally female, as well. It doesn't end well for Chris.

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' Schlock tries to get a part in the circus demonstrating his various abilities but fails because his abilities aren't as impressive as the ones possessed by Sergeant Schlock in the TV show very loosely based on his adventures.

* In ''[[Dork Tower]]'', Sonya, a furry, believes that Carson, a genuine anthropomorphic muskrat, is "a guy in the worst dog suit ever. Or marmot suit, or sheep suit, or something."

 

* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!'': After faking his own death, singer Dino Spumoni changes his mind and decides to tell the public the truth by showing up at a concert hall... only to be told to get in line with a bunch of other Dino impersonators.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':

* The PBS cartoon ''[[Word Girl]]'' features Becky, aka WordGirl, being told by her brother, the [[Loves My Alter Ego|WordGirl]] [[Fan Girl]], that her WordGirl impersonation is really bad.

* "That's the worst SpongeBob costume I've ever seen!"—Passenger on a train ride that [[SpongeBob SquarePants]] is driving in ''SBSP'' episode "The Krusty Sponge"

* In ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space'', the Missing Link is unable to scare people on Halloween because everyone just assumes he's a guy in a costume. The biggest insult comes from a kid ''dressed as Link'':

{{quote|'''Missing Link:''' Hey, genius. I see you're dressed as me.

'''Kid:''' No, I'm dressed as the Missing Link. You're dressed as a fat mermaid. }}

** Another kid mistakes him for [[The Muppet Show|Kermit]].

* One episode of ''[[KaBlam!]]'' has June meeting a group of fans of hers that are so obsessed they they dress like her and have their hair like hers. So when she tries to interview them, they naturally don't believe she's the ''real'' June and proceed to get rather angry when she keeps insisting that she ''is''.

* On ''[[Futurama]]'', Lrrr - [[Large Ham|RULER OF OMNICRON PERSEI 8!]] - tries to invade Earth, but he lands at a comic book convention right in the middle of a costume contest and is mistaken for just another contestant.

* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' episode "Take and Fake" has Crocker saying this to Cosmo, Wanda and Poof at Trixie's costume party, somehow failing to recognize them as the fairies he's tried to capture several times already.

* ''[[Justice League]]'' has a few examples, such as in one of the episodes in season 1 where Wonder Woman and The Flash are denied entry into a party, despite being super heros, because everyone else is 'in costume' too!

** Springfield once held a costume contest and a woman dressed as a witch won but was disqualified for being an actual witch (the prize had to go to someone who, technically, was wearing a costume). In retaliation, [[Disproportionate Retribution|she cursed everyone into being whatever their costumes made them look like]].

* ''[[The Secret Show]]'': Victor Volt once entered a Victor Volt impersonator contest but got third place.

* [[Quick Draw McGraw|El Kabong]] couldn't claim a reward because he was mistaken for one of the several imposters trying to claim it.

* ''[[The Replacements (animation)|The Replacements]]'': Dick Daring once got a makeover and his wife mistook him for an imposter because of this.

 

* [[Charlie Chaplin]] failed to even make it to the finals in a competition to impersonate Chaplin in the "Little Tramp" persona that Chaplin made famous. [http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/chaplin2.asp Snopes.com actually confirmed this as real.]

* George Harrison once won third place in a [[The Beatles|Beatles]] Lookalike competition.

* In that vein, this is certainly ''not'' [[Kevin Smith]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QepgKVOVfZ8 protesting his own film].

* According to his autobiography, [[Lewis Black]] had a friend who got a [[Pilot]], and wrote a character that was basically Lewis saying what Lewis would say. Lewis was considered for the part, but had to audition to play ''himself''—and lost the part. As he said in a stand-up routine about the incident, "Unbeknownst to me, there was a better '''me!'''" (The show wasn't picked up.)

** Quotes from the sketch were also [http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/interview.asp passed off as part of the real Katie Couric interview transcript], and this was further confounded by the fact that some sketches have Fey reading quotes of Palin verbatim. [[Pandering to the Base|They got laughs from the audience.]]

** Parodied in an opening skit [http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/ where Palin and Lorne Michaels are watching Fey doing a Palin impersonation press conference]. [[30 Rock|Alec Baldwin]] walks up assuming Palin is Fey. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* Played with when Jesse Eisenberg hosted ''SNL'' in season 36. Eisenberg (who played Mark Zuckerberg in the movie ''[[The Social Network]]'') was met by Andy Samberg (playing Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg) who criticized Eisenberg's impersonation of him...{{spoiler|until the real Mark Zuckerberg -- who points out that Jesse Eisenberg is his evil twin and Andy Samberg's impersonation is weak -- comes out}}.

* Ellen DeGeneres allegedly attended a look-a-like show or two in Vegas to fake being one of the performers. She apparently had received comments to the extent of her being "too pretty" to be the real Ellen. (Naturally, the best of these made her talk show.)

* Someone once told Al Gore in a restaurant "If you dyed your hair you would look just like Al Gore."

** "And you sound like him too!"

* Inverted by Albert Einstein, of all people: Thanks to his infamous hair, when he went out, he would often get passers-by asking if he was indeed the famous physicist, but he'd tell them they were mistaken. "Always I be mistaken for Professor Einstein!"

** An [[Urban Legend]] sprang up that Einstein once pranked the media by switching places with his chauffeur, then fielded a question from them as the chauffeur. The chauffeur-as-Einstein supposedly passed off the question to Einstein-as-chauffeur by saying, "Why, that question is so elementary, my chauffeur could answer it."

* [[Marilyn Monroe]] was walking down the street with an interviewer. No one was noticing her, and the reporter was confused by this. She then said, "Want to see ''her''?". [[Clark Kenting|She changed the way she walked and gestured]], and suddenly people started noticing her. This makes sense since body language and posture can make a huge difference in perception.

** Russian writer Kataev once also got D for a school essay. And the topic was ''his own story''. The teacher even made a helpful explanation to the effect that the essay [[Death of the Author|completely missed the point of the story]].

** The same also happened with a relative of Thomas Keneally.

* [[Dwayne Johnson]] told an anecdote on a talk show about him overhearing people who were trying to decide if he was The Rock and ultimately deciding he wasn't because he wasn't handsome enough.

* [[The Spoony Experiment|Noah Antwiller]] ran around the 2009 Chicago Comic Con dressed as his character Dr. Insano, and had a fan compliment him as "the best Insano cosplayer she'd ever seen".

** Evidently people recognize him exponentially better when he's appearing with Jamie, rather than without. To wit, from the show:

{{quote|'''Adam:''' I ''might'' be that guy from that show, but he ''is'' that guy from that show.}}

** Jamie ''does'' have his rather distinct mustache as beacon of his identity, not to mention his [[Nice Hat|beret]], [[Nerd Glasses|glasses]], and dirt-shielded white shirt.

* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY_sl1R3KJQ an Australian TV interview], puppeteer Kevin Clash told an anecdote about how he performed Elmo's voice in a store... and other people there said they could do a better job.

* Virtuoso concert violinist Joshua Bell in 2007 [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9521098 busked in a DC Metro station] and made a grand total of $59. Possibly justified since a metro station is generally noisy, the acoustics are lousy for a violin and it was during rush hour, so many people probably couldn't stop. The low income generated may be less about mistaking him for a lesser performer, and more about completely not noticing him.

* Similar but with voices instead of appearances- Ernie Hudson auditioned for the role of Winston in ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' and lost. Then again, ''nobody'' really looked or sounded like their movie equivalent.

{{quote|'''Bobcat:''' This lady walked up to me and said "Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like Bobcat Goldthwait" [[Beat|*beat*]] [[Logic Bomb|How am I supposed to take that?]]}}

* John Leeson, the voice of K-9 on ''[[Doctor Who]]'', once placed second in a K-9 sound-alike contest he entered under an assumed name.

* In the introduction to [[Carl Sagan]]'s ''The Demon-Haunted World'', he tells a story of being picked up at an airport by a driver holding a cardboard "Carl Sagan" sign. The driver said, "You have the same name as that science guy." And it turns out the driver had the [[Name's the Same|reverse problem]]. His name was William Buckley.

* British comedy personality Harry Hill stated in an interview that he was asked by a man on the street who he was because the man recognized him from somewhere. The man started naming celebrities who he thinks he could be leading Hill to say: "How about Harry Hill?" The man said no stating that he looked nothing like him.

* Alluding to a rising Broadway star whose name was on everyone's lips, a Hollywood director at a party (so the story goes) pointed to someone dancing and said "Forget [[Gene Tierney]]! Get me ''that'' girl!" It goes without saying who "that girl" was.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Standard Superhero Suits]]

[[Category:Costume Tropes]]