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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Kid:''' Your Zuko costume's pretty good, but your scar's on the wrong side.<br />
'''Zuko:''' ''The scar's '''not''' on the wrong side!''|''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', "[[Avatar: The Last Airbender the Ember Island Players/Recap|The Ember Island Players]]"}}
 
This trope covers any scenario where a character is: a celebrity, a [[Superhero]] with a [[Secret Identity]], a magical, non-human creature, or something to that effect. Said character gets mistaken as [[For Halloween I Am Going Asas Myself|someone posing as (or performing something created by)]] ''[[For Halloween I Am Going Asas Myself|himself]]'', and furthermore, criticized or laughed at for his lame impersonation and costume.
 
Picture this: Elvis really is [[Not Quite Dead]] after all. He decides to surprise the world by showing up at one of those Elvis-impersonator conventions in full iconic Elvis regalia. What does he hear when he shows up? His outfit is the poorest recreation anyone has ever seen, his accent sounds totally fake, his hair style is all wrong, and he's much too tall. Nice try, newbie, but you would never pass as the real Elvis.
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* ''[[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 dub of [[Bobobo-boBobobobo Bo-boboBobobo]], Don Patch says he once won third place in a "Don Patch Look-alike" contest.
* [[Trigun|Vash the Stampede]] gets this a lot, thanks to his [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] and the [[Shrouded in Myth|over-the-top legend that has grown around him.]]
** In the movie Badlands Rumble, Vash attempts to use his reputation as an outlaw to avoid getting kicked out of a bar by Meryl. After a [[Beat|beat]], everyone in the bar bursts out laughing. It helps that the diminutive Meryl had just dragged him across the room by his ear, taking the impact away from anything he could've said. Vash greatly enjoys the mixup.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* In the ''[[The Sandman (Comic Book)|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''.)
* ''[[Y: theThe Last Man (Comic Book)|Y the Last Man]]'': Having grown a beard on a cross-country train-ride, Yorick is given advice by a "working girl" (who assumes Yorick is a woman with a fake beard) to make it look more natural.
{{quote| "If you bind those breasts a little tighter, you'll almost be passable."<br />
"...Thanks?" }}
* In one early ''[[Spider Man|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.
* in a ''[[Barbie]]'' comic, the eponymous character (a Supermodel in her 'verse) used this as a running gag, usually with someone going "Is that Barbie, the famous model?" "Oh no she's too (tall/short/fat/skinny/whathaveyou) to be her!"
* A ''[[Jose Carioca]]'' story has Jose assuming he's guaranteed to win a Jose Carioca look-alike contest. He loses to [[Donald Duck]].
* In ''[[Scare Tactics (Comic Bookcomics)|Scare Tactics]]'', Slither (a lizard boy) is refused admitance to a nightclub because:
{{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.
* An episode of the Polish comic ''[[Kajko I Kokosz]]'' has both heroes, medieval Slavic wrriors, [[Time Travel|transported to present day]] where they stumble into a movie set of a historical drama film about their adventures. The film's main characters are [[Future Imperfect|completely unlike them]], and when someone proposes that the two strange-dressed arrivals might serve as stuntmen for the lead characters, the director laughs them off; after all, they look nothing like the "real" Kajko and Kokosz!
* The classic ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] vol. 1'' starts this way; this was later adapted in the 2003 cartoon.
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** 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
* Played with when [[The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]] one day notice the fourth wall, discovering there's a comic strip starring them. They promptly decide on complete wardrobe makeovers to avoid association with the idiots on the printed page. That evening they find their local watering hole is holding a Freak Brothers lookalike contest with a cash prize, and can't find appropriate clothes.
* Lampshaded in the third issue of Batman, Inc:
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== Fan Fiction ==
* 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 (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4435539/5/Lanterns Lanterns.]
* In a couple of [[Buffy]] fics by Litmouse,''[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-10865/ Viva Los Xanders]'', and ''[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-10926/ A Schism in Stars Hollow]'', Xander accidentally discovers that there is a Xander L. Harris Doppelganger society, and comes in fifth in their look-alike contest. (Faith does better in the associated Faith look-alike contest, coming in third.)
* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' drabble "[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.drwho.creative/msg/000531a95c530da9 This 2 Shall Pass]" Zoe's "costume" is [[Subverted Trope|acclaimed as superbly accurate]], but the Doctor and Jamie aren't so lucky.
* 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 (Fanfic)|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.
 
 
== Film ==
* This is the reason that Elvis is in the old age home in ''[[Bubba HotepHo-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.
* ''[[Casper]]'s Haunted Christmas'': Casper's uncles get mistaken for actors auditioning for the roles of ghosts... and are told they desperately need to work on their act.
* 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.
* [[Stan Lee]]'s cameo in ''[[Fantastic Four (Filmfilm)|Fantastic Four]]: Rise of the [[Silver Surfer]]'' consists of this, trying to get into Reed and Sue's wedding.
** 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.
* In ''[[LA Confidential|L.A. Confidential]]'', Ed Exley and Jack Vincennes are investigating an escort service that provides prostitutes who look like celebrities. They meet Johnny Stompanato in a bar, accompanied by a woman. Exley, attempting to out-badass Vincennes, tells the woman that "A hooker who's cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker." To which Vincennes replies, "She is Lana Turner". [[Truth in Television]], as the real-life Johnny Stompanato dated Lana Turner.
** Though a few years later than the film is set; the [[Rule of Funny]] means it still works.
* In ''[[OceansOcean's Eleven|Ocean's Twelve]]'', this occurs with Tess, the role played by Julia Roberts, who [[Celebrity Paradox|attempts to pass as Julia Roberts]] in order to gain entrance to a specific part of a museum but is found out, by another celebrity.
* In ''[[Superhero Movie]]'', there's a sequence where The Dragonfly ends up at a convention where people are all wearing costumes. He meets a random fan, who explains how the convention works, then says "by the way, your costume SUCKS!"
* ''[[Braveheart]]''; "William Wallace is seven feet tall!"
** This may also be a nod to the real William Wallace, who was in fact estimated to be at least 6'8"
* In the movie ''[[My Fellow Americans]]'' Douglas and Kramer pretend to be celebrity look-alikes of themselves. While some people are impressed by their resemblance the "real" ex-presidents, one man says that one of them has too big a nose to be convincing.
* Similar idea, though somewhat averted in ''Spider Man 2'', as when [[Spider -Man]] is riding the elevator, a man comments "Cool Spidey outfit", though [[Spider -Man]] himself notes that it's "itchy" and "rides up in the crotch a little bit".
* There is a 1946 Soviet movie called ''Springtime'' where an actress is taken for a role of the scientist Nikitina in a movie. She asks the real Nikitina to take her place while she's away on some urgent business (in secret). What does the producer say? "We'll make a real Nikitina out of you". And so it continues. Well, Nikitina does give some suggestions of her own about how to make the movie.
* Inverted in ''[[Miracle Onon 34th Street]]'': When Kris Kringle shows up for his first day of work as Macy's Santa Claus, manager Mr. Shellhammer makes a point of complimenting him on his "striking costume".
* Test audiences thought "the actor playing McCarthy" in ''[[Good Night and Good Luck]]'' was "over-the-top". The film used actual historical footage of the real McCarthy.
* In ''[[Shrek]] 3'', Shrek has to infiltrate a high school to find Fiona's brother Artie, and gets mistaken for a mascot. This gets spun into a [[Chekhov's Gun]] later on as Prince Charming invades Far Far Away and stages a play on the death of Shrek - and Shrek infiltrates it by passing as one of the leads.
* In the [[Rodney Dangerfield]] comedy ''[[Back to School (Filmfilm)|Back to School]]'', Dangerfield, playing a multimillionaire who enrolls in college to get closer to his son, hires [[Kurt Vonnegut]] to ghostwrite a paper on the works of Kurt Vonnegut for him. The professor who assigned the paper gives him an F, saying both that she knows it was plagiarized and that whoever wrote it "doesn't know the first thing about Vonnegut."
* Combined with [[Celebrity Paradox]] in ''[[Cannonball Run]]'', in which Roger Moore plays a rich playboy who impersonates Roger Moore to impress women. His deception works on one woman after another, until the final segment of the film ... at which point his latest conquest mistakes him for ''George Hamilton''.
* In ''[[Megamind]]'', the eponymous villain is about to blow up the Metro-Man museum in the middle of the night when he runs into snarky curator Bernard, who initially mistakes him for a guy in a cheap costume (didn't help Megamind was still in his pajamas), and gets dehydrated and impersonated for his troubles.
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'''Tuan:''' Homie, puh-''lease''! Your Halloween costume! If you pimp, you ''broke'' pimp! Ha-ha-ha-ha! }}
* The film Vantage Point has President Ashton being placed in a bunker and replaced by a body double--both are played by the same actor. Hilarious in that the body double looks totally fake thanks to his mannerisms and overzealous acting.
* The original 1942 version of ''[[To Be or Not Toto 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."
* ''Batman Returns'' has Batman ripping off his mask in the Penguin's lair. Max Shreck asks, "Why is Bruce Wayne dressed up as Batman?" To which Catwoman (who'd already discovered his secret identity) responds "Because he is Batman, you moron!"
* Does this fit? In ''A Hard Day's Night'', a woman bumps into John Lennon and changes her mind several times about how much he does or doesn't look like "him" (never mentioning his name).
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (Literaturenovel)|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.
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''The Immortal Bard'', one person invents a way of bringing famous people [[Time Travel|from the past to the present]], and tries it out with [[William Shakespeare]], who {{spoiler|enrolls in the inventor's friend's college course in Shakespeare, and ''flunks''}}.
* 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 [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', the [[Genre Savvy]] wizards decide to disguise themselves ''as wizards'' when they don't want to be seen attending a movie - they twist bits of wire into their beards to make them look like badly-made false beards, for instance. However, the trope is then played straight when they later need to be taken seriously and no-one believes they're real wizards.
** Also in [[Discworld]], the [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] platoon-members in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'' were denied permission to pass themselves off as women to infiltrate an enemy base by their clueless officer, who didn't think they could pull off this deception as well as himself. When they tried it anyway and got captured, the enemy officers likewise thought their costumes were laughably bad ... until one of the Pollys lifted her skirts.
* 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 [[GKG. 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.
* Often happens to the heroine of the French ''[[Fantomette]]'' series, to the point that she doesn't worry much if her friends are involved in one of her adventures since they just never suspect she's the real thing. On the other hand, one of her ''friends'' is sometimes mistaken for her.
* At one point in ''[[My Side of the Mountain (Literature)|My Side of the Mountain]]'', after he's been living in the woods for a while, Sam makes a foray into town, wearing one of his deerskin suits. He meets another boy, who assumes he's into the Davy Crockett/cowboys-and-Indians trend (the book was written in the late fifties) and tells him his outfit looks totally fake, sarcastically asking if he chewed the leather himself (Sam responds that he actually ended up softening most of it by hitting it against a rock, only chewing a little around the neck).
* In Brecht's short story "The Monster," a destitute old man has a striking resemblance to the lead actor in a film about a notorious anti-Semite (because he ''is'' said notorious anti-Semite), so they let him play himself in a scene or two. They find his acting wooden and not dramatically sadistic enough. He's just happy the script calls for him to eat an apple.
* In the first [[Star Wars]] ''[[Legacy of the Force]]'' novel, Luke and Mara sneak into the capital city of Corellia disguised, not as themselves, but, disguised as actors impersonating Luke and Mara, even traveling with a troupe of actors with a Han, and Leia to complete the ensemble. They pass, but the guard says that no one would believe in a Luke Skywalker that short, despite Luke's whining insistence that he can "do backflips just like him." Once they're out of earshot, Luke asked Mara what her real hair color was before she started impersonating. Mara was not amused.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode ''Buffy vs. [[Dracula]]", the [[Monster of the Week]] introduces himself:
{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Who are you?<br />
'''Dracula:''' I apologize. I assumed you knew. I am Dracula.<br />
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'''Buffy:''' And you're sure this isn't just some fanboy thing? 'Cause I've fought more than a couple pimply, overweight vamps that called themselves Lestat. }}
** "Actually, Billy Idol stole his look from...never mind"
** Although he's not being himself specifically, one episode of ''[[Angel (TV)|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...<br />
'''Lorne''': ''(Laughing)'' You have no idea. }}
* In a Halloween episode of ''[[Dark Angel]]'', several of the cast (who were transgenic supersoldiers with barcodes on their necks) tried to pass for people dressed as...[[For Halloween I Am Going Asas Myself|transgenic supersoldiers with barcodes on their necks]]. The response to the costumes varied, some were considered cool, others unoriginal, and some normal humans were using the same costume. The transgenics were actually what they were cosplaying as, and using it as a cover, but some were still told it needed work.
** Also played with where one transgenic, a lizard man bred to fight in the desert, doesn't quite get it, goes around with a football helmet on as his costume, saying he's Joe Namath.
* One episode of ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'' has Mr. Wick, who claims he can tell a crossdresser on sight, told to find the crossdresser in a crowded department of Winfred-Lauder. He walks up to one and claims, loudly, "Every crossdresser does Dionne Warwick!", adding that this one is a particularly poor example. He is then reduced to stammering when his victim proves she's the ''real'' Dionne Warwick.
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** 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...
* In something of a subversion, Welsh singer Charlotte Church's short-lived (and awful) TV show included one sequence in which she went undercover as a Charlotte Church lookalike. Her disguise? Deliberately singing horribly. The judges were shocked at her uncanny resemblance to the, er, real Charlotte.
* 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.
** In another episode, Fran is in Atlantic City and runs into Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, who sing one of their songs until Fran stops them and starts telling them how their performance should be. Humorously, after Fran leaves them, Steve talks to Eydie about how Fran is correct about one of her pointers.
** 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.
* ''[[Gilligan's Island (TV)|Gilligans Island]]'': Ginger hears on the radio that Hollywood is making a movie about her life, "The Ginger Grant Story," and she wishes she were home so she could play herself in it. Mrs. Howell tells her, "You know if you tried that, they'd say you weren't right for the part."
* On ''[[I Dream of Jeannie (TV)|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.
* ''[[I Love Lucy (TV)|I Love Lucy]]'': In the episode "Don Juan Gets Shelved," Lucy wants to hire an actor to play a producer trying to steal Ricky to convince an MGM producer not to fire him. Unbeknownst to her, the very producer she wants to fool overhears her plight and volunteers himself as an actor. Lucy is reluctant to hire him because he doesn't look the part at all, corrects his wardrobe, and coaches him on how to sound important and act like a producer and never feels she makes any progress.
** In another episode, Lucy spots Charles Boyer in a Paris cafe, but Ricky convinces him to tell her that he's just a look-a-like. She later persuades this "false"-Boyer to play the real one in an attempt to impress Ricky and the Mertzes, instructing him on how to be a more convincing Boyer as he doesn't quite have the same passion.
* ''[[The Lucy Show]]'' had a similar episode where Lucy recruits what she thinks is an Ethel Merman look-alike to sing in a Boy Scout fund-raiser, in an effort to live up to her inflated promise about getting the famed stat to participate. Needless to say, the real Ms. Merman decides to go along with the charade, considering it's for a worthy cause, and allows Lucy to "teach her to sing like Ethel Merman."
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* On ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'' [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/8/8a/Little_richard.jpg Beaker does an uncanny Little Richard impression], actually a cameo of Little Richard himself, on which the shows host, Clifford, comments "Worst Little Richard impersonation ever!"
* In Laura Kightlinger's episode of ''[[Pulp Comics]]'', a Comedy Central show that interspersed stand-up with illustrative short film pieces, Laura expressed that she'd like to be so famous, that drag queens would dress up as her when she was dead. In the subsequent scene, two obvious Laura impersonators dress her down for her bad costuming, bad wig -- and poor tucking job.
* An episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live (TV)|Saturday Night Live]]'' had Stevie Wonder posing as a Stevie Wonder impersonator and Eddie Murphy's character telling him how to look more like Stevie Wonder.
* Cher made her first guest appearance on ''[[Will and Grace (TV)|Will and Grace]]'' as herself. Jack assumed she was a drag queen Cher-alike and gave tips on how to do a better impersonation.
** I recall him saying her look was ''flawless'', his main insult being that he wasn't going to have a drag queen telling him he was pathetic for having a Cher doll.
*** He did correct her singing, though.
* In ''[[Seinfeld (TV)|Seinfeld]]'', [[Mind Screw|Jerry makes a show based loosely on his life]]. Kramer can't get the part to play himself. (It is implied this happened to the guy he's based on.)
* In a Vegas-based episode of ''[[Roseanne (TV)|Roseanne]]'', the Conners have to settle for seeing a Wayne Newton impersonator rather than the real deal, but Newton himself shows up partway through the show and takes over. Roseanne is out of the room for his entrance, and comes back (drunk) to heckle what she thinks is a bad impersonator ("He doesn't even have a mustache!")
* There is a one-off British comedy charity special starring Sir Bob Geldof as himself. In short, he finds himself stranded at a pub where a celebrity impersonator karaoke competition is ongoing. Through a series of developments Geldof winds up singing the Boomtown Rats' breakout single "I Don't Like Mondays" live. The crowd is underwhelmed and first prize goes to the Elton John impersonator, much to Geldof's outrage. Basically it's [[Your Costume Needs Work]] expanded out to a thirty-minute show.
* 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 Thethe Rain (Film)|Singin in The Rain]]'' style.
* An episode of ''[[Taking The Falls]]'' implied that Elvis was still alive, and hiding out at Elvis Impersonator conventions.
* On ''[[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]'', Jenna entered a Jenna Maroney impersonation contest. She came in fourth.
* In the season 3 summer finale of ''[[Burn Notice (TV)|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 ''[[CharliesCharlie'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.
 
 
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== Web Original ==
* Inverted in ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|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 the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series]]'' skit "Marik's Evil Council 3", the evil meeting takes place in Michingan during Youmacon, and Marik says they can pretend to be cosplayers, and says Bakura's costume needs work.
 
 
== Web Comics ==
* In a strip where ''[[Casey and Andy (Webcomic)|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!
* Subverted in ''[[Girl Genius]]'', when Aaronev Sturmvoraus [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051021 catches his son up on the play they were watching], he mentions a "hilariously bad midget in a cat suit." Sounds like he was talking about [http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Krosp_I Krosp, right?]. Well... [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051026 not quite.]
** 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 (Webcomic)|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."
 
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[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 (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':
** Aang tries to get his group free passage on the ferry to Ba Sing Se. The woman taking tickets doesn't find his Avatar costume any more believable than those in the nearby group of impersonators. [[Fridge Logic|Why didn't Aang and those who know he's the real Avatar considered using his Airbending as a proof? It worked at Kyoshi Island.]]
** Naturally, in "[[Avatar: The Last Airbender the Ember Island Players/Recap|The Ember Island Players]]," a kid tells Zuko his "Zuko costume" is great, but his scar's on the wrong side of his face.
{{quote| ''The scar's '''not''' on the wrong side!''}}
* In ''[[American Dragon Jake Long]]'': Jake finds himself out in the street in his dragon form. [[For Halloween I Am Going Asas Myself|Luckily it was Halloween so no-one freaked out]], but a passerby did call his "dragon costume" unconvincing. Likewise when Hans Rotwood offered a reward for photos of a real dragon Jake gave him some photos of himself that Rotwood decried as fakes, but this time because they were ''too good'', as most other Cryptozoology photos (e.g. [[wikipedia:Image:Smalfut.jpg|Big Foot]], [[wikipedia:Image:Lochnessmonster.jpg|Nessie]]) are blurry and taken from distance.
** Justified, actually. Would something mythical actually stay still long enough for you to photograph it except if it was used to people?
* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' was told he was much too short and his costume could never be confused for the "real Darkwing Duck" when attending a costume party with his neighbors. It's always been established that they aren't too bright.
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* In one episode of ''[[South Park]]'', Satan throws a Halloween party, and at one point starts to complain to what he thinks is a guy dressed as Steve Irwin, complete with a stingray embedded in his chest, telling him the costume is in bad taste so soon after Irwin's death. When the guy protests that he's actually the real Steve Irwin, Satan then throws him out of the party for not wearing a costume.
** A very early episode features Mr. Garrison auditioning to play Mr. Garrison in an America's Most Wanted reenactment of a crime he witnessed. He didn't get the part.
** In one of the Halloween episodes, Kenny wore an ''insanely'' elaborate ''[[Battle TechBattleTech]]'' mecha costume and got frustrated every time someone immediately identified him through the costume.
* A classic ''[[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]]'' short called "Napoleon Bunny-Part" featured Bugs butting heads with a cartoon Napoleon Bonaparte. Bugs eventually escaped by getting Napoleon dragged off by insane asylum orderlies who thought he was suffering from the [[Napoleon Delusion]] and didn't believe that he was the real Napoleon.
* While not bothering with the [[Secret Identity]] thing, ''[[Kim Possible]]'' was still rejected from the senior table because she couldn't carry off the "Kim-Style" fashion, despite its being [[You Are the New Trend|based on her mission outfit]] (and ''named after her'').
* Brain of ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' had quite some issues proving in court that he really was a mouse.
* 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 [[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]] is driving in ''SBSP'' episode "The Krusty Sponge"
* An episode of ''[[Duck TalesDuckTales]]'' had Gizmo Duck go to a convention where everyone was dressed as him. No one's believes he's the real guy and he tries to prove he is by showing the mechanics of his suit, which other people have as well.
* 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.<br />
'''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]].
* Raphael of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' won a ticket for a costume party cruise and went as... himself. A pompous aristocrat dressed as one of the Turtles complained that Raph was trying to upstage ''his'' expensive high-quality costume with a cheap knock-off.
** Another episode had all four Turtles attending a Channel 6 costume party as themselves and giving out pseudonyms. Some people compliment them on their lifelike costumes - except Vernon, who actually knows the Turtles and says these guys look nothing like them.
* One episode of ''[[Ka Blam!]]'' 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.
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' Peter Parker gets this response from Flash Thompson on Halloween when he goes from patroling the city to showing up in front of his classmates in his costume ("Puny Parker?! He looks nothing like Spider-Man!"). Mary Jane Watson and Liz Allen on the other hand... feel that he fills out the costume quite nicely ("[[Getting Crap Past the Radar|You can web me up anytime Petey]].").
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* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' 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!
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': At Halloween, Frankenstein's Monster, Count Dracula, a Mummy and a Werewolf decided [[For Halloween I Am Going Asas Myself|to pose as people dressed as themselves]] but were mocked for impersonating old-fashioned characters, so they bought real costumes anyway.
** 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.
* [[Freakazoid]] once chased Cave Guy into a convention where he mistook a guy in a costume for the real Cave Guy. After ripping the costume's head, the man tried to rip Freakazoid's "mask".
* [[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 (Animationanimation)|The Replacements]]'': Dick Daring once got a makeover and his wife mistook him for an imposter because of this.
 
 
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* [[Duran Duran]] have managed to subvert this by making a little cash by entering Duran Duran lookalike contests and winning them. So they look like themselves, but not so much that people think they are.
* [[Dolly Parton]] once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest. Even better, the other competitors were [[Drag Queen|Drag Queens]], and her comment was that she looked like a midget next to them since most of them were around six foot.
* And here's [[Joss Whedon (Creator)|Joss Whedon]] pretending to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLyuTU26sDk cosplay himself].
{{quote| '''Joss Whedon "cosplayer":''' It took a lot of paper mache ... white, pasty - I did a lot in the forehead. }}
* 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.)
* [[Tina Fey]], impersonating [[Sarah Palin]] on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', has been described as "more like Palin than the real Palin". To the point where a ''quote she said on SNL'', specifically "I can see Russia from my house" has been attributed to Palin. (The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFU-ApZ-HZQ actual quote] is "You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.") The latter happens to actually be true, though it's a matter of seeing small, more or less uninhabitated islands from other such islands. Also note that a lot of map projections distort land near the poles (the same effect makes greenland look roughly the size of Africa).
** 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 Thethe 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 (TV)|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}}.
** Even [[Fox News]] has managed to accidentally mix up the two, [http://theweek.com/article/index/216015/fox-news-tina-fey-sarah-palin-mixup illustrating a story about Palin with a photo of Fey].
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* An interesting one from Bobcat Goldthwait:
{{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 (TV)|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.
* Dan Castellaneta, voice of [[The Simpsons|Homer Simpson]], once told of how he was told by a Simpson fan that they would love to meet the voice of Homer. When he told her that he did the voice of Homer, the woman laughed him off.
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* A story about the nineteenth-century chess champion Emmanuel Lasker holds that he once visited a chess club and played some games unrecognized by anyone there, including a man who called himself "the Lasker of this club".
* Peyton Manning has stated that the best way to avoid being recognized is to wear a Peyton Manning jersey.
* Inverted by [[Jewel (Music)|Jewel]], who went so far as to wear a fake nose and a wig to sing her own songs at a karaoke bar. Nobody recognized her at all (until [[The Reveal]]), and she got rave reviews on how well she did Jewel songs.
 
{{reflist}}
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