History Main / MistakenForAnImposter

* The Shirley Jackson short story ''Louisa, Please Come Home'' concerns a nineteen-year-old girl who runs away from home and returns three years later only to find that she [[{{Ptitle024v6ql5duby}} Can't Go Home Again]]. Because her family thinks she's an imposter after the reward money. DramaticIrony ensues.

In [[{{Film/Spider-Man}} Spider-Man 2]] due to PowerIncontinence the web-head must use the elevator to leave the building he's on top of. When someone get on the elevator as well he just thinks Spider-Man is just a [[YourCostumeNeedWork guy in a spidey suit]]. To his credit he thinks it's a cool costume.

* Phoney Bone in the Bone series ran a dragon protection racket so that he could run off with all the town's valuables. The hoax becomes far more complicated when a real dragon, who happens to be a good friend of his cousin, intentionally gets caught in his fake snare just to see what he would do.

* The SilverAge story "The Batman Nobody Knows" features Bruce Wayne camping with some scouts, and listening to them regale each other with their theories about who/what Batman really is. These stories range from plausible-but-inaccurate to the supernatural. Finally, Bruce leaps from the bushes in his Batsuit to surprise the campers. Much to Batman's amusement, the kids don't buy it.

** AbbottAndCostello Meet TheMummy has three mummies (including the original) running around at one point, so that's probably the one.
* In the SoBadItsGood comedy ''The Creature from the Haunted Sea'', the main characters try to kill a Cuban guard and blame a sea monster. Guess what shows up...

* In {{Zorro The Gay Blade}}, this trope is batted about a few times when the Spanish governor of Mexico hosts a masquerade ball in an effort to trap Zorro. The Alcalde is thrilled when Zorro appears and triumphantly rips off the hero's mask to find his best friend, Don Diego de le Vega (GeorgeHamilton). Other guests arrive, all dressed as Zorro. [[spoiler: De la Vega actually is Zorro, of course, but tampered with the party invitations to have everyone appear in a Zorro costume.]] Then when Zorro actually does appear...

* A disloyal subordinate uses this against Tuon after Tuon's accidental abduction in TheWheelOfTime- Suroth spreads rumors among the troops that some traitor is out in the countryside impersonating Tuon, and should be killed on sight. [[spoiler:Since Mat keeps Tuon safe until her loyal bodyguard corps can return her to the capitol, it goes very badly for Suroth.]]

* This trope was played deliberately on Big Brother Australia. The housemates had to play as paparazzi and were shown celebrity impersonators whom they had to photograph. The Pamela Anderson impersonator turned out to be the real Pamela, and the housemates were genuinely surprised by this.

* In the {{NCIS}} episode "Witch Hunt", the team bursts in on a suspect, guns drawn, only to find a Halloween party in progress. The partygoers clap; one of them says, "Great costumes, but you misspelled CSI."

* In an episode of TheDrewCareyShow, Drew's brother faces termination for being a cross-dresser, just after being hired to work in the cosmetics department. Drew challenges fire-happy [[FakeBrit Mr. Wick]] to differentiate transvestites from actual women perusing the store. Wick believes he found a "bad" impersonator of Dionne Warwick, but it was actually her.
* In an episode of HermansHead, Louise answers the phone and laughs at the woman who says she's Maureen [=McCormick=]; AKA Marsha of TheBradyBunch. A minute or two later, Mr. Bracken storms out of his office and states that his good friend Maureen [=McCormick=] just called him and said that a woman with a voice like a cartoon character made fun of her. This doubles as a {{Lampshade}} on the fact that Louise is played by Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa on TheSimpsons.

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]
* Used to some extent in [[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/photoshops.png this]] ''{{xkcd}}'' comic. Which could also be used to illustrate the trope.

[[folder:Jokes]]
* Played with in a string of elephant jokes.
--> Q: What did Tarzan say when he saw a herd of elephants in the distance?
--> A: "Look, a herd of elephants in the distance!"
--> Q: What did Tarzan say when he saw a herd of elephants with sunglasses in the distance?
--> A: Nothing. He didn't recognize them.
--> Q: What did Tarzan say when he saw a herd of giraffes with sunglasses in the distance?
--> A: "Ha! You won't fool me with those disguises this time!"

[[folder:{{Theater}}]]
* In ''AnythingGoes'', Bishop Henry T. Dobson boards the ship while Moonface Martin is also on-board masquerading as the ship's chaplain. The local authorities are warned that a criminal is masquerading as a priest and, predictably, haul off the protesting Bishop.
* In ''Cash on Delivery'', Eric Swan has coerced his friend and roommate Norman to dress up as a woman, whereupon the head of the Social Security, a female, shows up unexpectedly. Eric, thinking that the woman is a dressed-up Norman, proceeds to not onyl comment on how Norman "made the breasts too big" but proceeds to juggle and motorboat said mammaries.
* A variation in ''Little Me'': On a sinking ship, Noble Eggleston continually confronts the captain, who is trying to flee by disguising himself as a woman. Around [[RuleOfThree the third time or so]], he confronts the captain again, but this time it's actually a woman. He apologizes to her, saying, "I'm terribly sorry, madam. The captain wears the same kind of dress."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* In the game ''{{Prototype}}'', one of the abilities Alex Mercer gains is "Patsy", faking out the military by accusing one of their own of being a shapeshifting mutant. And, of course, since Alex himself is the shapeshifting mutant they're hunting...
* In ''SuikodenV'', Euram falls for one of these.
** The main character from the second game has that happen to him when you recruit Hoi (a actual imposter of the hero) he gets actually beat up by a angry bunch of villagers along with the real imposter
* In the online game ''Legends of {{Zork}}'', at the end of the quest "Antharia Jack and the Hat Mislaid", [[spoiler: it turns out you've been trying to find Antharia Jack's hat for a crazed fan rather than the real Antharia Jack - and furthermore, there's an entire ''fan club'' in town devoted to dressing up like him. This culminates in you irritably pushing aside the ''real'' Antharia Jack, who comments that it's been the third time it's happened to him that day]].
* In a sidequest in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', Mario is given the task of helping a die-hard Luigi fangirl meet the man himself. Unfortunately, Mario's brother is unavailable, so Mario has to dress up as Luigi and meet the fan instead. While he is doing so, the real Luigi shows up. Guess what happens.
** The penguin detective also thinks that Mario, in is regular clothes, is Luigi, no matter who tries to correct him. When Bowser shows up and tries to intimidate the detective into handing over the Crystal Star, he is thus told that Luigi has already made off with it. [[NoRespectGuy He doesn't take it well.]]
** Near the beginning of VideoGame/SuperPaperMario, Mario visits a wizard to get a new power, only for the wizard to assume he's an impostor because his appearance matches that mentioned in the Light Prognosticus prophecy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{RealLife}}]]
* CharlieChaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin Impersonation contest.... [[http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/chaplin2.asp and came in 3rd]].
** The contest was to impersonate the Tramp, one of Chaplin's most popular characters. The judges noted his perfect impression, but he lost points for showing up on the spur of the moment with no costume.
* An audience member was asked to leave a showing of ''TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' because he was a Tim Curry impersonator. The member: Tim Curry himself.
* When appearing at science fiction conventions, Claudia Christian of ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' fame will often recount the story of how she once attempted to join a ''[=B5=]'' discussion group, only to be chased off by the regulars as an allegedly clumsy and unconvincing impersonation!
* In the 60's, Brazilian rock'n'roll musician Raul Seixas once showed up to perform so high that he couldn't sing his own songs. That led to the audience thinking he was an impostor and calling the police.
* Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton look-a-like contest.
* The late Jeremy Beadle hosted a hidden-camera prank show called ''Beadle's About'' during the 1990s. He would appear in disguise (usually as an authority figure like a policeman or traffic warden), wind up the victim a little more, and then reveal that it was all a set-up for the TV. The downside? There was at least one case of a member of the public mistaking a real policeman for Jeremy Beadle, and attempting to pull his "disguise" off ...
** Similarly, Candid Camera host Alan Funt was once on a flight that was hijacked and flown to Cuba. Because everyone on the plane recognized him, he was the only passenger to realize that this wasn't a joke.
[[/folder]]

<<|ComedyTropes|>>

* [[{{hayate the combat butler}} Hayate no Gotoku]] dealt with this (~Ch 255). The characters decided to have a costume party, and then a bunch of real monsters got summoned in their midst. Some of the characters were truely scared (and protected by the stronger characters), others recruited the monsters' services for their own tasks. Not all the characters seem to have caught on they were dealing with actual monsters.

* In a sidequest in ''[[PaperMario Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door]]'', Mario is given the task of helping a die-hard Luigi fangirl meet the man himself. Unfortunately, Mario's brother is unavailable, so Mario has to dress up as Luigi and meet the fan instead. While he is doing so, the real Luigi shows up. Guess what happens.

** Near the beginning of Super Paper Mario, Mario visits a wizard to get a new power, only for the wizard to assume he's an impostor because his appearance matches that mentioned in the Light Prognosticus prophecy.

* It's done in one ''{{Garfield}}'' strip set on Halloween. The first time Garfield does that, it's just a kid in disguise. The second time... it's a scary monster disguised as BedsheetGhost. The third time... a monster wearing a mask that looks just like its face. The fourth time... a BedsheetGhost with, well, nothing under the "bedsheet".

* In a Halloween episode of [[HannahMontana Hannah Montana,]] Miley, (as Hannah,) is mistaken for her evil [[UncannyFamilyResemblance identical cousin]] by her best friend, Lilly. The friend comments on [[YourCostumeNeedsWork how bad her imitation is.]]

* An old Batman comic features Bruce Wayne camping with some scouts, and listening to them regail their theories about who/what Batman really is. These stories range from plausible-but-inaccurate to the supernatural. Finally, Bruce leaps from the bushes in his Batsuit to surprise the campers. Much to Batman's amusement, the kids don't buy it.

* The late Jeremy Beadle hosted a hidden-camera prank show called ''Beadle's About'' during the 1990s. He would appear in disguise (usually as an authority figure like a policeman or traffic warden), wind up the victim a little more, and then reveal that it was all a set-up for the TV. The downside? There was at least one case of a member of the public assaulting an actual policeman in the belief he was Jeremy Beadle, and being arrested ...

** The penguin detective also thinks that Mario, in is regular clothes, is Luigi, no matter who tries to correct him.

* In an episode of ''FullMetalAlchemist'', the Elric Brothers are shunned in one town they visit...for claiming to be the Elric Brothers.

** AbbotAndCostello Meet TheMummy has three mummies running around at one point, so that's probably the one.

* Calvin is derailed by this while using his Stupendous Man costume to mess with his class and disrupt one of his tests. Nobody believes Stupendous Man is anyone other than Calvin in a hood and cape.

* CharlieChaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin Impersonation contest.... [[http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/chaplin2.asp and came 3rd]].

* In a sidequest in ''[[PaperMario Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door]]'', Mario is given the task of helping a die-hard Luigi fangirl meet the man himself. Unfortunately, Mario's brother is unavailable, so Mario has to dress up as Luigi and meet the fan instead. While he is doing so, the real Luigi shows up, and is mistaken for a fake.