History Main / NewspaperThinDisguise

* The 2009 ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' film pulls this with [[spoiler:Moriarty]] in an ''otherwise empty train car,'' though in this case it was more a matter of atmosphere and keeping his face hidden from ''the audience'' more than any of the in universe characters.

* Done in the ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "A Bird in the Hoof" by Philomena the bird. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, who are chasing her around, actually do check behind the newspaper, but appear fooled by the [[PaperThinDisguise fake mustache]] Philomena wears underneath.

* Happens twice in the opening sequence of ''{{Bolt}}'', first with Penny, then with Bolt himself. Bolt is a dog.

* Done in the ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "A Bird in the Hoof" by Philemena the bird. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, who are chasing her around, actually do check behind the newspaper, but appear fooled by the [[PaperThinDisguise fake mustache]] Philemena wears underneath.

* On ''TheSimpsons'', Bart goes to a counselor, where we find Principal Skinner in the waiting room. He doesn't want Bart to see him, so he hides behind a magazine ? namely "Principal's World", with his headshot on the cover.

* Happens with restaurant menus between Izma and Kuzco in ''TheEmperorsNewGroove''. Though to be fair, Kuzco (as a llama) was [[DragQueen in drag]] at the time. ItMakesSenseInContext...

* Done in the ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "A Bird in the Hoof" by Philomena the bird. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, who are chasing her around, actually do check behind the newspaper, but appear fooled by the [[PaperThinDisguise fake mustache]] Philomena wears underneath.

* Played with twice in the ''DoctorWho'' EighthDoctorAdventures novel ''Unnatural History''. In the first instance, Fitz doesn't seem to be attempting to hide, but came across as shady nonetheless:

* The buffoonish burglars in Disney's animated ''[[OneHundredAndOneDalmatians 101 Dalmatians]]'' do this.

* Philomena does this in ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, who are chasing her around, actually do check behind the newspaper, but appear fooled by the PaperThinDisguise she wears underneath.

* Subverted in an episode of {{Futurama}}. Flexo (a robot who looks exactly like Bender save for a small goatee) disappears along with an expensive atom they were delivering. While looking for him they see "Bender" first wearing a turtleneck sweater, then a scarf, then holding a newspaper to his face that he refuses to put down. They finally get him to put it down, revealing... that he really is Bender and Flexo left hours ago.

* The 2009 ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' film pulls this with [[spoiler:Moriarty]] in an ''otherwise empty train car''.

* Parodied in ''TheBigLebowski'' with the detective DaFino. As The Dude discovers his Volkswagen parked outside his house he walks angry towards it and we can see DaFino reaching for a newspaper and very badly pretend to read it.

* Played with twice in the ''DoctorWho'' EighthDoctorAdventures novel ''Unnatural History''. In the first instance, he doesn't seem to be attempting to hide, but came across as shady nonetheless:

* In HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban, Hermione does this with a book (which is upside down) when McGonagall comes in and takes Harry's Firebolt (Hermione having told McGonagall that Harry received it with no card and suspecting it to be from Sirius Black), to hide her face from Ron and Harry (who as soon as McGonagall is gone round on her and start getting after her for tattling)

* Played with twice in the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse novel ''Unnatural History''. In the first instance, he doesn't seem to be attempting to hide, but came across as shady nonetheless:

** Of course it would have helped if the cover story on the newspaper wasn't a major event that happened several years ago. To be precise, it chronicles the soccer match known as Agony of Doha (so called because it was played in the capital of Qatar), in which Japan drew 2-2 with Iraq and lost their spot in the 1994 [[TheWorldCup FIFA World Cup]] to South Korea (who had beaten North Korea 3-0 that same day) due to a lower goal difference (both finished the qualifiers with the same number of points). Had Japan won the match, they would have knocked the Korean team off the second spot (Saudi Arabia had secured the first) by a one-point difference. The match dates back to October 28, 1993, while ''FMP'' is set five years after.

* Heroic example: In ''FullmetalPanic'', Sousuke has a habit of watching out for Kaname behind an old newspaper with a hole cut out; like a lot of things he does, it really makes Sousuke look like a pervert.
** Of course it would have helped if the cover story on the newspaper wasn't a major event that happened several years ago.

Compare HighlyVisibleNinja, HighlyConspicuousUniform and, of course, PaperThinDisguise.