History Main / ObfuscatingStupidity

* ''VisualNovel/RagingLoop'': Roughly half the cast, including viewpoint character Fusaishi himself ([[spoiler:who even plays this on the player by being an UnreliableNarrator and outright lying about several aspects of his life]]), intentionally downplay their intelligence and knowledge in order to avoid putting a target on their back. Much of the plot, and several Dead Ends, involve Fusaishi having to figure out ''which'' half is lethal to underestimate. [[spoiler:Most of ''Darkness'' involves Fusaishi in a very deadly game of Obfuscated IKnowYouKnowIKnow and INeverSaidItWasPoison with Hashimoto, both of whom are smart enough to identify the other as a primary threat but forced to underplay their own smarts and suspicions to protect themselves: If Hashimoto overplays his hand to lynch Haruaki too early the other wolves will kill him in reprisal, while if Haruaki overplays his by having Hashimoto murdered too quickly the other villagers will suspect and lynch him.]]

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Most Demon Princes think that Haagenti, the Prince of Gluttony, is a dim brute only obsessed with constantly eating more and more and more. A couple of Princes -- and Michael, Archangel of War -- think that he's a lot smarter than he's letting on, and they're waiting a bit nervously for the other shoe to drop.
* ObsessedWithFood: He loves to eat, all the time.

* In ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/423.htm Master and Pupil]]'', the wizard rejects the boy as a servant because he can read. So the boy turns his jacket inside out to disguise himself and lies the next time that he cannot read. Then he learns wizardry by reading the books. Other fairy tales with the hero in the power of the evil wizard have someone warn him to feign incompetence at a lesson even though he gets beaten. Thus, he manages to master all the spells while the wizard thinks he's stuck, and use them to escape.

* When Dee Snider of Music/TwistedSister was to talk to a hearing in front of the PMRC regarding accusations about his band and music, he went there in the same trashy clothes he used in the performance the day before, including his now smeared makeup and bed hair, greeted the room with "I don't know if it's morning or afternoon so I'm going to say both: good morning and good afternoon" and took out his talking points from some folded papers he kept in his back pocket. What people didn't know is that he was going out of his way to look like some teenage moron presenting rushed homework, just to drop a bombshell on everyone: in those papers he meticulously deconstructed every lie told about Twisted Sister, defended freedom of speech and music as an art and turned the tables on Ms. Gore, saying that the only reason she [[EveryoneIsSatanInHell found messages about sadomasochism and rape]] in one of his songs is because that's what ''she'' was looking for, all in an incredibly intelligent and eloquent matter.

* During a brief feud with Maryse, Wrestling/GailKim appeared oblivious when Maryse started talking to her in French, appearing to be trying to be friendly. Anyone who understood French knew Maryse was secretly trash-talking and Gail looked to be falling for it. Then Gail dropped the bombshell that she spoke fluent French and hadn't been fooled by the game.

* [[Characters/WWEDivas Maria Kanellis]] was TheDitz as a backstage interviewer to start off, always asking the wrong questions and getting wrestlers' names wrong. Then she had to testify at Wrestling/EricBischoff's ({{Kayfabe}}) trial...
-->'''Maria:''' Last week Bischoff abused his power in a way that was both malicious and capricious, and it's this rash of discourse that ultimately led to a locker room of disdain and mutiny, and it should be grounds for his immediate dismissal.

* Similarly, in "Chocolate Cake for Breakfast" (from ''Film/BillCosbyHimself''), Creator/BillCosby so horrified his wife by going along with the titular request that she told him to go back to bed.

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Donkey attempts this to evade being sold by his owner to Farquaad goons by refusing to talk, with the intention of making his owner look crazy in the eyes of them and deny her from selling him. It doesn't last long as he ruins his façade after convincing the guards that he was a normal donkey.

* Samantha "Sam" Sparks in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' was secretly a nerd in her school days but hides her brains behind the facade of the pretty, ditzy weathergirl for fear of being stigmatised. It adds another layer to the character that she is voiced by Creator/AnnaFaris who is more well known for playing genuinely ditzy characters.

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Donkey attempts this to evade being sold by his owner to Farquaad goons by refusing to talk, with the intention of making his owner look crazy in the eyes of them and deny her from selling him. It doesn't last long as he ruins his facade after convincing the guards that he was a normal donkey.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrakers Residents of Wiltshire, England]] are also known as Moonrakers, based on a 200 year old story about a pair of smugglers sneaking french brandy across the county. The smugglers hid their stock in a lake and went back to retrieve it one night but were encountered by authorities. In an attempt to fool them, they played the fools themselves by taking a pair of rakes and swiping at the reflection of the moon in the water, claiming they were trying to rake in a round cheese. The authorities laughed them off as idiots and went on their way, leaving the smugglers to make a clean getaway.

* Another joke is about two math professors sitting in a restaraunt: one of them claims that ordinary people do not understand mathematics at all, while the second one argues that they do. While the first one is in a restroom, the second calls a young waitress and asks her to give the answer "one third x cubed" when he asks her a question (in some versions, he even gives her a tip for this). She is apparently baffled and struggles to say it, muttering to herself: "one thir -- dex cue", "one thir dex cuebd". Then the first professor returns from the restroom, and his friend asks the waitress what is the integral of x^2 to prove his point. As expected, she replies: "One third x cubed", the professor is shocked, and his friend is triumphant... and then, turning over her shoulder, she smiles and adds: "Plus a constant".

*** In some online material, ''Series/PawnStars'' host Rick points out this is a fairly common tactic used by some people at his shop. He has a few regulars that will bring in seasonal recreational equipment ([=ATVs=], Snowmobiles, etc) during the off season and pawn them for a small loan. They always come back right before the new season for said item with the loan and interest. Unlike the Bank, the Pawn Stars are very much aware this is going on and see it as more of one of their services they offer rather than anything sneaky on the part of the customer.

* Creator/NormMacDonald does this smiling, stuttering, dopey weirdo routine on stage and in interviews, but a brilliant quip is just around the corner. He won half a million for charity on ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', too. In fact, the only reason he didn't get the million was because he was talked out of answering by a nervous Regis, concerned that Norm was only guessing (he was), but his idea was correct. After choosing to walk, he was asked for what he thought the answer would be. [[NegatedMomentOfAwesome Solemnly, he was told that he would've been right and gotten the million]].
* The late English magician/comedian Tommy Cooper was an undeniable master of using Obfuscating Stupidity in his magic acts. He intentionally botched his own tricks and acted incompetent 90% of the time until he'd pretend to foul up yet another, only to pull off the trick perfectly.
* Ray Romano suggests that guys screw up shopping as badly as possible so they're never asked to do it again. "They were out of lettuce, so I got a hammer."

* One ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' [[https://dilbert.com/strip/1996-10-14 comic]] discussed this. Alice got stuck with prepping for a trade show because all of the men in the office had disqualified themselves through "Strategic Incompetence".

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': At the beginning of the movie, Hiro goes to a back-alley robot fighting competition with a pathetic-looking robot, and shyly asking if he can fight too. After getting beaten in a couple of hits he asks if he can bet more money for a second chance. When the second fight starts he drops the shy attitude and shows his robot's true talents by utterly destroying the rival's robot.
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'': Subverted in that [[BigBad Shen]] believes Po to be using this; Po is actually just being his usual ComedicHero self.
* Iago from ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' pretends to be a normal parrot in front of everyone but Jafar. At least until the climax.

'''Client:''' ''[tips on the table]'' Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh!

** In the original game, [[spoiler:the supposedly beyond-senile Yanni Yogi (a ShoutOut to [[Anime/YuGiOh Yami Yugi]]) faked permanent brain damage for fifteen years before trying to exact revenge and get away with it.]]
** Case 5, in the DS remake, has [[spoiler: Police Chief Gant. His guise of a lovable, laughing buffoon hides not only a razor-sharp mind, but his true personality of a ruthless genius willing to kill one of his own officers, and blackmail another by framing her sister, in order to put away a serial killer.]]
** In ''Justice For All'', [[spoiler: Ini Miney from case 2 and Matt Engarde from case 4 are both smarter (and more sinister) than they appear to be at first glance.]]
** In ''Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney'', [[spoiler: Phoenix Wright himself shows a bit of this trope.]]

** [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne]] from ''Trials and Tribulations''. [[spoiler: a VERY devious girl who [[BitchInSheepsClothing hides her true self behind a sugary sweet personality]], and not once, not twice, but ''thrice'' in the game. And she's ''dead'' by the third encounter.]]
** Done in ''Ace Attorney Investigations'' with [[spoiler: the ditzy bubble-blowing Cammy Meale, the jovial Ernest Amano, and the elderly Quercus Alba. They're all murderers or accessories to murders, and all work in the same smuggling ring.]] Since veteran players of the series will know to look for the trope, the game even plays with your head a little with [[spoiler: the delightful, energetic, and oblivious Colias Palaeno--who never even comes under suspicion.]]
** And in the sequel, ''Gyakuten Kenji 2'' (AKA ''Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path'') we have [[spoiler:Sōta Sarushiro (Simon Keyes in the English FanTranslation), a shy and meek individual Edgeworth defends in the second case. In the climax, TheReveal kicks in and it turns out he's actually the brilliant and cruel mastermind behind the main events of the game.]]
** From ''Dual Destinies'' we have [[spoiler:detective Fulbright (aptly nicknamed Fool Bright by prosecutor Blackquill). For most of the game he looks like a regular detective who strongly believes in justice, [[LargeHam and makes sure you know it]]. It turns out he is actually a spy who killed the real Fulbright, Metis Cykes (Athena's mother) and Clay Terran. He can also hide and pretend emotions (almost) perfectly. [[ExactWords To a fault]], even.]]

** [[spoiler:Hanyuu]] acts like a cute, shy CheerfulChild [[spoiler:however is a centuries old god.]] Even ignoring her [[spoiler:deity status]], she [[spoiler:died as an adult so she isn't even really a kid]]. She does actually have her fair share of [[spoiler:ImmortalImmaturity]] however can show her true colors when provoked.

* In ''[[WebAnimation/SBBBrothers Sims Big Brother 6]]'', Alison's strategy was to appear to be incredibly stupid, so people wouldn't think she was a threat and never nominate her. She unfortunately went a ''tad'' far with it, since managed to misspell "Apple" and people begun to suspect whether or not this was an act or not. It was also surprising when she suddenly spouted a college-level description of an organelle after a montage of stupid questions. ("Controversy? What does that mean?" "Influenza? What's that?" "How do you work the elevator?")
* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Andy acts like a complete idiot because he thinks its funny, not to catch enemies off-guard.

* ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' has both of Ruby's family members play that way:

* Miles Morales in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' tries to play dumb a few times, but it never works because he tends to play ''too'' dumb for anyone to actually buy. For example, he attempts to flunk out of the prestigious school he's at so he can go back to his old school with his friends; this fails because he gets a zero in a true or false test, and since pure blind guesswork should have led to him getting at least ''some'' answers correct, the teacher figures out that he was giving entirely wrong answers on purpose ''and'' knew all the right ones. There's also this exchange:
-->'''Security Guard:''' I know you snuck out last night, Morales!\\

** Hobie Brown in ''WesternAnimation/AcrossTheSpiderVerse'' does it better, playing up his CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority antics to hide that [[spoiler:[[SincerityMode he meant every word]]; the goofiness of his punk persona means that he can outright ''tell'' the Spider-Society that he isn't loyal to them and ''will'' betray them when he feels they're being unethical, and everyone is still surprised when he actually does it.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Podcast/DiceFunk:
-->'''Austin:''' I like to think we're creating a dynamic, that we suck so much of the time, when we're actually ''good'' it surprises everybody into doing what we want. They never see it coming!
* Royal Fool Marco is this for much of the first half of ''[[http://fooled-story.blogspot.com Fooled]]'', especially when he wants to find out more information from his royal friends
* A favorite trick of Sarah's in ''WebVideo/Lonelygirl15'' and ''WebVideo/LG15TheResistance''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b4iLtNSCDg Chapter 3]] of ''the resistance'' is a good example. Furthermore, while she appears to be TheDitz a lot of the time, she's arguably the smartest member of the TAAG.
* In ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'', [[spoiler:Jesus first appears to be a shiftless stoner. Then the angels leave, and he reveals himself to be a skilled strategist as he improves on the battle plan the angels gave him]].
* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick during ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'', where she went from sane (or as sane as she can be) and opinionated to a UsefulNotes/SarahPalin parody who agreed with N. Bison about everything. When Part Four came around, it was found out she was just pretending to be sweet and stupid while trying to kill him off and take charge for herself.
** And then there's Kevin Baugh, who fakes being taken over by his alternate personality so he'll be allowed to keep hanging out in his conquered nation, then sets to planting doubts about the Nostalgia Critic's leadership skills. Bonus points that everyone knows he's doing this but roll with it anyway.

* Sometimes Website/{{Akinator}} will ask a logical series of questions leading to your character, then suddenly start asking random unrelated questions, apparently having been thrown off the scent. In the end, though, he gets the character right. He figured out what your character was early on, and was just using the remaining questions (and you) to learn more about the character in question.
* The Unusual Incidents Unit from the Website/SCPFoundation. The Foundation and other groups view them as losers who are completely out of their depth, while the rest of the FBI see them as a crap division you get sent to because the guys in charge [[ReassignedToAntarctica don't want you to screw things up]]. In reality, they're actually pretty competent in their own right; they just don't have the proper funding to deal with the legitimately-dangerous anomalies and [=SCPs=]. They're well-aware of this and are happy to just let the Foundation take care of that stuff while playing the part of ButtMonkey if it means their agents aren't getting slaughtered by the dozen.
** The Foundation's own Ethics Committee pretends to be a bunch of meek bureaucrats with no actual power who rubber stamp every containment procedure and research proposal that comes their way. In reality, they have full access to unredacted SCP case files so that they can make absolutely certain that containment procedures are as humane as possible and can remove Foundation personnel who are using anomalies for their own benefit (up to and including getting them executed for crimes against humanity, in rare cases), to insure that the Foundation doesn't cross the line from PragmaticHero to evil. The milquetoast act is so that the kind of people they're looking for will drop their guard and reveal who they really are.
* Website/{{Cracked}}: "[[http://www.cracked.com/article_21866_the-5-craziest-ways-people-defeated-terrifying-regimes.html The 5 Craziest Ways People Have Defeated Terrifying Regimes]]" lists "A POW Saves Himself and Everyone Else by Playing Stupid" at #3. Douglas Hegdahl pretended to be [[GoodIsDumb a gleeful, sweet idiot]] who couldn't read or write, so his captors would underestimate him. It worked so well that they nicknamed him "The Incredibly Stupid One" and refused to torture him. Even better? He proved how smart he really was by memorizing the names, ranks, locations, and health status of every single POW in his camp. Which he then sung to US authorities in the style of "Old Macdonald" as that was how he remembered it. Because of that over 700 [=POWs=] didn't have an "accident" or "escape" as everyone knew exactly where they were.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': A tactic used by Sunburst, among others.
** [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-timeline/383-silent-nacht-chapter-2 Silent Nacht Chapter 2]]: As Nacht says:
--> "you take in her looks and her Malibu beach bunny persona, and you think that she’s an airhead. She’s NOT; it’s a ‘Lord Peter Wimsey’ act. Check this out: she takes in hundreds of thousands a year for endorsements, personal appearances and things like that, but she doesn’t OWN anything. She arranges it so that she lives in elegant housing, drives top-end cars, dines at the big name restaurants, and goes to all the A-list parties; but none of it costs her a CENT. She has no real secret identity, so there aren’t any handles on her. Yet, for all that, she isn’t regarded as a mooch. Everyone’s always glad to have her around.
* New Baron Rolis Tylaris from ''[[Literature/PayMeBug A Rake by Starlight]]'' isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's smart enough to use this trope to make the most of what he has.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': A short story based in the game's universe plays this to a T. To all outward appearances, Murphy's Highlanders, a mercenary company stationed on a planet on the border between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine is a mess. The mechs are all in a state of disrepair (with the implication that the techs are embezzling parts to resell). The unit's infantry detachment are a bunch of drunken hooligans whose idea of training consists of skeet-shooting bottles they've just drained and picking bar brawls with the locals. The company's executive officer is a slut whose idea of "in uniform" is "wear just enough to cover the naughty bits". The commanding officer seemingly does little else but preside over a floating poker game that travels across the unit's base. The unit's [=AFFS=] liaison quit in disgust. And the only thing holding the group to any semblance of standards is the [=CO=]'s daughter, an exasperated FieryRedhead who has her hands full trying to remind everybody -- including her own father -- that they are indeed allegedly a fighting unit. [[spoiler: Then, they get word that the Combine is going to invade the world in force, an easy target defended by a joke of a unit. [[LetsGetDangerous Murphy's Highlanders change almost overnight]]. It was all a sham to lull the Combine into a trap: Murphy's games were meant to feed hidden microphones false information -- real info was discussed when the game moved to the hangar, which wasn't bugged. The mechs were brought to fighting trim by the secretly-stockpiled parts. The Infantry showed themselves to be much better trained and disciplined than anyone thought. The old liaison was a Davion intelligence agent, who left in reality to help in the background with preparations for resisting the oncoming assault. And, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the XO was VERY relieved that she didn't have to play the part of eye candy anymore]]. The only part of the whole charade that was real was the CO's daughter, whom her father feared would lapse into BadBadActing if she were to try to play along, and so was kept in the dark. And at any rate she was much more convincing actually genuinely trying futilely to keep the RagtagBandOfMisfits in line!]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Donkey attempts this to evade being sold by his owner to Farquaad goons by refusing to talk, with the intention of making his owner look crazy in the eyes of them and deny her from selling him. It doesn't last long as he ruins his facade after convincing the guards that he was a normal donkey.

A favorite tactic of TheTrickster. The opposite trope is FeigningIntelligence. See also the OldMaster, to whom using this trope comes as natural as breathing; CovertPervert, where the "stupidity" may be in reference to a particular subject; and RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, a special case of this trope. See also {{Fauxreigner}} and BilingualBackfire. Compare ObfuscatingInsanity. Blondes may exploit the DumbBlonde stereotype to help with the obfuscation. Another tactic characters doing this will use is pretending to be EasilyImpressed to make it seem like they have no sense of judgment of quality. A GoodIsNotDumb character is often accused of using this trope.

* When Dee Snider of Music/TwistedSister was to talk to a hearing in front of the PMRC regarding accusations about his band and music, he went there in the same trashy clothes he used in the performance the day before, including his now smeared makeup and bed hair, greeted the room with "I don't know if it's morning or afternoon so I'm going to say both: good morning and good afternoon" and took out his talking points from some folded papers he kept in his back pocket. What people didn't know is that he was going out of his way to look like some teenage moron presenting rushed homework, just to drop a bombshell on everyone: in those papers he meticulously deconstructed every lie told about Twisted Sister, defended freedom of speech and music as an art and even turned the tables on Ms. Gore, saying that the only reason she [[EveryoneIsSatanInHell found messages about sadomasochism and rape]] in one of his songs is because that's what ''she'' was looking for, all in an incredibly intelligent and eloquent matter.

* At ''IWA Mid-South No Retreat...No Surrender'', January 21, 2006, Wrestling/ChrisHero faced GarbageWrestler Wrestling/NecroButcher in a "European Rules" match with the stipulation that if Necro lasted the time limit Hero would have to face him in a [[BarBrawl Barroom Brawl]] Match. Hero imposed tons of rules on the premise that there would be no way Necro would be able to keep up with him. Instead, Necro fought Hero to a draw (Hero won Round 4, Necro won Round 5), thus forcing Hero into the situation he did ''not'' want to find himself in, a Barroom Brawl against Necro Butcher. Necro won, of course.

** [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne]] from ''Trials and Tribulations''. [[spoiler: a VERY devious girl who [[BitchInSheepsClothing hides her true self behind a sugary sweet personality]], and not once, not twice, but ''thrice'' in the game. And bear in mind she's ''dead'' by the third encounter.]]

** [[spoiler:CreepyChild Rika]] seems like a normal little girl however is wise beyond her years [[spoiler:due to the fact she's been stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop for centuries]].

This is OlderThanFeudalism, occurring in [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]] and in legends of the earliest days of Rome. [[note]]In this context, the trope name refers to fake stupidity obfuscating the intelligence of the person. In other words, "obfuscating stupidity" is the method being used, a person is not obfuscating stupidity themselves.[[/note]] It is also the core of the [[UsefulNotes/TheThirtySixStratagems 27th stratagem.]]

* ''Literature/TheBible'': Some exegesis holds God to be using ObfuscatingStupidity most of the time he deals with humans, explaining why he often asks questions to which he already knows the answer. Other exegesis holds this to be simply a feature of ancient Hebrew rhetoric with its rabbinical style of asking rhetorical questions in order to educate one's understudies.

* The Unusual Incidents Unit from the Wiki/SCPFoundation. The Foundation and other groups view them as losers who are completely out of their depth, while the rest of the FBI see them as a crap division you get sent to because the guys in charge [[ReassignedToAntarctica don't want you to screw things up]]. In reality, they're actually pretty competent in their own right; they just don't have the proper funding to deal with the legitimately-dangerous anomalies and [=SCPs=]. They're well-aware of this and are happy to just let the Foundation take care of that stuff while playing the part of ButtMonkey if it means their agents aren't getting slaughtered by the dozen.

In many cases, a character pulling this off may play along until they're in a good position to drop the charade and [[LetsGetDangerous get serious]], usually catching anyone underestimating them ''[[OhCrap badly]]'' off-guard. Another variant of this, primarily found in teen comedies, is the popular student ([[AlwaysFemale almost invariably a girl]]) who acts like TheDitz in order to avoid being stigmatized as a {{nerd}}; in such cases, the character may be willfully ignorant, but inevitably faces a situation where she needs her native wits to escape a problem.