History Main / PlayingDrunk

* Will Herondale in ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', [[spoiler:Jem says it's to make himself look bad. It is revealed in ''The Clockwork Prince'' [[CartwrightCurse why]].]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Possibly Tyrion Lannister during his wedding; it's difficult to tell as he's [[DrowningMySorrows quite drunk already]] but after Tyrion threatens to cut King Joffrey's balls off, his father Lord Tywin calls attention to his drunkenness as a JustJokingJustification. Tyrion agrees, then grabs his newly-wed and staggers off, crashing into various bits of furniture and talking loudly of how he once [[TooMuchInformation threw up on a girl during sex]].

* In ''Literature/TheSilverChair'', Puddleglum samples some liquor from the giants in Harfang and becomes royally soused. However, he ''claims'' the next morning that he was acting drunk to put the giants off their guard. Well, mostly acting.

* ''ComicBook/SimonSaysNaziHunter'': Simon does this in a bar in Berlin while searching for targets.

* Zoro and Nami do this in ''Manga/OnePiece'' during Whisky Peak. Nami also used it frequently as a tactic for her pirate robbing prior to becoming a Straw Hat.

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] does this as part of his [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob public persona]]. Most people don't realize that the drinks in his glass are either [[FrothyMugsOfWater non-alcoholic beverages that look like alcoholic ones to a casual gaze]] (when he's drinking at home) or [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal poured into the nearest potted plant]] (when he's drinking elsewhere).

* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': In "De Raap van Rubens", while [[TimeTravel in the year 1620]], Lambik is ambushed by 3 robbers and quickly hides in a wine barrel to escape them. When this fails because the robbers keep searching for him, he emerges from the barrel, seemingly drunk. However, that is just an act to make the robbers drop their guard, and when they get close enough he knocks them out cold.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/TheSting''. Henry Gondorff pretends to be drunk to justify acting offensively toward Doyle Lonnegan. To enhance his act he gargles with gin to get alcohol-laden breath and brings along a gin bottle full of water to drink from.
* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Bruce Wayne fakes being drunk as an excuse to insult all of his party guests and shoo them out of his house (thus preventing them getting killed). When Wayne Manor is torched in the ensuing battle, the next day the papers read "[[HeroWithBadPublicity Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home]]".
* ''Film/{{Beerfest}}'': "We're not that drunk."

* In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', the entire crew of a submarine (minus the sole woman) pretends to be a boatload of drunk fishermen to fool the other side during a war game, singing "Louie Louie" at the top of their lungs and as far from the proper key as they can manage.
* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' - Marion, who can drink a huge Himalayan under the table, plays drunk with Belloq long enough to (try to) make a break for it.

* Lucy of ''Film/TheAwfulTruth'' uses this as part of a plot to embarrass her husband in front of his prospective in-laws.
* ''Film/{{Colombiana}}''. The DynamicEntry of the protagonist as an adult ProfessionalKiller involves her ramming into a police car, stumbling out along with a couple of bottles, then getting cuffed and thrown into a holding cell to sleep it off when she threatens to throw up. Turns out this is a GetIntoJailFree ploy to gain access to her target.
* Combined with a BavarianFireDrill in ''Film/TheFourthProtocol''. Creator/MichaelCaine's character is introduced staggering up to an apartment building wielding a bottle of champagne. He answers the doorman's questions with drunken rambling about having bought the champagne at the request of someone called Nigel, until the doorman just dismisses him with distaste and goes back to his television. Once he's out of sight, Caine then breaks into another apartment to do a black bag job for MI-5. The bottle contains plastic explosive which he uses to blow open a safe.
* ''Film/The47Ronin'': Kuranosuke does this when some visitors arrive, the first trying to convince him to work for the shogun and the next two demanding he immediately go to war against Kira. He immediately drops the pretense when his son is about to leave to go make war on Kira as well, explaining to his son that everything he's doing is part of his plan for revenge against Kira.

* [[spoiler:Dolphus Raymond]] from ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''. He pretends to be a drunk so he doesn't suffer backlash from the fact he's in love with a black girl (and fathered a mulatto).

* In the SherlockHolmes novel ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'', the murderer returns to the scene of the crime to retrieve an item he left behind, and finds that the police are on the scene, so he pretends to be merely a drunk passerby. (Holmes, hearing about it later, immediately realises the deception from the policeman's description of the "drunk" man's mannerisms.)
* In ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'', Rhett Butler, Ashley Wilkes, and Dr. Meade fake being drunk in order to disguise the fact that Ashley has been shot while engaged in an act of vigilantism against the men who attacked Scarlett O'Hara Kennedy.
* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novels:

* In one of the ''Literature/BloodyJack'' books, Jacky Faber and one of her female friends fake being drunk in order to fool some guards into drinking some opium-laced liquor. Once the guards are out, they sabotage the cannons that the guards are supposed to be guarding, which ensures their safe escape.

* In the Creator/MichaelCrichton book ''Literature/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' (loosely based on an true story), [[TheChessmaster Edward Pierce]] wanders by acting like a drunken lout to distract a guard outside a railway office, allowing his accomplice to get in long enough to duplicate a key.
* In ''[[Literature/BelisariusSeries An Oblique Approach]]'', part of the plan of Belisarius involves playing at being a drunken sot to fool Lord Venandakatra into thinking he was going to corrupt the general into the Malwa Empire's plans to conquer the world. To himself, Belisarius scornfully thinks that because of his country boy youth, he could have drunken Venandakatra under the table at the age of ten.

* ''Literature/AbleTeam''. In "Texas Showdown", while undercover in a mercenary unit Carl Lyons has an OhCrap moment when he realizes their commander knows his real identity (because he arrested him while in the LAPD). In the hope of diverting attention from his two partners, Carl pretends to get drunk and stages a violent fight with them, so it won't look like they're working together. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, but fortunately the CO has already decided to make a deal with Lyons.]]

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': In the episode "Chuck vs the Balcony", Sarah plays drunk to knock out a couple of mooks in a wine cellar.

* Jessica Fletcher did this once on ''Series/MurderSheWrote''.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': A bit of a variation in "Skin Deep". Sid Camden is furious that he was passed over for promotion in favor of his less experienced but more assertive co-worker Chad Warner. While using a HolographicDisguise to pose as Chad, he plays drunk and insults his boss, which results in Chad getting fired.

* The Count in ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'' pretends to be a drunken soldier as part of his ZanyScheme to marry Rosina.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E06EmpireDay "Empire Day"]] Kanan plays drunk [[WeNeedADistraction in order to distract a stormtrooper]] during a parade that the gang is about to crash. Ezra gets the assist by claiming that Kanan is his dad and is just overexcited.

->'''Bodie:''' How are you going to play it?
->'''Doyle:''' Urrrh...drunk!

[[folder:Comics]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace "The Girl In The Fireplace"]], complete with NecktieHeadband.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': When Henk and Igor are trying to help Alfred, Ollie, Colonel Rangpang and Sir Poen escape from the National Crows Party headquarters, a pair of Crows party soldiers approach them. Henk quickly pretends to be drunk in order to avoid suspicion and to distract the two from noticing Igor. It works, and earns him a loud applause from the others once the coast is clear.

* Combined with a BavarianFireDrill in ''Film/TheFourthProtocol''. Creator/MichaelCaine's character is introduced staggering up to an apartment building wielding a bottle of champagne. He answers the doorman's questions with drunken rambling about having bought the champagne at the request of someone called Nigel, until the doorman just dismisses him with distaste and goes back to his television. Once he's out of sight, Caine then breaks into another apartment to do a black bag job for MI-5.

* ''Film/TheFourthProtocol''. Creator/MichaelCaine's character pretends to turn up at a New Year's Eve party drunk to gain access to the building, so he can do a black bag job on one of the flats.

* In ''GoneWithTheWind'', Rhett Butler, Ashley Wilkes, and Dr. Meade fake being drunk in order to disguise the fact that Ashley has been shot while engaged in an act of vigilantism against the men who attacked Scarlett O'Hara Kennedy.

* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' - Marian, who can drink a huge Himalayan under the table, plays drunk with Belloq long enough to (try to) make a break for it.

* The trope came into play during the JakeRoberts vs. JerryLawler feud of 1996. Background: Roberts returned to the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, using a reformed Christian persona who has quit the bottle, playing off his real-life experiences. Lawler – then a shameless heel – played on Roberts' past, claiming that he was a "drunk" and was appearing at wrestling events under the influence. On an episode of ''WWF Monday Night RAW'', Lawler cut a mean-spirited promo in the ring mocking Roberts and alcoholics in general, when an "intoxicated" Roberts staggered to the ring with a whiskey bottle; however, the crowd – and Lawler, immediately after getting sucker-kicked and DDT'ed – quickly realized it was a ruse to catch Lawler off guard and give him his comeuppance. (Roberts then poured whiskey in Lawler's face to further embarrass him.)

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', Stein pretends to be drunk to trap Medusa. Unfortunatly even though he gets her to admit she's a witch, he's too late to stop her putting her plan into action.

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] does this as part of his [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob public persona]]. Most people don't realize that the drinks in his glass are either [[FrothyMugsOfWater non-alcoholic beverages that look like alcoholic ones to a casual glance]] (When he's drinking at home) or [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal poured into the nearest potted plant]] (when he's drinking elsewhere).

* Bruce Wayne does this in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', he fakes being drunk as an excuse to insult all of his party guests and shoo them out of his house (thus preventing them getting killed). When Wayne Manor is torched in the ensuing battle, the next day the papers read: [[HeroWithBadPublicity Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home]].

* In ''Film/{{Grownups 2}}'', Lenny Eeic Kurt and Marcus pretend to get drunk to hang out with a frat gang.

* In an episode of ''Series/BlakesSeven '', Vila pretends to be drunk so he can make a suggestion on how to fix the current problem (atmosphere leaking out of a hole in the hull) in the form of a rambling remeniscence, but not be called on to undertake the repair himself (because you couldn't give such a dangerous task to someone who was obviously drunk).

* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Possibly Tyrion Lannister during his wedding; it's difficult to tell as he's [[DrowningMySorrows quite drunk already]] but after Tyrion threatens to cut King Joffrey's balls off, his father Lord Tywin calls attention to his drunkeness as a JustJokingJustification. Tyrion agrees, then grabs his newly-wed and staggers off, crashing into various bits of furniture and talking loudly of how he once [[TooMuchInformation threw up on a girl during sex]].

* Claire Bennet from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has NighInvulnerability, which extends to her liver. In one scene she is in a DrinkingContest, and wins because she was only pretending that the drink was affecting her. Although she did wait until her father Nathan had gotten completely blitzed on tequila in the ''first'' drinking contest of the episode before stepping up. Swell kid you got there.

* The trope came into play during the JakeRoberts vs. JerryLawler feud of 1996. Background: Roberts returned to the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, using a reformed Christian persona who has quit the bottle, playing off his real-life experiences. Lawler – then a shameless heel – played on Roberts' past, claiming that he was a "drunk" and was appearing at wrestling events under the influence. On an episode of ''WWF Monday Night RAW'', Lawler cut a mean-spirited promo in the ring mocking Roberts and alcoholics in general, when an "intoxicated" Roberts staggered to the ring with a whiskey bottle; however, the crowd – and Lawler, immediately after getting sucker-kicked and DDT'ed – quickly realized it was a ruse to catch Lawler off guard and give him his comeuppance. (Roberts then poured whiskey in Lawler's face to further embarass him.)

* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module T1 ''The Village of Hommlet''. Elmo the ranger acts inebriated, but is only pretending in order to get other people to underestimate him.

* That famous joke (or urban legend, or story, or whatever) about the cop watching a bar who spots an obviously-drunk guy getting into a car, pulls him over, and finds out he's totally sober- it turns out it was his turn to be the decoy.

* In ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith'', Creator/BradPitt's character pretends to be drunk and wanders into a room full of targets, asking for a round of poker. He sits down and plays cards with them, tricking them into letting their guards down and eventually shooting them all to death.
** He then checks the other players' cards and collects his "winnings".
** Pitt also plays drunk in ''Film/SpyGame'' (complete with VomitIndiscretionShot) to throw suspicion off him and the asset he's trying to get across the border ([[spoiler:or so he thinks]]).