Alice is talking about Bob, who will be entering the room shortly. Bob is generally a "nice" character. Alice does not like Bob, and says Bob is "such a phony", but as soon as Bob enters, Alice pretends to be nice to Bob, thus being as big a phony as she claimed Bob was.
For example:
(Bob enters)
Alice: (sweetly) Hi, Bob! Great to see you!
A staple of sitcoms from the eighties to the nineties, but constant reuse has robbed the joke of its sting. You can still see it on contemporary shows, but the better-written ones try to avoid or play with it. It's also a common element of Horrible Hollywood, a place inhabited by hypocritical, egocentric jerks.
Sub-trope of Hypocritical Humor, the general trope for when hypocrisy is Played for Laughs. Compare Playing Nice for Now (when two enemies put on an act that they are getting along) and Immediate Self-Contradiction (when a character states something that goes against what they just said.). Contrast I Resemble That Remark! (reacting to an insult or criticism in a way that proves it right).
Examples:
Comic Strips
- Peanuts: The very first strip opens with, "Good ol' Charlie Brown... How I hate him!".
Films — Live-Action
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: Jack Sparrow bluntly states that Angelica, Blackbeard's daughter, is a liar and deceitful. He likens her to a wild beast with gnashing teeth and something we don't get to hear because Angelica happens to enter. Jack then exclaims "[with] sweetness" for her to hear.
- Scary Movie: Brenda complains about Buffy to Cindy, saying that Buffy is "as fake as press-on nails". However, when Buffy approaches them, Brenda greets her with a sweet "Hey, baby girl!".
Literature
- The Catcher in the Rye: Its premise is practically built around a non-comedic example. One of the most prominent aspects of Holden's character is that he refers to everybody else as a "phony". Another of the most prominent aspects of Holden's character is that he lies to just about everyone and is proud of his lying skill.
Live-Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander complains about how much he hates Angel, and when the latter enters, he calmly adds "Oh, hey, Angel" without bothering to revise his statement.
- Cheers: Whenever Henri enters some of the barflies start talking about how much they don't like him, then when he says hi, they say hi back nicely.
- Frasier:
- "Hot Ticket": Frasier and Niles act nice around their upper-class acquaintances because it's their social duty, so to speak. Deep down, Frasier and Niles regard them as snobby and dumb.
- Roz in "Shut Out In Seattle".
- Martin bitches to Frasier about how much he hates Niles' new girlfriend Mel.
- Friends: Joey sees a job at Chandler's office as a chance to play a new character, a processor named Joseph with a wife and three kids. After making plans with a co-worker to get their families together, the co-worker leaves and Joey exclaims, "What a phony!"
- M*A*S*H: Majors Burns and Houlihan to Blake's "friend" Nancy in "Henry in Love".
- Seinfeld:
- "The Parking Space": Mike tries to convince Jerry that calling him phony behind his back was said as a compliment, actually. As in using a reverse nickname (bad means good, hot means cool, and to shake your booty means to wiggle one's butt). "That Michael Jordan is so...phony" is his knee-jerk answer and failed attempt at saving face.
- 'The Postponement': Elaine to George because she is jealous of his engagement.
Theater
- The Misanthrope (by Molière): When she hears that Arsinoé is coming, Célimène castigates her. As soon as Arsinoé enters the room, Célimène pretends to be nice to her and says that she really enjoys her visit.
- South Park: The Stick of Truth: One of the subplots depicts all of the girls as this, with them constantly getting together into committees, and accusing a girl not in the committee of being "a bitch". Several of these committees exist simultaneously and have girls accused by other committees in them. On the off-chance that one of the (elementary-school-aged) girls actually is guilty of whatever feat of promiscuity or substance use they learned about on television, she is usually Easily Forgiven. It's implied that this is just a game they play as practice for when they grow up.
Web Comics
- Chainsawsuit: In one strip
, a group of people is talking behind a guy called Mike's back because he's approaching them. They say that Mike is The Killjoy and an asshole; they lament his coming. As soon as Mike reaches them, they all greet him as if he were the real deal.
Western Animation
- The Beatles (1965): Subverted in "I Feel Fine." Paul pooh-poohs Hollywood as being phony, and he even calls actor Dick Dashing a phony right in his face.
