"We Schrutes don't need some Harvard doctor to tell us who's alive and who's dead. But, there was an unlucky streak of burying some heavy sleepers. And, when grave robbers discovered some scratch marks on the inside of some of the coffins, we decided to make sure that our dead were completely dead. Out of kindness."
— Dwight Schrute, The Office (US)
So, Bob is lying down and expresses his gratitude to the heroes before finally passing away. Everyone grieves for their fallen friend and says some final words before moving—
Wait. Does anybody hear snoring?
Turns out Bob wasn't dying after all. He just fell asleep (or is otherwise unconscious), giving the appearance of having died until it's revealed that he is, in fact, still very much alive.
Reactions from the other characters will be mixed. Some may be relieved while others will be annoyed or even pissed. Whatever the case, this guy had them all sad for no reason. Expect them to express how they feel to the guy the moment he wakes up.
A Premature Eulogy may be delivered before the character wakes up. In comedic cases, the sleeper may be reprimanded with Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You.
If the characters do not realize the person is asleep, it can result in getting Buried Alive.
Subtrope to Disney Death. Compare Not Quite Dead, where a villainous character thought to have suffered something fatal returns later on having actually survived (depending on the circumstances, the two could even overlap). Also compare Only Mostly Dead. Can overlap with Dude, She's Like in a Coma and Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated.
Contrast Of Corpse He's Alive, when characters attempt to convince others that somebody who died is still alive, and Please Wake Up, which is when characters desperately try to get something out of a character that actually has died. Contrast also Asleep, Not Meditating, where someone who is believed to be meditating is actually asleep. This is the least likely scenario to pass a Mistaken Death Confirmation. See also Eye Awaken, the moment when a supposedly dead character's eyes pop open to reveal they're still with us.
Not to be confused with He's Just Hiding, which is an audience belief that a character that is presumed to have died is actually alive. Also not to be confused with Playing Possum, when someone is sleeping on purpose to pass for dead.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Barefoot Gen: Played for Drama. When Gen passes out from the radioactive atmosphere in Hiroshima, some passing soldiers mistake him for a corpse and dump him on a pile of others to mass cremate. Thankfully, Gen comes to just as the fire gets going, and he tumbles out in a panic, frightening the soldiers.
- Black Butler: Played for Laughs; Grell winds up at the Undertaker's after falling asleep in the middle of a field. Granted, being a Grim Reaper, she technically is dead, but she was rather annoyed with it.
- Delicious in Dungeon: Played for Laughs; while Laios is still knocked out from food poisoning, Marcille checks his breathing and horrified exclaims that he's not breathing. Chilchuck points out that she was trying to feel his breathing through his armor, and he's just fine.
- Inuyasha: In the episode "The Last Banquet of Miroku's Master", Miroku gets word that his master Mushin is dying and witnesses him throw up, so he and the rest of the team do some work for him before he does. For the last task, he has them fetch sake from a dangerous area, which he drinks before closing his eyes. Miroku starts to crying before he hears Mushin snoring. Upon which he and the gang find out that Mushin wasn't dying at all and was just afraid because he heard that high-ranking priests were being assassinated, and the blood was because he swallowed a chicken bone rather than an illness.
- One Piece:
- In the Syrup Village arc, both Usopp and the villains, not knowing about Luffy's powers, see him lying motionless after falling head-first off a cliff and presume he's dead. Luffy just fell asleep due to hypnosis and is later woken up.
- A Running Gag pre-timeskip involves Portgas D. Ace frequently falling asleep while eating. In quite a few circumstances, the people around him think he up and died due to how motionless he becomes before he wakes up and continues eating.
- Pokémon the Series: A non-"lethal" variation of this trope appears in the quarterfinals of the Alola League. After taking a Sky Attack from Hau's Decidueye, Ash's Rowlet is lying on the ground, face down. Nanu judges it as a knockout, declaring Hau the winner, but the chief referee Hala raises an objection, believing Rowlet is not unable to battle. At this moment, Rowlet turns over, revealing it was merely sleeping, as it was prone to doing. After Rowlet wakes up, the battle resumes.
Audio Plays
- Torchwood (Big Finish): In "The Boy Who Never Laughed", Tyler recounts a time when he found his mother lying unconscious on the ground due to her drug addiction and believed her to be dead until she woke up.
Comic Strips
- The Far Side: One strip features a bear sitting up in a coffin during his funeral. He exclaims that he was not dead, just hibernating, and asks why nobody bothered to take his pulse.
Fan Works
- Outcasts (5D's): After Aki uses her psychic powers on two corrupt police officers, Crow grabs Yusei and Jack and flees because he's under the impression that she killed them. After Jack and Crow manage to talk him into going back to find her, they find out that the officers are just knocked out cold.
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Story of Arceus: Avery electrocutes Diquarni to help her charge up a glowing illusion. Badly burnt from the shock, she admits she was wrong about Avery being evil, closes her eyes, lays her head back, and stops moving. Her teammates call out her name to no response... but the third time she pipes up telling everyone to let her rest.
Films – Animated
- In Early Man, the Chief collapses during a sports match. Everybody thinks he's dead until he starts to snore.
- The Jungle Book (1967): After struggling with Shere Khan, Baloo lies unconscious on the ground. As Mowgli tries to wake him up, Bagheera explains that he's dead and starts giving the bear a touching eulogy. Unbeknown to them, Baloo is still alive, and enjoying the kind words Bagheera is saying about him. He reveals himself when Bagheera stops and Baloo asks for more. Mowgli is relieved and euphoric; Bagheera, instead, is angry at Baloo for faking it.
- Kung Fu Panda 1: After defeating Tai Lung, Po returns to Master Shifu, exhausted from fighting Lung. Upon hearing of Tai Lung's defeat, Shifu thanks Po, then closes his eyes.
Po: No! No, no, no, don't die, Shifu, please!
Shifu: I'm not dying, you idiot!... Ah, Dragon Warrior. I am simply at peace. Finally. - Once Upon a Forest: Abigail, Edgar and Russell complete their mission to retrieve medicinal herbs from distant Oakdale near the end of the second day. Cornelius applies the treatments to his dying niece Michelle, then everyone sacks out for the night. In the morning, Michelle is still unresponsive, and everyone begins weeping. One teardrop from Cornelius, however, makes her stir, and she awakens as though nothing was amiss.
Michelle: I just had [yawn, stretch] a long nap.
- SCOOB!: When Dick Dastardly goes into the Underworld to save his pet Muttley, he sadly assumes he's dead when he sees him unconscious. While hugging him, Muttley starts chuckling, showing that he'd really just been napping.
- Titan A.E.: Gune saves Stith from a bomb Preed placed on her wrist, only for it to detonate and leave him wounded and he mutters "I'll just take a little nap", before collapsing. Later, just when the Drej are about to destroy the Titan, Gune arrives to the rescue and hangs a lampshade on the trope.
Gune: I finished my nap!
- In Up, when Carl Fredricksen wakes up from his nap, Russell says, "Phew, I thought you were dead!".
Films – Live-Action
- Avengers: Endgame: Inverted; during the planning for the Time Heist, the Avengers look to Thor for his input. He's wearing sunglasses and has a beer in his hand, and he hasn't moved in his chair or spoken for a solid minute, leading to the following quip:
Natasha: ...Is he asleep?
Rhodey: No, no... I'm pretty sure he's dead. - Bad Black: Discussed: VJ Emmie is surprised to find that an old man in a chair at the clinic wasn't actually dead, just sleeping.
- Bimmer: The gang breaks into a house to treat injured Scald, and see a grandma nicknamed Dogstress sleeping there. Cat can't get a reaction from her, so everyone assumes she's dead and they start looting, before she introduces herself.
- Godzilla (2014): After defeating both the male and female M.U.T.O, Godzilla collapses from a combination of exhaustion and his injuries sustained during the fight. The next morning he appears to be seemingly dead, only for him to wake up with a loud snort having just been sleeping the whole time.
- High Anxiety: Played for Laughs, which makes sense as it's a parody of many Alfred Hitchcock films. When the heroes visit Professor Lilloman, they find the elderly man slumped in an armchair, seemingly dead. While they stare sadly at him, Lilloman snores, gasps, and awakens.
- Michael: After Pansy Milbank has a coughing fit and falls limp, Quinlan goes to check on her, fearing she may have died. She snaps sharply, without raising her head, "Don't shake me, Mr. Quinlan! I'm contemplating my death." Downplayed in that she does die very shortly afterwards, though we see her in her afterlife dancing with the titular angel when the film ends.
- Nacho Libre: Nacho is told to visit an old couple where the husband is sick with influenza, presumably to give him last rites, and arrives to find him lying motionless. He immediately prepares a makeshift funeral, putting coins on the old man's eyes, covering his head with a blanket, and launching into a (terrible) improvised eulogy. The old man wakes up and annoyedly pulls the blanket off his head, causing Nacho to scream in horror.
- Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?: After consuming a surfeit of food, Max claims responsibility for the murders to Blodgett, before expiring. Beecham, distraught at his death, then confesses that she couldn't allow Max to be remembered as a murderer and it was she who had done it out of love and admiration for Max, and to protect him from the food he couldn't resist that was slowly killing him. As she cradles him, Max hiccups and revives.
Literature
- The Cat in the Stacks Mysteries: In book 13, when Charlie, Diesel and Helen Louise have arrived in their hotel room, they are horrified to find what looks like a dead body on the couch. Fortunately, the hotel concierge (who's escorted them to their room) recognizes the "body" as a hotel maid whom he's been told has narcolepsy, and is able to wake her up.note
- Discworld: Granny Weatherwax is capable of Borrowing, the ability to temporarily possess the minds of others. This leaves her own body unresponsive for the duration of the ability's use. Magrat, a more junior witch, once visited her while she was using the ability and thought she was dead. Since that incident, Granny Weatherwax makes sure to hold a sign that says "I ATE'NT DEAD" to prevent future instances of presumed death while she's using Borrowing.
- Harry Potter:
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Downplayed; after Scabbers bites Goyle's finger, he is flung off and hits the window. Ron is afraid the rat was knocked out rather than killed, but he realizes, in disbelief, that the lazy rat has just gone back to sleep.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Filch and Lockhart go on about Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, being dead. Then Dumbledore shows up and says she's just petrified.
- In The Lord of the Rings, it happens to Frodo twice:
- In the Mines of Moria, Frodo is apparently skewered by an orc chieftain, but thanks to the mithril armor he is secretly wearing, he just has the wind knocked out of him. The rest of the Fellowship thought they were retreating with his dead body until he came to and spoke.
- Zigzagged in the Pass of Cirith Ungol, where Frodo is poisoned by Shelob's bite. Sam initially tries to wake Frodo up, but finally becomes convinced that he's dead. Then when the orcs come and take Frodo's body, Sam overhears one orc telling another that Frodo isn't dead after all.
- In Madeline in London Pepito's horse is found lying motionless after he eats all the flowers and apples in the garden, and is briefly feared to be dead. However, it turns out he's just in a Food Coma and he wakes up when the humans lift him to his feet.
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: As said in the fourth book, vampires are created by a process that effectively does this while sorta killing them first. The end of the process is described:
"drank some concoction with a name like Eternal Rest or Big Sleep, and then woke up after your heart stopped."
- In Savvy, Samson has a pet turtle who is unresponsive and his family thinks it's dead, but he insists that it's only hibernating. On Mibs's birthday, the turtle wakes up, proving that it had only been hibernating.
- The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires: Patricia drops by the house of her recently deceased neighbor to bring her nephew, who has just moved in, a casserole as a condolence. Instead, she finds James Harris lying unresponsive in bed, looking and feeling every bit like an old corpse, and she starts giving him CPR... which startles him awake. Yet when James visits her later that same evening, he suddenly looks young, handsome and healthy — one of the first hints to his true nature.
Live-Action TV
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: In "I Have to Get Out," Rebecca plans to use a hospital gurney to break Paula out of a hospital so she can take the bar exam. Unfortunately Rebecca is suffering severe drowsiness from her new meds, so she falls asleep on the gurney and is assumed to be a corpse, getting her locked inside of a morgue.
- Doctor Who: In "The Star Beast," the Fourteenth Doctor meets Donna Noble again and is forced to unlock the Gallifreyan intellect she inadvertently absorbed in "Journey's End"; the process will kill her because human brains can't handle that level of power, but it's the only way to prevent the Meep from destroying the planet. Donna successfully stops the Meep and declares that her Heroic Sacrifice was worth it as she collapses in the Doctor's arms...only to wake up a few seconds later totally fine, much to everyone's surprise (including her own). As it turns out, Donna's daughter Rose inherited half of her Gallifreyan genius, which takes the pressure off of Donna's mind and allows them both to live.
- In Lassie, Gramps takes his foster grandson, Timmy, to a huckleberry patch to pick berries. The climb, including uphill sections, is too much for Gramps in the heat and his lays down to rest and passes out from exhaustion. Timmy believes that the old man has had a heart attack and rushes to call a doctor. Thankfully, although Gramps is okay, Timmy had mistaken some poisonous nightshade berries for huckleberry while eating and the doctor is able to save his life.
- My Hero (2000): When Cassie is born she predicts with her precognition power, which all Ultronian females have, that half the world will be dead in a day's time, spurring her father to warn and evacuate the effected areas of the planet. It's only after her grandmother dozes off and wakes up again that's it's revealed that the infant Cassie just didn't know what falling asleep was.
- The Office (US): Discussed, While at Dwight's aunt Shirley's funeral, he mentions to the camera crew that for a while the Schrutes accidentally buried some family members who, as it turned out, were actually heavy sleepers, and it was only after grave robbers dug up the coffins that they found scratch marks on the wood. It's for that reason that Schrute funerals now have the tradition of one family member opening the coffin and shooting the supposed corpse, as a kindness.
- Resident Alien: Played for Laughs in the pilot, when Harry is called in to look at a dead body. Having little experience with observing human anatomy, he initially mistakes a sleeping Asta for being dead, only to have her jolt awake.
- Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: At the end of Episode 6, Lucky is worried about the sentient armor Pega-san, who hasn't been answering him since their battle with Jark Matter. Commander Shou Ronpo announces that the battle taxed him too far and that Pega-san is gone. The rest of the Kyurangers begin to mourn his death... until he actually just wakes up from his nap:
Pega-san: Stupid! Stop trying to write me off!
- Vicious has a Running Gag of Stuart and Freddie checking that their elderly dog Balthazar is still alive under his blanket, often by calling or poking at him until he wakes up.
Music
- The song "Pink Clouds" by Sammy J is about a man who discovers what he thinks is a dead body in the park. He becomes excited because he gets to call the police, and imagines he will appear on the news. Then the 'dead body' wakes up. The man then strangles him so he won't look like an idiot when the police arrive.
- According to folklore, the german balad O du lieber Augustin was invented in the 17th century, when a bagpiper in Vienna fell drunk asleep in the streets during a pest epidemy and was tossed into an open mass grave by corpse collectors. Waking up the next morning, he had to figure out some way to make himself known without being Mistaken for Undead and chose to sing a jolly tune poking fun at his situation.
Mythology & Religion
- Played with in the New Testament, where falling asleep is used as a metaphorical description of having (physically) died.
- When Jesus arrives at the house to raise Jairus's recently-deceased daughter in Matthew 9/Mark 5/Luke 8, he tells the professional mourners to go away, because the girl isn't dead but asleep. And then wakes her up. Unusually, the girl actually was dead (at least in the usual sense) and her "waking up" is a miracle. Jesus' claim that she was asleep seems to be a statement about the temporary nature of physical death.
- Similarly, in John 11, Jesus confuses his disciples by telling them that his friend Lazarus, who has been ill for some time, has "fallen asleep", and they are going to visit him to "wake him up". The disciples misunderstand, and he has to explicitly clarify that Lazarus is dead.
- Paul refers to Christians who've died as having "fallen asleep" several times in 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians.
Puppet Shows
- Fraggle Rock: In "The Challenge", Gobo, Red, and Boober get trapped under a bushel basket by Pa Gorg, who intends to give them to Junior but forgets. Later, when Junior sits on the basket, Red and Gobo pretend they're a genie. Hearing Junior sneezing from a slight cold, Gobo convinces him that he's got a rare disease called "gorgliosis" and that he'll die after one more sneeze. After struggling in vain to suppress his sneezing, Junior lies down, believing he's dead, but he blocks the tunnel back to Fraggle Rock. When Pa comes out of the castle and sees Junior lying motionless on the ground, he thinks Junior really has died and runs in to tell Ma. The Fraggles, meanwhile, get Junior out of the way by singing "Dixie Wailin'", a funeral dirge that he starts dancing to... and Pa and Ma, seeing Junior dancing, rush over to him and join his Happy Dance.
Pa: Junior, you're alive!
Ma: It's a miracle!
Theatre
- Nerdy Prudes Must Die: Played for Laughs. Detective Shapiro is left unmoving after Max crashes her car, with Pete assuming she's dead when he can't feel her pulse, though he admits he has no idea how to check for it. The ending reveals Shapiro to be alive and well, having merely been knocked out by the crash.
- Romeo and Juliet: Act V has Romeo Montague sneak into the Capulet mortuary to ascertain that his beloved, Juliet, has actually died. Romeo indeed finds her reposed on a funeral slab, and collapses in grief. Juliet is alive, however; she'd been given a sedative that mimics death. The plan was for Juliet to be laid in state in the Capulet mortuary, awaken there at nightfall, and depart unseen into the arms of her lover, Romeo. Alas, Romeo was never told about the plan, and presumes the worst, which is why this play is an epic tragedy.
Video Games
- Bug Fables: when first two party members Vi & Kabbu initially find third one Leif in a spiderweb, Kabbu calls for a moment of silence for a fallen explorer... until Leif starts snoring, showing that he is alive. Amusingly enough, at the end of Leif's personal sidequest, it turns out that he really WAS dead after all, being a Parasite Zombie.
- Dragalia Lost: In the Princess Connect! Re:Dive crossover event, Pecorine ends up collapsing after performing a powerful move to save Mitsuba and Cleo. At first, they think that she died, but then they hear snoring and realize that she is just in a deep sleep due to how much energy she used and that she needs food to wake back up.
- Final Fantasy IV: Party members appearing, then going out in a Heroic Sacrifice becomes something of a Running Gag in the game, as several party members appear and then leave the party in an apparent death scene. For example, Rydia falls overboard and is swallowed by Leviathan, Yang goes after her and vanishes for a while, Palom and Porom petrify themselves to stop a wall from crushing everyone, and then there's Cid. The first time, Cid detonates a bomb that blows up a tunnel to keep enemy airships from following the party. The party then find him again later after the airship gets damaged, having survived the bombing and is resting in the dwarven castle. When told he needs to make airship repairs, he shrugs off his injuries and gets right to work, making the repairs in record time, before apparently burning out, collapsing, and passing away, complete with the game's permadeath music. Only for him to immediately start snoring, as if to lampshade how many times the aforementioned party members haven't actually died.
- Final Fantasy XIV:
- In Endwalker, the heroes are horrified to find the alchemists of the Great Work strewn about its front lawn and rush to check them for injuries. To their surprise, the alchemists were uninjured, but in a deep slumber. Just as they're wondering if the alchemists are in some kind of Forced Sleep, Varshahn arrives with a basket full of dragon scales. The alchemists instantly wake up and grab the basket before rushing back to work, showing that they're just Workaholics who work until they collapse.
- In Dawntrail, the Tank role quests involve a magical artifact containing the power of a narwhal capable of forcing others to take on the bearer's need for sleep, putting the victims into a Forced Sleep while the bearer is energized. The villain uses this power to humiliate the Temple Knights, forcing them into sleep in compromising positions, confusing onlookers who initially wonder if the knights simply dropped dead before them.
- Fire Emblem Engage: Discussed: If Jade is used to fight against Xenologue Diamant, he'll mention how the Jade of his world wrote a story about an old man who was presumed dead, but as soon as he lets out a big yawn, it's revealed that he was actually sleeping. Diamant tearfully reminisces about his version of Jade, and the normal Jade feels sorrow about fighting her leader.
- In Kingdom Hearts II, Goofy is struck by a boulder during the Battle of 1000 Heartless sequence, and everyone assumes he's dead from the blow. This being Goofy, a few minutes later, he's up and about.
- Octopath Traveler II: At the end of Ochette's first chapter, after a difficult battle, Juvah tells Ochette an ominous prophecy, then says that he leaves the island in her hands, lays down and falls silent. Ochette, assuming he fell victim to Mentor Occupational Hazard, cries out to him... and then Juvah catches some Zs.
- Paper Mario
- Paper Mario 64: When Mario first encounters Mayor Penguin, he's on the ground, unresponsive, and holding a piece of paper that says "Herringway". The mayor's wife assumes Mario killed him, and the player is forced to find "Herringway" and clear Mario's name. Of course, it turns out that Mayor Penguin is merely unconscious, having fallen off a bookshelf while trying to retrieve a gift for his friend Herringway.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: While searching for a crystal star in Keelhaul Key, Admiral Bobbery gets attack by some enemies, leaving Mario and the crew to save him. After beating them and giving Bobbery Chuckola Cola as his last request, Bobbery falls asleep. After realizing this, the party has Mario use his hammer to wake the Admiral back up and scold him for scaring them.
- Sukutte: Konchi, Mari's junior who she spends the entire game trying to rescue from the monster in the Haunted House, appears to have been killed when Mari finally gets to her... until it turns out she was just sleeping.
Marisa: Konchi! Can you hear me! Konchi! !!!!!! I...I don't believe... I don't b...believe you are dead... Impossible!! Konchi!! Uu... Uu... Uuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa If I...if I accompanied you at that time... Sorry... Konchi...
Chiyo: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Marisa: What?! She is just sleeping?! - Thief: Deadly Shadows: Player can stealthily knock out enemies by hitting them on the head with a blackjack. If an NPC stumbles upon a knocked out NPC, they always immediately assume they are dead.
Web Animation
- Natural Habitat Shorts: In one short, we see the characters mourning Lisa the Hedgehog at a funeral, not realizing that she was hibernating. As it turns out, hedgehogs will lower their heart rate and body temperature, mimicking the appearance of death. Lisa, having woken up, is mortified to see her friends all crying in grief, and silently ends up going back into the casket, only for the duck presiding at her funeral to slam the casket shut. As the casket is lowered, one character interjects, to her relief, only to point out that Lisa would have wanted to be cremated. Lisa then screams in terror within the casket.
- Red vs. Blue: In Nightmare on Planet Evil, Sarge passes out after staying awake for five straight days. When he's found in this position at the feet of a mysterious individual who's been trying to find Tucker, everyone assumes Sarge is dead until the individual explains what happened.
Webcomics
- Unsounded: Matty (who is blind) is concerned that his father may be dead and covered with blood when he finds him unconscious and covered in water after a fight in which another wright tried to drown him. Jivi reassures him that it's just water.
Web Videos
- Princess Tutu Abridged: In Episode 14, Duck, Pike, and Lilie hear Mr. Cat let out a bloodcurdling scream. Running to go check on him, they find Mr. Cat apparently dead after finding his precious Ceiling Cat shoes shredded on the floor. Pike and Lilie, as part of the Ballerina Mafia, are thrilled because they have been trying to assassinate him for ages... until he twitches.
Lilie: [disappointed] Oh, no.
Pike: He's just stunned.
Western Animation
- In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Origins", Gumball makes Darwin stay still before he goes to tell his mom and dad about Darwin being able to speak. Darwin makes himself inanimate in a way that makes him look dead, not helped by Gumball's earlier fish dying, and he does get mistaken for dead and gets flushed down the toilet by mistake, after Richard and Nicole find out he's still alive.
- American Dad!: In one episode, Hayley finds Roger hanging from a noose, believing he killed himself out of loneliness. However, Roger is alive and says this is just how he sleeps sometimes.
- At the end of a Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block hosted by Eustace and Muriel, Muriel says her goodbyes to the audience while Eustace is sleeping. Suddenly, The Grim Reaper shows up, thinking that Eustace is dead. Muriel then sternly tells Grim that Eustace is only sleeping.
- Dexter's Laboratory: In "Old Man Dexter," Dexter tries to age himself up to prove that he's old enough to stay up late with his family and watch a movie. Dee Dee, as always, messes with the process and inadvertently makes Dexter into an old man, who Mom and Dad mistake for Grandpa. Dexter accepts the situation since he'll still get to avoid bedtime, only to fall asleep right as the movie comes on, prompting Dee Dee to exclaim, "Grandpa's dead!"
- Ever After High: When Apple takes a bite of the poisoned apple in "Dragon Games", she falls into an enchanted sleep. How do her friends know she is still breathing? She snores.
Poppy O'Hair: She's breathing, all right.
- Futurama: Invoked in "The Route Of All Evil" when Prof. Farnsworth is accused of declaring himself dead as a tax dodge.
Farnsworth: Tax dodge, nothing! You take one little nap in a ditch in the park, and they start declaring you this and that.
- Mickey Mouse (2013): In "Flushed", Mickey mistakes a sleeping Gubbles for being dead and flushes him. At the end of the episode, he mistakes a loudly-snoring Pluto for being dead, too.
- Regular Show: "That's My Television" ends with Mordecai and Rigby discovering that RGB2 was actually an old man piloting a television set. After giving the duo his autograph, he begins staring blankly at the two leading to Mordecai pulling down his eyelids. RGB2 quickly opens his eyes and tells them that he was just resting.
- Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire: Robbie's mentor Old Jingle seemingly dies in his arms after a Heroic Sacrifice. It's a sad, poignant moment... right up until Jingle starts snoring.
- Rocko's Modern Life: In "Pipe Dreams", Rocko's toilet is clogged, and throughout the episode, he tries to unclog it. Near the end of the episode, Rocko discovers the source of the clog; his pet goldfish, Lolita. Three and a half years before the episode's events, Rocko flushed Lolita down the toilet, having thought he was dead at the time, when Lolita was just sleeping. Lolita spent the next three and a half years living in the drain pipe and growing in size.
- The Simpsons:
- In "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", the Simpson family goes out for sushi, only for Homer to be told that he had some improperly-prepared blowfish and he has 24 hours to live. Homer spends what he believes is his last night listening to the Bible on audiotape, and when Marge finds him in the living room, she weeps until she feels the drool around his mouth and sees that he's actually alive, to everybody's surprise.
- In "Dog of Death", Santa's Little Helper (the eponymous family's greyhound) passes out due to having a serious stomach disease. Grampa Simpson sees him and thinks he's dead, even when Santa's Little Helper starts moving a little.
- In "Raging Abe Simpson and his Grumbling Grandson In 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'", Grandpa Simpson's war story starts with Burns' apparently dead body being carried away, but he wakes up.
Ox: Duh, hey, you said you was dead!
Burns: Uh, yes, dead... tired!
- Zeke's Pad: In "Portrait of a Young Artist", Zeke is turned into an old man and is believed to be dead for a moment. Of course, it turned out that he was only sleeping.
