The Czech Lion Awards, the Czech Republic's equivalent of the Oscars, featured a surprise appearance by highly recognizable, very distinctive-looking American actor Jim Carrey. He took the stage, waved to the crowd, and silently fired a glitter cannon into the air, raining gold confetti down upon himself. Typical Carrey! You never know what that guy's gonna do!

The audience clapped politely, but something was amiss: That was not Jim Carrey, and you can tell from the reaction shots that everyone knew it.

Everyone except the show organizers, that is. The whole thing was arranged through Fake Carrey's fake manager, and fake agent, and he showed up to the event with bodyguards and an interpreter. He ran through the preparation for his performance as if he were the real deal. How could they not be fooled? Except by looking at his face, I mean.

But when the conman's big moment aired nationwide, to viewers who hadn't bought into all the behind-the-scenes hoaxing, it was immediately obvious: His face.

Even though "only a few naive people believed that that kid is swollen Jim Carrey," according to a hilarious machine translation of an article about the scandal in Czech newspaper Blesk, the people behind the awards show initially claimed Carrey had really appeared.

"Of course the real Jim Carrey was on the stage. I knew that he would come but I did not know what he would do there," host Lucie Vyborna told Blesk, "He appeared for a very short time and people did not have chance to recognise him. I have heard people suggesting it was a lookalike but I can say no, it was really him."

The organizers of the show and director Jan Sverak, who put the event together, also defended the falešný Carrey as real. Unfortunately, that would be impossible, because the real Jim Carrey was spotted at a party in L.A. on Friday, so there's no way he could have appeared in Prague Saturday night. Also: His face does not look like that.

Sverak eventually recanted, admitting what was already obvious: "We have become very likely the target of a very elaborate hoax. I'm so sorry," he said.

A spokesman for the show said "Carrey" wasn't paid anything for his appearance. Too bad, really, because he certainly earned it.

The clever impostor's real identity is still unknown.

[h/t Daily Mail]