History Main / AudienceWhatAudience

* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'': Though even she mostly stays in character, Monika is the only one who has a handful of fourth-wall breaking jokes. At one point, Natsuki makes a pun that only works in Japanese, and Monika complains it makes no sense in translation (as if the {{Animesque}} game is really translated, which it's not), and Natsuki is pretty confused. Another time, Monika does it by herself, as she first gives the player [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits a tip about saving the game]] and then wonders out loud what she was even talking about.

* One episode of ''Series/JustShootMe'' had Maya meeting an insane man who thought he was Woody Allen. Near the end, he breaks the fourth wall and starts talking to the camera, to Maya's great confusion.

* ''VideoGame/TheHex'': Rust [=McClain=], the protagonist of ''Waste World'', is the only one of the six protagonists to not know he is a video game character, as is his son Rocky. When confronted with elements like {{Game Mod}}s and characters asking what game he is from, he has no idea what they are talking about.

* In ''[[VideoGame/SenranKagura Senran Kagura: Estival Versus]]'', Asuka says to watch the OAV for more information about Ryōna. Homura asks who she is talking to. Asuka convinces her not to worry about it.

* One time when ComicBook/SheHulk guest starred in [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk her cousin's]] book (or possibly vice versa), at the end she addressed the audience; Hulk (who was intelligent at the time) called her on it.

*** Pinkie Pie often references differences between the fic and the actual show, expresses her hatred of her portrayal in ''Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}}'', and other fourth wall shenanigans, which always confuses her friends.

* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Grand Size Me" ended with Ron addressing the audience about genetic mutation. Nobody knew whom he was addressing and he was sent to the teacher's office.

* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' has an ''in-universe'' example, when Truman sees that his wife is presenting him food as if she was doing advertisement for it — which she's doing, actually.

-->-- '''Hun''', ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' episode "Avengers Disassembled", Iron Man recruits Spider-Man onto the team. The others question this decision when Spidey is shown standing in the corner talking to himself, apparently expecting the fight to stop until he's finished, like it does in ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan''.

* Played straight in Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''Comicbook/AnimalMan''. His arc featured the main character gradually becoming aware that he is a comic character.

** In one issue, several DC characters wiped out during the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' event reappeared. One character fully realized he was in a comic and pointed at the reader, claiming that [[ParanoiaFuel "they" are enjoying the suffering of the characters and that the characters will be doomed to repeat these traumatic events every time someone reads that issue.]] At first, the other characters believe he's insane but they gradually see it too, eventually realizing that he was right. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation They don't react well.]] Note that this storyline alternates between being [[CanonDiscontinuity outside canon]] (and for good reason--imagine the FridgeLogic and FridgeHorror that would affect the Franchise/DCUniverse if it were) and being a mystical experience of TheMultiverse that its participants [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm could only interpret by way of]] a BreakingTheFourthWall metaphor, though Morrison has dragged MetaFiction elements into other stories such as ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis''.
** When he guest-stars in the ''[=JLApe=]'' crossover because the Comicbook/MartianManhunter needs information about morphic resonance, he's had a bit of a breakdown and his reaction is "Oh god, I'm important to the plot..." J'onn learns Buddy's view of reality via his telepathy, but decides not to share it with anyone.

* In ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'', the version of Peter Parker from the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' animated series narrates his adventures, just like in the cartoon. His fellow Spider-Men are bewildered by this.

'''[[Comicbook/UltimateSpiderMan Miles Morales]]:''' I'm starting to think even ''he'' doesn't know.

* In ''Videogame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'', Herman Toothrot makes a number of snarky aside comments during Act 3. When Guybrush eventually asks "Who are you talking to?", Herman cheerily replies "The people watching!"
* In ''Videogame/SecretOfEvermore'', a prophet declares that everyone around him is a character in a video game. Some nearby {{Non Player Character}}s and the player character all regard him as insane. He even declares that, if he's lying, may the powers that be strike him down! The player then has the option of doing just that, enforcing the beliefs of the [=NPCs=] and player character (but if the player refuses, the prophet bestows gifts on the hero.)

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The sprite comic ''WebComic/KidRadd'' uses this trope - it's about video game characters being rescued from their games and living in the internet. Sometimes it takes a while for them to adjust.

* One episode from the very short-lived stop-motion {{Black Comedy}} Canadian TV series, ''What It's Like Being Alone'', had one of the mutated orphans, [[FishPeople Sammy Fishboy]], suddenly becomes aware than an unseen audience is watching him and freaks out that they (us) won't leave him alone and the idea that he may cease to exist if the show ends or we change the channel. Whenever he tries to point out to the others where he's being watched, the camera pans to show him pointing at random objects and locations. The other orphans and their caretaker [[TheEeyore Aldous]] think he is insane and use different methods to cure his madness, including medications, being catapulted into a nearby tree, shock treatment, and dumping him in a bath filled with hundreds of leeches. Eventually, the resident [[GentlemanandaScholar sea monster]] patches things up by stating that Sammy's "delusions" are his imagination and that everyone else has one.

* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' ChristmasEpisode "The Moon Knight Before Christmas", Spidey is wrapping up is narration when he's interrupted by Moon Knight communing with the moon. Moon Knight is surprised to learn Spidey ''isn't'' talking to the moon, and when he refuses to say who he ''is'' talking to, calls him a weirdo.

* In a secret joke event in ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', which is inaccessible in normal gameplay and only be unlocked through using cheats to advance through Nazi Germany's focus tree, sees Albert Speer showing up for a meeting with Adolf Hitler in his office to introduce his plans to [[EnemyMine work with the USA against Imperial Japan]]. But instead, he is greeted by an angry Hitler suddenly storming into the office, still wearing his [[EmbarrassingPyjamas nightgown]], and screaming incoherently about [[NoFairCheating the player being a cheater]], before going on a rant about how he in, all of his years of playing ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'', have never felt the need to cheat once and conquered all of Europe fair and square. Speer, quite horrified and confused at what is going on, manages to make Hitler calm down, at which the elderly Führer quietly excuses himself and walks off with a look of defeat on his face, while muttering to himself the player should just restart the game and play it without cheating this time. Speer, still utterly confused at to what Hitler was ranting about, then goes down to the basement to restart the heating system, hoping that his boss' weird outburst was just the result of a lapse in the air conditioning.

* In a secret event in ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', which is inaccessable in normal gameplay and only be unlocked through using cheats to advance through Nazi Germany's focus tree, sees Albert Speer showing up for a meeting with Adolf Hitler in his office to introduce his plans to [[EnemyMine work with the USA against Imperial Japan]]. But instead, he is greeted by an angry Hitler suddenly storming into the office, still wearing his [[EmbarrassingPyjamas nightgown]], and screaming incoherently about [[NoFairCheating the player being a cheater]], before going on a prolonged rant about how he in, all of his years of playing ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'', have never felt the need to cheat once and conquered all of Europe fair and square. Speer, quite horrified and confused at what is going on, manages to make Hitler calm down, at which the elderly Führer quietly excuses himself and walks off with a look of defeat on his face, while muttering to himself the player should just restart the game and play it without cheating this time. Speer, still utterly confused at to what Hitler was ranting about, then goes down to the basement to restart the heating system, hoping that his boss' weird outbust was just the result of a lapse in the air conditioning.

* In a secret event in ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', which is inaccessable in normal gameplay and only be unlocked through using cheats to advance through Nazi Germany's focus tree, sees Albert Speer showing up for a meeting with Adolf Hitler in his office to introduce his plans to [[EnemyMine work with the USA against Imperial Japan]]. But instead, he is greeted by an angry Hitler suddenly storming into the office, still wearing his [[EmbarrassingPyjamas nightgown]], and screaming incoherently about [[NoFairCheating the player being a cheater]], before going on a prolonged rant about how he in, all of his years of playing ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'', have never felt the need to cheat once and conquered Europe fair and square. Speer, quite horrified and confused at what is going on, manages to make Hitler calm down, at which the elderly Führer quietly walks off with a look of defeat on his face, while muttering to himself the player should just restart the game and play it without cheating this time. Speer, still utterly confused at to what Hitler was ranting about, then goes down to the basement to restart the heating system, hoping that his boss' weird outbust was just the result of a lapse in the air conditioning.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Pinkie Pie is [[MediumAwareness aware of that annoying logo]], [[DontExplainTheJoke but Twilight isn't]].-]]]

->"''Why do you keep doing that? Who are you talking to?!'' '''''THERE'S NO ONE THERE!'''''"
--> -- '''Hun''', ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever''

** Subverted in Uncanny X-Force #34. After saving Wolverine, Deadpool tells him that he wasn't worried about him dying because apparently "everyone knew he wasn't going to die". When Wolverine asks who’s everyone, Deadpool points out to the reader, but in the next panel we find out [[FourthWallPsych he was actually pointing to a security camera]]. It turns into MindScrew when you [[FridgeLogic start wondering]] why the guys watching the footage of the security camera would think Wolverine was safe from dying.

* In ''Fanfic/CodePonyEvolution'', all the Lyoko Warriors are really confused by [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie Pie]].

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':
** Sonata Dusk starts breaking the fourth wall and Aria Blaze doesn't know what she's talking about.
** Megalon and the Mane-iac start breaking the fourth wall and Gigan doesn't know what they are talking about. However, when they point at it, Gigan is briefly able to see the fourth wall and is horrified.
** Discord starts referencing Creator/{{Toho}}'s website and the fic's own TV Tropes page. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have no idea what he is talking about.
* ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'':
** Pinkie Pie often references differences between the fic and the actual show, expresses her hatred of her portrayal in ''Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}}'', and other fourth wall shenanigans, which always confuses her friends.
** Nyarlathotrot suddenly starts [[RageAgainstTheAuthor ranting and raving at the author and readers]], then [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou threatening and insulting them]]. The heroes have no idea who he is yelling at, though Daring Do, who had been brought to life from her story, has a vague idea.

* The page image is from a fan comic for ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', where the character Pinkie Pie frequently leans on the fourth wall, with the occasional breaking. Surprisingly enough, this trope does ''not'' apply to this character. It does apply to supporting character Iron Will though, who gives the fourth wall a thumbs-up whenever he says one of his catchphrases, to the confusion of other characters, ''including'' Pinkie Pie.

* ComicBook/TheJoker's been known to do this in any medium he appears in. This most occurs in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* A 1983 PSA for the US National Wildlife Federation featuring Franchise/TheMuppets has Kermit and Fozzie discussing polution. At the end Kermit turns to the camera and gives the viewers an address to write to for more information. Fozzie asks who he's talking to.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "It's a Jersey Thing", Shiela admits via a ''Series/JerseyShore''-style ConfessionCam that she's from Jersey. Which leads to this moment...

'''Shiela:''' You wouldn't understand. It's a Jersey thing.

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* Common in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', where exposition dumps and tutorials will often make reference to the player sitting in front of the screen, much to the confusion of Mario and company.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'', Hun eventually gets fed up with [=80s=] Raphael making asides to the audience, and snaps "Why do you keep doing that? Who are you talking to?! '''THERE'S NO ONE THERE!'''"

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny makes Gossamer self-conscious when he points out the audience in "Hair-Raising Hare"

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'', when the local FourthWallObserver, Kurumu Kurono, complains to the audience that she's been shoved OutOfFocus only one episode after she was introduced. This prompts the narrator bat of all people to ask the audience who she's talking to.

* Wrestling/{{Edge}} pulls this off in ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE Smackdown VS RAW 2011]]'' should the player have him and his longtime pal Wrestling/{{Christian}} reunite: