History Main / FourthWallPsych

** Scottish comedy duo Hale&Pace have a {{Noir}} setting with the scared victim running to and fro - at the end it is revealed he runs on a giant piano

For cases where a character taps on a ''literal'' "fourth wall" between them and the audience, see ScreenTap. See also UnseenAudience, BehindTheBlack.

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} does this once with Arcade, though it's unusual, because that series has NoFourthWall.

* Series/SledgeHammer (in "Vertical") has a brilliant take on the ExplodingCalendar trope. No time passes at all, it was caused by a ventilator.

** The whole idea of Pinkie Pie being a fourth wall breaker initially was based on an animation error in the final shot of the season 1 episode "Bridle Gossip" that makes her appear to be staring at the camera, then the production team made her a fourth wall-breaker ''intentionally''.
*** There ''was'' the time she held back the IrisOut at the end of the pilot.

* In one of the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius Jimmy Neutron]]''/''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' {{Crossover}} specials this was a RunningGag. Sheen would ask, seemingly no one in particular, "Do you know what this means?! Do you?" He would then lean directly at the camera, asking "Do ''yoooouuu?"'' We then switch angles and zoom out to see that each time, he's asking Libby, who exasperatedly tells him to back off.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' observes this trope as closely as possible without a screen: it begins with [[TheGrimReaper Death]] witnessing the fatal collision of his apprentice Mort and his wife. After this, he turns around, seemingly to no one, and comments, "[[AC: Yes. I could have done something.]]" Much later, the scene is shown OnceMoreWithClarity to reveal that Death was actually talking to his granddaughter Susan, who had used the power of Death's domain to go back in time.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteandtheSevenDwarfs'', the witch looks directly into the camera as she gleefully explains the dire effects of her poisoned apple, and then cuts to the terrified pet crow she's actually speaking to.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Stan's Best Friend," Stan goes to the library for a HardWorkMontage. When he returns home he remarks to Francine: "Well, I just did a ton of research at the library, but I couldn't concentrate. They were blasting Oingo Boingo at top volume."

* The ''ComicBook/{{Futurama}}'' comic did this in issue 46, ''Follow the Reader''; it starts with the Professor talking directly to the reader to explain how the ChooseYourOwnAdventure format works. It then appears that he was babbling because Bender spiked his drink.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "The Eyes", Finn and Jake both look at the camera while Finn says he has the feeling that someone is watching them. The camera pans back during the last part of the sentence to show that they're actually looking out the window at a horse standing on a nearby hill, watching them

* ''WesternAnimation/FreeBirds'' has Jake appear to talk directly to the audience. Then Reggie asks who he's talking to, and Jake points to his own reflection in a hubcap whom he assumes to be another soldier for the cause. See how he's nodding?

* In the final scene of the second season of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', Megatron rants about how he's changed history so that the villains win. At the end of his speech, he points towards the screen and exclaims "And YOU! You no longer EXIST!" In context, he's pointing to the Maximals who were just in the foreground as the shot zoomed in.[[note]]However, this isn't made clear until after the fact. For all the viewers knew at the time (or any unspoiled, first-time viewers, for that matter), that really could have been [[DownerEnding the end]] right there. According to WordOfGod, they weren't even sure there would even be another season, hence why the second season ends with "ToBeContinued?" (i.e., with the question mark included).[[/note]]

* Zigzagged by Monokuma in ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa''. [[spoiler:With the reveal that the killing game is being broadcast to the whole world, many of the previous fourth wall breaks are explained... except for the Monokuma Theater segments, where he breaks the fourth wall directly.]]

Related to AsideGlance. Compare and contrast also AsideComment, where a character seems to address the audience, but no commitments about whether they really do are made either way. Not to be confused with LeaningOnTheFourthWall, wherein the fact that the characters are in a fictional work is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the dialogue.

->''"Hello, everyone. I'm so happy to see all of you, and to welcome you to Season Four. ''[{{Beat}}]'' …which is, of course, the name of this restaurant, the number one Asian fusion restaurant in New York."''

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* At the beginning of ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', Okabe appears to be addressing the audience through the TV screen, introducing himself and the other members of Future Gadgets Laboratory. Eventually the camera angle changes and we see that he's actually speaking to an animated character on a screen named Alpaca-Man.

* At the beginning of ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', Okabe appears to be addressing the audience through the TV screen, introducing himself and the other members of Future Gadgets Laboratory. Eventually the camera angle changes and we see that he's actually speaking to an animated character on a screen named Alpaca-Man.