History Main / NoFourthWall

* Croatian children's comic ''Borovnica (translated, Blueberry)'' practically relishes in this. Every character is aware they're in a comic book, and after the 100th episode, the main heroine (the titular Borovnica) actually steps out of the comic. In the next episode we see her hiding behind the panels, listening to the others wondering where she is. Additionally, in the episode where [[CreatorCameo she meets the author]] and [[RageAgainstTheAuthor berates him for not meeting up with his deadline]], or the several episodes where she answers fanmail.
* The STAR Comics title ''ComicBook/{{Madballs}}'' based on the semi-popular toy line, and well known for it's Care Bears cross-over, was thick with it. The series characters made no qualms about being comic characters. Everything from interacting with the readers, pointing out things about the comics themselves, direct references to previous issues, ect. was present. Going over the top of that, many characters actually used the comics elements as a power, be that fighting with their own word balloons and puns (and acknowledging that they were doing so), to setting the Madballs to actually compete with the books puzzle pages and ask the reader to help them directly in continuity.

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' has the Broken Man, a (possibly) insane being who directly addresses the readers to enlist them in his quest against the Oubor.

* Included in the latter half of Creator/DCComics' ''Tales of the Unexpected'' mini-series as comic relief ([[CrapsackWorld which it]] [[HumansAreBastards desperately]] [[DarkerAndEdgier needed]]) were the adventures of [[ButtMonkey the DCU's resident Doubting Thomas]], Doctor Thirteen, as he and [[GoldfishPoopGang a team comprised of other canceled, abandoned characters]] to battle DC Comics' head writers for the right to continue existing in the about-to-be rebooted universe. However, the writers are referred to in-character only as "the Architects", leading to a finale similar to Rick Jones' (see above), when the good Doctor finally puts the pieces together and begs the reader not to turn the page, "Our very existence depends on it!" [[spoiler:This, of course, turns out to be the ''last'' page. Turn it, and the comic's over]].

* The main characters in Playrix's hidden object games do a great deal of speaking directly to the player, from making commenmts about your watching them to nagging you if you go too long without clicking the play button to asking whether you couldn't find anything you liked if you exit the remodeling screen without making any purchases.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube RPG ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' played this alarmingly straight by having the player serve as a "Guardian Spirit" assisting the party, whom the characters would occasionally address by turning to the camera and asking a direct question. Choosing an answer contrary to the plot wouldn't change the storyline, but would reduce the likelihood of getting certain special attacks in battle. Having said that, separating the player from the party wasn't entirely a gimmick: [[spoiler:it allowed the main character, Kalas, to hide his motivations for betraying the party until the FaceHeelTurn actually happened]].

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'''s Cranky Kong breaks the fourth wall near-constantly in the older games, but the entire (AllThereInTheManual) storyline of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand'' depends on the lack of a wall: Cranky has K. Rool steal DK's bananas ''again'' as part of a bet that DK and Diddy can't have a successful adventure on the 4-color UsefulNotes/GameBoy.

** The fight with the third demon, [[spoiler:Asomodeus.EXE, is NOTHING but this as he tries to trick you into looking away from the game window. This includes faking a {{UsefulNotes/Steam}} friend message, playing social media notification sounds at random, and intentionally causing a program stall that you have to "wait for the program to respond" on.]]

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* ''Anime/{{Heybot}}'': Some of the cast show awareness that they are in a [[Kodomomuke children series]], with them poking at MerchandiseDriven and ToBeAMaster tropes, and Moekath Trio trying to hijack the plot to be more of [[ShonenDemographic a classical battle shonen]]. The final episode is treated like TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt because nobody knows what's going to happen to them.

* In the ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' episode ''Transformed'' when when Nobi turns into a frog off-screen, Sue looked directly at the camera as if the viewer interested her. Also, there are quite a few times when Doraemon directly addressed the viewers.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' would drop the fourth wall in its final season; [[spoiler:Pops' training to fight Anti-Pops is done via montage (which everyone is 100% aware of), the Park employees preserve their lives with a Blu-Ray box set, and characters turn into storyboards and sketches when Anti-Pops erases them.]]

* Another Creator/BobHope vehicle, ''Film/ThePrincessAndThePirate'' does this at the end when his ''Road To'' co-star Creator/BingCrosby [[TheCameo turns up]] as the guy who the heroine actually loves, prompting a rant from Hope about he'll never make another picture with [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer Goldwyn]].

* The characters in ''VideoGame/AdibooMagicalPlayland'' are facing the player most of the time and talk to the player.

* In the Flash room escape ''Game in Game in Game'' the protagonist is a room escape fan who, upon realising they're actually locked in their bedroom, immediately opens their computer to see if there's a walkthrough. And there is.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'''s Cranky Kong breaks the fourth wall near-constantly in the older games, but the entire (AllThereInTheManual) storyline of ''Donkey Kong Land'' depends on the lack of a wall: Cranky has K. Rool steal DK's bananas ''again'' as part of a bet that DK and Diddy can't have a successful adventure on the 4-color UsefulNotes/GameBoy.

* Israeli sitcom ''Series/HaPijamot'', every episode.

* ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'':

* All of the characters on Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses and Website/ChannelAwesome. Most of them are reviewers, and talking directly to the audience by their premise, but it goes beyond that. Characters from the shows/movies/comics/games that they review come out, they can [[InvokedTrope invoke tropes]] to control the narrative, use a BigLippedAlligatorMoment or whimsical montage as a weapon, and they can read the subtitles.

* As you'd imagine from her code-name, [[ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool Gwenpool]] is keenly aware of the fourth wall and regularly addresses the reader through it. Not only does she narrate her own book, but she makes usually-but-not-always accurate assumptions about how her story will play out based on [[GenreSavvy her own comic book knowledge]]. She has limitations, though, as she's a comic book fan from our world transplanted into the MarvelUniverse. She's been regularly blindsided by twists in her own story, and her knowledge is limited by which comics she has and hasn't read. When she faced off against Deadpool she was at a serious disadvantage because she always found his comics a little too "LOL memes" for her taste.

* NXT, by reason of it being a try out show, needs a lot of this. Wrestling/BryanDanielson calls Wrestling/DavidOtunga a worse wrestler even though Bryan always lost to him, because everybody knows Bryan is better, which is basically breaking the fourth wall and basically saying Otunga only won because it was already agreed he would when rhetorically asked if Otunga really deserved his ranking. It's topped itself in season three, where Josh Matthews literally tells Wrestling/MichaelCole that a wedding their watching is fake.

** [[http://personal.ee.surrey.ac.uk/cgi-bin/L.Wood/madam-and-eve-comic.cgi?shown=5&comic=1331 This series of strips]] has the comic downsized from four panels to three due to an ink shortage.

* ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'': [[http://personal.ee.surrey.ac.uk/cgi-bin/L.Wood/madam-and-eve-comic.cgi?shown=5&comic=1331 This series of strips]] has the comic downsized from four panels to three due to an ink shortage.

* Promotional material for ''Wrestling/{{R|ingOfHonor}}OH Golden Dream'' largely consisted of Jay Briscoe's image(often him pile driving Wrestling/KevinSteen) tapped over Wrestling/AdamCole's with the words "Real World Champ" crudely written in marker or crayon.

** The fourth wall tends to conceptually materialize whenever the action leaves the arena proper, with the backstage area and all other parts of the world beyond the ring supposedly being "behind the scenes" where the audience can't see what's happening. A common way to exploit this is to have a heel wrestler "secretly" insult someone or [[JustBetweenYouAndMe admit to an ally to having committed a heinous deed]], completely disregarding the TV camera being held right next to them. Sometimes the commentators will [[LampshadeHanging reveal that the whole world heard everything]], but more often everyone will "remain ignorant" of the incident until the face confronts the heel in the ring and reveal they obtained a videotape, [[EngineeredPublicConfession which will then be shown on the Titantron]].
** In the territorial era, where kayfabe was sacroscant, the issue "backstage", in the "lockeroom" or otherwise outside of the arena was usually solved by an excited reporter supposedly "finding" some happening and yelling to the camera man to hurry up, usually resulting in the heel getting caught doing something he didn't want the baby faces catching, such as Crippler Rip Oliver breaking Mike Wrestling/{{Von Erich|Family}}'s hand in Texas or Wrestling/EddieGilbert trying to kill Wrestling/JerryLawler in Memphis. In the post territorial era, BJ Whitmer became "the smartest man in wrestling" by actually watching the show and acknowledging locker room happenings recorded on shows he wasn't even on.
* One of Wrestling/CMPunk's signature spots is to steal an article of clothing and hide from his opponent in the audience. How well it works depends on if Punk is a heel or face at the time, or if the audience is generally more interested in seeing what his opponent will do in the case of while he did it in a match against [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]] in IWA Mid-South.

* Promotional material for ''Wrestling/{{R|ingOfHonor}}OH Golden Dream'' largely consisted of Jay Briscoe's image tapped over Wrestling/AdamCole's with the words "Real World Champ" crudely written in crayon.
* Ring Warriors was {{reviv|al}}ed in 2011 as a member of the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance and began signing up wrestlers from the Caribbean in preparation for running shows there as former NWA member Championship Wrestling From Florida had. Apart from Haitian wrestler Tyree Pride, who was already working as a manager in the NWA and used as a wrestler again by Ring Warriors for these Caribbean shows, none of this talent was actually booked by 2012. This caused Wrestling/LaRosaNegra to interrupt the first Bahamas show in Nassau to complain about being an AdvertisedExtra and demand a shot at the winner of the first match in Ring Warriors' women's title tournament. Yes, the entire angle surrounding their first women's champion was an open criticism of [[SelfDeprecation their own business and booking practices]]!

* All of this being said, it's generally ill-advised to break {{kayfabe}}. Wrestling works the way it does because of WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief -- while the best storylines have RealitySubtext to them that makes things all the more engaging (as shown by the Summer of Punk II and Wrestling/DanielBryan's feud with Wrestling/TheAuthority), outright breaking kayfabe (outside of an off-hand joke for a quick laugh like what DX likes to do) generally never works. As best illustrated by Wrestling/VinceRusso's booking of Wrestling/{{WCW}}, where he practically murdered kayfabe and pissed on its remains, including having scripts being rewritten ''live, '''onscreen'''''.

* ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' milks this for all its worth. Sometimes there are storylines about production mistakes (like when they ran out of A's for text balloons), sometimes the cast interacts with fellow comic characters, and sometimes the characters gripe about and/or reprimand the author for {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy''/''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' {{Crossover}} FanFic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7144846 Ed, Edd, 'n Pony]]'', the Eds are well aware of the fact they are in a story, and so does Pinkie Pie. The fourth wall is pretty much demolished in the story. Case in point: in chapter 3 alone, Ed does a scene transition (at the request of the author), Eddy claims under his breath the author gave the Eds "a generous gift of sudden flight knowledge", Eddy pulls the scene behind him, Edd directly talks to the author pulling out a new screen afterwards, the Cutie Mark Crusaders do a scene transition (to their confusement) and Eddy asks the author if he does not have to use an IncrediblyLamePun again.

* ''WesternAnimation/NatureCat'': All of the main characters are fully aware of their existence as cartoon characters, constantly BreakingTheFourthWall by referencing past episodes and seasons, or sometimes even showing flashbacks to older episodes. This seems to have been ramped up from Season 4 onward, where the fourth wall seems to have vanished completely; there seems to be a fourth wall joke in nearly every episode, and the characters sometimes even pull out the ''scripts'' for some episodes. At this point, it's safe to say that this show is rivaling ''WesternAnimation/Chowder'' as one of the most self-aware cartoons ever.